This ones a beauty. Kinda looks like its a circus sideshow where the one of a kind "mutant whale lizard" is on display.... the wooden pedestal, red "curtain" back drop, and the colors in general make it much more surreal

Beautiful shots! What settings were you using?

Beautiful shot! Checked out your flickr and they are amazing! What settings are you using?

Thanks!

For the Matango line up the camera was set to ISO100, F5, with a 4 second exposure
The toys are stood on a lightbox and I had a big bulb next to me to 'charge them up' before hitting the off switches!

Here's a tip for seeing info on photos in flickr pages -
Look for the 'Additional Information' heading and click on 'More Properties'
It will list the camera settings for each photo (as long as the camera used saves the data)

Hope that helps...

Thanks, man. I just got the XSi over the holidays and I've been having a great time getting comfortable with it. I'm no camera expert, but I know a few basics and the XSi seems to be pretty forgiving.

One obvious tip I'd like to throw out there is that, regardless of what camera you go with, a mini-tripod is a sound investment if you want to photograph toys. It really helps if you want to shoot without a flash and for GID it's a must have. Also, it's small enough to fit in my camera bag so I can still keep my kit all in one place.

No, the XTi is the model I'm talking about.

I think the first Rebel was the XSi, the second (mine) is the XTi, and the current one is the XS. There might be a model I missed, but I know that there were at least those three.

--
jJ

1. rebel xt
2. rebel xti
3. rebel xsi
4. rebel xs
.... all pretty good cams regardless

Thanks smo9monster! The info definitely helped and the pics are coming out more sharp and colorful!

Thanks!

I'm no expert - I love playing with my camera to see how pictures turn out!
One thing I would say is I wish my Canon had a live view feature that the new/more expensive models have.
It would really help with manual focusing and even has a zoomed preview on the screen

It turns out that the settings I used, for the latest GID pics, are the same as the last time I took some shots.
But this time though it made a real difference 'charging them up' them on a lightbox - I really like the radioactive-feet-glow and the reflection

Looking to buy a new camera before our trip at the end of the summer - so I've got a while, but figured I'd start shopping sooner rather than later. I'm planning on going to my local camera shop but wanted to ask for your opinions before I go and get a sales pitch. Currently I'm thinking of:

Nikon D3100
Nikon D5100
Canon Rebel T2i

I'll probably end up getting the package with the 18-55mm lens included, but am interested in eventually getting a telephoto lens too.
Is there a big enough difference between the D3100 and D5100 to make the price increase worth it? Other than the megapixels, are there features that make the T2i a better camera than the D5100 (or D3100)?
Thanks for any advice/opinions!

if you're looking at lower end dslr models, i highly recommend considering a sony nex series camera. they utilize the same size sensor as a non-full frame dslr and feature interchangeable lenses (you can even mount canon/nikon/olympus/etc lenses with adapters), but the nex camera bodies are much smaller & lighter. there are no mirror-flip blackouts you experience on a dslr, either. sony manufactures the sensors for many major camera companies, so you're not sacrificing image quality. with a pancake lens, it's not much larger than a regular p&s, smaller than many m43 cameras, too.

i was planning to purchase the t3i when i ran across the nex line-up. the lowest end model, the nex-c3, is a great all around camera indoors and out. you have access to as much auto or manual settings as is comfortable. the focus peaking feature is unique to sonys and is quite handy for verifying focus, especially with manual lenses. i could go on and on

hope that helps!

It doesn't help at all! I just further muddies the waters!
Thanks though - when I go to the shop I'll take a look at 'em! Though my wife, for whatever reason, hates Sony...so it'll be a tough sell even if it IS the best option.

funny, right after i posted, i was thinking how i didn't actually address your concern of narrowing down your options

same as your wife, i had angrily sworn off sony for many, many years — until this camera popped up. i now believe that their imaging division is run differently from the rest of the company.

glad i could be of (no) help! good luck

No, no - I really do appreciate it! I actually meant ask for other suggestions based off the 3 that I'm currently thinking of.
I have a slight bias towards Nikon because that's what I used years ago when I was shooting 35mm - but I'm keeping an open mind towards other brands.

I've got a nikon d700 which is a full frame camera. It doesn't shoot video, (which would be nice) but at the same time, I'm not a videographer, I'm a photographer. I've got a Sigma 28-70 f2.8 lens that I use for everything, but I would like to pick up a Sigma 18mm 2.8.

Maybe you know all this, but a Full frame camera gives the exact same coverage, that a piece of 35 mm film would, Being that I have a bigger sensor, I can push the iso/asa up to 3000 and get crystal clear photos, It tops out at 125,000 ISO and even that is usable. It's built like a tank, and I've heard of people dropping it in the ocean, drying it out, and using it for another month or 2 (before the salt from the ocean water corroded the interior).

If anyone is ever looking to get rid of their old nikon lenses from the era of film, hit me up. I'll take them off your hands, you can never have to many lenses.

I also sometimes shoot with a Russian square format film camera.

you using a hasselbladski? (aka: a kiev 88)

Hmmm, I'm not familiar with this. I figured all DSLRs would replicate the dimensions/coverage of 35mm film - but it sounds like that's not the case?

I love everything about my Canon SLR except for the size. I was thinking about Fujifilm X100 Digital Camera all the function minus the size.

anyone have it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvJ9C-toynU

EDIT.... scratch that, just read some of the reviews. Love the look and size but I need more than a street camera

No if it's not a full frame camera, it's considered a sub-frame, what that means is that all the lenses you used for film are magnified by 1.6x, so in reality a 50 mm lens is really an 85mm lens. This comes in handy when your shooting 200mm is really 320mm, but if your shooting street photography, your wide angle lenses are severely limited. Also because the area on a subframe camera is smaller, it tends do have more grain in lower ISO's. Before I owned the D700 I owned a D80 and at night it was rendered useless, without an off-camera flash. 800 ISO was to much to handle,

Canon G1x is amazing, as well as the Ricoh gx 200. I'd love to get the new full frame Leica Digital, but if your looking for something portable to drag around, look at the lumix brands of p&s they use lenses made by Leica, and Leica glass is hard to beat, the Gx1 by Lumix, is as good as the Cannon equivalent, and you get the Leica glass, in my book that's quality.

for everyday photos we have a panasonic lumix dmc-lx5, absolutely love it!

bridges the gap between dslr quality and point n shoot ease of use. the best compact imo

Has anyone used a Sony A Nex-5N? I am forever looking for a point and shoot size camera that has DSLR picture quality. This is the first one I have seen to get pretty good reviews for image quality but would love some direct feedback.

the only digital camera i have (besides my smartphone) is a leica dlux 3... which is perfect for what i need. (and bought second-hand from my
local camera shop for $300, i couldn't beat it for the price!)

Huh - interesting. And good to know!
Regarding ISO & grain - is the grain on a sub-frame camera really that noticeable? Or does it only come out if you're blowing your photos up really large? I'd hate to spend $700 and have grainy photos.
It sounds like sensor size is a very important part of the equation. Is there some sort of hierarchy of feature importance? I'm totally new to digital photography - the only things I know about are f-stop, shutter speed, and film speed. This sensor and megapixel business is new to me!

The Sony NEX isn't really a P&S, it's just a DSLR that's managed to fit a APS sensor in a compact body. It's got a good sensor in it, (in fact Nikon cameras use Sony sensors) but the lens quality is below par, and every sony camera I've used felt very cheap. If you invest in a camera nowadays, your really investing in lenses, and you want a company that has a reputation for making lenses that won't fall apart, or show aberrations, or a company that exclusively uses plastic for their lens mounts.

Another thing to remember is to find a camera that will shoot RAW files as well as JPEG. JPEGS are the digital equivalent of shooting with a polaroid, and Raw files are like being inside a darkroom with a roll of Provia 100F (you can do a lot with it development wise).

If you find a P&S that will shoot RAW you know your dealing with a quality camera.