[erikzen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder /img/forum/go_quote.gif erikzen, really good stuff. It was nice to be able to freeze the spray in mid-air! What species of whale did you see?

Those were humpbacks. I had gone once before and saw both humpbacks and minke whales. Tip: If you go whale watching go out on a later boat during the day. The earlier boats report back as to where the most activity is increasing your chances of sighting more animals.

Quote:

'm a little vain when it comes to detail/clarity. Would you be able to post a 100% crop of the 2nd picture where the leaf cuts into the water? Thanks!

I'll try to do that a bit later when I'm back at home.

 

[erikzen]

Is this what you're looking for?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/...0417bafb_o.jpg

 

[erikzen]

Let this be a lesson to you. Always use a decent tripod.

Last week my tripod could not handle the weight of my camera with my 70-300mm lens. It fell over and damaged the camera. Considering it cost about half the cost of a new camera to fix it, I decided to upgrade to the new E-520. I must admit that if you have the E-510 there doesn't seem to be any reason to upgrade. The biggest improvement seems to be in the Live View feature. If you don't like using the viewfinder and have to have a DSLR then maybe this is enough to convince you to buy the E-520. Otherwise, the differences seem to be minimal. That being said, I found the camera to have the same ease of use as the E-510 and have no regrets about buying it. At some point I'll probably spring for the $300 to get the other one fixed and can do more of a head to head comparison.

Here's a shot of Derek Jeter fouling one off. I took this with my 70-300mm zoom lens at about 150mm, shooting from the upper deck.

Flickr Photo Download: Picture 028

 

[Towert7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by erikzen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Let this be a lesson to you. Always use a decent tripod. Last week my tripod could not handle the weight of my camera with my 70-300mm lens. It fell over and damaged the camera.

I thought the E510 with 70-300 would have been a very light setup....

That's awful to hear.

Unrelated, but still curious, do you edit your photos in software?

 

[roastpuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Towert7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought the E510 with 70-300 would have been a very light setup.... That's awful to hear. Unrelated, but still curious, do you edit your photos in software?

Sorry about the damage, Erikzen. I cringe when I even set my bag down a bit hard.

Even if it's a very light set-up, a horrible tripod is a horrible tripod. I've used my aunt's freebie videocam tripod before and it had trouble staying steady (indoors!) with my XSi + kit lens. Invest in a good tripod + ballhead/panhead and it will serve you well for years to come.

I'm wanting to take a look @ my friend's E-520, because he just got it to complement his E-410. He just got the 12-60mm Zuiko f2.8-4 too...

 

[lan]

Wow that really sucks that your camera got damaged

What about it broke?

 

[mightyacorn]

Really sorry to hear about the damage to your camera.

Were you using a tripod meant for a lighter camera system? Was one of the tripod legs in front- following the camera lens?

 

[erikzen]

Relatively speaking the 70-300mm lens is extemely light, weighing only 21.7 oz. That being said, it is much heavier and longer than any of my other lenses, a testament to how small and light the Olympus lenses are.

I've used this tripod before without event but not with this lens. Apparently, the lock on the front leg was faulty and the weight of the camera caused it to collapse. The camera fell forward and landed on the pop up flash. The flash no longer pops up but in low light it attempts to pop up screwing up the metering of the camera. The camera is still useable, especially in full sunlight but it remains to be seen if even under perfect conditions if it still exposes properly. It may also work fine with a hot shoe flash attached.

Olympus has a flat rate repair rate of $280. I will probably eventually pay to have it fixed but it seemed to me that I was halfway to a new camera so I went for the E-510.

In response to the question about editing with software, yes I do, but not all the time. Through a combination of laziness, time constraints and philosophy, I tend to process my photos minimally. Because I am not the most adept at processing images, I sometimes feel like the images look better if I don't fool with them too much.

For example, the grass photo and the Jeter photo have no processing. The crop of the grass was obviously processed with software. The whale spout shot was adjusted in Elements for exposure.

Basically what I do is download all of my shots to my computer, then upload them to Flickr. After looking at them for a while, I pick out the ones I like best and on those I willl spend some time on them editing.

I use a combination of Photoshop Elements 2.0, Photoshop CS2, Olympus Master/Studio and even use Piknick in Flicr for a quick effort.

This was processed in Picknik:

This is the original image:

 

[erikzen]

I'm not sure if anyone caught the NY Times article a couple of weeks back about using vintage lenses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/te...sg&oref=slogin

This passage in particular is quite interesting:

Quote:

But like shooting with a manual lens, buying them can be complicated. For mechanical and optical reasons, some brands of D.S.L.R.’s work with a wider array of vintage lenses than others. Nikon D.S.L.R.’s can take scores of vintage Nikon lenses without adapters. But the Nikon cameras don’t work well, if at all, with the majority of vintage lenses from makers like Olympus, Pentax and Zeiss. Canon cameras have the opposite characteristic. They are incompatible with most vintage Canon lenses, but with cheap adapters can mount dozens of brands of third-party vintage lenses. Olympus D.S.L.R.’s can mount most of the same vintage lenses Canon cameras can, along with vintage Olympus lenses if you have the adapters.

From this passage one can conclude that Olympus may be one of the best makes to take advantage of vintage lenses.

One of my buddies from one of the camera forums recently sent me a 28mm Yashica and a a Vivitar 28-80mm Macro already outfitted with adaptors for the Olympus 4/3. The Vivitar was a pretty inexpensive lens even brand new, but it might be a good way to cheaply shoot macro. I'll be testing them out this weekend but I shot a few test shots with the Yashica already.

Penelope on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

It was a bit tricky trying to manually focus inside without much light but I managed a halfway decent shot. With practice I'm sure I can get better.

I have a fairly well regarded Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f/1.7 that I'm trying to figure out how to adapt to the Olympus. It seems to me that we Olympus owners have a cheap way of greatly expanding our lens collections. I'm looking forward to exploring this end of the hobby.

 

[Towert7]

Here's the real question though. When you use all of these old lenses, whether they be from Olympus or adopted from other camera systems, does your camera meter with them? If so, what metering modes do you get? Or, do you have to manually set aperture and shutter speed (along with manual focus!)?

One of the great things with the good Nikon cameras is that you can use all of these old lenses (there are just SO many, all very cheap now) and it will meter with them. That alone is worth it's weight in gold.
I snagged a Nikkor 80-200mm F4.5, and it's a beautiful lens! Sharp as can be, with great color characteristics. Very small and light to boot. All for 80$us. Only problem, is my D50 won't meter with it. Wish I had a good Nikon body.

 

[milkpowder]

Trial and error

 

[erikzen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Towert7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here's the real question though. When you use all of these old lenses, whether they be from Olympus or adopted from other camera systems, does your camera meter with them? If so, what metering modes do you get? Or, do you have to manually set aperture and shutter speed (along with manual focus!)?

Metering? We ain't got no metering! We don't need no metering. I don't have to show you any stinkin' metering!

Like Milkpowder said, trial and error. Hey, if I can get a 50mm f/1.7 for next to nothing, I don't mind bracketing some exposures.

 

[Towert7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by erikzen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Metering? We ain't got no metering! We don't need no metering. I don't have to show you any stinkin' metering! Like Milkpowder said, trial and error. Hey, if I can get a 50mm f/1.7 for next to nothing, I don't mind bracketing some exposures.

It's a digital camera. No need to bracket, you just shoot a test photo and change settings from there.

But that's sad that there is no metering. It makes using old lenses a pain in the romp. Well, for me at least.

 

[erikzen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Towert7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif But that's sad that there is no metering. It makes using old lenses a pain in the romp. Well, for me at least.

I'm used to shooting completely manually from my old Autoreflex T. True, that camera at least had through the lens metering, but as you say this is digital so you you'll know really quickly if you're extremely under or over exposed. Still, for some shots you'll still want to bracket just to be sure.

I think it's cool being able to strap on an old piece of glass to a new-fangled camera. It's like vintage tubes in an amp. Totally steampunk!

I'm looking forward to collecting old lenses. It seems like it might be a fairly inexpensive way to expand your collection and a totally new angle for the hobby. I'm sure for the majorithy of my shooting I'm going to use an autofocus, fully metered lens, but I'm hoping to really get to know the character of some vintage glass for just the right photos.

I think it gets to the heart of what jpelg was trying to say, it's not the equipment its how the photographer uses the equipment. Using a fully manual lens strips away all the gadgetry and lets you get to the photography.

All IMHO, of course.

Incidentally, I found something called a "Dandelion" that has a chip you can use with old lenses. It enables the focus indicator and metering.

 

[erikzen]

For those of you that were interested in the micro four thirds cameras here are some shots of the Panasonic G1.

Luc Saint-Elie's slideshow on Flickr

This looks very cool and the fact that it will accept the Olympus lenses with an adapter means this might make an excellent second camera.