That is some cute baby you got there, MrsK

Thankyou.. I rather think so, but I know I am pretty biased!! He makes a great model, as he loves having his photo taken!

Bought a Panasonic DMZ FZ 4 from a friend for 40€ so that I have a halfway decent digital camera.

The loss of value is incredible. 90% in five years.

Anyone have any experience with the new Pentax K7?

Not directly, but the folks over at PentaxForums.com seem to be going nuts.

Most important thing about it is that there's no real improvement in image quality over the previous model, the K20D. The sensor's new, but it's been tweaked further for HD video capture. Perhaps the coolest thing is is that all the promo work done with it shows it with an Australian microphone. Didn't even know we made microphones.

They've done some very handy things, though. The viewfinder shows 100% of the frame, and there's an AF-assist light for autofocusing in low-light (without having to pop up the flash.) The body is mag-alloy, which is pretty nice.

Shooting speed is up to 5.2FPS, and the shutter's really quiet - not just for a Pentax, but compared to most any DSLR. Max shutter speed is 1/8000 of a second. Works down to -10 degrees Celsius. Fully water resistant; the new 18-55 and 55-200 lenses are also water resistant. Rain don't phase them.

Live view's improved, had to be for HD video. I'm looking to get one. You can find out more on PentaxForums.com (yes, I'm on there, I spend most of my time baiting the Floridian rednecks.)

For a US$1200, they are exceptional value for money. In terms of features, they sit between Nikon's advanced amateur D90 and the "pro-grade" D300.

Oh, and they come with a sensor-plane marker on the top deck, which just turns me on...

I've been contacted by an ad agency wanting to use one of my photos in a brochure. They want to know how much I want for its use.

Its currently licensed under creative commons non profit (so free to use if credited and for non profit purposes).

I have no idea how much to ask though. A friend suggested £50. I don't know..

For me, it would depend on what the brochure was for. If it was cool £50 sounds good, if it was for the Tory Party then at least £250
steve

From what they say, its their own brochure, advertising their services.. So, close to the tory party

quote:

Originally posted by MrsK:
Now tell me this is not a beautiful camera??

And its finally released here tomorrow.. Krad going to see if he can preorder one at lunchtime

Anyone want to buy a Canon EOS 400D (aka Digital Rebel XTi) with kit lens (that only works on auto focus!!), a sigma 18-125mm lens, sigma 50mm macro lens and a tamron 75-300mm lens??
I do wonder how much I will be able to get for it all? Hopefully somewhere in region of £400 with the lenses

Wow, playing catch up - great news MrsK. Really hope you get a good price for the picture of babs (i'd think maybe £300 but then again that could be underselling. Shame i don't have a clue, but hope its more - good question, so keep us informed).

You still selling the Sigma macro lens?

Just ordered this because I'm a masochist. Also, some lenses...

Too, just picked up Lightroom 2 and its a screamin' cool program for the money.

Woohoo my 5D mark II just shipped! So... excited...

Dude, thats alot of cool stuff.

LINK to the good film info on the ...1000 words thread

So, I recently bought this 5D mark II for a stupid amount of money, 'cause I'm like that sometimes. Now, Canon just announced the 7D which is actually a good camera. If I hadn't have been in a hurry, and needing a really good camera for some upcoming shoots, I probably would have waited for the press conference at which this 7D was announced. I knew they were going to announce *something* related to their SLR line, but of course didn't know what exactly it was going to be.

The sensor size on the 7D is small (APS-C), but the pixel count is relatively high. It is not a full frame sensor, but its pretty darn good. Especially if you consider the price point: fully $1000 less than what I just paid for the 5D.

I do not regret getting the 5D, it is a stellar piece of machinery, but if you're on a budget (as we all are) the 7D is attractive.

Canon also announced some lenses to go with this new camera, and one in particular grabs my attention quite readily. Order of purchase necessity now goes: EF 24-105 F4L IS USM then the aforementioned macro lens. Then I'll almost have a full kit!

I do want the 85mm fixed lens though... its a beaut.

Not actually a question about photography, but I figure this is where the people who know about this stuff hang out...

I used to clean my glasses with Windex and tissues (I know, right?) With the new ones, discovered the joys of cleaning them properly with a lens cloth.

Glasses get dirtier than lenses, though, and presumably there's only so much stuff a cloth can hold before its useless. Is there a way to clean them, or is to toss-and-replace?

I just got glasses and they say to wash the little microfibre cloth with mild soap (so I guess Woolite or Zero?).

k3wl, will give it a go - hopefully something pure, so many things have additives these days that would smear glass...

I use fairly cheap (2 for £1) microfibre dusters when at home / in the car, and just throw them in the usual "non-softener" wash (so with Joe's bibs, towels etc, as using softener on them reduces asborbency).

I am planning on buying some camera goodies with the proceeds from selling old camera.

I definately want the sexy flash
http://www.olympus.co.uk/consu...mera_fl-14_21790.htm

Next choice though..

Do I buy the very sexy 17mm (34mm in reality) pancake lens that looks so lovely on the camera?

Or,.. be sensible and get the OM convertor and an OM Macro and Telephoto?

MrsK, if I were you, I'd grab me one of these:



Faster! Leica, if you believe the hype! Doesn't match the paint, though.

The debate, though, as to whether 40mm-e or 35mm-e is the best "normal" lens still rages.

Hmm.. But.. It says its for Lumix G Series Digital SLR's?? Now, I know the G1 is Micro four thirds... I'm confused.. does that site just not know what it is talking about?

Off to investigate further. Idealling, I think I'd like 30mm pancake.. 34mm is just a little too wide angle for an every day fixed focul length lens.

God I wish I had someone to mule me stuff from the US *sighs* its all so much cheaper.

Nerly got the Leica M convertor, before realising that, actually, I can't afford Leica M lenses!

Madame K, does this answer your question?

No, it's a pretty godawful website, cluttered as hell.

The Lumix G (why they called it the G series, I'll never know - to poach Canon's sales?) are all M4/3 mounts. So it fits. Well, I think there's one normal 4/3 mount camera.

The Four-Thirds Consortium appears to be a somewhat wary group consisting Olympus, Panasonic (the Consortium's most active, if not biggest, players,) Leica, and for some reason, Sigma (though they've probably only signed to get the rights to make lenses for 4/3 cameras. They do their "own" lens mount, the Sigma SA mount, which is best described as a Pentax K mount - which is actually open-source - with Canon EOS electrical connections.)* There're others, who have been doing absolutely bugger-all with it (Sanyo is one, I think; the make pretty good rice cookers, whose uncoated aluminium pots are probably responsible for my loss of- shit, what was I saying?) It's an "open standard," and the quotation marks denote sarcasm, as anyone can use the mount as long as they sign a gag order (ie, if you look at it and don't like it, you can't go pointing out its flaws afterwards.)

Since the bulk of profit in camera sales involves the classic razors-and-blades business model (ie, lock the bastards into your lenses for life,) it hasn't caught on with the big players of Nikon and Canon, as well as Pentax, but we're all pretty certain Pentax is insane. Sony just bought Minolta's camera division wholesale, so they're going with that. Which is why the 4/3 consortium all seem pretty cagey about openly admitting their lenses are all interchangeable, as they may be companies who are working together, but they're still companies. Sort of the old I and my brother against my cousin, I and my cousin against the world.

Olympus and Panasonic seem to be the ones most behind it. Olympus just pissed away its credibility in the nineties - they went from making cameras that "were what Leica should've made" (Leica even sued them out of spite for this,) to deriding autofocus as a passing fad - and they've done a good job of building it back up. Panasonic's looked to break into digital still cameras. Leica seems to view digital with some sort of bemused detachment, but I'm pretty sure that if you went around to their plant at Solms and said that man has landed on the moon, Germany was divided in two, then put back together, Buddy Holly's dead, no one gives a damn about rangefinders much anymore, and it's now the second millennium AD, they'd be genuinely surprised. Just don't mention they used Swedish cameras on that moon landing. They're thawing, though, gradually, grudgingly acknowledging this "digital" thing. Panasonic builds their digitals. A lot of which were, no shit, just the exact same cameras that Panasonic released under their own name, except with a red dot on the front, and a hundred bucks extra on the price tag. Your average Leicaphile takes this as well as a devout Muslim takes bacon.

Sigma...meh.

So, in short, it's basically the some of the most desperate companies in the photographic world and pooling their resources. Olympus knows how to make good cameras, Panasonic's been doing digital imaging for ages, Sigma's staff are a ready source of organ donors should anyone from the important companies take ill, Leica offers the five letters "A," "C," "E," "I," and "L," that when carefully arranged and used to label something, will cause the overly-monied to spontaneously orgasm and throw credit cards. (No, not "Alice." Or "Celia.")

So, to say what I probably should've said without all the above pointless exposition and slander, that 20mm is a better bet, I'd say. The "perfectly normal" focal length for the Pen's sensor (which is the diagonal length from corner to corner) is 21mm. So there you go. It's faster too, which is handier. I'd rather have a fast lens than a flash (especially a flash that doesn't bounce,) but I'm not sure of the price difference between the 17mm and 20mm in the UK.

And Micro 4/3 lenses from Panasonic will fit Olympus. And vice versa.

_{*Science, philosophy, basic economics and even Sigma itself have yet to satisfactorily explain why Sigma keeps making SLRs. Oh, they've got the Foveon sensor, which works like sorta like colour film, which is four megapixels but actually 14 megapixels, Sigma's fans will scream at me, but I'm confident I can take both of them on in a flame war.}