Camera gear discussions

@Eric_C I'd look into stitching for landscapes while you're looking at lenses, you might really like it, even for interiors but it can be tricky doing it inside and really requires a tripod there... With something like MS ICE it's a really simple process in post, and can totally be shot handled for landscapes without prominent foregrounds.

Also keep in mind that the wider you go the more things will distort, your friends might not appreciate what an UWA does to their faces/bodies (specially the friends at the edge of the frame). In fact, in a lot of cases I'd take the fisheye distortion over rectilinear UWA distortion for a selfie...

Things on the edges of a frame shot under <10mm (with rectilinears) start getting stretched laterally pretty badly, the wider you go the worse it is, and if you happen to not have the camera perfectly level things get even more wonky as straight lines start to converge. Even things in the middle of the frame will feature very different proportions tho.

I could probably rig up a demo if you want. If you wanna see just a hint of the effect, shoot a head shot of yourself at 14mm then at 42mm (keep the framing or the size of your head in shot similar, obviously you'll need to move), look at them closely and notice the effect it has on the proportions of your nose, chin, etc. Multiply by 10...

Changes in perspective occur much faster under 12mm (in M4/3 #s)... In relative terms, going from 12mm to 9mm or even 10mm is as drastic as going from 25mm to 45mm, perhaps more so.

The other, perhaps obvious, answer for selfies is using a mini tripod and remote release... Weren't you asking about mini tripods recently? I dunno, selfies can be a curious thing, most smartphones feature 28-32mm lenses which are absolutely *not* flattering for closeups (unless perhaps if you've got a really flat face), yet most of the world doesn't seem to mind!

Then there's selfie sticks... <shudder> Although in a pinch you can use a mini tabletop tripod as a mini selfie stick without having to live with the fact that you bought a selfie stick.

 

Btw, I keep mentioning stitching because for really expansive landscapes a stitched pano shot can really work much better than an UWA... If you don't have an interesting foreground an UWA can actually de-emphasize a landscape and leave you with a narrow view of it in the middle plus lots of empty sky and ground above/below it.

Obviously that's a generalisation but it's a pretty common scenario, plus you can try stitching with free software and the gear you already have so there's nothing to lose there. Try actually zooming a bit for stitched shots and/or orienting the camera vertically. (end up with a taller file in the end, proportion and resolution wise, you can always keep adding frames horizontally)

 

Current cameras and gear:
Pentax K100D Super + old Pentax glass (out of use)
Olympus EPL1 with kit lens. (out of use, not bad though)
Olympus EM5 I + Panasonic 20mm F1.7 (almost ideal)

Next up the Olympus 12-50mm or an additional pan cake lens (prime or zoom à la 12-32mm) and I am happy.

After that at least a Pentax K50/K7/K5. I miss the proper optical viewfinder with good glass.

 

@Impulse is giving very good advices here. UWA lenses are not to fit all shots. Remember perspective...

And I agree with not using UWA lenses for selfies.

 

Thanks heaps guys, I'm really learning a lot.
@Impulse no need to trouble yourself with test shots, I'll read up online. Someone's bound to have stuff on this. I'm just a noob, is all.

 

Yup, love the 35 macro!

 

Gotta love the little Pentax LTD's, the 21 and 70 were my favorites. I'm honestly kind of surprised to see a lot of pentax love in here, given how they're a relative minority

 

Test phase EM5 I mostly done:

The EM5 mark I is a mini DSLR that reminds me of a simplified Nikon F100 without the fantastic Nikon grip. One thing I noticed while testing the EM5 mark I with the 20mm F1.7 was that manual control is not proper manual mode. In manual mode you have so little control over the shutter speeds that it cripples you.

Thing is, in aperture priority mode you have more control over shutter speeds while setting exposure with aperture and iso changes. Add the -3 to +3 (light) bracketing options and you almost have full manual control in aperture priority.

Olympus gives you the customisation options but has some quirks here and there.

 

My brother has an EM5 mk1, I'm quite a fan of it. It's a well-built camera with solid handling/ergonomics and pretty good image quality. It's size, top-tier evf and handling definitely make it quite a nice camera for shooting street and candids. Video is of decent quality and more than adequate for non-professional use.

 

Dude, Pentax is less about "our engineers decided for you to ..." and more about "do it yourself, go out and take pictures." That attitude makes the brand and makes you a better photographer. Nikon and Canon keep pushing better AF systems. Pentax says "we have made some improvements, have fun with them."

Pentax is about becoming a better photographer. The average consumer can keep his or her AF-machine...

 

If they made a K-1 variant with a7s tier video quality, I'd jump back on the Pentax train without a second thought. Hell, if they implemented decent video mode on the K-1, I'd switch back. As photographic tools, nothing quite feels the same as a Pentax, especially in regards to ergonomics.

 

Huh? What do you mean? Manual is manual, you can pick any shutter speed you want...

 

Not the first time I've heard about such an issue from EM5 owners, though I didn't stick around enough to see how they solved it. Might want to try fiddling with the settings a little.

 

Try it on some Olympus M43 cameras. Olympus has its own idea of manual mode and proper manual control. On the EM5 mark I in manual mode you have very little control over shutter speeds. There might be a custom option I have not found yet.

My now ancient K100D Super gives me better manual control. Strange is it not?

 

I don't quite understand what you mean, manual behaves the same on my E-M5 II as my other two Panasonic M4/3 cameras... I can pick any shutter speed I darn well please under manual. What do you mean by better manual control?

Edit: I think you have a conflict of settings issue, admittedly not uncommon with Oly bodies (Panasonic is better about avoiding this at the cost of less customization and flexibility). Try turning bracketing off, all shutter speed options should be available.

 

Is there any website with a list of the meanings of camera jargon? Reading the above and I'm just getting lost

 

Time for menu diving. In this menu you find settings for ... and turning ... on enables a setting that allows you to ... because a f'ing dedicated shutter speed button is too difficult for us. We at Olympus prefer that you play with colour filters.

 

Pick up a camera, try everything and match the jargon. You will learn fast.

 

Hah, well there's a dedicated shutter speed dial and manual or shutter priority modes, so the basic controls aren't so much the issue as the fact that they give you so many customization options you can end up completely altering (and screwing up) core functionality.

By default it works as it should in manual... The dizzying array of options and menu structure might be another story.

 

Shutter speed is a pretty basic concept, like saying bass or treble here; no offense, it IS jargon until you learn about photography... But a good book might be in order rather than just looking up random definitions.