[Shiftlock]

Originally Posted by dpaul

The difference between the price at which I am getting the D5300 and D5600 is almost Rs 20,000/-. Hence my quandary.

Then I would also suggest going ahead with the D5300. It is still a capable camera. May I suggest looking at Canon? I have the Canon 800d and I had got it for around 30k rupees. It is an amazing camera for beginners and very future proof.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by amvj

I was in Chennai with my Camera for a couple of years and I never faced any issue. Probably because of the high heat. It is the Bangalore weather that is the culprit. Also in Chennai I had lot of photographic opportunities as the beach was nearby. I tend to use the camera more often.

This is totally opposite of what I know and experienced. Any hot and humid place is the key reason for fungus to start and spread. And yes, it’ll also depend on how you store your cameras and lenses. Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata are the notorious places as I’ve seen.
Bangalore on the other hand, is much better in this context. My cameras and lenses never had any issue despite keeping them inside wooden wardrobe. Only during my four years stint in Mumbai, I had to get a dry cabinet. A close friend of mine in Bangalore (a very senior commercial photographer) has no special arrangement or dry cabinets for all his cameras and lenses.

Those silica gel packs are for limited time usage. As they absorb moisture they become white from their original blue colour. You should open them out of those cloth bags and heat them dry on tawa (like roasting peanuts on tawa or kadai). Get airtight large box or desiccator and pour those dry (blue) silica gel on the base. Keep a layer of face tissue on top of that to keep your camera and lenses. Number of boxes will depend on your camera size and lenses.

And if you don’t mind investing, a dry cabinet is the best way to store your camera gadgets.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Great images Dr AD. You should go in for the lovely latest lens Nikon AF-P DX 10-20mm wide angle for the the Nikon 3500 it's very cheap and delivers great results. I think it's something like 25K.

Thank you very much!I have been following your photography posts on the forum for a long time, and I am big fan of your photography. So this compliment coming from you means a lot. Thanks again!

Thanks for the tip on the 10-20mm wide angle lens. I will surely buy that in the near future. For now, the two kit lenses I have (18-55 and 70-300) are more than enough for me because I am still learning how to use them to the best potential. Maybe in 6 months I will start buying more lenses, including the 10-20mm lens.

My D3200 is delivering great results even after 9 years of service.

Wow! These photos are fantastic! This gives me even more confidence that my D3500 can also take good photos if I learn the skill. :-)

[Durango Dude]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

And if you don’t mind investing, a dry cabinet is the best way to store your camera gadgets.

I know it's pure blasphemy the way I store my kit. They are lying around like this... The two bodies with my favorite lenses on are used almost daily. There's some kitchen modification going on and dust is all pervasive these days.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Thank you very much!I have been following your photography posts on the forum for a long time, and I am big fan of your photography. So this compliment coming from you means a lot. Thanks again

Many thanks, Dr AD.

[amvj]

I got the two of my Nikon lenses (18-55 and 35mm) back from Nikon service center. Which I gave them for fungus cleaning. The amount was close to 5.5K which I find bit expensive. As members mentioned that its a common problem.





The service center personal asked me to give the 70-300mm at a later date. Also, I find the LCD on my D7000 is slowly dying. I see vignetting happening around the edges.



Service guy mentioned that D7000 is an old model and they don't have a replacement LCD and asked me to use the camera without the LCD. This also serves as a caution to whoever want to buy old DSLRs where you cannot find spares.

p.s ignore the date on the lcd screen. I am yet to change the date.

[subbarp]

I use a Nikon D7500 (2nd DSLR after learning basics on D3000). The largest zoom I have is a 55-300mm.
I would like to explore larger zoom but cost and weight of the lens have been the challenges. Could experts guide me to a suitable larger lens and approximate cost ?
A 150-600mm would suit fine alongside the 18-140mm kit lens. Any other suggestion ?

Use case: Birding (rest of the use cases can be managed with the lenses I have).

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by amvj

The amount was close to 5.5K which I find bit expensive. As members mentioned that its a common problem.

Am surprised at this being reported as a common problem. I've never had fungus build up inside any of my lenses. More of fine dust particles that make their way in. Fungus is usually seen under high moisture or humidity levels and Bangalore does not experiences this sort of weather.

I used to deal with an elderly gentleman by the name Thomas who lives close to Double Road in Indiranagar. He used to clean my lenses. The last time I used his services was almost 10 years ago and the figures were 90% lower than what you have paid. No bill or receipt scene happening here though. I know he had a silver Fiat Palio NV in the garage that was seldom used and had a Hitler like moustache.

Give him a call on 99 80 14 67 87. Maybe he still services equipment. I know he is very particular about time and has a narrow time window so if you are going, please be on time.

Originally Posted by amvj

Also, I find the LCD on my D7000 is slowly dying.

Looks like an issue for Nikon DLSR cameras from around the same time period. My D3000 LCD is also on its way out but its been on its way out for the last 5 years and has not completely died. Like yours, the edges are gradually going black.

[Aroy]

Fungus is very corrosive. It normally eats up the lens coating, and in extreme cases can damage the glass.

Normally after the fungus is cleaned and if the glass is not damaged, the anti reflective coating(s) is applied to bring the lens upto mark.

That may be the reason for high charges.

[JoeTheWanderer]

Originally Posted by amvj

Also, I find the LCD on my D7000 is slowly dying. I see vignetting happening around the edges.
...
Service guy mentioned that D7000 is an old model and they don't have a replacement LCD and asked me to use the camera without the LCD

There may be a workaround for the LCD issue. :-)

My 7D mk2 has a fixed LCD - which is great for the rugged use that it is meant for, but is a problem when I have to take photos or videos at a difficult angle.

It is possible to use your mobile phone as an external monitor for free. I've tried this on my Note 10 and the older Nokia 7 Plus.

Most of the items you need should already be available with you.

1. USB OTG cable for your phone
2. A USB data cable for your camera
3. A cold-shoe adaptor like the one below. This was included with the ring light so I didn't have to purchase it separately.
4. A phone mount (included with the cheap ball-head tripod mount I purchased during lock-down).
5. A mobile app that lets you view your camera's output. I have tried the apps below:
- Camera Connect & Control (Google Play link)
- DSLR Control - Camera Remote Controller (Google Play Link)

All you need to do is mount the phone on your camera's flash hot-shoe. Connect the cables, turn the camera on and open the app.

Not all camera, phone and app combinations seem to work - you may have to spend an hour or two to find something that works. The apps are moody and some times take a few attempts to work properly. For this reason, I do not recommend this for professionals.

If a specific app and camera combination works for you, it may be worthwhile to purchase the app. Some of them offer features that older cameras don't have like timelapse, etc.

Here's a photo of my setup.

[clevermax]

AI is going to the rock digital content creation world in a short while, may be few years from now.

Use of AI in post processing is already there and I'm sure some of you are using such plug-ins with Photoshop and Lightroom. Recently I tried an Artificial Intelligence based noise removal tool (Denoise AI) in a friend's computer who's a professional photographer. I was amazed by the results. None of the algorithm-based NR tools are going to give such clean outputs.

This is the sample I had used for test:

EXIF: 1/24s, f/4, ISO3200, shot with a Minolta 50mm f/1.7 lens in RAW format.

This is the result after the a one-click noise removal:


To put things in perspective, here is a 100% crop comparison between the two images - you can see that the original image was really noisy. Look at how sharp the edges and the text in the processed image, and there's absolutely no noise.


EDIT: team-bhp's image compression has affected the representation of these images.

Here comes the best part - the tool is able to 'imagine' the original content's textures and such details from the learned models. In the example below, the textures of the fabric was barely visible in the original image, but look at the processed image!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by clevermax

AI is going to the rock digital content creation world in a short while, may be few years from now.

Topaz filters are amazing to say the least. And over years they have majorly embraced AI. It has gone to such an extent that one cant use them if one does not have separate GPU to take the work load! I have been using them for some time. And used some of their earlier AI powered versions. They were brilliant. But the rate they progressed was not the rate at which I could change/up-grade my hardware!

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by ampere

one cant use them if one does not have separate GPU to take the work load!

Exactly! These programs crawl even on a PC equipped with a top-of-the-line CPU & loads of RAM if it doesn't have a dedicated graphics card.

I have a PC with Intel i5-7400 processor, Nvme m.2 SSD, and 16GB RAM. Currently, it has an onboard GPU that cannot handle such workloads. Any recommendations on a graphics card that can handle such applications? Gaming is not a requirement at the moment.

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA B250M DS3H. Intel B250 chipset.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I don't think they have entered the Linux world yet, although I expect they will.

[smsrini]

Hi!

I'm looking for some advise on adding/replacing my dslr kit.

My current kit is a Nikon D3100 with a 18-55 and 70-300 kit lenses. I also have a Nikon J3 with a 18-55 and 55-120 kit lenses.

The covid times have struck a new fancy for bird photography, the intent being to get out and spend time in the open. I've tried both cameras and also mounting the 70-300 on the J3 with the FT1 adapter, with reasonable results.


The J3 serves the purpose of a lightweight DSLR for occasions that I dont want to carry the heavier D3100.

My wants ( as opposed to needs ):

1) A better zoom lens for birding. Either the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 200-500MM F/5.6E ED VR or Sigma 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Which is better ?

2) Better Sensor / faster camera, Should i go mirrorless? I'm evaluating the Z50 or the Z5 with the FTZ adapter. or consider the D750 /850 / 7500 ?

If I replace the D3100 body with a mirrorless camera, and use the FT1, I can still retain the DX lenses and perhaps get the additional zoom of upto 450mm, which is a likely good compromise given the new body and ( kit lens?? )

3) the D3100 has vignetting on the LCD and perhaps needs some repair. Is this a high cost replacement that should be avoided and instead buy a new D3500 or 5600 body and continue with the DX lenses.


Thank you for your time and advise.

Best regards
Srini

[1985Darkkid85]

As an amateur photographer but a fast learner, what cam would be best for me?
I'd prefer a small compact/mirrorless with super fast A.F, but want full weather sealing.

In fact, i am willing to go for a full frame the massive weight not-withstanding, if there are no good candidates in the compact cam segment.

There is no point in buying an expensive DSLR and keeping it idle during monsoon/wintery seasons , my .02$