[earthian]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

....the new 600f4 is much lighter, just 3.8 kgs.

Yes, it is. I do love the 600mm that i have. It is given amazing results.
BTW, congratulations on the Pale Tiger shots. I hope you know that you have been mentioned in some serious safari/wildlife sites.

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by earthian

Yes, it is. I do love the 600mm that i have. It is given amazing results.
BTW, congratulations on the Pale Tiger shots. I hope you know that you have been mentioned in some serious safari/wildlife sites.

Thanks. Yes, I am aware of most mainstream media mentions, haven't checked wildlife related ones apart from Sanctuary Asia.

There is a current thread about that tiger, the 'behind the lens' story:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...e-reserve.html (The Rare Pale Tiger from Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve)

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by VellVector

Unless you are getting the 18-105 as a kit, don't bother with it. It's not very good

Yes, it doesn't make sense to buy it separately at full price. But many, many folks start with their kit lenses. One shouldn't start by thinking that some lens is not 'good enough', if that is what he/she can afford, or has. Too many folks get overawed by gear discussions and seeing what others carry/use. And I know of pros who purposely try to make photography complex so that they get more people signing up for their workshops and tours :-)

All shot with 18-105. Resized jpegs, so ignore the IQ and artefacts.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

You make a compelling case for upgrading to a micro four third system.

Well, I did upgrade to a mirrorless --- Sony a6000

This is as much experimental shopping as photography, but I have just ordered from AliExpress two Neewer items:

• 35mm f/1.7 Manual Focus Prime Fixed Lens
  
• 130ft Underwater PC Housing Camera Waterproof Case

Frankly, the latter is just to give me something I can use in the rain. You know, like I could probably get shower-proof in an 8k compact these days

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

in the eye of the beholder. I would rate them as pretty average, nothing special. although some of the topics (e.g. tigers are very special, the image themselves are very average)
Jeroen

That is a bit harsh, IMO. You are making a blanket statement, without specific feedback. Often situations are not in our control, when we shoot wildlife. E.g. light, position etc.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, if you want to improve you skills as a amateur photographer, it would be a good thing, not to ask friends and family, but find a photography club or so to get feedback.
Jeroen

Agree. Or specialist photography groups on social media.

Originally Posted by Nempuguru

Most of the time an artwork which I think good receives very less appreciation and the one not up to the mark as per me gets good feedback. Again perspective, composition and depth matters.

Once you know what you are doing, you might want to give less credence to number of likes etc. People have different tastes. Some photos appeal to hoi polloi, some photos appeal to more discerning eyes.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Its interesting to see that at the Royal Photography Society very little time is spend talking/Discussing gear. It seems more or less a none issue.

Only reason to discuss gear is to tease friends who are using a different brand. Which happens to be Canon, given I am a Nikon guy.

Re RPS: I had thought of being a member, but decided I don't wanna pay ~108 GBP every year just to have a 4 letter suffix after my name. Besides, very few are RPS members in India, and for my genre, going on field trips/tours with the right folks leads to better interaction than any regular meets.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Well, I did upgrade to a mirrorless --- Sony a6000

This is as much experimental shopping as photography, but I have just ordered from AliExpress two Neewer items:

• 35mm f/1.7 Manual Focus Prime Fixed Lens
  
• 130ft Underwater PC Housing Camera Waterproof Case

Frankly, the latter is just to give me something I can use in the rain. You know, like I could probably get shower-proof in an 8k compact these days

Great VFM camera.

Re SAP gear. Here is an old shot, recently reprocessed. Was taken with an ancient D90, and a consumer lens.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Re RPS: I had thought of being a member, but decided I don't wanna pay ~108 GBP every year just to have a 4 letter suffix after my name. Besides, very few are RPS members in India, and for my genre, going on field trips/tours with the right folks leads to better interaction than any regular meets.
]

You don't get the four letter suffix by paying 108GBP. There are three different levels of distinctions and it is really hard to pass and with every subsequent level it becomes so much harder. I'm working on the first level and I hope to submit my panel for final review February/March next year.

Although the suffix is nice, I'm more interested in improving my overall photography technique to meet RPS standards. (Which are probably amongst one of the most strict). Not everybody agrees to the RPS standards or to way they review images. But irrepsective of that, no matter what, when you are able to pass the distinciton bar so to speak, your photography is becoming pretty good. All distinction levels are reviewed against panels of 10-15 photographs which makes it a lot harder then a few individual images. Each image on it's own needs to be pretty much perfect and also the panel as a whole needs to perfectly alligned, balanced, consistent etc.

But to your other point, I like to go to our regular RPS BeNeLux Chapter monthly meetings, hop over to the UK for the occosional (workshop/seminar) day etc. Without being able to interact with other members, the asessors, the events, I agree it doesnt make much sense to join.

I'm helping out in the Chapter organisation as well, so apart from the photography I have a lot of interaction with some members as we organise events, go scouting for locations, talk to museums and other parties. My biggest non-photograpy achievement for our chapter is to get a Euro 12.500 subsidy from the council of Rotterdam for our rockin rotterdam exibition. Good fun, very interesting and I've made some very interesting new friends along the way

Although we are the RPS Benelux chapter with only 55 members, the vast majority of our 55 members are nationals from all sort of other countries. So a very diverse crowd in terms of background, age, culture, age, experience, which I enjoy too.

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

You don't get the four letter suffix by paying 108GBP. There are three different levels of distinctions and it is really hard to pass and with every subsequent level it becomes so much harder. I'm working on the first level and I hope to submit my panel for final review February/March next year.

Although the suffix is nice, I'm more interested in improving my overall photography technique to meet RPS standards. (Which are probably amongst one of the most strict). Not everybody agrees to the RPS standards or to way they review images. But irrepsective of that, no matter what, when you are able to pass the distinciton bar so to speak, your photography is becoming pretty good. All distinction levels are reviewed against panels of 10-15 photographs which makes it a lot harder then a few individual images. Each image on it's own needs to be pretty much perfect and also the panel as a whole needs to perfectly alligned, balanced, consistent etc.

I am aware of what one has to do. Re the three levels of distinctions

Yes, unless one can regularly interact (f2f) with other members, half the charm is lost.

[i20ian]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Agree. Or specialist photography groups on social media.

Can you mention a few such groups where we can get honest feedback about our photos.

[Thad E Ginathom]

advice on camera bag please...

I'm imagining the most amount of gear I might end up owning and wanting to carry around. I end up with a mental picture of my Sony A6000, a modest-sized mirrorless, with its 55/210 lens fitted, on its back, in the middle. This requires the bag to accommodate a hight of 7 inches. Either side world be an H section for 2 lenses each. (or more if short and stacked.

The bag I have at the moment can do this with one lens either side of the camera and won't accommodate the needed hight.

It should be a shoulder bag, not a backpack, and should be as small as possible within the requirements.

Budget... Well, 2k would be nice of course, but I'd expect to use this for a long time, so 8-10k could be considered.

Don't mind including aliexpress as a source if I have a good first-hand recommendation

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

advice on camera bag please...
n

Whereas I tend to stick to my camera gear for a very long time, I have been buying and trying a fair number of camera bags over the years.

I have three camera bags, one a rug sack, but the other two are both Thinktank bags from their retrospective line up. Comes in different sizes and colours.

I have a small size (I believe the 5),it will hold my Olympus Pen F with one lens attached, with sufficient room for another not too big lens and some filters, batteries etc.

I also have one larger model (i believe the 10). It will hold my Olympus OMD 5 mkII with the 12-40,2.8mm apPro lens attached. It will also carry my 40-150, 2.8 Pro lens as well as a host of-other filter, batteries, cables, adapters etc. And I can place my small tripod across it as well.

These bags are not cheap, but I find them Extremely well made and versatile and they last for ever. Once I got my first Thinktank bag my trying out camera days were over. Just bought another one so I can adapt easily for different kind of shooting expeditions. Sorry, no idea if you can get them in India.

Good luck bag hunting.

Jeroen

[pnredkar]

I have a Kata mid-sized backpack for my Olympus EPL5, lenses and accessories with room to spare. The good part is the compartments are fully configurable. I bought it about 3 years ago on Amazon and have been using it ever since. I really like its build quality and configurability. They had a good collection of shoulder bags available in various sizes too. You can have a look at this brand apart from your usual suspects.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks... I am away from home today, but yes, I think Think Tank is available but might be a bit too expensive for me!

[sumathindra]

Stumbled on this thread and glad I did.

Last week i picked up a Nikon D800 with the nikon 70-200 vr 2 lens from an acquaintance. Finally took the plunge in the full frame world.

In the meanwhile, i managed to click this with my iPhone7 last evening from the office.

[earthian]

After dithering around for some months, i took the plunge and got a D 850 along with the 200-500mm f 5.6.

It is convenient to hand hold the 200-500mm for BIFs, though the D50 is quite demanding and doesn't forgive you for wrong technique.The D3s by comparison is more accommodative.

However, the 200-500mm sharpness is very good, especially in the centre of the lens.

The purple swamp hen has been taken with a 600mm prime and with the old D3s. IQ is of course better.

As i said, the 200-500mm gives one the freedom to capture BIFs and this gives one great satisfaction since it is quite difficult to to that with a heavy prime lens, even with a tripod and Gimberley head.

[swiftdiesel]

Guys, I recently gave my A6000 to my cousin because I got bored with it and want to try something new. I may be going against the mirrorless tide here but I'm kinda settling for the Nikon D3400 or the Canon EOS 1300D.

My priorities:
Landscape (nature, buildings) still photography with amazing colour rendition, bit of still night photography (will use tripod) and occasionally of my kids in movement.

I'm not fussed about action photography or burst mode; I'm not an action photographer. Also, I'm not fussed about videos either. I shoot videos on my phone and that's about it.

This camera is specifically for landscape photography captured in RAW for Lightroom edit. RAW will be the format 99% of the time.

My camera will spend months on end in the closet and when I want to use it, it should be good to go.

Not a deal breaker:
Wi-fi connectivity is not an issue. My workflow doesn't require wifi connection so I'm okay without it.

So which camera would you suggest taking into account the kit lens they come with? I'd like good bokkah effect shots.

Nikon D3400 or Canon Eos 1300D or some other mirrorless or any other?

I'm in a real dilemma now as I'm not ready to spend beyond 35k but I'm tilting towards the Nikon. Any pointers will be much appreciated.