Anyone know of a "Friendly Photography Forum"?

I would give photo.net a try. Navigate to your camera manufacturers forum (ie Canon, Nikon, whatever) and hang out there for a while to get a feel for the type of people that are active. I am a Pentax user and found the people in that forum friendly and very helpful. Dpreview is another one you could check out. Good luck and enjoy your new camera !!!

Findmall has a sub forum for this.
The owner over there is crazy but most of the forum members are knowledgeable and nice.

http://www.findmall.com/list.php?36

I was into photography before I got into this hobby, got a Nikon D70 and a very nice Panasonic ZS6...somewhere.
For some reason I just never think about picking these things up when I have free time...now I dig in the dirt instead.
Gotta get back into this someday, I see great opportunities for pics almost every day in people, nature, objects and shapes.
Experiment, bracket your shots, you are not paying for film so take a ton of pics.
I would take 20 just to get one really good one and dump the rest if necessary.
Lenses...don't get me started on those, no matter what you have on a DSLR you see someone with a bigger one you can get "lens envy"
A polarizing filter is cheap and will give you the bluest skies among other great shots.
Sepia is cool, black and white even better and don't forget the macro setting...great for nature pics and also for showing off your finds.

Great hobby, digital is the best, enjoy yourself and keep clicking!

Thanks guys!

Nice photos Digger27!

I have multiple hobbies, most of which are weather and season independent, and some can be enjoyed around the clock, meshing with my nightowl nature. Seeing those photos helps me realize that there are things 'all around us, everywhere' that might make a nice photo. Both indoors and out. I agree with the 'free' aspect of shooting lots of digital photos. I've already shot over 50 just playing with and learning the camera's functions and settings. None were worth saving yet. Although I used film cameras long ago, I doubt I could ever embrace film again. I have to wonder who really 'prints' photos anymore? And since most I encounter are viewed electronically anyway, I can't see a reason not to like digital imagery.

Although I am more of a point and shoot, short on patience, person, I find all the options on these nicer cameras intriquing, and see them as a way to 'work around' whatever aspect of a 'simply shot' image goes sideways due to light, weather, etc. More tools in the tool box, so to speak, to try to help me get what I really wanted in the shot. I will probably experiment with each option as the need arises.

The one thing I always felt about point and shoot cameras is that the resulting image always placed the subject so far away. I always said if I ever did get a nice camera I would want a good telephoto zoom lens to help fill the frame better. So after hours of mind-numbing research, and a lengthy chat with our youngest son who also has a digital camera and a 70-300mm lens, I just got a new 55-250 mm lens with image stabilization. My camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T5, so I bought their 55-250 3rd generation lens to go with it. The 'kit' lens shipped with my camera is an 18-55mm which is nice, but I want more 'reach' after playing with it on distant targets.

I did look at one forum last night which seemed friendly, but the majority of their posts were 2-4 years ago. I like a forum that yields fairly quick answers to questions, like this one does. I'll look into the ones you guys have suggested. Thanks!

DIGGER27 said:

Findmall has a sub forum for this.
The owner over there is crazy but most of the forum members are knowledgeable and nice.

http://www.findmall.com/list.php?36

I was into photography before I got into this hobby, got a Nikon D70 and a very nice Panasonic ZS6...somewhere.
For some reason I just never think about picking these things up when I have free time...now I dig in the dirt instead.
Gotta get back into this someday, I see great opportunities for pics almost every day in people, nature, objects and shapes.
Experiment, bracket your shots, you are not paying for film so take a ton of pics.
I would take 20 just to get one really good one and dump the rest if necessary.
Lenses...don't get me started on those, no matter what you have on a DSLR you see someone with a bigger one you can get "lens envy"
A polarizing filter is cheap and will give you the bluest skies among other great shots.
Sepia is cool, black and white even better and don't forget the macro setting...great for nature pics and also for showing off your finds.

Great hobby, digital is the best, enjoy yourself and keep clicking!

Click to expand...

Nice pics Digger! I especially like the preying mantis! He looks contemplative.

GabbityGabby said:

Nice pics Digger! I especially like the preying mantis! He looks contemplative.

Click to expand...

I thought so to. Those are very cool. We had them on the farm up the road where I grew up, and they would often let us pick them up and study them before placing them back where they were. Also had a few "Walking Sticks" I remember.

Got the new 55-250mm lens today, and played with it some. My camera bundle came with an off-brand Digital Concepts 2.2X telephoto attachment that screws out onto the end of the lens. It works to provide very clear imagery on the kit 18-55mm lens. But I tried it on the end of the new 55-250 lens and for some reason it makes the image cloudy, almost like the lens is fogged up or something. Anyone know why this might be?

Of these 2 photos, the clear one is the new 55-250mm maxed out looking at a brush pile in the yard from cut up dead trees. (we had 10 Ash trees die from Emerald Ash Borer infestation in the area). The blurry one is the same shot taken with adding the adapter. I'm pretty happy with what the 55-250 is giving me, but I am curious what caused this effect? As far as I can tell, all the lenses are quite clear and clean.

Edit - Reading a similar issue posted over on photo.net, I can see that some information about the settings would be helpful. Being a newb, I used full Auto, and in fact these are shot through a triple pane glass door window (it's cold outside! ) but I did try opening the door and shooting some, it didn't make any difference. So being full auto, I don't know things like what f-stop, ISO, or other settings the camera decided to use here. Still learning all that. I did try adding manual focus on the blurry photo, after the AF kicked in, (this lens will let me do that) but it didn't help.

My uneducated guess is going to be that there is some sort of alignment issue between he cheap 2.2X adapter and the new 55-250 lens, but its odd that it doesn't do it with the 18-55 lens when I use the 2.2X adapter.

Hey, here's a "what if":

I know that, in my mini machining hobby, when using a laser center finder, if I don't take off my progressive bifocal glasses, I will "see" the laser dot on a crosshair layout when in fact it is NOT there. it is shifted over several mils in some direction. Caused by the glasses.

So........if something about that adapter causes the AF points to mis-align within the telephoto lens such that they aren't where the camera expects them to be, could that cause something like this? Especially on a subject with a lot of things at different distances away from me, like the branches and openings are in this brush pile.

OK, I said I didn't know what settings the camera used, but my slow memory (the wheels do turn, albeit very slowly ) finally reminded me how to know that. By looking at the photo file's EXIF data (which I have encountered in the past, before I got this camera).

So, here are the properties for the clear and blurred photo. Looks like the camera increased the shutter speed and ISO when using the adapter. As for why it would do that, I'm not yet at that level of understanding.

Solved!

Good old Google provides the answer!!

I decided to Google if anyone else had this problem. I learned that not only is this a bundle component, but it is listed as an item to buy on Amazon. And in the reviews of that, several people had the exact same problem when trying to use this on their 55-250mm lens.

So the issue is the adapter doesn't work added on to telephoto lenses that big. It seems to work fine for me on the 18-55mm lens, which is probably why it is in the bundled kit.

I made a living taking pics when you were limited to what you could afford to develop, aka. Film! Published several times.
Digital is wonderful and amazing, but it doesn't teach you how light is captured the way film or a photo 101 class at a local JC would.
Most rewarding class I ever took was basic photo. Also the best photos I ever took were in film, when I had to think about what I was doing. Digital is great and I really enjoy it, but removes some of the thinking process.
Adobe photoshop just furthers the removal of thought and planning prior to snapping the trigger.
Please understand, I'm not bashing digital, it is the way of today and the future.

Taking a photo is just like filling your kitchen sink with water, 2 things affect the final outcome . Shutter speed (how long you leave the water running, and aperture( the size of the opening the water is coming out of) if these to things aren't balanced the result won't be what you desire.
And also, your eye is the equivalent of a 50mm lens roughly, but a camera lense does not automatically adjust to bright or dim light the way your amazing eyes do. Have fun.

Thank you for the information.

In my uneducated humble opinion, digital is, for me, way more fun.

Great pictures!

Thanks for posting them.
HH,
John Morton

Having done professional photo and video, I can attest to some of the great advice given here. BTW, I picked up a Canon 70D bundle early last year for its awesome focus ability while shooting video. I have the same two lenses in my kit that you have. They are the STM variants which have stepper motor auto focus and are quieter. That is important for video if using the on camera mic. The downside is they use an electronic focus ring that spins indefinitely rather than a marked focus ring with end stops.

There is a lot to learn about optics and their strengths and limitations. Canon makes a very good 50mm prime lens that isn't too expensive for the APS-C cameras which is what yours is. Note that Canon EF lenses are designed for full frame sensors and the EF-S lenses are for APS-C sensors. You can mount an EF lens on your camera and it will work, but will be more telephoto than it would be on a full frame sensor.

Oh, and GOOD GLASS is what makes a camera great. It's not uncommon for good lenses to cost 3 to 4 times what the body alone costs.

The haze in that photo with the adapter on front of lens appears to be light contamination. Basically, the adapter is bouncing light all over the inside of the multi element zoom lens. A good lens hood will help somewhat.


Lots to learn. Have fun and learn a lot!

I use the one on Findmall. Its not super busy, but it has gotten a bigger following in the last year or so. I have also used ugly hedge hog.com which has much more traffic.

papaharley03 said:

Having done professional photo and video, I can attest to some of the great advice given here. BTW, I picked up a Canon 70D bundle early last year for its awesome focus ability while shooting video. I have the same two lenses in my kit that you have. They are the STM variants which have stepper motor auto focus and are quieter. That is important for video if using the on camera mic. The downside is they use an electronic focus ring that spins indefinitely rather than a marked focus ring with end stops.

There is a lot to learn about optics and their strengths and limitations. Canon makes a very good 50mm prime lens that isn't too expensive for the APS-C cameras which is what yours is. Note that Canon EF lenses are designed for full frame sensors and the EF-S lenses are for APS-C sensors. You can mount an EF lens on your camera and it will work, but will be more telephoto than it would be on a full frame sensor.

Oh, and GOOD GLASS is what makes a camera great. It's not uncommon for good lenses to cost 3 to 4 times what the body alone costs.

The haze in that photo with the adapter on front of lens appears to be light contamination. Basically, the adapter is bouncing light all over the inside of the multi element zoom lens. A good lens hood will help somewhat.


Lots to learn. Have fun and learn a lot!

Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for that tip! I had thought about getting a lens hood too when I ordered the new lens, but wasn't sure I would find it useful. Can you speculate that the actual reason the light contamination bouncing light around in the longer lens is in fact because it is longer? And that would be why, on the 18-t5mm lens I don't see it?

One thing I did not think to try when I added that adapter was to zoom back out to its 55mm length to see if the blurring was affected. At the time I was 'stretching the legs' of my new telephoto lens to see just how much zoom I could squeeze out of it, so I wasn't thinking about shorter zoom. I'll check that now nust to satisfy my curiousity. I am content with the 2.2x adapter 'not being compatible' with this lens, but I like learning how and why things happen the way they do.

What's the difference in performance between a flower shaped lens hood and one that is not sculpted at the end? Would a rubber hood be a good choice? I read that the tulip style hoods can rotate with the focus, causing light to get into the insets between its lobes and affecting the shot.

Midknight said:

I use the one on Findmall. Its not super busy, but it has gotten a bigger following in the last year or so. I have also used ugly hedge hog.com which has much more traffic.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll look into those as well. So far on the 2 forums mentioned above, even what I believe are the beginner posts are chock full of settings and techno jargon. Over time I hope to understand a lot of that. But up front it is very intimidating.

I am reading the Rebel T5 For Dummies book my wife had the forethought to include with my gift. It is helping a lot, and a much easier read than the technical and sahara-dry content of user manuals. I'm approaching the middle of the book, where I just got into learning about aperture, shutter, and ISO settings and how they interact. I shot about 150 photos last night experimenting in my 'lab' hands on with the camera to try out the modes and settings being discussed. It is strange to be able to shoot a several seconds long shutter exposure in the dark, and yet have a fully illuminated photo produced as a result. I wanted to make sure the remote shutter gizmo included worked OK on a tripod shot.

So far the only 'shortcoming' I've felt I encountered is that some specific settings (fortunately not too many) are not accessible in Live View, but require the viewfinder. I guess I'm spoiled, but when I upgraded years ago to a Sharp Viewcam camcorder, and then cameras afterward and of course cell phones which all had LCD displays, I pretty much abandoned viewfinders and never looked back. Because I wear bifocals, using a viewfinder seems a pain to do. Just like using binoculars for me, which require removal of my glasses. They should make viewfinders a lot bigger, and perhaps set further toward the user, like on some camcorders, in order for me to feel comfortable using one. Through my glasses, I just can't seem to get 'close enough' to be comfortable using a viewfinder. Just my opinion.

FerroZoan said:

Thanks! I'll look into those as well. So far on the 2 forums mentioned above, even what I believe are the beginner posts are chock full of settings and techno jargon. Over time I hope to understand a lot of that. But up front it is very intimidating.

I am reading the Rebel T5 For Dummies book my wife had the forethought to include with my gift. It is helping a lot, and a much easier read than the technical and sahara-dry content of user manuals. I'm approaching the middle of the book, where I just got into learning about aperture, shutter, and ISO settings and how they interact. I shot about 150 photos last night experimenting in my 'lab' hands on with the camera to try out the modes and settings being discussed. It is strange to be able to shoot a several seconds long shutter exposure in the dark, and yet have a fully illuminated photo produced as a result. I wanted to make sure the remote shutter gizmo included worked OK on a tripod shot.

So far the only 'shortcoming' I've felt I encountered is that some specific settings (fortunately not too many) are not accessible in Live View, but require the viewfinder. I guess I'm spoiled, but when I upgraded years ago to a Sharp Viewcam camcorder, and then cameras afterward and of course cell phones which all had LCD displays, I pretty much abandoned viewfinders and never looked back. Because I wear bifocals, using a viewfinder seems a pain to do. Just like using binoculars for me, which require removal of my glasses. They should make viewfinders a lot bigger, and perhaps set further toward the user, like on some camcorders, in order for me eto feel comfortable using one. Through my glasses, I just can't seem to get 'close enough' to be comfortable using a viewfinder. Just my opinion.

Click to expand...

When I shot with the T3s viewfinder I usually have to take off my glasses. :-)

Midknight said:

When I shot with the T3s viewfinder I usually have to take off my glasses. :-)

Click to expand...

Nice to know I'm not the only one who sees it this way. Thanks!