Quite a while ago I told you that you probably have the worst lens-to-posted photo ratio on this forum Since then, you have been posting quite a lot of photos (and sold some lenses?), so I have to take it back.
Ah, I see. Actually I just don't post all my photos. If I did this place would be 40 or 50% my photos. With each prime lens I get I:
Clean it if it needs,
Put it on the rez chart if it's under 300mm and over 19mm (5 to 10 images)
Test it for fringing and CA at close focusing distances (indoors) 10 to 20 more images)
Shoot with it on my camera for 1 day all wide open if possible (300 images)
If it shows promise from there then 2 more days on the camera at appropriate apertures (more 600 images)
Next lens - unless I'm going to a specific event and wanna bring that particular one for some reason.
The exception is zoom lenses where I only shoot with it the first day and do both wide open shooting and also aperture appropriate shots and then shelf it. All my lenses are mentally designated as "for sale" after the third day - but I sometimes go for a month or two without posting any FS threads or auctions. Mostly I try only to post images from lenses which were surprising or produced unexpectedly good results. Those or trendy ones like the C/Y Zeiss's. As I see it everyone already knows the popular ones so what's the point. Also almost every lens looks awesome at f/8 so I see no point in posting those either - usually. It would be different if I were posting in capture forums like Wildlife, Landscape, Macro, etc. and not the gear forum here (aka: Alt.).
Interesting to hear people's idea about how this forum being a gear forum, and distinction between the 'presentation' forum vs 'gear' forum. I admit that I do not treat alt forum like a gear forum, but I treat it more like a place to see photos happen to be captured with certain gear. I have tried the presentation forum in the past, from some reason, that portion of FM so far still has not been quite satisfying or grabbed my attention long enough. Challenge is that although I like gear, I am not that interested in 'gear talk' either. IOW, between talking about brush and painting, I am much more interested in painting, but presentation forum is not focused in the way I am interested in. So, for now, I come here to enjoy seeing others works, and posting my works. And, Carsten named this tread as 'photos and discussion' so I pretend that is ok.
Well yes, it is more than okay, it is the intent! I am the same, I love the gear talk, but only accompanied by suitable photos. Just gear talk is empty, just photos doesn't hold my interest (unless it is at an exceedingly high level). Photos and stories would also be quite interesting, but to find a hobbyist who shoots great photos and writes very well is just too much to hope for in general. I get that from blogs, mainly.
Gunzorro wrote:
Carsten -- Your pictures are looking a lot more believable. I like the color and lighting, not "HDR-looking".
Thanks, Jim! I am still experimenting, but I was quite happy with how these turned out, so maybe I am getting closer... I still find it a bit tricky to control contrast and especially outside foliage green, via Photomatix Pro. I have been playing a little with Samuli's mini-tutorial from a while back, and find it gives results quite similar to what I get myself, but slightly different, and via a different path. Interesting.
akul wrote:
Interesting to hear people's idea about how this forum being a gear forum, and distinction between the 'presentation' forum vs 'gear' forum. I admit that I do not treat alt forum like a gear forum, but I treat it more like a place to see photos happen to be captured with certain gear. I have tried the presentation forum in the past, from some reason, that portion of FM so far still has not been quite satisfying or grabbed my attention long enough. Challenge is that although I like gear, I am not that interested in 'gear talk' either. IOW, between talking about brush and painting, I am much more interested in painting, but presentation forum is not focused in the way I am interested in. So, for now, I come here to enjoy seeing others works, and posting my works. And, Carsten named this tread as 'photos and discussion' so I pretend that is ok....Show more →
carstenw wrote:
Well yes, it is more than okay, it is the intent! I am the same, I love the gear talk, but only accompanied by suitable photos. Just gear talk is empty, just photos doesn't hold my interest (unless it is at an exceedingly high level). Photos and stories would also be quite interesting, but to find a hobbyist who shoots great photos and writes very well is just too much to hope for in general. I get that from blogs, mainly.
Yeah, The presentation forums move too fast for me without enough chit-chat for my tastes. I'm still wanting to learn stuff and am interested in other people's opinions (of lenses). The format in Alt seems to be very well established: Lens commentary and opinion based on image samples from that lens on one or more formats - Sometimes it gets scientific and mathematical too which is great IMO!
The presentation forums here are consistently the highest quality I've seen at any forum. Especially when considering the number of people posting in them! But the format is really fast paced and has a lot to do with dues. It's post an image and remark on 10 or so other people's posts with something like "Good Job" and/or an interesting joke. And round-robin till the thread moves off section one : page one - which can be in just a matter of hours in some cases - typically 20 or so hrs. Only about one in 50 threads goes into any gear or processing talk typically.
Again, I'd stress that the presentation forums here are ultra-high level comparatively! Most of it is over my abilities - especially considering the consistency aspect of it all. But lens' image samples only have to show some interesting aspect of the lens being discussed - hopefully in a pleasant and/or artistic slash creative way. And I can almost do that - sometimes.
EDIT: Although checking just now for the 1st time in 4 or 5 months there seems to be a lot of new folks posting in the presentation forums not really up to the caliber of what I typically saw in past times. So maybe it's gone down a little?
carstenw wrote:
Well yes, it is more than okay, it is the intent! I am the same, I love the gear talk, but only accompanied by suitable photos. Just gear talk is empty, just photos doesn't hold my interest (unless it is at an exceedingly high level). Photos and stories would also be quite interesting, but to find a hobbyist who shoots great photos and writes very well is just too much to hope for in general. I get that from blogs, mainly.
I couldn't agree more with both you and Luka. While I am not into MTF charts I greatly appreciate the input that those who are offer. At the end of the day I want to know about gear that will help me decide what I want to try out but despite all the gear talk, it's the images that do it for me. Talk all you want about gear but let's see the result. FM is a great example of this throughout this site but I've learned the most in the alt forum and threads like this one.
carstenw wrote:
Well yes, it is more than okay, it is the intent! I am the same, I love the gear talk, but only accompanied by suitable photos. Just gear talk is empty, just photos doesn't hold my interest (unless it is at an exceedingly high level). Photos and stories would also be quite interesting, but to find a hobbyist who shoots great photos and writes very well is just too much to hope for in general. I get that from blogs, mainly.
Not sure I'm good enough for either the photos or the writing but its a beginning although I'm not sure its what you meant....
Bifurcator wrote:
EDIT: Although checking just now for the 1st time in 4 or 5 months there seems to be a lot of new folks posting in the presentation forums not really up to the caliber of what I typically saw in past times. So maybe it's gone down a little?
Don't be surprised, that happens with everything eventually.
