p.3 #3 · What was the last photography revelation or discovery you had?
Vic Fontaine wrote:
That's fantastic! One bit of advice I've picked up is to stay on top of culling images. As you're aware 20fps with a healthy buffer can add up to increased storage needs. The pre-2026 saying used to be "storage is cheap" but right now that's not the case.
Here's a link to a video by Steve Perry on his method to cull large volumes of images in Lightroom that may be helpful in some way. If you don't use Lightroom there's still lots of valuable camera/birding/wildlife tips there, if this interests you. Happy shooting!
Lightroom is about as bad a tool as can be for the job. The 100% previews are slow to load, and that catalog thing is the worst software feature ever. I evaluated most culling tools, free and paid, other than PhotoMechanic which is asking for an unreasonable amount of money for what they offer, and landed on FastRawViewer. For under $20 one time fee you end up with a culler that is LIGHTING FAST, as instantaneous 100% previews as you can get. The default keyboard shortcuts are stupid, and require CTRL modifier keys for almost everything. Fortunately this thing is almost infinitely customizable and once you incur the pain of initial setup it is a pleasure to use. The fact that the star and color ratings transfer straight to Adobe Bridge is a very nice touch. Couple that with FastCopy and you have a very light and reasonably priced culling setup.
I can easily rack up 5k images in a span of 3 days when I am at one of the local wildlife reserves. I usually cull that down to well under 100 images when everything is said and done. And once I develop better confidence in my process I should be able to bring that down to no more than 50.
p.3 #4 · What was the last photography revelation or discovery you had?
That when you put a hood intended for a 105mm lens on a 35mm lens the result is unexpected, but shouldn't have been.
Well, strictly speaking, the last discovery I had was this thread : Confessions of the Newly-Educated. But I hope it isn't literally the last because there are many new things I could learn or discover.
p.3 #5 · What was the last photography revelation or discovery you had?
Can't say it's the most recent, but when I learned how to recognize, mitigate (when possible), and sometime accept atmospherics...it made a really big impact on my shooting. Probably up there with learning to compose for my vision instead of what others want.
p.3 #6 · What was the last photography revelation or discovery you had?
Outstanding wrote:
For me, it was the weight balance of the Z 70–200 S lens. On paper, it’s much heavier than the Sony GM II, but in hand it felt almost the same. I passed on some great second-hand deals and now I’m kicking myself.
I wouldn't necessarily feel too bad. I picked up a friend's Sony GM II on their Sony body and had to do a double take on account of how light it is, and I felt it was pretty decently balanced too. The handling party trick of the Nikon Z 70-200 lens isn't the weight or even the balance, it's the relative skinniness of the barrel. Same basic girth of the 70-200 VR-G series 1 without that lens's extreme length or front-heaviness and very noticeably easier to hold than the 100-400 or either of the later F-mount 70-200 models, more like the balance of the 80-200 AF-D two ring but with better controls.
And the good news is, the series II of the Z model is being rumored, so you will hopefully soon get to choose between the series II version or what I assume will be a lot more good used deals on the series I.
p.3 #7 · What was the last photography revelation or discovery you had?
It was finding I could get serviceable 12x18" prints or even higher off 35mm film without having to jump to medium format/TLR type cameras if I was careful enough on technique, lens choice and aperture selection. Of course this meant going against my parents'/grandparents'/etc preference for 400ISO print film, and using Kodachrome 64 and Fujichrome 100, and it also meant the early digital cameras were rather unsatisfying with their ISO 200 base and weak highlight control, but today's ISO64 base, high resolution cameras are like getting K64 D-range with extra resolution and image stabilization. I'll take it.
Also discovering fairly early on that it was possible to beat the reciprocal shutter speed rule on handholding if one was careful enough.
Oh, and that bad weather and even more, very changeable weather, makes for better landscape photos.
p.3 #9 · What was the last photography revelation or discovery you had?
Wezre wrote:
This was certainly not a new revelation for me. And yet I keep trying for some reason...
A related revelation, for me, is that no matter how bad I think I suck at photography, nobody will come to take my cameras away, or stop me from buying more.
p.3 #10 · What was the last photography revelation or discovery you had?
That I grow weary of the chase (buy/sell).
And that while I love the way cameras like the X-E5 and Zf look, bodies like the X-H2 and Z5ii are much more pleasurable to shoot.
p.3 #12 · What was the last photography revelation or discovery you had?
Lightroom is about as bad a tool as can be for the job. The 100% previews are slow to load, and that catalog thing is the worst software feature ever. I evaluated most culling tools, free and paid, other than PhotoMechanic which is asking for an unreasonable amount of money for what they offer, and landed on FastRawViewer. For under $20 one time fee you end up with a culler that is LIGHTING FAST, as instantaneous 100% previews as you can get. The default keyboard shortcuts are stupid, and require CTRL modifier keys for almost everything. Fortunately this thing is almost infinitely customizable and once you incur the pain of initial setup it is a pleasure to use. The fact that the star and color ratings transfer straight to Adobe Bridge is a very nice touch. Couple that with FastCopy and you have a very light and reasonably priced culling setup.
I can easily rack up 5k images in a span of 3 days when I am at one of the local wildlife reserves. I usually cull that down to well under 100 images when everything is said and done. And once I develop better confidence in my process I should be able to bring that down to no more than 50....Show more →
Sounds like a nice alternative for high volumes of images. My usual shooting currently doesn't require nearly as many shots to go through compared to yours. Still, I see that it also displays the raw image and histogram, nice feature. While I may not need it I'll still take a further look into this one, thanks!
