[Piotr M]

December 19, 2010 at 10:16 am

Something like 300mm f/2.8 would be great. Cheaper? Maybe nikon 300/4 or sigma 100-300/4. With f/4 you won’t get much improvement though.
All depends on €€€€ you can spend.

[Piotr M]

November 28, 2010 at 4:41 pm

So get sigma 70mm, tokina 100mm or tamron 90mm if you can’t afford older canon 100mm (non-IS). This canon appears to be the best choice though. A focal lenght of 50mm is not enough for many macro shots. Working distance is just couple of cm’s. Don’t waste your money.

[Piotr M]

November 28, 2010 at 4:36 pm

I’d consider also d5000 or new d3100. Not too bad cameras either. Picture from d5000 is the same if you compare with d90 or d300. All depends on the purpose and the gear you plan to use this camera with. For ordinary amateur like me d5000 is good enough. Sometimes even better than d90 (I miss the time lapse function which is present in d5000). I tend to focus more on the quality lenses than the fancy camera bodies.
For recording video I would go for canon i.e. 550d (I am a nikon user, d90 is in my bag).

[Piotr M]

September 26, 2010 at 7:40 am

K-x has pentamirror viewfinder. Not the best one for manual focusing. Lens is OK, however, I’d try to find something with AF like 50/1.7. These kind of lenses are very cheap in general. It won’t be difficult to find one.

The camera is very good though. Get some eneloop accus and enjoy photography.

[Piotr M]

September 7, 2010 at 9:31 pm

MMX wrote:

Piotr M wrote:

Get cheap nikkor 18-70 or even better 18-105VR. Good lenses and 67mm filters will fit. They cost less then 1/2 price of this sigma. You also save a lot on filters.
For 400€ you can get nikons 16-85vr or 18-200vr (get them second hand or from Poland).

Have you ever heard the sentence “you get what you pay for”? :wink:

markclehane: It´s not a bad lens, should be good for landscapes, but too slow for weddings. If you look for a second hand Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.8, you should be able to get them for €415 and the results will be much better. Or if you don´t shoot weddings so frequently, buy this Sigma and for the wedding borrow something else.

It is not a bad idea. I use 18-70 for ‘ordinary’ and outdor shots, and 35/1.8g or 50/1.8d in low light conditions. Nikon 18-70 is very cheap, but with reliable AF (better than sigma’s) and acceptable/good resolution. Unlike 18-135 or 18-105 it is equipped with metal bayonet. Probably better AF too (at least better than 18-105 – I had one too).

Sigma is tempting people with f2.8 on wide end, but it is 2.8 only up to 23mm. At 24mm f/3.2 and f3.5 at 28mm.
In price of one sigma 17-70 OS two nikons 18-70 (or 18-105) and 35/1.8g can be bought. I like 35/1.8g, because it is sharp wide open and fast.

For serious wedding photographer I’d suggest nikon 17-55/2.8 or something faster. Sigma or tamron 17-50/2.8 are kind of alternatives, but ‘you get what you paid for’. This is sad, but true…

[Piotr M]

September 5, 2010 at 9:24 am

Get cheap nikkor 18-70 or even better 18-105VR. Good lenses and 67mm filters will fit. They cost less then 1/2 price of this sigma. You also save a lot on filters.
For 400€ you can get nikons 16-85vr or 18-200vr (get them second hand or from Poland).

[Piotr M]

August 23, 2010 at 4:29 pm

http://www.adverts.ie/275457/lenses/nikon-af-60mm-micro-f28-d-lens/#comment-2075229″ onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
This is not my advert. I’d buy it for myself, but I’m abroad at the moment, so grab the bargain!

[Piotr M]

July 25, 2010 at 6:08 am

This camera is a joke. Works with AA accus, which are heavy and less efficient than dedicated Li-ion. You need a good one, because K-x is like a spoiled kid and won’t take anything but sanyo enelops.
I agree, that choice should be driven by ‘needs’. For astrophotography canon is the best option. Nikon works better with cheap thirdparties like sigma. Just use search option and google. Question like this one is repeated endlessly.

[Piotr M]

July 15, 2010 at 5:09 pm

16-35 or 17-40 would not give you much difference on 50d comparing to 17-85. Meaningless to buy them now. 16mm on FX is about the same like 10mm on APS-C.
They are sharper than our 17-85 but not wider on 50d.
Sigma 12-24mm is not very sharp, but it has well corrected geometry (I had one). Forget about using filters with this sigma :( No filter thread.
I would go for something aps-c for now. May be second hand. Once you get 5d you will replace it with 16-35mm.
It is easier to get good WA lens for nikon. For nikon d700 you could get also cheap tamron 17-35 or sigma 17-35 HSM lenses. These are an excellent lenses, but not for canon… For canon 5d only 17-40 or 16-35. Second option is better.

[Piotr M]

July 13, 2010 at 5:59 pm

Only sigma 12-24mm. There is no other option.

[Piotr M]

July 5, 2010 at 8:35 am

What exactly are you looking for? Zoom or prime? MF or AF? DX or FX? €?
I guess it would help.

[Piotr M]

July 4, 2010 at 9:12 pm

Mark wrote:

Its not confirmed that this is a spammer…

The poster also has a flickr account etc…

No offence, but this is one of the oldest scams in The Internet (so called Nigerian Scam). A good admin should have heard about it…
I think that some period and minimum of activity on this board wouldn’t do any harm to the new members.
To all users – I would suggest you to use paypal when you send something abroad.

[Piotr M]

June 23, 2010 at 3:45 pm

Very well explained Damien. Can’t write much more. I tried couple of times to use my 50mm f/1.8d nikon lense for head shots. We weren’t happy with results. Model had a big nose or balloon-like cheek. Half or full body shots are great. I think 60mm on DX/APS-C camera is a minimum focal lenght for head only portrait, but I’d recommend more (like 70-100mm).
Macro lenses may be too sharp for portrait, but it is easier to blur and lose details than to sharpen blurred photo. Macro lenses usually generate a nice bokeh.

[Piotr M]

June 22, 2010 at 10:49 pm

Tamron 60mm f/2. Also a macro lens with motor. Manual lenses are difficult to focus with a viewfinder like in d5000.
Nikon AF-S 60mm f2.8 – very nice and sharp.
Samyang 84mm f/1.4 UMC version. It has a built in chip. Lens is with manual focus, but thanks to chip metering works and proper exif data are given. Lens is cheap and very good.

[Piotr M]

May 26, 2010 at 9:50 am

You can try. For such high resolution DVI or HDMI are the right choices. The difference in picture sharpness is significant.
With short high quality cable it may be not so bad, but not as good as with the cheapest HDMI wire. HDMI is a digital connection whereas VGA is an old analog standard, which doesn’t work great for higher resolutions.