Camera Labs

which lowepro bag did you get with it?

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Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200

it was a altus 160, its not that big but i like it for my purposes.
Will

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Nikon D90

Hello, i have a few questions about a post.



I've heard that i should buy a Pol-filter, but i've never known why. What does it do excactually?

Shutter release - I've seen a lot of signatures where it says they have a cheap chineese one. Where can i get these?

Tripod - I think i have one, that i used for my old Digital video camera. Would that possibly work for an a200? And what are they good to use for? The big one's are heavy to carry around, so i wouldn't be taking it outside my apartment. Would it be worth it anyway?

Thanks in advance, 0eyvind

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Sonyian?

My Flickr - Comments very welcome
Gear: a200, Sony 18-70 3.5-5.6 DT, Minolta 50 1.7 AF, Lowepro TLZ Mini, GorillaPod SLR Zoom
Saving for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM Macro II (50%)

Shutter release: The same place you get other cheap Chinese items: ebay!

Tripod: This is useful if you want to take long exposures without camera shake becoming a problem, or if you want to take multiple images from exactly the same position.

Polarising filter: see here

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

any tripod will do to be honest, but you need to pay more fore a truly sturdy one.

Will

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Nikon D90

wow a free bag....that's a bargain

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Gear:Sony Alpha a350, Sony H9, Nikon FM-10
Gear:CZ85mm F/1.4 Planar, CZ24-70mm F/2.8 T* ssm, Sony 70-200mm G F/2.8 ssm, Sony 50mm F/2.8 macro, Nikkor 35-70mm

Before buying a remote shutter release I had a dilemma - which one to buy, a cheap chinese one for 10$ on Ebay or a real thing from SonyStyle for 80$? At the end I decided to buy the real thing from Sony because I was worried about brokerage fees they could charge me at the border even if the item only costs 10 $. In addition, there is always a chance that a fake shutter release will perform unreliably and give you some trouble that you'd rather wish to avoid by paying more for the real thing.
For the polarizing filter, this is a must have for every photographer shooting outside on a sunny day. Essentially, when shooting sky with clouds or water scenery it saturates the colors dramatically and increases contrast. Lots of my shots would be just ordinary without a CPL. Also you can use it in cases when you want to get rid of unwanted reflections from the glass as, for example, shooting cars, windows etc.
For the tripod, I have a Manfrotto that I bought for 180$. It weighs about 1.4 kg and has a nice solid head. If you intend to use a telefoto lens on your camera with long exposures, this is the bottom price range you want to start with. The others are simply not stable enough for a heavy load (>1 kg). Sometimes I even find my tripod a little bit shaky with a telefoto lens zoomed in to 300mm. It gets worse on a windy day and I often have to bind a heavy stone to the bottom of the tripod rod to make it more steady. So in summary, test what you currently have and see if it is good enough for your purposes before investing more money in a good tripod.

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Sony A200
Sony A700
Tamron 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II
Minolta AF 50 F1.7
Minolta AF 50 F2.8
FLICKR

I got the cheap shutter release cable from China, and it works. In the UK at least, there is a value threshold below which there are no importing fees. A cable release by itself is way under that. Electrically there isn't much in the cable, there's a two stage mechanical switch just like the shutter button. So you can press half way before all the way. And the one I have is lockable too in case you want to do a long exposure.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Cool me thinks i might have to get one.

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Nikon D90

As far as tripods are concerned: get a good one! I have one which I've had since the days I still used a compact camera. It worked fine with that. But for a DSLR, which is obviously a lot heavier, it's not reliable. You don't want your gear to fall down while your taking a photo of your entire family with the camera on an unsteady tripod...
Still have to get one of those cable releases. I'd want the original though, and that's pretty expensive. I could also use the remote that comes with my camera, but that can't lock the shutter.

- Bjorn -

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