# photography preferences



## agent A (Oct 29, 2012)

please take the survey! lemme know what u think!! feel free to comment


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## hopefoot (Oct 29, 2012)

I'd answer. But. You need to answer each question and the first 3 don't apply to me. I hate flash, rarely use it, much prefer natural light.


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## agent A (Oct 29, 2012)

sorry everyone, question 1 was supposed to say "focus" not flash, i fixed it now lol


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## hopefoot (Oct 29, 2012)

Okay, I need distraction from Sandy. And Lucy seems to be freaking out too.

Focus - depends on the situation. I let the camera do it mostly but sometimes it picks a spot I don't want. Then I switch to manual.

Flash - I avoid it like the plague.

Special accessories - none, I like to keep it simple otherwise it feels like work.

Background - simple if I can get it and if it's too busy I'll try to find a way to tone it down. Shallow depth of field or change the angle. Busy backgrounds rarely work.

Focus stacking - love it and would like to try it.

Cleaning products? Yeah, my sleeve. No, seriously I use a cloth that's attached to my camera in a little bag so it's always there - like this one http://mightygoods.com/archives/2010/01/stuff-ittm-microfiber-lens-cleaning-cloth I'll eventually get my DSLR cleaned professionally. I tried but I made it worse.

I buy most of my stuff online.

I can only review what I've used and so far that's been a Konica Minolta bridge camera, a Pentax DSLR and a Nikon bridge camera. Of them all I liked the Konica the best. I can't afford the really good glass for the Pentax and what I get with the kit lenses is comparable to what I get with the Nikon bridge camera so I use the Nikon as my main camera now. And that's only because the Konica is beat to heck from years of use.

I've asked a few pros that have been in the business a long time. Most major brands cameras are comparable nowadays. And most are built like ###### unless you want to get all ridiculous and go for a Hasselblad or some such.


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## hopefoot (Oct 29, 2012)

OMG you can't even say crop with an A?


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## twolfe (Oct 29, 2012)

Hopefoot, isn't it funny that word is filtered here? A mod typed it in the chatroom and had to laugh it was filtered.

Agent A, I filled out your survey...partly because I'm interested in how many Canon shooters we have. By the way, Canon only has one n.

Hard to answer some of the questions though. I personally don't use stacking software, but I have nothing against it. I love some of the results I have seen. I tried it but found that it didn't work well with the mantis models I was using as they sway too much or move their antennae. I know many use deadstock for some types of insects.

I mostly buy my equipment online. But when I was upgrading from a prosumer model to a professional camera body back in 2007, the online companies I deal with would not allow pre orders and they wouldn't create a waiting list. When the new Canon pro bodies come out, there is often a wait to get them. Perhaps it's intentional. Anyway, a local camera company did put me on a waiting list, and I ended up buying from them after a three month wait.

I forgot to mark that I use a macro twin lite. Also, I wasn't sure if you were only referring to photographing insects. I have a lot of accessories that I use for other types of photography.


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## OctoberRainne (Oct 30, 2012)

I need to do one of these as well,a poll I always want to know what other people prefer,but I find for macro not many people shoot with Nikons. Stacking is well worth it but it takes a ton of time,but for the set up I have,if I want to shoot a mantis in full and get the legs and chest in focus you have to stack,or crank up the F stops which makes more noise and less light,I just use Photoshop to stack cuz I don't shoot with a tripod,I tried all the nice Helicon Pro programs and all those that stack for you but it messed up too many times in aligning them so more work for me to correct than to have layer masks in PS all together. A diffuser of any sort is definitely on a must have no matter what you are shooting,outside of people for me,I don't have a fancy macro flash yet but reallly great as well if you have the money to invest in one. Another thing I'd like to add is for editing a really nice program to buy that is a PS plug in is the Topaz Adjust series,I don't edit without using it now,really nice poll questions btw


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## Mëluzynn (Nov 21, 2012)

For mantid I can use manual focus but for rats or fishes, always automatic, they move to fast.

Built in flash for my Nikon D90 but I also use a flash diffuser, build in flash for the Panasonic Lumix TZ31 and for iPhone (4, soon 5)

I also have Photojojo and Olloclip macro lenses for the iPhone.

And I always buy my stuff in a small local specialised shop, I'm always afraid to buy such expensive things online.


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