Gear discussion thread v. "I got some new gear and I got to post it here" - General

always preferred up front payment if you can afford to do it. contracts never really worked out too well for me if you buy up front and get a good sim plan/payg it would work out cheaper far as i can tell, but it all depends on if you can drop that cost on a phone atm. i think with the 64gb plus theyd be pretty close in cost but yeah

I havent had a proper contract in years, I usually get my dads old phones and just use pay as you go at the moment im using a HTC Desire HD, which has been dropped in a lake, dropped on the floor hundreds of times and is still working perfectly fine till this day. (camera is okay on it too)

You Brits and your ability to buy phones upfront. I have no choice for a contract with Verizon, no SIM cards

My new lens (the 50 1.4) appears to be front focusing, need to test more to be sure, but my camera doesn't have any AF fine tune options. If it is actually focusing incorrectly, is there any option beyond sending it in for repairs/a new one?

If you send it in they will just calibrate the focus with your camera. It doesn't need to be repaired, it's just the combo which isn't always perfect. Plus your AF sensors are not optimized for f2.8 or wider, so it's hard to nail focus wide open at f1.4 (honestly with any camera). AF microadjust is one of the best features of higher end bodies honestly

Damn. Guess I'll have to not use the lens (or only use it in live view) for a while, cuz I'm going on vacation soon, and I can't really send off my camera and get it back in time.

your body probably doesn't really focus that well at 1.4, yeah. i can't focus out of live view with my 50 but i have never bothered to check whether or not it's actually a problem with the lens of the body because i probably wouldn't hit focus if i didn't zoom in on LV anyways [editline]30th September 2014[/editline] live view is great for nailing focus

[QUOTE=Roll_Program;46108511]Fuck dude that's £1200 and you're stuck paying it for 24 months regardless of if the phone breaks or anything.[/QUOTE] i know it's risky and i'm not 100% on it yet but this galaxy s3 is killing me and i can't afford the upfront hit on the iphone. can always sell it on if dont break it.

Nexus 5 master race [editline]30th September 2014[/editline] it's like half the price of every other flagship phone too

I quite like my HTC One M8. Especially considering I won it.

[QUOTE=Kabstrac;46109962]I bought a THL T11 China droid and its pretty awesome actually. Also, swapped my X20 for a Ricoh GR[/QUOTE] Dude you had that X20 for all of a day haha. To be fair the Ricoh GR is also a cracking camera. I'm still using a Nexus 4 at the moment but the goddamn USB port is on the verge of breaking. Not sure what I'm gonna do when it does kick the bucket. Might see if I can get a 5C or something..

[QUOTE=roflcakes;46112570]Dude you had that X20 for all of a day haha. To be fair the Ricoh GR is also a cracking camera. I'm still using a Nexus 4 at the moment but the goddamn USB port is on the verge of breaking. Not sure what I'm gonna do when it does kick the bucket. Might see if I can get a 5C or something..[/QUOTE] +1 on Nexus 4, it was pretty ahead of its time. [editline]30th September 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Kabstrac;46113206]I kner dude, and I just didn't feel it. To be fair, I spent that whole day taking photos with it ;). The Ricoh GR however, just feels right to me[/QUOTE] Good call, bigger sensor and better lens. Are you going to get an EVF?

im excited for android l. .raw support :)

I'm excited for having a phone that can do things

[QUOTE=.Lain;46113946]im excited for android l. .raw support :)[/QUOTE] Just because my phones potato cam can now shoot RAW doesn't mean that the photos will look like they weren't taken with a potato. I guess it's a bigger deal if you've got an S5 or Z3 though.

didn't say it would [editline]30th September 2014[/editline] i hate how the only way to get any detail in shadows with my phone is through the aggressive HDR which looks like vom maybe i can do a little more if raw shooting and manual controls are implemented properly

Might make people care more about lens quality, dynamic range and noise performance, rather than megapixels, when considering phones by their camera. [editline]30th September 2014[/editline] HTC tried that "ultrapixel" technique to try and market fewer but larger pixels for greater noise performance, but that kinda fizzled out into nothing.

[QUOTE=.Lain;46115066]didn't say it would [editline]30th September 2014[/editline] i hate how the only way to get any detail in shadows with my phone is through the aggressive HDR which looks like vom maybe i can do a little more if raw shooting and manual controls are implemented properly[/QUOTE] Well if you bring up the shadows they will probably be pretty noisy due to the small sensor. Not sure about your phone but all my shots on my iPhone I use the auto HDR, looks natural enough and I increase the contrast to give it a less "toned" look.

there's also a loss of detail in highlights i can't possibly recover in a JPEG file, regardless of how noisy it'll be (noise won't bother me that much anyways)

bought an UG lens from keh, and they lived up to the promise [img]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3928/15229415400_82a71a5689_c.jpg[/img] don't buy UG lenses lol

i just pulled the trigger on a sony a6000 and sigma 30mm f2.8 dn. ahhhh :rock:

how do I find out whether the autofocus on my camera is as competent as a dead ferret or if that sort of performance is actually normal?

Focus on something, take the shot, then check the image to see if it was actually in focus.

It's able to focus. but not all of the time The chance that the af will do its job well seems inversely proportional to the distance of whatever it is i'm telling it to focus on

So the closer you are to the wall, the better it will focus?

Sounds like most autofocus systems, you've just got to stop down a bit to get good focus

[QUOTE=Trogdon;46151306]Sounds like most autofocus systems, you've just got to stop down a bit to get good focus[/QUOTE] Yeah now that I think about it, it may have something to do with my habit of keeping a wide aperture always

Not a bad habit, but most cams can't nail focus wide open exactly spot on. Some cameras have AF sensors optimized for f2.8 or wider, but most are around f4 so they can't detect minute focus inaccuracies. If your camera has live view you can try and use that, it should nail focus a bit more accurately because of the nature of CDAF, if a bit slower

got my rangefinder! [img]https://d324imu86q1bqn.cloudfront.net/uploads/asset/attachment/449614/optimized.jpg[/img] i gotta start selling some stuff does anyone want a kiev 60 with some filters? [editline]4th October 2014[/editline] oh i also got a 100 pack of 8x10 FB paper for 18 bux

[QUOTE=notlabbet;46152975]got my rangefinder! does anyone want a[B] kiev 60 [/B]with some filters? [editline]4th October 2014[/editline] oh i also got a 100 pack of 8x10 FB paper for 18 bux[/QUOTE] That camera is cartoon big.