Tony, Lou, Chili, Dave and other Digital Cam Types.. Help?

[Okiewan]

BTW.. I know you said you shoot a lot of high speed-low light stuff Carlo; as good as the 20 is, there is still noise in the shadows and darker areas. If you haven't already seen it/got it, you REALLY need to check-out "Noise Ninja" Stupid name AWESOME (software) product. They have a stand-alone version and one that comes with Photoshop plug-in. Works really well.

http://www.picturecode.com/index.htm

Then again, with that BAD-ASS lense you've got, you probably get pro results. :moon:

 

[biglou]

I had PM'd with Chili talking about the AF points that the camera chooses. I "think" (it was hot that day, and I was racing, so I wasn't all there-ok, less there) and when in aperture priority on the Rebel, it seemed to always pick the center focus point, which is really good for what I was shooting (MX). Might be something to investigate.

 

[Chili]

Tony as far as generic batteries go it's hit and miss, all the guru's over at fredmiranda.com swear by the sterlingtek's though. As for press passes RacerXCanada arranged one for me for Millville :yeehaw: I opted to only shoot amateur day and some of Saturday practice as this was supposed to be a family vacation. I got some strange looks when I turned in the photographer vest on Saturday night and told them I was going to watch from the stands with my family on Sunday :laugh: Hopefully I'll get some photo's processed tonight and post them up!

 

[Chili]

I'll start a new thread of photo's from Millville in the MX forum later tonight but here's the first shot I processed.

http://www.holeshotphotography.net/Millville/IMG_9695-resize copy.jpg

 

[Okiewan]

Okay, I'm impressed. Haven't bought it yet, that's why there are gridlines, using the demo at the moment.... but here are a couple examples of Noise Ninja. These are 100% crops, shot at 1600 (obviously, no flash). The difference in the overall image is astounding actually.

First the darker corner of the shot, where most of the noise would be, then a light area with some shading.

 

[Okiewan]

The other:

 

[biglou]

Nice shot, Chili! :cool:

Bob-Doesn't "Despeckle" in PS work about the same way?

 

[Okiewan]

Not nearly as well Lou ... a LOT more control with Ninja, MUCH better result.
Those images had to be reduced big time to fit the upload limit, so they really don't give the improvement justice. Pretty amazing and super easy to use.

 

[Tony Eeds]

Has anyone run across a good program/database to log photos?

I have about 25,000 images on file and used MS Access, but lost Access in the last computer crash Now I can't access the Access database. :)

It was becoming unwieldy anyway, of course that might be because I don't know what I am doing ... :bang:

 

[Okiewan]

You mean like a gallery? There are many available.

 

[Okiewan]

Did I mention that this kicks the bootie?
:p

(yeah, I ordered the grip and a couple batteries (thanks for the link Chili). I was surprised that the batteries are affordable, nothing else is with this thing! But of course now I only have the single battery charger... ugg.

 

[Tony Eeds]

You mean like a gallery? There are many available.

Nope, I'm looking for a database that I can run sort in and come up with a list of all DW photographs, Dime Box Texas photographs, etc.

 

[Okiewan]

BTW, Lou;
I did some more test with despecle and reduce noise filters in PhotoShop CS2 ...
Despeckle did nothing in the mid tones and reduce noise really lost the sharpness in the image. No comparison

 

[Timr]

Has anyone run across a good program/database to log photos?

I messed around about a year ago with Adobe Photo Album. It seemed OK. You can download a trial that is a full version of the software but will only remain active for about 90 days. Check it out and see if it will work for your purposes.

 

[Tony Eeds]

I messed around about a year ago with Adobe Photo Album. It seemed OK.

Thanks! I will check it out.

 

[Okiewan]

Damn Chili! I just saw that image... VERY NICE!
You don't need any upgrades bro, that's awesome.

A pic of your pic :|
Somebody stop me.

 

[a454elk]

Get a grip man! Damn shuterbug. Noise scmoise, but I'll check out the ninja noise thingy, thanks! It's gonna be a 20D DW this year I do believe. ;)

 

[Chili]

Psst Okie, http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/268604

You may have to register to read the thread but if you haven't as a 20D owner and photographer you should be checking out that forum anyway :)

 

[Tony Eeds]

Psst Okie,

:rotfl: :rotfl:

Where is the hook line and sinker smilie?

 

[GETMETOCA]

After reviewing all of the camera info on this thread, I think I'ma gonna have to stay in super amatuer mode and get something under $300. Holy cow, I had no idea camera's cost this much money. I remember using Tony's camera at DW '02 and thinking what a blingy thing it was (Came in it's own SUITCASE for crissakes!) That was cool experience, but I'll stick with the simple versions! :)

 

[Tony Eeds]

Natty: You can pick up a D30 on that evil auction site for a couple of hundred dollars. That is a good way to get into SLR system photography. I like the Canon Elph 5 for a pocket camera. Had an Elph 4 until I took a dive over the bars at DW last year.

 

[biglou]

Bringing this one back to the top, Nat, I think you'd really like one of the digital SLR cameras. The quality is astounding. Walmart has the new Rebel XT and the D20 (both Canon) for $995 and $1500, respectively. They have full auto modes, including a sport mode, so they really can be simple point and shoot cameras, and you have so much flexibility and expandability when you are ready to explore the capabilities of the camera. I think you'd do well with one. :cool:

 

[biglou]

Ha! Looking for something else and found this thread. Can you believe it's been less than a year since Bob got "the bug"? Holy crap, man. Look how far you've come in 11 months!