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The TPU Darkroom - Digital SLR and Photography Club

Haha, it's funny you say that... I think part of what draws me to this forum is the diversity you you get in topics. If I had to divide it up, I'd say only about 35% of all of my posts here are actually regarding tech and PC's. It's cool, just how much overlap there is with other things I'm into here. Things go in many different directions and it can be pretty fun!


Welcome! Look forward to seeing some of your images. This is a good place... free from all of the toxic attitudes plaguing so many of the big photog communities and groups out there. It's a great place to put yourself out there a little bit and feed the will to keep at it.

The M100 is a neat little camera. I kinda want one with the 22mm f/2 for something stealthier to take where "pro" cameras aren't allowed or I just don't want to be hassled by crazy people. I almost just bought the 22mm myself. It's a nice little lens! I just couldn't resist the allure of that amazing 32mm. That said I will probably still grab the 22mm due to my massively unhealthy buying habits :p

Also, how silly of a rule is that? Cameras like the M100 may not look like DSLR's, but they still rival them in the pictures they can take. You can still make 10x13 prints of difficult shots and nobody would know they were taken with a camera that resembles a P&S. Oh well... jokes on them I guess. It's just generally nice to have a little camera like that... draws so much less attention. When I go out with a DSLR, people either will not leave me alone or glare at me like I shouldn't be there. Strange when you consider that people use their phones to take pictures all of the time... I remember being at a park on a hill, just setting up for the sunset. I've got my camera pointed up at the sky a little bit, with a couple of people at the base of the pier below snapping pics with their phones. One actually turned around and glared at me, like somehow it was less okay for me to do what I was doing than it was for them to do what they're doing! Little did they know (and they'd have realized if they looked at where the camera was pointed,) that they weren't even in the frame! Not that it would've mattered anyway.

I've had worse encounters than that with my DSLR. Some people are truly insane and I can only wonder what they think I could possibly do to hurt anyone with my camera, short of bludgeoning someone... which honestly can be tempting...

All of it is avoidable by not using DSLR's in public though. It's so much easier that way... especially when you're new to being out in public with your camera. Mirrorless cameras are a godsend!

Right now I'm just waiting to see what they come out with next for the M line. Steadily, they're really ramping up their M cameras. They're all really nice, affordable, and easy to use cameras... I can't wait to see them refine those little things. As someone who started on a film camera and later went up to a DSLR, I gotta say... I don't think I can go back. You look at their mirrorless line and think they can't be serious cameras, but they are! They have everything you need to learn, and a bunch of things for more experienced shooters to capitalize on. It's a camera you can grow into, without ever reaching that point where it's just inferior and useless in too many ways. Always a place for a camera like the M100 in someone's kit. Hard not to like a camera that, with the right lens, will fit in a small belt pouch and yet still provide the capability on-par with an enthusiast DSLR.

So it's an interesting first choice! And probably one you won't regret. In fact, due to being in sort of a crossover zone in how you work it, it might be one of the better ones to transition away from phones with. How do you like the menus and touch screen operation? Personally, just trying out similar mirrorless ILC's in the store, I find it to be bar-none the best to just pick up and use. In a lot of ways, it works and takes pictures just like your phone does... you just get the shooting options and IQ of an advanced camera,to go along. That camera can teach you a lot!


I've been looking at some of those 3rd party MF lenses myself, for those character shots. I'll keep my eye on that one, though I'm more interested in the 7artisans macro EF-M.

Your responses are always incredibly detailed. That speaks to passion right there. Love it.

The M100 is such a small camera that it can easily fit into your coat pocket with the EF-M 22mm. That is a great lens, with some limited macro capabilities. Also, the f/2 is incredible for such a small lens, and it can capture some nice shots in low light. And being APS-C, it becomes a de-facto 35 mm, which is great for both landscape and portrait photography. Likely my favorite focal length, really. Though I find the 35mm 7Artisans to be a much more personal lens, if that makes sense.

The only thing I sometimes miss is a viewfinder. I feel it takes away from the experience always having to compose my shots with the LCD, especially in portrait photography.

The menus are a breeze, and the touchscreen operation really allows for a seamless transition from phone photography. Tap to focus is as basic as it can be, after all. Though I usually just keep it in single-point AF on the middle of the frame, focus, and then recompose my shot.

Haven't looked at that macro lens, but will be doing some research! Thanks for the feedback!

PS: Ill just put some of my random favorite shots here. Sorry for the delay in posting and for the overly enthusiastic current post:

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Anyone have any experience with wi-fi enabled SD Cards such as (32GB Wifi SD SDHC Toshiba Memory Card U3 Secure Digital Wireless FlashAir W-04)

new to me Canon camera can use them (Canon 1100D)
 
Anyone have any experience with wi-fi enabled SD Cards such as (32GB Wifi SD SDHC Toshiba Memory Card U3 Secure Digital Wireless FlashAir W-04)

new to me Canon camera can use them (Canon 1100D)

It is kinda slow(wifi) and low range(depends how bulky and sealed your camera is). Idea itself is nice, but nope. For the price I got a 128GB Sandisk card...
 
Anyone have any experience with wi-fi enabled SD Cards such as (32GB Wifi SD SDHC Toshiba Memory Card U3 Secure Digital Wireless FlashAir W-04)

new to me Canon camera can use them (Canon 1100D)
I have the 8GB version, Wifi is slow, card write speed is not that great, transfer speed sucks. Better off sticking the card into a card reader and reading it with Phone or Tablet. I carry a 8" Windows tablet and card reader for this purpose. you can use the Tablet to tether (wired) and immediately see the pics too.
 
Man... I take for granted now how easy it is for me to do that stuff. My camera has NFC and everything so I just slap its ass with my phone and it initiates a wifi connection with the camera and then the app just comes up. I can then transfer the images straight to the phone at decent speeds... picking them on either the camera or phone. Pop over to lightroom and edit them or go jpeg and share them right away. Picks up fine from any direction. Probably would be fine as long as I don't take my phone into another room or something.

I could even skip all that, pull up the app and have it auto-initiate bluetooth, which it will always do so long as the camera is on. That will allow transfer and lets me use the phone as a remote shutter. Take it back up to wifi in the app and now I've got full remote shooting and monitoring where I can change all of the usual shooting settings, peep focus, track and move focus point, 9 yards. I have yet to hit the max signal distance, though I've only gone 20 feet at the most.

EDIT: Just tried it across the house... transfer and live view works just the same. It does individual images in about a second, batches of 20 or 30 in 5-10 seconds. The other cool thing is you can trigger it to toss them into an app and open it. So I could pull them up into LR just like that. Now I'm considering a tablet just to pair with my camera... it's like a whole new world.

All I really long for is an intervalometer... maybe I can find an app that works for that and will actually sync. 3rd party apps are hit or miss with the M series.

I don't think I could go back to an older, nicer camera without these things. It's so handy. Going forward all cameras should have it. My M5 was like $500 new and it has it and it really works great.

I wonder though... the SD card idea is cool but the form factor is a problem. I just don't see how there couldn't be huge tradeoffs. What about a dongle that plugs into the usb on the camera, kind of simulating plugging it into a computer, but actually allowing you to sync to android devices and such. Could easily be done with a lightweight app negotiating everything. The dongle itself could probably be made to be pretty small... at least on the order of a mouse/kb dongle.

Tradeoffs there, though... thing sticking out of your camera and compromising some of your weathersealing. Bleh. If it were me I'd probably stick with wired connection.
 
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Anyone have any experience with wi-fi enabled SD Cards such as (32GB Wifi SD SDHC Toshiba Memory Card U3 Secure Digital Wireless FlashAir W-04)

new to me Canon camera can use them (Canon 1100D)


not worth it. As others said, you are better off with a card reader stick. you might also get the antenna dongle for your camera. Not sure if cannon makes it, but Nikon has one for my D3300.
 
My weekend in photos, mostly me playing with my new lenses and enjoying the beauty of early spring in Australia.
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When you're feeling short on good photo-ops, there's always the cat. Everyone loves cats, right? RIGGGGHHHHT?! Spoilers are the originals out of camera.
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I think my editing is getting a little better. I'm progressing to a deeper level with it, while also trying to tone it down as much as possible. I feel like I've been ending up cooking too many shots from staring at them and looking for things to change too much instead of just focusing on what jumps out as actually needing it.

Day-lit windows always present a challenge... the exposure is never going to be right out of camera. But you also have to be mindful of what you push and how. The adjustment brush is pretty major, allowing me to bring back the white in her fur without squashing everything else... as well as making the eyes pop a little more. Just bringing up shadows/contrast/exposure alone isn't enough to make them look like they're supposed to look that way... it ends up coming off like the light in the rest of the photo doesn't match them - they look inexplicably dimmed-down, even though technically all you've done is bring stuff up. Unfortunately sometimes all that does is flatten out the whole image. The white especially could look pretty white by itself but still decidedly gray in the context of the shot with only the standard adjustments for silhouetting applied. It just doesn't look like the correct exposure. Had to get a little more in-depth. Something I'll always keep in mind now. It really helps to break the subject up into sections when attempting to pull them out of the background in editing. A little consideration for the details goes a long way there.

Seems you just have to be kinda judicial in choosing how to treat different areas. Sometimes just processing everything in the frame uniformly isn't enough when dealing with silhouetting. Easy to kill the contrast if you're not careful. I'm happy with how these ultimately came out. Subtle changes are all it takes to take them from snapshots to photos... or at least in my opinion. You decide, I DID leave the originals in spoilers underneath.

I'm more miffed that I didn't either step back or go vertical for the first one! >-> No time for that with this cat. She's not very photogenic... or... that's not right. I'd say she's HIGHLY photogenic, but only in very brief, tantalizing spurts. It was just a series of amazing moments gone missed. I went down to 1/250s not to deal with her movements, but to deal with mine trying to get framed-up in time! Which reminds me... manual mode with auto iso is nice for things like this. Major benefits to being able to lock-in both aperture and shutter speed as needed without worrying about getting a bad exposure. I found out I can even use the exposure compensation dial this way too! So it's a very versatile way to shoot once you get on top of those 3 parameters. Saves you from constantly having to dial-in exposure while still making it easy to choose A/SS and yet also allowing you to take full control of your overall exposure at any moment. That's one thing I really like about this camera... it's like no matter how you wanna shoot, there's always a way to put everything you need on a dial. You can simplify things as much (or as little) as you like without making major compromises to efficiency or reach. Keeps it fun and practical.

I'm finding I like almost every picture I take with my new EF-M 32mm. There's just something magical about that lens. Or maybe I'm actually improving. I dunno... there's just something to the images I capture with it that seems to make them so much more pleasing. It's subtle, but the colors, the contrast, the fine details... all of it just seems so much better. It's the kind of thing where if you try to isolate it in a side-by-side, it's almost less obvious, and yet you still know which one was the better lens. I'm not sure what is standing out to me with it, but maybe that's what makes it a good lens! It just always gives me nice, clean images to work with... there's no signature character to it that makes it so you know which lens it is. On one hand, that means it doesn't give any special look to things like some of the more cherished lenses out there do. But on the other hand, the images always look right. It feels like I can do anything I want with it and not wish I had used a different lens... even if the focal length isn't ideal for a particular shot, I'd rather be using this 32mm than a more fitting length, because the images are just... better. That's another major reason why I think I've been going leaner on the editing. I'm no longer compensating for lens deficiencies and instead am simply fixing issues caused by lighting and/or exposure.

Also, not sure what was in her eye here! I went to check after looking at the photos and it was gone. Maybe she had just gotten up? Strange... never seen anything like that before.
 
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Fluffy Cows
How else do they expect me to fill the frame?!?:p

Please mention the place. Love the 'Wave' pics.
The wave is in 'Coyote Buttes North' Arizona and the trailhead is in Utah. You need a permit to be in the area, only about 20 people a day are allowed. I think the rangers said the fine for being caught without a permit was $5000 per person but it may vary. From the parking area the trail is 7 or 8 miles round trip and is largely unmarked except for a few fence posts.
Here's a 13k by 3.7k res photo from part of the hike.
 
is largely unmarked except for a few fence posts.
Agh... lucky. So many awesome trails around here but all of them are marked. Nothing like big, bright orange spray paint blobs on every 10th tree to really take you out of it. And the thing is... most of these trails are so enveloped there can be no doubt of where the trail is... everything else is so dense you're not deviating without a chainsaw... or at least a machete.

Its the kind of thing where if you can't even navigate those... the trail markers alone won't stop you from getting caught in miles-wide loops and becoming dehydrated in the 90 degree heat, after spending the afternoon in the twilight zone. Did my share of that as a teenager. All "marked" trails. Not exactly places you wander into on a whim to begin with.

It's just like... the people who need those shouldn't even be out there. So many other things will go wrong before you lose distance/bearing on one particular trail. If anything they only confuse you, as they never code them for branching paths or direction. So pretty much all they do is tell you "yep... still on whatever trail this is." Markers or not without the appropriate skills you are just as lost on our trails... and they just look awful.
 
How else do they expect me to fill the frame?!?:p


The wave is in 'Coyote Buttes North' Arizona and the trailhead is in Utah. You need a permit to be in the area, only about 20 people a day are allowed. I think the rangers said the fine for being caught without a permit was $5000 per person but it may vary. From the parking area the trail is 7 or 8 miles round trip and is largely unmarked except for a few fence posts.
Here's a 13k by 3.7k res photo from part of the hike.
Nah, since you already covered it, why bother, I scratched from my bucket list :p
 
Hey guys. Just wanted to share my recent exploration on cinematic photography.

These may not be for everyone, but I absolutely love this look, and I think I finally found a space that's less exploratory, and more into what I want to actually achieve with my photography.

Do you enjoy this look or do you prefer a more modern approach to photography?
 

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Needed a zip tie as bracket did not fit as intended :)
 

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Back from Peru

Here's our camp at 12,000 ft in the Andes (3657.6 m)

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A few more

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Inti Punku, The Sun Gate entrance to Machu Picchu
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Was looking for some friendly nesting swans near my house but they we're off playing untitled goose game or something, ran into these less attractive guys instead
Pixel XL, no fancy camera lens here - i just lured them in close lol
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Meh Mussels... a Pixel XL... Too much cell phone pics here... :nutkick:
 
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