Grads - Which type do you use and why?

snerkler said:
What camera do you have?

TBH there's no such thing as a landscape camera TBH. Yes large dynamic range can help, but people have managed perfectly well with cameras that don't. Do you look at landscapes taken with the Canon 5D3 and think they look poor? I very much doubt it, yet the DR of the 5D3 is actually relatively poor. Likewise some will say you want a camera like the D800/D810, or 5DS for the extra detail of the high MP sensors, but unless you're printing huge huge prints and standing a foot away I doubt you'd see any discernible/significant difference unless pixel peeping. I do think not have the AA filter in cameras like the D810 does help though and I wish my camera didn't have one.

Now I'm not saying these things don't help, and since buying the D750 I've all but stopped bracketing as the DR and recovery in post is astounding, but it's not essential by any stretch and you will gain far more by learning technique and understanding light.
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Fair points!
 
smr said:
Well I was thinking about selling my telephoto and macro lenses and camera etc. and just investing in landscape oriented gear alone but I like taking wildlife and macro photos - I do get torn between the idea of going full on landscape or feeling like a ' jack of all trades master of none! ' wish I could be more decisive!

I do really want to focus on getting better at landscape photography though.
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Be careful what you think of as landscape gear. My kit bag for landscapes goes:

Canon 17-40mm L
Canon 28-70mm L (not a mistake it's the old version)
Canon 70-200mm L
Canon 24mm TS-E Mark II
Canon 1.4mm Mark III extender

What do you think of as a landscape lens? As per filtration, it is down to what is the task you are looking to do?
 
Julian Elliott said:
Be careful what you think of as landscape gear. My kit bag for landscapes goes:

Canon 17-40mm L
Canon 28-70mm L (not a mistake it's the old version)
Canon 70-200mm L
Canon 24mm TS-E Mark II
Canon 1.4mm Mark III extender

What do you think of as a landscape lens? As per filtration, it is down to what is the task you are looking to do?
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Well a few weekends ago I shot a landscape with my 150-600mm so I don't discount anything for landscape photography - even my 105mm 2.8 macro lens could be used for landscape - I understand all of that and that my 55-250 lens is also worthy as a landscape lens... but my point of thinking was just a thought as to selling all of my gear and investing in FF for a higher dynamic range and generally better picture quality for landscapes - the 6D would provide me with a better tool for landscapes than my 700D does... but then I guess it's not all about the gear and the most important cog in the wheel is the person behind the camera. I'll carry on learning as I go and I'd probably upgrade to the Canon 80D anyway when it's time to upgrade. At least that way I can keep all of my lenses.
 
If you wanted a good starter for ten on quality glass plus the 6D then you could do no wrong by buying the 24-70mm and the 70-200mm. The latter version at F4 non-IS is a bargin of a lens! The 24-70mm you have three choices. The Mark I; Mark II or F4 with IS.

After this I would say the 24mm TS-E Mark II would give a huge leap in terms of image quality. And if you are composing your shots well then tilt will give you amazing front to back sharpness.
 
Julian Elliott said:
If you wanted a good starter for ten on quality glass plus the 6D then you could do no wrong by buying the 24-70mm and the 70-200mm. The latter version at F4 non-IS is a bargin of a lens! The 24-70mm you have three choices. The Mark I; Mark II or F4 with IS.

After this I would say the 24mm TS-E Mark II would give a huge leap in terms of image quality. And if you are composing your shots well then tilt will give you amazing front to back sharpness.
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That does seem quite cheap for what it is that 24-70. IS isn't an issue at all as all landscapes taken on tripod... just for that lens and the 6D itself we're talking about £1,500 then.
 
If you're seriously thinking about doing landscapes and staying with Canon the 6d would probably be your best bet at the moment; there could be some cheap(ish) 5d3's around soon, though. IMO the 24 -105 mm zoom - the Mk 1 - is probably better value than the 24 -70. That extra reach is well worth having.

All this talk about gear though!
 
smr said:
but my point of thinking was just a thought as to selling all of my gear and investing in FF for a higher dynamic range and generally better picture quality for landscapes - the 6D would provide me with a better tool for landscapes than my 700D does... but then I guess it's not all about the gear and the most important cog in the wheel is the person behind the camera.
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This isn't always the case, and dynamic figures are a bit of a contentious issue. However, if we use DR figures in this case just as an example then the 6D doesn't offer you much more over your 700D, only 0.9ev (11.2 vs 12.1 according to DXO). All things considered equal then yes the images from FF will be better/sharper than APS-C due to less demands on lenses and less magnification, but lenses, light and technique will play a much bigger part. Unfortunately for Canon users if you want a larger hike in DR then you have to look at something like the much more expensive 5DIV (13.6 ev) but this is still short of Nikon's D7200 (14.6ev) which is an APS-C (reiterating my point about FF not always offering more DR), but do you really want to be swapping systems just for the DR boost? I wouldn't, especially as there are other factors as already discussed. That being said, if you didn't have any FF canon glass and were wanting a large DR camera then the Nikons would be an option as you'd be starting from scratch anyway.
 
Yes, food for thought.

Just going back to topic (or kind of)

I'm not discounting the idea of bracketing at all and just wanted to clarify a few things ...

If I did want to bracket am I better off manual bracketing rather than auto bracketing ? The manual way I see can be done by simply adjusting the shutter speed in Manual mode, with the aperture fixed at say F11...

So tripod up, image composed, F11 / 18mm - alter just the shutter speed to go a stop down, again shoot at where the camera says its exposed properly, then a stop up etc. maybe 2 stops down and 2 stops up as well - how does this differ from auto bracketing where the camera will do it for me and just reel off a series of shots?

Why is the manual method better basically?

If I let the camera do it with AEB... it fires off the shots in quick succession, meaning the scene shouldn't be altered too much - but if do it manually and it takes a bit more time isn't there a problem if the clouds and light shift etc.?
 
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smr said:
Yes, food for thought.

Just going back to topic (or kind of)

I'm not discounting the idea of bracketing at all and just wanted to clarify a few things ...

If I did want to bracket am I better off manual bracketing rather than auto bracketing ? The manual way I see can be done by simply adjusting the shutter speed in Manual mode, with the aperture fixed at say F11...

So tripod up, image composed, F11 / 18mm - alter just the shutter speed to go a stop down, again shoot at where the camera says its exposed properly, then a stop up etc. maybe 2 stops down and 2 stops up as well - how does this differ from auto bracketing where the camera will do it for me and just reel off a series of shots?

Why is the manual method better basically?

If I let the camera do it with AEB... it fires off the shots in quick succession, meaning the scene shouldn't be altered too much - but if do it manually and it takes a bit more time isn't there a problem if the clouds and light shift etc.?
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Who said doing it manually was better? I set up the initial exposure in manual mode manual then use the bracketing function on my camera for the reasons that you've mentioned in that it fires off in quick succession, and I don't have to touch the camera in the meantime and therefore no risk of accidentally knocking it. I guess if you didn't have the options of choosing different ev values (such as +/-2 or 3) and/or choosing 5 or more shots then you're only option would be to do it manually.
 
smr said:
Ok great, can't remember where I read it! I'll stick to AEB then, I'm off out tomorrow to do some landscapes so will give it a go and then see how it turns out.
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You'll figure out what works best for you. Some prefer doing it manually, and that's their choice, but for me I'd prefer to do it as quickly as possible (so the scene doesn't change) and with no interaction with the camera (I use a wireless remote shutter).

But I still prefer using filters over bracketing ;)
 
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My first bracketed shots then - 3 images in this merged together with some very basic lightroom enhancement thereafter. Normally I'd have just took one single exposure and the sky would have been completely blown out or the foreground too dark. It may not be perfect, but it's a definite improvement for me nonetheless so I'm happy.

Mam Tor Sunrise by Joel Spencer, on Flickr
 
smr said:
My first bracketed shots then - 3 images in this merged together with some very basic lightroom enhancement thereafter. Normally I'd have just took one single exposure and the sky would have been completely blown out or the foreground too dark. It may not be perfect, but it's a definite improvement for me nonetheless so I'm happy.

Mam Tor Sunrise by Joel Spencer, on Flickr
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Nice, looks pretty well balance to me. The sky is possibly a little muted and it looks like you've got a halo along the horizon, but other than that very nice. Mam Tor, Edale and Hope Valley are great places to shoot, are you local to the area then?
 
smr said:
Thanks for that - sorry but what is the halo effect? I've heard it but being new to hdr/blending whatever you call it I don't know what it is. I'm in Leicestershire so it's an hour and half drive, up at 5am this morn so pretty knackered now!

Do you think this image is better?....

Mam Tor Sunrise by Joel Spencer, on Flickr
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2nd is much better for me, but it's your image so it's what you prefer. Halos are 'bands' of light (or dark) areas around subjects of differing contrast. They can be caused by chromatic aberrations, but are often due to overprocessing especially sharpening, clarity and/or contrast. Looking at your full size image on flickr I would say that it's predominantly due to CA, although there does look to be a hint of oversharpening. It's mainly the left hand side of the horizon and the peak of the hillside. It's mild though and probably not an issue, and tbh the more I look the less I see it now :confused: :lol:
 
Oh, and that's dedication driving that distance at that time in a morning ;) At least it's only half an hour or so for me :)
 
I prefer the second as well. Nicer light. Funnily enough the three other togs there all had grad nds! And then another guy came along and had a grad ND too.

Nice for you to live so close to the peaks..I might have a look at exploring Leicestershire a bit more though as well.. we just dont have that many views here or waterfalls etc.!. An hour and a half isnt so bad and some places are bit quicker to get to such as lumsdale etc.
 
smr said:
I prefer the second as well. Nicer light. Funnily enough the three other togs there all had grad nds! And then another guy came along and had a grad ND too.

Nice for you to live so close to the peaks..I might have a look at exploring Leicestershire a bit more though as well.. we just dont have that many views here or waterfalls etc.!. An hour and a half isnt so bad and some places are bit quicker to get to such as lumsdale etc.
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smr said:
I prefer the second as well. Nicer light. Funnily enough the three other togs there all had grad nds! And then another guy came along and had a grad ND too.

Nice for you to live so close to the peaks..I might have a look at exploring Leicestershire a bit more though as well.. we just dont have that many views here or waterfalls etc.!. An hour and a half isnt so bad and some places are bit quicker to get to such as lumsdale etc.
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As your shots prove, they're not essential (unless taking a fast changing scene) and merely preference
 
Julian Elliott said:
The one issue that is frustrating for both grads and HDR is a landscape that has trees in it. This is especially so when those trees are above the horizon line.
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There's some great videos on how to get around this issue without creating halos around branches and trees. Unfortunately it's using photoshop and my skills are very limited :(
 
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