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Author: Subject: Photography questions
mookaloid

posted on 18/11/14 at 02:00 PM Reply With Quote
Photography questions

As you guys seem to know pretty much everything between you I wonder if I could get some simple answers to a couple of photography questions:

I want to photograph rooms in houses......

I therefore need a wide angle lens. I understand 35mm speak so I know that I would need a lens with a focal length of 24mm or less.

I don't really get why say a canon lens which is rated 10mm can have a focal length of 28mm........

I am looking for a reasonably priced kit (does not have to be new) which will give me good photos, I also want it to cope with light coming in through windows not being overexposed but still showing the room in good light.

I have a compact Lumix DMC FS40 at the moment which as the wide angle but doesn't seem to cope very well with the light variations.

I have about £300

All suggestions greatly appreciated

Cheers

mark





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HowardB

posted on 18/11/14 at 02:08 PM Reply With Quote
HDR (high dynamic range - light in the window and dark in the room) is an option that some cameras will do, but also can be done in software afterwards. The other thing that post-photo processing can do is to change the perspective and also stitch many images together.

There is free software out there eg gimp that will do a lot of this, and hugin for stitching.

It depends if this is for work or play? If it is for work, then there is some excellent software that takes 360s and allows them to be zoomed and panned.

hth







Howard

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Ugg10

posted on 18/11/14 at 02:43 PM Reply With Quote
On the technical side -

All DSLR lenses are "rated" by their 35mm focal length as this is a physical charateristic i.e. 35mm/18mm/400mm etc. Held int he hand a 50mm lense has the same physical characteristics whether it is designed to fit a full frame, crop, compact system or any other camera.

Digital cameras are then charaterised by their sensor size - Full frame (e.g. Canon 5D) is the equivalent to a 35mm film i.e. 36mmx24mm, the most common dslrs are APSC (e.g. Canon 7D, 70D, 700D) which are typically 1.5 (nikon) or 1.6 (canon) time smaller. So, in order to fit the same field of view into the frame on a crop camera a smaller focal length is needed i.e. 18mm on a crop has the same angle of view at the sensor as a 28mm on an old 35mm camera or a full frame digital. The ultimate end of this is in typical point and shoot cameras which typically have a 1/2.3" (across the diagonal) sensor and so have a crop factor of 6, giving 4.7mm focal length which is equivalent to a 28mm full frame.

Info here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format

This is the reason the "apparent" focal length changes with different digital cameras but the field of view stays the same.

There are another load of issues/differences between the camers such as dpeth of field increasing for a set aperture on smaller sensors etc.

Hence, when you look at specs for a compact camera it will usually give the full frame equivalent lens focal length as the actual focal length will be dependent on the sensor used - regard this as a way of normalising all of the figures.

As for the room pictures -

You are correct in needing a wide angle lense (24mm FF equivalent or smaller) so using this -

http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm

18mm on a full frame camera will give a 90 degree field of view i.e. if you take a picture from in the very corner you will see all of the room (67 degs vertical). So this is what I would be look for if you can find a camera with this equivalent.

The alternative is to put the camera on a tripod inthe middle of the room, take a load of photos and stitch them together in a panorama this can usually be viewed flat or put into Quicktime and views as an interactive presentation - there are a load of free software to do this (MS Live Image can do this I think) and some will even out the contrast as well. It may take a bit of practice getting the camera setting right but once done then just set up and repeat.

On the compact camera side this is a bit of a bargain as it has a larger than normal sensor and larger aperture lens - http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/cameras/digital-cameras/compact-digital-cameras/fujifilm-xf1-high-performance-compact-digital-camera-tan-21322540-pdt.htm l?srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~~~Exact&mctag=gg_goog_7904&s_kwcid=AL!3391!3!43562493815!!!g!95320990388!&ef_id=VFoi2QAABGmYxRat:201411181440 18:s

If you can narrow down you choices then it may be worth logging onto the avforums.com digital photo section, nice bunch of blokes on there who I am sure will be able to help.

Hope this helps.





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Daimo_45

posted on 18/11/14 at 02:51 PM Reply With Quote
The reason why the focal length differs from the lens is because the camera has a cropped sensor. I use a 10-24mm lens for nightclubs using a cropped sensor Canon. The crop factor of the sensor is 1.6 so when I shoot at 10mm it's really 16mm. If I was using a full frame camera 10mm would be 10mm. For £300 you'll be looking for a used cropped sensor camera paired with a Sigma 10-24.
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mookaloid

posted on 18/11/14 at 03:40 PM Reply With Quote
That Fujifilm XF1 does seem to be a bit of a find.

It apparently does the Dynamic range thing too!

mmmmmm





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zilspeed

posted on 18/11/14 at 06:23 PM Reply With Quote
Much as I like my DSLR, for HDR pics, I have a great app in my Nokia Lumia 920. Proshot.

This does HDR pics rather well, and the lens on the Lumia 920 has an f2.0 lens and an ISO of 3200 max which is genuinely usable.

Having said that, it doesn't hold a candle to the EOS 550d I have. But horses for courses.

If I want a quick HDR pic, I use the phone.

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AntonUK

posted on 18/11/14 at 10:53 PM Reply With Quote
Kelby Training have a great tutorial for this kind of thing called Architectural Photography

Not sure if they still do free trials, but it 'may' be available via your favorite torrent site





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