SAU now has its own photography area. Mainly suited but not limited to Automotive photography. This is an area to post up images you have taken and ask for reviews. You can ask for tips and information on how to take better pictures.

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Hi all,

I thought, since we've got a Photography area we might as well make some use of it. There's many keen photographers from beginners to pros floating around these forums so here's a chance to review some of the equipment you've used.

I think if we keep the posts to a single standard template and try and eliminate "chat" between the posts this could prove quite useful.

I'll start off with a review of my current camera, a Nikon D70

Camera: Nikon D70 w/kit lens 18-70mm
Price Range: $2000 when I bought it (18 months ago)
Date of Review: November 2005
Like? I believe this camera is excellent value for money. It comes with a quality lens which covers most situations and focuses quite quickly. 6MP is plenty for most people and I have blown up shots to 30x20in and been quite happy with the results. Fantastic battery life, you run out of card space before the battery will ever run out. Great results with Nikon's latest flashes.
Dislike? Missing features such as a Vertical Grip, Mirror Lock-up and a remote shutter cable. I find the colour to be a bit plain for my liking out of the camera, others call it "natural" or "realistic". However, in the digital world this means very little as most digital shots need a small amount of work to get them to their best.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Sample picture:

-Greg.

Camera: Canon EOS 300D with 18-55 kit lens
Price Range: $1700 when I bought it (December 04)
Date of Review: November 2005
Like? It's a great camera for a beginner, but you easily grow out of it. Image quality is great, Canon sensor means there is little to no noise at low ISO's. Great battery life, even more so with the extended grip. Great colours, contrast and saturation, amazing range of lenses as well -for all budgets.
Dislike? Horrible buffer, slow AF. Need to flash it with 10d firmware to get features, slow start up time, slow memory card read/write, no scroll wheel on the rear. Above ISO 800 lots of noise.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Sample picture:

Camera: Canon EOS 20D Body Only
Price Range: $2300 (September 04)
Date of Review: November 2005
Like? Image quality is great, Canon sensor means there is low noise till ISO1600. Great battery life, even more so with the extended grip. Great colours, contrast and saturation, amazing range of lenses as well -for all budgets. Fast startup time, fast memory card read/write speed. Great buffer (it pretty much keeps on going). rear scroll wheel for easy adjustments, fast AF
Dislike? Needs another LCD on the back of the camera
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Sample picture:

Camera: SONY CYBERSHOT DSC-717 5.0 MEGAPIXEL DIGITAL STILL CAMERA DSCF717

Price Range: $ 1300 approx (Feburary 04)
Date of Review: November 2005
Image quality is great for 5MP camera, sony sensor are same between 5MP and 8MP, I do not see the point you spending more money for sony 8MP (DSC-828)camera.

"5.0 Mega Pixel Super HAD CCD
Carl Zeiss "Vario-Sonnar" Lens Assembly
5x Optical (10x Precision Digital) Zoom
Advanced HAD Technology
Hologram AF
Clear Colour NR (Noise Reduction)
Pre-Flash Metering
Auto White Balance and One-Push White Balance
InfoLithium Battery System
NightShot
NightFraming
Light Metering (Spot, Center-Weighted, Multi-Pattern)
Slow Shutter NR
MPEG Movie HQX
Pop-Up Intelligent Flash
Hybrid 1.8" LCD
Hologram AF
Full Range High Speed Auto Focus / Manual Zoom Ring
Scene Selection
Electronic Viewfinder
Even Brightness Picture
USB Connection
Digital Picture Effects
Rotating Lens
Primary Colour Fliter
14bit DXP
Super Resolution Converter
Clear Luminance NR
Multipoint Auto Focus
Auto Exposure Lock
ISO Sensitivity Settings - Auto, 100,200,400,800
Program Shift
Exposure modes - Auto, Programmed auto, shutter priority, aperture priority, Manual, Scene Selection (twilight, twilight portrait) landscape and portrait
Adjustable LCD Brightness (in the set up menu)
Auto Bright Monitoring
100% LCD View
3 Burst Mode
Multi-Burst
Battery Remaining Indicator
Picture Remaining Indicator
Hot Shoe
ImageMixer software
there is low noise till ISO1600.
Great battery life,
Great colours, contrast and saturation,


Dislike?NO range of lenses .
relatively fast startup time,
fast memory card read/write speed- but hell slow in long exposure and BMP and RAW format.

WORST buffer TIME EVER!!! Only take 3 consecutive shots and minute waiting when process can process it.

adjustments, fast AF

Rating: 7 out of 10
Sample picture:

Macro

Camera: Nikon D100
Price Range: $2300
Date of Review: November 2005
Like: Generally pretty easy to use. Excellent resolution with great colour. Fantastic battery life. Quick start up times
Dislike: Slow when taking RAW images. Takes a while to write to the memory card. Which is I guess normal since it is an older camera. Photos tend to come out underexposed needing adjustments in photoshop
Rating: 8 out of 10
Sample Images:






and a quick one I took last night from my garage of the fireworks from Rally Australia

Camera: Konica Minolta Dynax 7D
Price Range: $2700 with twin lens kit (28-100/2.5-5.6 and 75-300/4.5-5.6)
Date of Review: December 05
Like?Well the big 2.5inch LCD is great when viewing your pics and there are plenty of dials on the camera which keeps you busy for a while.
Its got built in ANIT-SHAKE technology which is reallly helpful in low light situations where you dont have a tripod/monopod.
Noise is at minimal at 1600.
3 shots per sec to grab all that action shots.
Love the build quality of it...its gota a firm grip around the whole body
Dislike? Would be better if i can offer 4shots per sec....that one frame counts!
its abit dere...compared to the 20D.
i think the Lens kit could have been better.
Rating: 8/10
Sample picture:

CAMERA: Sony DSC F717
Price Range: around 900 to 1200 (last checked DEC 05)


Likes: i love the fact that the lens can tilt...great for low ground shots, and also great for holding the lens up high and still seeing the object to shoot. Another thing that impressed me is the battery reader... fairly accurate, it tells you approx. how many minutes are left on the camera, great little feature.

Dislikes: None really, just minor dissapointments. 1. as mentioned aboved, fixed lens 2. buffers are slow 3. can be a little noisy at times (picture wise) and 3. the camera isnt too good with reds (doesnt meet my personal standard anyway)

Rating 7.5/10

PIX:

Low shot

On the catwalk

Friends Car at my place

Another Mates Car

Some Random Photo out the back of homebush

Camera: Sony DSC-V1
Like? top photo for it's size, function of semi pro camara, love the nightshot function
Dislike? short battary life, expensive Accessory
Rating: 8/10
Sample picture:



Camera: Sony DSC-T1
Like? very nice looking camera, quick start up
Dislike? everything, crap
Rating: 5/10
Sample picture:

They are very usefu. Thanks,man.

Camera: Cannon A95 Powershot
Price - $700 mid last year
Mega Pixels - 5.0
Like? good photos for a good price. does the job well
Dislike? short battary life,
Rating: 10/10 ( id recomend it to others )
Sample Shot -

what he said! haha!!! bought mine for about $1400 mark with same kit and battery pack....awesome for a beginner....also canon have now brought out the eos 5D and lenses made for canon now are going to be compatible with film and digital cameras not just digital....bought a $1300 wide lense (12-18ml) and it isn't compatible with my eos 650 film camera!!! spewin!

Camera: Canon Digital Ixus-i Zoom
Price Range: $700 - November 2005
Date of Review: April 2006
Like?
Excellent camera for size - smaller than my mobile phone (SE k750i) - 5.0MP Resolution (2592x1440) Quick SD memory card writing, quick flash recoil. Auto-focus. Heaps of cool in-camera features like ISO, color replacement, B/W, Sepia, long exposure times, Heaps of WB settings. Deep colours. Great battery life.
Comes with a dock, remote control, AV leads for TV presenting your shots, Ability to pan-scan, zoom on TV with remote. Dock is also a charger - always ready.

Dislike?
Due to being a compact camera, flash output is crap for subjects 4-5m away. Only 2.4x zoom. Macro < 5cm is pathetic. No external flash options.

Overall: Great compact camera - probably one of the best, perfect for taking on a night out. But don't expect any SLR-like performance out of it.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Sample picture:
Coming soon

Panason