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Already another question and answer post! Keep them coming. 🙂 Sharing information is a great way for everyone to learn. Edit: I have to say, I like the way he thinks. Why waste money on an inferior lens if you will eventually replace it? Opting to start with that 50-135mm f2.8 lens was a good idea. I’d say, If you have the cash, it is often a good idea to truly consider the high quality equipment for your given system of choice. On the other hand, the most expensive lens isn’t always the best. In my response, I go over some issues I see with the 31mm lens, but it is still one of the best lenses out there. The initial contact: I bumped into you on Youtube, have been following your channel for a while now. Great stuff! I’m in dire need for some advice, and I have a hunch I came to the right place. I recently got into photography and bought a k-5 and a DA 50-135mm. That’s my only lens (I spent my last buck on it:P, and I’m loving it) so now I am look...

I received a message recently asking for some suggestions about a new lens to supplement his 18-55mm kit lens. Check out the conversation below because it might be helpful to you as well. I like helping people out, so feel free to send me messages if you have similar questions and think I would be able to help. I might feature it on the site as well. His initial message: Hello Scott Great reviews. I purchased the Kr Pentax and the 18-55 DAL lens came with it. Can you please recommend a lens for Portraits. I think taking portraits will help me make the money I would need for a better lens. Right now I would like to spend no more then 200.00 US Thanks again My first response: Are you only interested in new lenses? If so, you options are limited at $200. Pentax has a DA 35mm f2.4 AL around $200, but that is too wide angle to be considered a true portrait lens (zoom your current lens to 35mm to get a feel for the focal length). If that focal length agrees with you, the DA 35mm would...

I just finished editing my first collaboration video titled “A Low Cost Camera Flash or Lens First?” It’s not live on Youtube for your viewing enjoyment. 🙂 Youtube video link : This was one of my larger projects video wise. We shot the video portions on Sunday and I’ve been spending a good deal of time since then putting all of the pieces together. Here is a simple work list: Extract the audio from the recorded clips and clean it up. I did a good deal of audio editing this time to remove unwanted background noise as well as equalising the voice levels. I also fixed a few words, but missed one where I said “TLL” instead of “TTL” … Post-process the sample photos in Adobe Photoshop and create all of the still frames that the video needed. Do voice over work for the result photo descriptions and clean the audio up too. Create additional graphics like the name bars that show up at the beginning of the video. Edit everything together and adding all of the text as overlays. Review the v...

I received another question from a Facebook friend about photography. First question: How again do you set up a batch process? I know how to automate them, but I can’t remember how to set them up. Will it work for both camera raw settings and then additional Photoshop edits? I’m going through a shoot with someone, and with similar pictures I’d love to be able to do that. Answer: The process that I use is good for camera raw modifications and whatever happens in the Photoshop action. 1. Open and tweak all of the images in a directory. In Photoshop I just select all of the files at once and camera raw opens all of them in a list to the left of the raw editing tools and preview. 2. Press the “Done” button when finished to save all of the tweaks. 3. Create a Photoshop action to do whatever you want. Keep in mind that it will happen uniformly to every image. For example, I made an action to just save a full-quality JPEG image. Other times I’ve run auto-contrast with a de-noise plugin call...

More question and answer time! I answered this question before the last one I posted, but didn’t get around to posting this one. 🙂 Question. having worked with a number of nice lenses, how big a difference would you say the difference between a 1.2 and a 2.8 aperture makes? I think it depends on what you are interested in doing. If you are not interested in super smooth background blur or keeping your ISO as low as possible, then f2.8 is a decent fast-enough aperture for a lens. For example, I used a 40mm f2.8 lens most of the time at Otakon 2011. F2.8 isn’t that fast for a prime lens, but it is good enough because I was planning on using an external flash whenever I used the lens. F2.8 with the right settings and composition can produce really nice background blur. As I’m sure you know, some convention settings are dark with yellow colored light (dealers rooms or hotel settings). In those settings, f2.8 is alright if you are willing to crank up your ISO a bit, but there are negatives...

Here is another question I received recently: I just wanted your opinion on k-5. Does it really warrant an upgrade from K-x? Should I try K-7 before breaking bank to upgrade to K-5? I’d say skip the K-7. The sensor in the K-7 has poor high-ISO capabilities. I like the camera and it has been my most used and dependable SLR ever, but I know the faults and work around them. I think the K-x’s sensor is technically better than the one in the K-7. Everything else about the camera I’d give to the K-7. There would be a pretty big difference from the K-5 to K-x. My first suggestion would be to handle one if you can. See if there are any mom & pop camera shops in your area that sell Pentax SLRs. I think the K-5 might go down in price more in the coming months as all of the new camera releases are announced. That recent K-5 rebate is a decent price reduction, but wasn’t really that much compared to the going rate a week ago. A few differences: – AF indicator lights in the viewfinder. – AF mic...

Question: “ Yo Scott, I’ve been looking at DSLR cameras. Right now, I’m considering getting the Nikon D3100 because it is a decent price and can shoot full 1080p video. Do you think the KX or K-7 would still be better than the D3100? Also, since I’m going to acen, which two lenses would you recommend for taking picture of cosplay? I do like the features of the camera you showed me though… Damnit, why is it so difficult to decide? ” Answer: The low light performance of the K-7 isn’t good, so I’d say skip that one (it would be hard to find it new anyways as it is recently discontinued along with the K-x). For best APS-C in dynamic range/high ISO: The K-5 and D7000 are it, but both are expensive. It would probably be better to spend more money on lenses than camera bodies though. These two cameras can let you “get away with” kit lenses if you don’t have much desire for producing artistic blurry backgrounds. For example:  That was done with a K-5 at ISO 12,800 with a *cheap* 50-2...

I was recently asked this question: Hey Scott…I’m looking at DSLRs from the filmmaker’s point of view. Of course I want to take awesome photos but the world of DSLR filmmaking is exploding and since the video quality for quite a few DSLRs are so amazing it’s something I want to get in on. I’m looking at the Canon 550D right now. I can’t afford anything like the 5D, desp…ite how epic it would be. Here is my response, which might help if you are just starting out and want a Canon DSLR for video: Yeah, from the limited information I’ve read so far about Canon DSLRs, at the moment, Canon is the one putting the most video specific features into their cameras. Although of course their flagship class 1D Mark IV has exclusive features like “rolling shutter correction,” but I think overall that they put a good amount of those video specific features into the lesser models. The expensive yet “cheaper” 1D Mark II I don’t think has that advanced feature, but it does have the physical benefit of...