anyone have any shooting at night tips for a 7100 because right now

[bribrius]

Well on this one I'm afraid we'll have to agree to compeltely disagree. A great camera won't make up for a lack of photographic skill, no matter how great it is or how many features it might have, but no matter how skilled of a photographer I might be it is absolutely impossible to deny the inherint limitations of the camera system I'm using and anyone who says otherwise, well I'm sorry but they are just dead wrong.

I cannot take a $50 point and shoot and using it under the exact same conditions as my D5200 produce an image that is going to be comparable in image quality. I cannot take my D5200 and using an F/4.5 to 5.6 lens and using the exact same technique and short exposure times get the same kind of image I can from one of my F/1.8 primes. If I take an image using a $50 point and shoot and I increase the image size to the same as the 6000x4000 default size of the 5200, it will look like crap. Any camera can take halfway decent images if you want to only view them on a tiny screen, sure. Put them on a full sized computer monitor and you start to notice some of the differences. Print them out in anything larger than 4x6 and you really seriously start to notice these differences.

It doesn't matter if I took the shot or Ansel Adams did, it's a limitation of the equipment used.

A great photographer can understand how best to use what he/she has and produce a much "better" image using the same equipment than someone with more limited knowledge or experience, sure. He/she will have a better understanding of how to use his equipment, how to work with what he has to get the best shot, etc - But your confusing artistic expression and technical skill with image quality, IQ. You can use the first two to make up for some deficiencies in the second, but you cannot in any way shape or form ignore the technical limitations of the equipment your working with just because you want to believe it is so.

translation "the site you have been reading and studying is dogma"

Well I wouldn't say "dogma" per see. I would say that Mr. Rockwell tells a lot of folks what they want to hear in a lot of situations because his income depends on people coming to the site and reading his stuff, so as a result I'd really take a lot of what is written there with a huge dose of salt. Well that and maybe some advil. But my point here is pretty simple actually, you give somebody with the skills and abilities of an Ansel Adams a crappy cell phone camera and the images they capture are bound to be "better" than anything I could do in my wildest dreams using even a top of the line full frame camera in the arena of artistic expression, composition, etc. But if you want a wall sized print out of that, forget it. And if you blow it up enough it will become pretty obvious pretty quick that it might be a great photograph, but it was taken with a crappy camera. No level of skill can overcome that, it's a technical limitation.

So yes, I can do what rockwell did and produce some photographs on a cell phone or low end point and shoot that will look just fine if I put them up in sizes that used for embedding them into a web page. View them full screen and you'll start to notice the differences between a high resolution image taken with good quality professional glass and something taken with a cell phone or point and shoot really quick. Just think about it, if this premise were even remotely true that the camera really didn't matter at all, then why on earth would guys who shoot professionally and who know their trade bother wasting a ton of money on equipment that "didn't matter?"

Why wouldn't they all just be carrying a dirt cheap point and shoot in their pocket and call it good?

conditions and quicker access to changing settings and more settings or options.
which probably comes back to, light? seems it all comes back to light. i could have taken a much better photo with a ten dollar disposable camera five hours earlier than the above. Maybe the more you spend on gear, the more of that 24 hour period you are buying and the more "conditions" you are buying that you might be able to get a decent photo out of. They must charge you like a buck a minute you are buying.

 

[robbins.photo]

translation "the site you have been reading and studying is dogma"

Well I wouldn't say "dogma" per see. I would say that Mr. Rockwell tells a lot of folks what they want to hear in a lot of situations because his income depends on people coming to the site and reading his stuff, so as a result I'd really take a lot of what is written there with a huge dose of salt. Well that and maybe some advil. But my point here is pretty simple actually, you give somebody with the skills and abilities of an Ansel Adams a crappy cell phone camera and the images they capture are bound to be "better" than anything I could do in my wildest dreams using even a top of the line full frame camera in the arena of artistic expression, composition, etc. But if you want a wall sized print out of that, forget it. And if you blow it up enough it will become pretty obvious pretty quick that it might be a great photograph, but it was taken with a crappy camera. No level of skill can overcome that, it's a technical limitation.

So yes, I can do what rockwell did and produce some photographs on a cell phone or low end point and shoot that will look just fine if I put them up in sizes that used for embedding them into a web page. View them full screen and you'll start to notice the differences between a high resolution image taken with good quality professional glass and something taken with a cell phone or point and shoot really quick. Just think about it, if this premise were even remotely true that the camera really didn't matter at all, then why on earth would guys who shoot professionally and who know their trade bother wasting a ton of money on equipment that "didn't matter?"

Why wouldn't they all just be carrying a dirt cheap point and shoot in their pocket and call it good?

conditions and quicker access to changing settings and more settings or options.
which probably comes back to, light? seems it all comes back to light. i could have taken a much better photo with a ten dollar disposable camera five hours earlier than the above. Maybe the more you spend on gear, the more of that 24 hour period you are buying and the more "conditions" you are buying that you might be able to get a decent photo out of. They must charge you like a buck a minute you are buying.

As grandpappy was so fond of saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. It's right in front of you if at some point you get thirsty. Other than that nothing more I can do.

 

[bribrius]

Well I wouldn't say "dogma" per see. I would say that Mr. Rockwell tells a lot of folks what they want to hear in a lot of situations because his income depends on people coming to the site and reading his stuff, so as a result I'd really take a lot of what is written there with a huge dose of salt. Well that and maybe some advil. But my point here is pretty simple actually, you give somebody with the skills and abilities of an Ansel Adams a crappy cell phone camera and the images they capture are bound to be "better" than anything I could do in my wildest dreams using even a top of the line full frame camera in the arena of artistic expression, composition, etc. But if you want a wall sized print out of that, forget it. And if you blow it up enough it will become pretty obvious pretty quick that it might be a great photograph, but it was taken with a crappy camera. No level of skill can overcome that, it's a technical limitation.

So yes, I can do what rockwell did and produce some photographs on a cell phone or low end point and shoot that will look just fine if I put them up in sizes that used for embedding them into a web page. View them full screen and you'll start to notice the differences between a high resolution image taken with good quality professional glass and something taken with a cell phone or point and shoot really quick. Just think about it, if this premise were even remotely true that the camera really didn't matter at all, then why on earth would guys who shoot professionally and who know their trade bother wasting a ton of money on equipment that "didn't matter?"

Why wouldn't they all just be carrying a dirt cheap point and shoot in their pocket and call it good?

conditions and quicker access to changing settings and more settings or options.
which probably comes back to, light? seems it all comes back to light. i could have taken a much better photo with a ten dollar disposable camera five hours earlier than the above. Maybe the more you spend on gear, the more of that 24 hour period you are buying and the more "conditions" you are buying that you might be able to get a decent photo out of. They must charge you like a buck a minute you are buying.

As grandpappy was so fond of saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. It's right in front of you if at some point you get thirsty. Other than that nothing more I can do.

not at all. i like your point of view. it helps me keep blaming and saying the cameras are junk. technical limitations. They are all technically limited.

 

[robbins.photo]

conditions and quicker access to changing settings and more settings or options.
which probably comes back to, light? seems it all comes back to light. i could have taken a much better photo with a ten dollar disposable camera five hours earlier than the above. Maybe the more you spend on gear, the more of that 24 hour period you are buying and the more "conditions" you are buying that you might be able to get a decent photo out of. They must charge you like a buck a minute you are buying.

As grandpappy was so fond of saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. It's right in front of you if at some point you get thirsty. Other than that nothing more I can do.

not at all. i like your point of view. it helps me keep blaming and saying the cameras are junk. technical limitations. They are all technically limited.

Then I shall leave you with one other of my grandfathers favorite expressions, a quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.”

 

[bribrius]

As grandpappy was so fond of saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. It's right in front of you if at some point you get thirsty. Other than that nothing more I can do.

not at all. i like your point of view. it helps me keep blaming and saying the cameras are junk. technical limitations. They are all technically limited.

Then I shall leave you with one other of my grandfathers favorite expressions, a quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.”

oh geez. stop picking both sides. And come up with your own expressions your grandfather probably earned these. LOL.

 

[runnah]

What are you all arguing about again?

 

[robbins.photo]

not at all. i like your point of view. it helps me keep blaming and saying the cameras are junk. technical limitations. They are all technically limited.

Then I shall leave you with one other of my grandfathers favorite expressions, a quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

"If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.”

oh geez. stop picking both sides. And come up with your own expressions your grandfather probably earned these. LOL.

Sorry, the only hypocrisy here is your own. My point was clearly made and clearly stated and it stands for itself. Other than that, were done here.

 

[Braineack]

Here's an expression I coined : stop posting and learn how to camera.

 

[bribrius]

Here's an expression I coined : stop posting and learn how to camera.

not now. no time. i have obligations going on. im hanging out on here off and on i cant do any excursions right now. doing more study than camera time i think i need it. But im also wondering if im not giving myself enough credit and i already know how to "camera" (to a extent anyway). Maybe i have the bar too high. but i think i know how to test that theory.

 

[memento]

i already know how to "camera" (to a extent anyway).

i'd say you already know how to "troll".

"camera", not so much.

 

[shefjr]

While I know that you have a request for specific tips for the D7100, I feel that these threads will help you. Both are excellent resources. Best of luck!

By Sw1tchFX
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/articles-interest/276016-shooting-night-pictures-stars-stuff.html

By Manaheim
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/beyond-basics/268879-manaheim-s-ultimate-guide-night-photography.html

 

[bribrius]

i already know how to "camera" (to a extent anyway).

i'd say you already know how to "troll".

"camera", not so much.

i am getting pretty good at trolling. But camera, still contemplating that. seems i have a lot of failures. But looking at what im trying to do. How many people could do that? Nobody? as mentioned earlier in this thread. But i think i know how to find out if im better than i think and am trying the impossible. Im going to talk my sister into going out on a photo trip with me. she was a pro. if i cant take the shot, and she can. i guess i know. if she looks at it and says flat out, not happening. well then i know.

 

[bribrius]

While I know that you have a request for specific tips for the D7100, I feel that these threads will help you. Both are excellent resources. Best of luck!

By Sw1tchFX
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/articles-interest/276016-shooting-night-pictures-stars-stuff.html

By Manaheim
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/beyond-basics/268879-manaheim-s-ultimate-guide-night-photography.html

ty

 

[SCraig]

I've been around cameras for pushing 50 years and I have yet to see one that came with a can of "Instant Ability" included in the box. If you're not going to take the time to learn to use it properly then I'd strongly advise you to sell it. If you don't then at some point you will break it and then all you'll have left is a hole in your bank account.

Blaming a camera for your inabilities is a lot like blaming surgical instruments for killing a patient because you never bothered to go to medical school. Yes, they are perfectly capable of taking fabulous night shots, but not until you take the time to learn how to use them, and more importantly, their limitations and how to work within them.

 

[bribrius]

i tried the star photos a few weeks back . They came out pretty dismal. the link provided makes me think ill give it a shot again. maybe tonight. seems a little boring (i see how this stresses patience lol) but i think i can keep it together for a thirty minute exposure. Last time i kept messing with the camera. Thinking, is it even going? crap i hope im not standing here for no reason. what if it isn't even coming out right? Then im standing here for no reason. id play with it, look it over. start it again. few minutes goes by. smoke a cigarette. start getting antsy. pops in the head again, i really hope im not standing here for no reason.
lol