Photography Gear and Techniques

[Paul D]

When my father died 7 years ago, my brothers and I divided up his camera collection. I am not an avid photographer (though I do understand photography). My father was one and we even had an SLR engraved in his gravestone! Anyways, he has variety of Canons, Nikons, a couple of Leicas, and brands I have never heard of before. Also a lot of lenses and accessories. I am now finally starting to inventory his stuff. Luckily he kept some notes with each piece and I am using the internet to try to figure out what it is, date of manufacture, etc. Do you have any recommendations for collector reference books?

[mtnbkr]

Do you have any recommendations for collector reference books?

No, but keep in mind anything published prior to 2-3 years ago will be wildly low price-wise. From about 2010 when film was in its death throes till about 2018ish, film cameras bottomed out price-wise. Even Leicas were comparatively cheap. Things have picked up and even formerly cheap cameras have skyrocketed in price (Pentax K1000 for example).

Chris

[mtnbkr]

If anyone is interested, I'm looking at offloading my Canon VT rangefinder and two Leica Threat Mount lenses (one Canon 50/1.8 and one Voigtlander 35/2.5). The gear is in great shape, I just prefer my SLRs. Everything is film-tested (roughly 20 rolls at this point). The VT is about as nice cosmetically as one could hope for in a near 70yo camera.

Chris

[BehindBlueI's]

Assume I know nothing beyond a cell phone camera, so type slow.

https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/ref...is-ii-lens-kit

Is this a reasonable purchase for a beginner who's looking to mostly do outdoorsy photos?

[BehindBlueI's]

@LittleLebowski, can you please change the title of this thread to “Photogtaphy Gear and Techniques“? kthxbye

A mere 6 months later, I took care of it. If you "report" a thread instead of mentioning one of us specifically, you've got roughtly 4x the chance someone will see it and take care of it relatively quickly.

[Paul D]

Assume I know nothing beyond a cell phone camera, so type slow.

https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/ref...is-ii-lens-kit

Is this a reasonable purchase for a beginner who's looking to mostly do outdoorsy photos?

I'm a beginner also. I took my Canon SL2 (similar to that camera) and this lens (link) to Alaska and was happy with the shots I got. Most of the time I used aperture control and auto settings on everything else and I was happy with the outcomes.

[HeavyDuty]

Assume I know nothing beyond a cell phone camera, so type slow.

https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/ref...is-ii-lens-kit

Is this a reasonable purchase for a beginner who's looking to mostly do outdoorsy photos?

It will get you there. Think Taurus quality (not so much the body, the kit lens) but you’ll get fine results.

[HeavyDuty]

@BehindBlueI’s, would your budget stretch any from that? Some of the less expensive mirrorless options might be beneficial, you get rid of the flapping mirror and that’s where the innovation is happening.

[The Rat]

Having somewhat learned from my firearms hobby, my camera equipment/technique is pared down to just what I need it for, nothing I don't.

All I do is landscape, and I like being able to print really big, so I use the 80mp hi-res mode on the Olympus EM1 Mk2. The only lenses I have are the Oly 7-14 Pro (14-28 full frame equivalent) and Oly 12-40 Pro (24-80 full frame equivalent.) Tripod is a Gitzo with an RRS head and leveling base.

The hi-res mode has some interesting effects on moving water, but other than that I've been very happy with the results. Have printed up to 60x40" canvas and it's looked great.

Here's this morning's results, taken a few hours ago for sunrise.

[BehindBlueI's]

@BehindBlueI’s, would your budget stretch any from that? Some of the less expensive mirrorless options might be beneficial, you get rid of the flapping mirror and that’s where the innovation is happening.

Yeah, maybe. This has been an expensive month (paying for upcoming vacations and ongoing home improvements), but I'm in no big rush.