What camera do I buy? / general gear talk

I tended to use S for bike races or water - getting different amounts of motion blur and P with whatever settings for static landscape stuff. I used to get way more creative with my little G3 but now I'm much more point and shoot.

I still need to find some kind of case/strap for it. So I'm unlikely to be taking any moving shots for a while.

It took me a little while to figure out the 'send to smartphone' function. The trick is to download the 'Imaging Edge' app first and connect to your camera from the phone first. Then the send to smartphone function works fine and is relatively intuitive.

I've also been enjoying have a low level Zebra setting on to help with exposure settings. I'd never heard of the function before, but it shows up a zebra pattern on any parts that are over exposed.

Ah, I just saw 'zebra' in the menu and wondered what it was.

Send to smartphone - unlikely to want that. I normally take a bunch of photos then stick the card in a reader or plug in the USB. The fewer devices connected to each other the better. #tinfoilhat

Oh the missus just said "doesn't it have wifi?"

Um, never owned a camera with wifi. Maybe I will connect something to something else.

Would be good if the folding screen folded all the way out of the way, like the G3 used to. No screen scratches then.

Got a Dashpoint 20 and it just fits in there so that can go on a belt or something. Shit, now I need a belt :P

taken a photo with it

This is not that photo. This is a photo 'of' it :)

Think I might try and find a screen protector of some sort for it and then get started jamming it in the case, maybe get the missus to stitch on an extra loop so I can fit the case like I would a feedbag - to stem and bars. Probably just add a belt for off-road rides so it doesn't bounce so much.

I didn’t fit anything for... two years? But then I kept it in any number of layers of soft material whenever taking out. I bought and fitted one of these a few weeks ago.

Not tested its efficacy but seems fine.

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What's the brand name of it? I was just going to grab the cheapest thing off amazon

You’ll cause a worldwide shortage in belt material

No brand, just cheap Chinese ebay special. I believe JJC or similar ‘brand’ do them though.

#burn

#hippyisfat

They're probably all made by the same group of children in a Chinese factory somewhere.

All you Sony folk, do you use their software, PlayMemories Home?
https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/disoft/int/download/playmemories-home/win/en/

I've always just used a card reader and 3rd party RAW editing stuff. But with this unit, I dunno. Does their software provide anything useful?

Just blasting away in one of the Auto modes yesterday the pics overexpose the sky so I'm going to have to fix that.

The little Lowepro didn't let go during some rough off-road stuff so that's a winner. Might stick add some kind of lanyard to it as a backup to the velcro.

It also appears Picasa can't handle Sony images properly. Or it just choked on the file size or something and fucked up saving the cropped versions. Cropping 24 M images gives much more detail, much less grain than phone so that's nice.

Picasa

Wow throwback to the noughties!

Yeah, I hated they stopped development on it and since I've not been using anything other than a phone for the most part of the last 10 years I stuck with it. It's faster and more useful than most of the stuff I was using back then.

Any free replacements that will match or better its function? I used to use a RAW workflow tool but can't even remember its name its been so long since I did propah photos.

https://skylum.com/blog/guide-to-the-best-free-lightroom-alternatives

Maybe darktable or something? Anyone use any of these options?

You used to be able to get a Sony specific version of captureone, which was offered when I bought my A7. It’s free and works miles better than the Sony software.

Ah Capture One, that rings a bell. I think that's what I was using back when my 6MP 10D was hot shit for prosumers.

https://www.captureone.com/en/products-plans/capture-one-express/sony

I use darktable, don't love it but it works and is free. Worth reading a tutorial first

I read the FAQ and glazed over. Linux this and drivers that.

I've downloaded the Sony version of Capture One and will give that a go first.

Got Capture One (Sony ed) going. Pics aren't great (that's my fault) but a shitload more detail in them compared to the phone so I'm pretty happy with it. One small issue is a dot on the lens or sensor which is putting a blip in the skies. No luck cleaning it but I don't have any cleaning kit so I'm not going to get far. Got a 20mm f2.8 coming. Cost about 140 quid. At least having a second lens will answer the question about the dot - lens or sensor.

@hippy, not sure if you ordered a screen protector already but I'm happily using these for my X100V, X-H1 and Iphone.

https://www.protectionfilms24.com/

I've got the BROTECT Airglass in both matte and regular finish.

Can anyone recommend a tripod? Happy to buy second hand, ideally for under 50 quid? Something relatively light that packs down small. Let me know if that budget is entirely unrealistic