Pissed off and disgusted

PerroneFord

PerroneFord

Deals in Lead
If this post has to be deleted then so be it, but I *NEED* this rant right now.

So I work in a historical building. I am a media guy, and a former photographer. Today, we had a presentation in one of our formal areas and the entire building staff was invited and about 150 attended.

About an hour before the presentation, I was asked to do a favor by the staff photographer. He had to run out for an appointment and asked if I could shoot it. I agreed of course. He hands me the corporate camera that he speced out. A Canon 50D. Nice camera. And a 18-55 F3.5-5.6!!!

We are shooing in a room with nearly NO LIGHT. So I need to get shots of our head honcho giving a speech, people recieving awards, crowd shots, etc. And it's all on this POS on-camera flash. I cursed under my breath every time I reviewed a photo..


FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! People DO NOT BUY CHEAP, SLOW, lenses. They are the work of the DEVIL! They take what should be simple situations and guarantee you will have NO success.

I hate practically every photo I took. I was composing nearly in the dark, and the flash was 95% of the light available. You can't even dial down the stupid flash so that it doesn't blow everything out of the water.

I wish I could take a big garbage truck and just crush every POS slow lens on the market to keep people (Pros) from buying this stuff. If you're outdoors at the skate park or Disney World.. fine. But indoors, under real conditions...

I'd like to take the lens off and chuck it down the street....


...sorry I needed to say it.
 
I agree with you about kit lenses; however, it sounds like you could have played with the flash compensation. Either that or have disabled the flash and shot at a high ISO with noise reduction enabled. Both are imperfect and unprofessional solutions, yet acceptable under the circumstances.
 
Jordan_Sopinsky said:
I agree with you about kit lenses; however, it sounds like you could have played with the flash compensation. Either that or have disabled the flash and shot at a high ISO with noise reduction enabled. Both are imperfect and unprofessional solutions, yet acceptable under the circumstances.
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I got the camera 40 minutes before the shoot, and the guy who handed it to me knew less about it than I did. Maybe if I knew more about it, I could have rescued a bad situation, but I was put on the spot.

These cameras have wonderful features and abilities. It seems almost a crime to hobble them with is selling for $40 on Ebay. When he got back from his appointment this afternoon, I told him of my issue, and implored him to buy a 50mm 1.4, just for these scenarios.
 
Perrone, they sell these damn things to stupid people who think they are getting a deal. They hear about the camera and need a lens so the manufacturer throws in a POS to move the camera.
 
phudsontx said:
Perrone, they sell these damn things to stupid people who think they are getting a deal. They hear about the camera and need a lens so the manufacturer throws in a POS to move the camera.
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Well, I wouldn't call the people stupid. But many just don't know any better, and don't do any research. They they see the results pros get online and wonder why they can't replicate it.

Like people who see "low light" footage online (whatever the hell that means) and try to replicate it and fail. And wonder why. And you have to point out that some of that stuff is taken with F1.2 or F1.4 glass, and they're at F5.6. It just isn't going to happen. At the end of the day, the laws of physics still trumps all.
 
A newer full frame camera would have given you an extra stop or two of acceptable ISO...and Jordan is right about the exposure compensation. You can get away with the stock lens and built flash in a situation like that but I agree you need to have experience using that setup and knowing how to get the most out of very very little.

That being said, could they have raised the lights a little in the room?..not enough light..add some! Also, shoot from angles and at people that are getting hit by the light in the room (don't try to take photos of people in the shadows). Remember white is white because it reflects light..black absorbs light.

I love the stock lens...it's cheap (disposablesque), light weight, covers a good range and produces some nice image when you can stop it down a little. That being said, I wouldn't use it for anything other than f8 or brighter photography.
 
egproductions said:
A newer full frame camera would have given you an extra stop or two of acceptable ISO...and Jordan is right about the exposure compensation. You can get away with the stock lens and built flash in a situation like that but I agree you need to have experience using that setup and knowing how to get the most out of very very little.

That being said, could they have raised the lights a little in the room?..not enough light..add some! Also, shoot from angles and at people that are getting hit by the light in the room (don't try to take photos of people in the shadows). Remember white is white because it reflects light..black absorbs light.

I love the stock lens...it's cheap (disposablesque), light weight, covers a good range and produces some nice image when you can stop it down a little. That being said, I wouldn't use it for anything other than f8 or brighter photography.
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I've been a pro. Give me an F4/F5 and I know the tricks. And I've shot on a 7D.. a little.

There are no lights in the room. If you've ever been in the rotunda of Congress in DC, that's about what I was in, but not quite as large. Overhead skylight, and some small tungsten backlighting. Not much else. With 40 minutes, I didn't even have time to set up lighting. I've got 5k watts to play with in my office, but it was WAY too late for that.

But I just don't know how people who make a LIVING at this, don't have a single lens faster than F3.5, especially when the primary role of that person is indoor photography and portraits in indoor available light.

I even tried to find scotch tape to put over the flash unit to diffuse it some. I would have used tissue paper if I'd have been able to get some. That's always the hot setup... draping tissue paper over the flash when your taking photos of the CEO or other VIPs...

Anyway, on to other things, and back to my day job.
 
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