Any photography Boffins about?

[Deleted User]

There are two rules I live by, with regard to cropping.

1. Use camera zoom to crop an image, rather than cropping at the printing stage.

2. Use optical zoom, in preference to (or, if forced to use both, before) digital zoom.

Both cropping at the printing stage, and digital zoom, reduce the number of pixels in the image, reducing image quality.

Oblivion

Geodark wrote: »

But as has been said already a 30mm prime set at 1.4 isn't the correct lens to use for what you want - but it will be fantastic for portrait shots.

I would not agree with that statement. For portrait work, a 30mm will introduce very unflattering distortion ... making the nose appear bigger than it really is. You should never use less than a 50mm for human portraits and IMHO an 85mm is perfect.

I took these using an 85mm prime on a 4 Megapixel Nikon and they are distortion free ...

http://www.pbase.com/davecq/image/38882389

http://www.pbase.com/davecq/image/54190542

Big_Graeme

Geodark wrote: »

and were you cropping raw or JPG?

What difference would that make?

Big_Graeme

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

There are two rules I live by, with regard to cropping.

1. Use camera zoom to crop an image, rather than cropping at the printing stage.

2. Use optical zoom, in preference to (or, if forced to use both, before) digital zoom.

Both cropping at the printing stage, and digital zoom, reduce the number of pixels in the image, reducing image quality.

What has camera zoom got to do with cropping an image? Use a dedicated graphics program to do the cropping.

[Deleted User]

Big_Graeme wrote: »

What has camera zoom got to do with cropping an image?

The more the subject fills the frame at the taking stage, the more you can reduce/eliminate the need to crop the image.

The more of the original picture you can use, the better.

ukcarper

I have a DSLR and a TZ8 and I think a lot depends on where you will be taking the photos if mainly inside I might be temped to use TZ8 but would probably use DSLR as it focuses faster than TZ8, but if outside in the sun I would definitely take DSLR with standard zoom as I find in bright conditions it's almost impossible to see screen on TZ8 and composing the shoot can be hit and miss.

Big_Graeme

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

The more the subject fills the frame at the taking stage, the more you can reduce/eliminate the need to crop the image.

The more of the original picture you can use, the better.

Ah you mean framing rather than cropping.

David_Aston

Thank you all for your comments and tips. Geodark, I used Digital Photo Professional, and worked with the RAW image. As you might imagine, in the original shot my action man was a barely discernable figure in the centre of the 30mm shot.
Strider, a complete post. Useful information, great images to back the info up, and a bit of patronising. Great! You are probably right, mind. I have owned film and digital slr's for maybe thirty years or so. At the mo', putting the 24-105 mm "L" class lens onto the front of the 550d must surely produce the potential for the best images I could get, taking into account it's own limitations. (No wide angle on a crop camera, and maximum F4 stop.)
I think to be a little bit fair to myself, in the last couple of years the Nokia Pureview system of having a 40 megabyte camera phone, which I rather gathered could be successfully cropped into, has probably confused me.( Easily done as my Missus would tell you.)
Anyway, thanks again all, I will probably take the Panny. Might even see if I can get my other half to ok purchasing the current TZ60 model. Any future compact I get will certainly have to have a viewfinder.

ab48uk

Strider590 wrote: »

At 1.4, your going to get an extremely shallow depth of field. That is to say everything except what you point at will be waaaaaay out of focus.

A fast lens produces images where the subject "pop"s out from the background. Your test proved only one thing, that your not ready for a DSLR.

That is true - but of course only if you actually shoot with it wide open.

As has been said, the golden rule is to fill the frame and crop as little as possible. I do this by using a bridge camera - with a zoom equivalent to 28 to 300mm on a full frame 35mm camera.

EssexExile

David_Aston wrote: »

Might even see if I can get my other half to ok purchasing the current TZ60 model. Any future compact I get will certainly have to have a viewfinder.

I've just replaced my TZ10 with a TZ60, a viewfinder at last!