Tony Chavarria
Site Publisher
932 posts
Dec 16, 2006
3:15 PM
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What camera do you use to take good digital pictures of your pigeons? What about an actual film camera?
BMC, don't you use professional camera equipment in your job?
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FLY ON! Tony Chavarria
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washington86
84 posts
Dec 16, 2006
4:33 PM
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I use the Sony 100 megapixal..great for bird's performing
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parlorfancier916
198 posts
Dec 16, 2006
5:13 PM
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I use the one I got from the store haha
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Velo99
734 posts
Dec 16, 2006
6:28 PM
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I use an Oly 5 megs. Point and click,nothing fancy.
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If they don`t kit,they don`t score.
Color don`t roll and peds don`t fly.
It`s a comp thing,understand?
V99
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ROLLERMAN
61 posts
Dec 16, 2006
7:08 PM
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KODAK EASY SHARE C340
7 MEG GREAT LITTLE CAMERA FOR AROUND $140.00
AL
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Outlaw Vizsla
27 posts
Dec 16, 2006
7:52 PM
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Nikon D70...Although I wouldnt recomend getting it. If I had it to do over again I would have spent the money on the Nikon D200 or D80 much better image processing, faster frames, smarter auto focusing...just all around better.
Matt
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
886 posts
Dec 16, 2006
11:05 PM
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Tony, for what you would to achieve, film is dead....fogetaboutit....lol
Digital has advanced in leaps and bounds over the past three years. It's hard to buy a "dud" digicam anymore. In decent light, particularly daylight, just about any digicam of any sensor size will produce images of good quality, provided you actually take a few moments to "take a good picture". The problem that most people experience when taking photos of their birds in cages is
(1) they didn't take the time to read the instructions that came with the camera to learn what all of the functions are for and how/when to use them.
(2) Lighting. Photography is all about LIGHT.
(3) The person always uses the "auto" mode and expects great results.
You don't need the latest wazzoo grande-megapixel camera to capture good images of your birds, or most anything else for that matter...if you know what the cameras capabilities are as well as its limitations. I still to this day I use my old 3mp Nikon 995 (one of the first digicams) for pictures I take of my birds when I'm out in the loft. It takes great, sharp pictures when I do my part, which is use the camera in conditions that are suitable for what the camera is capable of.
Since 1989 my stable of gear has been several 645 medium format film cameras for work. I don't use them anymore as my digital SLR cameras can produce almost as good of images. There are exceptions but I won't bore you with dynamic range, etc, etc.
I would advise anyone seeking a moderate level digicam to try and invest in one that gives you options. Options such as being able to select the sensitivity, focal point, metering, white balance, etc. Many digicams today provide these options, a person just has to learn how to use them...AND...has to become familiar with post processing which gives you the latitude to adjust the image to suit.
Being that I not only do the photography, but most all of our image processing at work, I always believe an image can be better and post processing provides that option.
If you are just wanting to take some "good" shots of your birds, you have to have patience and know what shot you want to capture. Try not to use too wide of a lens/setting as it distorts the bird. The most ideal photographs of pigeons are taken with portrait size lenses and focal lengths to give the most accurate reproduction of the bird.
Invest in a tripod or at the minimum, a monopod. Digital cameras are super sensitive to movement. I pretty much always at least us a monopod for the "throw um in a cage and take some pictures". For the pigeon portrait photography I have a special studio box that is 32x32x32 and has multiple lights inside with a single shooting door from which my camera is mounted on a tripod. I'll post a sample image at the end of this rant as an example.
For general quickie shots I use the traditional 15-inch Kieper cages that most of us have with a colored background on the back side, one flourescent light directly over head along with ambient light coming in from a variety of directions.
If you get to know how to accomplish what kind of images you want to take of your birds, the size of the sensor, cost of the camera and all of the bells and whistles won't matter much.
You really can't go wrong with most digicams sold today.
DSLRs are a different beast...lol.
For flying images I use my same DSLR but with much longer, faster lens.
Typical cage photo taken with cheap 3mp Nikon, but with the lighting described.
portrait studio under controlled lighting
Last Edited by on Dec 16, 2006 11:06 PM
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W@yne
66 posts
Dec 16, 2006
11:39 PM
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Some nice clear pics there Bmc. How do you post pics on this site?
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nicksiders
948 posts
Dec 17, 2006
11:58 AM
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That Black Elvis Bird is an impressive looking roller. Beautiful. He has the "look" don't he?
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Snicker Rollers
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
890 posts
Dec 17, 2006
9:26 PM
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Jim, you can see more here...
http://www.pbase.com/bmc1/my_pigeon_pix
Wayne, your images have to be hosted on the net somewhere (ie..Photobucket, etc). Then right click on the image, click on properties, highlight the complete URL and copy by right clicking again.
Then in your message box here
type >img src=paste url here< (flip the > to < and at the end < to >.
Nick, he has a solid look to him and has produced a bunch of good birds over the years.
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brian430
51 posts
Dec 18, 2006
1:11 PM
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Hey Brian, Great pics bud, just one question is that constuction paper you use for background? again GREAT pics!!!
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Brian in Ludlow, MA
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
894 posts
Dec 18, 2006
1:53 PM
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Yah, its poster board you can buy at Target or Office Depot, etc.
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