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The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. Time to get a camcorder

Time to get a camcorder

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  • Aqua LetiferA Aqua Letifer

    @mark said in Time to get a camcorder:

    What if you enlarge them to say 40" x 50"? Can you tell a difference then?

    It entirely depends on how close you get. 12 MP cameras can print billboard sizes because no one gets that close to them.

    markM Offline
    markM Offline
    mark
    wrote on last edited by
    #34

    @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

    @mark said in Time to get a camcorder:

    What if you enlarge them to say 40" x 50"? Can you tell a difference then?

    It entirely depends on how close you get. 12 MP cameras can print billboard sizes because no one gets that close to them.

    Right. But let's say you are going to make a 40x50 print to frame and hang on your wall.

    I would want the biggest sensor with smallest pixel size and deepest full well capacity, I could afford. Especially for long exposure photographs. Not to mention that if you go much longer than a few seconds you should take a series of dark frames and flat frames to subtract out any "hot" and "cold" pixels and uneven illumination due to the heat generated by the surrounding components on the circuit board. I am of course relating to all of this through my experience with long exposure, and cooled sensors we used in astrophotography. We even liquid cooled our cameras during the summer months. We cool the sensor to reduce "thermal noise".

    I would love for you to see my 40x50 prints of M31 and M42 hanging in my living room. They were taken with specialty astronomical cameras. Not very large sensors by modern standards.

    Actual resolution of the cameras we used (SBIG ST-10) was only 2184 x 1472 but had 6.8 micron pixels and 77,000 e- Full Well Capacity (77k electrons) which is the point where an individual pixel will saturate and start bleeding or blooming over into the neighboring pixels. Full Well Capacity basically determines dynamic range. If it gets saturated you get blooming. when a star blooms, things get ugly real quick and processing it out of the image is a real pain in the ass.

    Also there are CCD sensors and CMOS sensors. CCD sensors (especially monochrome CCDs) are much sharper and have a higher dynamic range than like resolution CMOS sensors or "one shot color" CCD sensors.

    Granted we did a 9 panel mosaic for M31 but M42 was a single panel. Both of them scaled up very well.

    Anyone who attended the Piano Party I hosted a few years back had ample opportunity to inspect them up close. They are printed on archival Kodak photographic paper on a true optical enlargement printer. A company in Madison had a very expensive (high 5 figures if I remember correctly) machine that printed them for us.

    Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
    • markM Offline
      markM Offline
      mark
      wrote on last edited by
      #35

      Klaus, in your second photo there is a pretty shallow DOF. That lens was probably close to wide open. Maybe closed by 1 or 2 stops at the most.

      1 Reply Last reply
      • KlausK Klaus

        You already said you could tell the difference between an iPhone image and a full frame if they were shot in low light, then introduced 3 caveats before you gave it a go, then refused to make explicit guesses for each image, then failed the test, and now you're trying to say the results don't matter.

        Are you deliberately acting like that? My point is really simple, yet you somehow refuse to get it and talk about unrelated things.

        My point has been all along that better cameras allow you to take some pictures that other cameras cannot. I never said that expensive cameras always make better photos or anything like that.

        I didn't list "caveats"; rather, I tried to describe situations in which a better camera can make a difference. Yet, you have chosen to select photos that can be made with every camera, if you have a tripod, and think you have somehow made a point.

        Here, look at this photo for instance:

        d963c4a7-ac26-440d-af0f-b6e3aeeb69bd-image.png

        Was it made with a cell phone? No, because you couldn't get the exposure time needed to freeze the action in a dark hall, and it wouldn't have enough zoom.

        What about this one? Cell phone?

        204a28f0-a23e-4cfd-a4c1-37c5c02ed201-image.png

        No chance, because a cell phone wouldn't let you get such a small depth-of-field, and again not the short exposure time required for the subject.

        Aqua LetiferA Offline
        Aqua LetiferA Offline
        Aqua Letifer
        wrote on last edited by
        #36

        @Klaus said in Time to get a camcorder:

        No chance, because a cell phone wouldn't let you get such a small depth-of-field, and again not the short exposure time required for the subject.

        They can literally do that now with dual lenses.

        Please love yourself.

        1 Reply Last reply
        • markM mark

          @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

          @mark said in Time to get a camcorder:

          What if you enlarge them to say 40" x 50"? Can you tell a difference then?

          It entirely depends on how close you get. 12 MP cameras can print billboard sizes because no one gets that close to them.

          Right. But let's say you are going to make a 40x50 print to frame and hang on your wall.

          I would want the biggest sensor with smallest pixel size and deepest full well capacity, I could afford. Especially for long exposure photographs. Not to mention that if you go much longer than a few seconds you should take a series of dark frames and flat frames to subtract out any "hot" and "cold" pixels and uneven illumination due to the heat generated by the surrounding components on the circuit board. I am of course relating to all of this through my experience with long exposure, and cooled sensors we used in astrophotography. We even liquid cooled our cameras during the summer months. We cool the sensor to reduce "thermal noise".

          I would love for you to see my 40x50 prints of M31 and M42 hanging in my living room. They were taken with specialty astronomical cameras. Not very large sensors by modern standards.

          Actual resolution of the cameras we used (SBIG ST-10) was only 2184 x 1472 but had 6.8 micron pixels and 77,000 e- Full Well Capacity (77k electrons) which is the point where an individual pixel will saturate and start bleeding or blooming over into the neighboring pixels. Full Well Capacity basically determines dynamic range. If it gets saturated you get blooming. when a star blooms, things get ugly real quick and processing it out of the image is a real pain in the ass.

          Also there are CCD sensors and CMOS sensors. CCD sensors (especially monochrome CCDs) are much sharper and have a higher dynamic range than like resolution CMOS sensors or "one shot color" CCD sensors.

          Granted we did a 9 panel mosaic for M31 but M42 was a single panel. Both of them scaled up very well.

          Anyone who attended the Piano Party I hosted a few years back had ample opportunity to inspect them up close. They are printed on archival Kodak photographic paper on a true optical enlargement printer. A company in Madison had a very expensive (high 5 figures if I remember correctly) machine that printed them for us.

          Aqua LetiferA Offline
          Aqua LetiferA Offline
          Aqua Letifer
          wrote on last edited by Aqua Letifer
          #37

          @Klaus Overall, okay, fair enough. I see what you're saying here, and yes, sometimes better gear can give you more options with what photos you can even take. But I don't think the gap nearly as much as you're saying it is, and it's closing very quickly with each passing year.

          For photos that can be taken with either a phone or a camera, no one can tell the difference. You can now literally take your phone screen, throw it into an enlarger, and make large prints on photogenic paper that have enough detail in them that you can't tell where they came from. There's a high school program here that teaches their students how to do this.

          @mark said in Time to get a camcorder:

          Right. But let's say you are going to make a 40x50 print to frame and hang on your wall.

          I would want the biggest sensor with smallest pixel size and deepest full well capacity, I could afford. Especially for long exposure photographs. Not to mention that if you go much longer than a few seconds you should take a series of dark frames and flat frames to subtract out any "hot" and "cold" pixels and uneven illumination due to the heat generated by the surrounding components on the circuit board. I am of course relating to all of this through my experience with long exposure, and cooled sensors we used in astrophotography. We even liquid cooled our cameras during the summer months. We cool the sensor to reduce "thermal noise".

          Yeah, see, astrophotography stuff is a little different. Not only are a lot of the prints ginormous, but they're also made for you to get VERY close to the print and notice the details (in this case, stars and such).

          What's seldom talked about is what kind of gear you need for the kind of photography you do. For natural light portraits, street photography and some landscape stuff, gear is not going to help you.

          For some landscapes, to Klaus's point, some extra gear like ND filters or gradients can help make the process a lot faster and easier. For indoor portraits with controlled lighting, it's not so much the camera you're buying as the light setup.

          For astro, yeah, that's almost an entirely different thing. You need fairly specific stuff to do half of what you might want. (See, Klaus, I concede. πŸ˜„ )

          I would love for you to see my 40x50 prints of M31 and M42 hanging in my living room. They were taken with specialty astronomical cameras. Not very large sensors by modern standards.

          Actual resolution of the cameras we used (SBIG ST-10) was only 2184 x 1472 but had 6.8 micron pixels and 77,000 e- Full Well Capacity (77k electrons) which is the point where an individual pixel will saturate and start bleeding or blooming over into the neighboring pixels. Full Well Capacity basically determines dynamic range. If it gets saturated you get blooming. when a star blooms, things get ugly real quick and processing it out of the image is a real pain in the ass.

          Also there are CCD sensors and CMOS sensors. CCD sensors (especially monochrome CCDs) are much sharper and have a higher dynamic range than like resolution CMOS sensors or "one shot color" CCD sensors.

          Granted we did a 9 panel mosaic for M31 but M42 was a single panel. Both of them scaled up very well.

          Anyone who attended the Piano Party I hosted a few years back had ample opportunity to inspect them up close. They are printed on archival Kodak photographic paper on a true optical enlargement printer. A company in Madison had a very expensive (high 5 figures if I remember correctly) machine that printed them for us.

          I'd really love to see 'em! I've been looking at some monochrome sensor cameras lately. Not for the dynamic rangeβ€”I'd actually want less for the kind of stuff I like to do, not moreβ€”but for help with low-light situations. Some cameras can be converted to an all-spectrum sensor by removing the visible light filters that sit on top of the sensor, but that's not the same as a CCD sensor.

          Please love yourself.

          markM 1 Reply Last reply
          • Aqua LetiferA Aqua Letifer

            @Klaus Overall, okay, fair enough. I see what you're saying here, and yes, sometimes better gear can give you more options with what photos you can even take. But I don't think the gap nearly as much as you're saying it is, and it's closing very quickly with each passing year.

            For photos that can be taken with either a phone or a camera, no one can tell the difference. You can now literally take your phone screen, throw it into an enlarger, and make large prints on photogenic paper that have enough detail in them that you can't tell where they came from. There's a high school program here that teaches their students how to do this.

            @mark said in Time to get a camcorder:

            Right. But let's say you are going to make a 40x50 print to frame and hang on your wall.

            I would want the biggest sensor with smallest pixel size and deepest full well capacity, I could afford. Especially for long exposure photographs. Not to mention that if you go much longer than a few seconds you should take a series of dark frames and flat frames to subtract out any "hot" and "cold" pixels and uneven illumination due to the heat generated by the surrounding components on the circuit board. I am of course relating to all of this through my experience with long exposure, and cooled sensors we used in astrophotography. We even liquid cooled our cameras during the summer months. We cool the sensor to reduce "thermal noise".

            Yeah, see, astrophotography stuff is a little different. Not only are a lot of the prints ginormous, but they're also made for you to get VERY close to the print and notice the details (in this case, stars and such).

            What's seldom talked about is what kind of gear you need for the kind of photography you do. For natural light portraits, street photography and some landscape stuff, gear is not going to help you.

            For some landscapes, to Klaus's point, some extra gear like ND filters or gradients can help make the process a lot faster and easier. For indoor portraits with controlled lighting, it's not so much the camera you're buying as the light setup.

            For astro, yeah, that's almost an entirely different thing. You need fairly specific stuff to do half of what you might want. (See, Klaus, I concede. πŸ˜„ )

            I would love for you to see my 40x50 prints of M31 and M42 hanging in my living room. They were taken with specialty astronomical cameras. Not very large sensors by modern standards.

            Actual resolution of the cameras we used (SBIG ST-10) was only 2184 x 1472 but had 6.8 micron pixels and 77,000 e- Full Well Capacity (77k electrons) which is the point where an individual pixel will saturate and start bleeding or blooming over into the neighboring pixels. Full Well Capacity basically determines dynamic range. If it gets saturated you get blooming. when a star blooms, things get ugly real quick and processing it out of the image is a real pain in the ass.

            Also there are CCD sensors and CMOS sensors. CCD sensors (especially monochrome CCDs) are much sharper and have a higher dynamic range than like resolution CMOS sensors or "one shot color" CCD sensors.

            Granted we did a 9 panel mosaic for M31 but M42 was a single panel. Both of them scaled up very well.

            Anyone who attended the Piano Party I hosted a few years back had ample opportunity to inspect them up close. They are printed on archival Kodak photographic paper on a true optical enlargement printer. A company in Madison had a very expensive (high 5 figures if I remember correctly) machine that printed them for us.

            I'd really love to see 'em! I've been looking at some monochrome sensor cameras lately. Not for the dynamic rangeβ€”I'd actually want less for the kind of stuff I like to do, not moreβ€”but for help with low-light situations. Some cameras can be converted to an all-spectrum sensor by removing the visible light filters that sit on top of the sensor, but that's not the same as a CCD sensor.

            markM Offline
            markM Offline
            mark
            wrote on last edited by
            #38

            @Aqua-Letifer I get it that we are talking about two different worlds here and I concede to your expertise in the "terrestrial realm". I haven't been serious about that since I went to college for it back in the early 80s and I was shooting 35mm/medium format and 4x5. I love black & white photography btw. Ansel was of course, my hero and his work with large format b&w photography is still unsurpassed IMO. He would actually burn and dodge the exposure itself. Crazy shit.

            1 Reply Last reply
            • 89th8 Offline
              89th8 Offline
              89th
              wrote on last edited by
              #39

              So, 4K?

              Btw I just bought this:

              Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Video Camera Camcorder HC-VX981K, 20X Optical Zoom, 1/2.3-Inch BSI Sensor, HDR Capture, Wi-Fi Smartphone Multi Scene Video Capture (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A60SYRE

              Figured I can always return it if I’m not satisfied for the first few weeks.

              markM 1 Reply Last reply
              • HoraceH Offline
                HoraceH Offline
                Horace
                wrote on last edited by
                #40

                This thread has been deeply divisive to our community and I suggest we ban this topic going forward. Politics and religion and abortion are fine, but no photography.

                Education is extremely important.

                Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
                • 89th8 89th

                  So, 4K?

                  Btw I just bought this:

                  Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Video Camera Camcorder HC-VX981K, 20X Optical Zoom, 1/2.3-Inch BSI Sensor, HDR Capture, Wi-Fi Smartphone Multi Scene Video Capture (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A60SYRE

                  Figured I can always return it if I’m not satisfied for the first few weeks.

                  markM Offline
                  markM Offline
                  mark
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #41

                  @89th said in Time to get a camcorder:

                  So, 4K?

                  Btw I just bought this:

                  Panasonic 4K Ultra HD Video Camera Camcorder HC-VX981K, 20X Optical Zoom, 1/2.3-Inch BSI Sensor, HDR Capture, Wi-Fi Smartphone Multi Scene Video Capture (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A60SYRE

                  Figured I can always return it if I’m not satisfied for the first few weeks.

                  Wow! I bet it will take some awesome videos. Way better than any camcorder I ever owned. lol

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • 89th8 Offline
                    89th8 Offline
                    89th
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #42

                    When I get it, I'm going to practice real life usage, such as holding it up and yelling "Now everyone look like they are having fun, ok? WE ARE HAVING FUN, DAMMIT", to see if it causes any impact to the video stabilization feature.

                    markM 1 Reply Last reply
                    • 89th8 89th

                      When I get it, I'm going to practice real life usage, such as holding it up and yelling "Now everyone look like they are having fun, ok? WE ARE HAVING FUN, DAMMIT", to see if it causes any impact to the video stabilization feature.

                      markM Offline
                      markM Offline
                      mark
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #43

                      @89th You should get a hand held gimble for it. You will take epic home movies. πŸŽ₯

                      89th8 1 Reply Last reply
                      • HoraceH Horace

                        This thread has been deeply divisive to our community and I suggest we ban this topic going forward. Politics and religion and abortion are fine, but no photography.

                        Aqua LetiferA Offline
                        Aqua LetiferA Offline
                        Aqua Letifer
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #44

                        @Horace said in Time to get a camcorder:

                        This thread has been deeply divisive to our community and I suggest we ban this topic going forward. Politics and religion and abortion are fine, but no photography.

                        You think this is bad, stay off of r/photography. Like, forever.

                        Please love yourself.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • markM mark

                          @89th You should get a hand held gimble for it. You will take epic home movies. πŸŽ₯

                          89th8 Offline
                          89th8 Offline
                          89th
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #45

                          @mark said in Time to get a camcorder:

                          @89th You should get a hand held gimble for it. You will take epic home movies. πŸŽ₯

                          Funny, that is what Aqua's sister or Jon's sister... someone's sister suggested too. :devilhorns: Yes, I still use the short code from the old TNCR days sometimes.

                          HoraceH 1 Reply Last reply
                          • 89th8 89th

                            @mark said in Time to get a camcorder:

                            @89th You should get a hand held gimble for it. You will take epic home movies. πŸŽ₯

                            Funny, that is what Aqua's sister or Jon's sister... someone's sister suggested too. :devilhorns: Yes, I still use the short code from the old TNCR days sometimes.

                            HoraceH Offline
                            HoraceH Offline
                            Horace
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #46

                            @89th said in Time to get a camcorder:

                            @mark said in Time to get a camcorder:

                            @89th You should get a hand held gimble for it. You will take epic home movies. πŸŽ₯

                            Funny, that is what Aqua's sister or Jon's sister... someone's sister suggested too. :devilhorns: Yes, I still use the short code from the old TNCR days sometimes.

                            Having a short devilhorn is nothing to be ashamed of and some women even prefer them.

                            Education is extremely important.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • Doctor PhibesD Offline
                              Doctor PhibesD Offline
                              Doctor Phibes
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #47

                              Klaus - ask him about his stupid electric bike.

                              Go on, you know you want to.

                              I was only joking

                              Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
                              • Doctor PhibesD Doctor Phibes

                                Klaus - ask him about his stupid electric bike.

                                Go on, you know you want to.

                                Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                Aqua Letifer
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #48

                                @Doctor-Phibes said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                Klaus - ask him about his stupid electric bike.

                                Go on, you know you want to.

                                πŸ˜„ I'm a terrible asshole about those, too, unfortunately. Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                Please love yourself.

                                AxtremusA Doctor PhibesD 2 Replies Last reply
                                • Aqua LetiferA Aqua Letifer

                                  @Doctor-Phibes said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                  Klaus - ask him about his stupid electric bike.

                                  Go on, you know you want to.

                                  πŸ˜„ I'm a terrible asshole about those, too, unfortunately. Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                  AxtremusA Offline
                                  AxtremusA Offline
                                  Axtremus
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #49

                                  @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                  Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                  Do you think you have made a difference?

                                  Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
                                  • AxtremusA Axtremus

                                    @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                    Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                    Do you think you have made a difference?

                                    Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                    Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                    Aqua Letifer
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #50

                                    @Axtremus said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                    @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                    Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                    Do you think you have made a difference?

                                    Absolutely we did. We had the reader mail and comments sections to prove it.

                                    Please love yourself.

                                    AxtremusA 1 Reply Last reply
                                    • Aqua LetiferA Aqua Letifer

                                      @Axtremus said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                      @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                      Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                      Do you think you have made a difference?

                                      Absolutely we did. We had the reader mail and comments sections to prove it.

                                      AxtremusA Offline
                                      AxtremusA Offline
                                      Axtremus
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #51

                                      @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                      @Axtremus said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                      @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                      Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                      Do you think you have made a difference?

                                      Absolutely we did. We had the reader mail and comments sections to prove it.

                                      Wonderful, a belated congratulations on a job well done. πŸ‘

                                      Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
                                      • AxtremusA Axtremus

                                        @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                        @Axtremus said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                        @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                        Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                        Do you think you have made a difference?

                                        Absolutely we did. We had the reader mail and comments sections to prove it.

                                        Wonderful, a belated congratulations on a job well done. πŸ‘

                                        Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                        Aqua LetiferA Offline
                                        Aqua Letifer
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #52

                                        @Axtremus said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                        @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                        @Axtremus said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                        @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                        Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                        Do you think you have made a difference?

                                        Absolutely we did. We had the reader mail and comments sections to prove it.

                                        Wonderful, a belated congratulations on a job well done. πŸ‘

                                        Well, we got plenty of hate mail, too.

                                        Please love yourself.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • Aqua LetiferA Aqua Letifer

                                          @Doctor-Phibes said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                          Klaus - ask him about his stupid electric bike.

                                          Go on, you know you want to.

                                          πŸ˜„ I'm a terrible asshole about those, too, unfortunately. Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                          Doctor PhibesD Offline
                                          Doctor PhibesD Offline
                                          Doctor Phibes
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #53

                                          @Aqua-Letifer said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                          @Doctor-Phibes said in Time to get a camcorder:

                                          Klaus - ask him about his stupid electric bike.

                                          Go on, you know you want to.

                                          πŸ˜„ I'm a terrible asshole about those, too, unfortunately. Because it was once my job to educate the masses on them.

                                          How did that go?

                                          "Too unhealthy to get up the nasty steep hill? - BUY THIS BIKE! It's like exercise, only easier!"

                                          I was only joking

                                          Aqua LetiferA 1 Reply Last reply
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