stunning! love the settings in some of the pics, im sure theres lots of beautiful places to shoot there. one thing i hate about hawaii, NO ONE uses their turn signal!!1!!!!11!111!11!!!!! lol

 

After thinking of a way to try and position the camera securely with pipes and clamps and holders... An epiphany came to me. Why not just use the goddamn tripod?

If anyone wants to give it a try, just position your tripod in your car in this manner:


The leg under the strut bar is tied to the bar.. didn't have rope, so I rolled some tape to use as "rope." You can adjust your tripod to get closer to the windshield. Just make sure your extend the legs all the way back so it touches the rear trunk. The tying of the other leg to the strut bar will secure the tripod nicely.


If you are new to photography, just set your point and shoot camera to Night shooting mode or if you can, manually set it for at least 1/3 second shutter speed or more for day shots, making careful not to choose to long of a shutter speed as it will be overexposed (too much light).

If you are using a DSLR and is unfamiliar with it... switch the dial to Tv mode and choose a setting of 1/3 or more for day shots, again, being careful not to choose to long of a shutter speed. Night shots will require a bit longer to expose... maybe choose a setting of at least 3 seconds. The longer the setting, the longer the light streaks.

Set the camera to timer so you have time to pose, or use a remote for safer operation.








I used 1/3 (0.3") shutter speed for this daytime shot. Don't mind the yellow shorts.

Most importantly, be safe when trying stuff like this on the road! Lets see what you guys can do. Again, this is totally possible with a point and shoot... just use night mode, which should lengthen shutter speed, if you do not have manual shutter speed adjustments.

One last thing... make sure you clean your windshield when taking night shots.

 

My problem with it was uneven sharpness in the corners..when i was at the local Calumet, I tried out all the copies they had and focused on text.. all of them exhibited uneven sharpness in the corners (one corner or side was softer than others).. I looked at one canon 10-22mm and the sharpness corner to corner was perfect..

but that's not to say there's a problem with yours because from your sample pics, it looks like you got a good copy.. try to take a picture of a book or text@10mm and see if it the sharpness is pretty even on the sides.. @10mm you may get some chroma aberation on the edge tho but as long as all corners seem even you got a good copy..

--mike

 

Did the newspaper sharpness test after a month with the 50mm f1.8. Wide open at 1.8, the right side was soft.

I'm gonna run some sharpness tests later. Enjoying the lens too much to run tests at multiple aperture/focal length settings. I finally can get a good landscape shot.

According to Photozone, if a good one is had, then it's at least as good as the Canon. I would have gotten the Canon, but with the Sigma, I saved ~$200.
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html
Photozone's pretty cool as they have full sized samples of lenses and sharpness, distortion tests.

Also read the reviews on Fred Miranda, and saw some processed samples from Flickr. I'm really debating now on getting the Tokina 10-17 fisheye.

 

Can I use the sigma on a nikon d40?

 

Please keep taking more pics OP.. It makes you appreciate life..

 

Awesome pics.

 

B&H Photo has a special on the Sigma 10-20mm ultra wide for $459, good thru Nov 14... for those interested. If you have never shot in ultra-wide, you are missing alot...

Just put this- PS0707KMAKC
into the search field. This is for Canon.

PS0707KMAKN
for Nikon

Other specials include the highly regarded Sigma 17-70mm for $349...
PS0707NEYIC (Canon)
PS0707NEYIN (Nikon)

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 (super sharp and again, very highly regarded) for $419...
PS0707FXTKC
PS0707FXTKN

Tokina 10-17 Fisheye (yep, highly regarded fishy)
PS0707JKZUR (Canon)
PS07071XVGS (Nikon)

The rest of the list is
Canon
85mm f/1.2
50mm f/1.2
17-55mm f/2.8 IS EF-S
24-105mm f/4 IS
70-200 f/2.8 IS

Nikon Nikor
12-24mm f/4
105 f/2.8 VR
35-70 f/2.8
80-200 f/2.8
70-200 f/2.8 VR

Sigma
18-200 f/3.5-6.3
70-200 f/2.8

Tamron
18-250 f/3.5-6.3

Tokina
100mm f/2.8

 

WoW dude.......superb shots! LOL.....I just got back from vacation in Maine, and I just happen to have my Manfrotto still in the hatch (along with my 20D and the 10-20 ). Thanks for the great idea!



100th Post FTW!

 

Great write up...

im waiting for canon rebate at this moment..
cant wait to pick up a 10-22...

thanks for the BH code also...

 

Those are some amazing shot I have to get a lens like that for my Rebel XTI....

 

damn bro..... i just got a XTI and getting into photography... DAMN i have to get a wide angle... lol great shots...

 

Excellent pictures. I've been wanting to do the interior shots also. YOu just motivated me to do it. I don't have a wide angle, but will see if my Tamron at 17mm will work. Since the Evo has a back seat, I think I have room.

Keep up the good work.

 

Took these last night and feel they came out ok. I need to try and situate the tripod lower so I can take the pics from a lower angle like C22 did. Hope you don't mind me posting these in your thread.

 

good job on the photos ctwentytwo, am not a wide angle fan where it starts to bubble and I dont find cars photos to be interesting, but I really liked yours. You had some creative ideas, that where executed well

I think your ready to do people, where the real skills take place

 

Nice...

Actually, I want to take mine higher like yours so you see the blurred road. I'm going to have to retry this. I see you are using the 18-55 stock lens at 17mm with the XTi. I would actually leave the tripod setup at that height, and maybe zoom in to fit the front windshield. Lets see more pics.

There is actually no "thread jacking" with my threads. They lead where they lead.

Yeah, I pretty much concentrated on the car... which is the only reason I got the camera, was to take better pics of the car. I'm enamored with how different settings affect shots. Learned the compression effects of a longer focal length, the blurring of longer exposures, DOF with wide apertures, composition, time of day, filters... these are still really new to me. Hence all the pictures I'm posting. You're pretty much witnessing me learning a new hobby. I'm just posting my samples so that others can try these other techniques also... I know you mistook me for just showing off, but really, these are pretty much all my first attempts at things. I only got into dSLR photography last November, so it's all within a year. Haven't tried alot of things that I would like to try, just because this hobby is almost as expensive as modding the car... maybe even moreso.

I'm building my skills up to people shots. I saw some techniques over at Strobist that I'm dying to try, but I need to save up for the 580EX II for my master for the 430EX I already have. They're to do model+car shots...

Just got the off camera cord... the goddamn $70 one. The macro I just got along with the camera cord. Had the 430EX for a month already, but have yet to really give it a go.

I'm gonna head to the beach to try some long exposures with some neutral density filters I forgot I had.

My next project though, is to try "painting with light." And I still want to get the Tokina 10-17 fisheye.

Again, these are all new things to me, and it is amazing me with all these different techniques that are out there. I'm just trying to do it within context of the car.

 

Oh yeah, strobes can make a difference, thats one thing I could use some practice on.

Your learning fast, its quite impressive, reminds me how much I've slacked off.

 

Nice Shots as well, dude....either you have one hell of a suspension, or those Florida roads are for $hit! (referring to the bumps!)

 

Thanks ctwenty. Acutally I'm using the Tamron 17-50 2.8. I may do more pics in my wife's Mazda3 next time which sadly has a nicer interior than the Evo and looks good lit up at night. I'll also try and get a tighter shot which I did notice you did.


I only have lowering springs, but it is stiff. I would blame that more than the roads as these are pretty nice smooth roads in the community I live in and where I was shooting this.

 

18-55 stock lens at 17mm?!?