A wide lens will just distort the perspective, since this is a close up shot

Wide lens is best used for figurines with a dynamic or action pose, or when a large portion of the background is equally important. This one is closer to a portrait where longer focal length is preferred. In fact most most people shoot miniatures with a 90mm macro. At 24mm my camera lens front element will only be several inches away from the figure. Assuming i used an extension tube to reduce the minimum focusing distance, the front element which is too close to the figure will exaggerate the distortion further. There will be so much empty foreground if i don't get close, but if i do the distortion gets worse.

I also have no idea why some people like to use wide angles to shoot portraits, which is very common in the anime cosplay community. I suppose that they are after the distortion effects which makes a face longer and slimmer, similar to what front cams of phones do. I think this trend is partly being popularized by smartphone cameras often being in the 22-28mm (equivalent) range.

You can achieve that "high end look" with an entry level camera like Nikon D3400 too - it is not the body but the glass. The lens. Sigma has 10-20mm lens while Tokina has something like a 11-16mm lens if that's what you are after. It has nothing to do with the camera body. However, ultrawides are not something you just mess around with because it captures too much in the frame. You might end up including unwanted things into your shots that only serve as a distraction.

This post has been edited by EXkurogane: Dec 29 2017, 04:47 PM

1. not every shot suits landscape mode.

2. 24mm is so wide, the MFD doesn't work with figures. FOV and compression changes.

Received my D7500 2 days ago...still busy to familiar with the control and the functions. Saw alot of negative comments online especially from those D7200/7100 users who mainly condemn the lower M-Pix of the new sensor, lack of battery grip, omitted dual SD slot and lower LCD resolution of this D7500 is a downgrade to them. I don't see this is a problem at all, just have to say this might not for the one who want to upgrade from D7200/7100, but from the one like me who jump from D3200, definitely this is a huge upgrade in all aspect (yes, i don't see lower M-Pix is worst than the 24MP sensor in D3200, same as i owned the Samsung S7 with the 'downgrade' resolution camera sensor from S6). The only downside is the weight, a huge 'upgrade' as well, a bit fatigue on my hand now. One thing i don't really like is the shutter release button, the one in D7500 is a whole black plastic (look cheap) with soft/spongy press, which oppose to the chrome and tactile button on D3200. Not sure since when Nikon change the design of the shutter button or it used to have different design on mid-high end body.

As oppose to the highly condemned lowered resolution with unnecessary tilted function and touch screen LCD, i found it useful especially when the camera mount on the tripod which is lower than my eye level, simply switch to live view, tilt the screen upward then i can make the necessary adjustment without need to bend my knee.

The low light ISO is so good that now i can always turn on the auto ISO and cap at the default max 51200 with target minimum shutter speed set at 'AUTO' with 2/5 speed scale (slightly slower than default 3/5). It work great on my ageing 18-55mm zoom lens where it capped the minimum shutter speed based on the focal length, 1/50s at 55mm, assume at least effective 2-stops from the outdated VR turn ON it could cover minimum theoretical safe shutter speed of 1/82s @ 55mm.

I yet to try out the autofocus fine tune on my Sigma f/3.5 10-20mm EX DC HSM, surprisingly the lens out of focus constantly when using viewfinder on my D3200 @ widest length (but focus well in live view) seems OK on D7500 view finder focusing, perhaps the autofocus system in D3200 is far too inferior.

Eyeing to get both zoom lens in upcoming weeks:
1. Nikon AF-P DX 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED VR Lens
2. Nikon AF-S DX 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens

Both have very high C/P ratio and alot of good reviews as well.

Anyway, i don't know what's wrong with the focus motor from my Nikon AF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR kit lens and Nikon AF-S 35mm f/1.8G prime lens. The focus motor seems 'stucked' when i try to focus at plain surface where the camera/lens will fail to focus. The lens will emit the high pitch focusing noise in hunting process and then it will stop to autofocus after that, i don't know how to recover that, i tried unmount/mount the lens, turn OFF camera, switch to M mode...every time the autofocus seems to recover randomly, it happen in D3200 and my D7500 as well. Even the newly purchased Sigma 10-20mm happened once in D7500 but not D3200. I don't believe all my lens have the same problem/malfunction, but i can't figure out the reason behind. Did anyone here experience the same issue?

If someone says tilting lcd screen is unnecessary, you can disregard everything that he/she says.

Why not an even lower aperture and longer shutter speed to get larger dof? Or move your camera back to get larger dof and crop it out a little? D850 do have whooping 42mp afterall.

Not sure which part makes you think it's entry level. Almost no noise in the dark area with pleasant colour tone already giving hint possibly from full frame.

And why 24mm on figurine shots ?

sliced off some texts to reduce the scrolling for readers

D7500 is not a direct upgrade to D7200 to me. From the way I'm seeing it's meant to be sold side by side with the D7200 (which was not discontinued). If the feature set of both units are combined together the pricing of the D7500 will probably be even higher (and encroach into the D610 territory). That will cannibalize the sales of D7500 because most people will rather pay the same amount for a FX body - without thinking carefully - it does not make any sense to buy a new D610 (it's over 5 years old by now, dinosaur tech), it's best to purchase a pre-owned one for the case of a D610. Nikon does not want people to buy their older products either (no companies want that). D7500 is expensive because it uses the same sensor from the D500 - so the ISO performance is going to be insane for a DX camera. Many online reviews have gone as far as saying the D500 is the best crop sensor traditional DSLR ever made - and the D7500 inherited its sensor. I dont think 21MP VS 24MP is a big problem for most people (but yeah, i admit that I didnt like that )

As for tilt screen, it's a lot more solid than the fully articulated one in the D7200 despite being less flexible (not much use in portrait oriantation). My D850 uses the same mechanism and it felt very reassuring. People who tell you that tilt screen is not needed, to me people who say that are probably those who are either not creative enough to explore different angles (high or low angle view), or they are salty Canon fanboys. The 6D Mark II is the first Canon full frame to have a tilt screen, and it just came out last year! Many Canon shooters dont have the "luxury" of a tilting screen except the entry level users. Many EOS (3 digits)D models have a tilting screen now. Heck, the 6D Mark II, as a FX camera, does not even have 2 card slots either.

As for the focusing problem of your lenses on plain surfaces, yes, that is totally normal. If is often difficult to local focus on anything that is plain with no contrast. That's for plain surfaces. Surfaces with texture like a rough brick wall shouldnt be a problem.

This post has been edited by EXkurogane: Jan 3 2018, 07:50 PM

45MP actually

That is a very good question. The reason is image quality.
Every different lens has its own optimum/best performing range in terms of focal length and aperture. Nikon's older 18-55mm DX kit lens (the one i have, without internal focusing) performs best in terms of sharpness at 35mm, at f8-11 range. Wide open at f3.5 18mm it's actually quite soft. The non-ART Sigma 50mm 1.4 i used performs best at f4-5.6 in image quality when u factor in everything - the amount of chromatic aberration, image sharpness levels, amount of distortion and vignetting, center VS corner sharpness, and so on. That is why i stay in the f4-5.6 range when I'm in a studio setting on a tripod - I aim for the best image quality. If the depth of field is insufficient, then i will focus stack if it is practical to do so.

When im outside shooting casually, handheld, then I will make compromises - a photo that is accurately in focus is more important than noise levels or sharpness levels. So you open up the aperture to f/2.x range, and go up in ISO to keep the shutter speed high. Low noise levels is useless if your photo is off focus or blurred from movements due to low shutter speed. This difference in sharpness is not what you will normally notice immediately unless you pixel peep (unfortunately i have this habit) or you want to make large prints.

Most prime lenses don't perform well once you reach f/8 onwards and smaller, while normal zoom lenses (like the f2.8 24-70, or the 18-55 DX) tend to perform best at f/8-11 range. And, every lens will start to suffer from diffraction from f/13 for DX, f/16 for FX - you will lose sharpness and fine details as a result. I avoid that aperture range unless sharpness is not important for the occasion. Well, sharpness does not determine whether a photo is good or not, it's just an added bonus, something nice to have.

Technical knowledge will help u to decide to buy the right lens since no lenses are perfect. For example, on full frame, if you had to choose between Nikon's f2.8G 24-70mm and Tamron's f2.8 24-70 VC, then you need to know their differences in terms of optics and not just pure specs. The nikon one, wide open at f2.8 24mm has corner sharpness and distortion problems while performing better on the longer end at 40-70mm. The Tamron is the opposite - it performs strong at f2.8 24mm but at the long end from 50-70mm the image quality will be rather trashy. So the decision making will be based on whether you had the tendency to shoot at 24-50mm range (the Tamron is better suited for you) or you have the habit of zooming in a lot (the Nikon is better). If you rich and tuhao, then go ahead and buy the latest Nikon f2.8E 24-70mm.


Well that same exact shot can be done with my D5200 either, with barely much differences maybe except in dynamic range levels. I bought a full frame in order to be able to get good photos when in demanding low light situations, sort of trying to cover everything. My D5200, the good image quality limit for me is ISO 800-1000. 1600 is borderline acceptable. If i had to go above that, i rather not shoot at all unless the pics are only for social media.

Wide angles can be used for figurines too, but not every figurine. Those with a dynamic action pose will benefit greatly from a wide angle because it gives a sense of movement or action. Heck, that is what unique lenses like the Laowa f/4 15mm macro is for. To explore the world where macro and wide views are combined together. I'm planning to get an ultrawide lens myself soon within the next 2 or 3 months.

I also heard rumors of Nikon making a new f2.8 60mm macro lens due this year (probably to replace the f2.8G 60mm micro, which is already a very good lens), so that is what Im waiting for. Anywhere between 50-75 mm is excellent for 1/8 to 1/6 scale figure photography. 90mm macro is a bit too tight especially when u have a diorama background, otherwise I'd have taken a look at Tamron's offerings for macro glass. 90mm is better used for even smaller figures, 1/12 scale or smaller.

This post has been edited by EXkurogane: Jan 3 2018, 08:00 PM

.................I think you read too much into the technical stuff that you forgot 'optimization'. I rather have slight blur with smaller aperture if I can achieve the look I want. Unless you are doing a project that require an entire building wall to be covered with the picture and expecting spiderman to inspect every nook and canny of that 45mp monster. Otherwise, seem a bit wasted that you are not using the cropping power of the 45mp to your advantage and instead resorting to photo stiching. But that's just my opinion.

Lastly, on regards to the 'which part makes you think it's entry level' I was replying to the guy who said your pic look like coming out of apsc. Not saying you can't achieve similar result with apsc with right lens combo.

The thing is focus stacking is very easy to do - it takes only 2 or 3 minutes at most for 6 shots even with 45MP unless you are stacking a hundred frames, so i would rather retain as much pixels as possible. And i want to master the technique by repeatedly doing it because i intend to do both landscape and astrophotography in future - with a figure in it. You are not going to stop down that aperture in the dark; you have to shoot f/2.8 or wider. That's where image stacking becomes compulsory. I will never know which one of my photos will end up on the wall so i tend to retain as much resolution as possible. My way of thinking is "Why hold back when you know you can do better, and your camera can also do better. Push it to the limit."

Here's one sample by a photographer from HK. Someone i know well and also compete with but our styles are quite different. I don't know about the EXIF details but what i do know is that it's taken with Nikon D810 with a Zeiss 15mm 2.8, in Iceland. This kind of shot confirm need to focus stack. And you can light up the subject or foreground slightly with light painting.



I once jumped straight to f/22 thinking i need not worry too much about depth of field or hyperfocal focusing, but i was dead wrong. The 18-55mm VR kit lens at 18mm f22 produced utter crap image quality, detail smudging is noticeable at only 20-30% view of a 24MP shot. People upload photos on social media and i can already spot flaws like blurred corners or excessive noise even without zooming in to inspect. And that's on social media only, meaning they are not even high res pics.

And yeah, I do print large, like really large. Not a billboard but about A1, A2 sizes, because my photos are actually exhibited in conventions or galleries overseas. A2 size is already four A3 papers arranged in 2x2. About 24 x 36 inches. A1 is quite a giant print.

I'm not a fan of cropping in general because I compose my shots directly on camera in live view on tripod, my photos sometimes are exact matches to golden ratio grids. I use every composition rule to my advantage, both in terms of framing and color contrasting (it's not easy to decide the colors for the furniture in a diorama because they need to be compatible with the figure). I crop only for changing ratios to 4:3, 5:4 or 16:9.

This post has been edited by EXkurogane: Jan 3 2018, 11:15 PM

I know it will fail to focus in such situation. But my real problem is the lens extend/retract in full length during focusing in such situation and some how jam after that. Turn OFF the camera din help sometimes and i need to wait for 'luck' for it to refocusing again.

To share a similar story,

What happened to one of my photographer friends, he tested a sample unit of Nikon D850 in store during launch last year - he even brought his own lenses along to try it. His old Nikon AF-D f/2 35mm behaved badly and refuses to focus, and the Nikon rep there said it might be firmware issue where the lens need to be sent to service center for calibration or something. However, a quick search online found that this issue is rare/almost doesnt exist. If there is, usually it's because the electronics of the lens or the camera body itself is faulty in the first place.

It happened to some Sigmas on a D750 (based on forum threads online) but if you have the USB dock for Sigma lenses (rectified by firmware updates with a Sigma USB lens dock). What's odd is that a Nikon lens is not working on a new Nikon body. Your D7500 is a very new model and I suspect it might be a similar case to what my friend experienced with the D850. Software issues where old lenses are not recognized or not functioning properly on new bodies, but this is just my own speculation.

This issue actually made me very reluctant to buy used AF-D prime lenses because they are cheap and great for lightweight travel such as vacations. At one point I was considering grabbing f/2 35mm and 24mm D lenses but I've completely dropped the idea. At least I can test lenses on the spot before buying most of the time if it's via COD.

It'd be great if someone here knows the possible reasons of what's actually going on

This post has been edited by EXkurogane: Jan 3 2018, 11:58 PM

Again. You reading too much on the technicalities (golden ratio? , yes I know what it is, no need to explain). Since you are doing it for commercial, you probably have your own reason so not going to question your method.
.

This post has been edited by TrialGone: Jan 4 2018, 08:10 AM

It's not always practical though, if can match then it's for the best.
But at the same time, if always do the same thing it will also get boring...

I meant those golden ratio and any other zig zaggy line they claim as composition are bull.

Only one rule i find useful are the rule of 3rd (basically off centre) and line in the middle for symmetry. The rest just use your composition imagination.

Ultimately it depends on your final product, and for what purposes. some cannot tahan must edit their "signature look". some very proud they can SOOC. some like more details in every corner edge of their pics and worry about the symmetry and stats and stuff. some dont (like me).

either way its our own art form. no wrong from what I see. I tell my wife I shoot not to please others. tats why my photos not popular hahaha. and I dont really care. as long as im enjoying it. some here are very talented, then they get recognition and stuff. Good for them. some here are paid to shoot, good for you!

Less words more photos please !

Anyone has experience with Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 lens focus mechanism jammed?

I knocked my lens accidentally this morning and the focus now is very rough and doesn't AF to either side of the spectrum...

This post has been edited by jun_ng_1208: Jan 8 2018, 05:26 PM

I have both lens you mentioned above. both working fine with my d7100...
maybe is software compatible issue...
btw, is this focus issue happen on your d3200 before?

hi sifus,

I am considering to buy a wide angle lens. please help to comment the below lens... appreciate your input

1. tamron 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD
2. tokina AT-X 11-20mm f/2.8 PRO DX
3. Nikon AF-P DX NIKKOR 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G V

thank you

Go for tokina AT-X 11-20mm f/2.8 PRO DX
excellent optical quality.. and sharper too
I've used this lens b4