Dante74

I used to be a surveyor and although nothing beats a surveyors tripod for stability I don't see myself dragging something that heavy around all day when I'm climbing and crawling into old buildings. I ordered a Gitzo GT2940 (EDIT it's a GT2941) which should arive by tuesday. I still haven't decided which ballhead to get. Gitzo's new line of series 2 ballheads seem to be cheaper than the old one. I'll try to find out why and decide which one to get later this week. The Kirk ballhead looks good too, I might have to go to a brick and mortar store to compare it to the others. Thanks for the advice guys! I'll post pics of, and taken with, the new set up when it's complete.

The Really Right Stuff and Arca Swiss ballheads are so friggin' expensive it's beyond ridiculous! I'll have to try to convince my boss that I need it for work and let him sponsor me. I've got a Canon 40D, an EF-s 17-85 mm (which will someday be replaced by a 24-70 mm f2. and a 70-200 mm f2.8 IS lens weighing in at 1.5 kg. I might get a 1.4x extender some day, but that's about as heavy as it's gonna get. The series 2 Gitzo ballhead should do fine for at least a couple of years. I've looked into getting a monopod for when I'm taking pics at the race track but it won't do when I'm in a dark abandoned building with hardly any light.

Lets talk tripods! Up until a few weeks ago, when I needed a tripod, I would just borrow my dad's 35 year old aluminium tripod. I've been getting into urbex photography lately and the thing is just way too heavy to walk and crawl around with all day. It also creeps off the subject when I tighten it into position. So I've been looking into getting a decent lightweight tripod and I've been having a hard time deciding what to get (meaning what ridiculous amount of money to spend on some sticks and a balljoint ) After reading this article I've come to the conclusion that getting it right the first time (meaning spendig a ridiculous amount of money on some sticks and a balljoint ) will actually save me some cash. However, that doesn't mean I have an unlimited budget. This Gitzo GT2932 Basalt tripod combined with this Gitzo GH2780QR ballhead should suffice for a couple of years (hopefully decades!) Anyone have any experience with a 'real' tripod and would like to share their thoughts?

Sorry to hijack this thread with the amazing CG work, but speaking of mr. March, anyone seen him around lately?

My thoughts exactly! If $2300 is too much for you to spend on a toy, go look for something you can afford and leave it for the richer people to buy. (BTW: I'm not one of the richer people that can actually afford it) It's a luxury product for those with money to spare. I'd like to get next years Ferrari 458 Italia but would never be able to afford a car in that price range. You won't however see me at Ferrarichat.com whining about how ridiculous it is for Ferrari to charge $240.000 for a car even though its basically made of the same materials as a Dacia Sandero.

*wakes up, wipes drool off beer belly, pees, gets out of chair and makes mental note to use bathroom for that next time, puts on a new pair of shorts, gets back behind computer and realizes he's just sat down in his own pee, puts on another pair of fresh shorts and cleans chair, presses F5 for the fifteenthousandth time* *Likes what he sees and wants more* Did you get a flash yet? If you haven't gotten a flash yet, go get one and play with it. Use it to light your subject from the side. It'll do wonders and it's loads of fun.

Unless your manual settings are something like f22, 1/4000th, iso 100. Then you'd actually get a black pic.

Canon lens collection FTW!!!1 There's a lens available for every budget and every need and the 70-200 range is a fine example.

*sits in front of computer looking at screen and waits*

Be patient and save up enough money to get the f2.8 IS. I did and I never regretted it. If you get the f4 you might one day need an extra stop and not have it. You'll regret not getting the f2.8 then. On the other hand, you might one day take a shot with the f2.8 non-IS which is just out of focus and wonder if that would've happened if you'd gotten the f4 IS. The f2.8 IS is a heavy lens to walk around with all day, but once I import my pics into lightroom I forget all about the weight. BTW: There are rumors going around the net about a new Canon f2.8 70-200 mm coming next year.

Awesome pic Vegas!

Tell that to my friends. They think its 'old people' music. And that's coming from a bunch of thirty somethings.

BOOBIES!!!!!111ONEONEone ...and Dire Straits. Must be because my dad used to listen to it a lot when I was still a wee little lad. ...and I love 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand, even though I'm a total atheist and I'm probably not supposed to like 'em.

Forget about making toast and coffee! For 500 bucks it'd better be able to spread its legs! ::EDIT::Disclaimer: Don't try to visualize what I just described, you might be scarred for life.

30 minutes is a lot better than . IIRC it'll fly no more than 30 seconds.

I wonder how long it'll fly on one tank of fuel?

Thanks!

f1.8 Nice! Beautiful bokeh too!

Wow, I thought it would be full frame. I'd get one if it was.

Thanks, but I don't know anything about animated CG (yet). Maybe in a couple of years. Yeah, yours was more obscure, you win.

WTF?! Spambots get smarter by the day!

I did one render per mech with render times ranging from 10 seconds for the hand to about 4 minutes for the VF-1J. Anti-aliasing was set at maximum, final gather precision at high with 4 bounces and everything else set to high quality. I've only been doing CG since last october so I can't matchmove. Heck, I'm still struggling with applying textures! When I feel more comfortable using 3ds Max I'd love to have a go at it though. Meh, to me it looked like he was hiding so the other guys wouldn't see he was smoking a doobie. I'm currently working on getting the Destroids textured. When I finish I might re-visit this photograph and do something with a little more action to it. I might even add some firing gunpods if I can get it to look half decent.

Aaaaah! I'm blind! The Regult stands 15 m tall, the VF-1J nearly 13 m. I used some 'artisitic freedom' to fit the Regult in between the building and still have the VF-1J's head in frame.

Little kids don't get a say in the decision making process.

lol! I'm actually thinking about doing something with destroids, lots of destroids.