Sending Up an Idea Balloon: Anyone Interested in an Image Thread for Serious Photographers/Photography Only?

[Darmok N Jalad]

Late to the party, per usual. Probably because this thread was started in June and Darmok is still running on May time.

I should add that last month (see, still living in May), I propped up my iPhone 12 mini near the opening of a tree where the chickadee’s had a nest. I remotely triggered the shutter from my (pathetic, series0) Apple Watch. I don’t know if that counts as serious photography, but it was certainly not a snapshot. Do you know how many twigs I went through to find the right size to get the phone propped up?

I was hoping for better quality, but alas, the bird is literally 4-5” from my iPhone and it didn’t nail the focus. The blurry thing at the bottom is the twig propping up the iPhone.

 

[Clix Pix]

Cool idea, Darmok!

 

[Apple fanboy]

Late to the party, per usual. Probably because this thread was started in June and Darmok is still running on May time.

I should add that last month (see, still living in May), I propped up my iPhone 12 mini near the opening of a tree where the chickadee’s had a nest. I remotely triggered the shutter from my (pathetic, series0) Apple Watch. I don’t know if that counts as serious photography, but it was certainly not a snapshot. Do you know how many twigs I went through to find the right size to get the phone propped up?
View attachment 1785821
I was hoping for better quality, but alas, the bird is literally 4-5” from my iPhone and it didn’t nail the focus. The blurry thing at the bottom is the twig propping up the iPhone.

Curious as I’ve never tried that. What’s the range of using an AW as a remote trigger?

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Curious as I’ve never tried that. What’s the range of using an AW as a remote trigger?

I was maybe 10 feet away, just hid on the opposite side of the tree. The parents really didn’t mind us being close. Chickadees are pretty bold. My daughter claims you can get them to eat from your hand, though I’ve never tried. It was funny to watch their curious reaction to my phone being there though.

 

[Allyance]

I used the camera remote control once it works great. Had to submit a picture of my restored motorcycle with me next to it. You have 3 seconds before camera takes the picture if you want to avoid being seen using it.

 

[jz0309]

I was maybe 10 feet away, just hid on the opposite side of the tree. The parents really didn’t mind us being close. Chickadees are pretty bold. My daughter claims you can get them to eat from your hand, though I’ve never tried. It was funny to watch their curious reaction to my phone being there though.

actually it should be within Bluetooth range, so it will depend on the watch/phone model, BT 5.0 theoretically 800ft ... I have never checked how far I can be away from my phone with the watch still being connected

 

[Apple fanboy]

actually it should be within Bluetooth range, so it will depend on the watch/phone model, BT 5.0 theoretically 800ft ... I have never checked how far I can be away from my phone with the watch still being connected

Now if it would just work with my DSLR!

 

[deep diver]

Now if it would just work with my DSLR!

I did a 3 minute search and found this. The price is reasonable and folks seem to like it. I wonder if it will do my dishes too.

Pluto Trigger – Bluetooth Camera Remote Controlled by Phone

Control the Pluto Trigger with your smartphone. Wirelessly programs & sets your camera. Compatible with most cameras. Water droplets, star trails & more.

hikesandmotorbikes.com

 

[Apple fanboy]

I did a 3 minute search and found this. The price is reasonable and folks seem to like it. I wonder if it will do my dishes too.

Pluto Trigger – Bluetooth Camera Remote Controlled by Phone

Control the Pluto Trigger with your smartphone. Wirelessly programs & sets your camera. Compatible with most cameras. Water droplets, star trails & more.

hikesandmotorbikes.com

Oh I realise there are plenty of things I can buy that will do it for me. Heck we even sell Pocket Wizard at work. But for an occasional use thing, I’d rather what I owned could do it for me!

 

[kenoh]

The RX1r doesn't have interchangeable lenses so it would not be eligible for this kind of thread, either. It's a great little camera from what I understand -- haven't handled one myself.

The RX1R is a full frame with epic fixed 35mm f2 tuned to the sensor. Does this mean Leica Q is also excluded?

 

[mollyc]

Oh I realise there are plenty of things I can buy that will do it for me. Heck we even sell Pocket Wizard at work. But for an occasional use thing, I’d rather what I owned could do it for me!

You can use SnapBridge on your phone. Not sure if it translates to the watch though.

 

[mollyc]

Also this. You have the D750 right?

snapbridge-app

Shop the latest mirrorless & DSLR cameras and NIKKOR lenses from the official Nikon eCommerce site. Explore our innovations and photo equipment!

www.nikonusa.com

 

[Apple fanboy]

Also this. You have the D750 right?

snapbridge-app

Shop the latest mirrorless & DSLR cameras and NIKKOR lenses from the official Nikon eCommerce site. Explore our innovations and photo equipment!

www.nikonusa.com

To be honest last time I tried that app it was a bag of spanner’s. Maybe I should see if it’s improved.

 

[mollyc]

To be honest last time I tried that app it was a bag of spanner’s. Maybe I should see if it’s improved.

I have used snapbridge as a remote on my phone. I think they did a big update within the past few months that makes snapbrige a lot more useable than it used to be. I only used it once though, and don't think it showed up on my watch, so not sure it would work quite like Darmok's setup. Still, if it was just for a normal remote for your camera, I think snapbridge will do what you want. ?

On my cameras the phone actually shows the view from the lens like the viewfinder, but not sure if that's only because it's mirrorless and if that works the same on your dSLR. But then the DSLR has live view, so it should be able to mirror that.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

My G9 has a companion app that allows me to do quite a bit of remote controlling of the camera. Not just a shutter trigger, but adjusting exposure and I think even focus. I’m not much of a tripod user, so I’ve never really gotten into it all that much, but I could probably set up something similar to a “game camera” near the bird feeders. Just would probably want to put something over the body and lens in case the birds decide to use it as a perch. No need to test the weather sealing that much!

 

[mollyc]

Yes I think the Nikon one can do similar it my camera is techno’s newer model than AFB’s so not sure if the app works the same for different bodies

 

[jz0309]

my 6DII has WiFi and Canon has a iPhone app that connects the phone and the camera and you can remotely control, I haven't used it in quite a while, gotta go play

 

[Clix Pix]

I know Sony has some sort of way of transferring images from the camera to a phone or computer via BT or WiFi, but I have never bothered with it. I have a wired remote that I have used a few times on the rare occasions I've used my tripod -- decided a while back that it would make more sense to have a wired remote that I can just plug in when the time comes rather than a wireless one, so that I wouldn't need to worry about it being charged up when I actually wanted to use it.

 

[kallisti]

@Clix Pix I think I understand your desire to see more “quality” images in a dedicated thread.

Gear requirements are a very artificial way to attempt this. While gear certainly can matter for some subjects, gear alone is a very poor predictor of the quality of a given image. Photography isn’t about gear, it’s about the image. Subject choice, composition, light, exposure. Those are the things that dictate whether an image is successful or not. The gear used is an afterthought, only important if it made the image possible (or subjectively “better”) than different gear for the intended output.

Looking at the forest for the trees, I think your idea would be a negative for the site. One of the strengths of this sub forum is that it is welcoming for people of all skill levels. Folks just starting out can post their images alongside people with more experience. They may not get the same number of upvotes, but that can be part of the learning process. Why aren’t my images getting as many upvotes? It can make one want to improve their skills. Perhaps getting feedback in the POTD thread. Perhaps starting a new thread asking for feedback. Or perhaps fostering an internal conversation that pushes the poster to want to do better next time.

Your idea would completely destroy the POTD thread. I see a very real risk that none of the “regulars” would even look at the thread anymore. It would certainly not get the views it does now. Why spend time looking at “sub-par” images when there is a dedicated thread for “good” images (with the above-noted caveat that gear is a poor metric to judge image quality)?

This site works for me because it is so inclusive for photographers of all skill levels. Yes, there are crap images posted in the POTD thread. This has been the case forever. But I see it as a feature and not a bug. Some of my earliest contributions to this forum were crap in hindsight. But being part of this community and having my images seen by everyone helped me to improve as a photographer over time. That wouldn’t have happened if there was a tiered approach to posting images. It would have been a major turn-off.

 

[Apple fanboy]

@Clix Pix I think I understand your desire to see more “quality” images in a dedicated thread.

Gear requirements are a very artificial way to attempt this. While gear certainly can matter for some subjects, gear alone is a very poor predictor of the quality of a given image. Photography isn’t about gear, it’s about the image. Subject choice, composition, light, exposure. Those are the things that dictate whether an image is successful or not. The gear used is an afterthought, only important if it made the image possible (or subjectively “better”) than different gear for the intended output.

Looking at the forest for the trees, I think your idea would be a negative for the site. One of the strengths of this sub forum is that it is welcoming for people of all skill levels. Folks just starting out can post their images alongside people with more experience. They may not get the same number of upvotes, but that can be part of the learning process. Why aren’t my images getting as many upvotes? It can make one want to improve their skills. Perhaps getting feedback in the POTD thread. Perhaps starting a new thread asking for feedback. Or perhaps fostering an internal conversation that pushes the poster to want to do better next time.

Your idea would completely destroy the POTD thread. I see a very real risk that none of the “regulars” would even look at the thread anymore. It would certainly not get the views it does now. Why spend time looking at “sub-par” images when there is a dedicated thread for “good” images (with the above-noted caveat that gear is a poor metric to judge image quality)?

This site works for me because it is so inclusive for photographers of all skill levels. Yes, there are crap images posted in the POTD thread. This has been the case forever. But I see it as a feature and not a bug. Some of my earliest contributions to this forum were crap in hindsight. But being part of this community and having my images seen by everyone helped me to improve as a photographer over time. That wouldn’t have happened if there was a tiered approach to posting images. It would have been a major turn-off.

I don’t mind people posting images of variable quality as we are all on a different part of our photographic journey. However there has been a real increase of snaps of late that should really be posted in the picture sub forum not the photo one.
Regardless of gear, people should have at least a desire to learn something of the art of photography. Composition? Lighting? Editing? Nope just skip all that and post it straight off.

 

[kenoh]

I know Sony has some sort of way of transferring images from the camera to a phone or computer via BT or WiFi, but I have never bothered with it. I have a wired remote that I have used a few times on the rare occasions I've used my tripod -- decided a while back that it would make more sense to have a wired remote that I can just plug in when the time comes rather than a wireless one, so that I wouldn't need to worry about it being charged up when I actually wanted to use it.

They changed it relatively recently. It used to be Play Memories which was rotten. Now they have Imaging Edge Mobile.

Still flaky at times but a slight improvement over Play Memories

 

[kenoh]

actually it should be within Bluetooth range, so it will depend on the watch/phone model, BT 5.0 theoretically 800ft ... I have never checked how far I can be away from my phone with the watch still being connected

Sorry I just read 800ft and had an image of you sprinting after an iPhone thief in the park who had an 800ft head start on you..... ?

 

[Dockland]

As monitors get bigger and their resolution increases, I think we will see more thoughts along these lines. Truth is images taken with tiny CMOS sensors hold up quite well viewed at 1080x1920, but they won't go a lot bigger. Anyone using a big high end monitor will see that inherent weakness all too plainly. That said I would still limit posted image resolution as perhaps the best way to avoid copyright infringement.

I mentioned those slide presentations from ~50 years ago. Today's equivalent is the smart phone images. Your good friend hands you their smart phone with literally hundreds of images which should probably have been trashed at birth and you have to go through ever so many of them to arrive at the image(s) they want to share. That said they are still good friends!

Hehe, I was browsing around my old photos, from around 2001-2009 and at that time I always resized my images to 480*whatever pixels the ratio required. I remember thinking, "I don't need the originals, 480px will be enough during my lifetime at least" And the fact storage was way more expensive those days, and I had a "Huge" 19" CRT monitor at the time.
Well, Tim, note to self: "I'm on a 5K2K monitor now, and the thumbnails I've saved once upon a time surely will do"
But rather a 480px image that I've saved, than nothing, so I'm quite happy anyway.

 

[mollyc]

@Clix Pix I think I understand your desire to see more “quality” images in a dedicated thread.

Gear requirements are a very artificial way to attempt this. While gear certainly can matter for some subjects, gear alone is a very poor predictor of the quality of a given image. Photography isn’t about gear, it’s about the image. Subject choice, composition, light, exposure. Those are the things that dictate whether an image is successful or not. The gear used is an afterthought, only important if it made the image possible (or subjectively “better”) than different gear for the intended output.

Looking at the forest for the trees, I think your idea would be a negative for the site. One of the strengths of this sub forum is that it is welcoming for people of all skill levels. Folks just starting out can post their images alongside people with more experience. They may not get the same number of upvotes, but that can be part of the learning process. Why aren’t my images getting as many upvotes? It can make one want to improve their skills. Perhaps getting feedback in the POTD thread. Perhaps starting a new thread asking for feedback. Or perhaps fostering an internal conversation that pushes the poster to want to do better next time.

Your idea would completely destroy the POTD thread. I see a very real risk that none of the “regulars” would even look at the thread anymore. It would certainly not get the views it does now. Why spend time looking at “sub-par” images when there is a dedicated thread for “good” images (with the above-noted caveat that gear is a poor metric to judge image quality)?

This site works for me because it is so inclusive for photographers of all skill levels. Yes, there are crap images posted in the POTD thread. This has been the case forever. But I see it as a feature and not a bug. Some of my earliest contributions to this forum were crap in hindsight. But being part of this community and having my images seen by everyone helped me to improve as a photographer over time. That wouldn’t have happened if there was a tiered approach to posting images. It would have been a major turn-off.

I don’t mind people posting images of variable quality as we are all on a different part of our photographic journey. However there has been a real increase of snaps of late that should really be posted in the picture sub forum not the photo one.
Regardless of gear, people should have at least a desire to learn something of the art of photography. Composition? Lighting? Editing? Nope just skip all that and post it straight off.

I think part of the problem is that for those of us who are serious photographers, we (for the most part) already know what we are doing and likely belong to other forums that are more serious. And as this site is primarily an Apple product site, it attracts a lot of people who use their phones as their primary camera. Some are passionate about it (akash.nu comes to mind) but others really only want snapshots. I don't think those users are really going to change their mind.

I do think that the weekly challenge thread often captures the more serious among us. Of course, depending on the topic entries can also be "snapshots." But other threads we have started likes ones on critiques (two separate threads on that have been started and fizzled), composition, specific techniques (ICM, panorama, etc.), various editing programs....well those threads never seem to take off. They get a few comments but it's rare that we spark a full on discussion on any of the more technical aspects.

I think that is just the nature of the mix of people on MR. Presumably we joined MR because we were curious about specific Apple products, or had a question that google didn't help with on a software/hardware issue. I know I joined about a year before I got my current iMac because I knew I'd need a new one soon and wanted to be in the know for new releases. That I discovered a robust photography forum here was secondary to my original goal.

There is bound to be some overlap of people enjoying tech products and photography. But I think the serious photographers will likely always be outnumbered by the casual shooters here. And if we welcome and encourage all of the casual shooters, we may over time entice one or two to upgrade their equipment and skills. However, I would never want to discourage someone from posting in the group just because they are a casual shooter only.

 

[tizeye]

Also late to the party...and first reaction...seriously?
Many photos are so manipulated in Photoshop/Lightroom - including exposure adjustments utilizing a specific camera's dynamic range, as well as other adjustments, that EFIX borders on meaningless.

Consider the 3 below which was more an exercise salvaging a bad day. For the record EFIX was ISO 400, f4, 1/1250 sec on Sony A7rIII with 16-35 @35mm (my favorite walkaround lens).

Location was Harper Ferry...on a rainy, overcast day. One photo was "almost as taken" with minimal Lightroom adjustment (typically, shadow/black/highlight/clarity/dehaze sliders) documenting the conditions. Another was exporting to Photoshop with Lightroom adjustments, removing people, a sign, replacing sky which with the wet streets and muted shadows can't be bright and sunny, plus fine tuning tonality/exposure, etc. Finally, noticed forgot to remove the traffic sign so re-loaded the previously saved Photoshop (avoided having to re-edit out the people and other sign) and tried a different sky in the process. Sky replacement was Luminar plugin to Photoshop rather than Photoshops (now) native sky replacement on the edit menu. (Luminar forced Adobe's hand to add the feature, but I had Luminar prior to the addition and prefer it). So much for the EFIX...but the manipulation did save a challenging day.