Laptop on location

bilbosmeggins

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Given that it is very hard to tell from the camera’s LCD screen whether that last picture taken was any good or not, do any of you take a laptop, or tablet out with you when you go out “in the field”? Or do you just trust that everything’s probably okay, and save the grand unveiling until you get home?

My 59 year-old eyes do struggle a bit with the tiny previews afforded by my Canon 80D, so I’ve started sneaking an old iPad into my bag. Along with a card reader, it affords me a fair idea of what I’ve just snapped. I was half-tempted to take the MacBook with me, but don’t want temptation to kick in, and end up editing when I should be shooting.
 
It’s just dawned upon me how amazingly privileged we are…. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I had an old Pentax SLR. And the rigmarole of taking the latest roll into the chemist, waiting a week, then excitedly opening the envelope only to find that 90% of the images were rubbish. And having to decide in advance which ISO film to purchase, and then being stuck with it for the next 36 pictures regardless of shooting conditions is like some kind of nightmare. We sure are lucky now 🙂
 
I always wait until I get home and look at them on the monitor. I take hundereds of pictures out, even though I try to ensure each one is good, so, usually find one I'm happy with. (The convenience of digital).
I don't use layers (the plugins I use open in a new layer and I use them for my watermark and white framing on social media, but otherwise I get everything in camera regarding the photo itself. I'm a bit old fashioned with how I like my photos processed, but that is just my personal preference.):)
 
Well yes, the joys of digital indeed 🙂. I take tons of “test images”, before committing to any attempts at composition. It’s a great luxury that we all enjoy. I think I’ll carry on taking my iPad in the bag, because I am, by nature, quite impatient. And I just can’t wait to see what I’ve got.
 
No I don't preview the images on another device when I'm out shooting, it's one of the reason I find shooting raw useful because I can make colour and exposure adjustments later and focus on taking the pictures at the time. If I've really screwed a setting up it will usually show on the camera.
 
No never take out another device. In a studio that would be normal though, shooting tethered to a computer usually. It really depends on the camera. My 1Dx screen is excellent to see what's going on (as you'd hope for the new price) even in sunshine but the RX1 screen struggles in sunshine though the rendering is good.
 
I never take another device out with me, my checks are zoom to 1:1 on the rear screen (one button press for me) to make sure focus was OK, and check the histogram if needs be. Since going to I don't use the histogram as much as I can review the images in the viewfinder so am not affected by the sunlight washing the screen out.
 
I never take another device out with me, my checks are zoom to 1:1 on the rear screen (one button press for me) to make sure focus was OK, and check the histogram if needs be. Since going to I don't use the histogram as much as I can review the images in the viewfinder so am not affected by the sunlight washing the screen out.
I check the histogram too, immediacy after taking a shot, as it is easy to see. The focus, however, is less easily checked on my 80D, as it’s quite tricky to see any great amount of detail on the screen. Nice and bright in the viewfinder though when composing a shot.
 
I check the histogram too, immediacy after taking a shot, as it is easy to see. The focus, however, is less easily checked on my 80D, as it’s quite tricky to see any great amount of detail on the screen. Nice and bright in the viewfinder though when composing a shot.
Can you not view 1:1 on the 80D to check focus?
 
I do check the zoom sometimes, just to ensure what I want is in frame. But always leave everything else until I get home. I adjust my histogram accordingly with what I tried to capture. A retractable lense on a compact needs the most attention on the right of the histogram. Still amazing what can be acheived post production. My main concern when shooting with my camera is blow out. But there are workarounds, common sense and ocassionally too many hours post processing (when I really like the image I capture but have to fill in multiple tiny pockets of blowout that can only be seen full size.) However, I know this when taking these type of shots. So, they are either managable or go in the bin!

Eg:
Silhouetted trees blue sky.jpg
 
I do check the zoom sometimes, just to ensure what I want is in frame. But always leave everything else until I get home. I adjust my histogram accordingly with what I tried to capture. A retractable lense on a compact needs the most attention on the right of the histogram. Still amazing what can be acheived post production. My main concern when shooting with my camera is blow out. But there are workarounds, common sense and ocassionally too many hours post processing (when I really like the image I capture but have to fill in multiple tiny pockets of blowout that can only be seen full size.) However, I know this when taking these type of shots. So, they are either managable or go in the bin!

Eg:
View attachment 1692722

Then surely expose to preserve the highlights? Can’t bring back what’s genuinely blown out and shadows will usually easily recover.
 
That's purely an aesthetic decision. I don't mind whites in black and white but don't like them in colour! But, that's just me:rotfl:
 
Very true. But when taking this shot my camera will blow out even with a very high fstop and shutter speed with low ISO. Any lower and the frame would be flooded. These are limitations that can be overcome. I cannot use a UV filter so, I do the best I can with the tool I have. It may be a 1' sensor but the lens has limits. I am happy to work within these limits.

When I owned a full size DSLR in the past I was able to do exactly what you say, with the correct filters, lenses and full size body, all conditions can be accounted for. And I agree that preserving data is paramount. I do the best with a compact instead. Which combined with post processing can give me the results I want to acheive.
 
Very true. But when taking this shot my camera will blow out even with a very high fstop and shutter speed with low ISO. Any lower and the frame would be flooded. These are limitations that can be overcome. I cannot use a UV filter so, I do the best I can with the tool I have. It may be a 1' sensor but the lens has limits. I am happy to work within these limits.

When I owned a full size DSLR in the past I was able to do exactly what you say, with the correct filters, lenses and full size body, all conditions can be accounted for. And I agree that preserving data is paramount. I do the best with a compact instead. Which combined with post processing can give me the results I want to acheive.
Thank you for the passionate discussion. Without passion, creativity is lost:thumbsup:

Not really, it’s a technique decision. Ones preserving data, the others losing it. Thank you @MaryWhitehouse. I was supposed to be replying to you, not myself! Doh:facepalm:
 
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Thank you for the passionate discussion. Without passion, creativity is lost:thumbsup:

Not really, it’s a technique decision. Ones preserving data, the others losing it. Thank you @MaryWhitehouse. I was supposed to be replying to you, not myself! Doh:facepalm:

Hah, easily done. Sounds like you need ND filters not UV. There will be a way to mount them to your camera.
 
There is of course often the option to bracket your shots to gain a higher dynamic range and a better chance of preserving highlights and reducing crushed blacks.
 
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As @snerkler suggests - bracketing is the best way to ensure you have the best chance to compensate for an exposure when you process. If you have a bracket setting and a burst mode then you can keep ghosting to a minimum and even my old Lightroom 6 does a good job of merging the files.

If I don't have the opportunity then I tend to underexpose to reduce the burn out and bring back the shadows in lightroom.

Missed focus isn't something you can do much about later - in general the EVF and screen on my Olympus E-M10ii is good enough to spot something seriously out of focus - I rarely check with 1:1 after taking a shot, if it's not sharp enough then I'll just delete it later.
 
Thank you very much gentleman. :) The Sony RX100 M3 does have a bracket setting, just looked it up, and definitely burst mode. (I didn't even know a bracket setting existed. It also has a built in ND filter but I haven't found it that useful as it wasn't subtle. Apparently it's useful for video). So, I'll be delving into that and seeing what the results are like. Could be a game changer for me!:thumbsup:
 
Watch out for how bracketing works on your camera - on an old Pentax I had it took 3 shots per shutter press (very useful). My Olympus wants you to press the shutter 3 times. So if you forget you're in that mode :blush: then for every 3 presses you get one under exposed and one over exposed shot :(
I often just do it manually by adjusting the exposure compensation dial
 
Watch out for how bracketing works on your camera - on an old Pentax I had it took 3 shots per shutter press (very useful). My Olympus wants you to press the shutter 3 times. So if you forget you're in that mode :blush: then for every 3 presses you get one under exposed and one over exposed shot :(
I often just do it manually by adjusting the exposure compensation dial
It’s a while since I’ve done bracketing on m4/3 but IIRC if you set it to bracket and put it on continuous shooting and hold the shutter down it just takes the bracketed shots in quick succession. I’ll try it at some point to double check.
 
Yes, that's what happens. If I remember that's what I do but sometimes it's just simpler to take a the shot, spin the wheel one way and shoot and spin the other and shoot using the highlight/shadow indicator to work out how far to go.
Most of the time I'm taking pictures while I'm out with others, so I rarely have the luxury of time to set up for each shot.
 
Yes, that's what happens. If I remember that's what I do but sometimes it's just simpler to take a the shot, spin the wheel one way and shoot and spin the other and shoot using the highlight/shadow indicator to work out how far to go.
Most of the time I'm taking pictures while I'm out with others, so I rarely have the luxury of time to set up for each shot.
Do you not use the mysets or whatever they’re called?
 
Thank you so much everyone for your suggestions. It prompted me to go back and test out the built in ND filter. I think it's setting was a shock initially, when I first bought the camera, and as I use manual (with the exception of Auto focus) thought I would get around any problems with manual adjustments. However, all your contributions got me thinking and now using the built in ND filter works a treat when shooting into sunlight:
Fields, sunrays and clouds.jpg


I cannot thank everyone enough for their time and suggestions as I can now keep refining the process. (and more importantly remembering the function is there)!:rotfl: Without your inputs I would never have retried the ND filter.:thumbsup:
 

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