sexyrealsexdolls.com

Ze Plastico Fantastico

No matter how great your camera might be, it is how you apply your skills that makes the difference between an OK shot and a great shot. Here you can talk technical, talk creative, share your techniques, lighting, and digital editing. This is where we can all help each other to take better photos.
If you post a photo here and are looking for a critique, you should be prepared for honest criticism even if it hurts. It will only help to make us better photographers.

Moderator: Swan

User avatar
GreatSoul
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1470
Joined: Sat May 14, 2011 3:00 pm
Contact:

Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by GreatSoul »

If you have a Canon SLR or plan on getting one, I strongly recommend the Canon 50mm 1.8 prime lens ( or the "plastic fantastic" as the pros call it). It's very inexpensive (about $100 US on Amazon/ebay) while the sharpness and colors beat the hell out of any Canon kit lens.

It's great low light gear with it's 1.8 aperture and has pretty decent bokeh for a cheapo lens too. Autofocus is kinda slow but acceptable for the great images it will give you. :painting:


Image


This was shot with a single 10-watt bulb in the evening using the 50mm @ 2.0:

Image

User avatar
Dollarhyde
Doll Oracle
Doll Oracle
Posts: 8433
Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:22 pm
Location: The Tardis Somewhere In the Timey Wimey
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by Dollarhyde »

That's great info GS... Fab photos :D
viewtopic.php?f=231&t=69369 NEWBIES WELCOME PAGE
http://www.dollalbum.com/dollgallery/in ... ?cat=13267
"Dammit Jim I'm a doctor, not a doll maker!"

User avatar
Elle
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 2986
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:00 am
Location: near Paris, france
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by Elle »

I agree with you Greatsoul. I get one for my Canon eos 350 and i love that lens :multi:

Difficult to use it in a small room but pics are often magical :thumbs_up:
this one is the 50mm @ 2.0

Image

I bought a 35mm (2.0) from Canon too. It's very good but a bit less than the 50mm :wink:

Jihan & Elle
__________________ ALL DOLLS ARE WELCOME... SUBMIT YOUR DOLL TO THE MATRIX __________________ My Website
ImageImage

User avatar
life-is-plastic
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1251
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 4:11 pm
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by life-is-plastic »

I had one too, and it's excellent especially taking into account its price ! Good IQ and compact and light too !

But be careful with them; I dropped my lens (not very hard) and it was a total loss :(

Build quality is mediocre at best, that's why I'm still looking around for the first version of this EF f1.8 50mm which is nicknamed the Mark I: is much better build, has a distance scale and a metal fitting. You cannot get this one new anymore, and they go secondhand for almost twice the price of the Mark II (the plastic one).

User avatar
blou2blou2
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1060
Joined: Mon May 09, 2011 12:59 am
Location: France

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by blou2blou2 »

it's a good thing to know thanks guys!
I too own a little canon (PowerShot A490), it's a good little digital camera and at a good price, approximately 120$. Very simple. No need to put a lens on it , it gives great shots.
I use it very often even if i have a full equiped big Nikon :mrgreen:
.

User avatar
GreatSoul
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1470
Joined: Sat May 14, 2011 3:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by GreatSoul »

Dollarhyde wrote:That's great info GS... Fab photos :D
Thanks! :)

Elle wrote:Difficult to use it in a small room but pics are often magical :thumbs_up:
Yeah it's use is somewhat limited on a crop sensor SLR like most people have. Nice portrait shot of your beautiful lady. :thumbs_up:
Elle wrote:I bought a 35mm (2.0) from Canon too. It's very good but a bit less than the 50mm
Thanks for the info. I'm looking at that one and have heard from others that it doesn't top the 50 in terms of sharpness but the wider angle would be sweet. Price on that one is 3x the cost of the 50, however.

All of Canon's primes seem to get good overall reviews.
life-is-plastic wrote:Build quality is mediocre at best, that's why I'm still looking around for the first version of this EF f1.8 50mm which is nicknamed the Mark I: is much better build, has a distance scale and a metal fitting. You cannot get this one new anymore, and they go secondhand for almost twice the price of the Mark II (the plastic one).
I agree, life. The build is as cheap as they come but Canon does offer a 50mm 1.4 with much better build for a couple hundred bucks more. Hope you get ahold of that Mark I you're after and post some shots with it.
blou2blou2 wrote:I too own a little canon (PowerShot A490), it's a good little digital camera and at a good price
That's the first cam I purchased to take pics of Cadence with and there are still a few pics in her album that were shot with it. Glad you like it b2b and you've certainly posted some fine pics of Anoukis with that cam.

User avatar
skybird100000
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1342
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:00 am
Location: Somewhere
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by skybird100000 »

I got Nikon with 50mm 1.4. Love it, is my best lens. When in small room or when I cant take picture I want I use now a wide angle. A nice lens but it needs much more light so tripod must when not much light and by far not as sharp.

But this pic I find your best. It has a nice composition and thats where a great picture starts :). Technically your pictures are very nice but this one jumps out for me.

User avatar
life-is-plastic
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1251
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 4:11 pm
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by life-is-plastic »

GreatSoul wrote: I agree, life. The build is as cheap as they come but Canon does offer a 50mm 1.4 with much better build for a couple hundred bucks more. Hope you get ahold of that Mark I you're after and post some shots with it.
Already have the EF f1.4 50mm :oops: but the camera geek in me also likes to see what can be achieved with other lenses 8) :) My hunt for a reasonably priced Mark I still continues :wink:


Generally speaking: on a crop sensored camera the 50mm lens works as a pretty cheap, large aperture potrait lens which is kinda unbeatable when it comes to distortion free photography in low light. A wide(r) angle lens might be handier in limited space, but nothing will beat a 'portrait lens' when in comes to natural and neutral looking images because it forces you to take a slightly more 'distant' view on your subject.

For those interested in a wide(r), more standard focal length type of lens on their crop-sensor camera: Sigma has a f1.4 30mm ... but I have no idea how it performs. Same goes for Samyang, who offer a f1.4 35mm, which is reasonably cheap, but that's partly because of the fact it's a manual focus lens. Again: no real idea how it performs, although I've read some reviews of some of their other offerings, and they do offer a lot of bang for your bucks. They have several fisheyes (for different mounts/systems) for instance that are pretty good, and you don't really need auto-focus for a fisheye :lol:

User avatar
GreatSoul
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1470
Joined: Sat May 14, 2011 3:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by GreatSoul »

I didn't expect much response to this topic, so thanks all. :)
skybird100000 wrote:But this pic I find your best. It has a nice composition and thats where a great picture starts.
Thanks sky. It's cool that you have the Nikon 50mm 1.4 as I've heard some great things about it.

I personally go for good posing first and foremost when it comes to doll photography. I'd rather see a dynamic pose against a plain background than a doll doing nothing in a million dollar mansion. Great posing requires only talent with some ball busting hard work and costs absolutely nothing.

That said, I do understand that some people have older dolls with loose joints that can't hold poses anymore.
life-is-plastic wrote:For those interested in a wide(r), more standard focal length type of lens on their crop-sensor camera: Sigma has a f1.4 30mm ... but I have no idea how it performs.


Also in the price range of the Sigma 30mm or Canon 50mm 1.4, there is a Tamron 17-50 2.8 lens out there with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Pull up images shot with that lens on flickr and I personally can't tell the difference in image quality between it and the Canon 50mm lenses. Granted, it isn't 1.4 fast but 2.8 is still rockin' and rollin' for indoor shooting.

7 blade bokeh on the Tamron zoom as well. :)

Thanks for your terrific input here, life. :thumbs_up:

User avatar
life-is-plastic
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1251
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 4:11 pm
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by life-is-plastic »

GreatSoul wrote: Also in the price range of the Sigma 30mm or Canon 50mm 1.4, there is a Tamron 17-50 2.8 lens out there with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Pull up images shot with that lens on flickr and I personally can't tell the difference in image quality between it and the Canon 50mm lenses. Granted, it isn't 1.4 fast but 2.8 is still rockin' and rollin' for indoor shooting.

7 blade bokeh on the Tamron zoom as well. :)

Thanks for your terrific input here, life. :thumbs_up:
f2.8 isn't shabby, don't get me wrong, but it cannot beat f1.4 (or the f1.8 for that matter) for the clarity of the viewfinder :whistle: :) The rest is all pixel-peeping :wink: :lol:

In the end it doesn't really matter with what you produce your photos, as long as the resulting image is okay !! 8)

User avatar
GreatSoul
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1470
Joined: Sat May 14, 2011 3:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by GreatSoul »

life-is-plastic wrote:f2.8 isn't shabby, don't get me wrong, but it cannot beat f1.4 (or the f1.8 for that matter) for the clarity of the viewfinder :whistle: :) The rest is all pixel-peeping.
Right, but we're comparing apples to oranges here. The 1.4/1.8's are fixed prime lenses.

Try using your 50mm for a proper full body shot from a ladder. Unless you're a masochist who digs climbing up and down a 12 foot ladder for photography, the 50mm is pretty worthless in that situation. That's where either a 24-30mm prime or sharp zoom glass is an absolute must imo.
life-is-plastic wrote:In the end it doesn't really matter with what you produce your photos, as long as the resulting image is okay !! 8)
Well my original Powershot produced an okay image, but it looks like crap when I compare it to shots in the queen's doll album done with the mighty Canon 24-70L. :P

User avatar
deerman
~ Member ~
~ Member ~
Posts: 8376
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:52 am
Location: Just past the pond, the last deer trail on the left

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by deerman »

Elle wrote:I agree with you Greatsoul. I get one for my Canon eos 350 and i love that lens :multi:

Difficult to use it in a small room but pics are often magical :thumbs_up:
this one is the 50mm @ 2.0

Image

I bought a 35mm (2.0) from Canon too. It's very good but a bit less than the 50mm :wink:

Jihan & Elle
Great photograph Elle you take the phrase Real Doll to another level.

User avatar
life-is-plastic
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1251
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 4:11 pm
Contact:

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by life-is-plastic »

GreatSoul wrote:
life-is-plastic wrote:f2.8 isn't shabby, don't get me wrong, but it cannot beat f1.4 (or the f1.8 for that matter) for the clarity of the viewfinder :whistle: :) The rest is all pixel-peeping.
Right, but we're comparing apples to oranges here. The 1.4/1.8's are fixed prime lenses.

Try using your 50mm for a proper full body shot from a ladder. Unless you're a masochist who digs climbing up and down a 12 foot ladder for photography, the 50mm is pretty worthless in that situation. That's where either a 24-30mm prime or sharp zoom glass is an absolute must imo.
life-is-plastic wrote:In the end it doesn't really matter with what you produce your photos, as long as the resulting image is okay !! 8)
Well my original Powershot produced an okay image, but it looks like crap when I compare it to shots in the queen's doll album done with the mighty Canon 24-70L. :P
You started talking about the Tamron 17-50mm :P :lol: but of course zooms are (much) handier in certain circumstances :wink:

What I tried to get across was: you yourself for instance take much care of the positioning of your dolls and the idea behind the image; the photography is 'just' the end-result/accumulation of a lot of work (mind you: I'm not trying to belittle photography here!). Whether you photograph your subject with a high end digital SLR or with a simple point-and-shoot kinda doesn't really matter ... only when it comes to the image quality ... taking a picture of a boring scene with a very very expensive Hasselblad doesn't convert it into art because of the use of that high end camera; it's your vision that does that. The use of good equipment will of course produce a better and probably more pleasing end-result, but in the end it's the image/idea/concept and it's execution that really counts.

User avatar
blou2blou2
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1060
Joined: Mon May 09, 2011 12:59 am
Location: France

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by blou2blou2 »

i think that if you can shoot well, a simple camera or a even a camera phone can create great work. If you're not talented, it doesn't matter if you buy a Nikon D3X or the newest Canon; your work will still be uninspired. Its better spend our time and money on learning art and photography, not by spending it on more and more expensive cameras; if you dont have any creativity and talent, and the eye of a photographer( this is not given to everyone), it is useless, even if you know all the techniques of the photography.
You can have a cheaper kodak, and use it like a pro, it's great, and you can have a high tech professional kodak and will not be able to use it correctly, so it's not better.
.

User avatar
deerman
~ Member ~
~ Member ~
Posts: 8376
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:52 am
Location: Just past the pond, the last deer trail on the left

Re: Ze Plastico Fantastico

Post by deerman »

Some really good information GS I was reading your post when I saw Elle's picture and was distracted , strange how french girls can do that. My girls are bugging me on a new camera, your info and Alex's help are just what I need.

Post Reply

INFORMATIONS