After Party: 1five2oh / 1oh2oh / nine3oh / 1C0N / eight3oh

[RumoredNow]

Here's a video about Beastgrip and a few other things... 5 still photos at the start... Then it gets a bit rambling. All in the video is almost 1/2 an hour long. Sorry about that, but I had a lot to say on the subject even after such a short while.

I'll follow up in the coming days and post sample pics using the various filters and lenses I've accrued to mount to my Lumia 1020 via the Beastgrip.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5x0cvp

 

[RumoredNow]

Here are the items I'm talking about in the above video...

Beastgrip https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B019TCX0GU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Filter kit 1 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0157N1GS4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Filter kit 2 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N3NE5GG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
37mm 3.5x telephoto converter https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004616CYW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Filter kit 3 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HR3SJCS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Camera bag https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B016U4BKPI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Filter pouch https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M4OW0QP/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
37mm Lens caps https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XJH3V39/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Filter kit 4 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LYZOWEU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Shotgun mic https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XW36KVB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Light box https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WVQHP5L/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Camcorder batteries https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q7W8OS0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Step up ring https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...tml/BI/20079/KBID/13844/SID/UUwpUvbUpU3696955
57mm 3.5 telephoto converter https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...tml/BI/20079/KBID/13844/SID/UUwpUvbUpU3696955
57mm 0.45x wide angle converter https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...tml/BI/20079/KBID/13844/SID/UUwpUvbUpU3696955


Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer.

 

[RumoredNow]

Well the field of view is wider with the 58mm 0.45x Wide Angle Converter

Before:


After:


But when you look at the margins they are blurry and have color artifacts. Disappointed. I hate to think that you have to pay a fortune for a clear shot. $15 isn't enough apparently... Although I do still find it useful to widen out a closely held shot in video.

Meanwhile Panorama continues to be the best bet for stills. Here's a 2 panel stitch and a 4 panel one.




I stacked the Neutral Density filters 8/4/2 and took a shot.

Before:


After:


It didn't really enhance the flow effect of the waterfall, but it did tame the reflections and the blown out colors. It is a bit underexposed. Think I need to play with manual settings a bit here and force a longer expose time and a set ISO. Without the stacked filters it shot 1/266 second at ISO 100. With it shot 1/14 second at ISO 400. I'll play with this more next time, though the ND 8 by itself would most likely have been a good balance to tame the overly bright sunlight in the foreground. I'm also looking at some ND filters in a 58mm size. I can go much higher (ND 1000 for instance) at a reasonable price and the 37mm ones are all lower rated or variable. Not sure I want to go the variable route of 2-400 and have yet another adjustment to calculate.

Here's another effort with the stacked ND filters. This one in dappled light in the woods.

Before was shot 1/67 second at ISO 100:


After was shot 1/9 second at ISO 800:


Here is the ND filtered shot with auto-correct applied (Office Picture Manager):


I think that fixed the exposure somewhat. Seems to have smoother "flow" to the water than the unfiltered pic.

 

[RumoredNow]

Got the Zecti light out and mounted it. Used the camcorder battery for power. Gotta love this light. Tripod shots all the way

I was pretty far in. Here's an unlit shot looking back:


And here are some shots with the 144 LED light box illuminating the scene. Brightness at 99% and the color at 5600k:



Took a couple more with the temp at 3200k:



I was in much farther than the shot looking out and around a bend for this last one. Still at 3200k:


As much as I love the Xenon flash on the 1020, I love this light better...


I played with the Macro filters. Here they were stacked +10/4/2/1:


And just the +10:



I also played with the Gradual Green filter. Had it set to cover the top half of this pic:


IMHO, the tones are definitely better in the background than the foreground.


I also played with the Circular Polarizer filter, but I forgot to get a before and after. Here's a shot through the filter:


Here's an unfiltered shot from later on. The filtered shot had the sun behind my right shoulder and this one is with the sun nearly equivalent in how indirect it is to the lens and also behind my right shoulder:

 

[RumoredNow]

Moar tests. I do have a 58mm ND 1000 filter on order. Meanwhile I returned the 3.5x tele to B&H and substituted 2 different lenses. One is a Digital Visions 2.0x and the other is a Vivitar 2.2x.

5MP oversamples for all...

Here's a manual focus shot straight from Lumia 1020. I focused on the near end of the L shaped building (center of the shot).



I then attached the 37 > 58mm step-up ring to the 37mm Neutral Density 4 filter to cut some haze and glare and mounted this to the BeastGrip. Here's a manual focus thru the ND4 filter.



And manual focus, ND4, max zoom on the 1020.



I think the shot looks better with auto focus. Better color balance.



I actually grabbed the Vivitar tele and the wide angle when I first went out. I had to go back inside for the Digital Visions so the framing looks different on this one from the others. ND4, manual focus 58mm Digital Visions 2.0x tele.



Almost as much vignetting as the discarded 3.5x Panasonic tele (see post #58 above), but way less loss of focus outside the center of the shot.

Here's ND4, manual focus, 2.0x tele, max zoom from the 1020.



I think the Vivitar 2.2x tele comes off slightly better.

Here's ND4, manual focus, 58mm Vivitar 2.2X tele.



Way less vignetting than the Digital Visions despite a slightly longer barrel and the center of clarity is larger, IMHO.

This one is ND4, manual focus, 2.2x tele and max zoom from the 1020.



I might get some usable crops out of the Vivitar when using the 34MP DNG files.


By the by... I set up a quick shot for you to see the 37mm 8 point Star Filter effect.



By rotating the filter in the mount you can change the angle of the rays...

 

[RumoredNow]

The ND 1000 filter came in... It's really dark. 10 f-stops reduction is the "effect." Not solar eclipse dark, but it should achieve some effects for me.

Here's one that went off at 1/12 second and ISO 800 when shot on auto through the ND 1000 filter. I opened the DNG in Fotor, applied auto-enhance and saved to JPG. Size was reduced via Office Picture Manager.



This one clicked at 1/17 second and ISO 800. Fotor for the DNG where I cranked the saturation all the way up and added +20 brightness. Then I did a diagonal band of Tilt Shift at the angle of the fountain heads and pulled tight to fit the geysers. Saved to JPG and reduced in Picture Manager.




I'll try and get some more soon, but I also need to try and remember to manually force ISO to 100 or 200. That should extend the exposure time some more.

 

[RumoredNow]

What with worrying about 8.1 being rapidly phased out, battery life, aging ecosystem...

Looks like I'll transition to a Lumia 950 now for this. Have one coming from an APO thanks to member Jason Angle and our Marketplace forum. Should be a quality experience for farther into the future. Already have 2x replacement batteries coming, matte screen protectors and a green 3rd party battery door.

And. of course, the BeastGrip and all the accessories will work with the Lumia 950 just as well.


On a side note: I'm a bit surprised no else is going this route and posting here about using the PureView models just for cameras.

 

[libra89]

What with worrying about 8.1 being rapidly phased out, battery life, aging ecosystem...

Looks like I'll transition to a Lumia 950 now for this. Have one coming from an APO thanks to member Jason Angle and our Marketplace forum. Should be a quality experience for farther into the future. Already have 2x replacement batteries coming, matte screen protectors and a green 3rd party battery door.

And. of course, the BeastGrip and all the accessories will work with the Lumia 950 just as well.


On a side note: I'm a bit surprised no else is going this route and posting here about using the PureView models just for cameras.

I'll be looking forward to your 950 impressions, but I would say that I am surprised that you chose this route.

 

[RumoredNow]

One of the biggest worries was battery, to be honest. I have a replacement battery although it's not installed in the 1020 yet. It's only 2000 mAh, same as stock. When I'm on a vacation I might take 200+ pics a day and a few videos to boot.

Lumia 950 looks to have better endurance as well as some strong camera features now that W10M has matured a bit. The last couple pages of the "pics taken with 950" thread have some great samples. Low light appears to be excellent. In fact, it looks to have all the improvements I wish 1520 camera had had in terms of hardware/software.

IF I could have fit the 1020 camera grip (which includes 1020 mAH extra battery) into the BeastGrip AND Lumia 950 hadn't fallen to such reasonable prices I may not have even considered the switch.

 

[RumoredNow]

Got the L950 in. Have 2x 3200 mAh replacement batteries charging. Gotta apply a matte screen saver. Have the BeastGrip adjusted for the nine5oh.

Most importantly I have the day off despite the evil intentions of fate (wormed my way out of covering an ailing coworker today/tommorow) and I'm going to go on a shoot.

 

[libra89]

Got the L950 in. Have 2x 3200 mAh replacement batteries charging. Gotta apply a matte screen saver. Have the BeastGrip adjusted for the nine5oh.

Most importantly I have the day off despite the evil intentions of fate (wormed my way out of covering an ailing coworker today/tommorow) and I'm going to go on a shoot.

Enjoy and congrats!

 

[nate0]

I stil have one Lumia 950 XL that I am debating if I should keep around or not. I am not a camera person by nature, and the convenience part is a big thing for me. So whatever I have on me I use to take a photo. Man it really dissapointing Microsoft stopped at the 950's and has pursued other avenues. Yet that does not mean we stop...

Anyway, @RumoredNow glad to see you are still working this thread and enjoying the 950 . How does all your gear work with it or not...?

 

[RumoredNow]

Anyway, RumoredNow glad to see you are still working this thread and enjoying the 950 . How dows all your gear work with it or not...?

That's the beauty of BeastGrip. All the stuff: mounts, filters, lenses, adapters, microphones, lights, etc.; it all fits the BeastGrip and BeastGrip fits just about any phone. So I have a full rig that I can swap different camera "bodies" into (different phones) with a few quick and easy to make adjustments. I see no end in sight to the usefulness of BeastGrip no matter what happens with Windows Phone or W10M in future. If the L1020 and L950 become obsolete, I simply get another high quality shooter and drop it in.

 

[RumoredNow]

I went crazy yesterday with Rich Capture and Panorama (who knew you could pan in portrait [pic 1]and landscape [pic 3]?). I ended up with 1,051 files on my 950 in the Camera Roll folder what with all the .nar and ev0/ev+/ev- .dng copies.

Switching from 1020 to 950 was a smart move. For the most part I kept shooting away much faster than 1020 would have allowed, although all the repeated and rapid Rich Capture did have the phone bind up a couple of times requiring a Soft Reset to fix. I also swapped batteries during the day. I bought two 3200 mAh replacement batteries for 950 before the trip. We had a late lunch and while we munched I swapped out the first battery which was at 38% and kept going with the second which finished out at 42%. So I went through roughly 3840 mAh. 1020 would have required the battery bank since you can't swap batteries in the field. Great as a battery bank is, it is also a PITA to have attached to your camera. And the day would likely have drained 1020 twice.

 

[libra89]

I went crazy yesterday with Rich Capture and Panorama (who knew you could pan in portrait [pic 1]and landscape [pic 3]?). I ended up with 1,051 files on my 950 in the Camera Roll folder what with all the .nar and ev0/ev+/ev- .dng copies.

Switching from 1020 to 950 was a smart move. For the most part I kept shooting away much faster than 1020 would have allowed, although all the repeated and rapid Rich Capture did have the phone bind up a couple of times requiring a Soft Reset to fix. I also swapped batteries during the day. I bought two 3200 mAh replacement batteries for 950 before the trip. We had a late lunch and while we munched I swapped out the first battery which was at 38% and kept going with the second which finished out at 42%. So I went through roughly 3840 mAh. 1020 would have required the battery bank since you can't swap batteries in the field. Great as a battery bank is, it is also a PITA to have attached to your camera. And the day would likely have drained 1020 twice.

Sweet! It sounds like you chose well in going for the 950. I'm glad to see that you are enjoying that camera.

 

[RumoredNow]

Another benefit of using the BeastGrip is that people stare at you like you are deploying a death ray.

Awesome. :winktongue: