[Question] List of Cameras for Photo-sourcing Textures
polycounter lvl 6
I have a couple questions:
A) Does anyone know of a good camera/camera list for photo-sourcing textures?
What should the minimum specs be?
C) What should the ideal specs be? (within reason)
D) Would my Droid Turbo camera be good enough If I purchase a polarizing lense for it?
https://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/cell-phone-lenses/
Thank you
Droid Turbo Camera Specs:
CAMERA Primary 21 MP (5248 x 3936), autofocus, dual-LED flash
Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, HDR
Video 2160p@24fps, 1080p@30fps
Secondary 2 MP, 1080p
A) Does anyone know of a good camera/camera list for photo-sourcing textures?
What should the minimum specs be?C) What should the ideal specs be? (within reason)
D) Would my Droid Turbo camera be good enough If I purchase a polarizing lense for it?
https://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/cell-phone-lenses/
Thank you
Droid Turbo Camera Specs:
CAMERA Primary 21 MP (5248 x 3936), autofocus, dual-LED flash
Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, panorama, HDR
Video 2160p@24fps, 1080p@30fps
Secondary 2 MP, 1080p
Replies
a good starting SLR could be the Nikon D3300 or a Canon Rebel T5 but I am not a super camera expert. Just going off what I have used. you are going to want a decently high resolution to capture textures and I dont think a camera on a phone is going to cut it. You might be able to get some ok shots with something along the coolpix line of cameras but I'm not sure, as I havent tried them.
anyways hope this helps a bit. if you are going to do a lot of texture photography I would recommend investing in a decent camera and really learn how to get the most out of it. cheers
A Refurb/used D5100 with the Nikon 35mm prime lens would be great. I used to have that setup myself.
Check the shutter actuations before buying a used camera though.
As mentioned above, pretty much any DSLR or mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (Olympus M43, Sony NEX, Fuji X, Samsung NX) will be suitable for texture reference.
What model camera you should get depends on many different factors, how much you have to spend, what you want to do with the camera, if you want a camera small and light enough to travel or carry with your frequently, what sort of lenses you want and if they are available in this system, etc.
If you're going to pick up a DSLR, I would recommend something from Nikon, a D5300 or so would be a good choice as a starter camera. While Joost is right that Canon's latest Rebels don't really offer better image quality than a T2i, this has more to do with Canon's stagnant sensors than anything. A modern-ish Nikon will offer less noise and significantly more dynamic range than any APS-C Canon. That said, for the price you can pick up a used T2i for, you really can't go wrong there either, it will be a huge improvement over your cell phone camera.
If you want something more compact, I think Olympus M43rds mirrorless cameras offer the best balance of size, weight and image quality, and something like an Olympus E-M10 would be a good choice.
I would consider canon again but only in the new 5Ds, due to it's 50 mp size. It's a fairly expensive camera however. Between my 6D and my XT1 I find my XT1 has less noise(better lenses available in zoom), focuses much faster(when taking texture pics this actually does matter more than you would realize), and has more overall features and a key point...it MUCH lighter. The downside is it's only 16mp, but it's still a 4k image, and a great one at that.
When buying these days my biggest consideration is focus time, what lenses are available, how heavy, and what megapixels a camera is. You can always start with a cheap model and buy good lenses for when you have more money to invest and grow.
But I do agree, mirrorless makes more sense these days. Smaller, lighter, with comparable image quality, focus is generally faster (though less accurate for tracking/sports). This applies to most mirrorless systems, M43 (Olympus/Panasonic), Sony, and Fuji especially.
Do you know what the price will be/ when the release date is?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1159879-REG/sony_dsc_rx100_mark_4_digital.html
So now I am using lumia phone 8mpx camera. Just taking picture series closer.
A weird thing is that with big cameras you have to close diaphragm for decent dof and low vignetting and often need tripod to shoot at cloudy weather .
While tiny cell cameras could shoot at 1/200c and f2 with much better depth at the same time still having pretty nice crispness across the corners big cameras not always do.
Beside recent phones cameras started to work swiftly . 1c to start and 0,5-1c in-between shots for a very long series. if it's not a super huge 20mpix model at least.
ps. A key thing to have an ability of manually setting up shutter speed to 1/200 and iso not to high + exposure compensation. Not all phones allow it.
Polarizing filters would make you problems half of a time since they reduce the light energy coming through and most of a time you need to shoot in a shade or cloudy weather.
You don't need a tripod if you use a camera/lens that has IS, and many DSLR zoom lenses do, and many mirrorless cameras have IS of some sort. Olympus M43rds have in-body IS which works with any lens, and the 2x crop of M43rds cameras means F2 is more like F4 on a fullframe camera. You can easily hand-hold slow exposures with a Oly M43, and the image quality (sharpness, dynamic range, noise), while not quite on the level of APS-C or FF, is much, much better than a cell phone.
While Lumia phone can do the same ( fixed shutter speed 1/200 c) with f2,2 and iso60 and still overexposure the same ground subject a bit
Oly does better resolution/details indeed but if I keep phone closer to the ground and just do more shots in a series it turns to be no difference.
Since I photograph for photogrammetry I always need series, not just a single picture. Those series you could stitch in whatever resolution/size you need .
Minimum shutter speed for a sharp shot (regardless of IS) depends on focal length of lens anyway, so 1/200th as a rule doesn't make much sense, unless you're shooting with a 100mm (200mm equiv) lens, as the typical rule is 1/focal length (equivalent focal length for crop cameras). With good IBIS, and a static subject, you can go way lower than that, generally up to 4 stops or so.
That 1/200 is my own rule derived basically from what photogammetry software accepts well for doing nice, not too noisy geometry. Based on some Nikon DSLR cameras too.
As you can plainly see, not only can we go below 1/200th without losing any sharpness, we can go quite a bit lower than the nominal 1/90th number as well for a static subject. This is because of the superb IBIS in my EM5II. I went to F8, 1/13, but you could probably push it to F11, 1/6 and maybe even f16, 1/3 if you've got good technique and a steady hand.
All of these shots were taken hand held with no support of any kind. Here are the fullsize images:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/499159/shuttertestf20.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/499159/shuttertestf28.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/499159/shuttertestf40.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/499159/shuttertestf56.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/499159/shuttertestf80.jpg
Ah yeah, the EPM2 has the old gen IBIS, it's not very good/reliable.
1/200 is a solid rule if you don't really trust or know your gear well, or if you don't have IS, but you can certainly go well below that, especially if you're using wider lenses. Your phone probably has something in the range of a 28-35mm equivalent lens, with a lens with similar field of view on a DSLR or Mirrorless camera, 1/60th should be a very safe range, and with a good IS system, you can probably push to 1/10th very comfortably, and even much lower (half a second or so) if you hedge your bets and shoot a 2-3 shot burst and pick the sharpest shot later. 0.5 seconds is probably extreme, but 1/10th should be easily doable in most daylight lighting even at F8.
Although I am still a bit confused why I can't get same good steady result from Photoscan of anything beyond 1\200 or tripod based while I see no actual difference in your examples.
Perhaps something in how it reconstructs geometry
Just tried to recreate geometry from series you did (pillow). Perhaps it's because of not enough parallax but I got nothing but pure geometric noise while the photos do match etch other well.
Would be interesting to test 1/25c series (same 5 pictures, just front side) with a bit more parallax ( view point shift) in photos
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Compact-Digital-Cameras/COOLPIX-P900.html
or
Sony X100 IV?
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/sony-rx100-iv/sony-rx100-ivA.HTM
I'm not sure after watching this video: (The zoom quality is impressive)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfshAzV0FN4#t=36
It seems the zoom would be helpful. But I feel that it wouldn't capture as much detail per pixel compared to the Sony x100 4.
If you're going to spend that much it might make more sense to get a sony a7 or something similar though.
A7 system plus a couple decent lenses will be like $2K, so not really comparable here.
I'm really new to photography, only took couple of HDR shots with cousin's DSLR (Olympus OM-D EM-5) for a project I had for Uni.
I want to take my own textures and to make HDRis - using a chrome ball for the time being, when I'll have more money, maybe I'll upgrade for a fish-eye lens and a pano head (is it worth it?)
Thanks for the help!
Sony is really the company that every manufacturer has to respond to...
Never thought I would abandon Nikon like this.
@Tzur_H
is saving a bit longer not an option?
Do you want a DSLR or a mirrorless camera? What your friend had was a mirrorless. Mirrorless cameras are typically smaller with smaller lenses, which is nice if you plan to carry it around with you or have multiple lenses.
I'm not sure what the prices go for in AU, but a used Panasonic GX7 or Olympus EM5 might be in that price range. A Sony A6000 or NEX6 or something like that should be in the same price range too.
You should be able to find older model Canon/Nikon DSLRs for not much money, like a Canon T2i (newer T* models aren't much better) for next to nothing or a Nikon D5500 or so.
For 360 HDRIs, you will want a fisheye lens and a pano head, yeah. You'll also want a camera that has very good exposure bracketing. Most cheaper models don't unfortunately. I wrote up a tutorial on how do take these sort of photos as well as the gear I use (though its out of your budget): http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/hdr-panos
I think you can hack most Canon DSLRs with the magic lantern mods, which will give you better bracketing options. I've never done this myself, but I think Joost did, so maybe he can give more info.
I can probably wait a few more months and get more cash in. Problem is I'm very eager to start already :]
I'd really like to up my game and learn more about photography and implement it into my workflow.
I've already started to read a lot more about HDR panos on HDRlabs. I appreciate your tutorial, it's great and I've learned some new things from it.
I don't really mind the size, or weight of the camera, I want the most 'bang for your buck' option, I'm still new to all of this and will probably upgrade in the future.
Also, I don't exclude the possibility of buying second hand from a shop / eBay - are there any specific things I should ask / look for when buying second hand?
Thanks for the help guys!
Yeah magic lantern is pretty much essential for doing HDR with canon cameras. Default firmware only does 3 shots, ML does up to 9. I personally still get great results with my ~5 year old T2i. after a certain point lens quality becomes much more important than the sensor to image quality.
If you only want a camera for textures and some general photography then something like a sony rx100 will be great. If you really want to do HDRis that complicates things a bit. For good results you need a fisheye lens, pano head and a decent tripod. Which can easily add up to more than the sony rx100.
If you do want to get serious about photography or do HDRis I'd definitely recommend going for an interchangeable lens system. Whether that's DSLR or mirrorless is up to you. I'm more of a dslr guy myself but I can definitely see the appeal of something like the sony a7ii. (on the high end)
Make sure you check the shutter count. High shutter count increases the likelihood that the shutter will break. A broken shutter can cost as much as the second hand price of the camera to replace. Don't buy a camera with a high shutter count unless it's significantly discounted. You can find some great deals on T2is with kit lenses and accesoiries on Ebay.
Joost, does the magic lantern thing allow you to fire off all 9 or so brackets with one shutter press or do you need to press the shutter for each shot?
If you go with the T2i, get it with the kit zoom (not a good lens but it will tide you over until you can afford something better, like the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 ), also get a Samyang 8mm 3.5 fisheye (also sold as rokinon, bower, prooptic, vivitar, etc) in EF mount which shouldn't cost much especially if you can find a used one, and a Canon EF 50mm 1.8 for portraits/artistic narrow DOF stuff. You can probably find all of that for around your budget.
I own the 18-55 kit, samyang 8mm 3.5 and the 50mm. kit lens is a bit meh but it's decent for textures and general photography. 50mm 1.8 has amazing image quality but the focal length is a bit too long for some texture photography (i.e. when you want to take a picture directly below you) and the samyang 8mm is awesome for HDRis.