![Focus Photons Frugally](/img/default-banner.jpg)
- 98
- 187 184
Focus Photons Frugally
Приєднався 4 тра 2021
This channel is all about turning photons into photographs as frugally as possible. We all know that photography can be prohibitively expensive. It doesn’t have to be! The aim of this channel is to show that spending time mastering your equipment and developing skills and techniques is far more important than spending your way to results. If you can’t get good results with a budget camera you are unlikely to get good results with an even more expensive and complex camera.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest in good quality kit though, after all there is no point in throwing money away sometimes you just have to buy the best. As they say buy cheap buy twice, and that is particularly relevant with lenses, especially wide angle Astro lenses.
This channel is not about being stingy and tight, it’s about buying wisely.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest in good quality kit though, after all there is no point in throwing money away sometimes you just have to buy the best. As they say buy cheap buy twice, and that is particularly relevant with lenses, especially wide angle Astro lenses.
This channel is not about being stingy and tight, it’s about buying wisely.
Moonlight, Light Painting.
Its a full moon and a clear night, the moon in the sky means I can't do real landscape astrophotography, but I can use the moon to do some light painting, and add some additional light painting of my own.
All photographs are taken using my Nikon Z5 and the 24-50mm f4-6.3 kit lens.
All video is shot using either my Nikon Z5 or Z50 with the Nikon 20mm f1.8g lens.
thank you for watching my little UA-cam video.
All photographs are taken using my Nikon Z5 and the 24-50mm f4-6.3 kit lens.
All video is shot using either my Nikon Z5 or Z50 with the Nikon 20mm f1.8g lens.
thank you for watching my little UA-cam video.
Переглядів: 49
Відео
Milky Way, With A Motorbike.
Переглядів 70День тому
I ride out on my 1976 Honda CB400 super sport to try to take a photograph of it underneath the Milky Way. Follow along with my little UA-cam blog to see if I am successful, Thank you for watching, Clive.
Risk V Reward, For Astrophotographers.
Переглядів 5814 днів тому
I walk out to a location that can be risky to get to. This location takes about an hour to walk out to and can only be done at low tide. Getting the tide correct is the first risk. The second risk is the type of ground you have to walk over. Big round wet slippery rocks that make it really easy to slip and hurt yourself or damage expensive delicate camera equipment. Finally this is a really spo...
Timing Is Everything, For Astrophotographers.
Переглядів 137Місяць тому
I go to my local beach to photograph a subject with the Milky Way behind it. This subject needs obviously clear skies, but it also needs the tide to be in the correct place. the moon not to be in the sky and the Milky Way to align nicely in the background. These conditions only happen for a few days a year making it a challenge to get everything correct. Follow along with my little UA-cam video...
Dorset Milkyway, Clear Sky At Last.
Переглядів 832 місяці тому
I take a trip down to the Dorset coast, to a spot I had previously scouted out. So far the Milkyway season has been a complete wash out. It was nice to get out and enjoy an evening of beautiful clear skies.
Northern Lights, Over Classic Motorbike.
Переглядів 923 місяці тому
I take my classic 1976 Honda CB400 four super sport down to the beach. The plan was to ride down to the beach, and take photographs of the milky way core rising over my motorbike. the first shot I took I thought my camera was broken because the image came out with this weird purple now to it. Then I realised that the northern lights were kicking off with purples and green dancing across the sky...
Milkyway Location, Scouting.
Переглядів 845 місяців тому
A rare clear, but cold windy night for Astrophotography, but my thoughts are on the coming milkyway season. So a long walk out to a location I have in mind for a milkyway core shot in a few months time.
No Astro, Still Worth Taking Photos?
Переглядів 1106 місяців тому
The forecast is for a period of clear sky, so it's worth going out to do some astrophotography. Unfortunately the clear sky doesn't arrive as predicted. So is it still worth taking photographs anyway. of course it is. its still a good opportunity to hone those photography skills and get some good shots.
Popular Compositions, Done Differently.
Переглядів 3497 місяців тому
I go to some popular photographylocations. The sort of places that are usually photographed at sunrise or sunset in the summer on the sort of days with white fluffy clouds. So obviously I decided to photograph them at night. All video is shot on either the Nikon Z5 or Z50 using either the 20mm f1.8g lens or the 16-50 f3.5-6.3 kit lens All photographs are taken using either the Nikon Z5 or Z50 w...
Light Pollution, Is Astrophotography Still Possible?
Переглядів 1,3 тис.7 місяців тому
I go to my local beach at the edge of a big city to see if it’s possible to get good Astrophotography photographs in heavily light polluted areas. This video is filmed using both my Nikon Z5 and Z50 and using the Nikon 20mm f1.8g lens and the FTZ adapter. Photographs are taken using the Nikon 24-50mm f4 to 6.3 kit lens. Thank you for watching my UA-cam vlog, I hope you found it entertaining and...
Secrets In Photography, The Hard Truth.
Переглядів 1717 місяців тому
It's been a really wet and windy few weeks. So I have been watching a lot of UA-cam. The UA-cam knows I like photography so its been serving me up lots of videos with titles like "sectrets to great photographs and "secrets photographers don't want you to know" you know, the sort of videos that hint at changing you as a photographer forever overnight. Obviously I have an opinion on that, so here...
Stay Local, For Great Photos
Переглядів 1048 місяців тому
After a summer of chasing the Milky Way at any opportunity, its nice to slow down and stay local. Chasing the Milky Way often meant 5 or 6 hour round trip drives and also 3 hours of walking, leaving home at 5pm and getting home at 5am. I absolutely love doing this, but it's nice to just walk down to the end of the road, only be out for a few hours. then be in bed by 11pm. so in this video I sta...
Wet Woodland, Photography.
Переглядів 2318 місяців тому
Its feels like it has been non stop rain for weeks now. so photography has been reduced to a few hours between showers. In this video I decide to embrace the wetness and try to incorporate water into woodland photography, watch along to see if I succeed or just suck. this video is filmed using the following cameras, Nikon Z50 and Nikon Z5. All photographs are taken using the Nikon Z5 and the 24...
Abandoned Graveyard, Night Photography.
Переглядів 829 місяців тому
I take a trip to my local abandoned graveyard for some night photography. Filmed using my Nikon Z5 and Z50 and the 20mm f1.8g lens Photographs taken using my Nikon Z5 with the 24-50mm kit lens Obviously while taking photographs and filming I try to be as respectful as I can be. Thank you for watching my little UA-cam video.
Autumn Woodland, Mushroom Photography.
Переглядів 1989 місяців тому
A fantastic autumn morning out in my local woodland. I go out hunting for mushrooms to photograph. I use my Nikon Z5 along with the 24-50mm kit lens to get as close as I can to the mushrooms. filmed using my nikon Z50.
2 Years of Trying, For These Photographs
Переглядів 60810 місяців тому
2 Years of Trying, For These Photographs
Nikon D3200 Milky Way, Is It Any Good.
Переглядів 7 тис.Рік тому
Nikon D3200 Milky Way, Is It Any Good.
Better Image Quality, Milky Way With Kit Lenses
Переглядів 226Рік тому
Better Image Quality, Milky Way With Kit Lenses
Kit Lens Milky Way, With Nikon Z50 and Z5
Переглядів 3,3 тис.Рік тому
Kit Lens Milky Way, With Nikon Z50 and Z5
The Church In The Woods, Light Painting.
Переглядів 92Рік тому
The Church In The Woods, Light Painting.
Low Light Photography, Shouldn’t Be A Thing.
Переглядів 152Рік тому
Low Light Photography, Shouldn’t Be A Thing.
Great set of pictures - I particularly liked the first silhouetted tree with the light painting bringing out just the right amount of detail and colour in the heather - great stuff. I also catch myself bumbling on to the camera - the stuff that doesn’t make it into my videos is borderline nonsensical! 🤣
@@nightscapejournals Thanks Paul, yes, I don't have enough batteries with me to get it right, I usually have it clear in my head, and then it pours out of my mouth as complete nonsense. Hopefully it will be good for some milky way action this weekend! Hope you are well and have a fully functioning laptop again.
@@focusphotonsfrugally6644thanks - still waiting for diagnostic on the laptop 🙄. Suspect it’s going to be a couple of weeks yet, which is frustrating!!
As always ,great pictures my friend 👍🏻😊
Hope the guy really found his lost dog and went on to party 😂 the last shot was nicely done. 😁 I suppose that background glow was light pollution? It did make it seem like a spotlight glow of the tree. Cool stuff
@@CluelessUA-camr some of the background glow is light pollution, probably from London, some of it was the moon. I also hope the party was because he found his dog. I did take his phone number so I could call him if I saw his dog. Thanks for watching!
👋👋👋
That's one cool ride and an even cooler photo with the Milky Way and it ;) beautiful shots dude, though really difficult for the long exposure and that wind to keep the vibrations low.
@@CluelessUA-camr thanks Keith, yep the wind was a real pain, I did my best with the camera, but the wind was strong enough to move the bike ever so slightly. The great thing about photography, is it always leaves you with that feeling if circumstances were better you could have done better. So a little bit of unfinished business. Hope you are well and had a good weekend!
Terrific results! You're an inspiration to me!
@@gregwagner7622 thank you very much. Hope you are well and had a fantastic weekend.
What a fun vlog - thanks for sharing. I was going to chuckle if you had another attempt with the bike in the foreground hijacked by aurora!
@@nightscapejournals thank you Paul, I did consider if the motorbike could summon up another aurora. But sadly not. Although weirdly a friend did catch some aurora earlier in the week down in Dorset. Hope you are well and managed to get out with your camera over the weekend.
Thank you. Really good tip!
Once again, absolutely fantastic pictures my friend , always look forward to them 😊👍🏻
@@paulmingay834 I guess I can only reply with, once again thank you for watching and making the effort to comment. Hope you are keeping well!
Fantastic video and location! I have my eye on Beachy Head, but with it being quite a long round trip, and wanting the right combination of tides, moon and some certainty for clear skies, so far it hasn’t happened! Your “risk vs reward” lecture is very pertinent to a decision I need to make about my Perseids location!! Thanks as ever.
Thanks Paul, Beachy head also seems to have its own wether, it can be completely different there, unfortunately you don't know till you get there. Beachy Head is a round trip for me of about 4 hours of driving and 2 hours of rock climbing on flat ground. It is well worth the effort though when things are good. Like you say it's a balance of so many things to make it work, all thrown in with what level of selfishness others will tolerate from me. Its mad in reality how few days these things align, might only be four a year plus factoring daily life. I was reminded of the relentless march of time. I got home at 3am this morning and noticed a large part of the winter circle rising. I will look forward to your next video with some perseids hopefully, they seem to be putting on a good display at the moment.
Always great pictures my friend , wish I had the ability to get some of those pictures , sadly time has left me behind as I’m struggling with technology, have purchased a Fuji xt1 , not like my old canon A1 film camera when I had a darkroom !😂👍🏻
@@paulmingay834 thank you. Yep it took me a while to adjust to digital to. Modern processing is just the same as the old way just without smelly messy chemicals. Modern photography is as much about processing as film, just these days you can press reset and start again, if it all goes wrong. I used to avoid it, then I realised I wasn’t getting the most out of my camera, so I got stuck in.
Amazing and superb, Super amazing presentation, Brilliant work 👍👍✨
@@happinessloveyoursmile thank you very much.
@@focusphotonsfrugally6644 😊🌸
Really enjoyed this. As you know, big fan of your astro work 😁 that selfie was just a stunner. Absolutely miss shooting the night sky, haven’t had much luck this year around here 😅 hopefully soon.
@@CluelessUA-camr thanks Keith, I really appreciate your comment. It’s always nice to get a comment like that from people whose work I also admire. It feels like it has been a bad year the world over for Astrophotography, judging by the other channels and photographers I follow. Hope you are well and get some clear skies soon.
Great to see you out again, and I absolutely love the selfie, not least because of the life-and-limb dedication you demonstrated to get it! Really enjoyed the video. 👍
@@nightscapejournals thank you, i expect one day I will fall off something. It was nice to be out and know I had time to actually film something, without rushing to beat the weather, hopefully we have turned a corner now. I feel like we are owed a lot of clear nights.
Nice images. Good to be creative with light, but to get to play with the Milky Way as well is a huge plus.
That's some top notch riding! Love to see some shredding on hardtails. I've got a Z5 and 40mm on the way, switching from Micro 4/3. I mostly do stills, but it's good to see that the 1080p footage still looks great. Just curious, what's your setup for carrying your camera + tripod when biking? The 40mm seems plenty compact, but I'd like to pick up the 24-70 f4 at some point too, which would be quite a bit larger. I always cringe a bit with the camera knocking around in a normal hiking backpack, and I've never found a photography backpack that felt comfortable while hiking, let alone biking.
@@PaytonCarterOutsideThanks Boss! The Z5 and 40mm f2 deliver beyond what the specs suggest. I love the 40mm f2 and it's perfect for 1080hd and then upscale it to 4k to avoid the crop in standard 4k. Recently I have started using the 20mm f1.8 with straight out of the camera 4k which relates to about a 30mm field of view. I think the 24-70 f4 is a great lens and I will get one when I find one the right price second hand. The Nikon Z cameras have lock on the sensor when the camera is switched off so it doesn't get jolted around. Having said that when I am on my bike I carry the camera and lens in a small padded camera bag, and then put that in another backpack. The backpack I use on my bike is meant for enduro off road motorcycles, so it's really snug and doesn't move around. It's also big enough to get a small travel tripod in. The bag I use is. Kreiga r35 expensive, but quality. More suited than a dedicated camera backpack.
I am a beginner at photography and I am still learning to shoot at manual. Luckily, I have got same D3200 and a 35mm f1.8 lens for it which I thing would be great. Can you please guide me what would be the optimal settings in manual mode for such astrophotography? It would mean a lot to me. Thanks.
Unfortunately I can’t give you a set of magic settings, you need to work that out for yourself. There are so many variables even something as simple as how far north or south you are on the planet will change the settings you need.
@@focusphotonsfrugally6644 I understand, thanks for your response!
Thanks so much for posting this! Great lens recommendation. Would you recommend "Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED Wide-Angle Prime Lens" or the one you used? Bare in mind I would be taking the picture very first time. The 20mm is $800 odd and 24 mm 1K USD in the US. Also, may I ask what app did you use to find milky way?
The app is called Photopils. Wider is always better, but because the 24mm f1.4G ED is for a full frame camera you might not gain much in field of view. I think that the 35mm lens I used in the video is sharper at f1.8 than the 24mm is at f1.4 so you may not gain any advantage for all of that extra money. Have you looked at the sigma 18-35mm f1.8 it has a really good reputation and is considerably cheaper and would be more useful in the long term.
@@focusphotonsfrugally6644 thanks a lot for taking time to reply!!
Fabulous work always love your photos would like to be able to get some shots like that , look forward to seeing your next work 😊👍🏻
Thank you very much, waiting for the weather to be more cooperative.
Im curious how do you set the iso on 100, mine stuck on 200
The same way as you would set the iso to any other setting you would want.
I live my d3200, but I have always had trouble getting good low light shots. Recently I spent a lot of time on setting to get ready for the arora. I got some good shots, but again I disappointed with the quality of my pictures. Just can't seem to get away from the graininess of low light shots. Can't afford a new camera or high end lens.
My bike back in the day ❤🎉 Nice Images
Thank you very much.
Great video!! I loved the way the star trails went through the windows in the pillbox and the bokeh-milky-way-cider-bottle shot was inspired and a nice touch of humour! Enjoyed coming along for the ride, and glad you managed to get a good session in after what’s been a terrible spring for astro. Great stuff!
Thanks Paul, yes I think this might be the worst spring ever, that I can recall. Thanks but I am a notoriously lazy star trailer and cheat, and darkness was giving way to dawn so the cider bottle shot wasn’t as good as I had envisioned. You know what it’s like to capture everything, timelapse to star trails plus vlog I could easily take ten cameras with me. Thanks for watching and I look forward to your next video.
I love mine, it is a great camera, tough, reliable and always gets good shots and video, but is a little weak in low light.
D3300 in my country is around USD280(RM1299), second hand/used..still expensive
Hey, D3300 is it any good?
what app on 1:15?
photopils
That’s an awesome looking motorbike, and man, how unlucky you were with huh. The Milky Way plan got thwarted 😂 what an awesome experience and great shots dude!
Thanks Keith, yes it felt like a once in a lifetime event to witness that. Hope you are well and getting some good camera time in.
That was delightful! I don’t think you could have asked for a better sky subject there!! So glad you got to see it and the photographs were epic!! I also had planned some MW shots that were thwarted- although I wasn’t too upset! Great video. 👌
Thank you, yes I will happily swap Milky Way shots for aurora. I don’t mind being thwarted like that. But I am itching to open my Milky Way core season properly. It feels like the moon and the rain seem intent on stopping me at the moment. Looking forward to your video.
What a luck! Those turned out to be some proper retrowave shots with the purple glow also on the foreground. Love it!
Thank you very much. I hope you got to see the same display. It really felt like a once in a lifetime event, for me at least.
Great shots👍🏼 like it🏍️
Thank you very much!
Great video and nice to see you’re local to me! I’m using the D3200 and struggling with night shoots, some nice tips to try, may even give Arundel a try too 👍
Well instructed video. Nice to see people going deep into the field late at night. Many are so scared these days of the adventure. @09:01 on my 4K 70 inch, you can see a prominent grid lines from the 3200 iso noise. Understanding you dont want star trails @ 30 sec exposure, is 3200 the lowest iso you use for 15 sec with 1.8 lens? I compromise and allow star trails just to use a lower iso to avoid noise. Noise to me is the worst in digital long exposures. Very difficult to accept as it messes with the composition. I dont like post processing. Everyone does it now, maybe I should as well.
absolutely brilliant, if I hadnt just bought a Nikon D3200 for £60 because the flash and hotshoe didnt work I would never have found your channel, I'm so glad I did. I bought the D3200 to scan 35mm and medium format negatives but realised its 24 MP are still good enough, I sold my Fuji XT20 full kit for £750 bought a sports car with the money and bought a D3200 and a Sony alpha 100 and lenses for each with the change. I mainly shoot film or use my iphone in RAW but these have given me another option. Keep up the great videos and info its much appreciated
ill be collecting mine today or tomorrow and ill have to suffer for the next two months
Are u john henry white sir ?
no I am not.
Gr8 vid, to have the knowledge can only be a good thing. I guess focusing and speed of that is slightly improved on the Z5 too, though it also has much slower shutter rates in burst. It's seen (Z5) quite a few firmware updates I've read...
Very usefull video!I got a remote control for my D3200.Handy little thing for night still shots.
i dont understand the interval i thought how it normaly is but it isnt and thats why i never had luck with nikon and the horrible timelaps interface it is so bad. i did try P mode for holy grail . forget it ! when its getting dark everything goes overexposed no matter what settings and there is speedchange in your timelaps also dont no why ,, and the biggest problem afcours is interval is not what it is and that leaves so much users in the dark including me. if i do timelapes i lone a sony .. such a breeze .
Excelente
Looking forward to the shots! Just a bit curious, if it was mostly a scouting trip, you still prefer to scout it at night? Im a bit clumsy sometimes and slip in the dark if Im not careful 😂
Looks like a great foreground, and always nice to hear the sea crashing. Look forward to seeing that with the MW over it! Thanks for sharing. 👍
Yep can't wait to get back there soon for a milky way shot, thank you for watching and commenting.
Once youre already out, it’s always worth taking the shots anyway. Make the most out of it. Understand the frustration of wrong weather predictions though 😅 hope you get the clear skies soon! In time for the core to pop out.
Thanks Keith, yes agree completely. Thoughts are already turning to milky way. The core is starting to rise round dawn here now. Sorry I have some catching up to do with your videos!
@@focusphotonsfrugally6644 no rush man 😁 just on your own time!
Always great to be out! Definitely hoping we start to get some more clear skies soon though. Enjoyed the video - thank you!
Thanks for watching Paul, yep fingers crossed the weather improves very soon!
This is my first DSLR camera.
Nikon d3200 ,we can take wedding professional photos ?
No.
If anyone can help, I just got this camera and I am still learning but I do have a question: the video is really grainy and I have no idea how to fix it or what settings. I already have it on 1080p 30 fps but other than that I’m confused. Thanks for the review!
The grain is caused by trying to record video in Less than ideal conditions, with probably the kit lens on. With the kit lens it needs to be very bright, like a sunny day. Indoors or in a shaded area like a forest even on a sunny day you will struggle because the camera will need to use such a high iso that it introduces that grain to the image. The only lens that you can record acceptable quality video with is the 35mm f1.8g use it at f1.8 to let in as much light as possible. You also probably want to shoot at 24 or 25 fps again to gather that extra bit of light. You need to use a shutter speed of 1/50s. The camera needs to be in manual. You need to focus manually because again in less than perfect conditions the autofocus will struggle. The D3200 can do reasonable quality 1080 if you know what you are doing and are prepared to learn. But ultimately nobody buys the D3200 to shoot video.
In my opinion, sharper video in 4k has definitely z5.
Great photographs, my friend. Enjoyed your video as well. Keep up the good work 😎👍
Thanks for the comment and thank you for watching, really appreciate it.
Hey Good Lookin’! 😂 nice shots and good to really try doing something different with others. After a while, getting the “money shot” that everyone goes for gets boring. Nice shots!
Thanks Keith, sometimes it's good to get the "money shot" it can be a good way to learn, to recreate. But, yes your right it does get boring.
Really awesome photographs of this trees. Congratulations, also for the video!
Thank you for watching and your lovely comment.