Joined: Mar 05 2007 Posts: 13190 Location: Hedon (sometimes), sometimes Premier Inn's
Big Graeme wrote:If you are paying £250 for a Manfrotto you are shopping in the wrong places. A second hand one would be great value, they are built like tanks.
The cheapest ones don't get very good reviews for robust use, I based the £250 on an article which was looking at similar tripods by different makers and a Velbon was given very good reviews by the article (£79.99 ish), it was just pipped by a Manfrotto costing around the £250 mark. There are some Manfrottos at over £600.
'when my life is over, the thing which will have given me greatest pride is that I was first to plunge into the sea, swimming freely underwater without any connection to the terrestrial world'
Joined: Mar 08 2002 Posts: 26578 Location: On the set of NEDS...
rover49 wrote:The cheapest ones don't get very good reviews for robust use, I based the £250 on an article which was looking at similar tripods by different makers and a Velbon was given very good reviews by the article (£79.99 ish), it was just pipped by a Manfrotto costing around the £250 mark. There are some Manfrottos at over £600.
If you shop around there are better deals to be had and there are some decent second hand ones around too.
rover49 wrote:The cheapest ones don't get very good reviews for robust use, I based the £250 on an article which was looking at similar tripods by different makers and a Velbon was given very good reviews by the article (£79.99 ish), it was just pipped by a Manfrotto costing around the £250 mark. There are some Manfrottos at over £600.
Joined: Feb 22 2003 Posts: 1277 Location: By the seaside
ND Filters. Individual filters or a single variable density filter? Have read that with a variable one you need to be paying a fair amount of money to get a decent one yet i've seen them for around £8.99 on fleabay. Is it a case of you get what you pay for? Cheers
Joined: Mar 08 2002 Posts: 26578 Location: On the set of NEDS...
RYAN 1 wrote:ND Filters. Individual filters or a single variable density filter? Have read that with a variable one you need to be paying a fair amount of money to get a decent one yet i've seen them for around £8.99 on fleabay. Is it a case of you get what you pay for? Cheers
I paid about £15 for one from 7dayshop I have no complaints, right at the very dark end it distorts a bit (but then so do cheaper fixed ND filters) but I've paid about an 8th the price of a Lee big stopper.
RYAN 1 wrote:ND Filters. Individual filters or a single variable density filter? Have read that with a variable one you need to be paying a fair amount of money to get a decent one yet i've seen them for around £8.99 on fleabay. Is it a case of you get what you pay for? Cheers
I paid about £15 for one from 7dayshop I have no complaints, right at the very dark end it distorts a bit (but then so do cheaper fixed ND filters) but I've paid about an 8th the price of a Lee big stopper.
Joined: Feb 22 2003 Posts: 1277 Location: By the seaside
Big Graeme wrote:I paid about £15 for one from 7dayshop I have no complaints, right at the very dark end it distorts a bit (but then so do cheaper fixed ND filters) but I've paid about an 8th the price of a Lee big stopper.
Thankyou for the quick response BG. Just ordered one and will use it to experiment with. I guess that's what photography is all about.
Big Graeme wrote:I paid about £15 for one from 7dayshop I have no complaints, right at the very dark end it distorts a bit (but then so do cheaper fixed ND filters) but I've paid about an 8th the price of a Lee big stopper.
Thankyou for the quick response BG. Just ordered one and will use it to experiment with. I guess that's what photography is all about.
Joined: Feb 17 2002 Posts: 28357 Location: MACS0647-JD
I'm being sorely tempted by a very good offer to buy some image enlargement software called Benvista Photo Zoom Pro 4. When i read about this first, I assumed it must be largely BS, given that (you'd think) the ultimate resolution of an image is limited by the pixel size.
I was very sceptical but found that on the Benvista site you can download a free trial, and after just a first effort, i must say I'm pretty gobsmacked. Here is an original image, an enlarged eye as best as my existing software can do it, and a Benvista enlargement. There are many fine tunes and I'm sure i could therefore do better.
I'm gonna have a play around this weekend but wondered if anyone has come across this, and is it as good as it seems? Or if not, anyoine fancy having a play and telling us what you think?
Last edited by Ferocious Aardvark on stardate Jun 26, 3013 11:27 am, edited 48,562,867,458,300,023 times in total
Ferocious Aardvark wrote:I'm being sorely tempted by a very good offer to buy some image enlargement software called Benvista Photo Zoom Pro 4. When i read about this first, I assumed it must be largely BS, given that (you'd think) the ultimate resolution of an image is limited by the pixel size.
I was very sceptical but found that on the Benvista site you can download a free trial, and after just a first effort, i must say I'm pretty gobsmacked. Here is an original image, an enlarged eye as best as my existing software can do it, and a Benvista enlargement. There are many fine tunes and I'm sure i could therefore do better.
I'm gonna have a play around this weekend but wondered if anyone has come across this, and is it as good as it seems? Or if not, anyoine fancy having a play and telling us what you think?
Back in 2008 I got a copy of Benvista Photo Zoom Pro 2 free with some other bundle. I've used it on a number of occasions, mainly when I have wanted (very) large prints, and found it to be very good. The only likely reason I haven't updated over the years is that I don't use it frequently enough to justify it.
Oxbridge graduates with educated lisps campaigning for blue salt bags in their tatey crisps Kevin Keegan endorsing brut, the football boot, and the bubble cut Posers with haircuts fixed on a hinge which swing from a quiff into a fringe Punks with Anarchy tattooed on their faces complaining when the buses are a few minutes late...
Joined: May 25 2002 Posts: 37704 Location: Zummerzet, where the zoider apples grow
I'm looking for a simple (and free) photo template plug-in or whatever to give me three images on one canvas. I've got CS4 and ever after downloading the suggested plug-in, I keep getting an error message - 'Cannot find layout files in Presets/Layouts'
It appears I'm not alone in having these problems but I'm buggered if I can find a fix in CS4.
Basically what I'm after is the ability to place three images in one canvas: Imagine an A4 landscape, I want an A5 portrait image on the left and two A6 landscape images on the right (one on top of the other).
Any ideas guys?
The older I get, the better I was
Advice is what we seek when we already know the answer - but wish we didn't
I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full-frontal lobotomy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ kirkstaller wrote: "All DNA shows is that we have a common creator."
cod'ead wrote: "I have just snotted weissbier all over my keyboard & screen"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin." - Aneurin Bevan
Joined: Mar 08 2002 Posts: 26578 Location: On the set of NEDS...
cod'ead wrote:I'm looking for a simple (and free) photo template plug-in or whatever to give me three images on one canvas. I've got CS4 and ever after downloading the suggested plug-in, I keep getting an error message - 'Cannot find layout files in Presets/Layouts'
It appears I'm not alone in having these problems but I'm buggered if I can find a fix in CS4.
Basically what I'm after is the ability to place three images in one canvas: Imagine an A4 landscape, I want an A5 portrait image on the left and two A6 landscape images on the right (one on top of the other).
Any ideas guys?
Can you not do it in PS? Resize the two pics to A6 landscape, resize the other to A5 portrait, open a new file in PS with the sizes of A4, new layer, drag and image in and lock it, repeat with the other two.
Joined: May 25 2002 Posts: 37704 Location: Zummerzet, where the zoider apples grow
Big Graeme wrote:Can you not do it in PS? Resize the two pics to A6 landscape, resize the other to A5 portrait, open a new file in PS with the sizes of A4, new layer, drag and image in and lock it, repeat with the other two.
TBH mate I find PS a friggin pain to use for anything relatively simple, I only tend to open it when I want to do something special. I was just looking for any easy work around. Sonething along the lines of:
1) Open template 2) Click insert in frame one, then two then three 3) Save as
I'll have a go at that though
The older I get, the better I was
Advice is what we seek when we already know the answer - but wish we didn't
I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full-frontal lobotomy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ kirkstaller wrote: "All DNA shows is that we have a common creator."
cod'ead wrote: "I have just snotted weissbier all over my keyboard & screen"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin." - Aneurin Bevan
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