Black Boar, my playing cue with our new lens

Ballistic Billiards

Ballistic Billiards

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Gearing up and testing
Let me know what you think of these shots.
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Very nice shots - especially with a DSLR. Did you take these with sunlight? Can you manually change the focus - I am 95% sure that you can but I must ask.

I am fond of macro shots, I love details from a few tenth of an inch. Here are two shots that I took of my - just sold - Schon.
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poohkiller said:
Very nice shots - especially with a DSLR. Did you take these with sunlight? Can you manually change the focus - I am 95% sure that you can but I must ask.

I am fond of macro shots, I love details from a few tenth of an inch. Here are two shots that I took of my - just sold - Schon.
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Thanks, they were taken with a nikon d80 in a light box.
Everything was done manually.
 
coopdeville said:
Thanks, they were taken with a nikon d80 in a light box.
Everything was done manually.
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I think a little longer shutter speed will give you what you are looking for. I am looking at Macro's right now too. They really are the nuts for cues. I am between the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 or waiting and trying to get the more expensive Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR.

I am assuming you are using the Nikkor 60 f/2.8 Macro. I was looking at that but I read a lot of reviews encouraging the longer focal length's. Are you happy with the 60mm? I kind of wondered if the 60mm would be fine for shooting cues and it looks like it is pretty good.
 
The longer shutter speed is a very good idea, however I believe a stand or something would be required to let the pictures remain sharp. It was very difficult to me to hold the camera steady enough and even this way I had a couple bad, blunt photos.
 
poohkiller said:
The longer shutter speed is a very good idea, however I believe a stand or something would be required to let the pictures remain sharp. It was very difficult to me to hold the camera steady enough and even this way I had a couple bad, blunt photos.
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If you shot those handheld you did pretty damn good.

A tripod will give you much more leeway in how you can shoot. It will allow you to stop down for a deeper field of view and use longer shutterspeeds or if you want razor thin DOF you can open it wide open.

What gear are you using?
 
JCIN said:
I think a little longer shutter speed will give you what you are looking for. I am looking at Macro's right now too. They really are the nuts for cues. I am between the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 or waiting and trying to get the more expensive Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 VR.

I am assuming you are using the Nikkor 60 f/2.8 Macro. I was looking at that but I read a lot of reviews encouraging the longer focal length's. Are you happy with the 60mm? I kind of wondered if the 60mm would be fine for shooting cues and it looks like it is pretty good.
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I'm really happy with it. I'm not a photographer by any stretch but
I like to experiment. This lens seems to have enough depth to
cover the cue depending on how close you are to it.
I've seen some really good portaits that were shot with this lens as well.

The first shot was in tuning the shutter speed and I just happened to
like it artistically.

The second shot was handheld and really shows how much detail
this lens can reproduce. I was probably 2-3" away.

The third shot was to focus on the grain in the bird's eye and may
have some artistic merit.

On the next two, I'm pretty happy except that I lost some of the
detail on the front of the linen.

I'm most happy with the last shot and if I can repeat this result
on cues with metals and more colors I think we'll have a nice new
round of photos for the site. I can't wait to see the ivory.

Here's a shot that I blew out somehow but it's interesting because
you'll never see this much grain looking at the cue with the naked eye.

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one more

I should be able to tune this and full forearms should be no problem.
My lighting was pretty bad here.
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I'm pretty sure you're not going to shoot a full cue with this lens but that's not my purpose either.
 
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Nice. I just got a new toy myself thanks to Mr. Eric Crisp. He is one bad man.

I picked up this bad boy recently.
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Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR (insert Tim Allen grunting noise here)

It is the nuts for shooting action shots in low light. Also does a pretty sporty job for shooting cues but it is not a true macro. I still got to get me one of those.

Here are a couple shots with the new addition. This lens is so cool I actually think I might name it. :D

Crop of a BCM cue.
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Severe crop of a Fisher cue. I love the reflection in the joint collar.
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I love this stuff.
 
Nice stuff you both have there! Keep them coming - if you have some hints or something that you would not mind sharing, please let us know!
 
poohkiller said:
Nice stuff you both have there! Keep them coming - if you have some hints or something that you would not mind sharing, please let us know!
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I am a total amateur but from what experience I do have I think the key to anything with photography or video is to have enough light. Everything else comes second. Easy to say, hard to do unless you are in a studio setting.

As for shooting cues I think you just need to be creative in how you shoot and light them. I like the 2 shots you put up, very clean and straight forward.

I just like saying "What happens if I do this" :D
 
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Ok now since were talkin about cameras...Which one do you think is better?..Ive been thinking about which one to get and i can't seem to make up my mind....Nikon D300? or Canon 40D?

I would like to get some input from the two.

Thanks,
Arbey
 
arbey007 said:
Ok now since were talkin about cameras...Which one do you think is better?..Ive been thinking about which one to get and i can't seem to make up my mind....Nikon D300? or Canon 40D?

I would like to get some input from the two.

Thanks,
Arbey
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Hard to go wrong with either. Basically just comes down to what you like IMO. I shoot Nikon and have been very happy. It seems Canon lenses are a little easier to come by, it is hard to find certain Nikon lenses like the 70-200 2.8 and the new 24-70 2.8.

Not a real big difference in price in the lenses. I know one guy who got is 40D for $1200 on Ebay new and the D300 is running $1700 on B&H. Both will make outstanding cameras and do pretty much anything you want. Nikon seems to have a better flash system with the SB-800 speedlights but I guess that would only matter if you would actually use multiple flashes.

There are a ton of reviews out for both cameras so you may take a look at those. Basically when you choose a brand you are picking the lenses, the bodies will change and improve over time but the lenses will last and that is where the real money is spent. One thing I would strongly suggest is to go with Canon or Nikon dont pick Pentax or Olympus or something like that. Nikon and Canon are the standard of the industry and have all that goes with that.
 
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Being in the skateboard world and around both Canon and Nikon cameras for the past 15 years for shoots the one thing i can say from my experience is the Nikon bodies are a little more rugged and handled the abuse of the "oh snaps" moments when it was dropped or slammed into by a skateboard. The older Canon bodies didn't seem to withstand the abuse as well. That being said, the photo quality was always really close. Hopefully none of you will have to worry about slamming your camera to the ground or having it smashed into. Good luck.
 
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