New toys

[adrianh]

I went out and bought a Samsung S4 off Gumtree. The phone was still wrapped and unopened. The owner got the upgrade but needed the cash to buy a laptop for his son. I even got the upgrade papers. So, I am staying on pay as you go and they can keep their contracts. The only thing is that I must now get a new sim card because my big old card doesn't fit in the phone.

I also got myself a really nifty top of the line camera, it is a Canon 7D with a battery grip, 18-135mm lens, 70-300mm lens and a high end flash. The whole setup set me back about R20k. I think that one needs to have at least a postgraduate degree to make head or butt of the manual, the camera has as many features as the space shuttle. But, at least it has a fully automatic mode so I am able to take pretty pictures without doing much. Really nice toy though. Its going to take a very long time to understand everything that I can do with it. It can take 8 frames a second at 18mb which is nice for the ice skating competitions that my girls take part in.

[Rafael]

Awesome, I'm looking at getting the Samsung S4, I have never had a Samsung before so hopefully it will be user friendly

[adrianh]

The S4 is really nice. It's going to take me a while to get used to its size...its a bit like holding a paperback novel against your head. :-)

[adrianh]

The Camera is a treat but I must still buy a macro lens. The 18-135mm can't get close enough to take good pictures of the models.

[HR Solutions]

Adrian you sound like me. I also like gadgets and also got my first I phone off gumtree. You do have to be very careful tho with gumtree. I personally don't like the Samsung 3 and now the 4 because of its size, but it does look like an awesome phone and everyone to their own. Enjoy the gadgets

[adrianh]

Gadgets are great but I do prefer to spend big money to get good quality equipment. I got all the paperwork for the stuff that I purchased off Gumtree.

[IanF]

Adrian
How about a photo of one your trains with the camera and the phone, lets see if we can say which photo came from which device.

[Chrisjan B]

Second Neville Bailey in the making...

[pmbguy]

I had the S2, loved it. Lost it and used a shitty phone for a while. But don’t despair, I am getting my S4 on Friday...can't wait, it even has a language translator application
I would like to see the outcome of Adrian’s test. I have seen spics from my friends S4 and they are fantastic

Samsung is killing it!

[adrianh]

I placed the model onto a piece of white Triplex on the laser's bed. The area is quite dark so the camera would have to compensate.

I set both cameras on full auto.

Samsung S4
The cell phone refused to use the flash and the results weren't a lot better with the flash. The cellphone was also unable to focus at 3m. The focus problem is probably because the phone is unable to find a focal point - I am sure that i would be able to set it to focus in the centre.

We need to keep in mind that the phone wasn't designed for this sort of photography. I think that if i were to take pictures of faces in the garden that the phone would fare much better.




Canon 7D
The camera was fitted with a 18-135mm lens and a midrange flash. The nice thing about the camera is that it shows you the various focal points within the lens. I can then compose the shot so that the camera doesn't try to focus on the background. I can't really get in too close because the lens is still a bit too long. It will be great with a macro lens but then I would have to get a macro ring light otherwise the flash will create shadows.




I think that if i were to create an environment more suitable to the S4 that it would do much better.