ScottStearns

Ok, now I feel obligated to get this thing back on track a little because of your response! But, by doing that with a photo, I do the same thing that was done to me! So. I won't post a photo and I hope the next poster might consider reviewing the macros from MediaWarlock above. I like it! That 5:1 macro on a crop and to nail the best slice you could. I almost said nearly, but the eye looks really good to me! The texture seems soft to me a bit because of the lack of specular highlights but it's not. I might bump up the whites, I might not. At 3.5 mag, I imagine you had fun dialing this in! I really enjoy watching them go to town on the thistle.

So I critique a post. The poster then responds, posting another of his own photos. My photo is now isolated and ignored. Like GO. Except this isn't GO. It's a waste of my time.

Found your exif. 1/800 f4.5? iso64 @200mm I think you had to do some serious shadow recovery in post for this at that iso. Or, does LTT do any weird compression crap like FB does? In camera I would suggest risking higher iso to balance a higher shutter speed and/or aperture. I don't think the potential lower noise is worth that loss of detail in shadows. Plus bumping the other two up will clean up your edges. I like the comp, the mid day light, and the blue! Focus Stacking Practice.About 40 photos to make this. Not quite enough to get all the way back. I started too far forward. I'd love suggestions on post processing stacking. In particular, I'd like to mask in/out manually on rendering errors (like the front left foreground of the base of the subject). I'm not sure this has exif so: I used Canon's old 100mm 2.8 macro (not L), at 2.8, 1/250, iso50, one step at a time with Magic Lantern. Render B in Helicon Lite with no edits beside basic in LR. I used one large softbox with 1/32? flash 4" directly above subject on white foamcore.

Consider grabbing a hot shoe/tripod mount adapter: B&H has 'em for about $12. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/764588-REG/Nisha_HTS_T_Hot_Shoe_Tripod_Mount.html?ap=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1c3NrKqo5AIVjYbACh0pwwZtEAQYESABEgKKgPD_BwE Depending on your use case, this lets you put the flash on a stick (like one extended leg of your tripod) and hold it out into line of sight for the optical trigger. Then you, the camera, and the flash are all functional and portable. Or, pick up this to tripod up the flash, cheap modifiers like umbrellas, whatever, on the tripod. Then you can place your light and hold your camera. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/546375-REG/Manfrotto_026_026_Swivel_Umbrella_Adapter.html?ap=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1c3NrKqo5AIVjYbACh0pwwZtEAQYEiABEgKvTfD_BwE Have fun with ND filters and rear curtain shutter flash syncing stuff :-)

This is tricky, you have two very different use cases. You could run the audio side with a ten year old $100 Thinkpad t520 and it would run Cubase, Audition, or whatever just fine. Add in the video and now you need some real horsepower, but you already know the $$ issue there: the gpu. So, this is my attempt: Intel Core i5-9400 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor $185 Asus PRIME Z390-P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $140 - several on Amazon for $100 Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive $118 -whatever else you get, get this! It's enough for your OS, apps, and working files, and you will love it. SeaSonic EVO Edition 620 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply $80 Throw in the GT710 and an air cooler for your cpu and you should be right around your budget. For $340 you could get the i7 8700K, which i think might be fantastic for your workflow. I know you're not overclocking, but you'd be arguably only one step away from the top cpu for z390. Premiere loves clock and cores, and I think it's using hyperthreading better now. Drop the cheap gpu and use the integrated hd630 that both of these cpu's have (it pushes to my 2K monitor fine but I'm not playing games), look for deals, and you might still stay in your budget. Close anyway. It should be just fine until you grab your 1660. Don't worry about future proofing. It's not a thing.

I like the composition of the pic above. I only would change the crop a bit myself. The fore ground is easily cropped out with an 8x10 pushed to the top. All the other elements would be enhanced, I think. Like leading lines, subject and subject separation, the texture of the wall v the blown out highlights, and even arguably breaking the implied horizon with the subject. I'm not sure of the rating system having just noticed this thread, so I'll give this a 6 of 10. To me, a 10 is going in my portfolio. This, to me, is a good example of practice and intention. If these compositional elements are applied to a subjectively more interesting subject, then $$ ? Here's me practicing a bit too:

I usually have it on just one or two of my disks. I forget the easy bypass to the Canon firmware and I get annoyed at the general fonts, overlays, and general busy-ness that ML brings. So, if I'm not using its capabilities I don't load it. I imagine much of that stuff is tweakable, but I haven't explored interface settings. I love the intervalometer and advanced bracketing, if you don't have these built in the software is worth having just for this I think. Maybe even if you do already have one.

I only skimmed the responses, so sorry if I'm redundant. It seems to me that you might be happy with the Canon 7D Mark ii. Pro build, fast fps, works with your glass. You should be able to pick one up used for less than your budget. Might even be able to grab something fun like an older Sigma prime with it. You seem to like wide: I just got a 24 1.4 that is so much fun! Now you can toss the crappy crop for this: (copied off wiki) 20.2 effective megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor Dual DIGIC 6 image processors with 14-bit processing[2] Liveview mode 100% viewfinder frame coverage with 1.0× magnification with a 50 mm lens 10.0 frames per second continuous shooting ISO sensitivity 100–16,000 (expandable to 51,200) 3.0-inch Clear View II LCD screen with 1,040,000 dots resolution 65-point auto-focus system, all cross-type. Center point is high precision, double cross-type with −3 EV sensitivity 252-zone color-sensitive metering system GPS tagging[6] EOS Scene Detection System with a new 150,000-pixel/RGB+IR metering sensor. Magnesium alloy body Popup flash Intervalometer Weather sealing (resistance to water and dust) In-camera automatic lens distortion correction for most Canon lenses produced since 1995[7] The shutter is rated to 200,000 shots, and is capable of speeds up to 1/8000 s, with a flash sync speed of 1/250 s. Using compatible external flashes, flash sync speeds up to 1/8000 s are possible. Additionally, the camera can be set to automatically delay its shutter release to compensate for flickering electric lights.[7] The camera's reflex mirror is driven by a motor which slows the mirror to reduce vibration during high speed shooting.[9] This motor also enables unique new Silent Shooting Modes, which reduce camera noise, at the cost of a slight increase of shutter lag time from 0.055 s to 0.105 s.[10] ----I call BS on the silent mode, but you should expect that with a DSLR. Ergonomics[edit] The 7D Mark II has roughly the same dimension as the older 5D Mark III with an updated button layout. It also features a 100% viewfinder with 1× magnification with a 50 mm lens. The 7D Mark II features a dedicated movie mode switch. The camera supports Canon’s Stepping Motor (STM) lenses, which significantly reduce focus motor noise from the lens. The EOS 7D Mark II features a stereo microphone port and outputs stereo audio via the camera’s mini-HDMI port. The camera is equipped with a headphone jack for real-time audio monitoring, as well as a silent control feature that allows users to adjust audio levels during recordings. Speed[edit] The 7D Mark II has dual DIGIC 6 processors and can reach 10 frames per second continuous shooting. According to Canon, the buffer throughput allows up to 1,090 frames in large fine JPEG mode, and up to 31 frames in raw[3] when using a UDMA-7 CF Card.

I'm very happy so far. I am often fiddling around and this gives me line of sight and easy access. The thumb screws are perfect. I almost went with an open air test bench setup, this let's me do that and pack away in seconds. I have it on a restaurant wire storage rack and it gets all the air! I do wish they would offer a couple of update options like a better front panel since it's so modular. I'm ok with a Dremel so no big deal. And maybe a straight flat top plate although I understand that defeats the idea somewhat.

Everything came yesterday, so of course it's up and running now. My Noctua might clear a 200mm but it sure doesn't need it. No gpu on mine besides the i7 so I have a ton of open space on the top half. I have my pair of 80's actually on intake duty just keeping things moving down there. i "feel" like that is helping the m.2 nvme 970plus a bit, since it kept climbing up until I did that and closed the case up. I'm hoping I have a crappy DP cable, 'cause it won't boot with it (hdmi is fine). I'll find out tomorrow. I have another weird issue with a couple older sata wd enterprise hdds that I'm trying to gain trust with. I'll probably start a new thread soon if I can't figure it out. But Lightroom is magical, and considering my old transfers never wrote much over 60ish, my workflow is going to be fantastic. It's fun to watch a progress bar again.

I know this post is old, but I'm in the middle of a similar build to yours (OP) and I wondered how you ended up with your fans. i79700K, Asus WSZ390P, Vengeance3200, Noctua: I went with the NH-U12A, three more of the same fan plus 2x80 Noctuas for the basement maybe. I have an 80+T 850 overkill PSU, but my priorities are: low power draw, stability, and speed up my LR/PS workflow. In that order, which also sounds similar to your goals as I inferred 'em. PSU is fan down like yours. I'm thinking about intake on the 80mms also (I don't have a lot of drives, but I might get some). After that, I wonder about pushpull vs +/- setups. Have you tested? Any conclusions? Or tricky hotspots? Oh yeah, I'm waiting to get everything this week. Then I'll check clearances and consider a 200mm. But I feel like that's also overkill.