Nikon D5000 + Camera Control Pro and Hikari Photo Studio Upgrade
It's been a little over a month since I have made the jump to the rank of entry level DSLR with the recent purchase of Nikon D5000, and I have to say I am very pleased with the result I have been able to achieve with the Nikon D5000 so far. Some of the photos I have taken with my dollfie daughters outdoor were quite a bit better than what I was able to achieve with my old Sony DSC-F707. However, indoor photo has remained to be a challenge up to this point. With the weather turning cold, it has become increasing unlikely that I can take my dollfie daughters outside again this year. So it was time to finally invest in a continuous light umbrella set.
I didn't want to spend a lot of money so I was definitely looking for some sort of a bargain so I ended up picking Steve Kaeser ProStudio Light Kit 600 watt from Amazon.com. The Light Kit came with everything for me to get started:
* High output "COOL-FLO" fluorescent bulbs equivalent to 300 watts incandescent each, total 600 watts
* Pro umbrella holders with umbrella mounts, 12' Power Cord and On/Off Switch.
* SK306 light stands extends 6 1/2 feet, made from aluminum alloy with black matte finish.
* Pro 32" Pro umbrella white/black, softens and diffuses the light.
The kit actually arrived several days ago but one of the daylight bulb was dead on arrival, I contacted the shop Cowboy Studio and asked for a replacement bulb, they sent one to me without asking a second question, good service. And here we have a couple of photos with different light setup and white balances:
The first one here was taken with flash, Aperture was f/18, Shutter was 3 seconds, ISO = 200. The color temperature was tweaked to 5400K. This picture is only here for comparison sake.
As usual, full size images are available through my blog
Now that was before I got my light kit setup, so now let's take a look at the same shot with the continuous light kit!
With the continuous light in place, obviously I am not firing the flash anymore. I kept the aperture the same while tweaking the shutter to 1/1.6, ISO = 200, white balance on auto.
The color temperature seems to be on the "cool" side of things so I experimented with some setting and tried to set white balance to Day White fluorescent.
The color turned a bit warmer but I am not sure if that's the right color either. All in all, I am quite satisfied with the performance of this light kit. The light is very uniform and I don't have to fire to flash anymore.
The another shot taken with auto white balance Aperture f/29, Shutter 1.6s.
Let see what else do we have here for experimental shot.... oh there you are!
Griffon Enterprise Airi arrived two days ago and is the first new figure got to try out the new lighting system.
As typical of Griffon Enterprise, it's about average, the skin tone leaves a bit of room for improvement.
And couple other random shots, grabbing a few of my favorite figurines...
I am sure I still have a lot to learn to improve my indoor photography, feel free to leave any comments and suggestions.
Another new upgrade I should like to discuss is the software I began using recently, Camera Control Pro 2 by Nikon. It's a really neat software that allow me to control my D5000 from the comfort of my desk! I have always dream of being able to see the picture at full scale while taking the shot, but now it's no longer a dream!
The pictures are instantly sent to my computer via the mini-usb connection so I can look at the picture at full scale right at the comfort of my desk. This feature has helped me tremendously, especially for Dollfie Photography, where a slight turn of the head can make a world of difference in the shot.
Here are some screen shots of the control
Hopefully with all the new upgrade, I can improve the quality of my indoor photos in the not so distance future.
don't do auto, try to program your camera to the right lighting instead
I am not yet satisfied with either Auto mode or Day White Flourscent, will keep shooting until I get it right. But I am afraid the problem may resides with the background images as well, the PVC figure images didn't have the cool tint to them where as the Dollfie pictures are definitely on the cool side.
Oops almost forgot, thanks for the input!
Doing auto isn't the right process anymore when you get D-SLR although i do understand you are still knowing things so it's a good approach too. Keep it up, your doing great!
Perhaps so, but I am not exactly an expert in determining which shades of color looks most natural lol... no I am not color blind but let just say it's definitely not my strength... yeah I got to keep working on it, keeping the camera hooked up through USB drain the battery quick, so I got to quit and recharge lol.
talk about taking it to the Next Level(plays the you know what song lol) nice upgrade for the Hikari Photo Studio! im seeing a big improvement already, your shots will get even better once you get comfortable with this new setup.
LOL, the shuffled play list just played "that song" when I read your comment, no joke! I might have called it Hikari Photo Studio for some time now but it has always kind of bothered me that I didn't have any studio light in it, but no more! The kit ran about $100 shipping included so it's not a huge deal considering the noticeable improvement I see here. Not having to fire the flash as often should help with the battery on the camera too. I got to keep experimenting over the weekend.
Wow you've totally become a camera otaku ^^ I'm still not into the photography aspect of it, but it's nice to learn a few things from looking through people's camera armory. I think I need a better lighting setup for sure, but just don't want to spend the money, lol.
Pretty awesome that it goes directly on your computer! Very professional ^_^
I desire continuous improvement over myself, so it's natural that I am moving in that direction; everything is driven from wanting to see my dollfie daughters and capture their wonderful images in front of camera. I wasn't too happy with the result from my previous set of photo so I want to improve it further.
Yeah, Camera control pro 2 is totally awesome, no more "oops" on the shot that didn't turn out well and having to retake because I am constantly monitoring, I move on once I am satisfied with the shot.
I would love to have that Camera control pro 2... but sadly my computer's far away from my "photo studio" ^^; There were many times where I took pictures and when I imported it looked horrible and I had to take photos again >_<
Canon is suppose to have similar control software for their camera. I love the control pro 2 as it relieves me from having to double back and retake a shot that didn't turn out well. It's totally worth it just to save time and frustration.
Gorgeous Hikaru figure is Gorgeous.
I so need that one. (^.^)
I think you lost me there ^^; Hikaru figure ?_?
Probably meant Hotaru?
Ohhh Sailor Saturn! It's been a long time since I watched Sailor Moon S.
A few pointers:
- when using tripod set your ISO to ISO100 (to get cleanest pictures with minimum noise)
- don't use aperture above F8 for these kind of shots (when taking landscapes outside you won't need to use smaller than F11 or F16). I'm almost sure you will see an immediate better pictures when you use larger F stops. Turn it down and you can increase the shutterspeeds - you could handhold it probably with this kind of lighting.
- try it and report back :)
Thank you for taking the time to rely:
-ISO 200 is the lowest I can set normally, there are some interpolation going on that dynamically bring it down to 100, not too sure.
-I probably should using a larger F stops for a single portrait, but I was trying to do a group dollfie shot, wouldn't a large F stops focus on the middle more? I should try it regardless.
-It's only 600 watts so it's no where close to sufficient light for freehand. Tried it on Airi and it was too dark.
Ah, I guess it's your camera than. Then set ISO lowest possible, in your case ISO200 :)
Normally if you want to single out one object you would use large F stop - but since you're this close to your objects it's not needed to use small F stop at all. Not to mention usually the sweet spot of most lenses is around F8. Going any smaller than F16 will usually result in IQ drop. Which you can see in your shots, they aren't that sharp anymore.
You're right, the pictures aren't as sharp as I hope they would be. Going to shoot some larger F stops after lunch.
Thanks for your input again!
Oh hail Hotaru ^0 yen|^
That Sailor Saturn Musical is one of my favorite figure :D
Very nice set up~ the only thing you need to fix asap is the background! it's too busy and distracts from your lovely daughters and figures u_u~ You can find a lot of nice or cute looking 'gift wraps' type paper at local asian shops that sell stationery or go for plain colours you can buy from anywhere [fabrics also work~]
Looking forward to more photos~
Going to upload a few different background in a few minutes.
Hi
I just have a question related to camera control pro... I have D5000 and i installed camera control Pro. When i connect my camera to computer, the camera control pro software hits a message "No Camera was detected". But the computer recognizes my camera. I can download all the files that are their in the SD card via USB cable. Can you please let me know what could be the possible bug in the software for not detecting the camera.
Thanks in advance