His Eminence Lord Poppington II

i try my best

my pleasure. haha i haven't played in a while. still need to actually open my copy of pokemon black then catch up on B/W2 but school is such a time drain :/

hmm, i think at this point your best bet is to just have him go to the store and try a bunch of cameras out. preferably not best buy because they don't have too much out on the floor and if they do, it usually doesn't work (or it's rigged with an alarm for some ridiculous reason, so when you touch it the alarm goes off even though it's the freaking floor model). try and find a local camera shop since they're usually very helpful.

wide angle lenses are typically fare for architecture shots not just because you can fit more in but because you can get some cool perspectives too. but in the end, it's all up to personal preference. he can maybe even bring the old dslr you guys have and ask to try a wide angle lens. maybe it turns out whats considered "ultra-wide" might not even be necessary for his tastes.

some quick info on focal lengths:

on "crop sensor":
~18-55mm is a standard zoom lens
~anywhere from 10-20mm is generally considered wide angle, 10 being extreme

on the portability issue, that's still subjective so i definitely recommend going to the store again to try it out. many of the newer entry-level dslr's also are not that heavy, but then again my camera is pretty heavy so anything else seems light in comparison. how portable does he want it? if he wants to just carry the camera around all day and not have to resort to a backpack, I guess he'd want mirrorless, but even then I would feel weird not bringing a small backpack with me.

if he's going to carry it around in a bag anyway, then DSLR might be an option. I can recommend a really good Nikon one if that's the case. The Nikon D3200 is really great for the price $600 including the kit lens. I just checked the weight specs to give you something definite and did a double-take: it's only like 0.6 pounds (290ish grams):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/856049-REG/Nikon_25492_D3200_DSLR_Camera_With.html

in comparison, the nex-7 is like 190 g, so significantly lighter but when you consider than we're not even talking 1 lb. here...

anyway, if he goes to the store, i'd definitely recommend asking to try the nex-7 and maybe asking to try a wide angle lens on it (not sure what's available for the sony system but i'm positive they have something) and then asking to try some other brands with similar specs as well.

ahhh, no problem :) when you say he does pseudo-architecture work, you mean like he keeps a portfolio or something? im assuming he's not done the photography shtick before or he wouldn't be asking you for advice haha.

is there a specific reason he wants a mirrorless camera? is it for portability? if you guys are well off and can afford a dslr, i would actually just recommend getting one of those. it's not like a mirrorless camera is going to fit in your pocket anyway since you still have the lens(es?). and it would be super awkward to put it in your coat pocket since it's no where near as small as a point and shoot.

i think the main draw of mirrorless cameras is that they're light and pretty small. they're pretty popular for travel since you typically are walking around and exploring new places and a dslr actually starts to get pretty heavy after a while, especially if you have 2-3 lenses with you. but if your dad wants this specifically for architectural purposes, then i don't see why weight/portability would be a plus since he'd be going on location specifically to get a certain shot, etc.

anyways, "extreme detail" has more to do with resolution and lens than it actually does with the focal length. resolution for cameras is measured in megapixels (MP) and if you search any of them on amazon all of the models will have the number of megapixels right there in the product title. just to give you an idea, a 12 MP camera gives photos that are about 4200 pixels long on the longest edge. my current camera is 24 MP and about 6000 pixels long on the longest edge, which is A LOT and probably far more than most people need.

also, you said your dad does architecture shots so i think i can at least point you in the right direction here. he'll probably want a wide angle lens. i think i probably have to explain a bit more on thsi point:

all cameras have a sensor. it basically converts the light to a digital signal. in the film days, sensors were about 36x24mm in size. digital cameras that have a sensor in this size are typically called "full frame" cameras (quite expensive too). many of the consumer models of dslr's have sensors that are much smaller, around 24x16mm (usually called "crop sensor"). this means that lenses capture a much smaller portion of the image than a "full frame" sensor would.

going even further, mirrorless cameras usually have an even smaller sensor. for example, the nikon v1 i linked you to has a sensor that is just 13x8mm. sensor size is linked to image magnification.

for example, a 35mm lens on a "full frame" camera is considered standard view. if you pointed the camera at the person next to you, you'd be able to get their entire face into the shot. if you were to put a 35mm lens on the nikon v1, it have a magnification factor of x2.7, ie if you pointed it at the person next to you, you'd get like...their eye. because effectively the focal length becomes 35x2.7 = ~95mm.

the sony nex-7 i linked you to before is interesting because they managed to fit a 24x16mm sensor into the mirrorless format, so it's essentially very similar to a prosumer DSLR model fit into a much smaller body.

i went into so much detail here because the lens(es) your dad will probably want are completely dependent on the camera he gets. for instance, olympus mirrorless cameras are micro 4/3rds format, which basically means any lens you slap on has a x2 magnification, roughly speaking. but the sony nex-7 has a magnification of only x1.5. so i'm not sure what focal range he needs until he has a specific camera in mind.

i'm slanted towards the nex-7 though...i've always wanted to try it and it gets fantastic reviews. but again, if your dad wants "superb" image quality, i don't think a mirrorless camera is a substitute for what a proper DSLR can do. just my $0.02. can't really give much more than that without knowing more about what he wants. and i also reaized how badly i rambled in this post... -_-

i'm very familiar with nikon - much less so with other brands but i can definitely try and help or point you in the right direction. first of all, i think the most important thing is what kind of budget your dad is on.

i'm going to assume it's anywhere from $300 - 1200 since that's pretty much what mirrorless cameras/systems are going for nowadays. nikon has two mirrorless cameras out right now and they both just had massive price drops:

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Digital-Camera-System-10-30mm/dp/B005OGQY5U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351400281&sr=8-2&keywords=nikon+j1
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Digital-Camera-System-10-30mm/dp/B005OGR3DM/ref=sr_du_1_map?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1351400316&sr=1-1

i haven't heard the greatest reviews on these but nikon also only just got into the mirrorless camera market last year. i'd honestly say avoid nikon unless he's dead set on it for some reason (not sure if he's new to photography or not, but one reason he might want to get nikon is if he already has some old nikon lenses, which can easily be adapted to the mirrorless camera).

i know nothing about canon mirrorless but i just googled it and it seems like they don't even have one out yet. techcrunch JUST did a hands-on review of the eos-m model.

i think the general consensus though is that olympus and sony are the current leaders in the mirrorless market. the big names in dslrs are only just now beginning to realize that the mirrorless format is going to be huge, but olympus and sony have been doing this for a while now. i don't know specifics but just doing a general search, olympus has lots of models sub $300.

sony has the nex-7, which is supposed to be really amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-NEX-7-Compact-Interchangeable-Camera/dp/B005IHAIEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1351400725&sr=1-1&keywords=sony+nex-7n

i'm relatively sure it's the latest model. quite expensive though at $1100 for just the camera body.

in regards to interchangeable lenses, i'm pretty sure all mirrorless cameras have the interchangeable lens option. i've never heard of a mirrorless camera that doesn't have the opiton to switch lenses, but then again this really isn't my forte. is your dad looking for a specific focal range? does he understand the different types of lenses? if not, i'd be happy to give a quick run down.

re: durability, i don't think mirrorless cameras could exactly be described as durable. they're marketed primarily towards consumers (rather than prosumers/pros) and the models usually get an update every year or every other year, kind of like a cell phone really (as opposed to pro models, which are updated only every 4 years or so). i wouldn't expect much in the way of build quality, but unless he's planning on taking it through rainforests and monsoons, i wouldn't worry too much.

hope this helps! let me know if you need more info

you live in China?

you sir are awesome

pop pop

shhhhhhhh gaysian friend, i'm here now, shhhhhh

That sounds pretty good

Damn haha what a shame! :) Well enjoy your time in Melbourne what are you studying in Uni?

Melbourne which is in Victoria. Its actually quite a nice place :)

ah, you got AOps back; congrats

What exactly Aops is? I know op stands for operator...

Oh Poppy congratz man! When i heard on the irc that you got op status, i believed it was only for there. But you got the Aop badge and the battle mod badge.. I mean wow!!!

:>

/me nuzzle Poppy

poppy chulo~

I never have the time sorry D: I'll come on today though!

so how long is just for fun 234 banned?

yeah i'm not really sure what you'd call it, their album has a really distinct sound. the only stuff that's at all similar that i can think of is the album 'the monitor' by titus andronicus (ive heaped praise on them in music threads before, they are brilliant). definitely different but something about the feel of it makes me inclined to draw a comparison. sucks about lack of youtube, that specific version of nai is so much better than any of the recorded versions, you need to watch the video when you're in friendlier territories!

another album that's stuck with me for almost a year now is merchandise's 'strange songs (in the dark)'. foolish and i locked the door are the standout tracks, but the whole album is positively splendid. i kind of hope to one day shake my proclivity towards the nineties but i kind of hope i never do

if you want something more mystical and more suited to the fantastic planet than earth, harald grosskopf's 'synthesist' is a gem of an album. b aldrian and the title track are masterpieces. they remind me of a very purple sunset or sunrise. they also remind me of photosynthesis.

never heard of brave bird, will check out

Hi,

I'm your next opponent in the Ubers mini-tounament. I was wondwring when you have some time to do the battle. I live in a GMT+1 area and will be available around 1-2.30 AM on Friday and Saturday. Around 8.30-12.00 on Sunday.

these are two of my favourite songs right now

archers of loaf - web in front

yura yura teikoku - nai!!

and i still think the latter is one of the most beautiful things ever written

hmm what kinda sounds do you wanna hear

dat irc XD haven't been there for years) I'm there under Skylite21

Hi! I guess you're my tutor now =)

good shit, thanks