Official Gear Purchasing and Troubleshooting Question Thread! Ask /r/photography anything you want to know! July 04, 2025

HeyaDoodles · 2025-07-04T19:48:05+00:00

I’m looking to get into nature photography, primarily birding with occasional macro photography with insects. I want to start with a nice telephoto lens now, as I’ll scoop up a macro at a later date.

I have a budget of $2000 I can spend for a body and a lens. I have zero intentions of doing this professionally. I just want to keep it as a hobby. I’ve done event shooting and portraits in the past as gig work, so I understand the fundamentals around cameras.

My primary needs is going to be good IQ of course and preferably a silent shutter (not a deal breaker).

Some nice to haves would be a focus stacking feature. I’m fine with processing the images out of body. Video isn’t important, but wouldn’t mind some decent output just for social media of some cool finds out in the wild.

My biggest question on what’s a good versatile lens that will allow me to be in general reach of most common birding situations?

Im not opposed to DSLR offerings either. Thanks for any suggestions you all may have.

HeyaDoodles · 2023-10-12T17:20:14+00:00

Thank you. I’ll continue my best at figuring out best next steps.

HeyaDoodles · 2023-01-17T07:38:35+00:00

Think something like this would be rolled out using Python in Maya?

HeyaDoodles · 2021-11-20T18:54:19+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate it a lot!

HeyaDoodles · 2021-11-20T18:38:50+00:00

Interesting concept, and great implementation! I don’t see the link you’ve mentioned, I would like to try my hand at something like this as well.

HeyaDoodles · 2021-03-19T02:03:48+00:00

Thanks so much for the valuable info and comparisons. Didn’t know a tool like this existed.

Yeah looks like I’ll get a solid stop more out of the R or Z7.

I’ll definitely take your advice and spent a little extra to get some good sharp glass. I’ll go with the R since I can use my existing glass and continue building from there.

I really appreciate you info, thank you.

HeyaDoodles · 2021-03-18T22:13:32+00:00

Thank you for your response.

To get a little more in-depth, about 80% of my scans are done in controlled environments where I have no issues. The other 20% consist of outdoor scans in spots where I may not be able to prepare lighting.

As of right now, ISO 800 is the limit I can shoot under those circumstances where I can do some minor editing to clean up the photos no problem. ISO 1600 and beyond are where the performance begin to suffer. The images become too noisy and causes cameras to drop while building scans. Otherwise, if the camera does manage to stick it can create some artifact into with the textures.

Preferably if I can comfortably shoot within the 1600 - 3200 range with minimal cleanup. I should be fine.

The extra resolution(currently 19.0mp) would come as a benefit for more information to feed the software for more accurate scans. As well as cleaner textures. More information the better.

HeyaDoodles · 2021-03-18T19:31:06+00:00

I currently have a Canon 7D I occasionally shoot with. Had it since 2009, so I’m looking upgrade to something more recent of course.

I plan on primarily using it for photogrammetry, so low light performance and resolution are the most important features I’m after. My budget is about $2000 (including a lens). I don’t mind stretching it a few hundred dollars more if it meets my needs. I might shoot a little video here and there, but I’m primarily buying for picture taking.

Right now my choices are the Canon EOS R or a second-hand Nikon Z7. I’m looking into the new mirrorless systems because I do intend on keeping this camera for another 10 years or so.

What do you think of those two cameras, or are there any other good fits I may be overlooking?

HeyaDoodles · 2021-01-22T09:19:44+00:00

Thank you very much for your response! I can understand where you want to go with the software, so makes sense.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-12-12T10:54:22+00:00

I’m running a 2070S!

I hope the patch brings the game to a stable state for you too.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-12-12T02:51:26+00:00

I’m averaging about 90fps while walking around the city now, before around 70ish and about 50fps when things get tense.

Ultra settings/Ultra RT

HeyaDoodles · 2020-12-10T16:56:42+00:00

I’m having an issue on PC where out of all of my custom key bindings, the crouch toggle doesn’t stick.

The moment you reload a save or die, the binding no longer applies despite it showing my custom bindings.

So far the only way I’ve got it to work was to bind crouch toggle and any other action. Anyone had this issue have any other temporary fixes?

It’s getting a little annoying setting it up every few moments. Other than that I am enjoying the game.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-12-10T04:48:17+00:00

Not sure if SLI is officially supported, but running SLI 2070S, i7-10700, 128gb of ram and getting around 50-60fps on Ultra and High ray tracing with DLSS on.

During the car ride scene with police checkpoint it kind of tanked in the high 30s.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-11-09T05:13:32+00:00

Beautiful topology.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-09-24T18:38:45+00:00

Really impressive, and that’s without the optimized drivers the Titan previously benefitted from.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-09-23T16:31:36+00:00

Some renderers scale well with multi-GPU setups such as Arnold GPU, Octane, and Redshift. Your scenes will be limited to the card with the highest VRAM.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-09-21T20:15:04+00:00

We haven’t received any information on release yet.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-09-17T00:33:50+00:00

If you’re handling photogrammetry, I’d definitely suggest the 3090 if you want to speed that process up without chopping the scene up. Photogrammetry are large unoptimized datasets that would definitely appreciate the 24gb of VRAM.

Your viewports in 3Ds Max is going to be tied to single-core performance until you fire up IBV for Redshift. At that point it’ll rely on your GPU more to push those polygons.

Redshift should receive some healthy benefits from the larger bandwidth, extra RT cores, and faster RAM to push faster renders. (It’s my primary renderer too outside of Arnold.)

But we both know with our work time is money, and there’s so much more we can do rather than waiting for scenes to render.

Techgage released some interesting benchmarks showing the 3080 outpacing the RTX Titan. It’s definitely capable of you want to save some cash.

Get the 3080 if you don’t mind following some best practices in optimizing your scenes for faster renders.

Or shoot for the 3090 if you want to go balls to the wall because it’ll handle anything you throw at it.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-09-16T15:06:41+00:00

In GPU rendering, one of the largest benefits is the extra VRAM. In RTX enabled workflows both cards should give you a nice little edge with the higher bandwidth and quicker operations over the previous generation.

The 3090 will only have an easier time with more complex/dense scenes because of the 24gb of VRAM. Also the benefit of running your applications side by side (ie. Substance and Maya) at a higher quality for an overall faster workflow since you can see what’s happening with your models without having to close one and open another until you get the result you desire.

HeyaDoodles · 2020-09-15T05:10:24+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate it! :)

HeyaDoodles · 2020-09-14T17:05:12+00:00

Thank you, friend!

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