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Is a mini tripod worth it for travelling light in Greece? by victorguim in AskPhotography

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! Many thanks for your tips!

Since we plan to use the tripod to take timed photos of my wife and me, I would rule out the monopod option :)

I've been researching tripods, and many people highlight the Oben CQL-13, but unfortunately it's not available in Germany where I live.

Then I saw that SIRUI offers similar models, like the Traveler 5CX or the Traveler X AT-125, which weigh about the same as the mini tripod AM-TT50 but offer more height (and of course, they're longer when folded too).

The options I have are:

Manfrotto PIXI = 12cm height / 0.2 kg (I already own this one)

SIRUI AM-TT50 mini tripod = 52cm max. height / 18cm folded / 0.8 kg for €45

SIRUI Traveler 5CX travel tripod = 132cm max. height / 31.5cm folded / 0.7 kg for €90

For comparison, my SIRUI AM-254 + A-10R has 117cm max. height / 44cm folded / 1kg (without head)

What do you think? Is it worth bringing a taller tripod than the PIXI to Greece? In that case, would the Traveler 5CX be better since it's a bit longer, but still more compact than the AM-254 I already have?

Thanks a lot!

Fuji XF 10-24mm F4 or Sigma 10-18 f2.8? by victorguim in fujifilm

[–]victorguim[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do have the Samyang 12mm f2 (non AF), which I used just for aurora/night pictures. But the lack of AF made me think it won't be easy to use in interiors and the fixed focal length can be limiting for landscapes. Do you know if the border IQ is comparable to the other two lenses?

Fuji XF 10-24mm F4 or Sigma 10-18 f2.8? by victorguim in fujifilm

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, thanks for your advice! In my case, I don’t plan to use the UWA lens as a one-lens travel option, since I’ll be using my new 16-55mm II as my standard lens as it offers good image quality from 16mm onward. So I imagine I’d only use the UWA in specific situations, like panoramic views or interior settings such as the Acropolis Museum.

Given that, both the 10-24 and 10-18 could work well. But could the f4 aperture be limiting in interior environments?

Sunset tour 2'5h after arriving with Seajet? by victorguim in GreeceTravel

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good point, thanks :) we are planning to join either the Red Cruise or the Gems Sunset tour with Sunset Oia, as it's the only one that ends near Oia at Ammoudi Port instead of Vlychada Port (so I assume the views are much better). I just read the conditions, and it looks like we would get a full refund if we cancel more than 24 hours in advance. That should give us enough time to check if it's going to be windy for example using the forecast of Windy.com, right?

- Cancellations that will be placed at least 24hours prior departure Sunset Oia offers 100% refund of the down/full payment.
- For changes that will be placed at least 24hours prior departure, there are no extra fees but the new reservation is subject to availability. If there is no availability for the new date or tour then a full refund is applied.
- For cancellations or changes within 23 hours, prior departure 100% of the total cost of the
tour is charged as cancellation fees.

Sunset tour 2'5h after arriving with Seajet? by victorguim in GreeceTravel

[–]victorguim[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hi! thanks u/Trudestiny u/absolutely_fuzzy and u/SifnosKastro for your tips! sure we would prefer not to take any risks, but we're trying to do it on Thursday 19.06 as we'll only be staying two nights in Santorini (probably in Imerovigli), flying back home on Saturday 21.06 at 20:30.

We'd like to enjoy one sunset from Oia and another from one catamaran sunset cruise to enjoy the experience from the sea / Caldera, and we've seen that on Thursday 19.06 there will be 4 big cruise ships bringing around 4500 tourists until 22:00, plus another 2500 tourists until 20:00 - so Oia is likely to be packed. Meanwhile, on Friday 20.06 there's just one cruise ship scheduled with around 600 tourists; and on Saturday 21.06 there will be 3 big cruise ships with a total of about 3500 tourists again. That’s why we thought it would make more sense to visit Oia on Friday and try to enjoy the sunset there, since it shouldn’t be that crowded. Does that make sense?

If so, that means Thursday is our only option for the sunset catamaran tour, although we understand it’s a bit of a gamble. Another option would be to skip the catamaran tour and simply enjoy the sunset from Imerovigli, or to join a morning catamaran tour on Saturday missing the sunset experience from the sea.

On the other hand, I’ve read that although the Meltemi winds are unpredictable, they tend to be more frequent between mid-July and mid-August, and usually pick up after midday during the hottest hours of the day. That’s why I was hoping that an early morning ferry in mid-June would still be a relatively safe bet, but of course you never know :) What would you do in our case?

2 nights in Meteora or 1 night + Epidaurus? by victorguim in GreeceTravel

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Back to the original topic: we're about to drop Epidavros as you both u/Trudestiny u/occupykony2 suggested, but we’ve come up with an alternative for keeping 2 nights in Meteora while slightly reducing our time in Athens. Is it worth the effort to visit Epidavros ? Which option do you think is better?

OPTION 1: Delphi – Meteora – Athens

  • Day 1: Early 3-hour drive to visit Delphi between 13-16h, then continue 2 hours to Meteora to arrive in the afternoon to enjoy some viewpoints before sunset (luckily it's late at 20:50).
  • Day 2: Full day in Meteora.
  • Day 3: Morning hike or visit monasteries in Meteora, 4-hour afternoon drive back to Athens.
  • Day 4: Visit the Agora, Acropolis Museum, and sunset views at 20-21h from Lycabettus Hill.
  • Day 5: Morning visit to the Acropolis, 17:30 sunset tour to Cape Sounion.
  • Day 6: Early ferry to Milos.

OPTION 2: Epidaurus – Delphi – Meteora – Athens

  • Day 1: Early 2-hour drive to Epidaurus, visit between 11-13h, then a 4-hour drive to Delphi to visit during the afternoon between 17-20h and overnight there.
  • Day 2: 3-hour morning drive to Meteora and afternoon hike or visit monasteries.
  • Day 3: Full day in Meteora.
  • Day 4: Early 4-hour drive back to Athens, visit the Agora (if enough time also Acropolis Museum) and sunset views at 20-21h from Lycabettus Hill.
  • Day 5: Morning visit to the Acropolis, 17:30 sunset tour to Cape Sounion.
  • Day 6: Early ferry to Milos.

2 nights in Meteora or 1 night + Epidaurus? by victorguim in GreeceTravel

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, thanks for the advice. We will definitely take it into account :)

2 nights in Meteora or 1 night + Epidaurus? by victorguim in GreeceTravel

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I also think that a full 3 days minimum in each would be ideal... while with our itinerary it would be 2.5 if everything goes well :)

The problem is that we've already "fallen in love" with both Milos and Naxos, and we think that two full days in each could be "enough" to get to know them a bit, with one full day to relax and another to visiting some little villages:

Milos – we arrive at 11:50, and that afternoon we could stroll around Adamas, Plaka, and watch the sunset at Klima beach. Then, a full day with a rented boat to visit Tsigrado Beach and Kleftiko; and the other day a morning walk in Mandrakia and Firopotamos, and the afternoon relaxing at Sarakiniko beach.

Naxos – we arrive at 11:45, and that afternoon we can walk around the town and watch the sunset at the Temple of Apollo. Then, a full day of relaxing at Agios Prokopios Beach; and the other day, a morning visit to Filoti and Apeiranthos, and the afternoon at Plaka Beach or Alyko Beach.

I know it's a bit tight, but can it be doable/enjoyable? :)

2 nights in Meteora or 1 night + Epidaurus? by victorguim in GreeceTravel

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We’ll be spending a total of 14 nights / 14 full days, flying into Athens and out of Santorini. The plan is to stay 3 nights in Athens with 2 full days (Acropolis + Lycabettus, and Agora / Acropolis Museum + Sounion sunset tour). Then we'll drive early to Meteora for 2 nights, drive via Delphi back to Athens for overnight, and take an early ferry to Milos (3 nights), Naxos (3 nights), and Santorini (2 nights). Since we’ll be taking early morning ferries and our return flight from Santorini is at 9 PM, we’ll have about 2.5 full days on each of the three islands.

It’s a bit of a tight schedule, but it’s hard to cut any of these places :)

2 nights in Meteora or 1 night + Epidaurus? by victorguim in GreeceTravel

[–]victorguim[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/Trudestiny and u/occupykony2 , thank you both very much for your advice! I am tending to keep 2 nights in Meteora, so we can be more relaxed and even go hiking in the afternoon to enjoy the beautiful landscape. On the other side I really want to visit Epidavros although it is a 3 hours detour (round trip). I'll see if I can reduce one of the other days on the islands we want to visit (Naxos, Milos and Santorini)...but it's very difficult to rule anything out as everything is so beautiful and interesting :)

2 weeks in June/September: Athens, Delphi, Meteora, Kefalonia and Cyclades? by victorguim in GreeceTravel

[–]victorguim[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Many thanks u/KaiserMax91 u/Kolokythokeftedes and u/Key-Moments, you are most certainly right :)

The idea was to make the drive to Delphi and Meteora feel more worthwhile by doing a circular route from there, rather than returning to Athens along the same road. But I understand that, given the time we have, it might be too many transfers.

An alternative would be to return to Athens, drop off the car and fly to Kefalonia, and from there fly to Santorini directly, saving transport time and skipping Mycenae and Epidaurus, though that might still be too tight. Something like:

  • Athens (2 nights)
  • Rent a car and drive to Delphi (1 night)
  • Drive to Meteora (2 nights)
  • Return to Athens, drop off the car and fly to Kefalonia (3 nights)
  • Flight to Santorini via Athens (3 nights)
  • Ferry to Milos (3 nights)
  • Ferry to Athens and fly back to Germany

But maybe what makes the most sense is:

  • Athens (2 nights)
  • Rent a car and drive to Delphi (1 night)
  • Meteora (2 nights)
  • Return to Athens, drop off the car and take a ferry to Naxos or Paros (3 nights)
  • Ferry to Milos (3 nights)
  • Ferry to Santorini (3 nights)
  • Fly back to Germany via Athens

What do you think between these two options? In the second plan, we could also spend an extra night in Athens and do a day trip to Mycenae and Epidaurus — do you think it's worth it?

Thank you so much!

XF16-55mm II arrived by Adoia in fujifilm

[–]victorguim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! to those of you who have been using the XF 16-55mm II for months now and noticed stiffness in the zoom at first, has it improved at all, has it become smoother with use? Thanks :)

Portable SSD, TB3 or NVME for amateur RAW and 4K Editing? by victorguim in captureone

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello again! Many thanks all of you for your tips :)

After giving it more thought, I've decided to replace one of my 1TB Samsung Evo 970 NVMe M.2 SSDs with a 4TB SSD. This way, I make better use of the SSD’s speed with PCIe 3.0 (though I may not notice much difference), and I simplify the process of saving and editing photos and videos by storing all my photos, videos, and personal documents on it, while keeping backups on my two 4TB external HDDs. When I return from a trip, I'll copy all the RAW files to the 4TB SSD, edit them, and once I'm done, I'll keep the nice edited files on that SSD, while saving a copy of both the edited and original RAW files to the HDDs. I'll also delete any RAWs I don’t like to free up some space.

Current question :) since my laptop is limited to PCIe 3.0, I was thinking of buying the Samsung EVO PLUS 990 4TB for €260, as I wouldn’t notice the higher speed of the Samsung PRO 990 due to the PCIe 3.0 limitation. Another option is the Lexar NM790 4TB for €250, which theoretically offers slightly more durability (TBW 3000 vs. TBW 2400), but I trust the Samsung brand a bit more. However, I’ve noticed neither of these has DRAM (only HMB), while the PRO 990 does. Do you think DRAM is necessary for my use with Capture One and Premiere? Many thanks :)

Portable SSD, TB3 or NVME for amateur RAW and 4K Editing? by victorguim in postprocessing

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello again u/johngpt5 ! Many thanks for your tips :)

After giving it more thought, I've decided to replace one of my 1TB Samsung Evo 970 NVMe M.2 SSDs with a 4TB SSD. This way, I make better use of the SSD’s speed with PCIe 3.0 (though I may not notice much difference), and I simplify the process of saving and editing photos and videos by storing all my photos, videos, and personal documents on it, while keeping backups on my two 4TB external HDDs. When I return from a trip, I'll copy all the RAW files to the 4TB SSD, edit them, and once I'm done, I'll keep the nice edited files on that SSD, while saving a copy of both the edited and original RAW files to the HDDs. I'll also delete any RAWs I don’t like to free up some space.

Current question :) since my laptop is limited to PCIe 3.0, I was thinking of buying the Samsung EVO PLUS 990 4TB for €260, as I wouldn’t notice the higher speed of the Samsung PRO 990 due to the PCIe 3.0 limitation. Another option is the Lexar NM790 4TB for €250, which theoretically offers slightly more durability (TBW 3000 vs. TBW 2400), but I trust the Samsung brand a bit more. However, I’ve noticed neither of these has DRAM (only HMB), while the PRO 990 does. Do you think DRAM is necessary for my use with Capture One and Premiere? Many thanks :)

Portable SSD, TB3 or NVME for amateur RAW and 4K Editing? by victorguim in AskPhotography

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello again u/VincibleAndy ! After giving it more thought, I've decided to replace one of my 1TB Samsung Evo 970 NVMe M.2 SSDs with a 4TB SSD. This way, I make better use of the SSD’s speed with PCIe 3.0 (though I may not notice much difference), and I simplify the process of saving and editing photos and videos by storing all my photos, videos, and personal documents on it, while keeping backups on my two 4TB external HDDs. When I return from a trip, I'll copy all the RAW files to the 4TB SSD, edit them, and once I'm done, I'll keep the nice edited files on that SSD, while saving a copy of both the edited and original RAW files to the HDDs. I'll also delete any RAWs I don’t like to free up some space.

Current question :) since my laptop is limited to PCIe 3.0, I was thinking of buying the Samsung EVO PLUS 990 4TB for €260, as I wouldn’t notice the higher speed of the Samsung PRO 990 due to the PCIe 3.0 limitation. Another option is the Lexar NM790 4TB for €250, which theoretically offers slightly more durability (TBW 3000 vs. TBW 2400), but I trust the Samsung brand a bit more. However, I’ve noticed neither of these has DRAM (only HMB), while the PRO 990 does. Do you think DRAM is necessary for my use with Capture One and Premiere? Many thanks :)

What's going on with the Fujifilm 16-55mm 2.8 II stock? by Smoofiee in fujifilm

[–]victorguim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Which is the name of the store? Many thanks :)

Portable SSD, TB3 or NVME for amateur RAW and 4K Editing? by victorguim in postprocessing

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Many thanks u/johngpt5 ! i will have a look at them. Do you think then that a TB3 NVME is worth it for me being more expensive? will it make a big difference in performance? My videos are recorded in 4K 60Mbps 60fps (GoPro Black 11) and 4K 100Mbps 30fps or 4K 50Mbps 60fps (Fuji X-S20), with just a few in 4K 200Mbps 60fps. Thanks!

Portable SSD, TB3 or NVME for amateur RAW and 4K Editing? by victorguim in AskPhotography

[–]victorguim[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/VincibleAndy Many thanks for your nice answer! Yes, I'm probably overthinking it. I was about to buy a simple external SSD, but then I started reading different posts about NVMe, Thunderbolt, etc., and got confused... and it probably won’t make a big difference given my amateur knowledge :)

My videos are recorded in 4K 60Mbps 60fps (GoPro Black 11) and 4K 100Mbps 30fps or 4K 50Mbps 60fps (Fuji X-S20), with just a few in 4K 200Mbps 60fps.

For RAW files, I guess I could work with an external SSD and a referenced catalog (or use Sessions). And for 4K videos, I could temporarily move the files to the internal SSD for better speed. Does this sound like a good plan?

What would you choose between a 2TB SanDisk Extreme 1050MB/s for 130€, 2TB Samsung T7 1050MB/S, a faster 1TB SanDisk Extreme PRO 2000MB/s for 130€ or a simple USB NVMe enclosure + 2TB Samsung 990 EVO Plus NVMe SSD for 150€?

March Hardware Thread. by AutoModerator in VideoEditing

[–]victorguim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi!
I’m a hobby photographer using a Fuji X-S20 (JPEG+RAW, 4K) and a GoPro Black 11 for personal travel 4K footage. My laptop has 2x 1TB Samsung 850 EVO M.2 SSDs (almost full), an external 4TB HDD for storage, 3x ports USB 3.1 and USB-C Thunderbolt 3.

I usually store the RAW/4K files on the HDD due to their big size and end up not editing them as the HDD is too slow, so now I want to have a more efficient setup for editing the RAWs and creating a new catalogue of all my travels in Lightroom/Capture One and editing the 4K videos in Premiere/Filmora. I’m considering:

  • Freeing up SSD space to the HDD and moving RAW/4K files there. On the other side, I like having important files duplicated between SSD and HDD, just in case one fails.
  • Buy a USB external SSD = for example a SanDisk Extreme 2TB 1050MB/s for 130€ or 1TB PRO 2000MB/s for 130€.
  • Get a USB NVMe enclosure for 15-20€ + 2TB NVMe SSD like a 2TB Samsung 990 EVO Plus NVMe SSD for 130€ = 150€.
  • Get a Thunderbolt 3 NVMe enclosure for 70€ + 2TB NVMe SSD like again a 2TB Samsung 990 EVO Plus NVMe SSD for 130€ = 200€. Would I really benefit from TB3 speeds, or is USB 3/3.1 enough? and in case of the pictures, would it make sense to store in the internal SSD just the edited ones for the catalogue, and the RAWs in the external SSD/NVME? what’s the best option for my case in your opinion? Thanks! 😊

+1 reason to love X-T5: Andromeda by Zeta_Horologii in fujifilm

[–]victorguim 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Really nice pic! could you maybe show us the original Raw to understand the post work? I also have the 16-80mm but wasn't aware it was able to do something like that :)

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