Messages

1

EOS Bodies / Re: !!!FIRST!!! - Full Frame Mirrorless Camera

« on: November 19, 2012, 02:05:49 PM »

...We don't advertise anything and unless you're really looking for a product you would never know we made it. I'm so tired of watching great products get launch with zero visibility.

hmmm... not sure about this statement. Sony doesn't advertise their products you say? I am seeing an awful lot of PS3/ Vita adverts around at the moment. What about their smartphones? Never seen an Experia Play advert anywhere? The Vaio laptop range?

Just saying... Don't get me wrong I'm not bashing you or the company you work for - I own and love a lot of sony products, but that statement somehow doesn't wash with me.

2

EOS Bodies / Re: real-world autofocus on 5d2

« on: October 29, 2012, 04:08:11 PM »

I have the Mark II and don't plan on selling it. I don't yet have the Mark III but will likely pick one up in the future.

I have no issues with the 5D Mark II's autofocus capability and isn't quite sure what all the complains regarding its AF are about. While I don't yet have the Mark III to make comparisons,  everything that I have read has unanimously agreed and praised its vastly improved AF system. It's a major selling point for many that have upgraded. However, my Mark II continues to deliver beautiful, crisp images for me. I use center point focusing with back focusing to recompose and the technique is simple and natural.

Blurred images I have seen are generally a result of my incorrect settings – too low an ISO setting in dimlight which is easily fixed by pushing up the ISO to get a faster shutter speed for handholding. I rarely get blurred images. Most would fall in user's error and not in the fault of the camera. In my opinion, unless you're a professional pushing the limits shooting fast action or extreme lowlight, the Mark II is plenty of camera that can handle most situations. I've seen amazing images shot with the Mark II and even from the Rebel line and equally have seen bad images shot with the Mark III or 1D-X. In the end, I think it's really the skills of the photographer and rarely the fault of the camera. Sure, having the Mark III, a 1D-X or even a D800 certainly helps, but I also think exercising better shooting/focusing techniques will also vastly improve the final results of an image using any camera.

+1 Well said. Couldn't agree more.

3

Canon General / RAW conversion for .NEF files??

« on: September 22, 2012, 12:12:33 PM »

Hi all,

I've been given some raw files that were shot with a Nikon to edit and process. As I'm a Canon shooter, I wanted to know if anyone knows what software would be best to view/edit these .NEF files?
I usually use DPP for all my canon RAW files, and have in the past also used Capture One and Adobe Camera RAW, but don't currently have either installed on my machine.

Any thoughts?

PS: I realise I would be better off posting this on a Nikon forum, but I don't really want to go through the process of creating a user account, configuring my profile, blablabla...

4

Canon General / Re: Loving Canon right now.

« on: September 18, 2012, 07:44:50 PM »

Hi all!

Op here, I posted the opening statement last night whilst once again suffering from insomnia. I've just spent the last 45 minutes reading each and every reply here (sorry, not a very fast reader) and am really grateful for peoples thoughts on this.
I get that some of you don't like the car analogy. Fair enough - might not work for everyone and that's ay okay imho. Axilrod got it right mind you, I was referring to pricing, not specs -because that would be mental. Whoever was comparing the BMW 320D to the Golf R - I do take your point, but I also think your argument is flawed. You're comparing one of the lowest spec 3 series diesels to the top of the line Golf. If you took top models from both you'd be more likely looking at Golf R vs. M3. I know where my money would be... Although I digress heavily at this point...

There seems to be a fair bit of chatter about Canon being innovative and pushing the envelope in the last few years until let's say, uh, 12 months ago. Do we think Nikon shooters have been muttering stuff like we are for the last decade only to come up top trump now? Maybe. I've always been a firm believer in 'what goes up, must come down'. And I truly feel the tables will turn again, and again, and again...

Someone else said I was being too reasonable. Quite possibly - my wife often says the same. The bottom line for me is that right now, the Canon line-up (in my own humble opinion) is looking so much better than it did 12 months ago when I bought my 5DII, and back then these forums were overall extremely positive. Maybe it's the loss of Karma that's turned things slightly. Although I will admit I hated the whole Karma thing... And now, 12 months on, we have a lot more being offered and far less people are happy. What gives? Someone else mentioned photographers/consumers expectations and I do think this is a really valid point. We're so used to expecting the next best (sorry, better) thing every 6-12 months these days. Look at smartphones, tablets etc... Maybe it's a sign of me growing old (or up? I'm 32 by the way, have been shooting for 15 years), but these things are moving so fast now, it's just weird how quickly people turn on what was 'awesome' not too long ago.

Anyways, I genuinely respect ALL of your views and am now going to have a fag (that's a cigarette to those who are unfamiliar with brit terminology) and check out todays studio session, shot with my brilliant Canon camera, about 350 photos to go through - love it. Have a great night all and can't wait to see if this develops any further.

Cheers,
Steve

PS: Can't remember the exact quote of that video link, but the sentiment of 'everything is perfect, and no-one is happy might have to be new signature for my work email. Genius - thanks!

5

Canon General / Loving Canon right now.

« on: September 17, 2012, 09:11:27 PM »

This post is not intended to start a war on this forum, but I just wanted to voice my support for Canon at this point in time. Reading through recent forum posts on here, I get the impression that most people have gotten really fed up with the company and their products... I for one can't quite understand why? Call me a fanboy (whatever, I've also shot Nikon dslr, and going back a few years...ahem decades... Minoltas and Pentax 35mm slrs), but the sheer choice right now is brilliant if you ask me. Last year I was in the position of wanting to upgrade to Full Frame, and at the time there was literally only one (I will stand corrected on this - please do let me know) body in the canon lineup that I could consider for FF: The 5DII, which is what I bought. I've been very, very happy with my purchase, but alas, if Iwas making the jump right now, like a lot of people seem to be, I would have the choice of 4 bodies: 1DX, 6D, 5DII or 5DIII - seems to me like a great time to be entering the canon fullframe arena!?

I'm interested to hear why people are becoming more and more unhappy with canon products? If it's the price, in my opinion this doesn't really count... I know I'm gonna take some flack for this, but you get what you pay for and if you can;t afford it, either save your money or look elsewhere. I would like to drive a BMW M5, but I can't afford it. Instead I drive a humble VW golf. Doesn't stop me lusting after the M5, but I wouldn't start complaining to BMW about the price, and demand it drops down to VW pricing. It's simply out of my reach at this point. Tough totty.

As far as I can see it's a great time to be doing photography and canon is still the first port of call for me. My 5DII still takes awesome shots and I intend to keep it for another 5 years, much like my 400D before that.

6

Software & Accessories / Re: iMac As Display / Calibration

« on: September 16, 2012, 11:51:21 AM »

+1.
Couldn't agree more. Apple products have gotten so expensive it makes it harder and harder to justify. Don't get me wrong I work on an iMac every day at work because the company is happy to spend the cash, but at home I recently re-built my tower for less than £300. That's a new mobo, graphics card, 4GB of memory, intel core i3 2100 3.1 ghz processor and another 500Gb harddrive. And as mentioned above, Win7 is as good if not better than XPpro, which I too used for about a decade. The rest of the money I saved on PC hardware went towards my 5DMkII.

Not bashing Apple here, but they most certainly do not do value-for-money.

I think that's the main place where a Windows PC has advantages. You mentioned UPGRADING your tower vs building a new one. If you don't have buy all the parts and can reuse what you have then I agree using a PC can be very tempting. You mention pounds as well so I assume you're in the UK? In this case the price for Apple products is higher than it is for me in the states. For what you paid for your upgrade you could almost buy a mac mini in the states which is pretty comparable to what you listed.

Yes you're right - I was upgrading, so monitor, keyboard, wacom tablet, even the tower casing, power supply and old hdds stayed the same. And indeed I often forget that we here in rip-off britain are asked to spend even more on Apple goods...   

7

Sports / Re: Best (free) website to post sports photos to?

« on: September 16, 2012, 11:45:51 AM »

I understand you said it should be free, but Flickr does sound like a pretty good fit for this. If you pay the annual fee of $24.95 you get unlimited storage. If you're shooting as an official photographer for a school, surely you could make a case for the school to shoulder this cost?

8

Software & Accessories / Re: iMac As Display / Calibration

« on: September 15, 2012, 01:09:50 PM »

So I'm thinking of getting the next iMac when it comes out. I've seen some post on here of people that use it for a monitor. I guess a few questions.

#1 - I'm currently using an eMachine monitor that I got for like $90 running on a Hackintosh I built. Overall everything works pretty well for what it is but I do realize I need something better 1 - for speed and 2 - for more calibrated coloring. The iMac for around $1200 seems like the best route to go. It'll be 3-4 times faster than my current system and I would assume the display will be much better. The alternative would be to build either a regular windows computer or another hackintosh and buy a nice external monitor. I wouldn't want to spend quite as much if I went this route as it's more work on my part and it has its faults (system not monitor). All that to say, would the iMac be equal to or better than what I could get otherwise for say $900-$1000?

#2 - If I do go with an iMac, I've read that the display panels are high quality but the profile they're setup with is not accurate so I will need to calibrate the display. I have two options here. Either 1 - Buy a calibrator in the $150 to $200 range or 2 - rent the colormunki from lensrentals. I guess this comes down to, can I get something in the $150 to $200 price range that will get me pretty close color wise or do I need something higher end like the colormunki. If I did rent the colormunki, how often do I need to calibrate my monitor? Would once a year be enough or how often are we talking? I like that the colormunki can also calibrate printers as well since I have a Canon iP4920 that tends to not match what I see on the screen. Thanks for your input.

I don't understand Mac's anymore. All the Adobe software used to be exclusive mac programs but now they run under windows. Why Spend More $$$ when you could use that money alone to also buy the software? I've just installed Windows 7 Pro and its the best thing since Windows XP pro. Stable, Fast, and you don't have to keep buying new versions every year. Hopefully, Win 7 will last a decade like Win XP did.

My system is older but still tweaking my PSD's and CR2's just fine.

Intel E6600 - OC'ed to 2.93ghz
Nvidia GTS 8800 - 640MB ram
4GB of 667mhz DDR2 RAM
El Cheapo Motherboard - Biostar
JBOD hard disk's

Anyway, any monitor your using can be improved with calibration. I use the Spyder 3 Elite right now but newer versions are out already. IPS monitors are the best, but meh, Unless everyone viewing your photos has IPS screens calibrated, They won't look there best anyway. I calibrate Weekly and my Acer-Asus monitors have been color accurate to our print company.

Your mileage may vary, but IMO, I'd never buy a mac.

+1.
Couldn't agree more. Apple products have gotten so expensive it makes it harder and harder to justify. Don't get me wrong I work on an iMac every day at work because the company is happy to spend the cash, but at home I recently re-built my tower for less than £300. That's a new mobo, graphics card, 4GB of memory, intel core i3 2100 3.1 ghz processor and another 500Gb harddrive. And as mentioned above, Win7 is as good if not better than XPpro, which I too used for about a decade. The rest of the money I saved on PC hardware went towards my 5DMkII.

Not bashing Apple here, but they most certainly do not do value-for-money.

9

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Decision made, it will be a 5D2 w/BG

« on: August 21, 2012, 01:00:59 PM »

Decision made.  I'm going with a 5D2 with a Canon battery grip (I have BGs on my 50D and 7D so I'm used to the feel) and use the $1500 toward new glass or a higher MP FF Canon should one become available in the future.  I like the idea of a Digic 5+ instead of a Digic 4 but my goal is to get started in the FF world.  The 5D2 is the least expensive way to get a new camera and get into FF.  I get a new body every 3 years and who knows what happens then?  Thanks, everyone!

Congrats! I think you made a great choice here. The 5DII is a fantastic camera and the AF issue is honestly blown out of all proportions. That centre point on that body is bang on in my opinion. And getting more glass with the rest of your budget will go a long way.

10

Portrait / Re: My photos look so dull

« on: August 18, 2012, 11:24:41 AM »

I love how examples of rescuing the image are so oversaturated and clipped.

What I did:

Created two layers in CS5, Top layer was a screen overlay, pulled back until the brightness was correct.
Auto levels
Auto curves
Auto colour

Then manually edited the RGB values in levels with the slider. The grey of the jacket is perfect for getting a neutral reading from.

Then added contrast by dodging the highlights around the light spots, bit of the jacket, forehead and tips of the hair.

Use your eyes, does the skin look green? blue? and bit purply? Skin tones are your colour and brightness barometer. Nobody cares about the jeans, or the jacket, or the grass. We'll look straight at the face and go 'that looks weird'.

Keep it real, don't go balls out and over saturating things like the examples on here.

+1

This is the only edit in this thread I would consider good. Gets my vote for sure, and I'm not a museum curator.
A lot of shockingly bad understanding of what processing is and when/how to apply it on the rest of these edits.

11

Site Information / Re: In Sympathy for CR Guy

« on: July 17, 2012, 12:29:18 PM »

Christ. My condolences to you and family.

12

EOS Bodies / Re: Any actual photographers out there?

« on: July 08, 2012, 09:42:02 AM »

OP - can you expand on what you deem to be poor photography?

Reason I ask is that a lot of my images seem to divide viewers reactions quite a bit. Some people (including fellow photographers) have given me praise, published my images and even given me a photographer of the year award. Others, again including fellow photographers, call my work tacky, over-processed and 'not real photography'.

As said before, photography or art in general is highly subjective. I've always been happy to accept that some will love my work, others think it's a lot of shite.
Would love to hear how you quantify an image as being of 'high quality'??

Regards,
Steve

13

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Film is still hard to beat

« on: June 10, 2012, 05:40:38 AM »

I am 57years old..I shot commercially for 30 years...product illustration..but always managed to keep my hands in the art side of things. I spent more hours in a darkroom than you have sleeping.  I am just so over film....digital is exciting and shows me MANY things that I NEVER saw on film. I do NOTHING on auto...why so many assumptions?  Why talk at me??..you know nothing about me other than the opinion I laid down.  Never assume anything.  Here is my flicker page....I am in a dark phase right now.  Maybe you will dig it...maybe you won't ..who cares....I LOVE it!!!!!!!  :-)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bowne

Wow - am loving your flickr stream. Especially the recent series - Awesome work!

14

EOS Bodies / Re: Touch Screen in Future Full-Frames?

« on: June 08, 2012, 09:44:12 AM »

Personally, I would welcome a touch display - even on pro bodies. And to be honest, let's face it, it's only a matter of time before it will be common place on every body.

How many people still reckon they prefer buttons on a phone these days?

I am however not so keen in the vari-angle job... would much prefer a completely flat backplate that is all touch screen technology.

15

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: Flashes, AF Assist and focusing in the dark

« on: May 29, 2012, 04:22:39 PM »

What body and lens combo are you using to take these shots?