Messages

1

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM lens price announced at $799

« on: June 14, 2013, 05:12:50 AM »

Again this new Sigma lens looks really nice, has a nice price and although I haven't seen any images created with it I expect it to deliver good quality images as well, similar to other new Sigma offerings.

That makes me wonder how Sigma arrives at such low prices, especially in such a case where we can expect they would get away with asking for a couple of hundred $ more and get away with it without anyone complaining ? I do wonder where they cut the budget  .

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Moving from Canon 40D to Full Frame. Lens questions?

« on: June 14, 2013, 04:34:10 AM »

The 17-40mm zoom may not be the very best of wide angle choices, but it isn't so bad either. I primarily shoot wide angle primes (14mm L, 17mm TS-E and 24mm L), but sometimes the need for versatility makes me pick up my 17-40mm zoom and no it doesn't kill me to use it, not on a 1D-X nor on a 5D Mark III. I previously used the 17-40mm zoom on 40D, 50D and 7D, but I haven't put the lens on a crop body since I upgraded to full-frame.

Actually the 17-40mm zoom provides a much nicer zoom range on full frame than it does on crop, so yes, this lens will come into its own on a full frame body. It has not been designed for crop cameras. I expect you will be happy with it despite its flaws. In case you are desperate for better optical quality, you can still follow my route and collect wide angle primes .

In my opinion you can happily upgrade to a 6D and then your next priority should be getting that fabulous new 24-70mm Mark II to replace your ancient 28-80mm lens. Perhaps after that upgrade Canon will have something new in its lineup, because replacing your 17-40mm zoom with the 16-35mm zoom has limited benefits (see the review and many ongoing discussions on this forum regarding the 16-35mm lens).

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Software & Accessories / Re: What are the Hardware Specs for the machine you run Photoshop on?

« on: June 12, 2013, 05:19:43 AM »

Currently I am running the newest 15" Macbook Pro version, which in my case I believe has the exact same stats eml58 has listed for his Macbook Pro. Previously I used a custom-built Sony VAIO laptop highly similar to what Zv is using (different model number, but with the same stats, in my case without an SSD).

With the Sony I was already quite happy, but working with the new Macbook Pro is far smoother and that Retina display sure makes quite a lot of a difference for me. Given that with current hardware sufficient speed is given for most applications the difference in display resolution has become a key factor for me.

4

Animal Kingdom / Re: Show your Bird Portraits

« on: June 07, 2013, 04:19:04 AM »

Practicing BIF shots with my heron friend today (even though the background shows a construction site, he is not a crane ). Most of the shots were really bad ( I still have a long way to go) so these are the best of the lot. Suggestions/comments welcome. 7D/ 70-200L f/2.8 II.

Using a 7D these are very nice shots. In my opinion you would benefit most from using a full-frame camera with fast auto-focus and better per pixel sharpness than the 7D delivers. Using the same lens you will end up having to crop a bit, but that will allow you for example to keep the tail and feet of the bird in the frame easier than with the tighter framing of a 7D. This should yield visibly better results, but I must admit there is a substantial price tag attached, because I am thinking of what good a 1D-X or 5D Mark III might do to you.

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Canon General / Re: Newspaper Dumps Photographers, Wants Video

« on: June 07, 2013, 04:02:32 AM »

Paul, you raise a very good question here and I don't think this is beyond your pay grade at all. I also wonder about how information will be spread after newspapers as we know them have become more or less extinct.

On the positive side this trend might remove a lot of political agitation and propaganda, but what happens once we have only unchanneled information? In case of democracy taking away layers of obfuscation and manipulation is quite a good thing, as seen in the Swiss example. If you compare YouTube to old-fashioned TV, there is also a noticeable freedom of unwanted advertising, but then there are user comments out there on YouTube, which you wouldn't want to read at all, especially in case of religious themes. In such cases the quality of information actually becomes dependent on corporate censoring, which in such cases is a good thing.

The same trend may be happening to news and media in general, but we must all beware of companies misusing available streams of communication for viral marketing and how our precious information suddenly becomes dependent on very few corporate information sources such as Google.

6

Lenses / Re: What will be your next lens - and can you post a photo to explain why?

« on: June 07, 2013, 03:42:39 AM »

Oddly, although I do have the 8-15mm, I still would like to get a 14mm - because whilst the fisheye is wonderful, the "fisheye" effect needs to be used with care, with only vertical and horizontal lines passing through the centre of the lens remaining straight. Hence I can do landscapes, but to keep the horizontal level, it has to be in the middle of the frame.

As an example, in the shot below, I was slightly off, and so I got a curved horizon.

Deva: I get your point, but in your sample photo, I actually like the curved horizon.

I think sometimes it works better than others - I agree with you that in this case, I quite like it myself, possibly because it picks up on the curves of the flowers, and is slightly masked by the curve of the bay (so the far distant horizon isn't smiling/frowning). The fisheye demands careful composition to get it to work well - but when it does, it gives a very different perspective which I very much enjoy using.

Actually I don't think it is a negative feature that you have to frame carefully with a fish-eye lens, as I do like to spend some time thinking about framing before I shoot anyway.

Thanks for all the positive comments regarding Deva's fish-eye sample picture and of course thanks to Deva, because these comments actually support my view that this lens provides some very nice creative options.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Update or add a second body...what to do?

« on: June 07, 2013, 03:31:06 AM »

For me this appears as you would choose between two different requirements:
1) A small, but efficient walk-around option with no lens changes, but lighter - the Fuji X-E1
2) A very nice priced SLR with lots of professional features, although not a full-frame model - the 7D

The price loss of a 7D I would not even consider worth thinking about. It is a very nicely priced camera right now and it will likely remain a valid option at that price point for some time to come. Cameras do not rot away suddenly, just because a newer version came out.

The primary question for you should be: Do you want to be able to switch lenses with your everyday camera or would you be happy just using the kit lens with the Fuji? If you basically want both options, which one is more important?

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Lenses / Re: What will be your next lens - and can you post a photo to explain why?

« on: June 05, 2013, 03:40:50 AM »

The next lens for me will most likely be Canon's fish eye zoom. Sometimes even a 14mm is not wide enough, so that's my reason.

What you do not see in that shot of a small hotel in Muscat is that the building surrounds the pool on all sites with the same kind of Arabian architecture style. The latter is what got me to take the shot in the first place, because that pool plus building setup goes back to very ancient roots.

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Canon General / Re: Newspaper Dumps Photographers, Wants Video

« on: June 04, 2013, 05:56:38 PM »

Please correct me, if I am wrong.

My assumption is that generally news consumption moves from old-fashioned paper to internet access, which is accompanied by a move to replace stills, which would fit print media by videos, which are supposed to be good enough for the internet. Surprisingly the movie quality on news websites is usually astonishingly bad. My expectation is that the measurement for success at news sites is nowadays how long a consumer actually stays on the site, instead of the quality of reporting and associated images. If this is indeed the case, then it should be rather clear, why excellently written short articles plus professional photos telling/supporting the story are a thing of the past, because these would allow the consumer to leave the internet site rather quickly. Add to this the difference in production costs and you've got a rather depressing picture of where we are heading in this area.

What has been mentioned in this thread remarkably often is the imposition of a marked political bias in news media, which pretty much alienates me to a lot of information spread by corporations selling news or even worse by government-owned media. The more we know, the more critical we must become towards what is presented as news, which in my humble opinion is at least in part a reason, why this kind of business is on its way to extinction.

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United States / Re: Traveling abroad with photography equipment

« on: April 11, 2013, 01:40:40 AM »

Regarding weight limits for carry-on luggage please check out British Airways.

In my experience they have the best weight limit regulations for hand baggage.
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bagcabin/public/en_us#

The difference to the sadly common unusually useless 8 kg allowance is striking.

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Lenses / Re: Europe Vacation: Equipment Advice

« on: April 04, 2013, 07:59:53 AM »

You can find useable tripods practically anywhere. Just rent one instead of bringing one to keep your baggage weight down.

If you want to do a night photo shoot in one of the larger European cities you might be able to locate a pro photo shop situated in the area, where you can rent a tripod.

In addition you can ask someone you meet carrying a tripod, if this person would lend you that tripod for a moment. This ad hoc approach has worked fine for me.

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Reviews / Re: Most Objective and Less Objective REVIEWER?

« on: April 04, 2013, 05:05:36 AM »

@comsense:

Incredible, you actually believe that a machine might provide less biased information compared to a human being. How can this be? 

Do you believe that machines are created by some sort of greater and completely flawless beings or have you already realized that machines tend to be man-made and as such bring in their own flaws and bias based on how a machine has been designed? 

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Canon General / Re: European travel?

« on: April 04, 2013, 04:48:18 AM »

@Deva:
I generally agree with your comment regarding tripods, but for night time photography a tripod may come in quite handy, especially if used extensively for night time exposures.

If there is no opportunity for night time photography, then a tripod would indeed be a waste of space and effort, but things look differently, if there are lots of opportunities. Not everyone will bring in a 1D-X and f1.4 and f1.2 lenses for night time photography and there are also limits to the usefulness of shallow depth of field in those circumstances.

I myself have often enjoyed the opportunity of loaning a tripod locally. This is a much better option than bringing your own.

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Lenses / Re: Need your opinions on selling my 50L and 24/70L

« on: March 25, 2013, 10:01:54 AM »

Well, I own both of these lenses and I tend to use them a lot. Pardon me, if you think they are too close in focal length.

My point is: If the OP sells the 50L and later purchases the 85L and then realizes missing the 50L's focal length, then selling the 50L is just a waste of money, isn't it?

15

Lenses / Re: Need your opinions on selling my 50L and 24/70L

« on: March 25, 2013, 09:45:40 AM »

It makes sense to exchange only the 24-70 for the mark ii without selling the 50L, especially if you love the 1.2 and want to purchase an 85L in the future. 50L and 85L make for a beautiful combination of prime lenses. They are not too close in focal length.