Messages

1

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: dissapointed 6d 100mm f2 and 24mm 2.8 (non l)

« on: May 08, 2013, 01:01:59 PM »

i did use a cokin CPL on a lot of these shots including this one.

I see...in that case, a little softness at f/10 (which should be quite sharp, otherwise) doesn't come as a surprise.

yep i think its inferior quality filter that might be the culprit try a high quality hoya or B+W

I concur. When I got my 70-200 I also bought a cokin circular polarizer for it. With it on, all shots were soft. With it off, they were sharp. I returned it. It cost me a week of fuzzy pictures to find it out.

I've used the Cokin P system with their split neutral density filter and feel the photos were "mushy" in the neutral density area of the photos. I quit using it. Your high quality FF sensor likey doesn't play nice with a low quality CPL.

2

Animal Kingdom / Re: Show your Bird Portraits

« on: May 06, 2013, 10:05:28 PM »

Does anyone know what type of bird this one is? The photo was taken in eastern Ontario, Canada, on the edge of a marsh. I tried to ID it with a couple of bird books and just got confused....

Thanks!

Looks like a Yellow Warbler. If it has orange streaks on it's chest and belly, it's a male. If not, it's a female.

Nice shot!

3

EOS Bodies / Re: 21mp Sensor in the 7D Mark II? [CR1]

« on: April 20, 2013, 10:38:31 PM »

if the noise follows recent trends of becoming more filmy than blocky digital noise it will help greatly
as the noise from the newer sensors responds alot better to NR than the current 18MP range do

wickidwombat - I'm curious about the statement of noise becoming more filmy with new sensors. Can you point me to a place that I could find out more about this?

4

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 7D L Announced, Shipping in May

« on: April 01, 2013, 12:46:32 PM »

Got me for a minute!

5

Pricewatch Deals / Re: Nik Collection Bundle for $126.65

« on: March 29, 2013, 08:12:22 PM »

I received the offer on Monday 3/25 as well. I purchased the bundle around Christmas 2011 and it had V1 of HDR Efex Pro. The download contained V2 of HDR Efex Pro.

6

Software & Accessories / Re: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4... DOH!!!

« on: March 22, 2013, 03:15:13 PM »

Windows 7 is Windows XP fixed. I just got a new laptop with Windows 8. I got Start8 from Stardock, so no huge learning curve. Definately go for the 64bit OS.

7

Animal Kingdom / Re: How would you fix this RAW of 2 baby snow leopards

« on: March 20, 2013, 09:12:13 PM »

My attempt (after posting, I think it looks over sharpened).

8

Lenses / Re: Best sports lenses for Canon 7D

« on: March 20, 2013, 08:15:42 PM »

I have both the 70-200 f/2.8 IS II and the 70-200 f/4 IS (wife has now claimed the f/4). I prefer the shallower DOF that the one stop gives you with the f2.8. It really isolates the subject. It is also quite a bit heavier. I also had the 70-300 non L and while I got some nice sharp shots at times, I also got the opposite - some soft images. My 2 cents.

9

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Chasing Tack Sharp ... Just can't get there

« on: March 20, 2013, 02:12:26 PM »

use live view to focus, ...

+1

10

Video & Movie / Re: Iceland with my Mark III (feat. Orcas, Seals and Auroras)

« on: March 14, 2013, 10:37:16 PM »

Awesome! I really enjoyed the video and music.

11

EOS Bodies / Re: Need help. Canon 60D for sports--is it better to pony up for the 7D?

« on: March 06, 2013, 12:16:36 PM »

I would consider replacing the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS with one of the EF 70-200 L series as the first step. I am not a big fan of the 18-135 that I got with my 7D. It does not have the USM motor for fast focus, and my copy seemed soft. The negative part of this is, once you aquire a taste for L glass, it could be tough to kick the habit.

12

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Amazon vs B&H for purchase?

« on: March 03, 2013, 06:54:38 PM »

If you're in the mid-west somewhere, consider Norman Camera in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids Michigan. They are extremely knowledgable, give B&H pricing, have most everything in stock and provide free shipping on orders over $50. I get my stuff the next day living in NW Ohio (2 1/2 hours away). They also advertise on this website.

13

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Extenders - Kenko vs Canon 1.4's & 2.0's

« on: February 23, 2013, 10:59:57 AM »

I now use the Canon 2x III on a Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS II, and I am very pleased with the match.
The Canon 2x III doesn't show the ugly OOF-artifacts I observed on the 1.4x II.
Cheers

I am glad that combination has worked for you. I'll share a different experience.

I tried the 7D / 70-200 f2.8 IS II / 2X III combination. Intitial shots showed severe Front Focus Issues. I talked to the folks at CPS about the setup asking if Microadjustment settings would remember the combination as its own lens, or would it also apply those microadjustments to the 70-200 by its self also. They could not answer that question, so I exchanged that extender for another. I later discovered that the combination is remembered as it's own lens.

Based on the intial bad results with the replacement extender (and really wanting that combination to work for me) I tackled lens Microadjustment. What I discovered was that at 400mm, the setup was fairly accurate, (although also somewhat inconsistant) with little or no adjustement needed, but at 200mm I needed to adjust focusing to +12 on the -20 to +20 scale. I decided this was not going to work for me, so I returned the second extender.

I understand that lenses and extenders are built to tolerance ranges, and if the tolerances of the lens and extender are at the oposite ends of that range, problems could result. CPS suggested I borrow one of their 2x's to compare, as the ones I purchased may have be built together with similar tolernces towards one end of the scale. I have not tried that yet. I may give the 1.4x a shot but I really wanted to get to 400mm.

14

Animal Kingdom / Re: Show your Bird Portraits

« on: February 02, 2013, 09:16:15 PM »

This is my first photo posting on CR

15

HDR - High Dynamic Range / Re: Best HDR Software?

« on: January 14, 2013, 10:02:22 AM »

Just wondering which HDR Software you like to use the most? For me its Photomatix 4!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/josh_leff/8025373317/#in/set-72157631600291446/

If you're interested in HDR, Canon's DPP software that comes with their cameras now includes an HDR feature. They added this feature 8 to 10 months ago, so you may need to update the software from Canon's website. The benefit to the HDR feature in DPP is it's free.  They also added a compositing feature too for blending images.

I've dabbled with DPP, Photomatix, and Nik HDR, and I don't have a clear favorite at this point.