Messages

1

Animal Kingdom / Re: Wrong Photography Ethics?

« on: May 09, 2013, 02:43:38 PM »

To me, if it was not there at the time of capture, then it's unethical.
You can argue about composition, putting stuff into the photo, choosing angle, etc... All of those are FINE as long as you do it at the time of capture. At least, it will show that you have some vision. But you don't have to tell anyone what you did with the photo; however, you cannot fool yourself.

2

Software & Accessories / Re: The biggest problem with Adobe Creative Cloud

« on: May 08, 2013, 03:37:27 PM »

once you stop paying adobe, you can't even open your files it seems!

It's not that they lock your file or anything. Once you stop paying, your software will no longer work, just the software not the file. For example, if you work in PS and save your file as TIFF and cancel the subscription, you can use other program to open your TIFF file. So you can convert all your PSD files to TIFF before cancelling. That's why Adobe doesn't have to make any "READER" program. What's the point of making PSD reader when you can view it but cannot edit anything. Then may as well convert them to TIFF, save the trouble. Also TIFF can store layers too.

3

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

« on: May 06, 2013, 11:51:45 AM »

i suppose it is the focus, i only used the centre point and recomposed, but so many the focus is off, i was in egypt so light wasnt a problem, and i was also trekking in uganda and the landscape shots just lack punch. the colours and contrast just seem a bit wrong. out of 1000 pictures and some extensive sharpening, there arnt that many im happy with!

id upload a few shots but frankly im embarresed. i feel a bit cheated out of money spent.  im gonna have to rent an expensive l lens and compare, but at the moment, im really disheartened.

Focus and recompose is a sure way to make your photo miss focus when shooting wide open.

4

Lenses / Re: Samyang 24 TS confirmed for Photokina!

« on: April 29, 2013, 03:21:52 PM »

Sample Images : http://www.lenstip.com/2043-news-Samyang_T-S_24_mm_f_3.5_ED_AS_UMC_-_sample_images.html

Not that impressive.

5

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D3 Live View exposure off

« on: April 26, 2013, 11:54:56 AM »

I recently got back my 5D3 from CPS after dropping it.  Everything was fine until I went to take some macro shots using Live View.  Exposure seems way way off.  It looks fine on screen, but comes out about 100 times darker than it should.  If I take it off Live View and shoot regular, exposure is exactly what I want.  Doing this on another 5D3 I don't have this problem.

It seems really weird to me this would be happening, and I'll probably just send it back to CPS for checking out, but I wanted to see if anyone else had experienced this and if they resolved it on their own.

Thanks,
-Chris

If the setting for exposure stimulation is off, the LV doesn't show the exposure you set. It just display the screen with "correct" exposure for you to focus and compose.
The best setting is to set exposure stimulation is off and only activate upon pressing DOF Preview button. If exposure stimulation is set to always on, it's hard to shoot in low light condition.

6

Software & Accessories / Re: ColorChecker passport, what's wrong?

« on: April 25, 2013, 11:57:01 AM »

I have similar problem with CCP. I even replace the different one, but it turns out the monitor profile is dated. The CCP software does use the monitor profile when creating the profile. How long ago has you calibrated your monitor?

7

Technical Support / Re: Grey card and spot metering

« on: April 22, 2013, 12:23:53 PM »

Hi All,

I take lots of photos of dogs and I'm trying to get more accurate exposures of black dogs and white dogs and other dogs that tend to confuse me and my 50d's metering.

I thought I'd try to set my exposure using a 18% grey card, thus getting a correct exposure no matter what colour of dog I was photographing.
To do this I bought a grey card which, as I understand it, I hold in the same light as the dog and take a meter reading from the grey card. So far so good.
So I hold the card at arms length and take a meter reading using spot metering. From this reading I expect to see a histogram with a spike in the centre of the histogram and the rest should be blank.
My grey card fills at least 50% of my 50d's frame so a spot meter reading from just 3.8% of the frame should see nothing but my grey card

However this is never the case. My histograms have spikes all over the range, so my camera is getting metering information from much more than just the central 3.8% of the frame.

I thought I could get away with just a small pocket sized grey card but if the metering is not actually the central 3.8% of the frame I will have to get bigger pockets and a much bigger grey card that fills the entire frame and then it won't matter what metering I use.

Does anyone know if canon spot metering is  supposed to just take a reading from just the central portion of the frame and nothing else?

Please try this for yourselves, hold anything with a solid colour up at arms length and take a spot meter reading and let me know what result you get.

Thank you. Simon

This spot metering is only measured inside the circle you see in your viewfinder. However, the histogram is for the whole image, not just the central spot. So if you take the photo of course you'll see the histogram spike in many places not just in the middle unless your greycard fill the entire frame. The important thing is do get the correct exposure? Don't worry too much about spike in histogram.

8

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: Anyone use Wasabi Power Batteries?

« on: April 20, 2013, 12:47:39 AM »

I'm thinking of picking some up for my 5D Mark II/III. Seems too good to be true:

http://www.amazon.com/Wasabi-Power-Battery-Canon-LP-E6/dp/B0041MY32Y/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Anyone use these? Are they worth or should I stick to the Canon brand?

Sterlingtek Battery is the best for 5DMII/III and 6D for the same price. Google search on it, you'll see tons of people using for years and no problem. I bet you cannot even find bad review about this brand of battery (except people buy it for the wrong camera). The battery looks high-end just like Canon one. They said the battery cell is made-in-Japan. I used them for my 30D for 5 years. Now I bought them for my 6D also. My friend has it for his 5DMII for 4 years now, no problem what-so-ever. I have Wasabi battery for Nex-3C but I find it loses charges pretty fast.
Canon battery is overprice IMHO. It likes some people use Shell gasoline and some other use Arco. I would never just buy any battery. But Sterlingtek has been used by many people so many years with really good review. So I trusted them. But it's just my opinion.
http://www.amazon.com/STKs-Canon-LP-E6-Battery-2600/dp/B005DEHVC8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1366433245&sr=1-1&keywords=Sterlingtek+LP-E6

9

Lenses / Re: I have just lost confidence with Canon Rumors & B&H

« on: April 17, 2013, 02:24:15 AM »

I saw the headline "new bigger savings from B&H". The lens I purchased yesterday, the 24-70 f2.8 ii is now $2099 vs $2049 I paid yesterday. How is this better??? My attempt at posting this earlier was blocked.

BH Photo guarantee price 30 days after purchase. You just need to contact customer service and they'll refund the different for you.
I bought the 6D and it drops $100 the next day. BHphoto gave me the refund $100. Then 3 days later, it drops another $50. I contact BH again, and they gave me back $50. No question ask.

10

Software & Accessories / Re: Lightroom 5 Beta available for download!!

« on: April 15, 2013, 06:53:40 PM »

5 already

Talk about extortion :-/   Surely two years between versions should be ample, this annual cycle of upgrades is already annoying with AutoCAD that I use in my day job...  Don't want to be upgrading every year !

Grrrr

It's not "already". It is still beta. It will take a while. Just ignore this news and don't upgrade. I don't see a point of complaining when they're releasing new version. If you think new features doesn't worth the upgrade, nothing is wrong with your current version so keep using it.

11

6D Sample Images / Re: Anything shot with a 6D

« on: April 11, 2013, 12:53:47 PM »

Thanks Delish,

A few posts back I included the test setup shot but it didn’t display fully on this forum.  However, I checked and the original photo is visible if you click on the incomplete forum photo.  I shot many samples at ISO 100 and even repeated using WiFi remote release while viewing enlarged on my computer.  I tried many AFMA settings and found that I needed +ve adjustment for all three  - 300, 300X1.4 and 300X2.  I spent a whole day repeating and checking and repeating and .....  I typically get accused of being tooooo fussy.

I ran into some repeatability issues which seemed to imply that the lenses don’t do exactly the same AF all the time so I manually placed the lens at infinity before each test, as suggested.

The test board I made was angled at 45 degrees.  I don’t understand what you mean by parallel to the shutter as that would seem to show no test board.  I had used a laser level to get the height for the shot and had gone directly perpendicular to my house 47 feet while the board was square to the house wall.  The fabric and tape measure on the board provide a fair amount of detail.  Of course I may still be missing something (the Canon rep suggested the camera settings and outdoor higher light so I could use ISO 100). 

Apologies, for my posts starting to go off topic but hopefully these things may interest and help others who may get into the same situation.

I've included a closer resized test shot that shows the board better.  Focus bang on center of Mitutoyo in all my shots.

6D 24-70F4L IS @ 70 F4 1/1000 ISO 100 +2/3 exp one-shot spot metering

Jack

I didn't read the whole thing but from the photo above it's not accurate way to test or calibrate your lens. Auto focus area is actually bigger than the "square" you see in your viewfinder. So with that setup, there is high contrast area both up and down the ruler that will be inside your camera focus area. Thus, you may think that you lens is off but it may be just "perfect". That is why people use a focus chart that is parallel with the image sensor to avoid this problem.

12

Software & Accessories / Re: Nik Software worth it?

« on: April 07, 2013, 03:52:49 PM »

I am wondering if someone can walk me through how they use the Nik suite in their workflow of editing landscape images. I really like Lightroom 4 and feel comfortable using it...would I use the Nik software after all of my adjustments in Lightroom 4? Can I do things with the software that I can't in Lightroom (specifically with the color efex and silver efex programs)?

Thanks!

Check out their blog at : http://education.niksoftware.com/category/filter-friday/
It has video and tutorial for all the filter in the collection. It's really really helpful.
2 filters that are most used in CEP4 for landscapes are: Detail Extractor and Brilliant/Warmth. Those 2 filters are hard to replicate in photoshop or Lightroom (you can replicate it, but not as easy as the plug-in).

13

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Just bought a 6D

« on: April 04, 2013, 06:21:19 PM »

I've been using my 7D for a couple years, but have been dying to get a full frame for a while.  I debated selling the 7D and getting a 5DIII, but decided to keep the 7D and pick up a 6D.  I can use them both with my 24-105L and 70-300L lenses.  I love the reach and speed of the 7D for birds/sports.

On my 7D I've used auto ISO with a maximum of 800.  What would you suggest is a comparable maximum ISO for the 6D?

Thanks.

Everyone has his/her own standard. So why not judge it for yourself. Shoot a series of photograph from ISO3200 and up. Load everything in your favorite software then see at which ISO you cannot tolerate the noise anymore. It's easy to do and you will not regret later "oh, I should have not listen to xxx." It's a great camera, congratulation and enjoy.

14

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon 5D MK3 or 6D Replacements... when?

« on: April 04, 2013, 06:10:05 PM »

ok... that helps me making a decision.

one more question about the 5D MK3 and 6D.
one thing im not very happy with is the default skin colors out of my 7D.
they are to redish.

and while im pretty good with photoshop it´s annoying that i have to adjust the skintones.
i have a 300 euro olympus M43 that delivers much better skintones out of camera.

are the skintones better with the 6D and 5D MK3?
what are your experiences?
 

With Photoshop/Lightroom you can change your camera profile to get the "correct" skin tone. Search Colorcheck passport or Custom DNG profile. I never have any skin tone problem with Canon. Doesn't mean to offense, but from what you are saying I think you should spend more time to learn more about photography than chasing gears. I was in the same situation at you, always hold out for the best. But now, I'm more confident with my techniques and knowledge. I can proudly say throw me any camera I can make good pictures. What's the point of printing big but crappy photo right? There is always something better. If Canon release something "better" within a year, they can release something better than better in the next year, and a year after. Do you want to wait forever? Or do you want to get out and enjoy photographing the world? Just my 2 cents.

15

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Why is my 6D Long exp. noise reduction giving MORE noise? (pics inside)

« on: March 29, 2013, 04:42:23 PM »

Long exposure NR use the dark-frame subtraction method and it doesn't remove random noise. And it is worst if you are using high ISO also.