Messages

1

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: I love big gear

« on: January 24, 2013, 03:29:17 AM »

Pansies  The LSST camera will be the largest digital camera ever constructed, measuring roughly 5' x 10'

And that doesn't even include the front lens: the 8.4 meter diameter mirror and the building to support it! http://www.lsst.org

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Lenses / Re: Which (if any) non-L lenses are enviro-sealed?

« on: December 14, 2012, 02:38:26 AM »

My main lens though is the 100-400L, which is less sealed than the 70-300L. After some hours in the rain, the 100-400L will develop condensation inside which blocks the optical path. Unless you really love the soft focus look, I switch to a backup lens and keep shooting.

Switching lenses during rain to get better sealing doesn't sound like a good idea, unless you can get away from the rain to do that.

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Lenses / Re: Canon EF 50 f/1.4 IS in 2013 [CR2]

« on: December 12, 2012, 03:11:33 PM »

I'm a bit skeptical despite of the CR2 rating. The fastest Canon with IS is the EF 200/2.0L IS. I don't know if any other manufacturer has a faster lens with IS, but I suspect not. It would be a major leap to get IS to a f/1.4 lens.

I'm more inclined to believe an EF 50/1.4 II.

4

Lenses / Re: 1Dx or lenses

« on: November 23, 2012, 12:43:50 PM »

With both the 100/2.8L and the 70-200/2.8L IS II, a 135/2.0L would a bit redundant (unless you shoot concerts). I agree that a standard zoom seems to be missing in your lineup. The 24-105/4L or one of the 24-70's should do.

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Lenses / Re: Portrait lenses

« on: November 23, 2012, 12:32:31 PM »

For example, the 600/4L IS II

If I were just starting out, and being on a  budget, would this be a good lens?

Depends on your budget... I think only the 800/5.6L IS is more expensive among the Canon lenses

The portrait EF lens budget ladder looks something like (going to more expensive lenses)

85/1.8 or 100/2.0
135/2.0L
85/1.2L II or 70-200/2.8L IS II
200/2.0L IS

To me, the 70-200/2.8L IS II is the perfect middle ground with its zoom flexibility. Sure, you don't get the ultra-thin focal depth, but sometimes it's actually preferable to have both eyes in focus The Sigma EX 85/1.4 might be a great alternative as well, sitting between EF 85/1.8 and EF 135/2.0L. A disadvantage of the zoom (apart from price) is that it is heavier than the primes and brings attention with its size and white colour.

6

Lenses / Re: New EF-S Lenses Are Coming [CR2]

« on: November 22, 2012, 12:55:42 AM »

The only relevant downside to FF is the higher cost of bodies and often lenses.

For the equivalent specs/quality, FF lenses would actually be cheaper than APS-C - if equivalent lenses really existed. The EF-S 17-55/2.8 (on APS-C) and EF 24-105/4L (on FF) are probably the best examples, the EF 85/1.2L II (on APS-C) and EF 135/2.0L (on FF) is another example with similarly spec:ed lenses with the second lens being half the price. Even with the cheaper lens, I would expect the IQ to be better on the FF. If there was an EF-S 85/1.2 lens made that actually rivaled the EF 135/2.0L on FF, it would probably have to be even more expensive than the current EF 85/1.2L II.

7

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5d2 vs 6d

« on: November 18, 2012, 02:02:18 PM »

Honestly, I don't know what all the gripes about the Mark II's AF being slow are all about.

I found the 5D2 to be inadequate when it came track moving objects. The 7D and 5D3 do that much better. Otherwise the center-point speed/accuracy/sensitivity is fine on the 5D2.

8

Lenses / Re: New 50 Finally on the Way? [CR1]

« on: November 04, 2012, 07:35:19 AM »

I wouldn't put it past Canon to make a new EF 50mm f/1.8 IS USM intended for video.

Or why not EF 50mm f/2.8 IS USM for $700, in line with recent trends.

9

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS Bodies - The ultimate duo & why

« on: October 19, 2012, 02:51:03 PM »

While it may not be the best for the moon, I bet you get some amazing auroras.

If I lived in Canada that would be true, but in Europe you have to go even more north to see them regularly (although they show up here in Stockholm from time to time). I got a good display while visiting Yellowknife in Canada in 2009, however (50D, EF-S 10-22 f/3.5-4.5 USM @ 10mm/3.5, ISO 800, 15sec).

10

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS Bodies - The ultimate duo & why

« on: October 19, 2012, 11:24:54 AM »

Yes, I agree that the relatively softer image from 7D could very well be due to atmospheric distortion, since they were not simultaneous and due to the low altitude of the moon. This was in the summer, however, and from my location the moon did not rise much higher that night (I live on 59 deg northern latitude). If I find the time and a clear night I will repeat the experiment this winter with the moon much higher up (and a 5D3).

11

EOS Bodies / Re: do crop sensors really add reach?

« on: October 19, 2012, 02:32:58 AM »

Just adding my moon comparisons of 7D vs. 5D2+TC1.4x to the thread.

12

Lenses / Re: Canon should change name to Coma

« on: October 10, 2012, 12:54:35 PM »

I also use the EF 24/1.4L II for wide field astrophotography, and can confirm the unfortunate point-spread functions away from centre (in particular the wings, visible around saturated point sources). Below is an image from last year's Draconid shower (notice meteor hitting Bull's eye of Taurus!) with city scape in the foreground. This is a crop showing about 25% of the image area, but the aberrations are very visible in the citylights. f/1.4, 5 second, iso 100, 5D2.

Stopping down defies the purpose of having a fast lens; in astrophotography every additional photon is valuable. The Samyang looks interesting, in particular as missing AF is no issue for astrophotography. Thanks for sharing.

13

Software & Accessories / Re: Gura Gear Announces The Bataflae 32L & 26L Camera Backpacks

« on: September 18, 2012, 02:21:33 AM »

So now we can have L-bags as well! But where's the red ring?

14

EOS Bodies / Re: Firmware update for 5D3 Problem? Black halos around stars in RAW

« on: September 09, 2012, 04:53:20 PM »

I went back and put the RAW sharpness settings and unsharp masking to zero before converting the file to TIFF and: halos are gone.

You can also reduce the halos in unsharp mask by playing with the unsharp radius, e.g. making it much bigger removes background on a larger, smoother scale. You can increase the brilliance of the stars quite a bit by doing this (by reducing the sky haze), but have to take care to not introduce artefacts on large scales, e.g. foreground objects like the mountains in your case (or the dark lanes in the milky way). You can get around this by using masks etc, but I'm starting to get off topic.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Firmware update for 5D3 Problem? Black halos around stars in RAW

« on: September 09, 2012, 04:42:12 PM »

Here is a image of the sun reflecting off a gazing globe.  Its a 100% crop, but no black ring.

The effect is more pronounced the greater the contrast (steep brightness gradient) and smaller the blown image, i.e. stars and hot pixels are ideal to produce dark halos. The sun in your image is more extended and bright also outside the saturated region, so sharpening shouldn't produce as easily visible halos.

This is a straight conversion from raw to jpg in LR 4, all the settings are nominal, no sharpening or NR.

Isn't sharpening applied when using nominal settings? (I'm not too familiar with LR4, but other software apply it by default) If you push sharpening using unsharp mask I'm sure you can produce a dark halo around the bright dot in the right hemisphere. Just to illustrate the effect. (looking closer at your image there actually seems to be a dark edge to the white spots [not the sun] - implying some sharpening may have actually taken place?)