Messages

1

Sports / Re: Photographing martial arts

« on: Today at 10:32:58 AM »

Hi, and thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately I live in Finland, and the nights here are not so dark in the summertime, so the otherwise good idea about shooting at night would have to wait until winter. So maybe I'll try to use sunlight instead, maybe even turn off the lights in the dojo and use max amount of flashes with gels. I hadn't heard about gelling windows before, don't know where to get that kind of stuff. Got to check out different webstores.

I just started to worry about the flash performance. As you pointed out, it limits my plan to shoot thousands of photos at full speed. I think I'll just have to borrow all my friends flashes and work with minimal power settings possible to balance this. I've read Syl Arenas book about flashes, and I think I understand what's the role of adjusting aperture and shutterspeed etc. I was going to have the flashes (and the camera) on manual mode to make it easier for myself. I'm still practising using flash(es) and I'd like to make all the adjustments one at a time to gain better understanding about how stuff really works. ETTL can wait for now.

I train with the guys who are going to do the modelling, so the chemistry is not a problem as I've known them for years. We'll be shooting in June or July, so don't hold your breath waiting for the results. I'll try to remember to post the good ones here.

2

Sports / Photographing martial arts

« on: May 22, 2013, 03:47:46 PM »

Cheers!

I'm going to take some promotional pictures for a taekwondo -club and would appreciate any help I can get.

Obviously it's going to be photos about people doing high kicks and fighting etc. It's pretty fast stuff, so I figured that it's better to be shooting in Tv mode with shutterspeed set up to 1/500 for starters. We'll see how fast it really needs to be. I'm going to shoot in continuous mode. When shooting with flash, I'll have the second curtain sync on. But that's about all I can think of by myself.

What I want to do is...
1) get some sharp photos with (maybe) some motion blur on feet when the models are kicking/fighting
2) maybe some silhouettes with a flash lighting the background (with or without a colored gel)

I'm not going to have a studio. We're shooting some of the pictures outdoors in the summer and some are going to be shot indoors at the training place - which is clean and neat, but it's not particularly a beautiful place. Lighting is probably going to be a problem, there's fluorescent lights in the ceiling and there are many large windows, so there's going to be light of two kind.

My gear: 5DmkIII, 35L, 24-105L, 100L, 100-400L, 580EX II flash with Honl gels (CTO's, plusgreen, CTB, bright red, etc.) and Canon ETTL cable (about one meter long when stretched out), circular polarizer filter + some Cokin graduated and not graduated ND filters

There's also an option to borrow 600EX and 430EX II. It's not an option to invest in new lenses, flashes or lights. Or 1Dx

So... What to do? Or try to do?
Am I totally lost?

3

Video & Movie / Re: Urban Exploration - filmed with Canon 7D

« on: February 11, 2013, 02:29:49 PM »

Gread vid. Can't wait to see your techfile.

Was it filmed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajka ?

4

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Training: Any comments for the Lynda.com training site for photo/vid/tools?

« on: October 18, 2012, 09:10:53 AM »

Check out iceflow studios on youtube also:
http://www.youtube.com/show/iceflowstudiosdesigntraining
Lots of tutorials. Only photoshop, though.

5

Reviews / Re: My Mini-Review of the 85mm 1.2L II.

« on: October 14, 2012, 04:58:33 AM »

Thanks for the review.

What's your opinion on 100mm 2.8L? Or other lenses with Macro capabilities? 

6

EOS Bodies / Re: Tax Free 5DmkIII from Shanghai

« on: September 03, 2012, 12:24:46 PM »

Yes, I'm listening to Simon allright.

Just planning in advance, so I won't hesitate to make purchases if the deal turns out to be too good for my budget

7

EOS Bodies / Re: Tax Free 5DmkIII from Shanghai

« on: September 03, 2012, 09:30:32 AM »

Ok. Thanks for your replies.

I took it for granted, but actually I'm not sure... Do you get the VAT paid back in customs when taking the camera from China to Finland? In any case, it's a good deal to buy from China; cheapest price I can find in Finland is ~2800€. $2800 (= ca. 2200€) would already mean saving ~600€. IF the VAT is 17% AND they pay it back in customs it would mean saving ca. 1000€. Whoa!

Then again... (fingers crossed) IF there is this luxury tax of 30%... I'll have to buy a lens also. Bugger.

8

EOS Bodies / Tax Free 5DmkIII from Shanghai

« on: September 02, 2012, 10:16:19 AM »

My friend is going to travel from Finland to Shanghai next month and I thought that I'd make him bring me a 5DM3 body. It should be somewhat cheaper to buy it tax-free from a country outside EU. China has value-added tax of 17% (I googled) so I should be able to save at least that.

So... I've tried to find a decent place to buy genuine Canon stuff, but I do not understand chinese and there is no-one to do the translation for me.

Any hints? Experience on shopping cameras from China? What's a good price for 5DM3 body there? Where to do the shopping?

This place (http://goshopshanghai.com/xing-guang-photographic-equipment-market-352.html) came up more than once. If nothing else comes up, I think I'll tell my friend to go there.