Messages

1

Lenses / Re: 24-70 2.8f II or 70-200 2.8f II

« on: May 29, 2013, 02:15:28 PM »

I like your suggestion. Didn't really think about having one or the other with a prime. Now the question with having one or the other with a prime is whats the perfect prime to complement either one. I think the 70-200 with a 40 would be nice but then how would you get those wide shots when needed?

That goes both ways.  However, the 24-70 II and the 70-200 II are approximately the same price.  A tele prime in the 135-200mm range is several hundred dollars.  If you get the 200/2.8, you'll likely not use it after getting the 70-200 II.  A 40/2.8 is $150, and given it's conveniently small size, it's useful even after having the 24-70 II.

As for wide shots, someone here (apologies for forgetting who) has pointed out that the 40/2.8 has an exit pupil that's basically at the body, so doing a quick handheld pano shot and stitching the resuting images together is quite easy with that lens, when 40mm isn't wide enough.

To further agree with this, when my kit was stolen and I had to replace quickly I picked up a 5d3, a 70-200 2.8 I (not the 2 for cost saving) 24-70 2.8 II and a 50 1.4 (tho a 1.8 would also work). I find that while the 24-70 is an awesome lens, I still swap out to the 50 a fair amount....so the concept of a 700-200 + a 40 2.8 is not a bad starting place.

If I am honest, if I thought it would be some time before I could get the second of the two main bits of glass I would still consider the 23-105 4 + 70-200 2.8 with  a 50 1.4/8 for very low light...but remember the 5d is a fighter in low light so do not be too afraid of F4 as a get-you-by-lens. In fact I know of a well respected wedding photog who only shoots jpg on a 5d2 with the 24-105 4 and gets some great wedding coverage.

Good kit helps, good skills are better.

2

Canon General / Re: Beach Vacation in a month... & I'm scared for my gear.

« on: May 20, 2013, 11:43:30 AM »

Care is all that is required. We had a beach holiday in the Maldives and I took the 5dii and 24-105 (with a few others) but found that I was able to get by with just that one work horse lens....sure its not the best but it suits for a holiday and had the 70-300 and 50 1.4 in the bag for when required.

On the beach, as others have said...turn so your back to the wind when changing lens, keep the body face down and you will generally be fine.

In terms of going near the water...accept that at some point everything will break or get damage and dont let it hold you back...like the attached shot where I (for only the second time) gave her my camera to get a shot of me and we were neck deep in the sea!

Care and caution, not regret for missing out

3

Lenses / Re: How do you determine the focal length you use most often?

« on: May 16, 2013, 01:52:55 PM »

If the current catalogue I have open in LR with 10k of shots, I was slightly surprised by my most used focal length considering I am a lover of zooms...but it seems that 25% of my shots (joint second and third were 105 and 24...guess what lens that was) are shot at 50mm.

I know I love my 50 1.4, but did not know it accounted for that many shots. Since this catalogue was started my kit was stolen and since replaced a collection of mid to budget lens with just the 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8 and another 50 1.4

4

Black & White / Re: Street shot C&C please

« on: May 15, 2013, 10:58:47 AM »

Thanks, I did deliberate for some time about the crop, however once I dropped the exposure to darken out the underpass (and lose the people walking in the scene) he was sitting by the empty black space did appear to mimic the empty life of a homeless person.

It turns out he was not actually looking at the camera, but the bum of a rather cute women who was just passing where I was standing and admitted that he tends not to see the men walking past in a crude yet slightly jovial way.

Distant.star, well spotted on the camera (how exactly did you know?) in terms of Exif 1/1600 2.8 @200mm ISO 100

5

Black & White / Street shot C&C please

« on: May 15, 2013, 09:11:24 AM »

Hello guys,

My first real submission for C&C (second actually, but back onto someone elses thread) trying to pluck up the courage to hit people up more in the streets non candid style.

Turns out he was a nice chap after a quick chat before I moved on.

6

Landscape / Re: Sunset landscape

« on: May 14, 2013, 10:26:55 AM »

He tentatively puts up his first photo for critique while hiding behind the sofa :p

7

Pricewatch Deals / Re: Nik Collection Bundle for $126.65

« on: March 29, 2013, 08:08:57 PM »

I am impressed.

5D MIII with Nik's Define and a shot in the house in near pitch black at ISO 25600 has almost no noise!

Talk about the dream team!

8

Canon General / Re: tips for Barcelona?

« on: March 10, 2013, 05:48:31 PM »

Looking at your kit list, I would try to travel light and pack the 6D, the 24-105 and the 50mm.

Nothing in Barca really requires huge reach and apart from a few shots down at and around the beach/marina most of your shots should you go will be at the familia sagrada which is stunning and you may want to go as a group with the understanding you will spend a little extra time there on the basis the rest of the holiday will be a holiday.

Go enjoy the food, the wine, the weather and La Rambla

9

Lenses / Re: Have 5D3, will shoot... but which lens?

« on: January 25, 2013, 03:20:54 PM »

Sounds like you do not have the biggest budget right now having to buy a body also, I was a fan of the 24-105 and agree with other statement that it should not be called a "kit" lens as it is a good bit of glass in its own right.

Looking at the figures in lightroom it has taken almost as many shots as my 50 1.4 and my 70-200 2.8!

10

Abstract / Re: Beautiful bokeh! Let me see yours!

« on: January 25, 2013, 08:22:46 AM »

One of my early shots with the 5d2 on the 24-105

11

Software & Accessories / Re: Are Ultrabooks Fast enough?

« on: September 12, 2012, 11:46:29 AM »

I do all my post-processing with my MacBook Pro, 16gb RAM, and 512gb SSD.  It's super fast for anything that I throw at it.  The key is getting at least 8gb RAM and the SSD.  The SSD makes a world of difference.

I am sure your Mac runs great but I find on all these forums everyone immediately goes the Mac Route. I think ultrabooks like the Asus UX31A with it's 1080p ips antiglare screen prove that windows still has it's place. Also a lot of people who post these are looking at cost and I am sorry but you can get way more for your money on the windows side of the fence plus a much larger selection. Blu-ray Drives are another plus in laptops/desktops that are not on the Mac Camp. Don't get me wrong I have IPADS,IPHONES but when it comes to computers in general I find Windows allows me to do more frequent hardware refreshes and it's cheaper.

As much as you say that, I only have the one Mac and that is my Air...asides from that I am windows on everything else. I recently (ie in the past week) picked up a Dell Ultrabook so will be installing my usual software on that to see how it performs....but there is part of me that like the fact I keep the Mac for travel use only (as it collects dust the rest of the time) and it forms part of my travel work flow.

12

Lenses / Re: lens recommendations for a vacation

« on: September 12, 2012, 06:28:59 AM »

I travel a lot with work around Europe and the US and always take my camera with me and this has taught me a few lessons.

1. Pack lite and make the most of the kit you take with you. Trust me walking around with all your glass is old really quickly.

2. Pack lite, unless you want to risk having a horrid trip because of lost equipment ALWAYS hand carry your camera...this poses the weight problem as most flights are now putting a 10kg limit on carry on (and some as low as 6kg!)

3. Cheat where possible. How many shots do you think you are really going to need 200mm for when walking in a city? I live in London and shot in the city at weekends and to be honest some of my most preferred shots have been at <100mm and so the 24-105 is a great choice for this...plus if I want one or two longer shots I have a 2x tele converter (no idea, but better then lugging a great 70-200 around!).

4. Be creative, get out of the comfort zone of having all the kit to cover everything and use creativity to overcome the short falls in traveling light.

Personally I now travel with just my 5d3, 50 1.4 and 24-105 and the 2x tele. I don't even bother with my flash as the 5d3 can make up with it in ISO. Sometimes I might add a fold up reflector and a cheap (See:lite) 70-300 5.6 for when I think I will REALLY need some reach, but it is a fraction of the weight of the 2.8 version.

I also take my mac air with me as carry on, this acts not only as a backup for the memory cards, on location/hotel room editing but I also use it as a charger for many devices (cell phones etc) thus saving the need to carry a lot of adapters. A second battery will generally see me last a two week holiday as I do not use live view much at all.

Good luck!

PS, if you want a quick and dirty of the tourist highlights in London, there are a number of walking "photo tours" run for photography training purposes which are worth investigating.

13

Software & Accessories / Re: Are Ultrabooks Fast enough?

« on: September 09, 2012, 07:28:03 AM »

depends how much editing you are planning to do.  For the down and dirty quick edits probably fine, but for much else it will likely be slow running LR 4 or aperture depending on what is your flavor.  Also more ram won't necessarily make the editing software run better/faster, you're better of with a better/faster graphics card vs more ram if you want to deal with detailed editing...just my $0.02

I am a PC guy and I have quite a beefy rig in my office for edits, but when I travel I have a Macbook Air (which is comparable to the Ultrabooks in spec etc) which I use to backup and perform on location edits just fine.