Topics

1

EOS Bodies / Bodies and cell towers?

« on: February 26, 2013, 01:27:18 PM »

Question to all our physics and engineering experts here: I found an interesting location that is at the top of a building with cell phone transmitters attached to it. I think they're for major US carriers in case the frequencies used make a difference.

The place has the usual warning signs a la "may exceed the usual blahblah". From a medical standpoint I'm certain that it's a no-issue. But what about camera gear? I guess I might not want to use wireless triggers there but anything else at risk?

Thanks

2

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Canon pre flash in manual mode with wireless triggers?

« on: December 22, 2012, 11:26:44 PM »

So here is an expert question: I'm looking to potentially get new triggers at some point that need to work with a 580EXII and a bunch of 430EXIIs. I'd be looking at ETTL triggers first - not because I want the actual TTL functionality but because I want to be able to set the output manually in camera. More than three groups would be great. So as nice and sturdy as the Pocket Wizard Plus III look they won't do any of that. All other PW models seem rather old at this point and the're suffering from a few issues (price being one of them).
Phottix Odin would be the next logical alternative. Or whatever Pixel King comes up with next or Yongnuo, whatever.

But here's the question now: it appears that most or all (?) of these models make the Canon speedlites still put out a pre-flash even when set to manual. That would stink when combining things with studio flash or lightmeters. So is this a design flaw in those Chinese triggers or is this per Canon design? Do PWs do this also - do they even allow for manual settings?

3

Software & Accessories / Bag challenge: pro body and two primes

« on: December 07, 2012, 09:40:05 AM »

I'm still looking for the perfect bag to carry my gripped 5DII with the 50L attached and then enough room to take my 135L and perhaps a speedlite. Something that fits this well without getting bulky and then doesn't look too much like a camera bag.

I like the Thinktank retrospective series but it seem their always either to small for a pro body sized camera or too bulky for this specific purpose.

Any recommendations?

4

Lighting / YN622C trigger experiences?

« on: November 12, 2012, 04:36:53 PM »

Hello everyone,

For my 5D Mark 2 I'm currently using either the build in line-of-sight flash (with a 580EXII and two 430EXII) or all manual with a bunch of cheapo Chinese triggers. The latter work pretty reliably up to about 1/160.

Since I've started doing more of this I've been thinking about getting a different set of triggers. And with the current price structure I'm not ready yet to move to 600EX flashes ( 3 or 4) and the Canon remote as nice as it all looks.

And with that in mind there still are a bunch of options. I've actually started to see that I may end up in the manual-over-ETTL camp. So a few solid Pocket Wizard Plus III would probably do the trick. What I'm not so thrilled about is that I'd end up with more cables and adapters then now. And even when setting things to manual it would be nice to be able to control things from the camera menu. So that would get us to PW minis (etc) or the Phottix Odins. Issues with both of these as well. PW with the reported issues on the US model with interference and blowing out of 580s. And Odins have the preflash even in manual which makes them problematic for later use with studio strobes.

Then there are the YN622C triggers from Yongnuo. Read some good things about them, price is great and features should work with what I'm looking to get at. Question is how sturdy they are and if they have the preflash issue as well. And that they are no Pocket Wizards, meaning no industry standard that would work with other stuff or in rented studio etc.

Any one any first-hand experiences with these and in comparison to the Plus III?

5

Software & Accessories / PS CS5 for Mac still available?

« on: November 01, 2012, 11:59:00 PM »

I'm pretty close to making the move to a Mac for my desktop. For a while I'd be operating in both the Mac and Windows world so I'd either have to buy the upgrade version to CS6 with cross-platform swap (per Adobe rep tonight) - or find a place that still sells a new and boxed version of CS5.

I'd prefer the latter honestly since I'd like to have the same software on all machines. And that includes leaving things at LR3 and I'd be concerned running LR3 and CS6 on the new computer (Mac).

Can anyone recommend a trustworthy dealer that still sells PS CS5 (student version or otherwise) for a reasonable price?

6

Lenses / Filter stacking on 50mm lens

« on: October 22, 2012, 09:52:34 AM »

Does anyone know a formula or a way to look up how man filters of a particular size/thickness can be stacked on a particular lens? I have a clear B+W standard size filter on my 50L and was wondering if I'm running into problems adding a circular polarizer on top of that. From experience I know that I can't do that on my 24-105 at 24 even though I have the thin-rimmed version on it.
It's probably not a problem at 50mm but who can I calculate that?

 

7

Lenses / 50L vs TS-E 45

« on: August 28, 2012, 03:18:36 PM »

I've been tossing around the idea of either trading my 50 1.4 for a 50L or instead add a TS-E45 (to be used with my 5DII). I know, very different lenses, different applications. But I think both could work for me. My main interest with these would be control over sharpness/unsharp areas for things or people that are not necessarily too far away. Shooting wide open for the most part would be the objective here (where I see a potential improvement over my 50 1.4 in addition to build quality).

The straightforward thing to do is obviously to go 50L and be happy. But then again, I recently had the joy to play around with one of the old FD tilt shift lenses. I really liked that thing and the results (35mm on a APS-C sensor).

My favorite focal lengths are probably 50 and 135. I have no real longing for the 35L at this point and the 85L is too expensive.

Any thoughts or experiences? How well would the TS double as a macro-like lens?

8

Software & Accessories / Laptops for photo editing and other use

« on: April 19, 2012, 05:10:01 PM »

Am I the only one who is frustrated by the limited choices available for high quality laptops? I currently use a dual core 2GB IBM/Lenovo T60 - the old kind with the 14" high resolution 4:3 ratio screen. I love that thing and it's my most used computer in the house. And I do 90% of my photo editing with it and usually don't even touch my desktop PC with its big screen and all.

The T60 is extremely sharp, the colors are surprisingly accurate and with its perfect keyboard, trackpoint and form factor just works for me. And this is for both business use (Word, Excel, email) and photo editing (CS5, LR3). Performance is mostly good enough unless there are too many photos open or if its a power hungry process such as HDR processing. So in other words: it works.

Problem is that eventually I'll have to replace it. So I started looking around. And that really wasn't a pretty sight. Lenovos still come with the good old IBM keyboard and the trackpoint and some of the other great features - but it appears their screens have a lot of issues now.

Dell seems to have an XPS model with a good screen but I always found their build quality for laptops to be substandard. Not to speak of the toy keyboard.

Well, and that gets us to Apple. I really really don't like that company and its politics. And the MacBook pros are not only ugly (who cares) but also bulky and unruly compared to my 14" IBM - and don't even match the screen resolution. Keyboard is awful also. And then you can't change anything yourself not even a battery or so. So that's very likely (again) a big no-no.

And now what? Sonys look pretty weak also. Some point to Sager. Not sure about that. I'd need to actually see one of those somewhere.

Any thoughts? It's not even the budget so much. I'm ok with shelling out $2000 or so if it is suited for lots of typing, portable and has a stellar screen for photo editing. 14 or 15" would be ok. Oh, and a large and fast hard drive. For the life of me, I can't seem to find anything like that.

9

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Pocket Wizards Plus III - what am I missing here?

« on: February 20, 2012, 05:04:40 PM »

I've been thinking about adding a professional trigger system to my bag at some point. PW is one of the obvious choices. Also, the Phottix Odin looks pretty good. At the moment I'm ok with my cheap ebay triggers and (even more so) with a long ETTL cable and the Canon IR remote system.

Notwithstanding, I'm tempted to add something easier in the future. So the new PW Plus III caught my attention - especially at that price. However, a closer look shows that this "feature laden" gizmo really doesn't even cover the basics. ETTL? I don't think so. High Speed Sync? Doesn't look like it. Manual control over the settings of the 4 groups? Didn't see that either. So it's a bit like a fancy version of my ebay triggers. Or what am I missing here? Sure, for those who need long distance range, repeaters and a remote for the camera this might be it. I think I'm more looking still at the Phottix...

10

Canon General / Papers, forms and contracts - the legal stuff

« on: February 02, 2012, 10:38:34 AM »

Hope this is the right place. I'm looking for a quick and easy fix - I know, usually not a good starting point but I don't have the time right now for extensive research on this rather complex issue so I was hoping somebody has dealt with this before.

I just did a few shots for a political campaign (U.S.) and I'm donating the work and the use of the shots to the campaign. Their manager is working on the paperwork that comes with that as far as the trappings of campaign finance stuff is concerned.

While I'm at it I want them to sign the most basic form/template that allows them indefinite use for the candidate and the campaign but not necessarily beyond and I want to make sure that the rights to the pictures remain with me. I'm probably not finding the right words right now but I hope you know where I'm getting at. I want to keep this as simple and short as possible not create unnecessary work for anyone or pay for legal fees or anything like that. Any links to templates for that purpose would be fabulous.

Thanks 

11

EOS Bodies - For Stills / 5DII joystick/multicontroller

« on: January 30, 2012, 11:16:58 AM »

So now that we may have seen the first pictures of a new Canon body with a joystick integrated into the battery grip I was wondering what I may be missing. Come to think of it I realized that I never use the thing on my 5DII. How are you guys using it? What other functions would we expect from it that makes it important enough to add a second one to the vertical layout?

12

Software & Accessories / Pelican case

« on: January 24, 2012, 05:08:17 PM »

So this is going to sound really stupid, but what the heck. I finally decided to get myself a Pelican 1510 case for a) air travel and b) events where I want to be able to lock the case

I understand that that for both a and b there is no replacement for insurance (still working to find something in that department...) but still. Plus: the thing is just cool. Must be the same kind of fascination that some women have with handbags and shoes (nothing wrong with the latter in my book). Even though it's just a stupid black plastic box I must say it's really well designed. Seems worth the money so far.

Here's the weird question: the thing came with a little order form for the name tag under the handle. Are any Pelican owners here using this kind of thing? And what do you put on there? XYZ photography, please steal this case? Probably not such a good idea. Should I put my name and phone number on? Is that always a good idea? Or even the address vs. just the town? Or just leave it and put on a name tag when traveling and call it a day?

I was thinking Name, Town, State, phone number - and I can always cover it or take it out where it may for whatever reason be a problem. Thoughts? Come on - there have been weirder questions...

13

EOS Bodies / Camera insurance recommendations?

« on: January 11, 2012, 09:15:16 AM »

A question to all our well-informed and busy travelling photographers here:

Can anyone recommend any good and affordable camera insurance here in the US (in my case specifically one that does business in Massachusetts which is not always the case...) that covers the usual stuff (theft, dropping things, etc) including travel abroad. This would be for non-professional use and I don't need liability insurance. I don't want to add my stuff to my home owner's insurance for complicated reasons that have to do with the location of our home and our limited choices in free-market policies close to the ocean.

I can't really define "affordable". I've looked at a bunch of policies before, including those offered through the professional photographers' and press organizations. I always found them to be rather expensive compared to my instrument insurance that I have for my music gear (covering about $18,000 worth of stuff for less than $150 annually).

I'd need coverage for about $7,000.

Thanks

14

Software & Accessories / Airtravel experts

« on: December 31, 2011, 04:42:57 PM »

Hello everyone,

Sorry to stick this here under EOS Bodies, but I couldn't find a better place. There have been some recent discussions here around airtravel and carry-on regulations.

I'll have to go from the North East US to Europe in the summer (and back of course) and I'm trying to plan ahead a bit on what airline to pick, which connection flights/airports to pick in Europe and what bag/case/backpack to get that will work as a carry-on with a bunch of camera gear that I'd like to bring (1 or 2 bodies, 4-5 small and medium lenses, 2-3 flashes, accessories, etc, small laptop).

I'm thinking about the Pelican 1514 since it seems the best price of various options, I could use it for other stuff later and if I'm forced to check it I would feel slightly (!) better about it.

In any case, what have been recent experiences with various carriers lately? Seems, they are getting ever more picky about weight issues. I saw some where the limit was 6kg for carry. That's less than the empty Pelican case...

American carriers still have mostly 40lb in place but that limits my choices, especially given the code share arrangements that may nullify this again. I've taken AA in the past quite often but I'd like to avoid going through Heathrow. Destination could be Frankfurt, Amsterdam or anywhere in the larger area.

Thanks and Happy New Year to you all.

15

Software & Accessories / Adobe Lightroom 3 for $99.95

« on: November 25, 2011, 01:47:24 PM »

For a hundred bucks I might add it. Unfortunately, the link to B&H shows a price now of $149. This is as of Friday Nov 25, 2 pm Eastern Time.