Topics

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Heading to Scottsdale, AZ..anyone with suggestions for landscape photography?

« on: March 29, 2013, 11:00:50 PM »

Traveling to AZ in the near future, anybody with some interesting landscape photo opportunities for me to explore in that area?

Maybe a particular regional or state park?  Maybe a particular canyon or mountain range?   I'm not that familiar with the area but I will have a car and some time.

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Software & Accessories / I'm not much of a techie, need some advice on my iMac...

« on: February 22, 2013, 10:39:14 AM »

I have an iMac that I bought new about a year ago - i5 processor and 8GB of ram.

My question...when working with large 50-100GB RAW files (in Aperture) I notice that the computer slows down, so I'm wondering if another 8GB of ram to bring it up to 16GB would help much?

Would it be a little better or much better?

edit....sorry, I had GB's on my mind...I meant 50-100 MB files.

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Third Party Manufacturers / GigaPan - check out some of these Gigapan images - 272 GIGApixels?

« on: January 24, 2013, 02:26:41 PM »

http://gigapan.com/gigapans?order=most_popular

I thought my fellow CR members would appreciate some of these Gigapan Photos that I stumbled across today.  Click on each image and zoom in for a close look...."wow" is all I could think.

There's a shot of the city of Shanghia that is 272 GIGApixels.   The amount of detail is crazy.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / why does it seem that my 5d3 and 1DX both under expose in auto ISO..anybody?

« on: December 31, 2012, 07:46:48 PM »

don't shoot studio...it's action action action and both my cameras underexpose regularly by 1/2 to 3/4 stop....anybody with thoughts on this?

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Need a little help with 300mm 2.8 IS that I just bought used...

« on: December 27, 2012, 06:27:17 PM »

I just received the lens and started playing around with it and immediately noticed that when the IS is turned on, it makes a clearly audible "whirring" sound while focusing and for 2-3 seconds after focus is locked.   When IS is off, no "whirring" sound.

I have several lenses with IS and I've never heard anything like this.   Is 2-3 seconds of "whirring" normal for the 300mm 2.8 IS?

Would appreciate any feedback since I'm in the return window....thanks.

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Third Party Manufacturers / it's official, nikon d800 now $2800 and d600 kit $2000(w 24-85)

« on: December 16, 2012, 08:39:01 PM »

Ok...the d600 sales must be terrible to discount it this much this soon...D800 probably just a holiday thing.

Thoughts anybody?

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Does anybody think the 1dx price will come down for the holidays...why?

« on: November 11, 2012, 08:44:53 AM »

Looking to buy a 1dx but wondering about a price drop for the holidays.  Does anybody remember from past experience how long after release the 1 series bodies price declined?

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Third Party Manufacturers / oh oh, impulse purchase..gopro hero3...

« on: October 24, 2012, 06:36:54 AM »

Is anybody else as impressed as i am with the specs and capabilities of this tiny camera for $400?
Anyway, i decided i have to try it out. 

http://m.cnet.com/news/tiny-gopro-hero-3-black-edition-captures-4k-video/57533878?ds=1

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Lenses / About to buy the 135L, and then saw this....

« on: October 01, 2012, 01:18:42 PM »

I'm not a big fan of DXOMark but at the end of the day I'll peruse all available review sites when making a buying decision.  So when looking at their lens reviews, I noticed that they give the Canon 85 1.8 the HIGHEST resolution score of ANY lens they've reviewed...including nikon, zeiss, sigma...etc.  I know it's a very good lens but I find this hard to believe.

They say they're reviewing the 135L in October...I'm correct in assuming the 135 will score higher, right?  OR, did they just get a fantastically sharp copy of the 85 1.8 when they did their review? 

I'm going to buy the 135L, but I'm just curious as to what others think about this, and what the explanation is for their resolution score for the 85 1.8? 

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Lenses/Camera-Lens-Ratings/Optical-Metric-Scores

EDIT...a couple of posts have come in illustrating some of the inaccurate DXO "scores" for lenses:

1. 70-200 2.8 ii is somehow scored much lower than the orginal version, and much lower than the nikon, sigma, and sony 70-200's.

2. The canon 300 2.8 ii, probably the best lens Canon makes, scores a 15 from DXO.  For all the lens scores that were scored using the 5d2 as the body, (66 of them listed) they rank the 300 2.8ii in 57th place out of 66 lens scores.  For context, that's about a tie with the 16 score they gave the Tamron 28-300, and the 14 for the Canon 55-200.

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5D MK III Sample Images / Take a look at this image, can someone with great PP skill make it work?

« on: September 04, 2012, 03:24:09 PM »

I'm looking for a little help and/or an opinion from someone with more experience/knowledge about post processing.

I found these two beautiful bald eagles sitting together for a portrait, unfortunately, they were about 250 yards away and sitting in shade. 

Used a 5d3, 70-200 2.8ii, 2xiii.  At 380mm.  ISO 800 - 1/500 - f/7.1

I played around in Aperture trying to make this image work, and I'm just struggling.  I'm wondering what somebody with  more experience/knowledge could do with this image?  Or are the distance and light issues too great?

This is an untouched straight out of the camera image...I've only cropped.

Here's a link to the raw version
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31549996@N08/7932287884/#sizes/o/in/photostream/

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Lenses / Help..need advice. My lens was submerged briefly...

« on: September 02, 2012, 11:11:18 PM »

My lens (non L) was submerged briefly and now I can see moisture on the interior glass.

Anyone have advice for me?  Should I send it in to get serviced right away?

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5D MK III Sample Images / Where am I ?

« on: August 18, 2012, 06:50:58 PM »

I thought it would be fun to post pics of places you've been, but with a catch, make us guess where you are!

Here I am at the lake taking a shot of......?   For those of you that have been here, you'll know what city this is!

For those that haven't been here....the hint would be, that's a pretty big lake right near a major metro...and it' not the only one!

Everybody...take a guess OR post your own pic/clue and have others take a guess!

5d3...70-200 2.8ii

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / On a hot day I left my 5d3 and lens in my car's trunk...any damage?

« on: July 30, 2012, 04:14:08 PM »

I forgot that I had left my 5d3 and L lens in my car's trunk for a couple days while the sun was out and the temps were in the 90's.  When I opened the trunk, it felt like hot, but not like "inside the car" hot because obviously the trunk is dark.

I tried to simulate the scenario with a thermometer and it said 110.  I know that one of the days was close to 100 degrees and sunny, so I'm thinking it might have been 120 or 130 at some point. 

I've used the camera since, and the images and performance appear normal.  The manual just says avoid high heat....I'm not sure if 125 qualifies as high heat.  I know when I lived in the desert for a few years that it's sometime 115 degrees and sunny, which might subject your camera/lens to 130 degrees or more.

Has anybody ever done this?  Do I have anything to worry about?
 
What about the lens, can a lens handle this type of heat?

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Third Party Manufacturers / Interesting...a Nikon D4 w/ 600vr is punished by big Grizzly...w/ pics.

« on: May 21, 2012, 10:51:34 AM »

I saw this on Fred Miranda site and thought others here might find it as interesting as I did.

A guy buys a brand new Nikon D4 and heads out to Yellowstone, trouble ensues....

www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1114874

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / DXOMark website - mistake and careless on their part...

« on: May 14, 2012, 06:48:06 PM »

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Publications/DxOMark-Reviews/Canon-5D-Mark-III-Review/Comparisons

This link takes you to a 5d3 vs 5d2 comparison at DXO.  Scroll down a little bit to ISO Latitude...they use the word "expendable" instead of "expandable" to describe ISO expansion.  I didn't bother to see if they do this elsewhere.

Is this a big deal?  Is it worth mentioning?  WELL, millions of photographers around the world hang on the ultra important DXO scores...and then you see this from a group that supposedly is smart enough to perform all these sophisticated tests, with quality controls, and a disciplined process.[/b] 

Anyway, I just thought some folks would think it interesting...