Messages

1

Canon General / Re: When out & about, how do y'all respond to gear small talk?

« on: Today at 09:57:19 AM »

I normally try to answer politely. The questions you get are so different depending on location, Asia or Europe, tourist areas or remote areas etc. There are some places in Saigon where I try to avoid any interaction at all with people. If I have my 70-200 II on and get questions about it I just say it's a very long zoom (although not entirely correct) when they ask why it's so big. I like putting the 35L on my 5D3, it dosen't draw much attention and I love the pictures I get from it.

2

Technical Support / Re: Is it bad to keep photography gear in a basement?

« on: Today at 03:18:33 AM »

The biggest drawback to a basement is usually the moisture as you note which can lead to mold.  You can control this if necessary with a dehumidifier. My basements humidity is no different than the remainder of the house. As a bonus, the water that it pulls out of the air is used to waters my house plants upstairs!

+1 on this, I have lived in the tropics for a good part of the last ten years and using dehumidifiers have saved me alot of money on keeping different kinds of equipment nice and dry.

3

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 2nd Body - your thoughts?

« on: June 18, 2013, 04:00:40 AM »

I'd get the 5DIII (or the 1D X).  The better AF will be beneficial - especially with fast primes you'll want the f/2.8 crosses that the 6D doesn't have.  Also, if you're carrying two bodies and switching between them as you shoot, ergonomics is important - having the same controls is preferable, rather than switching from the normal xD dial+joystick controls to the 60D-like dial of the 6D.

 that is true about the  knowing the controls by heart.  I  had a 60d  and someone would ask about adjusting a t3i  and it was like I never used an slr in my life. 

 having said that,  if you do separate  the  duties, I  think  the 6d  will be more than sufficient as a portrait camera.

Lol... I've had the same experience.  Going from my 5D3 to my old 60D isn't too bad, probably because I used the 60D for a couple years exclusively, but a couple months ago someone handed me a rebel asking for help.  I just stood there for about 15 seconds staring at it before I even hit the first button.  The person probably thought I had a stroke or something 

Ha ha very funny. A friend of mine asked me to help her with some settings on her Nikon of some sorts. That was a complete mental breakdown.  I gave it back and told her to keep it in automatic. 

4

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Is there a better time to buy a 5D mkIII?

« on: June 18, 2013, 03:38:52 AM »

Now.

I waited and debated when the best time would be and held off and made do with my other camera and in the end when I finally pulled the trigger I kicked myself for not buying it sooner. Not because of the price, but because it's such a wonderful camera that I would have been happier having it sooner.
These aren't stocks we're buying, but tools (or toys) that we can put to good use right now.

I agree, just go buy it. What's the point of getting it a couple of hundred dollars cheaper if you have to wait for it for several months? I got mine a couple of months after launch at a very high price compared to today and I am very happy now around 8000 pictures later.

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Site Information / Re: banning people for nothing at canon rumors

« on: June 17, 2013, 04:50:00 AM »

I hope you will have a great time and capture some nice images. Too bad you couldn't come by Sweden this time. Take care!
[/quote]

Thanks & I hope to get to Sweden soon, enjoy being Home.
[/quote]
Yes, it's quite different, nobody had told me it was so cold here 

That Indonesia trip is definitely on my mind also for the future.

Cheers
J

6

EOS Bodies / Re: SL1 as a "travel" body

« on: June 17, 2013, 04:48:40 AM »

I do my serious shooting with a 5D III, but I had been looking for a while for a small, lightweight camera for family pics and travel. I had considered a high end compact but it somehow seemed too much of a compromise, particularly in operation (shutter lag, viewfinder, etc). When the SL1 came out it seemed an ideal solution, and after having spent some time with it I can say that for me this camera (with the 40mm pancake)  is almost perfect as a lightweight complement to the 5D/III. The great thing, for me, is that both cameras share so many things - the optical view finder (obviously), the Canon layout of the buttons, and the general shooting method. The only real difference in operation is the lack of back button focus (and the lack of the second wheel).

I feel Canon produced a wonderful little camera in the SL1, and for me it is the perfect "informal" complement to the amazing 5D III. I figured others might be wondering about this so I thought I'd share my positive experience!

I still think the missing piece for the SL1 is the wide angle pancake.  The pocketability of that camera lives or dies with a tiny lens (as it does the EOS-M), so pancakes are vital.  But the EF 40mm pancake scales to 64mm FF equivalent on a crop, which is functional for portraits but too long for general walkaround, IMHO.

So the missing piece is what they do offer for the EF-M mount but not for the EF-S mount: a 22mm pancake.  That scales to 35mm, and then you have a truly high-end compact 2nd camera.

- A

I very much agree with this. That would be a perfect setup. I have been thinking back and forth around the M or the 100D. An EF-S 22mm would be the deciding factor to me. I love the 35L on my 5D3 and this would be a nice light weight version of that.

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Site Information / Re: banning people for nothing at canon rumors

« on: June 17, 2013, 04:10:02 AM »

Thanks Guys for a couple days of genuine entertainment, not only are there talented Photographers and Technicians on this site, but there's some very Funny People here as well.

Canon-F1 excluded form all three categories goes without saying, except I just said it, well, wrote it.

I'm not sure I could have said it better, in fact, I'm sure I couldn't, have.

We have opposing weather conditions, been Raining Squirrels here in Jakarta for the last week, but I Fly away from it all tomorrow, Tanzania 4 weeks, Iceland 2 weeks, and my Baby, 200-400, I'm going to miss CR.

I hope you will have a great time and capture some nice images. Too bad you couldn't come by Sweden this time. Take care!

8

EOS-M / Re: EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM Announcement Soon? [CR2]

« on: June 04, 2013, 04:57:29 AM »

How many people have an 'M'? I mean there isn't even a section in the gallery for it.


Just seems like they are making a new lens for a camera that has flopped hard.

Hmm, I'm not sure how hard it has flopped. But let's see in a year when they have launched more lenses and another body. I've said it before and I think it does apply here, these big companies take their time to get it right. Many complaines about this camera haven't even tried it. It's not bad at all. With this lens I would really contemplate getting the M as a wide package instead of getting the 16-35 to my 5D3. Keep in mind that I'm an amateur though.

9

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: I'm returning my Sigma 35 1.4

« on: June 04, 2013, 04:47:03 AM »

I love my 35L and use it for many different purposes. I know 35mm is not the optimal focal length for portraits but correctly used I get some really nice results out of it. I used this picture in my first exhibit a week ago, amongst other of the same model. It's not perfect as you can see the distortion making her ear and right eye smaller. Obivously not the fastest auto focus but I don't use it for sports anyway, it's normally fast enough to catch my kids though. Sharpness is a matter of taste also.

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Canon General / Re: Canon Milestone - 90 Million EF Lenses Manufactured

« on: May 30, 2013, 08:48:12 PM »

You do realize that those with an xD or xxD body and more than 1-2 lenses are a minuscule fraction of the Canon dSLR user base, right?   

Out of interest, is there anywhere that shows total numbers of each camera sold ?

I daresay the Rebels would be rocking those numbers quite hard...

Off topic, but I checked out your FB, I really like your art.

J

11

Technical Support / Re: 5dm3 - FPS Drops when battery below 50%

« on: May 28, 2013, 02:36:39 AM »

When a battery goes flat it has less power, so it is reasonable to expect things to slow down. To maintain the same speed on less voltage you would need more current, that could give serious problems. Sounds like a safety feature to me. Bigger batteries would mean a heavier camera.

I don't buy that explanation. I mean, if the battery is flat, yes, but 50% is still plenty of power.

I don't say the phenomenon don't exist, because that I can believe. But it being direct affect from the battery level, I wouldn't think so. I've worked plenty on the cell phone designs, and the batteries we have usually work around same characteristics, ~1500-2000 mAh Li-ions. Cell phones are 3.7V, and 5D3 at 7.2V, but that's just because they use 2 cells in series.

Until about <25% of the capacity, the voltage level still stays considerably high, and there's no big voltage dip due to bigger current draws either. And cell phones draw >1A when they get power hungry. I don't know the 5D3 power draw when everything is active (taking photo, DIGIC crunching data as fast as possible, memory cards writing, mirror and shutter going, etc.) but I'd be surprised if the peaks are more than 0.2A (not including the LCD operation, that could take 0.1-0.2A alone). (if someone knows real current draws, please enlighten me).

Assuming that's true, which I don't know, the battery level could go down to <10% and still the voltage dips, caused by the current draw, would be minimal.

I haven't seen the schematics for Canon, but I'd be also really surprised if they don't have a regulator at the input. In my world that would be just poor design. If they do have regulator, it would eliminate the actual battery voltage completely at the camera end, and until battery is really down to <1%, the camera would receive proper voltage/current. Again, if someone knows the design or has the schematics, I'd be happy to learn the details.

I have the 5D3 with grip, and 2 Canon batteries. Occasionally I'm down to ~50% on long day, but I don't remember seeing this phenomenon, then again, I wasn't looking for it. Next time I'll try and see.

Isn't it funny how when someone is trying to make a point they only partly understand that they come out with a long post.

Maybe you should explain to the Canon engineers why they were wrong to expect this, I'm sure they would benefit from your knowledge. (while your at it you might like to get this format programmers to add a "Sarcasm" emoticon for me)

Some of us on this forum don't have English as a second language, I am sure it's fun for you to joke about it. For some of us we end up using more words to try to explain our point. Feel free to laugh at it though.

12

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Making your expensive gear look like crap while traveling

« on: May 26, 2013, 11:25:01 PM »

I'm probably with privatebydesign on this one. The only thing I have done is getting myself another strap to my 5D3. It's a very ugly black and red Canon strap instead of that shiny one that spells out the whole product name. I shoot in some unsafe places, but those times I mostly make sure I am not alone.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D3 and 24 1.4 II L Edit, and other Lenses, owners please read!

« on: May 23, 2013, 09:29:15 PM »

It seems then that the evaluative metering will start from the point of focus, but when switched to manual it will whole scene giving a brighter exposure

Makes sense

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Why is my 5D3 so noisy???

« on: May 23, 2013, 09:25:36 PM »

Thanks for starting this thread, I have had similar experiences with my 5D3. I obviously know some of it is down to me lacking some of the skills, but I have also been thinking that it could be something wrong with my camera.

I always shoot RAW and PP in LR so most of it can be fixed. I do try to ETTR as bdunbar says also, that tends to help alot.

thanks
J

15

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: what to do

« on: May 23, 2013, 09:13:13 PM »

sorry my psychic powers are malfunctioning at the moment you are going to have to fill in a fair bit mor info here if you want a serious answer from anyone since without my psychic powers I have no way of know WTF you already have, how much money you have to spend or what it is you want to do with your gear

failing that buy 4 1Dx bosies and 2 of each every Canon L series lens 12 Ex600RT flashes

oh better get a couple of 5Dmk3 for backups and so you can do continuous RAW video with Magic lantern

that should about cover it

Other than this being exceptionally good advise, it's also what I miss after living overseas for 30 years, the Aussie sense of what most of us call, Humour, it doesn't quire translate in the rest of the world, but I still love it, I'm still laughing as I write this.

I agree although I'm not Aussie.

Also, very sound advice as always from WW