Messages

1

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Options for 60D upgrade/replacement?

« on: September 28, 2012, 04:16:56 AM »

I started out with a 60D and bought mostly L glass hoping that canon wouldnt drag their feet about upgrading the 5D2.  I bought the 5D3 as soon as it came out and love it.  I would agree that the 70-200L 2.8 II is MUCH more useable on the 5D3.  I rented it once for a project when I had the 5D2 and although a few random shots turned out exceptionally well and I could tell it was an awesome lens, the range was just awkward, soooo much better on the 5D3  I use it whenever I can. 

The 24-105L is such a great walk around lens on the 5D3.  Just finished a tour of Cambridge.  I couldnt use the 70-200L in almost any shots, but the 24-50mm range on the 24-105L was perfect.  Personally I rarely use my 70-300L on the 5D3, but I keep it glued to the 60D for range shots.

The lowlight usability of the 5D3 is just nuts by comparison.  With the 60D I was always trading slowing the shutter and opening the aperture to try and maintain a 100-800 iso.  I checked my Aperture library and only have two keepers above 1600 iso from the 60D.  With the 5D3 I dont even think about noise until I get to 12800.  And after pixel peeping some keepers in the 12800-25600iso range, I have to say its not just the amount of noise...its the TYPE of noise.  The noise in the 5D3 is soo much less distracting that the 60D.  Cant emphasize that enough.  The noise in the 5D3 typically looks more "artistic" than the 60D, much like film grain and less like the 60Ds "video camera" noise look.

I would also argue that the color balancing on the 5D3 is quite a bit better than the 60D.  The metering is very good imo.  Without adjustment in Av mode, it nailed exposure that I know the 60D would miss.

I agree the lack of a pop up sensor for remote flash activation is super annoying, which makes the 6D more attractive.  I  dont know if I would have popped the extra $1500 for the 5D3 over the 6D if I had had the choice.  Almost all the features I mentioned above would be available in theory with the 6D.  I guess it would come down to how much better the 5D3s AF is.  I enjoy it vastly more than the 60D.  When I go back to the 60D I feel quite handicapped.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: EOS 5D3 - shooting first wedding on Saturday

« on: August 30, 2012, 10:08:08 AM »

My experience is that the auto iso locks at 400 when the flash is attached.  I put 400-1600 when I posted earlier because I thought you could set it to that, but I haven't figured that out yet.  This stinks IMO.  I forgot to go manual with the iso and lost some shots.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: EOS 5D3 - shooting first wedding on Saturday

« on: August 28, 2012, 02:51:53 PM »

I wouldn't recommend using auto ISO with flash

 

Original poster : Watch out for that!.  The 5D3 defaults to locking the iso at 400-1600 when flash is engaged.  I lost a couple shots at the reception because I was trying to be too subtle with fill/bounce flash and my ambient just got lost. At 400 iso indoors...it is pretty dark if you are bounce flashing at -1-0 FEC.

I suppose there is a way to change that, but I just went manual Iso when I realized my mistake.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: EOS 5D3 - shooting first wedding on Saturday

« on: August 28, 2012, 12:05:59 PM »

I shot my first wedding a few weeks ago.  Had a 5d3 which I used a 24-105L and the 70-200mm 2.8 ii time most of the time.  2nd camera was a 60D with the 10-22mm on it for group shots and 60 mm macro for detail shots.  Also had a 50mm f1.4 for when I had to use ambient indoors.  Usable shots on the 60d only went up to about iso 3200, noisy even then.  Had a number of useful shots as high as 25600 ISo on the 5d3, but had to use Nik DFine to noise reduce most shots above 10000 iso.

The 580exii was in the shoe most of the time.  I gelled with a 1/2 Cts because when I scouted the location it was a dark interior lit with only incadescents. The gel stayed on during out door shots.  Added a nice warming when I dialed back with FEC.  I would ditch the lightsphere and go with a Rogue lightbender.  More versatile IMO. Great for bounce, flagging, and quick snoot.

I tried shooting mostly in manual, but dropped that quickly as there was just too much happening most of the time.  Went back to manual for tricky shots, but mostly went Av with auto iso and used flash with FEC. 

I learned the hard way to take a little more time chimping.  Had some nasty tree branches in the background of many of my group shots.  Had to spend a LOT of time in post getting rid of them.  I was more focused on setting up the groups and dealing with dappled light near the edge of the shade.

5

Lenses / Re: Advice for trip to Hawaii

« on: July 13, 2012, 01:54:52 PM »

Make sure to bring a c polarizing filter for the 70-200.  Can't always control the time of day or direction you shoot from. Chances are water will be in a lot of shots Tried Shooting windsurfers in Maui without one and nothing but water glare. Bought one went back the next day around the same time and got great shots.

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Software & Accessories / Re: 5dmIII RAW processing - LR4.1 vs Aperture 3 vs DPP

« on: June 09, 2012, 10:48:26 AM »

When I got the mark iii, I downloaded the LR trial and compared it to aperture.  I used both for about two weeks on the same images and saw about the same image quality.  I have to say that I saw much smoother and faster workflow with aperture.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: DxOMark scores for 5DMkIII out - total score 81, 5DMkII had 79

« on: April 19, 2012, 07:49:06 AM »

The D800 is ~25% better at low light sports shooting?  really?  Seems a bit fishy to me.  Most of what I have read indicates they are reasonably close only if you downsample the D800 to the Mkiii resolution.  I have used the mkiii in near total darkness and have had a few real keepers at iso 12.8k.

I was pretty sure they would just bump the mkii score by a few points but I was really thinking it might have been 84-85.  I guess Canon glass is just that much better on average?  The difference in samples that I have seen is not that great.

That said, I do a lot of landscape photography and totally would have switched had I not just bought some L lenses when the rebates were tempting around xmas.

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EOS Bodies / Why so long on the DXOMark and DPReviews?

« on: April 09, 2012, 08:55:11 AM »

I got my 5d III the week before last.  I am sure both those organizations got one from at least the first shipped batch.  Why is it taking so long to come out with anything other than a preview?  Are they running into issues? 

I am pretty happy with the 5d3, although the wife is a little mad about the price.

I am really curious about how low the DXOMark score will be and if it is causing them to rethink their test.  I just think they might worry it would damage what credibility they have if the nikon 800 had a 95 and the 5d3 had a 85 or so.  They clearly are not that far apart unless the Nikon lenses are really holding them back.  I don't think that is the case given he zeiss comparisons Lensrentals did.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Comparing my 60d with my new 5d3 not seeing much of a difference.

« on: April 01, 2012, 07:04:08 AM »

I too moved from a 60D to a 5d3.  I would say moved is not fair.  The 60D will likely see a lot of work for bird photos and other long shots where the 1.6x helps a lot.

After some tests I would say that I can get really useable shots up to 12800 and maybe 25600 with a lot of post.  I did occasionally use up to 3200 on the 60D.  So thats about 2 more useable stops.  Maybe two and a half.

One big difference I noticed the first day was that the 50mm f1.4 lens correction profile isn't default loaded on the 5d3.  I enjoyed that lens on my 60D and got some of my favorite photos from it when it was stopped down to about 1.8 or more.   I tried out that lens right away because I wanted to see the low light limit!.  I have attached on shot showing how bad the vignetting is without the correction.  The second (insanely noisy) shot was taken with all lights off at max iso (102480) and 1.4 aperture.  I could not see her at all but the camera achieved autofocus!

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Lenses / Re: Do all of canons 50 mm lens suck?

« on: March 29, 2012, 05:32:57 AM »

I know the Canon f1.4 isn't sharp wide open, and I get a lot of missed pics with autofocus on it but...Some of the best shots I have are taken with this lens.  The shots in the gallery below are taken around f1.6-f.2.0.  The one with the present in it was taken at f4.0 and almost looks too sharp.

http://www.BenePict.com/p119494941

For the money its a great lens.  I use it whenever I need to do portrait work.  I have compared it extensively to the 24-105L and it wins every time in terms of image quality.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Canon 5D Mark III plus 24-70mm II

« on: March 28, 2012, 04:25:45 PM »

order 554xx went from backordered to shipped sometime in the last 3 hours

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EOS Bodies / Re: Curious about B&H & mkiii shipments

« on: March 26, 2012, 06:30:07 AM »

I ordered around 6:15 on the 2nd (554xx).  Still backordered.  Wish they even gave you an estimated time.  If they don't ship it by the 5th I will have to cancel my order if I can find it anywhere else.  They are shutting down from the 6th-15th.  I have my first born due on the 3rd (or sooner!) and would really like to have the mk iii.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5DmkIII RAW File support for Aperture 3?

« on: March 23, 2012, 05:35:53 AM »

in my experience the Canon/Apple "team" is pretty slow.  It took them 3 to 4 weeks after the release of the 60D to get aperture support.  I think LR had it a week earlier

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EOS Bodies / Re: 5D Mark III Kit - IN STOCK at B&H!

« on: March 22, 2012, 04:07:27 PM »

Great so the kit is in stock but my March2nd order of the body is still backordered?  wtf>?  why penalize people because they already bought the 24-105? 

15

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: IPAD 3 = Lame

« on: March 09, 2012, 06:30:02 AM »

I don't know how much utility a tablet tether would really bring.  Sounds like a tangle of cables and lots of opportunities for drops.  I agree just get an air if you need to tether.  I use my MacBook Pro 15" and a dual head tripod bar.  The quad core processors and antiglare screen make it an awesome studio solution, with instant workstation power if need  be.

In all truthfulness, I was Pleasantly surprised that the iPad2 could handle RAW files from my 60D.  I tried it initially with an EyeFi card but it was tooooooo slow and unreliable.   In the end I just used the camera connectivity kit.  I took a 2 week vaca in Hawaii last year and really didn't want to lug the laptop and assorted cables and adapters so I just used the iPad.  The video editing and photo processing was surprisingly good.  In fact there are two landscape shots that I was actually unable to get as appealing in LR as in Snapseed on the iPad

I have ordered the new iPad.  The high res screen on the iPhone4/4s is hypnotic.  I can't imagine it at iPad size.  4g LTE is a bonus too I suppose.