Messages

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EOS Bodies / Re: first pic of canon mirrorless?

« on: July 20, 2012, 09:36:34 AM »

Finally a second camera I can just grab and slip into my coat pocket, then slip a hotshoe viewfinder into my other coat pocket. Then stash an external flash in my wife's purse, then sling a dslr bag around my neck and keep an EF adaptor and some of my EF lenses in that. On second thought, I'll just bring my 5d3.

Judging by the lack of buttons, this is surely for consumers, so no built-in flash seems like a mistake.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Any actual photographers out there?

« on: July 08, 2012, 02:39:47 AM »

I agree with some of the comments. I also feel there is a reasonable amount of immaturity, which perhaps addresses some of the issues that people have made above.

Perhaps if we had our real age next to our user names we could be more forgiving of some of the silly and often rather inflammatory comments.

I have come across similar in other forums, and I was wondering why. Worked out most of the members posting were students aged 15-25/30! Still very young in my eyes...

Age has nothing to do with it. For every young student there is a middle aged man trying to get back into photography in the digital age. There are people here of all ages and experience levels.

I am 27 years old and have been running a $100k+ a year food photography business for four years. The last (released) cookbook I photographed is the second highest selling cookbook of the year to date (according to Nielson Bookscan and Publisher's Weekly).  To date, cookbooks I photographed (and designed) have sold over a million copies.

But I still think I know crap about photography... That's why I'm here. I'm critical of everything I do and want to get better.  There are people here that know a heck of a lot more than me, skill wise... And there are people here that know a heck of a lot more about the tech. I am equally interested in both because you need not only a foundation, but one that is future-proof as new tech emerges.

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Pricewatch Deals / Re: Canon EF 24 f/2.8 IS & EF 28 f/2.8 IS Available for Preorder

« on: May 29, 2012, 07:11:49 PM »

Focus ring looks annoyingly small for video too.

I'd need to see how good the stabilizing is to pass real judgement for video though.  That said, you could pick up the old 24mm for $300 and the Opteka Steadyvid Pro for $179 and an Opteka shoulder rig for $100 and a Chinese rail system on EBay for $60 and Hondo Garage's $50 follow focus and a Manfrotto fluid video head for $129 and have a whole slew of filmmaking rigs for steady picture in any situation for the price of one of these.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Is the 5D3 SOFT compared to the 5D2?

« on: May 24, 2012, 05:34:18 PM »

To PerfectSavage on the issue of color profiles... I did not shoot with the technicolor anyone else's custom cinestyle. I personally found these way too hard to bring color back into in post, especially skin tones.

I shot on Neutral with the contrast and sharpening all the way down.  Because it was only one scene and the whole scene being reshot, I wasn't too concerned with the color matching previous footage, as I am doing extensive color grading anyway. I can say though that I've shot this exact scene with the same lighting 3 times now, twice on the 5d2 and once on the 3 and they all look very similar, though there seemed to be more color in the skin in the 5d3 version while still remaining very flat. Though this could have been a lighting placement thing because I did position the lights somewhat differently.

I'd say you'd see a bigger difference in color and contrast changing lenses than from the 5d2 to 3 on the same settings though.  I switched from the Zeiss 21mm 2.8 to the Zeiss 35mm f2 for shooting additional footage and everyone noticed a big difference in color.  The 35mm is beautiful and a perfect video lens. The Zeiss sharpness of the wide 21mm is lost on 5d video anyway... But I needed it to shoot in a cramped place.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Is the 5D3 SOFT compared to the 5D2?

« on: May 23, 2012, 09:37:59 PM »

yeah i've been experimenting with real 35mm grain scan overlays

for wide landscape details, it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more not blurred away though, even ISO100, it does something a touch waxy to all video and jpgs, especially out of neutral setting

yeah it probably has 1.5-2 stops better SNR than 5D2 video and less banding at the high isos so a dark scene at 12,800 on 5D2 was often not even watchable, sometiems even 6400 but on 5D3 it can be fine for some things and it's certainly watchable even in the worst lighting scenarios, less noise and no ugly banding mess

I definitely don't disagree that detail isn't even there at ISO100, but I don't think that's anything new to the 5d3.  Almost the entire movie I shot on the 5d2 is shot wide in fields and woods and the detail is definitely lacking.  On the opposite side of the coin, some of our shots were so cramped that I don't think I could have shot with any other camera.

For filmmaking, I can't go back to before the 35mm grain overlay!  Everything looks like video to me without it.  The Gorilla Grain I am using has a very soft flicker and silver sheen that I really love too... though I must color grade with the overlay turned on, because it slightly brightens the video.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Is the 5D3 SOFT compared to the 5D2?

« on: May 23, 2012, 09:01:26 PM »

While I have been taking a break from my work as a food photographer, so I have not done any studio shots on a tripod with Zeiss glass on the 5d3 yet... I can say definitely say that I am getting super sharp images from this camera handheld.

I shot almost exclusively prime lenses on the 5d2 until buying the 5d3 kit and I'm getting tack sharp photos with the 5d3 and 24-105 handheld.  Whether or not this is just the improved AF system giving me more and better keepers remains to be seen, but I am extremely happy either way.

I'll be working on a food project in the next two months, so I'll see how it performs there, but I honestly can't imagine a noticeable difference, other than what I feel is much better color rendition in the 5d3, especially for vibrant colored food.

I also did a reshoot with the 5d3 of a scene for a feature film I shot on the 5d2.  Video sharpness looks identical out of the camera to me as I was not shooting a scene that would have a lot of aliasing.  Any perceived extra sharpness in the 5d2 was most likely aliasing on fine details like brick and grass.  I am quite glad this is gone as the aliasing and moire can really kill the filmic look.  With the ability to slightly sharpen in post, the 5d3 definitely edges out the 5d2 in sharpness (but not amazingly so).  The high ISO video quality is absolutely astonishing though.  Yes, the video can start to get waxy looking, but I can push the ISO so much higher now.  I would have to use Neat Video on footage on the 5d2 above ISO 800 which would make the footage very waxy anyway and add a ridiculous amount of time to the render.

There are two tricks you can use to get rid of this waxy look of noise reduced high-ISO video... 1. Light your scene better and use a lower ISO!  2. Add film grain in post.  My last stage of video processing is adding real 35mm film grain scans by Gorilla Grain over top of the video.  While it may seem counterproductive to reintroduce noise, I think that ISO noise is ugly and film grain is not.  Of course your taste may vary... but even at only 50% opacity, this film grain will "dither" your video and effectively cover over that waxy look.

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EOS Bodies - For Video / Re: Documentary 5D mk iii setup

« on: May 20, 2012, 08:43:19 PM »

I had a professional sound man on my feature film shoot and he refused to run a line from his recorder into the camera as it would introduce noise. We tried anyway and definitely heard a loud signal noise. Don't know if that was his equipment but I wouldn't doubt the 5d having signal noise.  He used an external Tascam recorder for the shoot.  If I am not mistaken, these recorders record at 24 bit while the camera can only do 16. I am not that versed in sound though!

I do know that there is a program called PluralEyes that is absolutely incredible. It syncs up external audio in post like magic. There is no need to fear syncing with it. Even the sound guy couldn't believe that we weren't using a slate on set.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D Specs [CR2.5]

« on: May 17, 2012, 02:46:16 PM »

Finally!  Now we can play Angry Birds on our camera. But no 1 megapixel camera on the back so I can take pictures of my face as I take pictures?  I need to video conference with my client as I shoot their photos and I need them to see my cheek accidentally changing the ISO on the touchscreen as it happens, so that they know why the photos didn't come out.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D3 Rate button

« on: May 08, 2012, 02:52:50 PM »

I love the rate button. I always have a mini hdmi connected to my monitor because it is so much easier to look through thousands of photos and check focus using the camera than waiting for the photos to import and render previews in Lightroom. I have an Intel 980x system with triple channel ram and programs running off a SSD and Lightroom 4 is still slow to load RAW files. It's fine when editing, but frustrating when selecting photos.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 5D Mark III AI Servo AF Point Annoyance Firmware Fix Coming

« on: May 07, 2012, 06:08:17 AM »

6.  The abillity to use the multi controller to choose submenues and the small top wheel to scroll top menues (without     
     going through every single submenu.

There is already the ability to skip over menu groups. To do this, press the [Q] button!

I too was looking for a way to do this!  What an unintuitive decision to use the Q button. With two scroll wheels, a multicontroller joystick, and a 4 way touch pad-- you press a button to skip forward in menus?  Want to skip backward to the last set of menus?  Simply hit the Q button 4 times!  Skipping forward is better than nothing though and I am thankful for the tip.

As far as firmware updates, I think they should really expand the rating thing. I actually like the rate button, but wish there was a way to sort photos by rating on the camera.  Or a way to delete all unrated photos.  Or a way to move all rated photos into a new folder.   

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EOS Bodies - For Video / Re: Thoughts on my first real shoot with the 5DIII

« on: April 27, 2012, 09:22:24 AM »

congrats on your 5d3, I like mine too.  question though, why do you like the zeiss lenses so much? i ask because when i read the lens review sites, they rank the zeiss lenses as equal to or less than canon or nikon glass.

also, where did the canon 135 go?  why wouldn't you keep using it on the new set up?  some would say it's the best lens you own.

don't take my questions the wrong way, i'm just trying to learn more and you obviously have significant experience/knowledge, so i'm pick'n your brain a bit, that's all...

Though, I'm not the original poster, I agree with him completely.

The Zeiss lenses are corner to corner sharp on full frame cameras. But for video, it is their focusing ring that truly shines. I was extremely loyal to Canon lenses but thankfully rented the Zeiss 21mm to shoot a film. After using the Zeiss, I loved it so much that I sold the incredible Canon TS-E 90mm to buy a Zeiss 35mm f2.

I did reshoots for the movie on the 35mm Zeiss and everyone has noticed that the footage is even better than the 21mm.

I still use Canon L lenses for photography when I'm not locked down on a tripod, as the manual focus of the Zeiss pretty much negates its sharpness for walkaround photography. But for video, I'm grabbing my Zeiss 35 or renting another Zeiss.

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EOS Bodies - For Video / Re: "Hello World!" on 5d3

« on: April 27, 2012, 06:13:11 AM »

This is awesome... even though I am one of the absolute staunchest supporters of the 5d3, I still feel like there's something intentionally crippled in there.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Let's see some great shots taken with old, cheap gear!

« on: April 26, 2012, 08:07:17 AM »

This is a fun one not necessarily meant to show a great picture... Here are three pictures of the same statue (Rape of the Sabine Woman) in Florence, Italy that I took in three different years as I learned more about photography and upgraded equipment.

The first photo was taken in 2007 with a Panasonic DMC-FZ5 PnS.

The second photo was taken in 2009 with a Canon XTi and the kit lens.

The third photo was taken in 2010 with the Canon 5d mark ii and a 24-105L.

I plan on taking my 5d3 and a Zeiss lens next year!

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EOS Bodies / Re: Let's see some great shots taken with old, cheap gear!

« on: April 26, 2012, 07:59:47 AM »

This is one of the first photographs I ever took from the week I first got a camera.  It was a FujiPix A210 3.2MP PnS circa 2004.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Let's see some great shots taken with old, cheap gear!

« on: April 25, 2012, 11:25:39 PM »

This thread just makes me want to start a contest where everyone has to use the same horrible camera and present their best image with no post-production.

Something like the new cardboard Ikea digital camera would be perfect... it'll probably sell for something like $8.  http://www.petapixel.com/2012/04/24/cardboard-digital-camera-by-ikea/