Messages

1

Lenses / Re: Who do you recommend for Lens Rental?

« on: May 20, 2013, 12:53:18 AM »

I cannot recommend Aperturent enough. They're a great company to rent from in the Atlanta area where you can either pick up/drop off the gear at their office, or have them ship it out to you. I've rented from them a handful of times and have had them ship out an ƒ2.8 300mm II to Alaska and back with no problems at all. Their correspondence is great, and they're always open to feedback and suggestions for new items.

2

Software & Accessories / Re: Adobe Lightroom 5 Public Beta Available

« on: April 21, 2013, 02:37:59 AM »

Damn, need Mac OS 10.7+
Im scared to update from 10.6.8

Why ?? I'm using OSX 10.8.3, end of the world hasn't materialised.

But what hardware are you using?

3

Lenses / Re: Wedding with crop bodies, help with rentals.

« on: April 08, 2013, 02:26:48 PM »

Well, my group and I have a wedding to shoot in two weeks. My girlfriend and my friend will be the photographer. They aren't well equipped though. They'll be running with a Canon 500D and 600D. I understand the the low light will be a struggle for us. Luckily for us, the ceremony and the reception will take place outdoors. I'm just hoping that the weather permits to use low ISO. The wedding will be at around 8:00am and the reception will be at like 12:00pm What I'm suggesting we do is have the main photographer carry an UWA and a Telephoto. He is in charge of getting the shots of the Bride and Groom mainly. My girlfriend will be the pickup photographer, getting shots that my friend might miss.

The main photographer has a Sigma 10-20 for UWA so we plan on renting a Canon 70-200 f/4
My girlfriend needs a normal-tele zoom so should I rent a Canon 17-55mm or the Canon 24-105mm

Also, we aren't really prepared but were doing this as a favor for a close relative and we aren't really getting financially aids. It's just nice to have some great photos for our portfolio.

If you're going to rent a 70-200, don't get the f4, go for the f2.8, the sharpness is amazing. You also may want to consider renting an L Prime, as they also produce good results.

My friend doesn't want to use my bodies because he wants to be able to put all the good ones that he took in his personal portfolio. Weird but he doesn't want to get his clients hopes up by using a body that he doesn't have. Its his personal preference.

Yet he wants to use a rented lens?

4

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D Mark III File Issues

« on: April 07, 2013, 01:59:43 PM »

I just tried a new card freshly formatted several times and it has done the same thing every time. It seems to be stopping  around 160 files before the images are no good anymore, which, when calculated out, equals around 4GBs of images. This leads me to believe its a FAT32 issue limiting it. Anybody have any thoughts?

My thoughts - you're completely wrong about FAT32 being related to it, as you're not producing any files of signifigant size. FAT32 comes into play when you want transfer one file of a large size, but not multiple files that amount to a large file size.

5

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Batteries and AF

« on: April 07, 2013, 12:47:40 PM »

Thanks all for the replies!

Lets see if I can answer all these questions:
-I do not use ML; not that crazy a question, I've considered it, but no, I'm using factory firmware.
-Longer version of the anecdote: she said she was manual focusing because the camera wasn't focusing, but she thought it was fine at the beginning. Looking at her shots, she nailed some running dogs, so I'm pretty sure it was fine when she got it, and died during that day.
-I have not really tested any of the batteries, since I usually recharge at the end of a day of shooting. But I have fired off 2k frames in one day of ski racing, and not had to change battery. Unfortunately don't remember which battery that was... Statistically speaking, twice as likely to be a third-party one, right?
-battery terminals look clean to me
-both third party batteries AF right down to one bar.
-this OEM battery is ~5months old, can't have more than half a dozen load-cycles. Came with my 7d when I got it, refurb. Makes me less likely to bother returning it... If it is a faulty battery it seems more worth my time to recycle it and get another $15 wasabi power one... They've been great in my gopro for 2 years, and so far so good in this context as well.

Edit: because I got it from canon direct, I'm inclined to think its genuine. Now, it may be refurbed and already have a ton of load cycles, but I think it was in retail packaging...

I'd go ahead and clean not only the battery terminals, but the lens terminals as well. Easiest thing to do to eliminate a possible cause, and if that doesn't work, proceed to troubleshoot.

6

Lenses / Re: How's the 70-300L?

« on: March 15, 2013, 02:28:51 AM »

Go for the 70-300L, it's a sharp lens (obviously not as much as a 2., and I think the tradeoff for reach and maneuverability was worth it. I had never shot it before and I was impressed with it, as it's really not that much bigger than other 70-300s, but smaller than the 70-200L. Here's a couple examples when I shot the Iditarod:




And downtown Anchorage:

7

Lenses / Re: Is your midrange gear insured?

« on: February 16, 2013, 10:26:33 PM »

I just want to footstomp something for everyone here with regards to insurance - just because your company says it's "insured" does not mean it'll be covered! I say this because there are obvious limitations for policies such as homeowner/renter and auto polices where they'll be cover IF your gear is stolen FROM those locations. That being said, you typically need a Valuable Personal Property rider on your homeowner/renter's policy, where you specifically identify each and every item, by serial number (if applicable), for coverage in between the house and the car, as well as piece of mind. Aside from the information that I've provided the insurance company, I've got a PDF that has all of the pertinent information and pictures of the insured items, just in case.

Although I checked many places, I have not found anyone providing insurance for camera gear in Qatar ... does anyone here in Canon rumours know of any company providing insurance in Qatar?

Just curious if you're a US Ex-pat there, if so, try a US based insurance company? Some will provide international coverage.

All of our camera gear is insured by State Farm, but oddly enough, they would not cover my Ipad 4. Apparently that item represents a higher risk than a 5d3!

You need to make sure you ask how and what policy it would be covered under.

8

Canon General / Re: Why buy from a bricks and mortar store?

« on: January 17, 2013, 02:30:23 AM »

There's only 2 camera stores in the entire state and neither of them are big on customer service. I really try to buy local, but when one blows me off when I enquire about a lens listed on their website and tells me that they don't know, and that they'll have the manager call me next week, but never does, I don't feel a need to shop there anytime soon. The other one consistently has prices at MSRP or higher, which means hundreds extra if I want a new lens.

9

Software & Accessories / Re: Lightroom 4.2 update

« on: October 04, 2012, 10:27:24 AM »

But no lens profile for the Canon 24-70mmL II

10

Lenses / Re: Lens choices for airshow

« on: August 18, 2012, 10:38:11 AM »

Rolsskk,

Nice shots! Were the images cropped much or not at all? Also just out of interest, what exposure were you using for them? (I'm well aware I won't be seeing blue sky in Scotland in September  )

Guy.

First one was cropped just a little, to better compose the shot, but not by much, the second one is is uncropped.
For the Raptor shot my settings were: ISO100, 1/3200, f2.8, with AWB. For the Thunderbirds it was ISO50, 1/2500, f2.8, with AWB.

11

Lenses / Re: Lens choices for airshow

« on: August 18, 2012, 12:51:52 AM »

Many thanks for the comments. I think the 300 and 24-105 should cover all static and formation/solo flying. I guess the B-52 will call for a multi-shot panorama no matter what lens I take!

The B-52 isn't that massive. Sure, you'll have to back up some, but you can easily get it all in the frame.

IIIHobbs - if you get to the airshow this weekend can you maybe post some 5D3 plus 300mm shots so that I can gauge what I might be able to achieve?

Thanks.

Here's my 5D MkIII with f2.8 300mmL II

12

Lenses / Re: Lens choices for airshow

« on: August 17, 2012, 10:55:09 AM »

Don't rely upon the focus tracking, as at times it will fail you and momentarily lock onto something else at a crucial moment. You'll often find that the 300mm will be enough, and sometimes too much when a formation of aircraft flies overhead.

13

EOS Bodies / Re: 7D Is immortal

« on: May 26, 2012, 06:57:26 PM »

Sadly, my 7D wasn't that immortal when deployed to Afghanistan. It ended up throwing an ERROR 06 or ERROR 40 every time I'd try to use it.

14

EOS Bodies / Re: What a day at Adorama! I GOT IT They also have the KIT

« on: April 04, 2012, 10:42:22 PM »

Congrats on getting it, I just got my shipping notification from them. As far as the kit - they've always shown it as being in stock for the past week or so that I've been checking the site daily.

15

EOS Bodies / Re: Letter to Mr Rockwell in regards to his 5Dmkiii review

« on: April 04, 2012, 10:39:34 PM »

No one is going to ask him about the new Nikon feature of "Auto Distrion Correction"? I got a good laugh out of that.