Messages

1

Lenses / Re: Can the 70-200 2.8L II IS replace my 100L and 135L?

« on: May 17, 2013, 06:15:57 PM »

I have the 100L and 70-200 IS2. The 70-200 would be wonderful if it weren't such a boat anchor...I hate lugging that thing around. The 70-200 is noticably faster focusing and also focuses in lower light better. They give a bit of a different look but it's not huge imo. There's times for me when the 100L is nice without much in the way of limits on how close I can get.

I agree with others that if you can, buy it and keep the others, then sell something later when you have more first hand experience with the 70-200. It would be interesting to see you shoot the same model with all three in a single session to compare them! Would be fun letting people guess which lens goes with which shots.

2

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: dissapointed 6d 100mm f2 and 24mm 2.8 (non l)

« on: May 07, 2013, 07:06:03 PM »

theres lots of space because its a desert! thats what i was trying to get across.

A bit off topic I suppose, but depending on what you plan to do with the output, another thing you might play with is cropping at different aspect ratios to emphasize the horizontal vastness. I kinda like 2.66:1 (cinema) to 3:1 aspect ratios for shots like you posted. Might make for an interesting framed/matted print - or might not be your cup of tea - just tossing out an idea. Below is a cinema (2.66:1) crop.

3

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: EOS 5D Mark III Firmware 1.2.1 Available for Download

« on: May 03, 2013, 04:49:15 PM »

Very pleased to report 100L + Yongnuo 568 w/assist is very snappy in low light with this firmware. I was worried Canon might sabotage the third party lens focus, but Sigma 50 works fantastic with this firmware update.

4

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: EOS 5D Mark III Firmware 1.2.1 Available for Download

« on: April 30, 2013, 02:07:20 PM »

So are all of the third party lenses still focusing correctly with this firmware version? I'd hate to think Canon would sabotage them with a firmware update but can't put it past them if they sabotaged third party batteries.

5

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 1dx plus 85 1.2 is great for night street photography.

« on: April 21, 2013, 08:09:18 PM »

sanj...you inspired me to take my 1dx - 85 1.8 combo out on a walk this morning to see if I might come upon something of interest.   

usually I slap my trusty 24-105 on for "walk about" photography, or sometimes the shorty 40, but this was a first for the 85 1.8. 

not a "street shot", but I like this image.  cloudy and gray here today, and considering the setting, i went b/w using nik silver efx.

f10
250th
iso 100

thanks for your post....in the future I'll be using this combo again for "walkabout" photography.

That is a brilliant composition IMO. Very well done.

6

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Waiting for a Sigma 50 "A" like their 35 to appear?

« on: April 21, 2013, 08:00:01 PM »

If/when Sigma updates their 50 1.4 into the Art line, they should make it a f/1.2 just to annoy Canon. Would be awesome!

Well, maybe not to annoy them, but do the new one as f/1.2 and then keep the current 50 to fill the current price point.

LOL, they just need to make sure they do to the current ones whatever they they did to mine when I sent it to them *before* they all hit the store shelves instead of *after*.  Mine was a problem child as delivered, but very well behaved after a trip in for service.

7

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: 135mm f/1.8 DG OS ART Next from Sigma? [CR1]

« on: April 21, 2013, 07:52:00 PM »

LOL, so when can I pre-order???

As for the 50, I've been pleased with the existing one after I sent it in to service the "front focus up close, back focus at distance" syndrome. They totally fixed it with a firmware update. That said, I'd definitely want to see if the ART version 50 is better than the current version 50 after being dialed in.

8

Lenses / Re: Canon L Glass is currently priced at over $1200 / pound

« on: April 20, 2013, 03:39:04 PM »

LOL, I'm on the "hamburger diet". Everything I have is in the $486 to $779 per pound range.

None of that fillet mignon priced stuff in my bags!

9

EOS Bodies / Re: How can lens focus ever be "off" in a way that AFMA fixes it?

« on: April 20, 2013, 12:30:02 PM »

I've often pondered the same question as OP, so dug around and found this post:

http://photographylife.com/how-phase-detection-autofocus-works

Easy read, but enough info to understand the technical.

Basically there are known and expected phase detection errors at the individual phase detect cell level and those are dealt with in code when the camera is manufactured. AFMA allows you to "mop up" at a global level.

The phase detection process as a whole is a hybrid of open and closed loops. Basically if a phase error is detected beyond what has already been documented in code during manufacturing, instructions are sent to move the lens to a specific focus. It keeps checking the results and sending further instructions to the lens until it confirms. So in this respect it is closed loop.

However, the Phase Detection sensor and the Image Detection sensor are two entirely different physical entities operating on two distinct and separate light paths. By definition, using the PD sensor to derive an ID sensor focus state is open loop in nature. An "in focus" state on the PD sensor results in an "unknown focus" state for the ID sensor evey single time. And it is only by making assumptions about the physical relationship between the PD and ID light paths and sensors that the ID sensor focus state is derived and in fact *assumed*.

LOL, after seeing how this works I'm surprised it functions as well as it does.

The way to close all process loops is to place the PD cells in the same physical light path and focal plane as the ID cells. Seems like I heard something along those lines recently.

10

EOS Bodies / Re: DxOMark Sensor Performance: Nikon vs. Canon

« on: April 20, 2013, 11:41:09 AM »

...here is 1dx and d800 lifted the same in the shadows and from a contrast rich motive
This is a strait comparison which shows two different sensors signal/noise in shadows and the cameras are exactly the same exposed...

Not taking sides here, but what software was used to do the lifts? Point being all softs are not all going to do it with the same quality. The Canon shot looks like a total mess compared to what I get from 5D3 shots doing similar lift.

11

Lighting / Re: YN-622 Reviews?

« on: April 13, 2013, 09:00:22 PM »

well i just got my 622 triggers and a 565 and got to mess around with them for a little bit with my 6d. This is my first time ever using wireless flash and here are some results. If you guys have any advice, it is gladly welcome. I'm still reading about flash and everything photography related so i'll gladly listen.

I found Speedlighter's Handbook by Syl Arena extremely helpful. For the noob (like me), it's all about lighting angles and shadow hardness control using a single light. I'm amazed at how far you can go just doing the basics. One thing I like about his book is it combines an instructional tech reference format with a cookbook format, making it very quick to find a recipe but also learn what makes the recipe tick.

12

Lenses / Re: Added dandelion chips to my lensbaby and samyang 8mm

« on: April 02, 2013, 04:12:21 PM »

thats not good, did you try calibrating the AF confirm too? it seems like a pretty complicated process which i didnt do
obviously the 8mm just about everything is in focus most of the time anyway
and the lens baby i didt worry about calibrating as its a freaky little lens anyway

My Rokinon 35 is a Nikon mount so I use an adapter. The thickness of the adapter I dealt with by programming the AF offset in the chip. It's not any tougher than programming the other data except you have to guess what value, but even that was easy and got it second try. Then fine tune using in-camera AFMA the normal way.

Pretty frustrating that everything functioned properly then this wide range of confirming focus. If I were to hazzard a guess, the range it confirms is equivalent to about 12 AFMA units...so basically a game of roulette when at f/1.4 and close subject distance.

13

Lenses / Re: Added dandelion chips to my lensbaby and samyang 8mm

« on: March 31, 2013, 05:18:35 PM »

Got this European dandelion in, installed and programmed it.

The good news is that it functions as advertised.

But for me anyway, it sadly does not work as advertised.

The issue with it is that the range of focus that it confirms is so large that it is basically useless for me.

I can AFMA it such that when slowly focusing from further out, when it first confirms, it is in focus. The problem is it just keeps on confirming as I continue to slowly focus closer in, and then I have this massive front focus.

The Chinese chips that support AFMA have a very narrow range that they will confirm, which is great. But unfortunately they don't work with 5D3 for some reason.

I need the AFMA since this Rokinon (Samyang) lens is a Nikon mount and I'm using an adapter. The thickness of the adapter is too much for the in camera AFMA to compensate by itself....

I guess it's time to punt on this lens, which is sad because I really like it.

14

Lenses / Re: Best tele prime for full frame?

« on: March 25, 2013, 03:50:03 PM »

I vote the 135.

LOL, I was a happy camper back in the film days with nothing but a 50 and a 135. I sure wish I would have gone that route to get into DSLR decades later...

I'm underwhelmed with my 100L for focusing in low light even with assist beam. It is in i believe AF group C so not surprising...

15

EOS Bodies / Re: Are 5d3 owners happy with the video, ALL i?

« on: March 25, 2013, 03:29:05 PM »

My 2 cents (probably about all it's worth...) is the video grab looks like it was taken with a stock picture style and has not much apparent DR as a result. Plus looks like no sharpening in post. To me, these are the more noticable issues than noise.

I've not done much video with 5D3 but did do some testing to gear up for doing some in the future. My findings are that there's a pretty substantial difference to the look when using a picture style optimized for video like FLAAT or similar and then applying a RGB S curve in post as a basis for further grading refinments (if desired), as opposed to using a stock Canon still shot picture style.

For noise reduction, the Red Giant NR plug is pretty good, as is Neat Video NR plug (I own both) and I'd probably say the Red Giant product is the more flexible and easier to use.

Lastly, the softness is pretty easily handled to at least some degree with Adobe's native sharpening tools.

But yes, I'd agree what comes straight out of the camera could stand improvement.

As for all i-frame, I did see a test of moving cars at a distance that were very tiny within the frame and the all i frame looked smoother in the motion of the cars. Again, I've not spent much time on video with my 5D3 yet but that test leads me to believe all i frame is maybe helpful under certain conditions, and of course as already mentioned, if storage is not too much of an issue, it may help when you dump it into your NLE.

Jmo, ymmv, yadda, yadda.