Messages

1

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: What equipment to bring to get the stars

« on: May 15, 2013, 06:09:01 PM »

Why would I pick a 200mm?
I read that the longer the focal length is, the shorter is the longest exposure time that I can use without getting star trails.

I don't have a tripod head that compensates the rotation of the earth.

2

EOS Bodies - For Stills / What equipment to bring to get the stars

« on: May 15, 2013, 08:40:55 AM »

hello,

I'm about to visit an area that has rather low light pollution, so I thought I give star photography a go.
But what's equipment gives the best results?

I found this website with some helpful information:
http://www.davidkinghamphotography.com/

I still have a few questions though and I hope you guys can help me figure them out.

1.) I have a digital crop body and film body + 3 rolls of ilford delta 3200.
-> 3200 iso on the 40D sure is noisy but it's in color + general digital advantages
-> I guess the film body should handle extreme long exposures better (very low power consumption) + being full frame

I'll probably pack both, but which one would be better suited?

2.) lens
I don't think the kit lens will cut it at its wide end with 17mm and f4.0, so the samyang/rokinon/bower 14mm looks tempting.
But then there's this crazy distortion it produces. How well can I take care of this in post?
Are there other wide angle lenses you would recommend? (am on a budget)

3.) iso settings
The website suggest starting at 3200.
I cannot go any further with my setup.
The question is whether the iso is necessary to capture the light of the stars at all or if it's to keep the exposure time low to prevent star trails.

Say I wanted to try a trail, could I go with a lower iso because I want a longer exposure?
Or would that reduce the visibility of the stars too much?


Tripod + head + remote are not a problem.

Thanks guys!

3

EOS Bodies / Re: Bye Canon?

« on: April 23, 2013, 07:32:37 PM »

I'm just frustated and i want canon to know!

You have to make them feel, by selling your now useless gear for really really cheap for example.
If that ain't the most awesome way to tell them the truth then I don't know what would be...

...well, maybe you could send your lenses to Canon to get them refurbished just before selling them for really really cheap. That'd be totally "in your face".

4

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: The last roll of Kodachrome – what would you shoot with the last 36 frames?

« on: April 21, 2013, 06:47:02 AM »

coz its easier and cheaper

This depends on whether you develop the film yourself, which film you are using, how many pictures you take etc.

5

Technical Support / Re: MacBook Pro : Best RAW Processing Software?

« on: April 17, 2013, 05:16:26 AM »

Have a look at this:
http://www.canonrumors.com/2013/04/adobe-lightroom-5-public-beta-available/

While not being the final release, you can still try it out extensively.
In the end, you have to choose.

6

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: "I am boycotting Nikon" campaign

« on: April 14, 2013, 09:15:25 AM »

renamed it from "Nikon Hunting" to "Nikon Sport Optics".

Leica also calls it "sport optics".

7

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: Lexar CF cards FAIL - Sandisk?

« on: March 14, 2013, 08:27:57 PM »

Sorry if this sounds cynical, but has anyone verified if this is a valid Lexar number?

http://www.lexar.com/support

I'm running 2 cheap kingstons, which some other cameras can't even read. (from that other brand, of course  )
Never had any issues with them.

8

Video & Movie / Re: Timelapse of the Aurora in Finland

« on: March 05, 2013, 02:23:24 PM »

Is there somebody flashing the trees into his long exposure shot at 0:34?

9

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: The last roll of Kodachrome – what would you shoot with the last 36 frames?

« on: March 04, 2013, 05:49:28 AM »

+1 ... I absolutely agree!
sure he could've got another roll and re-do the shot but then it would not have been with the last film roll that was ever produced, thus losing the impact, meaning and the soul of that video

He's not re-doing one roll, but pre-doing a hundred of them.
It's pretty much the same thing, if not worse.

10

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: The last roll of Kodachrome – what would you shoot with the last 36 frames?

« on: March 03, 2013, 01:02:25 PM »

I think you couldn't do this roll less justice than to pre-shoot all pictures of it digitally.

11

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Beginner considering a canon 40D for sports photography

« on: February 19, 2013, 03:29:09 AM »

Get the 40d now so you do not miss the shots this season. Keep saving on the side and try to upgrade to a 7d next year.

I agree.

I remember missing some frames when shooting a snowboarder mid air - I got the frames right before and right after the grab.
This thing is slow compared to a 7D, which is slow compared to a 1DX, which is slow compared to 4k Video, which is...

speaking of Video:
Your camera supports 20fps.

also: thumb dial + AF joystick

12

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Film EOS Body

« on: February 17, 2013, 04:21:28 PM »

I also have some questions, firstly regarding the eye focus:

Does it work that well with glasses?
Can it be turned off?

I decided to get a 1N instead of the 3 because I didn't really know how the eye focus would work out for me.
The 1N looked very used and therefore was very cheap (~100) including the grip.

Sometimes the -bc- shows up, but it is not dead. I wonder what the reason for that might be, any tips?

Fun fact, 1Vs are still in stock "new":
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/194453-USA/Canon_2043A005_EOS_1V_Camera_Body.html

13

Lighting / Re: How to use flash with av,tv

« on: February 10, 2013, 04:40:01 AM »

Use M to dial in your settings which can pretty much stay the same the entire shooting, depending on what you shoot.

Choose a time to stop motion or engage it (with rear curtain).
Pick a aperture that works for the situation, it's probably dark, but don't go too wide open.

I tend to use higher iso values (like 800) to reduce flash output, for less batteries and faster recycle times.
Yes that's high, but I'm often shooting in very dark situations.

The only downside is that it's still TTL.
So if the pitch black surroundings and the foreground lit by flash should add up to 18% grey, the foreground can be a bit overexposed.
In my situation, that's fine. It's not necessarily in yours.

14

Abstract / Re: Apple on sticks (stuck at home)

« on: February 10, 2013, 04:23:08 AM »

The sticks stopping just before the right edge of the frame doesn't look good.

As of lighting, it's the lower one.

The background texture is not blown out.
The sticks throwing shadows on themselves creates small shapes in contrast to the rather uniform background and apple.
Yet the apple still pops due to the nice light hinting on its third dimension.

The upper one looks very dull, as if there are only three colors: green, white and grey-brown/yellow

ideas:
- either mess the sticks up entirely or place them really accurately. I'd try the former.
- fill the frame, stretch the sticks to the right at least. Or fill the entire frame with sticks (if you have enough).
If you want to keep the "horizon", maybe add some texture to the background that works like the sticks. use a gobo maybe.
- more drama. considering the difference between shot one and two, go even further with it.
Try something like lighting from underneath maybe with a red color - wooo burn that witch apple!

Or go the other direction, pierce the apple on multiple sticks all on one line with the same distances between them. With additional sticks you can fill the frame with parallel, diagonal sticks, with some of them piercing the apple.

...

15

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D III Dynamic Range

« on: February 08, 2013, 05:15:55 PM »

Dont worry about extra DR that you likely wouldn't need or want anyways.

But the OP worries about it.

Whatever you apply, you could do the same to the image data that initially has more DR.

You cannot get more juice out of this orange than it contains.
Especially not more than out of that other orange that happens to have more juice in it.
No matter what fancy juicer you use.

If the juice is tastier or not was not the question.