Messages

31

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: straps

« on: April 03, 2013, 06:39:30 AM »

Comfort-wise, the BR strap isn't really any better or worse than any other quality strap.  It limits the possible carry options, which I find a small negative.  In my personal opinion, it works very well with bigger lenses (like the 70-200).  The mass of the camera/lens combo seems to keep everything properly positioned by your side.  But with smaller lenses (eg 40mm), its not so good.  I've found the camera continually spins and jumps around.  Not really a problem, but I've found a traditional strap works better with smaller/lighter combos.

It works suprisingly well for manual winding film cameras, as it keeps the strap away from the top of the camera.

Re security, I can appreciate this is a perceived risk.  But its worked well for me and other people use them without drama.  My other main straps are Tamrac n45's.  These actually have quick release plastic clips that hold it together. I used to have concerns about them, but they've worked fine for years.  I take the view that most serious companies don't deliberately release junk and you'd be very unlucky to have a problem.  Just follow the instructions, test the connection regularly and don't overstress it with too much weight and you'll be fine.  But the fact that you even have to worry about it is another negative.  A strap should just work with no continual thorough maintenance or thought.

32

Australia / Re: Anyone buy from graysonline?

« on: April 01, 2013, 07:50:36 AM »

I've purchased office furniture from them in the past.  All good.

33

EOS Bodies / Re: Favorite or Preferred Film body?

« on: March 29, 2013, 09:29:23 PM »

I don't own a 1 series film camera, so can't comment on those.  But I own a lot of others.  The Elan 7e and the Eos 3 are my favourites.  I've had my 7e for over 10 years and it has been a great camera.  Last year, I purchased an Eos 3.  Overall, I'd agree that it is better than the 7e.  Since buying the 3, the 7e has lived on the shelf.

For what its worth, my favourite film camera is a Mamiya 6, which is my no 1 camera.  Also, despite some drawbacks, some of my favourite photos have been taken with a Mamiya RB67 Pro S (WOW - Didn't know there were so many other Mamiya people on this forum!).  And I think this is where it gets interesting.  Why would you want to shoot 35mm film given the superiority of digital over that format?  Plus you've also got to consider the hassle of developing it.  And the cost of buying film.  If you shoot Large Format (or if you're not hard core enough, medium format like me), at least you can argue that you're on a similar quality level.  And many large format cameras offer movements / adjustments that can give your photos a very unique look.   The benefit of medium format is that you have very large negatives to play use.  This makes developing and printing at home a lot easier.  And serioulsy, given the prices right now, I'd be looking at a Hasselblad.  And not that its that relevant, but for some reason, girls find guys with Hasselblad's very sexy.  (Look at the advertising for a lot of premium brands and you'll be surprised how often these cameras appear).   

34

Software & Accessories / Re: One month euro trip

« on: March 28, 2013, 06:50:13 AM »

If you're only taking one camera and one lens why would you even need to put it in a bag?  Surely, you'd take it as carry on luggage on a flight.  When doing the "backpacking" bit, if the camera is awkward to carry (or you don't invest in one of those chest carrying strap things - cotton carrier comes to mind, but I know there are plenty of others), just wrap it up among some clothes to provide some padding.  As long as you've got some space in there and everything isn't crammed in, you should be fine.  Most cameras are pretty tough - but then I do live on the edge a bit.  When walking around town sightseeing, just have your camera on a strap over your shoulder.  No need for it to be in a bag and its much easier to take photos.  And bags get annoying very quickly.  Travelling light - great decision by the way.

35

EOS Bodies / Future of APS-C Given 6D Pricing

« on: March 27, 2013, 05:58:05 AM »

I see the 6D is now $1649 from some suppliers.  Even here is Australia, the global HQ of the Canon overpricing division, 6D's are $1800 (GST Excl).  With the upcoming 7Dii and 70D, for the first time ever, we'll likely have APS-C bodies priced higher than FF bodies.  Wow!  This really complicates buying decisions.  And not just across Canon's own range, but across the board.

And while I'm sure the 70D and 7Dii will have features to match their price and should appeal to many, given the image quality gains, you'd have to be very aware of your needs to forgo the 6D.  The same with people looking at buying into another system with a higher end camera - eg Olympus OM-D, Panasonic GH3, Pentax K5ii.  If your sole criteria isn't smaller and lighter, why would you bother?

And personally, while I've been considering a Fuji Xpro1 for fun, my logical side is telling me that it is inferior to the 6D in many ways and that I'd be very silly to buy one.

So after some crystal ball gazing, I've come to the following conclusion.  The 70D will move up in specs to become the 7D replacement and will sell for a similar price to the 6D.  At that price range, people will need to choose between speed, performance and better AF or the better image quality of the 6D.

But we won't see APS-C bodies selling for more than FF bodies. Instead, the 7D replacement will be a full frame camera selling in the $2000 - $2200 range.  It will be a 6D with beefed up AF specs.   Maybe the features of the 5Diii but with the 6D sensor to keep some differentiation (Or a 5Diii light if you want to think about it that way).  This will become THE camera for the masses.  And while it will cannibalize 5Diii sales, this will be more than compensated by the increased sales to those seeking the allure of a FF camera that ticks most boxes and those who would have chosen a 6D, but can spend a bit more.

Anyway, just wanting to put my prediction out there.

36

EOS Bodies / Re: Buy, Wait, or Switch? If Canon's next crop body releases don't improve sensor.

« on: March 26, 2013, 05:28:13 AM »

So many questions!  On a lot of different criteria, I think we can all agree that Canon APS-C sensors lag the competition.  Luckily Canon still has the best "system" and they put a lot of thought into their camera designs and features.  This goes a long way towards offsetting the sensor issues.  Besides, its not as if Canon's sensors are "Bad".

Given the level of discussion about new production facilities and methods, I would expect some sensor improvements soon.  It would make sense for the 7Dii to sport the new sensor given that it is likely to remain in the Canon lineup for several years. What these improvements might be, I wouldn't know.  Improved dynamic range and reduced noise at higher ISOs are the logical conclusions.  Maybe we'll see an improvement in DxO scores?

Personally, apart from an evloutionary improvement in AI Servo mode, I'm pretty happy with Canon's feature set.  I'd expect the 7Dii to bundle most of the new technology in.  I'm sure it will be a very exciting camera.

Right now, the only non Canon camera that I'm considering is a Fuji Xpro1.  Very good prices (no doubt the xpro2 with significantly improved AF will be announced the day after I buy one).  Its probably a downgrade in every way from what I'm using now.  But I'm getting a little tired of film (Fuji announced another price hike last week), but I like Fuji as a brand (they seem very responsive to the customers concerns), the camera gets good reviews for its image quality, and they look like a fun little camera to carry around.  And rangefinders are cool.

37

Lenses / Re: Prime vs zoom

« on: March 25, 2013, 11:02:27 PM »

Predominantly primes as I like travelling as small, light and unobtrusive as possible.  But I do have a 70-200 and 17-40 that come out occassionally. 

38

Lighting / Re: First external flash? Lots of beginner's questions!

« on: March 25, 2013, 04:51:56 AM »

i) Depends on how sophisticated you want to get and how much you want to spend.  At the cheap and easy end, radio triggers like the Cactus V5s would get you started with good range and reliability.  But its not significantly more expensive to get a more sophisticated system.  The key question is whether you need a system that incorporates high speed synch.

ii)  Canon flashes are well made and you won't have many future compatability problems.  But there are a lot of manufacturers out there.  Metz has a good reputation for quality.  Nissin, Yongnuo, Sigma etc provide similar specs to Canon in cheaper units (of course with build quality to match the price).  My own collection of flashes include Minolta, Sunpak, Vivitar and Nissin as I use an antiquated radio triggering system and system compatability isn't a concern for me.  But I think the 600EX and Canon's new radio triggering system is a game changer.   If I was flash shopping now and it was in my budget, I'd give the 600EX serious thought.

iii)  If you are serious about using the flash on the Fuji, you should be looking for one with an auto mode (AKA Auto Thyristor) and/or a manual mode.  Unfortunately, this rules out some of the cheaper Canon flashes.

The 600EX has an auto exposure mode.  Rather than the camera determining the correct exposure and flash output, the falsh calculates this - you key in the aperture and ISO and the flash uses a small sensor on the front to determine flash output.  I haven't used a 600EX (so do a little more reading), but in theory, this should mean that it can work well with other cameras, like your Fuji.  You would simply put the flash in auto mode and it should deliver the right amount of flash.  If it's not perfect, you would simply dial in some flash compensation.  But the beauty is that it will put you in the right ballpark for flash output straight away.  The results might not be as consistently good compared with ETTL with the Canon bodies, but it should work well most of the time.

Alternatively, you could also use the flash on the Fuji in manual mode and use a little trial and error.  With a bit of practice, you can pick this up pretty quickly.

iv) A multi flash set up gives you some interesting options.  Your list of gear suggests you know what you're doing.  Given what you normally photograph, do you see yourself ever using more than one flash?

v) Flash stand, umbrellas, reflectors.

39

EOS Bodies / Re: Congratulations Canon to another great Camera release!!

« on: March 24, 2013, 05:16:33 AM »

My Car analogy - a tale of two industries.

First we have the car industry.  The industry is very competitive, with several dozen manufacturers fighting for each sale. While the cars are built for a price point, every possible enhancement is crammed in.  The car industry loves low-cost features and they know the absence of them will drive some buyers to other makes.  Everything from multiple baby seat anchor points to  bluetooth connectivity and ipod connections are being crammed in there.  If it doesn't add significantly to the cost, its in.  And those items that aren't standard features can often be added through the dealership as an option extra or through aftermarket suppliers. 

Behind the scenes, designers and engineers are working on new technologies to make cars more efficient, safer, and better to drive.  Competition has made the following almost universally standard - Air conditioning, ABS, rear reversing cameras, self parking cars, voice activation, WiFi, airbags (often up to 10), traction control, blind spot monitoring, GPS, seats that remember the preferred position of different drivers, keyless entry...I could go on, but you get my point. 

And then we have the camera industry, which has only two big players in DSLRs.  While the big guys are seen to be competitive, the fact that they can drop key, low cost, technologies to drive customers to higher priced models, and get away with it, suggests that competition isn't that fierce. 

Now, I'm not knocking Canon.  If it is a successful strategy, great.  And consumers can research the features of cameras before buying them.  And they can choose to buy different cameras that might meet their needs better.  But I think any comparison with the motor vehicle industry is a little tenuous.

40

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Which would you pick for a wife camera sony nex 6 or eos sl1?

« on: March 22, 2013, 09:18:18 PM »

Fuji xe-1?

41

EOS Bodies / Re: Congratulations Canon to another great Camera release!!

« on: March 21, 2013, 11:12:59 PM »

Assuming it doesn't cost anything to add AFMA, I can't see why it can't be added to an "advanced features" tab on the menu with adequate warnings.  I find it a bit presumptious to say only the poorly educated would buy a rebel camera and that extra features aren't suited.  Given the numbers of cameras sold, if only 5% were to skilled users, they would still number more than the total 1DX crowd.  And there are plenty of soccer mums taking great photos.

Personally, I think the 100D will be a huge hit.  It is a great concept and will do well amongst new camera owners.  Experienced users that want something small and light and don't want to deal with the negatives of the mirrorless systems will also snap them up. 

42

EOS Bodies / Re: 600D vs 100D

« on: March 21, 2013, 08:13:00 AM »

I might have asked too soon.  Real world pricing of the 100D isn't as bad as I expected.

43

EOS Bodies / 600D vs 100D

« on: March 21, 2013, 07:09:33 AM »

I know I'm going to get asked this...

With the 600D $445 locally and the 650D $586, apart from the small size, what does an $800 100D offer? 

I'm also getting the impression the 700D isn't a dramatically improvement over the 650D and you wouldn't pay a large premium.  Am I missing something?

44

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS-b Images Leak & a New Kit Lens

« on: March 20, 2013, 04:17:06 AM »

Canon used to have an FT-b.  No idea what the "b" stood for.  But it must have some significance if they are reusing it.  Maybe it's "b" for "baby"? 

Anyways, as someone who likes small cameras, I'll be curious to see it in the flesh.  But I'm a little surprised that they didn't go for a more modern / cutting edge design.

45

Street & City / Re: How to not get beat up when photographing public places?

« on: March 19, 2013, 06:09:53 AM »

I'm lucky.  This has never happened to me.  But I'm not a risk taker.  I don't take covert pictures of people who look like they are belligerent, destitute, alcohol or drug fuelled.  I'm just not into that sort of photography and that takes a lot of risk away.  While I take a lot of photos in public places, it is pretty obvious what I'm doing.  If someone is clearly a major part of a photo, I'll get tacit approval beforehand.  If they appear to have a problem, I just move on - I'm not looking for problems.  I'll often have a camera on a tripod and it will be pretty obvious what the focus of the shot is and people realise that the focus isn't on them.  I do have a remote trigger that I use on occassion (admittedly - to get myself in the photo).  But how can I be taking a photo of someone when I'm standing 10m away from the camera?  Do they think I have some sort of telekinetic power?  If so, they should think twice before confronting me!  I also tend to only hang out in fun, touristy type places.  Everyone has cameras. Everyone's taking photos.  Nobody thinks twice about being in the background of someone's photo. 

Depending on the situation, I'd be very suspcious of someone who confronted me over taking their picture.  Even if I felt pressured to delete the photo, I'm sure I'd find a way to sneek a few more shots of them just in case.