Messages

931

EOS Bodies / Re: 5d Mark iii sync speed

« on: January 25, 2012, 01:37:46 AM »

Strange the 1d4 is 1/300 - usefull for the 70-200 on a 1.3

Smaller sensor, which means a smaller shutter, and thus a shorter distance for the curtains to traverse. Thus, a faster sync speed.

One of the very nice things about the original 1D was the 500th shutter sync speed. I was a bit miffed when I got my 1D Mk2n with 300th sync. Yes, I'd be surprised if the 5D3 was anything faster than 200th sync.

Paul Wright

932

EOS Bodies / Re: 5D Mark III Sighting?

« on: January 23, 2012, 06:41:19 PM »

Oh dear god, no.  Not that stupid mode dial unlock button.  To me, that's one of the most useless additions that Canon can put on a semi-pro body.  I can see the reason for putting it on the 60D, but come on.  Anyone using a 7D or higher should have some idea of what they're doing and in all my years of photography I've never heard of anyone accidentally switching the mode dial unintentionally.  If the new 5D is in fact coming standard with the unlock button, I hope that one can "downgrade" and remove it.  Even for a fee, I'd do it.

It depends entirely how you work. My experience with 5D and 5D2 has been constant, highly irritating, professionally embarrassing bumping of the mode dial. This primarily happens when working with two or more bodies. When I know I'm working in certain conditions, I routinely  lock the mode dial with gaffer tape.

The lock is an essential and welcome upgrade.

Paul Wright

933

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 1dx is it all hype or the camera we have been waiting for?

« on: January 22, 2012, 09:33:26 PM »

When both you guys get your 1DX will you really be reaching for your 7D when shooting action?
If the AF and tracking of the 1DX works as advertised, this will be the action body of choice.
The 7D will of course have it's days when you need f/8 AF.

BTW, the 7D doesn't AF at f/8 either - only pre-1D X 1-series bodies have that capability.

Gasp! This may be the trigger for wildlife shooters to rush the remaining 1D4 bodies.

Paul Wright

934

Lenses / Re: What about a new 50/1.4 ??

« on: January 22, 2012, 09:24:56 PM »

If the perfectly respectable, compact, though long in the tooth EF 50 f/1.4 doesn't do it for you the Sigma 50 f/1.4 is class glass. It's much bigger and heavier than the EF 50mm but does have the side benefit of taking 77mm filters which is in line with plenty of other Canon L glass.

The venerable EF 50 f/1.4 still sells in large numbers, and it's been suggested on other threads in this forum that Canon would be unlikely to release a new 50 that would eat into sales of the halo EF 50 f/1.2L.

FWIW I replaced my EF 50 f/1.4 with the Sigma and though it is a perfectly fine lens, I think the only real gain has been extra weight in my bag.

Paul Wright

935

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 1dx is it all hype or the camera we have been waiting for?

« on: January 22, 2012, 07:23:29 PM »

Is it missing anything?  For me, the big missing feature is enough MP for an APS-C 'crop mode' with 12 MP or more.  Accordingly, I'll be keeping my 7D for birds/wildlife.

Neuro - I think you and I are looking for the same thing. I have a 7D for sports and wildlife and a 5DII for everything else.

When both you guys get your 1DX will you really be reaching for your 7D when shooting action?
If the AF and tracking of the 1DX works as advertised, this will be the action body of choice.
The 7D will of course have it's days when you need f/8 AF.

Paul Wright

936

Canon General / Re: Never delete images 'in camera'

« on: January 22, 2012, 07:05:33 PM »

Everyone has their own way of doing things. I can edit/sort/rank/delete files way faster back in the studio on a 30 inch monitor than making those assessments while out on a shoot. On a shoot I'm more interested in locking into the project rather than doing "on the fly" edits.

Memory cards have been so inexpensive for years now; I just take more than I figure I'll ever need, a couple of 32 Gb and a few older 16Gb cards.

My workflow moved to this "no deletes" approach  a few years ago when I did a couple of accidental deletes, regretted mistakes made while under pressure. Also, occasionally a blurry out-take may make the perfect background for one of your hero shots.

An important part of your post production workflow is to become a ruthless editor. With practice it's not hard to pull a 1000 file shoot down to the sweet top 20, depending of course on your project and client requirements, but you get my point.

Deleting in camera is totally valid and important if you are shooting news or sports for a wire service and use the opportunity for editing-down during lulls or shorts breaks. This can mean vitally quicker image delivery of your most relevant images.

Paul Wright

937

Lenses / Re: How to solve the problem of LOOSE lens hoods?

« on: January 21, 2012, 03:42:58 AM »

Something I have used for years to firm up lens back caps that get loose with wear is to apply heat/flame to the lugs inside the cap to gently expand them. I use a cheap gas cigarette lighter. It works.

Recently I bought an eBay hood for a 24-105 f/4is and it was irritatingly sloppy. I looked at how the mechanism in the hood made it's lock onto the lens, targeted that area and hit it with the heat.

Outcome? A perfectly firm hood.

Paul Wright

938

Lighting / Re: Any suggestions on cheap ebay triggers / poverty wizards?

« on: January 20, 2012, 11:21:34 PM »

After nearly dropping the Visa card on Pocket Wizards, I lucked out when a friend aimed me towards the Cybersync http://www.paulcbuff.com/cybersync.php from Paul C Buff .

Super impressed with these, and with PCB stuff generally. Went ahead and bought four Einsteins http://www.paulcbuff.com/e640.php and lots of modifiers.

Definitely check out Cybersync. You'll want the transmitter http://www.paulcbuff.com/cst.php and receiver CRSB http://www.paulcbuff.com/csr.php

Paul Wright

939

Software & Accessories / Re: Breeze Browser vs. Lightroom

« on: January 19, 2012, 11:46:52 PM »

I don't see them in any way as competitors, I rate them as highly compatible.

I use both and have done for years. BB Downloader Pro is a powerful and simple tool for the download stage of your workflow. Sorting, tagging, ranking, renaming etc is done in BB Pro. BB Pro is still the fastest loading image browser I have ever seen, easily outperforming the highly regarded Photo Mechanic.

Selected files are converted to DNG and then brought into Lightroom. In my studio BB Pro and LR are the perfect companions.

Sorting, tagging and ranking etc  in Bridge or LR is an exercise in frustration in comparison to BB Pro or Photo Mechanic.
PM is up to V 4.6.8 and users can look forward to a comprehensively improved V 5.0 some time this year.

FWIW, BB Pro is PC only.

Paul Wright

940

Canon General / Re: Patents: Canon 55-110 f/2 Optical Formula

« on: January 19, 2012, 11:34:57 PM »

im not sure if you read through the note: it is an EF-S lens... wouldnt it kill what you're thinking?

Yikes! I missed that bit.
Umm Canon, if you're listening just make this lens an EF will you please? No, make that an EF L

Thank you.

Paul Wright

941

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: George Eastman's Kodak dream is over

« on: January 19, 2012, 11:29:03 PM »

Yes, back in the day, it was almost worth Kodak giving the camera away because it drives film and paper sales.  Digital turned that upside down and they weren't able to adjust enough.

The Gillette business model doesn't work anymore.  That favoured the likes of Canon and Nikon who never played in the film/paper business.  Of course, I would like to see how Canon and Nikon deal with the fact that smartphones are eating their lunch in the compact camera business.

Yep the Gillette model was a goldmine while it was still broadly relevant. The remaining exception would be in the inkjet & laser printer market.

Paul Wright

942

Canon General / Re: Patents: Canon 55-110 f/2 Optical Formula

« on: January 19, 2012, 10:52:31 PM »

Wow, if the f/2 IQ is there, for me this neatly takes three primes out of my bag...the 50mm, the 85mm and the 100mm.

As an f/2 zoom, it will probably be big & heavy with a price tage to match. If this lens gets out of R&D and we see a release version, it should sell it's socks off.

Another Canon game changer.

Paul Wright

943

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Why canon?

« on: January 19, 2012, 07:17:56 PM »

Why Canon? For me it was the quality of professional service and support.

It was in sheer frustration with Nikon's service and support that I ditched my Nikon F4 film cameras and switched to Canon EOS 1n. Canon CPS was a revelation.

The switch to Canon was further validated in the early digital days with clearly better cameras. The D30 of 2000 and the D60 of 2002 were revolutionary. The original 1Ds announced in late 2002 and subsequent 1-Series incarnations have mostly been clear winners for me.

OMG the 1Ds was almost a decade ago! http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos1ds/

Switching platforms today would be business suicide with a deep financial committment to Canon glass. But if I was starting out today, my research could possibly push me towards Nikon. Like Canon they're making brilliant cameras. And we all benefit from the hot competition!

But hey, in spite of the lack of stellar wide zooms, (Nikon 14-24 anyone?) I love my Canons and the brilliant support from CPS.

Paul Wright

944

Third Party Manufacturers / George Eastman's Kodak dream is over

« on: January 19, 2012, 06:54:12 PM »

So it has come to this. Here's Kodaks official page on the Chapter 11 plus PDN & DP Review editorial.

http://www.kodaktransforms.com/
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/news/Kodak-Files-for-Bank-4397.shtml
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/01/19/Kodak_Chapter11_Bankruptcy

If you have read the best selling Steve Jobs biography he talks about his desire to bring art and technology together; witness the exquisite industrial design of all current Apple products and the commitment to bring creative functions via software and functionality within reach of the maximum number of users. And all this wrapped up in an extremely viable business model.

George Eastman, the founder of Kodak was probably the Steve Jobs of his day with an equal desire to Jobs to bring art and current technology together in the form of the first widely available, inexpensive camera. Like Jobs he changed the world.

Our future has more George Eastmans & Steve Jobs in waiting. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Paul Wright

945

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Is the AF really that bad on the 5Dmk2

« on: January 19, 2012, 05:24:44 PM »

The outer points are the weakness as Neuro says. I use center spot and recompose.. it's second nature now. Center point is accurate. If you do not want to recompose, then it will be a hit/miss scenario.

Agree, the centre point on the 5D2 is brilliant and highly reliable. But it's the only one you'll ever want to rely on. My experience with using the outer AF points, even on bright, high contrast subjects has been consistently underwhelming. With portraits where I really want the focus point right on the eye, the outer points frequently deliver soft results, or results with the focus point in the wrong place.

Next that brings us to the dreaded "focus & recompose". Sometimes you'll get away with it. This is dependent on your current focal length & camera to subject distance. It's best explained in these articles on "Why Focus Recompose Sucks". The only camera where I'll use focus/recompose is on a far more forgiving point and shoot.

http://www.outbackphoto.com/workshop/phototechnique/essay06/essay.html
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/the-problem-with-the-focus-recompose-method

Which brings me to one of the major reasons I choose to shoot most jobs with 1-series bodies with 45 focus points. A 5D3 with a comprehensively expanded powerful AF point array would be an instant buy for me, primarily because of the reduced weight of a 5x vs 1-Series.

Paul Wright