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Messages - paul13walnut5

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256
EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 7D - How bad is it? Really?
« on: January 23, 2013, 11:34:11 AM »
No offence to Pardus, this excellent image shows the detail and saturation possible even at high iso's with a 7D, I would say that set up for RAW and with the slightest of post-processing a lot of the background noise (unobtrusive in this JPEG, but there in the shadows) could be easily removed.

I think, as this and the earlier images posted show, any fears of poor image quality are largely ill founded.

I would augment my earlier comments by saying that good glass is important (what lenses do you have just now? the 85 f1.8 and 100mm f2 make brilliant short sports lenses on the 7D) and camera set up is important (tweak the AF, shoot RAW)

The latest cameras in the best of hands are better, but for the money, in fact at any price, the 7D can be a formiddable sports camera.

257
United Kingdom & Ireland / Re: Hello...Anyone else from the UK?
« on: January 23, 2013, 11:10:54 AM »
His work is beautiful, along with Joe Cornish probably my two favourite contemporary landscapers, but once they nail a location I don't see the point even trying.

I use the photographers ephemeris for planning my shoots, occasionally tide tables, usually google maps and often flickr, just to see who has went before me has approached it, to see if I can find a new way.

258
EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: I love big gear
« on: January 23, 2013, 10:42:53 AM »
Lightweights.

Add a Vinten ProTouch5, a mic stand and sound gear into the mix, along with a redhead kit, and then you are travelling big.

259
EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 7D - How bad is it? Really?
« on: January 23, 2013, 10:40:45 AM »
@sandymandy
Quote
but why would somebody not want to go FF?

Performance for cost (6D and 5D2 are very different cameras to the 7D)
Cost alone
They already have a range of EF-s or DC lenses
They find the effective increase in reach useful

260
United Kingdom & Ireland / Re: Hello...Anyone else from the UK?
« on: January 23, 2013, 10:23:31 AM »
@insanitybeard
Quote
Do you do much in the way of Landscape photography? Scotland has a special place in my heart for it's amazing scenery- I have particular fondness for the rugged desolate beauty of Skye and the far North-West- Torridon, Sutherland etc... Bleak as you can get in stormy weather, out of this world on a (maybe rare!) sunny day, and magical in any weather! (rose tinted specs maybe, but still an amazing place!)  :)

Not as much as I should, or even stills these days in general, mainly using cameras for video just now.

There are some brilliant locations on the west coast, but I try to avoid them as theres so many folk doing the same classic locations but at a better standard than me, Colin Prior has a lot to answer for, I swear there's a tripod footprint worn into the bedrock at Buachaille Etive Mor and the Old Man of Storr.

I do stuff mainly along the clyde coast and islands, as they are generally ignored by everybody bar locals.

261
EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 7D - How bad is it? Really?
« on: January 23, 2013, 10:13:45 AM »

I have seen the 7D getting bashed for bad high-ISO performance here, but I also realize that the standards on this forum is VERY high. Since I am not a professional, and probably never going to sell any of these pictures, my view of what is acceptable is somewhat lower.  :)

To be fair, some of the standards on this forum aren't that high.  Don't confuse who has spent the most or posts most frequently or whatever with ability.

Quote
That said, I do not want to invest a large sum of money into a camera that has bad IQ over ISO 1000, as I already own one of those...

I shoot stills with my 7D at 1600 comfortably and 3200 at a push.  The key is in shooting RAW and being subtle with the sharpening and noise reduction.  I find applying any NR first works best, then applying as little sharpening as possible, LUMA NR for lower ISO images where required, slight luma and heavier CHROMA NR for higher ISO.

The 7D is mostly maligned by folk who never bothered to set up the AF or cannot work RAW properly.  One or two of the dissenters might have got a duff cam, but in my experience for the most part folk just bought a camera that was designed for personal set up, and never bothered setting it up.

The kind of folk, who in the first part of my answer, think that buying a more sophisticated camera makes you a better photographer.

If you compare photos of resolution charts with those from a 5D3 or 1DX then the 7D isn't as good.  Handy for those who shoot resolution charts and can afford a 5D3 or 1DX.  Which many folks can't.

Within your budget, with your lenses and for your application the 7D is the camera to go for.  Just be prepared to crack the manual.  It'll really sing if you add a fast aperture USM lens (something like an 85mm f1.8 or 100mm f2.0)
 
Quote
So, the question is: How bad is the 7D on high ISO (1000-6400)? Really?

If you are confident using RAW you'll get great images at 1600, good images at 3200, and 6400 is probably more akin to what your current camera is giving you.

Bear in mind that super-high ISO is a relatively recent trend.  I remember the noise from Fuji 1600 print film, to the point where I'd usually restrict myself to 800 or lower.  So it's changed days.

The only arguement I can think of to get you to hold off from buying a 7D just now is that there is a new model pending, you might be in line for a bargain on the 7D if you can wait a while.

In the meantime, get to grips with RAW, as it makes the absolute best of the 7Ds images.

262
United Kingdom & Ireland / Re: Hello...Anyone else from the UK?
« on: January 23, 2013, 05:00:11 AM »
A Scot from Kilmarnock ('The Scheme' from the TV show, to be precise) now living in Glasgow, in a flat over-looking the Clyde.

263
Street & City / Re: Your best street shots of any kind.
« on: January 22, 2013, 11:58:17 AM »
@rpt
Quote
Scapes? You talk about land and sea scapes! Whiskey man! Whiskey!

If you go to Islay there is an abundance of all three.  Work flew me over a couple of years ago, poisoned chalice in a way - beautiful place, but no real time to enjoy the views or the uisge beatha.  Must try and get back.

And if it's Scotch then its 'Whisky'.  ;)

264
PowerShot / Re: Advice on P&S
« on: January 22, 2013, 11:53:49 AM »
As compacts go, I'm reasonably happy with my sx230, certainly in good light at least.

It's not going to replace my DSLR, but has a good zoom, a bit of manual control, and it was pretty cheap.

It seems the sx240/260 has more zoom range and a couple of handling quirks ironed out (the default flash pop up, even if not being used) so that may be worth a look if there's only a small premium.

265
Street & City / Re: Your best street shots of any kind.
« on: January 21, 2013, 06:57:05 PM »
This was taken at an impromptu demonstration against the British National Party.

I happened to be walking down Glasgow's main shopping area with my camera bag when my attention was taken by some ragtags and bobtails wearing hi-vis vests with the union jack flag on them.

Alarm bells rang and I hung around to see what developed, within 5 minutes there were civilians of all creeds, class, colour and age protesting against these anti-immigration loon-balls, to the point where Police were mobilised for their protection.

I love Glasgow.  It has it's faults, but most of it's people are solid gold, and generally we stand up together against to people like this.

Glasgow was once one of the worlds busiest ports, our ships mobilised world trade, and brought impoverished hungry Irish and persecuted Jews to our city, enriching it's culture, fighting in our Army's, providing both brain and brawn to our industries.  We have a history of acceptance, of refuge.  And thats why we stand up to the BNP, when they attack the Eastern Europeans and Muslims who have made Glasgow their home in more recent years. 

266
Technical Support / Re: Very soft audio w external mike of EOD 5D3
« on: January 21, 2013, 11:00:16 AM »
Hi

I don't know the particular mic you are using, I've done a wee google on it, and can only really offer you the following advice:

1. Although you mention the impedence, you don't mention the actual output -usually displayed as V or mV, although it's internally powered (via AA) the actual output of these mics can vary massively.  The term 'microphone level' is often used, but this is really a cap rather than something that every mic will output.  For example, I have a sennheiser K6/ME66 which runs from an AA and is lovely and strong, I also have a couple of Sony ECM-77 tieclips which run off AA's and are too weak to use with a DSLR, unless in phantom mode, via a powered pre-amp.  A solution that I don't think is suitable for your mic.

2. Is this an accoustic gig, or is there a PA?

If there is a PA then your options are to take an XLR line from the mixing desk into your tascam, getting a nice clean feed from the mics already on stage, or placing your sony mic next to one of the monitors, which should give you a much better level.  Obviously gaffer taping down cables etc.   If it's an accoustic gig then you want to get your mic as close as you possibly can to the source, the closer you are the clearer and louder the audio.  Again you could run it into your tascam which could be at the base of your mic stand, although this will cause monitoring problems.

3. Camera connectivity and controls.

You need to set the cameras record levels up manually.  Use the VU meters and have the audio peak at around -12db.   You really want to achieve this with the mic level no more than 1/4 from the left.  Any more than this and hiss will be intrusive.

Unless you have an XLR adaptor such as a beachtek or juiced link on your camera I would be tempted to use your tascam and monitor off that (this would mean a cable run between the mic position and the camera / tascam position, so again health and safety, tape everything down)

4. General rules for micing:

-Get your mic as close to source as you can without being in shot.  This gives you the best level and best perspective.

-Camera top mics are fine for ambient wild tracks.  It is the worst postion for a mic as it will pick up your handling noise, your aperture noise, your breathing, any other animal person or object in between the camera and the subject.

-Sound is more difficult to get right than video, and usually mistakes are more towards the fatal end.

-On DSLR audio is pernickity.  A lot of folk use external recorders for good reason.  I certainly wouldn't adapt an XLR balanced mic to minijack straight into the camera.  Lots to go wrong.

Can you explain a little more about the scenario, specifically:

Is it being mic'd by a sound engineer to go through a PA (let them do the work, tap a recording)?

IF NOT

How close can you get with the mic? 

Can you get the XLR from the mic into the XLR port of the Tascam?

Can you synch the audio from the Tascam with the video and guide audio from the 5D at the edit stage?




267
EOS-M / Re: To buy M or not to buy M?
« on: January 21, 2013, 09:26:06 AM »
Quote
And, oh yes, that extra pin in the M lensmount is for power zoom and introduced concurrently with the 7D2/M1 are a series of video-centric zoom lenses with that capability.

Let's hope so, as a servo zoom EF lens would hopefully also work on the c series cameras.

There was the old EF 35-80 PZ (sold with the EOS 700 I think) which used an on lens servo control, this type of the design would enable the any new PZ lenses on existing video capable DSLR's, which is a big market.  I'm not sure that any of the EF mount pins had any bearing other than power, which would be going to the lens anyway for aperture and focus.

268
EOS-M / Re: To buy M or not to buy M?
« on: January 21, 2013, 07:55:46 AM »
If your talking BMW then always M ;)

Heres mine

BMW Z4M Coupe CSL wheels by tom_scott88, on Flickr

Sorry off-topic

:D


Ooooooh, you've got a BMW.  Good for you.

269
Landscape / Re: Need critique for future improvement
« on: January 21, 2013, 07:47:08 AM »
Hello, im newbie in photography, im love to capture landscape... here im attaching some picture for C&C. i'm very pleased to hear critique from you all to improve my picture.

tqvm.. love u all.. peace  :)

Hi SJ

Some cracking results here, I'll offer my thoughts on whats good and maybe what I think I would do differently, there's no right or wrong answers and it's just an opinion.

First image:

Great sharpness, love the effect on the clouds.  There is a strong colour cast, which is probably down to the ND filter you've used.  Filters like the LEE 'big stopper' or B+W 3.0 usually need some colour correction.  Resin filters like the Cokin range are fine if used one at a time, if you stack them, you can get these kind of colour casts.

I usually recommend getting the colour right in camera, but when you are using very opaque filters like strong ND filters this isn't always practical.  As such I would suggest shooting raw and fixing as much as you can at the PC for this kind of shot.  If your camera allows you to select the white balance manually you could play with this a bit. 

I shoot with a B+W 3.0 filter, and these kind of colour problems are common.

I'm not all that keen on your composition, it seems to follow the rule of thirds, which can sometimes be a little dull.  There's nothing in the middle ground to lead you through the shot and pull you in.  I would maybe try setting the tripod much lower to reduce the expanse of sea and make the interesting rocks more prominent.  If it was safe enough I would get closer to the breaking waves, as the blurry effect is kind of lost.

2nd Image:

I love this.  Very very unusual.  Were the waves breaking over the pontoon / pier during your shot.  Very striking image.  Nice tonality.  A winner.  The pontoon / pier gives you great lead in to the person, that holds your attention.  A much more engaging image.

3rd Image:

Liking this as well.  The mono / colour wash helps the cool feeling.  Again the composition pulls you into the picture, great perspective, and I like the way the long exposure has rendered the motion of the sea.   I would have cloned out the post or rock in the left hand side of the picture near the horizon, and I think there may be some halos along the piers edge, either the effect of slightly too much sharpening or over applied HDR, but I think you've done well to retain detail accross the frame.  Very nice.

4th Image:

Great use of leading lines and dramatic perspective.  I don't like the leaning lamp-post or converging fence posts, I would have kept the camera level on the lens axis to keep this straight.  This could have cropped off the top of the lamp-post, as you might be at the limit of your wide angle.  Could you have taken it closer to the lampost, to crop it out? This would also have let us seen a less interrupted view of the islands at the horizon. A tilt-shift lens was invented for situations like these, but obviously these are rare and expensive.

The colour cast is perhaps a little funny again, but much better than in the first image, I appreciate you are shooting through dark filters and the light changes constantly during the 'magic hour'.

On the positive side I like that the frame is filled and that your eye is led through it. 

5th Image:

Love the colours here and the rock formation.  There isn't a focal point so much, and the rocks could have made an excellent lead in.  Getting down lower and in closer would have helped fill the frame more and let the serrated rocks lead you to the sunburst.   I would be happy with this myself, just would maybe have tried a different height to play with the perspective.

6th Image:

Briliant.  Subtle colours, great rendering of the wave motion.  Beautiful setting at the perfect time of day and very humourous too!  I think any seascape photographer can absolutely relate to this and it's my favourite image of your set, and one of my favourite images that I've seen in a long time. 

You plan your shoot, you think about natural framing, you plan the optimum time for the suns position, you look a the tide tables and you drive for an hour to get there to find... somebody has beaten you to it!  Rather than just pack up, you've made them a feature.   Brilliant.   Even better, they've stayed that wee while too long and have got their shoes soaked - we've all been there "just one more shot" "just one more shot"  Absolutely love it.

7th Image:

As for above, beautiful location in beautiful light, captured perfectly.

Last Picture:

Liking this too, sodium light is a pain to deal with, and you've played it the right way, it would be tricky to be able to balance this out without getting strange greens elsewhere.  I love these magic hour shots, just after lighting up time.  Folk so often get it wrong, you've got it perfect.

Nice frame filling composition and nice paths for the eye to follow, good foreground and distant detail.

If I was being really fussy I would again suggest getting the camera lower (but keeping the lens level) and making slightly more of the foreground -again the impact of the sea is slightly wasted- and if you were really keen you could have made a copy and had a go at the lights (maybe lassoo select, colour replace in photoshop) just to soften them a little, but I do like it as it.

Conclusion:

I hope you don't take what I've said as being negative, just my opinion, really really love the guy getting his feet soaked in the cave, and there some great stuff elsewhere.

270
EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Kenrockwell comments on Canon 6d
« on: January 19, 2013, 01:46:45 PM »
Mad, bad and dangerous to know.

Whatever the online equivalent of crossing the road and getting your kids to look away is, do that.

I wouldn't bother attempting to involve the moderators, that just gives these creeps some sense of vindication, martyrdom, or even just the attention they crave.


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