Messages

61

Pricewatch Deals / Re: Australia: coming lower prices for Canon equipment?

« on: November 20, 2012, 03:50:03 AM »

Now it's started:

Wow, we're pushing all kinds of boundaries!!

This is virtual crowd control in action, we’re waiting to
clear the stampede and hope to be back with you soon.
Enter your email and we'll send you an update as
soon as we are back to normal transmission.

Seriously who sets up this stuff, it'd be the classic use for something like Amazon EC2 where you have a huge peak but only for 24 hours or so.

62

Pricewatch Deals / Re: Australia: coming lower prices for Canon equipment?

« on: November 19, 2012, 11:59:04 PM »

Haha, that Frenzy event doesn't even start for over another three hours, wonder what it will be like when it does start .

ETA - I noticed Dick Smith are taking part and sell Canon gear, not high end stuff but they have EOS-M and up to 60D bodies by the look if anyone's after that sort of stuff it might be worth a look.

63

Landscape / Re: Help Me Get Better - Crashing Waves

« on: November 17, 2012, 02:43:33 AM »

The geared head is a little much for my blood.  What about this combo:
http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-055XPROB-Tripod-Legs-Black/dp/B000UMX7FI/ref=pd_sim_e_1
http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-498RC2-Release-Replaces-488RC2/dp/B002UOCWUK/ref=pd_bxgy_p_text_y

I'd second the advice on a 055XPROB and 410 geared head, I own both and they are great. While still not ideal for a budget also consider an 808RC4 head which is not a lot more than the ball head. While not as precise as the geared head they are better than a ball head and do offer some panning ability. I still use mine occasionally for moving situations so you'll still get some use out of it down the track if you later decide on a geared head.

64

Software & Accessories / Re: FoCal AFMA Software: What are your techniques and tricks?

« on: November 17, 2012, 02:07:48 AM »

Does anyone know why the 50x figure is often recommended? Personally I use the distance I normally use the lens at most. For example 50x for a 100 macro is 5 meters and on the odd occasion I use it at that distance f/2.8 isn't that focus critical, for true macro I usually manually focus so I set mine at about 1 meter which tends to be about the range I use most for quick handheld snaps where AF is important.

65

Technical Support / Re: EOS Utility/FoCal not recognizing 5D3 in Win8 64-bit

« on: November 16, 2012, 06:36:37 AM »

Just a random thought, maybe try going to the installation directory (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\Canon\EOS Utility) and try a right-mouse click and "Run as administrator" on the EOS Utility.

66

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Conversion to Nikon

« on: November 16, 2012, 06:27:14 AM »

someone, please give me the 3 minutes back i spent on this thread -- 

I quite enjoyed it. I'd never thought about it before it in those terms before but won a few $50 event tickets in a newspaper photo competition a while back so I'm a prize-winning photographer as well .

Anyway nice shot and enjoy your Coolpix, it should be much more agile than the 1DX and let you take some even more awesome shots. I've never been fortunate enough to hold one but imagine for wildlife in particular the lower shutter noise should allow you to get much closer.

67

Technical Support / Re: How to rotate video?

« on: November 16, 2012, 06:03:01 AM »

VirtualDub that Freelancer suggested is normally what I'd use for transforms, but I believe that's another Windows only option. Maybe you have a friend / workplace with Windows and can do it there?

68

Technical Support / Re: How to rotate video?

« on: November 16, 2012, 05:46:53 AM »

I didn't know this would be such a common requirement someone would release a package specifically for it, I was going to suggest just putting your TV / monitor on it's side .

I just took a look at the source for Movie Rotator and it's Windows only.

69

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: AA Battery Charger and Batteries

« on: November 15, 2012, 09:15:12 AM »

Yep should be OK, UK is 220V @ 50Hz and I can see from the photo the charger is rated for 100-240V at 50/60Hz, and not much current so adapter should be fine.

70

Technical Support / Re: Best Methods For Long Term File Storage ??

« on: November 15, 2012, 09:00:35 AM »

The snaps of the RAID I was talking about before was exactly this and what I have recommended. They work just like Time Machine or VSS if you are familiar with either of those.

Sure ZFS solves that but it sounds like because of the volume of data you sync over a local network so it's physically close?

71

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: AA Battery Charger and Batteries

« on: November 15, 2012, 08:26:09 AM »

Hello all, I have just received my batteries and charger, do I need to drain the batteries and recharge them? the batteries are brand new in a packet? or simply recharge, or just leave alone

No harm giving them a charge to get up to 100% so you know what state they're in. I wouldn't bother with a discharge, that was mainly recommended for Nicad batteries although I believe an occasional discharge of NiMH is sometimes recommended, but compared to Nicad the effect is much less so my advice would just be charge as necessary and enjoy .

72

Video & Movie / Re: Yamaha R1 Video Clip - shot on a 7D

« on: November 15, 2012, 07:42:03 AM »

Nice work, I was about to make a comment about no back wheel action but saw the Victorian plate, you'd probably get more jail time for "hooning" than murder there nowadays .

73

Technical Support / Re: Best Methods For Long Term File Storage ??

« on: November 15, 2012, 02:37:13 AM »

Lots of talk of RAID but I hope everyone makes multiple backups in different locations, I'm pulling this number out of my backside but I suspect RAID protects against under 50% of real-life data loss. That includes viruses, application errors, user error, fires, lightning strikes and theft etc. Can also make recovery harder if you can't replace your EOL RAID controller with something compatible.

Personally I'd only use hardware RAID for performance or where 100% uptime was needed, otherwise spend the extra cash on extra drives for backup and leave a few you only rotate once a year or so in case you need to recover files from an earlier point.

74

Canon General / Re: Advice for potential rate/releases

« on: November 15, 2012, 01:20:57 AM »

One other thing you want to think about is travelling time. What if a regular customer expects you'll do a 45 min gig that's two hours drive away for $70? In my non-photography business I normally charge 50% - 100% of my normal rate for travelling time if it'll be over 10 mins, depending on how much work I'm doing while there.

That seems to be an important thing to make clear and cover if the travelling time will ever be significant compared to the 'work time' as it is sometimes for me.

75

Portrait / Re: Shooting a soccer portrait for a friend

« on: November 14, 2012, 04:18:52 AM »

Like the composition but agree with the above but only because I find the difference in contrast a bit high. I'm not a PS user but imagine it'd be a quick job to reduce exposure on the lights so they are still prominent enough to give a good context for the shot, but not take away from the central character so much.