Messages

526

EOS Bodies / Re: Does a Digital camera need SLR?

« on: November 02, 2011, 10:51:54 AM »

Review of Fujifilm's image sensor phase-detect AF is explained on dpreview so it can be done.  http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10080505fujifilmpd.asp

They claim AF speed of 0.158 seconds but obviously DSLR AF is much faster since shooting at 10 frames per second and autofocusing in between frames must be less than 0.1 s.   So at least in those fuji compacts, that system is not as fast.

Im afraind you may confuse DSLR with AF. they may be quit different concept.
To be frank, 0.16s is rather quick for a mechanism. but DSLR is a optical route reflected by prism. which can can get a accurate image positoin on the film through finder.

or say, ccd or cmos sensetivity is faster than mechanism  movement which drive lens to a fit position. one is electronic, another is mechanism.

however, lens has a large mass.

I'm not confusing the two, but I can see why the way I wrote my comment may be unclear...   The Fuji is a mirrorless camera and is therefore not a DSLR.  So, my comment was comparing the 'phase-detect AF built into the image sensor of the Fuji' to the 'phase detect AF implemented in separate AF sensor of a DSLR'

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what your other comments are getting at but perhaps you also misunderstood why I referred to the fps of a DSLR.   I did that to demonstrate that the phase-detect AF in a DSLR using a separate sensor is much faster than the Fuji system... if a DSLR can shoot at 10fps then the AF must be able to focus in less than 0.1 s because it is happening in between each flip of the mirror.

Hopefully that's clearer than my shorter original comment.

527

EOS Bodies / Re: 5Diii vs 7Dii (FF vs APS-C)

« on: November 01, 2011, 07:50:50 PM »

Basically, aperture determines DoF.

Correct as usual but I'll add, just in case a few people don't know, it is the actual physical size (the diameter) of the aperture that affects DoF not the f-number (although the f-ratio typically falls out of optical formulae when you end up with an f/d).  If it wasn't for diffraction, a tiny aperture would render everything in focus with no need for a lens which is how a pinhole camera works.   Yes, in the DoF calculators you must plug in the f-ratio but that is just used (along with focal length) to calculate the diameter (in mm) of the aperture.  My turn to wait for a correction from neuro

Question to neuro (because I just tried but quickly gave up playing with the formulas):  changes in subject distance and focal have an opposite effect on DoF but is it equally offsetting for the same framing/subject size?  There is an article on Luminous Landscape that demonstrates that if camera position changed to keep subject size the same within the frame, DoF remained visually equal regardless of focal length.  This makes sense when one understands that the physical size of the aperture is smaller for shorter focal length lenses for the same f-number.  But is it mathematically equal at least first order?

528

EOS Bodies / Re: 5DM2 Purchase From Canada (Henrys) to USA

« on: November 01, 2011, 04:22:46 PM »

Hi all.

I'm a US citizen and noticed Henry's Camera has 5dM2 for a great price. I sent them an email and received this response: (they were NOT in stock at the time)

"Payment for items being shipped to the United States is by PayPal only.  The charge of $2012.95 is in Canadian Funds and will be exchanged into US funds at time of shipment.  We will not set US Funds exchange until then as the exchange rate varies on a daily basis."

Theoretically, if the camera was shipped today, the exchange rate would be: (2012.95 would convert to $1973.87 US Dollars)

I then sent them an email and requested if any other fees would be charges as I'm just trying to find out EXACTLY how much I will be charged.

They responded: "We have the camera in stock as of the writing of this email.  If you ordered today it should theoretically ship tomorrow.
There may be brokerage fees associated with your purchase, but they are set by the USPS."

I do not know what "Brokerage fees" are and sent an email requesting explanation but have not heard back. I then did some research via Google on the term "brokerage fee"  and found this:
"FORMS & FEES:
NOTE on Brokerage Fees (there are none): Because USPS & CanadaPost have long standing agreements to handle each other's mail, brokers' fees are NEVER charged. EXPENSIVE BROKERS FEES MUST be CHARGED BY MOST OTHER COURIER/SHIPPING SERVICES. BUT NOT USPS or CANADA POST! :-)"

Could anyone tell me if Henry's is a reliable source and what the final charge would be for a 5dm2 purchase? Also, don't understand brokerage fees and i'm a bit skeptical at this point.

Thank you.

Henry's is very reliable, they are a major retailer in Canada.

Brokerage Fees are the fee the shipper will charge you to process the importation of the product.  USPS may not charge you anything.  UPS definitely will charge you brokerage fees for ground shipping but usually not for air shipping.  Note that my experience is based on shipping from the US to Canada.

529

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS-1D X Canon USA Press Release

« on: November 01, 2011, 04:03:47 PM »

Plotting the prices of current cameras from the T3/1100D through the 5DII, the best curve fit is a 2^nd order polynomial (R² = 0.99344)...

Neuro is the best.  Love it.  +1

530

EOS Bodies / Re: Big 5D Mark II Price Drops in Canada & USA

« on: November 01, 2011, 10:54:17 AM »

So, it is Nov 1st and the 5D2 is still $2000 here in Canada and the 5D2/24-105 kit is $2800. When are the rebates supposed to end?

Most of the Canadian retailers are still offering the 5D2 body for $1999 but don't have stock.  The Vistek website indicates they have stock but they increased their price a little over a week ago maybe because the stock at other stores was getting low (just guessing).  FutureShop website states the $1999 sale price is in effect until Dec31st and maybe it was FutureShop that led with that sale price... all the other retailers offer competitive price matching.  Futureshop is also out of stock now but I would expect them to have more on order if Canon even has stock.  I picked up the 5D2 body for $1899 last Friday when they had a one-day offer of $100 off any camera over $1000 in addition to any sale price.

531

EOS Bodies / Re: 5Diii vs 7Dii (FF vs APS-C)

« on: October 30, 2011, 10:15:15 PM »

No I wasn't - else I would have quoted your comment

Fair enough.  You'll forgive me for thinking so given that you commented immediately after me and I hadn't noticed anyone else had made a statement similar to what you put in quotations marks.

I wouldn't accept that the 7D is 'far superior for sports action photography' over the 5DII. It has the edge on AF and fps - but not that much - as it then loses out on iso. From experience it is in wildlife where the 7D pulls away more.

Interesting view and actually I appreciate that from someone who has used the 5D2 and 7D as extensively as you have.  I've used the 5D2 a few times (borrowed) but only just recently bought one since the prices are now so low and I'm glad to know it will be more useful for sports photography than I thought it would be.  I don't think the general consensus (going by what I've heard and read on this site and elsewhere) is that the 7D only has a small edge on the 5D2 for AF and fps.  It also has an edge over the 5D2 on weather sealing which is certainly beneficial for outdoor sports.

I feel that reading something into Flickr stats would apply only to Flickr users. Not that many serious or pro togs using Flickr - they have their own websites.

True, stats can be misleading if applied to populations that are not well represented by the sample population.  If there are few pro photographers posting to Flickr as you say then any insights can not be applied to pros.   Several of the comments about the Flickr data questioned the applicability and from a statistics perspective I think that there could be a bias in the "type of user".

I just copied the Flickr usage stats for Canon into Excel and added it up for fun (fun?) to see what it looks like for all camera types.  The "avg. daily users" is a one day snapshot so the numbers I have a different from what 7enderbender got and the "one day" thing is itself a limitation.  Data from yesterday is a total of 47,370 members posted a photo with a Canon camera.  Of those 34,218 (72%) were from a DSLR.   Of those 8,617 (25%) were from a 5D, 5D2, or 7D and 25,601 (75%) were from any other Canon DSLR.

I agree it's not something we can draw big conclusions from but it's interesting.

532

EOS Bodies / Re: 5Diii vs 7Dii (FF vs APS-C)

« on: October 30, 2011, 11:30:44 AM »

"progressed from a 7D to a 5DII" now that is a contentious statement.

This is a presumption that APS-C is the cheaper, less worthy camera and that only 'real' photographers graduate to full frame - ie sensor snobbery.

When will people realise that Full frame and Crop bodies are just tools for different jobs. One is not better than the other - just different.

If you're referring to my comment, then what I said was "picked up a 5D2 as they progressed in their photography" which did not imply that either camera was better than the other.  I agree they have different strengths and weaknesses... the 7D is far superior for sports action photography for example but the 5D2.  My point was only about the relative likelihood of the large group of 5D2 owners picking up a 7D as a second body vs. the opposite as a possible theory to explain the skew in the flickr stats and that theory was it's more likely that at this point in time, many more "enthusiasts" bought a 5D2 when it came out and did not add a 7D as a second body versus those that bought a 7D then also picked up a 5D2.

533

EOS Bodies / Re: 5Diii vs 7Dii (FF vs APS-C)

« on: October 29, 2011, 11:04:45 PM »

c) if you look at the camera usage stats on flickr for instance you'll see that there are over 10,000 average daily users who have one of the recent Rebels. Around 4,100 have a 5DII. 3,300 have a 7D and only 1700 used a 60D. 

You could argue that the 5DII has been around for longer...

Regarding the numbers for 5D2 and 7D, I'm inclined to think the fact the 5D2 was released a year earlier is quite significant.  At the time, the 5D2 was quickly grabbed up by huge numbers of "enthusiasts" most of whom wouldn't have bought a 7D as a second body.  In other words, many/most of the enthusiast market willing to buy at the higher price points already went with the 5D2.  So by the time the 7D came out the middle-market was partially saturated and a higher percentage of those that bought the 7D might have picked up a 5D2 as they progressed in their photography.   I'm just guessing but that seems logical to me (because I am one of the latter ) and if so it would partially explain the stats.

534

EOS Bodies / Re: No 5D Mark III on Novemeber 3 [CR2]

« on: October 29, 2011, 12:04:38 AM »

The prices of the 5D2 are just too low that I couldn't hold out any longer.  Picked up a 5D2 body for $1899 today but won't open the box until after Nov 3rd.  Just in case bornshooter is right this time!!! 

535

EOS Bodies / Re: 5Diii vs 7Dii (FF vs APS-C)

« on: October 29, 2011, 12:01:54 AM »

Makes sense, was just wondering if I was missing anything besides apparent mag. Personally, I'll take real mag, and if 1:1 isn't enough, I'll go to 5x with my MP-E 65mm...and if that's not enough, I'll just use a microscope. 

I don't have an MP-E 65mm and, just a second let me check, nope don't have a microscope either    1:1 is the same regardless of sensor size but not all subject are the size of a FF sensor and may be smaller than an APS-C sensor and in that case you get more pixels on subject with the 7D.

536

Lens Giveaway Contest / Re: *Contest* Wildlife - Post Here.

« on: October 27, 2011, 09:31:53 PM »

Red Fox caught in a trap.

Did you set him free after you got the shot?

537

EOS Bodies / Re: Does a Digital camera need SLR?

« on: October 27, 2011, 01:58:49 AM »

Review of Fujifilm's image sensor phase-detect AF is explained on dpreview so it can be done.  http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10080505fujifilmpd.asp

They claim AF speed of 0.158 seconds but obviously DSLR AF is much faster since shooting at 10 frames per second and autofocusing in between frames must be less than 0.1 s.   So at least in those fuji compacts, that system is not as fast.

538

EOS Bodies / Re: Does a Digital camera need SLR?

« on: October 26, 2011, 11:49:00 PM »

No matter how good or fast the contrast-detect algorithms can be run, it still has to guess at the direction of focus adjustment, move the focus element a little, measure again, rinse and repeat.  That physical process of the adjustment can't be overcome by faster processing.

Could it be helped by faster processing?  Take two measurements and extrapolate to the direction and magnitude of adjustment?  Maybe that's already being done.  I agree that even so, it will never be as fast as phase detect.  But maybe fast enough in some cases?  AF times and shutter lag on P&S cameras are growing shorter, albeit slowly.

Or is the answer to build a phase-detect autofocus system into the main imaging sensor?

No, bundles of light rays from opposite sides of the lens that would converge to a single point at the image plane if that point is in focus have to be separated and compared.  Here's a link to a little graphic demo I just found that shows it:  http://graphics.stanford.edu/courses/cs178/applets/autofocusPD.html

But then, Nikon claims to use phase-detection AF in their V1 mirrorless although they call it a "hybrid autofocus".  I'll look around and try to find an explanation of how they implemented it and if it has limitations compared to the typical phase-detect AF.

539

Lenses / Re: Lens Announcement [CR1]

« on: October 26, 2011, 03:44:45 PM »

If Canon release a 5D 3, 35L II and a 24-70 II then I'm going to be seriously broke!

Do you really need to buy all of he new things that come out?

I convince myself that I need the things I want.  It's a personal failing but one that I enjoy from time to time.

540

EOS Bodies / Re: Does a Digital camera need SLR?

« on: October 26, 2011, 11:59:44 AM »

* the gopro hero 2 has built-in heat-up function to avoid quick battery run-down at low temperatures; they could add something similar to an EVF if this is really an issue

Good point.  Unlike the rear LCD the EVF is physically small and recessed and I think behind another layer of glass with an air gap (not sure about that) so has some thermal separation from the environment therefore it wouldn't take much power to keep it at least at its minimum operating temp.  There are other pros and cons to EVFs though.

* contrast-detect AF is also getting better, give it five years to be just as good as phase-detect AF for everybody except sports shooters

If by "everybody except sports shooters" you mean anyone who doesn't need fast, predictive auto focus, and subject tracking then contrast detection AF is already as good as phase-detect AF and has some advantages.  But not sure I would agree that the segment of photographers benefiting from fast AF is so limited... shooting anything that moves from kids running around, people at weddings, photojournalism, sports, wildlife, street photography, etc. is much easier with phase-detection.  No matter how good or fast the contrast-detect algorithms can be run, it still has to guess at the direction of focus adjustment, move the focus element a little, measure again, rinse and repeat.  That physical process of the adjustment can't be overcome by faster processing.