Messages

181

EOS Bodies / Re: 60D + EFS17-55 f/2.8 - £1000 at Tesco

« on: June 20, 2011, 10:28:00 AM »

I didn't get a phone call, but just looked at my order status and it is on "At warehouse - dispatching soon".

yeah my order status is the same.

the only thing that worries me is:

"For delivery on Friday 31st December 9999 between 11:59pm - 11:59pm"

don't think I'll be home for that time XD

And besides, the 5D3 will probably have been announced by then....


Martin

182

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS 7D mrk. II

« on: June 17, 2011, 02:37:38 AM »

2) ReiserFS! it's free and it's open source! (sorry, my inner linux nerd wrote that)

ReiserFS might be free, but its creator isn't!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reiser  (for those who weren't already aware!)


Martin

183

EOS Bodies / Re: Is this scam

« on: June 10, 2011, 04:48:59 AM »

Well, the landline number in the "Contact" section of their site does not work. "The number you have dialled has not been recognised. Please check and try again.".


Martin

184

EOS Bodies / Re: What am I getting out of my upgrade?

« on: May 16, 2011, 02:32:07 AM »

Well the 7D is a lovely camera to use. Sure, it's "only" 18MP, i.e. no more than the 60D or the 600D, but using it feels like luxury.

It feels VERY snappy and responsive. You press that button and your pic gets taken right then, provided you had focus confirmed with your half-press beforehand. It can do up to 8FPS, so even in single-shot mode, it will be ready for the next shot before you are ready to press the shutter button again. And you can keep on and on pressing as fast as you like and it'll keep up.

Its build quality is excellent. Once you've used a 7D, I don't think you'll want to go back to the x00D (e.g. 600D etc.) models. (Admittedly, I have never used a 60D, so I can't comment on that, but the 60D lacks AF microadjust, which seems to me a really bad thing, and I suspect that it would be a very bad thing for you, given that you have the 50/1.2 lens, which obviously will have a VERY thin depth of field wide-open.)

I really suggest that, having that 50/1.2 lens, you should be looking at a camera to do it justice, i.e. the 7D.

You will not regret it. (Your wallet might, but if you have the 50/1.2, it suggests that you're not on too tight a budget.)

Oh, and the DIGIC4 vs. DIGIC2 thing? The more powerful processor is what drives the camera to be so fast and responsive, and give you your up-to-8FPS maximum shooting rate. It also speeds up the in-camera noise reduction that gets applied to images if you're shooting at high ISO or with long exposures. The 7D has TWO DIGIC4 processors to really give it some throughput.

Hope this helps,


Martin

185

Lenses / Re: Old film camera lenses for DSLRs?

« on: April 05, 2011, 05:09:54 AM »

I can, and sometimes do, use my Olympus OM series lenses on my EOS 7D, using an adaptor I found on the internet.

It works perfectly.

Obviously (with my adaptor anyway), the camera doesn't know what the lens is, or what aperture it'ss et to, and so you really need to shoot in "manual" mode, or play around to get the exposures right.

But other than that, yes, it does work. In fact when I bought the EOS 7D, I just bought the body, and started off using my Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/1.2 lens on it.


Martin

186

EOS Bodies / Re: 7D Max 8FPS Burst Capacity Question

« on: March 31, 2011, 08:49:19 AM »

I believe you have High Speed Noise Reduction set to strong:

Manual - p. 208:

"With setting 2, strong, the maximum burst rate for continuous shooting will greatly diminish"

DaveBurbankPhotography

Hi.

You were right. I changed it from "Strong" to "Low", and now the capacity indicator says "74" rather than "4".

Thank-you.

Martin

187

EOS Bodies / 7D Max 8FPS Burst Capacity Question

« on: March 31, 2011, 07:47:30 AM »

Hi.

My 7D always just says "4" in the viewfinder, at the bottom-right. I believe this is the number of shots that can currently be taken at max FPS, i.e. into the camera's memory, before the data gets transferred to the CF card.

So basically, if I put Drive mode to "many shots, fast mode", I get ONLY 4 shots at about 8FPS, and then it pauses to think about it and transfer the shots to the card, and then resumes for a couple of shots, pauses again, etc..

Why do I only get 4 shots before it pauses?

I have it set to JPG format, max resolution, and NO RAW ENABLED.

Thanks in advance,

Martin

188

Lenses / Re: Where are Canon's manufacturing plants in relation to the accidents?

« on: March 25, 2011, 01:42:35 PM »

RE: What Scales said about it not just being an issue of Canon's plants, but also those of Canon's MANY suppliers, and THEIR suppliers:

Common sense says he's right.

I feel pretty pessimistic about this whole thing. Not just about the effects on supply of Canon gear, but in terms of global economics. I don't think we've really begun to feel the effects of it all yet. I am expecting bad things to start in a few months, to global commerce, and the economy.


Martin

189

EOS Bodies / Re: 3 More DSLR's in 2011? [CR1]

« on: March 25, 2011, 01:23:03 PM »

With all that's going on now, I think there's basically no chance of a 7DII this year. Even before Japan's current problems, it was expected to be tail end of NEXT year.


Martin

190

EOS Bodies / Re: replacement for the 7D anyone heard anything?????

« on: March 24, 2011, 06:43:06 AM »

If you don't want a screen to articulate, it can always latch back into the body where you can attach a protector and leave it there.  I always thought the swivel screen was a gimmick... until I used it. I now find myself saying "If I had that swivel screen I could get all the way down/up/against to get this shot." It would be awesome for stills and video. As for durability, they would likely make the mount for a camera like the 7D out of metal, or something much stronger than the glorified laptop hinge on the 60D.

But it wouldn't be awesome for stills, would it? Because in order to use it, you'd have to fall back on "Live View" mode, with its attendant autofocus issues.

Martin

191

Lenses / Re: More Sigma Primes Coming? [CR1]

« on: March 11, 2011, 07:57:25 AM »

Could you explain what causes the focus shift? Why would the point of focus move when the iris closes to the setpoint (unless that causes other things to move in the front-to-rear direction)?

Check this out:
http://toothwalker.org/optics/spherical.html

But while I heard a lot about inconsistent focus of the Siggy Fifty, I haven't heard about residual spherical aberations/focus shift in this one. However, the Canon 50 1.2 exhibits this problem quite clearly.
Check, e.g., this out for a serious discussion of the issue
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=371097
(or simply google for "50L focus shift"...)

and this for a more tongue-in-check view on the "50L focus issues" topic

http://fakechuckwestfall.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/ef-50mm-f1-2hell-usm/

Thanks; I see now.

And that last link: That was some funny S___!

192

Lenses / Re: More Sigma Primes Coming? [CR1]

« on: March 11, 2011, 03:42:54 AM »

Sigma's primes are not without their problems though.  The 50mm in particular suffers from focus shift when stopping down, the issue is worse on Canon cameras because the autofocus has the more sensitive f/2.8 centre point as opposed to other makes on f/5.6.  When you focus with the lens wide open at say F/2.8 the focus is at one point, when the shutter is released the aperture snaps down, and the point of focus moves, in many cases ruining the shot.

This has been the issue many users have reported since the lens was released.  On the other hand Canon's own f/1.4 although optically good suffers reliability issues, and should really be replaced.  The 80mm f/1.8 is a very good lens, cheap too, it's difficult to see why anyone would pay a lot more money for a one stop advantage (especially if it suffers focus shift).

Could you explain what causes the focus shift? Why would the point of focus move when the iris closes to the setpoint (unless that causes other things to move in the front-to-rear direction)?

I also really like Canon's 85mm f/1.8, and my copy of the 50mm f/1.4 has been fine so far, so again, I'm happy with that. Having bought, and immediately returned, a bad copy of the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 (it was terrible), I'm wary of Sigma lenses. OTOH right now it's a non-issue, cos I'm still paying off the 24-105 f/4 L! So nothing at all is gonna get bought for a couple of months!

Thanks.

Martin

193

Lenses / Re: Which +/- 30mm lens to buy?

« on: March 10, 2011, 12:14:54 PM »

I tried one example of the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 last year but I returned it almost immediately because it was awful. Even on my crop camera (7D), the CA at the edges and corners was totally unacceptable. Things were smeared out over perhaps 10 pixels.

I got the Canon 50mm f/1.4 instead. Not the same kind of lens, but I am glad I got that lens instead.


Martin

194

EOS Bodies / Re: I have it!! The 7D!!

« on: March 07, 2011, 12:48:56 PM »

[I STILL only use the central focus point. If I want the focus point not to appear in the centre of the frame, I just focus on it in the centre by half-pressing, and hold the half-press while I move the camera to re-compose the shot, before letting it rip.

Fleetie... you may want to reconsider your approach - those AF points are there for a reason.  As noted in the below article and Canon video, using center focus and recomposing can cause focus errors and soft-focus problems as you are changing what is in the focal plane by moving the camera from its original focus.

http://visual-vacations.com/Photography/focus-recompose_sucks.htm

http://www.video.bhphotovideo.com/?fr_story=023e7711fd0a11717179bc933084e559429d297d&rf=sitemap  (skip to 28:30 mark)

Just something to think about in the future.  It's not always a problem, but in some circumstances, the results can be obvious/problematic.

First link: Interesting. I might have a play this evening, to see whether I can reproduce that effect myself, using my 50mm f/1.4 or 85mm f/1.8.

Thanks. More comments are welcome!

Martin

195

EOS Bodies / Re: I have it!! The 7D!!

« on: March 07, 2011, 12:16:05 PM »

Congratulations you will love it. Just take it slow and let your experience level grow. Some people just go off and take a million photos and they don’t turn out to good and get down on camera and all that. Only to learn it was not the camera. There’s just a learning curve and getting to know how to get the better results they are looking for. One tip I found helpful at first was to use just one focus point and not all 19. So it will focus on what you need it to. Congratulations

I STILL only use the central focus point. If I want the focus point not to appear in the centre of the frame, I just focus on it in the centre by half-pressing, and hold the half-press while I move the camera to re-compose the shot, before letting it rip.

I confess that in my ignorance, I don't see a lot of point of using more than one focus point. I have read that section of the manual but I was not a lot the wiser afterwards, about why you'd want to use >1 point. I mean, do you have to use the mini-joystick thing to select the focus point to use, if you're not just using the central one? Isn't that awfully fiddly, if you're holding the camera with the viewfinder to your eye at the same time?

And I believe there is a mode in which the camera will select one of more of its focus points to use, for you, using some kind of algorithm. Again, why? I doubt it'll "guess right" all the time which object or objects you want in focus.

I admit that my lack of understanding of these issues is my own problem and that there must be good reasons for these facilities on the camera, but I need educating!


Martin