Messages

121

Lenses / Re: canon is not for poor film makers anymore! 47,000$??!!!

« on: November 06, 2011, 05:55:02 PM »

Sorry, you misunderstood what I meant. When I said anyone 'filming seriously' I meant people that are shooting motion pictures... I work in advertising and gear is never bought to do a television commercial, always hired. We only have one video camera in house (an XF1) and that is just for stuff like vox pops.

+1

I have been avoiding this topic because I'm not personally interested in video. But, after people started attacking Samueljay I had to come to his defense.

I've had some experience with commissioning television spots and I can echo what Sam's saying. At least in St. Louis and Chicago, the two markets I'm familiar with, I've never worked with someone who owned their own equipment. I do know of a small, family production company in St. Louis that owned equipment and an edit suite and made their money by renting the equipment, themselves and their edit suite out to other firms in between their own jobs. But in their case, they focused on a couple of very narrow niche markets for their own work and used the equipment, their skills and the edit suite to help pay the bills.

I can't understand why anyone feels compelled to complain that Canon (or any other company) decides to expand their market and offer new, innovative products. Anything that extends the technology and helps their bottom line is going to mean more goodies for the rest of us at less cost.

You and Sam are changing the subject. Defining ownership is not the same as defining how the equipment is used. My objection, stated as clearly as I know how several times in this thread, was that some people seemed to think that automatic focusing and exposure had no place in "serious" filming. I was merely trying to point out that there are several kinds of "serious" filming that Sam had not considered. I didn't misunderstand Sam; I objected to his ignorance and arrogance, as politely as I know how.

There's no need for that :\ Sorry if I upset you Bob. The fact remains that these camera's are not for that market or purpose, I never said that wedding  or sports video taking was not serious, or the people doing it are not serious about their work, only that the features they want, won't be found in a camera like this, because it is a cinema camera, and these are cinema lenses, and auto focus and exposure aren't used in this nichè field.

122

Lenses / Re: canon is not for poor film makers anymore! 47,000$??!!!

« on: November 06, 2011, 08:42:17 AM »

Sorry, but anyone who is filming seriously will always have the time to focus properly and manually.

So professional wedding photographers, documentary photographers and sports photographers are not "filming seriously"? You seem to be assuming that photography is always (or maybe just mostly) at the center of the whole situation, something that is absolutely not true a good percentage of the time. Very often, we're just there trying to get the best images we can, in the middle of chaos.

Sorry, you misunderstood what I meant. When I said anyone 'filming seriously' I meant people that are shooting motion pictures. People here seem to assume that features that are made for still photography (auto-focus and exposure) should be included in cinema styled cameras, and end up assuming that the product is bogus because it's missing these 'standard' features, when the reality is, cameras in that price range are not for the market you're describing at all, these are cinema camera's with cinema lenses, for people shooting films, where every shot will be on a shot list, set up, exposed and focused manually (and pulled during the scene). Of course wedding photog/videographers, doco makers, and sports videographers are shooting seriously, but they won't be using a camera like the C300

Also as many people here have mentioned before, I don't really know anyone myself that actually buys a camera or lenses like this to use just for themselves. Most people will be renting them / renting them out. I work in advertising and gear is never bought to do a television commercial, always hired. We only have one video camera in house (an XF1) and that is just for stuff like vox pops.

123

Lenses / Re: canon is not for poor film makers anymore! 47,000$??!!!

« on: November 05, 2011, 09:55:31 AM »

Except that you'll have to focus it manually.

If you are having to use auto focus as a film maker your doing it wrong 

I'm so new at this that I'm sure I'm doing it wrong, but how about when shooting a documentary, a wedding or sports where the subjects move rapidly and unpredictably? Not everybody has the time to pull out their tape measure and consult their DOF charts. For that matter, why do cameras like the 1Dx have autofocusing?

For things like that, you'd better hope you have a very capable focus puller or camera operator :p

Sorry, but anyone who is filming seriously will always have the time to focus properly and manually. Camera's like the 1DX have advanced auto focus because they are made for still photographers, where auto focus is a massive advantage (I wouldn't know though, I still focus everything manually if the gear allows it)

124

EOS Bodies / Re: T2i vs. 60D vs. 5dMKII

« on: November 02, 2011, 09:35:07 PM »

I was in the same boat as you Jason! I opted to get a Rebel T2i and a 50mm f/1.8ii to start with as it was simply too cheap to pass up. From there I will see how it goes, and find out what I need to fill in the gaps. My camera and lens arrives tomorrow, let me know if you want to know how I find it (coming from a film student in Australia who learnt using various HD Video cameras (Panasonic HVX-200, JVC (can't remember the model) and Sony Z1P's as well as a little bit of 16mm film )

125

Lenses / Re: Realistic wish lens

« on: October 26, 2011, 09:27:32 PM »

My dream lens is a 7-800mm f/1.2 IS that weighs 1/4 pound and has perfect sharpness all over and cost $20 US.  If they can make a little robot that flies to mars and drives around doing science experiments there is NO reason why my dream lens can't happen.

ahahahahaha

126

Australia / Re: C'mon Aussies

« on: October 21, 2011, 01:17:46 AM »

Nothing wrong with Minolta.  My X-700 and SRT101 are still working perfectly. 

Recently picked up an Olympus micro 4/3 camera to give the lenses a new lease of digital life.  Most work surprisingly well.  Plus my 135mm becomes an image stablilized 270mm f2.8.  And my 400mm becomes an 800mm f5.6 IS.  How cool is that!  Now, if I could only get them to autofocus....

God yeah! Never said there was anything wrong with them, I love my Minolta's, I just don't like the cost factor of film... how funny though, I have the same two camera's (I adore the X-700) and a couple XG-1's.

Haha nice! That's pretty neat! I'm more excited to start a new lens collection of L-series canon glass though since my Minolta lens range isn't anything too exciting (mainly a bunch of 50mm & 24mm primes).

127

Australia / Re: C'mon Aussies

« on: October 20, 2011, 11:55:48 PM »

Hey all!
Long time visitor of this site too, and thought I should actually join and participate in the great community going on here. I'm from Melbourne, and work in advertising. Currently I only do photography as a hobby and I'm still using a couple film SLR's (all early Minolta's and mostly Minolta and Sigma glass). I'm just waiting for the 5D Mk iii (like everyone else here it seems :p haha!) so that I can enter the digital realm, and enhance my skills in photography (film is just too expensive to get a lot of solid practise, although I cherish the discipline of shooting film). I studied film for two years, and my heart lies in photography whether it be still or motion, which is why I think the next iteration of the 5D will be the perfect camera for me. That being said, I've never owned a Canon camera before, so I'm not partial to any brand, however it seems Canon are onto a winning formula with the 5D So nice to meet you all I guess! Bring on the next generation of cameras

I should also add, I have been toying with the idea of getting a 550D due to their stupidly low price to get into digital early, and to keep as a crop body once I do get the 5D, but we'll see what happens in the next month