Messages

286

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon, range finder to medium format.

« on: January 13, 2012, 12:03:52 PM »

As much as we'd like Canon to branch out & embrace "retro" ideas like that, I don't think it it's in the cards any time soon.  Certainly not in this economy.

However, with the Ciné project, and G1X, we have seen that Canon is listening to market demand and responding.  They've done more "mold-breaking" in the last few months than in the past several years.  Here's what I think:

 - the D30 was a game-changer:  the first DSLR for mere mortals
 - the 300D was a game-changer:  the first consumer DSLR
 - the original 5D was a game-changer:  the first FF DSLR for mere mortals
 - the 5DII was a game-changer:  the first video DSLR

since then, until the C300 announcement:  more or less business as usual in the camera body department. Some very spiffy lenses though.

The G1X shows that they're ready to be a game-changer again.

I think that we have a lot to look forward to this year (remember it's a Photokina year too).

Specifically, a lot of Canon brass have been quoted saying that consumers want smaller high-performance cameras.  I don't think the G1X is the end of that trend.  I think there's a lot of potential for a very small EF-s camera this year, possibly even full-frame EF.  We'll see...

287

Lenses / Re: HELP! Need help choosing a lens

« on: January 12, 2012, 08:21:03 PM »

This was just posted: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXTVKXJ94sw
	Small | Large

shot with a 5DII & Tokina 16-28 f/2.8

I really like my Tokina 11-16 f/2.8.  One could say that I traded my Canon 17-40L on it as I sold it within a few months of getting the Tokina.

Cruize around here for some of my older posts on it, but I will say here that one of the revelations that came to me with this lens was that I bought it for use pretty much exclusively as a wide-angle for doing landscapes & interiors, and the first times I had it in my bag at a jazz club it suddenly occurred to me that I now have another low-light lens too :-).

288

EOS Bodies / Re: DSLRs are a dying breed, EVIL is the future!

« on: January 12, 2012, 08:13:06 PM »

Let's put it this way:

I'd rather have a very good EVF & very good digital MF assist than the crappy pentamirror optical viewfinder sans interchangable focus screen found on most entry-level crop cameras.

But look through the viewfinder on any modern FF DSLR (or better yet, an older pro-level MF SLR like the Canon T90) & you'll see that EVFs and associated ergonomics still have a very very long way to go before being close to the experience.

The Fuji system seems to be a nice compromise, but I haven't had the experience of actually using one yet.

289

EOS Bodies / Re: Is there an advantage to still having a mirror on a dslr

« on: January 12, 2012, 08:08:18 AM »

I keep reading everywhere that mirrorless cameras are awesome. That coupled with P&S released at CES with the same size sensor as my kiss x4, is there anything you lose from going to a mirrorless system?  To reiterate, would a mirrorless Kiss x4 just be better than a mirrored kiss x4?

Let's put it this way:

I'd rather have a very good EVF & very good digital MF assist than the crappy pentamirror optical viewfinder sans interchangable focus screen found on most entry-level crop cameras.

But look through the viewfinder on any modern FF DSLR (or better yet, an older pro-level MF SLR like the Canon T90) & you'll see that EVFs and associated ergonomics still have a very very long way to go before being close to the experience.

The Fuji system seems to be a nice compromise, but I haven't had the experience of actually using one yet.

290

Lens Gallery / Re: Canon EF135mm f/2L USM

« on: January 10, 2012, 07:55:08 PM »

I am starting to love this lens as a walk around lens.  The only thing I find is color vibrance is not as nice as with the other newer L lenses I have.  In both pictures below I played with the vibrance setting in Lightroom...

I'd agree that the 135L is more neutral than a lot of other Canon lenses; for example the 50mm f/1.4 always seemed kinda hot in the yellow/green department to me.  I'm a big fan of the "look" of Zeiss images (the microcontrast in particular just knocks my socks off when you get a good shot with it).  The 135L seems more "Leica-like" to me, but that's no bad thing :-).

291

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Fuji X-Pro 1

« on: January 10, 2012, 12:57:28 PM »

I find the two cameras highly complimentary.  The Fuji X-Pro 1 is the portrait/low-light/shallow-DoF/wide-ange/prime camera, and the Canon G1X is the versatile zoom/telephoto camera (probably also outdoor sports if the AF is good enough) for better lighting conditions when you don't need such a wide aperture.  The G1X is certainly more portable than the Fuji with a few lenses, but both of them will fit in a lot less bag space (& weight) than a semi-pro EOS DSLR with equivalent lenses (not to mention the cost of Fuji's 35mm f/1.4 vs. Canon).

Personally I'm holding out for a nice small Powershot S1X with the same sensor and a stabilized 24-90 equivalent lens with max aperture better than f/4 :-).

292

Lens Gallery / Re: Canon EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

« on: December 31, 2011, 09:13:15 AM »

Keukenhof gardens in Holland

f/4 gives you plenty of background blur if you focus closely!

293

Lens Gallery / Re: Canon EF135mm f/2L USM

« on: December 31, 2011, 09:04:09 AM »

Is there anyone able to post some indoor sports photos that were taken with an APS-C camera - like 7D?

Well, I don't have sports shots taken with it, but I ran a series of test landscape shots with my 40D and 135L a few years ago (10 shots at each 1/3 stop shutter speed, incrementing from 1/200 to 1/500). I found that in order to consistently get pixel-peeper-sharp handheld landscape shots completely free of motion blur I needed to be at at least 1/400th of a second.  Don't get me wrong, I got plenty of good ones below that, but in order for me to really get it right & make it look like it was shot from a tripod almost all the time 1/400th is where I needed to be.  That may just be the way it is for me, & that's without a monopod or a tree to lean on or anything.

Now for sports with a 7D it's certainly going to be different.  Fist of all you have almost double the pixels of my 40D, but of course "acceptably sharp" will depend on your output resolution (even if you're not rock-solid at the pixel level).  In terms of acceptable motion blur & sharpness, what passes for acceptable in sports photography & landscape photography are two very different things (unless of course your clients are printing your sports shots at A3 or larger on a regular basis...).  You can really crank the ISO on that 7D in order to keep your shutter speed up, and sports shots are so much more about the moment than about the technical quality of the image.  Not saying that the images need to be less good, but you can certainly get away with a lot more.

But the biggest advantage you have vs. landscape photography is that your subjects are usually moving.  Like some other folks here have said, if your panning technique is good & you can follow the motion of the subject really closely, you should be able to cut that speed requirement down to 1/100th or so, maybe even less if you've practiced a lot at following your subjects it & really get it right (a lot also depends on the speed of your subject).

294

United States / Re: $100,000 - How would you spend it?

« on: December 10, 2011, 07:30:39 PM »

A big-a** pro printer and a ton of Gold Fibre Silk.  Both TS-E Ls, the 85 f/1.2L, and a 70-200 II.  Oh, and a 5DII while I'm at it.

And use the rest to live off of & travel while I take a year off work to actually use the gear I already have.

295

Lenses / Re: New Fast Telephoto Suggestions

« on: December 10, 2011, 06:33:45 AM »

Another lens to consider is the new Canon 100-300; it's definitely the most portable of Canon's long telezooms.

But if you've got the cash then the new 70-200 f/2.8 II is amazing.  The 1.4x TC will get you pretty close to 300mm.

Have a look at the lens comparison tools over on The Digital Picture.  They're about as extensive as it gets.

296

United States / Re: What would you buy if...

« on: December 10, 2011, 06:10:10 AM »

Just to add to the other good replies here:  at least in France, when you go to sell a lens in a shop they're obliged to write down the lens model & serial number along with your passport number just in case the customs agents come around...

So, buying for your own use is a great idea (as long as your dad is carrying a body and a lens; if you don't have a backup body to give him then the ~$350 it will cost you to get one used/refurbed will probably nullify any savings you'd make in the process.  Unless of course you need a backup body too...).  But dumping a brand new lens is probably not such a hot idea.  I think you're better off investing your time & money in the stock market or something).

297

EOS Bodies / Re: How can Nikon remain in business with 12MP FF?

« on: December 06, 2011, 08:35:50 PM »

Most of my 21mpx turn out to be 15 or even 10mpx even everything is said and done. I cannot afford a 12mpx, because it will cripple my WF (and may be make me better). The risk is too much!

Native resolution of an A3 print at 240dpi is about 10mp.  That happens to work out rather well with my 40D.  I consider anything over that to be a bonus, as I've never needed a print bigger than A3 and I don't have any friends with a printer bigger than that anyway.  (Granted, there's a shop a few blocks away with a pair of Epson 9600s that do wall posters for boutiques, but I shudder to think what they'd charge for a print that big...).

Now don't get me wrong, it would certainly be nice to have the luxury of being able to crop half the image away & still have that kind of resolution if necessary, but it's not too high on my wish list.  I'd say that if you're cropping most of your shots more than 5-10% then you might be better served just taking more shots from different focal lengths to be sure that you got what you want from the beginning.

298

EOS Bodies / Re: How can Nikon remain in business with 12MP FF?

« on: December 06, 2011, 08:01:23 PM »

Great shot funkboy.  For me though i am not yet at the level where I can compose eveyone of my shot like this one.  To get there, I still need to crop a lot of them.  What ISO was your shot taken again?

Thanks poias & JR.

My friend the wedding photographer has all the RAWs & did most of the post-prod on it, so to be honest, I don't recall the capture settings (other than the aperture), but given that we were in light shadows in a park on a sunny afternoon I'd say probably around ISO400 & exposed to the right.  Anyway one likely couldn't tell the difference with this little thumbnail even if it was shot at ISO6400 with that thing.

For the record, I recall that we may have cropped it a little bit when we first took a look at it, maybe 5%.  The evening after the shoot we went over a good chunk of the ~2.5k photos from our two cameras, so my memory on this particular one's a little hazy...

299

EOS Bodies / Re: 5D Mark III Information [CR1]

« on: December 06, 2011, 07:28:23 PM »

When is Canon going to make a 21MP (approx) camera that is JUST for still photographers and priced that way?
Does anyone agree with this...or am I just whistling Dixie?

    I wish I was in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten,
    Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land.
    In Dixie Land where I was born in, early on a frosty mornin',
    Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land.

    Then I wish I was in Dixie, hooray! hooray!
    In Dixie Land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie,
    Away, away, away down South in Dixie,
    Away, away, away down South in Dixie.

300

EOS Bodies / Re: digic 4 vs digic 5

« on: December 06, 2011, 07:24:22 PM »

I do mostly video and I saw a test clip of the new Canon point and shoot that uses Digic 5. Even this cheap camera had noticeably cleaner video than the current Digic 4 DSLRs.

Bear in mind that Digic 5 is the first Digic generation to be designed from the ground up for dealing with HD video and stills processing in the same camera.  Also, given that you're talking about a P+S be sure to evaluate the detail of the image as consumer stuff tends to be pretty heavy-handed on the NR by default...