Messages

16

Pricewatch Deals / Re: EF 24-70 f/4L IS Available January 7, 2013

« on: January 03, 2013, 02:39:28 PM »

Who will be buying this? 

I'm definitely interested.  Waiting for reviews first, but I like the size/weight/flexibility for travel, walkaround, and it would probably be close to ideal as a single lens solution for my backpacking trips, too.  The buying decision for me will depend mostly on the optics.

I do find this lens way more interesting than the 24-105mm f/4 IS; it should hopefully offer better IQ, smaller size/less weight, and the macro mode is appealing as well.  So (potentially) the only significant trade-offs are aperture and less zoom range than some might prefer (although personally I'd rather have a smaller zoom range and better optical performance).

17

Pricewatch Deals / Re: Canon has Refurbished 5DIII for $2240

« on: December 31, 2012, 02:56:05 PM »

That's a pretty sweet price, especially if you live in a state that does not charge sales tax.  I got in on the Amazon kit deal from a few days back (which is still running as far as I know) and absolutely love the camera.  The silent shutter mode is simply brilliant.  AF is a clear step up compared to my 7D.  In particular, the 5D3 AF behaves much better with the 24mm f/1.4L II than my 7D.

18

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon 7D AF Performance Under Low Light Shooting Conditions

« on: November 12, 2012, 02:50:00 AM »

Instead of asking if it's defective (it's most likely not, more likely that you've hit the limit of the system's performance for the mode you've selected), how about asking how can I make better?

For that question I have a solution: turn on the expansion points (ie, one main + the four surrounding points) - you'll get better low light performance in both AI Servo and One Shot AF modes.  In one shot mode center point w/ expansion points enabled, my 7D can practically focus in the dark - not quickly (it certainly hunts some), but I've been impressed with the camera's ability to lock focus in very poor light.

And neuro is right, the AF system needs contrast to work as well.  Generally, the darker and more consistent the shade of the object/scene, the more likely the AF system is to have issues locking/tracking focus.

19

Pricewatch Deals / Re: Sigma 35 f/1.4 Available for Preorder

« on: November 07, 2012, 01:47:04 PM »

im a sucker when it comes to MTF charts...

can someon explain what he reads out of the MTF chart?

From what I understand, Sigma's MTF charts only provide result for the lens wide open (this is according to Sigma's own notes in their MTF Chart guide), and performance looks great assuming this is the case.  It basically matches the performance of the 35L stopped down to F8 (judging from Canon's own MTF chart) - which makes me think that I must be reading Sigma's chart incorrectly.

But seriously, that's too good, so I don't think that it's right.  I'm guessing that Sigma's chart is actually stopped down performance, which case it pretty much matches a stopped down 35L.  Either way, IQ should be pretty good.

20

Pricewatch Deals / Re: Sigma 35 f/1.4 Available for Preorder

« on: November 07, 2012, 01:32:08 PM »

Perhaps because I have never seen a Vignetting graph before... but is anyone else completely astounded by the Vignetting graph of this lens at f/1.4? Shooting into a white wall will yield a white canter and almost pitch black corners!  It drops to 20% of light in the corners!

I'm sure that borders the 'unacceptable' range for most images other than very 'artistic' portraits.  While some vignetting can be correct in post, upping more than 2 fstops of difference is really not my ideal lens .

Of course, neither is Canon's ultra pricey f/2 version!  I'd much rather have f/1.4!

Rafa.

Actually, 2.3 stops of vignetting wide open is decent for this class of lens.  For comparison, the 35L light falloff is about 3 stops in the corners wide open (according to the-digital-picture.com, at least).

21

Lenses / Re: Macro system-70-200 f2.8 L II IS USM + 2x extender + extension tubes ANYONE???

« on: October 18, 2012, 02:30:21 AM »

Does anybody have a sample of 70-200 II + 2x III + 500D?

What does it mean when people say you lose focus to infinity? Does it just mean that you point to something that would usually stop the focus ring at infinity mark, but because you lost focus to infinity it wont stop?

The normal focus range for the 70-200 f/2.8 IS II is 1.2m to infinity, but the 70-200 f/2.8 IS II + 500D combo the focus range is probably something like .6m - 2.8m (I don't know what the actually distances are, just pulled those out to illustrate the difference).  So while the close-up lens lets you get closer to your subjects, you also lose the ability to focus on subjects further away.

22

Software & Accessories / Re: Lightroom 4.2 update

« on: October 03, 2012, 03:24:18 PM »

So basically nothing to fix the VERYVERY uselessly slow performance.....

I don't have a performance problem.  Sounds like a configuration issue if you have a PC.

I have a PC (with plenty of RAM, etc.) and maybe someone can answer my problem about loading photos into Lightroom.  Once I import photos from my harddrive into LR, before I go into the Develop module, I wait for all the photos to "load", by waiting for the 3 tiny dots to disappear from each photo, indicating the photo is loaded.  The problem is, only the photos that are displayed on the screen actually "load", so I then have to scroll down to have the next line(s) of photos to show on the screen before they actually load.  I have the thumbnails set to the smallest setting so more photos are on the screen at once in the Library module.  Is there something I'm missing or I'm doing wrong.  I would rather have all the photos load on their own and go do something useful, instead of having to scroll down every 30 seconds until my 1,000 photos or so are finished loading.  The reason I make sure all the photos are loaded, meaning the 3 dots have disappeared, is so that in the Develop module it doesn't take forever for a single photo to become ready for adjustments.

I'd suggest organizing your photos into folders by date - this way the computer does not immediately try to load thousands of photos each time you open LR.  Even better, organize your photos into folders by by month/year and then by date plus brief description of the shoot - I find this very helpful.  If it's an exceptionally large shoot, add another level of folders, ie, Ceremony, Couple & Family, Reception, etc. or 1st Quarter, 2nd Quarter, etc.  For example:

W:\EOS 7D Master Backup\2012_08\2012_08_25 - Client Name's Wedding\Reception

By doing this I can pretty much get to anything quickly, despite having 40K+ photos tied to LR4 through network attached storage.  My LR4 machine isn't a monster, either; it's a laptop with a dual-core Intel i5, 4GB RAM, SSD boot drive, and LR4.2 release candidate runs quite well.  Once I'm ready to convert my RAWs, I save the output JPEG/TIFF's to a different drive and back them up to the master later (less I:O on the network drive means faster conversions).

23

Software & Accessories / Re: What computer and monitor setup do u have for Post Production?

« on: October 02, 2012, 12:29:15 PM »

I currently have a hp envy 17-3d with the 1080p tn panel and it is good but was curious what reasonable desktop setups were being used most importantly monitors that do not cost $1k +. It must be windows sorry but I get all the software free. Also if you use a laptop which model?

Thanks.

First thing - If you want a good, comparatively cheap monitor for editing - the Dell U2410 is a great choice.

Okay, on to my setup:
For mobile, I have a Dell Precision M4600 workstation w/ 15.6" 1080P TN (70% AdobeRGB) panel.  The internals could be beefier - my unit is only dual core (i5 @ 2.6GHz), 4GB RAM - although the chassis is quad-core ready and good for up to 32GB RAM, should I ever get the upgrade bug.  AMD FirePro M5950 graphics card, Storage is an Intel 160GB SSD, and I've thrown a copy of Adobe LR4 on it.  The LCD, while not IPS, is still better than 95% of the laptop screens I've seen - really, it's a pretty great panel (although my desktop IPS and S-PVA display blow it away).  The laptop was a kick butt deal at $830 refurb'ed (including a 3 year warranty) from Dell Outlet.

At home I use a self-built desktop.  It's getting long in the tooth and a rebuild is imminent (waiting for Windows 8...), but here are the current (relevant) specs:

Hardware:
AMD Phenom 4 9850BE @ 2.5GHz
MSI K9A2 Platinum MB
6GB DDR2-800 RAM
Radeon 6950 2GB graphics (shader-unlocked to 6970)
OCZ Vertex 2 SSD 120GB boot drive
A few WD 1TB 5400RPM storage drives
Blu-ray + DVD-RW drives

Software:
Win 7 Ultimate
Photoshop CS5
Canon DPP

Visual:
Dell U2711 monitor
Dell 2407FPW monitor
Spyderpro3Elite calibration
Canon 9500 Mk II printer

Backup:
3TB RAID-1 (dual Seagate 3TB 7200RPM drives in parallel) in a Dlink DNS-325 NAS
2TB 7200RPM Seagate External USB 3.0
A few more small external drives for travel

Desktop rebuild will probably look something like this:
Intel i7-3770K
Z77-based MB with plenty of SATA ports
32GB DDR3
New, larger (shooting for 256GB) SATA 3.0 SSD
Win8 Pro
Photoshop CS6 (already have a copy waiting)
Scavenge the rest of the parts from my current desktop

24

PowerShot Cameras / Re: Canon S110 vs. S100 - New Poll - Is the new camera worth the price to upgrade?

« on: September 24, 2012, 11:08:01 AM »

This poll will run 180 days and intended for discussion on upgrading to the S110 from S100 (or S95).  Is it worth the price to upgrade considering new specs.  Votes can be changed as reviews come out on the camera.   

I side-stepped and went with a Sony RX100.  Sure, the price is high for a compact, but I really, really like the combination of overall size, features, control layout, and IQ.  Only slightly larger than an S100/S110, but IQ from the 1" sensor is in a different class.  I'd rather wait for a RX100 price drop or eat ramen for another month or two if that's what it took to have the Sony instead.

25

EOS Bodies - For Video / Re: Hacked! The Magic Lantern Team Cracks the EOS 7D

« on: September 18, 2012, 01:14:55 PM »

This is great news indeed!  I look forward to giving this a go

Same here.  Focus peaking would make a world of difference with my MF lenses and Live View use in general.  Sweet.  I've been planning to go full-frame for a while now, but once I do, well, there's just no reason to sell off my 7D - this is great news.

26

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: EOS 6D sample images and video here

« on: September 17, 2012, 02:40:00 PM »

all these samples are JPEG

JPEG is filtered with masking and noise reduction. You just can't compare which camera delivers the best out of the detail..

seen the samples of 1D X? these sucks as well!

wait for some proper RAW files and then compare detail and ISOs.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.  All the 6D jpegs really tell us is how crappy the pre-production 6D's jpeg engine is...

27

PowerShot Cameras / Re: Canon S110 Rumor...

« on: September 15, 2012, 10:31:50 PM »

I still have both of these models and just bought the Sony RX100 about a month ago from Digital Rev in China. Got to admit, the RX100 IQ is spectacular.  It's fast and has many more usuable features than my beloved S100.

I also have both the S95 and S100 (well, the S95 lives in my wife's purse).  I'm considering getting the RX100 - thanks for the feedback!

The RX100 is a great little camera; I've had mine since early August.  Speed of operation is great, and the level of customization in the controls and features make it feel almost like using a DSLR - nearly all the tools are there.  IQ is downright impressive given the overall size; easily better than any compact of comparable size.  Surprises: low ISO dynamic range is noticeably better than my 7D (that said, the 7D files have an edge in overall noise and provide more detail with the right lens in front), and low ISO RAWs have proven to be amazingly flexible in the shadows (compared to Canon RAWs) - you can bump the shadows up a few stops for a result similar to a single image HDR that holds up nicely in prints - there is no banding here.  I'm looking forward to the final release of LR4 4.2 to see what the RX100 RAWs can really do, but I'm impressed so far.  There is a lot to like here and very little to complain about (at least after adding an aftermarket grip - I'm using one of Richard Franiec's designs and it's been a worthwhile addition).

28

Lenses / Re: Canon's new 24-70 2.8L II ship date

« on: June 26, 2012, 07:58:12 PM »

if the shorty forty is an entree for what this lens is going to be like then I cant wait to get my hands on one

but

what if its not really any better than the shorty? 

Then maybe Canon will wise up and sell it for $200?

29

PowerShot Cameras / Re: Patent: 24-1060mm Zoom Lens

« on: May 30, 2012, 10:15:02 PM »

Just curious, does anyone know if Canon has put a fluorite element in a p&s lens before?  This one is a bit... odd.  Maybe targeted for video?

30

EOS Bodies / Re: DPReview 5D3 review out

« on: May 25, 2012, 03:16:24 AM »

I find it weird that when using the camera comparison, the 5d mkII is rated way better in video mode than the mkIII.  I was under the impression that the mkIII is a step up in every way from the mkII in video. They also gave the mkII the nod for raw and jpeg image quality, as well as the exact same scores for build and handling, which contradicts their own review.  Seems weird to me.

DPR Review ratings are based against current peers (at time of review), so the 5DII review should be looked at in a time bubble of sorts - it's relevant compared to the D700, not so much compared to anything current.