Messages

31

Lenses / Re: Canon EF 600 f/4L IS II in the Wild

« on: May 09, 2012, 03:29:14 PM »

"Lots of initial praise for the lens, especially how light it feels in comparison to the first IS version."

Cool so maybe now I can actually carry it on my back instead of with my fork lift!   

Who cares how light it is, I just want a chance to carry one

32

Lenses / Re: Best lenses for...

« on: May 07, 2012, 08:34:32 PM »

May I add one more:

4) General purpose all-around walking lens?

35L II whenever it materializes from the ether.  Until then... probably the 24-70mm f/2.8L II, or the 35L, heck, I even like the 100L IS as a dark horse (it's crazy versatile on full frame, a joy to shoot with, light weight, and no distortion).  Tough choice.

33

Lenses / Re: Canon 1.4/24L or Carl Zeiss Distagon 1.4/35

« on: April 23, 2012, 01:57:13 PM »

-20C can do strange things your camera - you'll need to slowly heat/cool your gear to avoid internal condensation - weather sealing helps.  Also, at -20C battery life will go way down, doing long time lapses can be problematic when the battery temp is so low.  Keep the camera gear cold the entire time if you can (ie, in trunk/pickup truck bed, in cargo rack on top of car, etc.) - that way you can start taking photos as soon as you hop out of the car.  I sometimes bring my camera with while backpacking/mountaineering - I'm a huge fan of weather-sealing, as it's just one less to worry about.  That said, Ziess makes some really great glass, so the improvement in IQ might be worth it if you are willing to be extra careful while transitioning temperature zones - but I'd probably recommend getting something wider than 35mm.

The Canon 1.4/24LII is a pretty solid choice - I've rented one a few times for national park trips, overall it worked well, although I do agree with tron that focusing to infinity with the Canon in next to zero light can be tricky.

dpreview.com has a truly excellent article written by Ben Hattenbach on the subject of capturing aurora, if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it:
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/8217618174/auroral-photography-a-guide-to-capturing-the-northern-lights

34

EOS Bodies / Re: New Extensive Firmware for the Canon EOS 7D? [CR1]

« on: April 20, 2012, 05:20:09 PM »

My images are NOT mushy or blurry; they are very sharp (specialy with the 100mm and +7 at microadjustment settings)

I thought my 7D was sharp, too, at least until I played around with a few 5D2 RAWs - that camera's output looks better pixel for pixel.  That said, I'm still content with the 7D - just wish I had full-frame's DOF control.

35

EOS Bodies / Re: New Extensive Firmware for the Canon EOS 7D? [CR1]

« on: April 20, 2012, 12:23:39 PM »

Makes sense assuming the MkII is still a ways off.  Customizable auto ISO cap, anyone?  As a 7D owner, I want this rumor to be true...

36

EOS Bodies / Re: 1DX sample RAW images

« on: April 06, 2012, 05:55:40 PM »

I own 2 x 5D3's and have shot 4000 frames so far in low light situations and the 1Dx is at least equal or greater than two stops better than the 5D3. 12800 is better than 3200.

I'm not going to argue about it either. I edit an average 200 images a day. The 1Dx is everything Canon and others have said it is.

Do you mean the 5d2? The 1dx isn't 2 stops better than the 5d3.

If the 1Dx really is all that and a bag of chips, well, I guess I'll just have to eat nothing but ramen for a few more months before shelling out for one over a 5D3...

Luckily for me I won't be buying a new body for at least another 8 months, so I've got plenty of time to wait for the dust to settle.  And tons of ramen.  Tons.

37

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: 5D III High ISO Milky Way at Badlands, 14mm F2.8

« on: April 05, 2012, 03:21:04 PM »

http://www.extremeinstability.com/2012-3-30.htm

I rented the camera and lens, curious what could be pulled out at night, then took it to the SD Badlands.  My initial feelings as far as noise was that it wasn't any better than the 5D II when I had it.  Turns out I guess it is a little better.  I tried to compare some with the 5D II images I have, but obviously I couldn't do same scene comparisons since I don't own the camera anymore.  Had the RAWs converted to DNG then opened in LR3.

Anyway, a bunch of images there with some comparison crops on the second page.  Also on the Milky Way images, I really didn't do any noise reduction(except twilight one and not on stars).  They could be cleaned up and look quite nice, but I really don't think you'd even need to do anything but color noise removal to the sky/stars/Milky Way even up to 8,000 - 10,000 ISO I guess. 

In the end I don't know that image quality would be worth an upgrade from the 5D II but perhaps up at the real high ISOs it may indeed be worthy.  I never cared about speed or focusing, or even video, so I didn't pay all that much attention.  What is rather cool is that live view leveling.  So nice for dark night shooting.

Wow, nice shots.  As an UL backpacker, I really want to visit the badlands now.  I imagine water availability is a bit of a crapshoot?  That's probably the biggest holding me back (er, well, that and all the national parks I still need to see).

38

EOS Bodies / Re: Best 5d3 custom function AF point selection quick!

« on: April 03, 2012, 11:04:18 AM »

While we're on the topic, what are some other highly useful tweaks and tips that are assumed knowledge? I think we'll be surprised to see how many people were otherwise unaware.

I expect most of us are already well aware of this, but if you aren't, try setting the AF-on button to AF-start and decoupling AF-start from the shutter half press (switch the half-press from AF + metering start to just metering start) - this arrangement is one of the major advantages of the mid and high-end bodies over the Rebels and gives you a great deal more control over AF in use.

39

EOS Bodies / Re: Best 5d3 custom function AF point selection quick!

« on: April 02, 2012, 03:39:22 PM »

Now focus the camera and move the Multi controller (joy stick), you can select the AF point with out going in to a menu! 

I've had it set up that way on my 7D pretty much since I got it - actually I can't remember ever setting the AF point any other way.  Ha, more than anything, I was surprised to hear that multi-controller AF point selection isn't the default setting.

40

Lenses / Re: What lens are you patiently waiting for?

« on: March 30, 2012, 04:56:00 AM »

Why isn't this a poll?

Oh, also, put me on the list for an EF 35 f/1.4L II.

41

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5d3 ai servo mode HELP!!!!

« on: March 30, 2012, 04:04:38 AM »

I was using center focus point with cross types activated... but since your sooooo amazing, I actually was shooting with a 70-200mm 2.8L is ii... so thanks for the advice...

Honestly, this is one of those situations where, based on the information you've provided (ie, almost zero), the best advice I can give is to sit down, read the manual, and test the various settings/functions in a controlled environment - the AF system of the 5D3 is rather complex and it's worth your time to at least read that section of the manual in detail.  If you still have trouble after that, seek help and post as much detail about your camera settings and the nature of the issues you encounter as you can - for example, camera mode (ie, P/A/S/M), shutter speed, aperture, focal length, IS on/off, ISO, detailed full AF settings, maybe series of bursts shot in high speed drive mode, etc.

Also, from a usability standpoint, I suggest remapping AF to the AF-on button and disabling it from the shutter half press (switch shutter half press to metering start versus metering and AF start - you should be able to access this submenu using the Q button and selecting custom controls) - try it, you'll probably love it, and if not, at least you'll know the option to decouple AF from the shutter half press exists, and how to do it.  Good luck!

42

Lenses / Re: If you could only have one

« on: March 26, 2012, 06:03:15 PM »

I'd just give up photography.  I've lived with one lens in my film days, I could not afford additional lenses, and ended up losing interest.

Funny you say that.  I spent about 8 months with the 100L as my only lens (and on a crop body, to boot), but I didn't lose interest in photography at all - I somehow managed to take more than 15K photos during that period (and, according to my back up drive, apparently decided to keep 14,892 of them).

43

Lenses / Re: If you could only have one

« on: March 26, 2012, 03:58:22 PM »

35 1.4L.  Hands down.

Why?

Assuming I'm shooting full-frame, I second the 35L, and here's why: f/1.4 means I'm good in low light and provides plenty of subject isolation.  Being a prime, it's relatively compact.  The angle of view is classic - you can make the 35mm focal length work for just about everything (the exceptions being wildlife and sport).

Coming from my current crop of lenses, I would miss weather sealing and IQ could be better from f/1.4-f/2 (the Samyang is the sharper lens), but yeah, if I could only have one lens, the 35L is it.

44

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: BG-E11 questions

« on: March 05, 2012, 05:23:05 PM »

Canon doesn't want to open pandora's box by forcing it's user to have to deal w/ purchasing a different type of battery just to use the grip, they know users wouldn't forgive them for it.  I'm actually pretty happy the 5D3 uses the same batteries as the 5D2/7D - whenever I upgrade, I'll already have a few spares.

As for weather-sealing between the body and the grip, I haven't heard/read anything about that yet, but hopefully Canon's got a solution for that this time around...

45

Canon General / Re: Next thing in Monopods

« on: February 29, 2012, 01:22:42 PM »

Collecting three into a triangle formation, with one base plate, to provide stability in 3 dimensions?

Genius.