Messages

136

Lenses / Re: 15mm Wide Angle on a Crop body for Yellowstone/Western US enough?

« on: March 31, 2012, 06:36:43 PM »

the tokina 11-16 f/2.8 is an extremely nice lens; if you're going for a lens of that focal length for APS-C, and have the money for the tokina, it's basically flawless

I have to disagree with the "flawless" adjective.  The Tokina has considerable more chromatic aberration than the Canon.  I tried them both before settling on the Canon.  I'm not saying the 10-22 is without any CA, but it is less than the 11-16.  Lightroom has a lens profile for the Canon lens and so removing CA involves a single mouse click.  There is no lens profile for the Tokina in LR so removing its CA is a pain in the patutti!
Diane

137

Lenses / Re: 15mm Wide Angle on a Crop body for Yellowstone/Western US enough?

« on: March 31, 2012, 05:30:07 PM »

Were you following me?
 

Are you saying you did a similar pano at the same place??
Diane

138

Lenses / Re: 15mm Wide Angle on a Crop body for Yellowstone/Western US enough?

« on: March 31, 2012, 02:34:33 PM »

Here's a Grand Canyon stitched pano done with 7 images taken in portrait, 22mm with the 10-22.
Diane

139

Lenses / Re: 15mm Wide Angle on a Crop body for Yellowstone/Western US enough?

« on: March 30, 2012, 11:30:16 PM »

Another vote for the 10-22.  Just came back from the Grand Canyon.  I had both the 10-22 and the 15-85.  I mostly used the 15-85 in portrait orientation to do multiple shots for stitched panoramas when even the 10-22 wasn't wide enough.
Diane

140

Lenses / Re: No 2X extender for 70-300mm L Series

« on: March 20, 2012, 01:03:26 PM »

Here's another that's about 60% of original size.  Beats fiddling with extenders IMHO. Edit: just saw the previous post - no I haven't actually tried the Kenko...I like to keep things simple
Diane

141

Lenses / Re: No 2X extender for 70-300mm L Series

« on: March 20, 2012, 12:49:59 PM »

But since you've got the 70-300L too: Have you used it on a crop camera? How is the iq - does it worsen so much that it's better to stay @300mm, keep the af and crop the picture?

I find the IQ even at 300mm is very good and so I just crop instead of using an extender.  I have a 60D. The image below is a severe crop, only 1/3 the original size.
Diane

142

Lenses / Re: Grand Canyon Lens suggestions

« on: March 17, 2012, 07:42:06 PM »

Just thought I would add to lens inquiries having just come home from Sedona/Flagstaff/Grand Canyon trip.  I have a 60D and found I used my EFS 10-22 way more than my EFS 15-85.  And the 70-300L only came out for birds.  I thought that my 15-85 would be the most used but it sat in my bag more than the other two.  Even with the 10-22, I found I did several portrait-orientation panoramas using anywhere from 5-10 photos for the stitching.  Just my $.02.
Diane

143

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon 7D Mark II specs wishlist.

« on: March 04, 2012, 10:26:12 AM »

Wow, that would be incredibly annoying to have some guy playing back pre-recorded bird song while I'm trying to enjoy the woods. Seems quite unethical IMHO.

As far as new 7D features:

1. drop the 18 mp. It's too much for a 1.6x. Go back to 15 or 14 mp for cleaner images. The 7d images are smeary.

2. Weaker AA filter. This also contributes to the smeary look of 7d images at 100%. The new filter needs to be weaker, or none at all.

3.  dual CF and SD slots.

4. micro focus adjustment at tele and wide end of zooms.

That's it for me. Keep everything else. What the 7D needs is much better IQ at the pixel level, and less noise. Sell it for $1499 and I'm there.

This is a very reasonable wish list and I'm with you 100%!  I currently have a 60D and I wish I had bought the 7D instead.  I have been tempted to move up to the 7D for the better AF, metering and AFMA, but given it has the same sensor as my 60D, until they improve the noise and IQ of the 7D or 60D, I'm hanging onto my current camera.  Since I mainly shoot birds and wildlife, I am not tempted by the new 5D MarkIII (too expensive) just want to move up to a better IQ/noise 7D crop.
Diane

144

EOS Bodies / Re: DR and RAW bit depth on Canon's forthcoming...

« on: February 25, 2012, 08:53:29 PM »

My 60D is my first digital camera.  I was an active photographer 20 years ago mostly shooting slides, then completely dropped out of the hobby.  My re-entry into the hobby has been very disappointing...I still had fond memories of Kodachrome 64.  Seems now I am shooting a lot of AEB triads and spending considerable time in PP to increase dynamic range.  It would be very nice to not have to do that.
Diane

145

Site Information / Re: Should karma remain on the forum?

« on: February 20, 2012, 03:05:11 PM »

As a newbie, I don't even know how the karma system works.  I tried looking it up under Help but didn't find anything.  If someone doesn't have Applaud/Smite showing under their name, how do you assign karma?  Just curious...I would only consider "smite" if someone was being really rude and condescending.
OK, you can disregard all this.  I just found another thread that explains you have to be signed in to see the Applaud/Smite buttons !
Thanks
Diane

146

Lenses / Re: Grand Canyon Lens suggestions

« on: February 19, 2012, 01:41:08 PM »

Used to live in AZ and would suggest looking further south rather than going north: some of the lesser known attractions include Casa Grande where native tribes built three story (well, short stories) buildings to view the stars and "soccer" type fields, Tuzigoot where the natives found a valley with natural "choke" points for entry so they created dams that they could breach and flood the valley if enemies were seen, Montezuma Historic canyon with the cliff dwellings, and the beauty of Red Rock country (Sedona) near Flagstaff (Yes there are trees in AZ and SNOW covered peaks)

Going there myself in March.  Curious about Montezuma Historic Canyon.  Is this the same as Montezuma Castle National Monument??  That's the only "Montezuma" I can find on my map.  Sorry I know I have strayed off the original lens topic.
Diane

147

Lenses / Re: Yet another "what lens?" question

« on: February 19, 2012, 01:27:41 PM »

Goto Home Depot (or Sears hardware or Lowes or ...). Get two or three floodlight-reflector-on-a-clamp set ups and 100 to 150 bulbs (they do not need to be too bright). Clamp in convenient locations, they rotate on that clamp so light the room accordingly. Test for brightness (you may need 150 watters)

If this isn't bright enough goto home depot and look at 500 to 1,000 watt halogen worklights (they actually have some on a flexible length of spring that you stand up like a cobra snake or on a tripod (twin head is only $36)

Use 1.8, 2.8 only if you have no other choice; indoor you NEED depth of field, especially to keep fast moving kids (Junior terrorists-in-training) in frame and in focus (f 8 is much better) and zooming to keep up with them is enough trouble - light the room!

No need to go to Home Depot, I can simply raid my husband's workshop .  However, busy toddlers and hot halogens on stands may be a recipe for disaster!

148

Macro / Re: Do Moths Have Fangs?

« on: February 18, 2012, 03:18:41 PM »

No match to the wonderful photos here, but thought I would contribute a couple of clearwing images, coiled and uncoiled.
Diane

149

Lenses / Re: Grand Canyon Lens suggestions

« on: February 17, 2012, 12:48:38 PM »

Also, I have a good quality circular polarizer.  While I hope to be able to shoot  early and late, I do not plan to put the camera away mid-day.  Will a neutral density filter be a must?

I'd be interested in the answer to this also, as I will be there in March.
Diane

150

Lenses / Re: 70-300L anyone?

« on: February 17, 2012, 12:32:02 PM »

I use this a lot on my 60D.
Below is the original shot unprocessed and the second is cropped and processed.
To unfocused: I chose this over the 100-400L because of the push/pull (just didn't like it).  Much as I like my 70-300L, if you already have the 100-400L, I can't see a compelling reason to add the 70-300L to your arsenal.