Messages

481

Lenses / Re: How do you think we should spend the money?

« on: February 05, 2012, 05:28:44 AM »

I know everyone of the 5D users likes to bash the 7D with the ISO and it is true but are you really going to be using a high ISO if you have a 580 EXii flash?  that was my point.  It's hard to discern with the naked eye on an ISO 100 in RAW from a 5D to a 7D unless it's blown up to a poster size.  on an 8x10 I would be curious to know if you would truly see a difference.  Also, the original poster stated he had a limited budget in mind and trying to stay within that find limitation.  I might be hard pressed to go backward in time with a 1Dmk3s and the small LCD.  I think the 7D would out pixel this camera regardless and hold up better distortion wise.

Also, all the concern about a higher ISO with the 7D might be moot.  It would seem pointless to take those shots anyway as they wouldn't be much good no matter what camera is used.  You're gonna get noise from about 800 onward.  I'd keep the flash on for anything 800 and over

Here's a 1600 ISO shot in RAW on a 400mm 5.6 @ 1250 at dusk then shrunk to a 5148 pixel JPG then shrunk again to a 1920 pixel JPG.


Snowy Egret .......(not at the Zoo, in the Wild) by Revup67, on Flickr

482

Lenses / Re: Light Craft for Canon 16-35mm Mkii: Fader ND Digi Pro-HD Round 82mm Review

« on: February 05, 2012, 05:11:18 AM »

Wickid - I do agree and the specs on this are rather strange as you suggest.  It's probably one of those things where they got results of an ND1000 on one lens therefore can propagate the filter can go that high.  They wouldn't dare put a disclaimer stating won't work on 99% of the lenses out there cause then sales would bomb.

In either case, I'm not sorry I acquired the filter, it was clearly worth a shot, I knew it, took the gamble and the seller had agreed to do a full refund.  Only loss was the shipping.

483

EOS Bodies / Re: 5D X or Mark III Specs & Release Date? [CR1]

« on: February 05, 2012, 03:12:10 AM »

Quite possibly in the very near future all of these conjectures will be moot.  At that point I'd love to do a tally from those that contributed to this thread to see who was the most clairvoyant of the group.  This group or individual shall be named the official CanonRumors.com Fortune Teller.  On the other hand, I will refrain from speculating at this point, bow out on the up and coming moniker and merely watch and wait with drool and anticipation for the 5D Mkii replacement...whatever it's name and features shall be.

PS "anyone got a bib" ?

484

Lenses / Re: How do you think we should spend the money?

« on: February 05, 2012, 02:46:08 AM »

A few other key items I'd like to mention are:

#1 Get a WhiBal card for 34.95.  It will allow you you to fine tune and get the accurate White Balance setting in the room.  Order it from the Michael Tapes web site.  What a difference especially without a flash, the custom white balance within the camera will be dead on perfect with this card.  http://michaeltapesdesign.com/

#2, if you get a 7D, there's a built in wireless transmitter to use with your (hopeful) 580EX II is a huge plus so another words the 580EXII can be used off camera and hand held by your wife or on a stand.  You can configure it with the built in flash to add fill or without the built in flash (solo).  You can also set up the Master / Slave combo with an A+B+C flash (for future if you get more than one flash such as a secondary 430 EX or another 580 EXII).  The manual settings of the 7D's built in flash and the 580 EXII allow a great deal of combinations.  The diffuser on the 580EXII works with UWA lenses up to 15mm as I recall and the white pull down card is great for eye sparkle.  It also has a full 180° swivel head.  The 580EXII in most cases knows exactly the lens that is on the camera and can auto adjust when using E-TTL

485

Lenses / Re: Light Craft for Canon 16-35mm Mkii: Fader ND Digi Pro-HD Round 82mm Review

« on: February 05, 2012, 02:10:19 AM »

Neuro -  as expected, you raise some very good arguments with MM thickness of the filters stacked.  The Hoya HD Pro ND64 is 3mm though I am not sure about the Marumi Super DHG CPL.  The test I did was on a 7D and at 15mm (with the 15-85mm lens so I am really at 24mm (approx).  It sounds like the 5D Mkiii is coming out later this month though I suspect I will get it in April after a tax refund.  If there is vignetting with the two stacked then yes, I won't have a choice but to move to the 10 stopper. 

Wickid..I didn't think the fader was soft I just found that on Max ( and near max) it was uneven with light distribution (see tests above). Per the Light Craft Facebook page, the tech rep stated I would only get 3-5 stops maximum on that Light Craft Digi Pro HD Fader filter with the 16-35 mkii lens on 16mm.  Wish I would have known that in advance.

486

Lenses / Re: Light Craft for Canon 16-35mm Mkii: Fader ND Digi Pro-HD Round 82mm Review

« on: February 04, 2012, 04:47:05 PM »

Hi Neuro - I just did a test with a Hoya ND400 with and without a Marumi Polarizer.  The polarizer was stacked on top, not first.  The Polarizer added 2 stops as expected and actually balanced and improved the ND400 on its own (that was suprising).

With those results in hand and since there is no 82mm Hoya ND400, I think I'm going to try the Hoya Pro Digital HD ND64 (6 stops)(this was the most I could find at 82 in Hoya brand) and then add the Marumi Super DHG Cir. PL for an additional 2 stops.  Hoping that this total of 8 will be enough with my daytime shots.  With limited budget in hand (couldn't get all 3 meaning the added 10 stopper), I felt the Polarizer was key for most daytime shooting whereas the ND's are a 2nd priority.  Still mouth watering over the 10 stopper though just perhaps a bit down the road.

I'll post some results once they arrive..

487

Lenses / Re: Light Craft for Canon 16-35mm Mkii: Fader ND Digi Pro-HD Round 82mm Review

« on: February 03, 2012, 11:33:00 PM »

Hi Neuro - you are welcome.

Yes, I distinctly recall your recommendation and that is next on the list.  Is there a single coated and multi coated version on this one?

With respect to the above tests, I figured let me go for one of the best Vari's and newest (Light Craft stated the one I had tested above replaces their MKii's) and .. well the results speak for themselves.  So I think I'll get this 10 you recommended and need one in between like a Hoya ND64 unless you have another recommendation

488

Lenses / Re: Amateur looking at a Macro, Prime and Walkabout lenses... input please!

« on: February 03, 2012, 09:49:53 PM »

DeadPixel

On the site you reference earlier, http://the-digital-picture.com , click TOOLS, ISO1233, then pick the 15-85mm on one end and the 16-35 mkii on the other.  Notice how both lenses are extremely close in edge sharpness.  The only reason I got the 16-35 (also own the 15-85) is I plan on acquiring the 5D mkiii when it arrives later this year.

In my honest opinion, the 15-85 is a fantastic walk around lens.  I've taken some of my best photos with it.  The reason why it is not as expensive as some of the L lenses is that it costs less to reproduce as per my initial inquiry with Canon as are "all" EF-S lenses.  If you use flickr, there's a group that features photos with this lens specifcally http://www.flickr.com/groups/canon1585/pool/with/6774142481/ . I also own the 100mm 2.8 L.  It's razor sharp as others have stated and offers a unique feature that is limited to only this lens which is Macro AI Servo (I believe is the exact name).

Hope this helps you

489

Lenses / Light Craft for Canon 16-35mm Mkii: Fader ND Digi Pro-HD Round 82mm Review

« on: February 03, 2012, 08:17:07 PM »

Light Craft for Canon 16-35mm Mkii:  Fader ND Digi Pro-HD Round 82mm Results

Recently I had acquired the Canon 16-35 mkii and immediately began my quest for a set of ND filters or potentially choosing a high quality variable fader.  I opted for the latter and selected the Light Craft top of the line Fader ND Digi Pro-HD Round which claims to range between ND2-ND1000 for $320 USD.  I read several reviews, chatted with Light Craft on Facebook and sent off a few emails.

I acquired the filter today and found smooth threading, excellent package and a convenient handle to increase or decrease the fader settings on the ring.  The results were unfortunately not even close to the Hoya ND400.

Since Hoya doesn't make an ND400 for the 82mm, I was swapping the 16-35 with the Light Craft Fader and the 15-85 EF-s lens with the ND 400 by Hoya.  The settings were aperture priority at 5.6, ISO automatic as well as speed.  This was my conclusion (Hoya ND400 photos are #1 and #4 and the Light Craft are #2 and #3).

Discrepancies:

1)With the ND400 in place, the camera required more light if you notice (via EXIF) the ISO adjusted to a higher setting @ 1600 and the shutter speed between photos 1 & 2 went from 1/25 to 1/30 thus the ND400 requried more light

2)On photos 3 and 4, photo# 3 with Light Craft auto adjusted to ISO 400 and 1/25th while photo number 4 jumped to ISO 1250 and shutter remained the same

3)also, the darkness aspect should be equal on both filters but was not.  One would think on Max it should be ND1000 as the ads exclaim or at least ND500.  I would suspect on the Light Craft Max is about 7-8 stops certainly not 9.

Lastly, there’s a distinct lighting unevenness with the LCM filter on photos 2 and 3 vs. the Hoya which is more solid across the screen on photos 1 and 4.  Sadly, the Light Craft is going back.  I'm not sure how many folks have an ND400 laying around but without it, these tests could not have been possible and are the proof in the pudding.

As always I am open to objection or rebuttals or any thoughts you wish to share.

490

Lens Gallery / Re: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM

« on: February 03, 2012, 01:29:36 PM »

I rarely use photomatix these days but every once in a while i got back to it to play around
I have found that avoiding the temptation to push the strength slider too high has a big impact on how real the scene looks. I try to stay below strength 70

I also find night shots and urban shots can sustain higher strength values before they get to oh my god my eyes are bleeding levels.

I find photomatix automatically oversaturates and outright alters the colours and there is nothing you can do about it. Its too hard to fix this un natural colour shifting afterwards

I do agree with you.  After I am done tweaking in Photmatix, I give it another overhaul in ACDSee Pro 3.  correcting pretty much whatever needs to be done.  Thanks for the link, off to work but will have a peek soon.

491

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: EOS Bodies: Should I shoot in B&W? or shoot in Color then Convert to B&W?

« on: February 02, 2012, 02:12:40 AM »

These are all good points in addition though, if shot in color under the same conditions, you can create a recipe and apply to all wanted images for B&W use within DPP via batch process.

492

EOS Bodies - For Stills / EOS Bodies: Should I shoot in B&W? or shoot in Color then Convert to B&W?

« on: February 01, 2012, 11:07:56 PM »

I'm curious as to anyone's thoughts on this.  I am sure we all realize the immediate advantage of shooting everything in color, then post processing into B&W but why have Monochrome as a built in option on the EOS camera's?  Is there an advantage choosing Monochrome on the EOS Bodies over post processing the color RAW into B&W?

Rev

493

Landscape / Re: Post Your Best Landscapes

« on: February 01, 2012, 07:41:22 PM »

Allou - excellent work on your photos.  Do you primarily use an ND filter?
Rev

494

Black & White / Re: Your best Architectural & City B&W shots?

« on: January 31, 2012, 11:43:25 PM »

entitled "Look What The Wind Blew In"


"Look What The Wind Blew In";               (click to Enlarge) by Revup67, on Flickr

495

Black & White / Re: Your best Architectural & City B&W shots?

« on: January 31, 2012, 11:38:34 PM »

Some around Los Angeles

John, some of those are truly excellent especially the perspectives, DOF and lighting - well done.

K-amps, thanks for the kind words