Messages

1

Lenses / Re: Canon EF 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x Availability Info

« on: Today at 06:25:03 PM »

Yo! Considering the potential amount of people who can/want to to afford this lens, I guess over the last months there now is one CR 200-400L article per customer here :->

2

Lighting / Re: Ok, I just snagged a 600EX-Rt, now what? (Questions on use, and going forward).

« on: Today at 06:22:46 PM »

Interesting...I was starting to watch a Syl video on the Canon site, made when the 600 was just newly released...or shortly after, and he mentioned that he definitily was going to do an update to the book to include the 600 stuff.

If Syl changed his mind it's probably because 1/4th of the book and lots of diagrams is about getting optical remote to work, either with his ettl cables or with clever tilting the heads so the slaves see the master ... part of this has become obsolete with the 600rt, so he probably decided against a large update after all.

Still, it's a great book and I can only recommend it to anyone, there's little stuff about the 580ex(2) you cannot directly apply to the new flash.

3

Software & Accessories / Re: Flickr is now 1 Terabytes!! For everyone!!

« on: Today at 04:43:45 AM »

A pretty sizable group has developed for people who don't like the new "layout."

Not a smart move on flickr's part (and of course "there are no pros anymore) ... the preferred way in the industry when changing anything is to add an "old layout" option, and then quietly take it away again once the media coverage has ended :->

4

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Magic Lantern adds raw silents DNG Bursts & raw Auto-ETTR :-)

« on: May 22, 2013, 04:57:51 AM »

i was wondering about this so effectively on a 5Dmk3 you can capture full res raws at 24FPS now!??!!
INSANE!

It isn't full raw res because a) the data rate would be way to high as a uncompressed dng & b) "only" the live-view buffer is grabbed which has afik different sizes on different camera generations - but it's still great for quick "capture the moment" bursts and timelapses/focus stacking w/o killing your shutter. You can also use the live view 5x zoom mode for extra reach if you just want part of the picture.

I hope my 600D supports autoETTR  Would be very useful when taking landscapes!

Atm 60d (I've got one, too) isn't supported for auto-ettr but just silent dng, but they're working on it - most features make it first to the cameras where the current development focus is, i.e. 6d/600d/5d3 and are then backported to our good ol' models...

5

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Magic Lantern adds raw histogram/auto-ETTR & raw silent DNG bursts :-)

« on: May 21, 2013, 05:05:17 PM »

One more reason to use Magic Lantern not only for video: With the new capability to read raw sensor data they've got two great new amazing features for still shooters.

* Raw histogram even in "normal" photo-mode (& of course live view): Unlike the Canon version you can see beyond the jpeg range, this should be a great even for people who never used ml before. Also it's amazing that Canon *didn't* add this feature in their fw, not even for 1d cameras...

* Automatic ETTR: Now you can auto-expose to the right to max. dynamic resolution & minimize noise with clipping prevention!

* Silent DNG burst pics (capture the live view image w/o flipping the mirror) - it's not full raw resolution and it might show the usual movie moire, but you can capture successive shots in 14bit raw as long as your cf/sd card can keep up :-) ... for example my 60d takes 53x 1737x1156 shots in <10sec, other more newer & better camera bodies have a larger lv resolution and deeper buffers für 100+ shots.

These features aren't yet available for all cameras, if you want to try you've currently got to use a nightly build: http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?board=33.0

6

Animal Kingdom / Re: Wrong Photography Ethics?

« on: May 21, 2013, 12:52:45 PM »

So again, where is that line in the sand? Is it as simple as ---if you can pull it off in lightroom it's real, but the moment it hits photoshop it isn't?  Oh wait, there's that spot removal tool in lightroom...

I think we all could agree on that with digital there is no binary "line in the sand", but for me it's good to get an awareness where the grey area is for me and other people - and one point certainly is adding information that wasn't in the original shot, while heavy lr postprocessing or single-scene compositing (hdr, blending) and some spot "cleaning" imho is ok and qualifies as (digital) photography.

Syl Arena writes (I can't remember the exact quote): "I'm a photographer, not a postprocessing artist" and that's why he tries to get it right in camera and not in photoshop.

7

Animal Kingdom / Re: Wrong Photography Ethics?

« on: May 21, 2013, 11:52:14 AM »

Disagree, I think both pixel peeping and photo ethics are perfectly valid subjects to discuss on a photography forum

+1 ... I cannot get my head around it that people read a thread they're not interested in, this one or technical "pixel peeping" and waste their time even more commenting how useless and boring it is and that they couldn't care less.

or perhaps even to begin "cleansing" a certain group of people...and I don't mean with soap!  "The end justifies the means..."

Personally I find a discussion about this informative and wouldn't subscribe to a relativistic and "there are no ethics" point of view - the latter has prominent protagonists in history who thought that reality is what you make it :-)

8

Software & Accessories / Re: Flickr is now 1 Terabytes!! For everyone!!

« on: May 21, 2013, 07:31:46 AM »

Question: My main issue with "free" Flickr is (or was?) that only the newest 300 shots or something like that are shown - has this changed or do I still need a paid account to be able to show older shots?

9

Animal Kingdom / Re: Wrong Photography Ethics?

« on: May 21, 2013, 07:19:18 AM »

Thanks for the share! In my photo, such clouds do exist in that part of the world.

What about the bushes you removed, are there bush-less areas up to the horizon so you could theoretically have gotten this shot around the corner at another time w/o editing? Aren't these cats often around bushes to get cover before attacking their prey?

These things decide if it's more of a "photo" to me than cleaning up distracting objects just for the sake of "a "clean" and perfect shot. I'm often unsure if I should "clean" up my own pictures in the background, it's really a hard decision if this alters it just a bit to avoid distraction or if it's already my personal "this doesn't feel right anymore" category.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Unimpressed with 6D + 24-105. Am I doing something wrong?

« on: May 20, 2013, 06:13:31 PM »

Linguistic note:  "It's a Canon L-series and should be giving you excellent IQ," is a statement with two separate clauses, not a dependent clause, as in, "It's a Canon L-series and so should be giving you excellent IQ." 

You are supposed to be a surgeon or something like that, not a linguist or otherwise I wouldn't have dared to comment on your comment :-> ... though it's good you clarified this because some time ago I was under the impression all L lenses have to have top iq, and most salesmen offering them would tell the same :-p

The 24-105L is a very good lens, espeically stopped down to f/8 which the OP mentions.

No doubt, but as far as I have read about it you can still get softer results because the IS is older and it's not sharpest wide open (the latter like my 70-300L, 17-40L) - I mentioned this because the op's shot was wide open with strong bokeh.

I think this thread brings out a simple painful? truth. That is electronics have developed to the point, that the overwhelming advantage the FF cameras had some years back - is rapidly closing down.

But this is just because the 5d3 and 6d have failed to make any significant sensor update - ff has much more potential left for higher mp (look at the Nikon d800), so if your lenses can keep up ff has a bright future for many types of photography.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Unimpressed with 6D + 24-105. Am I doing something wrong?

« on: May 20, 2013, 02:53:15 PM »

but it's a Canon L-series and should be giving you excellent IQ

I wouldn't draw such a straight conclusion (example: 17-40L wide open), for the current lenses I'd say the overall advantage of L is better build quality and (most of the time) sealing, for iq ymmv.

Any ideas? Problem with the lens? Am I doing something wrong and missed a setting somewhere?

As the others have noted, the 6d shot is either out of focus and/or motion blurred (IS never prevents this to 100%). My advice: If you want to test a lens after buying shoot a test chart or at least another similar object with a tripod, and not a live scene out of the window, only then you'll get a real result how the lens performs and what you need to work around - for example use afma or expect corner or wide open softness.

Other thoughts: Dynamic range is about the same and the color rendition is also great for both cameras.

Yes, the dr of the expensive Canon dslrs is still rather mediocre, it's a known issue *if* you happen to shoot high-dr scenes.

12

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: F/8 Autofocusing impressions

« on: May 20, 2013, 01:40:42 PM »

That's the problem with 3rd party manufacturers.

I'd say this is the problem with *2nd* party manufacturers (I guess the 1st party is us, the customers) - it would be no surprise if Canon, Nikon or whatever changes specs and didn't open their protocols just to +1 their own equipment. Luckily, the 3rd party just got smarter and Sigma now has an usb dock for lens fw updates...

13

Lenses / Re: 17-40 f4 L discontinued???????

« on: May 20, 2013, 01:31:16 PM »

i agree to that. i don´t need or want an IS version when it increases the price a lot.
but i would pay more for a (noticable) optical better 17-40mm f4.

+1

We're at 3 now.   

-1 ... you're at 2 again :-p because for €1000+ I'd rather buy a f2.8 lens I can also use for non-landscape purposes, or if I have money to burn t/s primes with less distortion and capability for architecture.

14

Canon General / Re: Which lens for my new 6D (my first DSLR)?

« on: May 20, 2013, 10:59:20 AM »

He's doing landscapes. 7d with 24-105 might be too tight unless he wants to try panorama.

That's correct, that's why I bought what I've got now - 60d + the very reasonably priced 17-40L is ok for landscapes, and it's a full frame upgrade path unlike an ef-s lens.

the 6d is a beast in low light so being limited to f4 shouldn't hurt too bad

... except if you're shooting high dynamic range scenes, because less iso noise on the 6d cannot repair the fact that dr takes a hit also on the 6d, though not as bad as the crop sensor: http://www.sensorgen.info/CanonEOS_6D.html

15

Canon General / Re: Which lens for my new 6D (my first DSLR)?

« on: May 20, 2013, 06:44:00 AM »

i was looking for 5DII at an un-authorised canon store(they ask whatever money they want to) and it was just $200 cheaper than new 6D at an authorised center, am from NEPAL

Sure, in this case and if you cannot get hold of a cheaper used 5d2 get the 6d, it's certainly worth the $200 more, I'll most likely also buy a 6d if the price stops dropping like it still does now.