Messages

16

Lenses / Re: Telezoom lens (70-300L vs 70-200 vs 100-400)- Advice

« on: May 19, 2013, 04:26:34 AM »

From everything you write the 70-300L is your lens because it unifies a small pack size (veeeery important when outdoors) with good iq (sharpness wide open, boekeh) and "always on" reach. For prolonged use it's important the weight is way below the 70-200L/2.8, and the 70-300L feels even less heavy because it's shorter, i.e. putting less torsion on the wrist.

When outdoors using a tc often is a pita since it takes time and it lets dust/sand enter the camera, but a Kenko tc (Canon doesn't fit) works fine with the 70-300L though the af performance/precision degrades somewhat, ymmv.

17

Lighting / Re: Speedlites help

« on: May 18, 2013, 07:08:06 AM »

I was given three brand new speedlites by my sister

Hey, why don't *I* have such a sister :-p ?

Why did she move to Nikon?

She probably just compared prices for the equipment she is going to purchase :-o  as she already didn't get multiple expensive 600rt flashes ... an d even the yn-622c for Nikon is better than the Canon version :-(

1 Canon 600ex-rt
1 yongnuo yn568ex
1 yongnuo yn565ex
and
4 yongnuo YN-622C triggers

The yn-622c emulate an older Canon flash type (optical-only 580ex2), so you cannot use anything in the camera menu that has to do with rt/radio or "group mode" - but the setup otherwise is fine. For 2nd curtain sync you have to disable even "optical wireless" entirely in the camera menu, or otherwise Canon equipment doesn't support it.

18

Lenses / Re: Poll: Most Wanted New Lenses of 2013.

« on: May 17, 2013, 04:01:08 AM »

What I'd most like to see is a line of EF-S prime lenses, starting with about a 14–18mm pancake.

Longer ef-s primes won't happen because you can just plug a shorter ef lens and use it with the 1.6x crop factor, the smaller aps-c mirror is only an advantage for wide angle lenses.

As for wa/uwa ef-s prime, imho that won't happen either because ef-s is either for amateurs who are supposed to be happy with zooms or for people who want to use tele lenses for more reach...

50mm F/1.4 USM II

+1 ... but the reason why this didn't happen yet might be to protect the sales of the expensive 50/1.2, if the 50/1.4 gets any better with a "real" usm drive there'll be little reason to buy the good-bokeh mediocre-sharpness L - so probably they'll either replace both or none.

19

Lenses / Re: When is the New 100-400 Coming?

« on: May 16, 2013, 04:56:18 PM »

if you have sources to tell you that there are prototypes.
why don´t they tell you at least if it is a push-pull design or not?

Personally I doubt CR has any good inside information about Canon :-> though there's a beta tester around here that often comments on current prototypes and seems to be very reliable...

... but concerning your question, the answer most likely would be that there are several prototypes with different characteristics and designs, and only God and Canon knows which one they'll select for production.

We’re told that the current 100-400 still sells at an amazing clip and outpaces the 70-300L by a 4 to 1 margin.

Now *that* is a surprising and interesting piece of information, if it's true and since Canon is not in the habit of replacing best-selling lenses without a good reason it means one of these two things:

1. (less likely) The release of a new 100-400 will take some time after all because there's no immediate market pressure

2. (more likely) The new 100-400 will be much more expensive, i.e. generating more profit for Canon, and will be an "upgrade" to the existing lens rather than a replacement on the same level - more like 24-70 mk1 to mk2.

20

Lenses / Re: EF 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x Announcement Tonight

« on: May 16, 2013, 05:24:01 AM »

Canon seems to add 1/3rd of the "base price" as an early adopter's premium

I think you overstate.

Ok, I have to say the figure was based on my personal perception :-p and esp. camera body prices, since I'm not in the market for €10k+ teleprimes I didn't watch price development that closely...so I'll adjust my statement as "up to 1/3rd" :->

21

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 7D and rear curtain flash :(

« on: May 16, 2013, 05:19:19 AM »

In non-bulb mode this is true, but in bulb mode it's not. (Since the camera cannot know for how long I will press the shutter) Hence the camera must send a simple 'fire now' command.

Ok, very valid point, the only idea I have about that is that it sends the flash power setting via pre-flash, and then the actual fire signal via dumb flash trigger (slaves fire when the main flash fires). Probably this two-stage version only works for long bulb and not for short x-sync, so it cannot be used for 2nd curtain remote...

22

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 7D and rear curtain flash :(

« on: May 16, 2013, 04:59:38 AM »

I mean the camera sends the signal to fire the flash before the shutter closes and that's all the flash needs to do.

In ettl mode, the flash sends the command signals with the low-power pre-flash before the shutter *opens* - it probably tells the slave flashes "wait this time, then fire with this strength". The pre-flash isn't only for flash power calculation, that's why you need to have a pre-flash in optical mode even if all flashes are set to manual - and the new rt mode seems to be a 1:1 copy but with radio transmission.

But it is indeed a bit mysterious why slave flashes would need a dedicated "2nd curtain sync" capability for this, probably their fw doesn't allow them to wait for a longer time than 1st curtain sync (mere speculation)

23

Lenses / Re: EF 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x Announcement Tonight

« on: May 15, 2013, 04:45:10 AM »

Fantastic lens but the cost is a lot. USA £7800, UK£ 12000. Over a third more expensive. Ouch!

Canon seems to add 1/3rd of the "base price" as an early adopter's premium, for expensive lenses that is a lot of $$$ in absolute terms while for a Rebel it's just a couple of bucks - the price will drop after the first year on the market and when sufficient quantities are stockpiled.

24

Reviews / Re: The Digital Picture Reviews the Tamron 24-70

« on: May 15, 2013, 04:42:57 AM »

Similarly, the problem they reported at lensrentals was announced via a special blog entry, but it took a rather obscure response to a specific comment to report that subsequent copies of the lens are just fine and have no new problems.

3rd party manufacturers like Tamron are at the disadvantage because they have to fight a bad reputation, esp. if releasing a quality lens like the 24-70/2.8. If a Tamron breaks, surely the cheap quality is to be blamed, if a Canon breaks it's really, really bad luck and could happen to anyone.

25

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 7D and rear curtain flash :(

« on: May 15, 2013, 04:39:02 AM »

Even when they introduced their new, expensive as hell Speedlite 600EX-RT and ST-E3 trigger with radio wireless technology, Canon refused to implement an improved version of its wireless [ETTL] flash protocol, that would allow a straightforward workflow and direct control over all relevant flash parameters - including 2nd curtain sync and power zoom of flash reflector - directly on the Camera's LCD panel and flash menu.

I don't understand that either - it'd had been the perfect opportunity to use ettl-3 over rt and ettl-2 fallback for optical.

They did some changes though with the very good group mode - I'd really like to now why they did nothing for 2nd curtain or zoom over wireless, did they run into tech problems, didn't they have enough r&d resources, don't they care or is the new 660rt just around the corner?

26

EOS Bodies / Re: No 7D Mark II in 2013? [CR2]

« on: May 14, 2013, 12:27:50 PM »

Wow based on this topic it seems there are a lot of pent up demand for the new 7D

It is *here* and the 7d2 will certainly sell, but this forum is hardly any representation of Canon's market. Imho if the 70d gets roughly the 7d1 specs there are not that many people left who really need something "better", of course except higher iso capability...

... so it might come down to safari & wildlife shooters, other are probably better served with a 70d or 6d.

27

Site Information / Re: "Access Denied - Security Block"

« on: May 14, 2013, 09:20:44 AM »

Sorry, that's not it - today from 7 posts 5 were blocked until I removed huge parts of it. There has to be some heuristic component, and this is getting ultra-annoying since the whole message is lost when going back.

And if something has been blocked (maybe the filters remembers the ip address) it seems to get worse - I had to re-edit this post about 10 times to be able to send it! This nearly makes CR unusable for me.

28

Reviews / Re: The Digital Picture Reviews the Tamron 24-70

« on: May 14, 2013, 09:06:44 AM »

I don't like those odds.   

Me neither, but the simple fact is that 3rd party manufacturers seem to save on qc (thus bringing the price down), but Tamron at least has good and free service - they do free lens adjustments and replaced lots of lenses for free when the first batch had problems with the new 6d.  So it's up to you to be smart, don't order it online but buy it somewhere where you can return it.

29

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Do you trust your camera?

« on: May 14, 2013, 06:38:14 AM »

yes

Thanks for elaborating on this issue...

... but imho CR should have a minimum reply length requirement vs. post-bombing the board with footer links :-o ?
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;area=showposts;u=10369

30

Reviews / Re: The Digital Picture Reviews the Tamron 24-70

« on: May 14, 2013, 03:29:11 AM »

How could anyone consider one of these lenses?

Because it has *IS*, you get *two* Tamron for one Canon, the Tamron has *6* years warranty and good service (like free lens-body adjustment, though of course w/o CPS).

Agreed, for a full-time pro the 5d3 the Canon with better build quality makes sense, but for the rest of us it's a choice between the Canon and a Tamron + some stellar prime like the Sigma 35mm