Messages

61

Lenses / Re: Gear for shooting Birds of Prey?

« on: September 17, 2012, 01:43:12 AM »

Hi,

I like my 400 f5.6L on the 7d. I can crop it in a bit if I need to.

    I'm using 400mm F5.6L (500mm and above are out of my $$$ reach) on a 60D for birding. I'm not sure about your country Birds of Prey, but in my country, they are very difficult to get close in the wild compare to other birds. For most of my shot, they seldom exceed 50% in my 60D frame, so after cropping, I'll get around 4MP. If I'm using a FF camera, it'll only be 2MP (I hope my maths is correct).

    So, IMHO, it's best for you to get a >= 500mm lens + 1.4x tele-extender for your 5D3 or get a 60D or 7D and a 400mm F5.6L (which is the cheapest option).

    Have a nice day.

62

Lenses / Re: 7D Crop Factoer Question

« on: September 16, 2012, 10:48:03 PM »

Hi,

The crop factor for Canon APS-C is 1.62, not 1.6.

    Not all Canon APS-C sensor had the same size, so it should be: ~1.6x   

   Have a nice day.

63

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 6D Official Specs

« on: September 16, 2012, 10:31:33 PM »

Hi,
    From spec, 11 AF point with multi-area AF... Hmm... look like a sub 7D AF... hopefully, it'll be all cross type AF point. Built-in GPS and Wireless... I think it'll be US$2K++

   Have a nice day.

64

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 6D Official Specs

« on: September 16, 2012, 10:10:40 PM »

Hi,

One thing I'm confused about is the "Screen dots" on the LCD, not sure if that's a misprint or what.  But 5D3 has 1,040,000, 5D2 has 920,000, and this only has 102,400?  How bad does the LCD look then?

    I think they miss a letter: "K"...  This show that everyone is copy and paste without looking.... ha ha ha 

    Have a nice day.

65

Lenses / Re: Zoom-walking, Walk-zooming

« on: September 14, 2012, 11:44:48 PM »

Hi,
    To a certain extend, walk closer does have the same effect of zoom in on your subject, but not your background. See below:


    Have a nice day.

66

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Nikon vs Canon - Honest Poll before photokina.

« on: September 14, 2012, 10:04:56 PM »

Hi,
    IMHO, I don't know which brand had better body or better lens... I don't own or use a NiKon DSLR body or lens for an extended period of time, so I can't comment.

     But as a consumer, I can said that Canon had more choice and product are "more friendly" to people who had not much "resources"($$$).

     Also, Canon model numbering are more systematic and easily understand... smaller number are higher end product and will always perform better than their current lower end model. I don't really understand the Nikon model number system and I can't really understand why some Nikon body require the battery grip to achieve higher frame rate.

    I heard many Canon user complain that Nikon sensor are better... May be current Nikon sensor is a bit better, but I can said that your image processing skill must be at a certain level to really take advantage of that a bit of image superiority and is irrelevant to most average user... at least to me. Oh... just for record, if you shoot photo which lens cap on, you can identify which RAW image is taken by Nikon and Canon by looking at the data.

    Anyway, IMHO, you won't go wrong with either of them... both brand are just as good... both had their advantage and disadvantage. In the end, it's all about personal preference and choices... unless you are a technology hobbyist. Anyway, if you got the $$$, get both... 

   Just my $0.02 and have a nice day.

67

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Nikon D600 announced - $2100, let's see how Canon response!!!

« on: September 13, 2012, 07:39:37 AM »

A major part of the manufacturing cost is the sensor, large sensors are exponentially more expensive than smaller ones. With today's sensor manufacturing technology a full-frame camera cannot approach the price of an APS-C camera.

Just a little lesson in manufacturing economics.  The cost of manufacturing has nothing - repeat - nothing to do with the price that any product sells for in the marketplace.

The price in the market, even as "suggested" by the manufacturer is always based on feedback from the market - thats you and me.  The lifecycle of a product is not from the ground up, but from the final concept down.  Marketing at a company decides it needs a product with feature set "X" at price point "Y" to compete.  This is all based on marketing research, focus groups, informed decisions, and gut level feelings of the marketing department.  At that point, they go to manufacturing and say "build us this....(whatever)".  There may be some back and forth, especially when new technology will need to be brought in.  The back and forth is more or less to determine the scale of the expected propduct - its product life, the number of units, how they can also use technology in other products... that sort of thing.  At the end of the day - manufacturing's job is to build marketing's product, and do it at the lowest possible price, so that they make the most money.  In a company the size of Canon, manufacturing is a seperate company within a company, with their own bottom line.  They sell to marketing, which in turn has its own bottom line... but... always.... the actual "cost" to make anything, has no effect on its sale price.  The price is always determined by market conditions.  Always.

(the above is the condensed version, proto Readers Digest etc etc)

   But must at least higher than the manufacturing cost, right?? Unless they just want to get the market share

   Have a nice day.

68

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Nikon D600 announced - $2100, let's see how Canon response!!!

« on: September 13, 2012, 03:40:21 AM »

Hi,

I think it's not only the price.  Upgraders from APS-C will find Nikon offering much easier to take.  Imagine if you're invested in DX (AF-S) glasses.  You can still take D600 and little by little upgrade your lenses.  It's besides the fact that it's offering it at almost the same price of 5D2.  Wow!

   I just wonder how many people will actually use the crop mode over a long period of time? For example, a user who own a D3200 with quite a number of DX lens decided to upgrade to D600 while he'll slowly upgrade to FX lens... then suddenly realized in DX mode, he only had 10MP on D600 while his old D3200 had 24MP... hmm... I'm not sure about others, but for me, I'll not be very happy during the transition time. If I'm a Nikon user ready to upgrade to a FF DSLR, I'll first upgrade all my len to FX lens before getting a FF DSLR.

  So, for me, a FF DSLR offering a crop mode is not attractive at all, unless when using crop mode, the FF DSLR can achieve a much higher frame rate then that's another story.

  Have a nice day.

69

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Nikon D600 announced - $2100, let's see how Canon response!!!

« on: September 13, 2012, 02:37:48 AM »

Hi,

- 22MP vs 24MP
- 19 AF vs 39 AF
- 4.9 FPS vs 5.6 FPS
- non Flash Sync vs Flash Sync

Based on the spec the price of 6D should be very close to D600.  However, you know recently Canon's price is not good.  Thus, I would guess the price of 6D will be about 2500.

    Nikon D600 only had 9 out of the 39 AF points are cross type, so if the rumor Canon 6D get the 7D AF, 19AF point will be all cross type. IMHO, 10 more cross AF point had more significant advantage over the 2MP and 1FPS disadvantage... so the question is the price. 

   Have a nice day.

70

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: rumor: D600 gets 16 Bit processing

« on: August 30, 2012, 01:12:54 PM »

Hi,

So only a few months after the D800 and D4 are released Nikon releases a FF camera with 16bit processing?

That's going to piss people off.

Not really.

Sure it will...especially after DxO releases a result showing the D600 can achieve 16.8 stops of DR. 

    Hmm... how do you get 16.8 stop when there is only 16-bits??

    If Nikon come out with such a full frame camera at such low price, I have no doubt that it'll sell well, but most likely will also eat into Nikon D7000 or D800 sales. It's also good news for Canon user as Canon sure will response with a low cost full frame camera... competition is good!

    Have a nice day.

71

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: How do I avoid "stars" around street lights?

« on: August 26, 2012, 11:05:58 PM »

Hi,
    This star spikes effect is cause by diffraction of your lens aperture blades when stop down... the more aperture blades the lens had, the more spikes it created.

    Usually, you won't get any spikes if you shoot wide open or may be using lens with circular blades (I don't have any lens with circular blades, so can't confirm it).

   Have a nice day.

72

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: DxO: 24MP Nikon D3200 equals 22MP 5D Mark III

« on: August 25, 2012, 02:49:20 PM »

Hi,
    IMHO, DxO is not testing the sensor, but the camera itself... since they use the RAW file output by the camera to perform the calculation. So basically you only can use it to compare camera of same brand (assume all camera of same brand use the same method to produce the RAW file).

   Anyway, it's quite well known that Nikon "RAW" file is not that RAW (had gone through some internal processing before output to the card and this process cannot be turn off) compare to Canon camera "RAW" file, so the comparison between Nikon and Canon camera is invalid.

   By the way, just wonder, did DxO use the same lens on all the camera during the test? I think different lens will produce different result especially testing involve colours.

   Just my $0.02.

   Have a nice day.

73

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon EOS M System Announced

« on: July 23, 2012, 06:25:11 AM »

Hi,
   IMHO, since it can also use EOS lens, I won't be surprise that it'll sell well.

   Just wonder will someone come out with an adapter for FD lens... 

   Have a nice day.

74

EOS Bodies / Re: A Bit of Mirrorless Informaton [CR3]

« on: July 19, 2012, 09:39:11 PM »

Hi,
    May be it'll be a interchangeable lens version of G1x with 650D APS-C sensor... 

    Have a nice day.

75

EOS Bodies / Re: Is SLR dead?

« on: June 30, 2012, 11:59:36 PM »

Hi,

Apologies, but I just read the first post and tl;dr the whole thread.

Short answer: yes.  Reason: IQ.

What, you ask, does SLR vs mirrorless have to do with IQ?

Just google for "3chip camera."  Bayer filters currently filter about 2/3 of all incident light.  A mirrorless pro-level camera with a 3chip design would allow closer to 100% of incident light to be used, and without the other problems introduced by the Bayer pattern (sharpness).  I.e., would you rather have a 36MP camera with a Bayer pattern, or a 24MP camera with 3 individual color sensors, and three times the light absorption?  (Yes, of course I pulled those MP numbers out of the air, but it's got to be cheaper to build three lower-density sensors, without Bayer or AA filter, than a single higher-density sensor with Bayer and AA.)

As soon as manufacturers find a way to make an EVF fast and accurate enough for pros there will be no reason to stick with SLR's, and they should be left in the gutters of history.

Besides, when I take a picture I don't want to see the world the way it really is, I want to see it the way my camera sees it.

     Err... I think 3chips camera and this thread is not related as you can built a 3chips DSLR also.

    Anyway, DSLR probably will not be replace by the mirrorless camera for the next 10 years.... But I think mirrorless system definitely will replace DSLR some day in the future as the main camera system once manufacturer able to produce an EVF or the live view as good as the optical one and improve the focusing speed to as fast as the DSLR at an affordable cost.

  Have a nice day.