Messages

346

Lenses / Re: Canon 14-24 2.8 - With our powers combined....

« on: September 13, 2012, 02:04:30 AM »

Not even corner detail, but side detail around the middle of the frame, even extending significantly in from the edge, can be soft all the way to f/11... and on some copies not even clear up by f/11 (at which point diffraction softens the image).

The Novoflex is (sadly) worth the money. The aperture control is that blue dial you see. It has quite a bit of friction, since I didn't remove the rubber seal on the 14-24. No, no detents, but there are some indicators that generally tell you where ~f/4, f/11, & f/22 are. Or something like that. I can't remember... I calibrated it once. I just guess; I don't need much precision... I usually want to just shoot it wide open, or at ~f/8-f/11, or higher if I want gorgeous sunstars (which I can easily see via Live View, which you have to use to focus the lens anyway).

I wouldn't use this lens for event photography though, for obvious reasons!

Thanks for the info on the Novoflex adapter. I may consider it if for the future.

my 17-40 is a decent copy altho has a bit softer R side on the borders/edge when opened up.
at the wide end it cleans up quickly above f/8 but you only have until about /16 before diffraction softening starts to show up too.
Still, overall a disappointing lens on FF unless the only thing with textural detail is in the middle 2/3s of the frame.
It's time for an update on that old thing.

I was hoping the Tokina 17-35mm would be better.  Haven't seen any detailed tests yet so not about to order one since it's not much cheaper.
Then again, there is Nikon's 17-35mm f/2.8 - certainly a little better in border-corner performance than the 17-40mm.  Their slower 16-35mm VR is also a bit better.
I've got a chance to buy a nice 17-35 so need to do some chart-checkin.'

Would sure like a new 16-35 or 16-40 f/4 that performs well in the corners - for either mount.

347

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Nikon D600 $2700 MSRP??

« on: September 13, 2012, 01:54:29 AM »

specs look good, well featured

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d600/spec.htm

348

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

« on: September 13, 2012, 01:52:49 AM »

That D600 is a very nicely spec'd unit for the price.

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d600/spec.htm

has enough good features and customization to do virtually anything any non-pro will ever need, and should cover what most pros need too.

I like it.
But with 4 Nik bodies already on hand I can certainly wait to see what Canon's response will be and how each of these new "budget" FF bodies perform on the test charts.

I hope that its sensor performs at least as well as the D800's.
Considering the slightly larger pixels, it could perform even better if it hasn't been compromised by marketing.

Viva la competition!

update edit - found the brochure link too

http://chsvimg.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d600/pdf/d600_20p.pdf

.. from page 4, upper left paragraph, ".. while keeping noise remarkably low throughout the wide ISO range, and even further reduced at ISO 100."

Recent Nikon bodies already have impressively low noise at 100 ISO.
If this thing is even better, well, then I'm salivating.

there's more on that page about how they deal with noise.

I'm very interested to see how this performs and how Canon will compete with their next FF body.

349

Lenses / Re: The Raw Data: The EF 24-70 f/2.8L II is the Sharpest Zoom Canon Has Ever Mad

« on: September 12, 2012, 01:37:19 AM »

Enjoy your onion rind bokeh with the Tamron.

really only a problem with large OOF highlights from what I've seen so far.
The IS is a major selling feature.
-

350

Lenses / Re: Canon 14-24 2.8 - With our powers combined....

« on: September 12, 2012, 01:16:23 AM »

Haven't looked back since I started using this combo (Novoflex adapter... cheap Chinese adapters off eBay couldn't achieve infinity focus & rattled):

I got tired of trying to find a 16-35 or 17-40 that had good edge-to-edge performance even at f/11 or did not have decentering issues.

+1
17-40mm f/4 L is great on crop but sux on FF if you're looking for corner detail at the wide end.

I was considering the Novoflex adapter, balked at the price for the first round of experiments with old F-mount glass.
How does the aperture control work?  Are there any detents in it at all or just friction?..

351

Lenses / Re: The Raw Data: The EF 24-70 f/2.8L II is the Sharpest Zoom Canon Has Ever Mad

« on: September 12, 2012, 01:04:01 AM »

Y'all hopin' this lens was delayed so much to make the tweaks needed to bring it up enough to match the rumored high MP FF body?..

352

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: Canon 5D mark III Seascape (Fort Lauderdale) with 24mm F1.4L II

« on: September 10, 2012, 07:00:20 PM »

I'm glad all you guys got my sense of humor... I was almost half afraid I was going to get flamed and dragged through to mud by our nikon friends who like to patrol our forums as of late.  =)

HAHA!

Ya, YA!  Just wait until I show off my backlit cows from Sunday.

It is a funky lookin' image after PP, tho.  I kinda like it.

353

EOS Bodies / Re: Is a 46mp Canon EOS-1 on the Way? [CR1]

« on: September 10, 2012, 02:59:10 PM »

In my opinion, if Canon does not launch an cheaper model around 2500-3000€ with 35+MP, they will loose a lot of photographers.

Are they 'losing a lot of photographers' to the D800 now?   

I'm sure there's a reasonable number of photographers who are able to recognize the image quality of D800.

Sure, and I'm among them. But I didn't switch...  Where are Nikon's versions of a high quality 80/100-400, 28-300, and anything like my MP-E 65?

The 14-24 is certainly a nice lens - but 36 MP is hard on that lens' corner performance.

Just put my new 14-24mm on the d800 this weekend for a few test shots in the countryside.
Certainly does have some CA in the borders and corners but that cleans up pretty well with one click on the checkbox in Photoshop's ACR front end.
That lens is pretty good, tho not perfect.  14mm made for some pretty wide pastoral scenes tho.  Looking forward to what else I can do with it.

as for Canon losing customers...
They didn't get any money from me this year.  Instead I bought 4 Nikon bodies, included the 800 and the 800e, a few new high end lenses and a pile of cheaper ones.

IF Canon had just ONE FF body with as good base ISO noise performance as any of the current Nikons I would have bought it, maybe even two of them.
As it stands, more of my creative and outdoor work is going to the other camp but I wish it weren't, as I still prefer many things about using Canon gear; the appearance of the images their bodies produce, many of the fine lenses they have.

What they announce in the next few months, whether delivery is soon or in 2013, will determine what equipment will dominate my toolbox.
If they can't kill the read/banding noise even more than in the 1Dx then I'll be selling some of the Canon gear that's been outperformed by the new competition.
Invariably that means I'll be buying more from the other guys.  Plenty of enthusiasts, landscapers and other non-hi-iso types will likely consider doing the same.  We're not all married to our brand of tools and toys.

354

EOS Bodies / Re: Firmware update for 5D3 Problem? Black halos around stars in RAW

« on: September 09, 2012, 01:45:10 PM »

There is another thread from a person seeing white X's on a black background.  You might compare notes with the poster, however, he did not yet post a image.  It sounds like a similar issue.

that sounds a bit more like de-bayering working around a bad pixel

355

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5d Mki or 60d (landscapes)

« on: September 09, 2012, 01:42:38 PM »

Let's see. The 60D...

* Out resolves the 5D, and this is visible in large landscape prints.
* Has wider DR than the 5D.
* Has less high ISO noise than the 5D.
* Has both LiveView focusing and a built in level, both very useful tools for landscapes. (LiveView is huge when you need to check DoF and use hyperfocal focusing.)
* Can use relatively low cost, high IQ wide angle crop glass. For example: to match the $700 Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 on the 60D you will need a $1,700 Canon 16-35L on the 5D.
* Comes new with warranty.
* Shoots faster, has video, uses modern batteries, and can remote trigger flashes. (Not as important for landscapes, but still.)

The 5D...
* Has a better viewfinder.

The 5D was a great camera, and is still a very capable camera. But at the same price as a 60D it's a silly buy. The 60D is better in every respect except one (viewfinder). And that includes sensor, no matter what format fans want to believe.

+1

I've not shot w a 5Dc, but the output from it IS pretty nice and I've thought about picking up one to play with.
However, I've shot LOTS of landscape with the 60D. It's a VERY good camera and I'd recommend it over an ancient 5Dc mostly for the technical and feature improvements.  If you're shooting landscape, low ISO is more important than hi and 60D's low ISO performance is one of Canon's better bodies.
goes a long way on a battery charge too.

356

Third Party Manufacturers / Sony RX1 Full Frame sensor Compact leaked photos / rumor

« on: September 09, 2012, 01:38:27 PM »

This is going to cause a lot of buzz!

http://photorumors.com/2012/09/09/breaking-sony-rx1-the-first-full-frame-compact-camera/


fixed 35mm f/2 lens apparently

and a hefty price tag of $3k

357

Software & Accessories / Re: DPP for MAC too slow?

« on: September 07, 2012, 07:22:19 PM »

After doing a lot of tests using both the Mac and PC versions, I think I have managed to identify the cause of the issue. On the MAC version DPP has a problem handling folders with over around 400 images in them. It seems that there is a memory management issue. On the PC version, it does not appear to be a problem.

I run into this often too.
I've also found splitting up my files into groups of less than 300 speeds things up considerably on my i7 iMac and I get fewer DPP-out-of-memory warnings.
I once put over 600 raw + small jpgs from a trip into one folder and DPP basically hung up for minutes and then was extremely unresponsive.

the little I've used DPP on windows it certainly does feel snappier.  I don't think the program is making good use of multi-cores/threads on a mac and memory management is less than stellar.
Even Adobe stuff whips large raw images around like nuthin' on my machine while DPP drags along.

Complain to Canon, they sort of fixed a bug I reported with digic 4 based bodies that put a strange kink into the shadow end of thinks causing some strange posterization.  Only took about a year. 

358

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Upgrading from Canon 60D to 5D MkII: Help me decide!

« on: September 07, 2012, 02:27:13 AM »

Yes, the 5D II has AFMA.  The center point on the 5D II is REALLY good.  It can AF lock at really low light levels where crop cameras fail.

I concur, center AF on my 5D2 is outstanding and has provided accurate AF down to dim moonlight levels when using a 50mm f/1.4 on it.
The other thing it can do better than any other camera I've used (so far) is display a usable live-view image for manual focusing in seriously low light conditions where I can barely see myself.

359

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Upgrading from Canon 60D to 5D MkII: Help me decide!

« on: September 06, 2012, 01:49:34 AM »

full frame shots have that full frame "look" that you cant get with a crop sensor. It doesn't show in every situation, but its unmistakable when it does. I can't really put my finger on it though.

I've been trying to ID that "certain something" in the FF look.
I think it may come down to the cleaner signal to noise of the FF bodies that have really shown it so far:
The 5Dc, the 1DS3. even the 5d2 at times.
It's hard to see but it can be perceptible in some images, I think by showing smoother tonal gradients where they're supposed to exist. There's also slight differences in the color response that may contribute as well as per-pixel sharpness.  (old 40D also often has "the look")

But I don't find the 5D2 gives me "the look" often enough to make it a slam-dunk over the 60D in the same conditions.

360

EOS Bodies / Re: A question about dust...

« on: September 06, 2012, 01:33:21 AM »

I find that my newer bodies, 7D, 60D, do not seem to collect dust as bad as my 5D2 and older bodies.
I think there's a slight change in the coating of the low pass filter on the newer cameras that's less static-attractive to dust particles, therefore improving the effectiveness of the self-cleaning.

I don't swap lenses often and when I do, I'm meticulous about it.  Despite that, stuff still gets in thru the lenses and open lens mounts.

I wish Canon would also move the LPF farther from the sensor, that'd do much to reduce distinctness of dust particle shadows on the sensor.  Their competitor(s) do and I don't have dust issues in images from those bodies even when I can see the stuff stuck on the LPF.