Messages

46

Landscape / Re: Spiral Arm of the Milky Way above the Texas Desert

« on: February 20, 2013, 09:26:05 AM »

Btw, any reason to use the 2010 map rather than http://www.blue-marble.de/nightlights/2012 ?

47

Landscape / Re: Don't just shoot; look and really see.

« on: February 20, 2013, 09:22:48 AM »

To the OP: thanks for posting those literally awesome pictures.
...if you're a city or suburban bred person, just look. When one hasn't seen it before, it is a revelatory experience like few others you may have in your lifetime.

I grew up in the LA area and then on Long Island - near NYC - and then settled in the suburbs around Detroit. I had never thought much about the night sky at all, except that it was a little better to sleep with less light coming through my widow than during the day.

I remember, when I was about 26 years old, going with an old girlfriend to visit her artist friend who lived in the woods, waaaaay off the beaten track, in the vast empty Michigan Upper Peninsula, in a couple of small sandwiched together mobile homes with the adjoining walls broken down to form a sort of fiberglass and plastic hillbilly castle. We all three sat on the steps leading up to his doorway one chilly November night, and I, certainly not expecting much, had a near religious experience when I looked up to see what seemed to be literally millions of visible stars. I was shocked, astounded. I just silently sat there, open mouthed, and stared for over an hour and a half without uttering a sound. Wow!

I repeated that same experience when out working in the deserts of California, Arizona and Utah. Shooting cars at sunup and sundown brought me to places where light pollution was almost non-existent. Sometimes, when setting up for a dawn shot, we would work on the cars and camera positions until just after the end of "nautical" dusk and then stay the night in vehicles or in sleeping bags until the just-before-dawn call time. My whole crew would typically barbeque some food, drink beer and then smell the occasional burning cigar or wafting bouquet of an assistant's trusty blunt break up the nearly perfect lack of anything from the city . After scaring the new guys with tales of scorpions and rattlers under the tarps and hearing an occasional coyote or other small critter break the otherwise eerie silence, we would all look into the sky and see the miracle of the universe right there before us, in the real world 3-D that makes those plastic glasses and Imax screens seem puny and uninteresting. I kind of wished that someone of us could play some mournful tune on an old harmonica, just to compliment what I felt were the faint voices in the desert wind of the ghosts of all those lonely cowboys of the American West who really had lived under the stars and loved it so much that they stayed living there, in the insufferable deserts and on the desolate prairies, as long as "progress" allowed.

Sometimes, pictures are not enough. Sometimes, you should just put down the camera, to not just record the world, but to live in it. The brilliantly adorned night sky, as countless generations of our long past forbears in song, story and legend saw it, is one excuse to sometimes do just that.

+1
Great shots, great story, I am officially inspired
Thanks for the advice and techniques, will give it a shot next week as I am heading into the Negev desert to do some location research for a video shoot.
Guess I better get started on that diy slider

48

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 7D Mark II Spec List [CR2]

« on: February 20, 2013, 05:35:53 AM »

[size=78%]You know I have been feeling kind of strange every since I replaced that nasty window on my microwave with a clear pane of glass. This may explain a lot.[/size]

Hmm, this reminded me, that recently, when I turn on our microwave oven, the kitchen transistor radio craps out... This event coincides with the oven timer moving at a factor 5 speed...
No structural defects are visible, but I seem to recall something about a hole turning into an antenna at a certain size? Better get a new microwave (or maybe a 5D between the two... or maybe a fully shielded FM radio?)
Sry bout the off topic..
This thread has made me nervous for some odd reason

49

EOS Bodies / Re: *UPDATE* EOS 70D is Coming, The Future of Pro APS-C Will Change

« on: February 17, 2013, 07:10:30 AM »

As much as I hate to divert attention away from the above posts (which filled in some serious gaps in my knowledge) I thought I'd mention that, over at the dark side, based on the addition of a Nikon DSLR SKU and an upcoming press conference, the admin speculates that the D7000 replacement will be announced in the coming week.
If that is true, I guess it will "compel" Canon to react?

50

EOS Bodies / Re: Bought a 7D, considering exchanging for a 60D. What would you do?

« on: February 15, 2013, 10:17:31 AM »

I wonder how many gigantic red and purple spots due to blown pixels, would show up on that sensor, say if you did longer exposure night photography (as I am known to do) at ISO above the minimum?  Say a 2 or 3 minute exposure at ISO 640?  If you claim there are none, then that would be hard to back up...because you could simply provide an image that was shot by a body that hadn't seen much video usage (or otherwise clone them out) and I would just have to take your word for it.

I never really thought about that, guess it merits some research. Has anyone here found this to be more of a problem on specific bodies?
In the above discussion issue pertaining to overheating of the 60D/7D, I thought it was the CPU heating rather than the sensor, but maybe it is rather the sum of several components?
Also, I recall reading that one of the differences between the 1DX and the 1DC had to do with a different heat-sink, but I naturally assumed that it had to do with the CPU again (the 1D and the 7D both feature dual CPUs)
If this turns out to be an aspect of DSLR video that I have overlooked, it certainly is worth looking into before buying a body for video AND stills use

51

Lenses / Re: Lenses for 1DC?

« on: February 15, 2013, 06:59:31 AM »

I think more important to consider is what rig you are using for your set up... focus pulling... T adjust (...) yes any or most lenses will be good... but what kind of mechanics will your film making require. there will be many adaptations you will have to make to make EF lenses fit matte boxes and rigs...

I understand this and I realize that my post was very vague.
To begin with, we're doing a very crude setup for the pilot (its just a 2-3 day shoot), I will mostly be doing landscape beauty-shots (big panoramas and star-timelapse), so I think we might do the first shoot without any real rig. Probably a nice tripod, a merlin glide and a simple slider. Maybe a very simple follow-focus, but this is not even certain. In future shoots, (if all goes well) we'd be going much more cinematic, eg. more narrative shots, more characters and much more focus pulling.
Maybe I should distinguish between questions that have to with optical qualities and questions pertaining to ergonomics and other non optical considerations. 

the EF and ZF lenses are good.. but NOT cinema lenses... focus racking and seamless T adjustments are made way different on Canon cinema and Zeiss CP.2

I don't understand what you mean by this?

From what it looks like today, we might start off with one or two zooms and a few primes. I assume that eg. 24-70II+70-200 2.8II is a sturdy combo, but what if we want to go wider than that?
From an optical standpoint, are there any L-glass that you would NOT recommend using for 4K?

52

Lenses / Re: Lenses for 1DC?

« on: February 14, 2013, 10:33:04 AM »

I have some considerations similar to the OP - Should I necro this thread or start a new? Guess I'll try to revive it as it already contains a host of valuable advice.
Anyways, I have been offered to shoot a travel/nature/lifestyle pilot (and much more if the pilot goes well) on a 1DC for an upcoming 4K content production house, and I will be partly responsible for putting the kit together along with the boss
Initially, he thought he'd be able to get one do-it-all-zoom, but I have warned him that he WILL need several pieces of glass, and that the canon cine zooms are too expensive for our budget so far (and too heavy to e versatile enough for our trips.)
We are starting small and building from there, so I need a little advice on lenses. We will be shooting alot outdoors (desserts, rain-forest, underwater housing, stabilized aerials) so I think we need a rugged kit
As mentioned, the Cine-zooms are above budget. I would love to go straight for a full prime-kit such as the Duclos, but firstly, we might need to start even simpler than that, and secondly, I think that we might really need a zoom lens or 2 for certain scenarios.
In the end, we might rent glas for the pilot, but the questions remain the same.
Does it make sense to start out with a 24-70II and a few cheap primes for the Pilot?
Also, are the canon cine primes worth the premium over eg. the Duclos set?
Whats the best way to go for landscape beauty shots?
I assume that 16-35L is sub par?
Canons recent non-L primes with IS (for the occasional semi-candid hand-helds) look very nice, but I think we will need the build and sealing of the L/Cine. How are the Duclos in terms of sealing?
I am yet unsure the extend to which de-clicking and gears will be needed.

Ps. I know these are enough questions for several threads, and I might be overly enthusiastic atm but cut me some slack, I just got one step closer to my dream job, "70,000 fathoms deep" .
This pilot is a big thing for me and I really want to do everything I can to make run smoothly so I can stay and grow with the job (and the cam. (just thinking about the 1DC with a set of Zeiss primes makes me all warm and fuzzy inside)

53

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Tamron's fast 24-70mm zoom rates well in testing compared to Canon and Nikon

« on: February 13, 2013, 02:47:51 PM »

I guess thatr the Tamron wins hands down for video use over the canon mk2 due to the VC?

54

EOS Bodies / Re: Bought a 7D, considering exchanging for a 60D. What would you do?

« on: February 13, 2013, 08:04:00 AM »

The idea of overheating is very much over exaggerated.

The overheating issue is claimed to be prevalent on the 7D more than the 60D. This is speculated to be caused by the dual digic and/or the fixed screen, but I have no idea to what extend the issue has been exaggerated.

Another thing about magic lantern, is that the 60D is the only body that makes full use of every ML feature. The 7D is still in alpha... You'll have to wait quite awhile before the port is finished.

True, the 7D port is still alpha, but alpha 2 was just released a month ago and from what I understand, all of the important features work now.(ML still has to be manually loaded though).
On top of that, I think that the final release is close seeing as the ML team recently aquired a few much anticipated tools for dealing with the dual-digic (dual-digic is what makes the 7D harder to hack)
I only just saw the alpha 2 yesterday and that (plus the assumption that overheating is a non-issue until you do very intensive shoots) has helped to make my choice of the 7D.


Unlike the OP, I do both Video, Stills, Time-lapse and stop-motion, so for me, in the end, the 7D seems to be a no-brainer.

55

EOS Bodies / Re: Bought a 7D, considering exchanging for a 60D. What would you do?

« on: February 12, 2013, 08:48:55 AM »

I thought that the 60D was rated for 100k Clicks and the 7D for 150K?

56

EOS Bodies / Re: Bought a 7D, considering exchanging for a 60D. What would you do?

« on: February 11, 2013, 11:40:57 PM »

Do you really think it will drop that much in price if the mk2 is priced so aggressively?
Was just about to pull the trigger on it and then it actually went UP in price this week.. sheesh
Then a friend started ranting about the chance of overheating the 7D during long video takes and the uncertainty concerning full functional ML release and thus I am back in the cursed state of mind, similar to the OP...
7D (AF-selector, build, HDMI-out, C1,2,3 for video, slightly bigger VF, AFMA, chance of overheating) vs 60D (Price, articulated LCD, ML) Meh

57

Video & Movie / Re: Urban Exploration - filmed with Canon 7D

« on: February 11, 2013, 09:26:08 AM »

Nice indeed!
Had to dwell a bit on the smooth perspectival movement (or what ever you'd call it) starting at 1.33
Which PP are you using for shots like these?

58

EOS Bodies / Re: *UPDATE* EOS 70D is Coming, The Future of Pro APS-C Will Change

« on: February 09, 2013, 10:55:24 AM »

[size=78%]Interestingly, your 'wishlist' is a good description of the 6D, compared to your 60D...[/size]

On that note, what would such specs mean for 70D/6D pricing?
Assuming that the 70D does not bring a revolution to the table but still offers better low light performance than 60D and perhaps afma, it would seem that it could easily end up being rather squeezed between the 6D and the rebel?
Or perhaps the 6D will not drop as much in price as we have come to expect of new canon models?

59

EOS Bodies / Re: Bought a 7D, considering exchanging for a 60D. What would you do?

« on: February 09, 2013, 08:19:51 AM »

I have been in a very similar situation for a while now, trying to decide between a 7Dc vs another 60D. I am leaning strongly towards the 7D myself. Due to personal matters, I have been very inactive for half a year which coincided with the wait for the much anticipated 6D.
Seeing as you are considering a downgrade I assume that going FF is out of the question atm?

If you don't do sports photography, you really don't need a 7D.

I don't agree with this at all.
There are many advantages on the 7D imo, and the improved AF and burst are plenty useful for me for other things than sports.
IMO, for stills the advantages of the 7D are obvious.
For video, less so:
The clear advantage of the 60D is of course the swivel LCD and the price.
On the 7D the improved HDMI out is nice and I think the C1,C2 and C3 modes can be very useful as well. (on the 60D, video mode is activated on the mode selector dial, and thus, the Custom mode can NOT be used for video - a much overlooked difference IMO)

In terms of "looking like a pro", this of course does come of as shallow, but on the other hand, if a gripped 7D makes you feel more confident, maybe that will help you business wise. As mentioned, no-one is likely to judge you based on whether you shoot 60D or 7D, but your confidence can make a difference.

I guess the choice is easier for me since the price difference here is smaller (750$ vs 1100$) but the only reason I can see to go with the 60D is money being REALLY tight or the importance of Swivel-LCD.

Personally, I hope to follow the route that trygved suggested, namely to gather the funds to go FF as fast as possible + a Tamron 24-70VC and a canon 35/2 IS to begin with
Also, consider picking up some old MF primes from ebay. You can get Primes for the m42 mount for next to nothing (paid 40$ for my last 50mm and shipping was half the cost.)

60

EOS Bodies / Re: *UPDATE* EOS 70D is Coming, The Future of Pro APS-C Will Change

« on: February 08, 2013, 07:53:36 AM »

Ok, I think everyone needs a time out here.
Mikael, I am sure you mean well, and have excellent points to back up your claims, but please start your own thread discussing DR, banding, comparing sensors and such. It is NOT on-topic here.
The rest of you, don't bite. It turns into a flame war every time.
AND, I would ask you all to keep the tone polite. I know that it is hard when you get emotionally engaged, but for the rest of the forum's sake, please constrain yourselves.

+>1