Messages

286

Lenses / Re: Any word on the Canon prime's with IS?

« on: April 14, 2012, 09:18:15 AM »

I'm interested in them, just wish the 24mm was a 20mm.

Canon doesn't have a lot of good, small primes. I want one for a small walkabout lens. Or a camera I can people shoot at family events without shoving a huge zoom in their face. I also have a Fuji X100 for that, but it's slow and annoying. I miss a lot of shots.

I had the 50 1.4, until the focus mechanism crapped out. And I want wide angle. Fast would be good, but 2.8 is sufficient. IS is a nice bonus. Sure it's a little bit expensive, but Canon is jacking up the prices of everything, and if it lets me get shots I wouldn't otherwise who caress?

I'm not sure I'll get one - probably, still thinking about it.

287

Software & Accessories / Re: Thoughts on DNG

« on: April 14, 2012, 09:09:47 AM »

I convert all raws to DNG (JPG's can't be converted naturally).

Of course there's no loss involved in converting. DNG is simply TIFF with metadata - a wrapped TIFF file if you like. There's zero reason to not convert to DNG, and a lot of good reasons to.

I have a few cameras from different manufacturers, I really don't want a bunch of raw file formats floating around with different metadata capabilities.

I wish all cameras would output DNG like Leica. Makes so much more sense.

288

Lenses / Re: Why is Canon so slow updating (legacy) lenses?

« on: April 09, 2012, 08:11:44 PM »

• Making these things takes specialized talent, and good engineers are hard to come by these days anyhow. They surely have a small team or two that does this that is already heavily loaded
• Bringing a lens (or any device I can tell you because I do something similar) takes a huge amount of effort, engineering, OF (order fulfillment/manufacturing), marketing, learning products, etc ... just tooling up a new line takes a lot of capital
• Big, old conservative companies go slow

289

EOS Bodies / Re: B&H Doesn't Reopen til 20th&27th????

« on: April 08, 2012, 10:29:05 AM »

I'm surprised they're willing to have such long shutdowns and to be so denominational. In this day and age most businesses are willing to be more flexible. My company will shut down during Christmas - mainly for the cost savings - but they still have support staff available.

I watched a walk-through video recently and it did seem like a lot of Jewish folks work there (many skull hats in evidence (forget the name of those) etc), so maybe its just the expedient that most employees would take or want to take the time off anyhow.

290

EOS Bodies / Re: Demand for High Mega Pixel Body vs 60Da

« on: April 08, 2012, 10:23:29 AM »

Possible, but Canon may not have technology to provide a quality high mpx in a cost effective manner.

Canon has no difficulty making gear that isn't cost effective, or at least extremely expensive. I think the problem is more one of quality. One, I read a white paper from their engineering which discussed the difficulty of handling that many pixels. Right now they're at dual chip, when will they go dual core and quad core? Thats just in-camera processing, with high megapixels what will happen to the frame rate? ISO? IQ? A camera is a tough piece of engineering. I work in a similar field. Handheld device, tough requirements, anal customers, and a long legacy to live up to.

All solvable problems - eventually. I think that Canon just isn't ready or able to solve them all now.

291

EOS Bodies / Re: Letter to Mr Rockwell in regards to his 5Dmkiii review

« on: April 08, 2012, 10:18:21 AM »

And he consistently has one of the top hits in Goog searches. Seems to be doing something right, even if Real Photographers don't like him.

Where are you getting your info? I just checked a few sites that show top hits and he doesn't make the top 25 on any of them.

Purely anecdotal, when I do searches on gear or photography he comes up in the top ten more often or not, according to my memory. Could be entirely wrong here.

This discussion is pointless, I'm exiting. Some people like him, some don't mind, some hate him. Big deal.

292

EOS Bodies / Re: Letter to Mr Rockwell in regards to his 5Dmkiii review

« on: April 07, 2012, 07:00:29 PM »

I have no problem with people that "see things differently," ... How can anyone read something like "pro don't use mid-range zooms" and still take this guy seriously?

One statement invalidates everything he says? No problem, if that is the case for you. To me 90% of what I see on the internet (and by proxy what people generally say) is drivel or wrong, maybe I just have a better crap filter.

What he says isn't controversial. It's jut ill-informed and ignorant ... I've never come across anyone who produces such underwhelming work that tries to speak so authoritatively on any subject matter.

And he consistently has one of the top hits in Goog searches. Seems to be doing something right, even if Real Photographers don't like him.

293

Lenses / Re: 70-300mm L f/4-5.6 colors washed out?

« on: April 07, 2012, 11:23:23 AM »

I guess this is going nowhere unless you grab your friend's 5d2 and take the exact same shots with the same aperture/iso on the 70-300L and 70-200L.

What? My friend doesn't have a 5DMKII - he has some kind of Rebel.

What I said was I put it on my 5D MKII, with my color corrections and workflow, and tried to eliminate variables. I still get washed out pictures. Further I've seen shots taken with the lens online, and sure with all the variables of monitors, JPGs, workflows, etc, they still look washed - generally. I have seen a few that look OK.

Any shot taken with my 70-200 or 24-105 has wonderful colors, but I can't do the same with the 70-300 in the time I've taken with it. Has anybody else seen this?

294

Lenses / 70-300mm L f/4-5.6 colors washed out?

« on: April 07, 2012, 10:42:39 AM »

Hi,
   A buddy got a 70-300mm and I've it on my 5DMKII and shot with it. I can't keep seeing the shots as washed out with pale colors, especially compared to the 70-200/2.8 II that I have. I've got camera color calibration and have used a ColorChecker to correct the shots (WB not full colors yet) and I'm still seeing pale. Finally, on at least a few shots online I've seen it seems the like they're washed too.

   My imagination? Not sure what to make of it.

295

EOS Bodies / Re: Letter to Mr Rockwell in regards to his 5Dmkiii review

« on: April 07, 2012, 10:16:43 AM »

You guys entirely have the wrong idea. You obsess about the little details of what he says and miss the bigger picture. People like him are good to listen to - you'll get ideas and see things in a way differently from anybody else. Maybe you only use a little of what he says, maybe nothing, but maybe it gets you to think differently and see photography from a different viewpoint for a while.

For example, last week I came across his articles about wide angle lenses and tripods. First on tripods, since then I've been really thinking - why do I carry a tripod around? Is it really necessary? Am I over using it, under using it? On wide angles - which I've always preferred - these are the first articles that I've found which talked the same reasons about why I like them.

People that say controversial things are more interesting than most, and at best you'll learn something new, and at worst you'll be entertained.

296

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: New Canon Speedlites and ST-E3!

« on: April 06, 2012, 05:58:40 PM »

I was looking at the page here, under the specifications tab:

That's a puzzle, I can't explain it.

Syl Arena, who got a pre-release ST-E3-RT and 3 600-RTs, has said on several occasions that second curtain sync still isn't available, and he seemed to throughly have tested it. My guess its an oversight.

297

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: New Canon Speedlites and ST-E3!

« on: April 06, 2012, 08:32:36 AM »

One question that I had that I wanted someone with an STE3 to confirm is, can you really set second curtain sync on a remote flash triggered from the STE3 or is that incorrect in the documentation?

http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/5/0300007515/01/st-e3-rt-c-en.pdf

What page does it say that? As far as I can see 2nd curtain isn't mentioned at all.

298

Lenses / Re: Prime VS Zooms.

« on: April 06, 2012, 06:34:34 AM »

I'd prefer primes but for the following reasons ...

• Canon puts most of their R&D into zooms
• Primes require more lens changes and hassle

I've been using zooms long enough now (converted over seven years ago) that I'm pretty much used to them and OK. Bigger, heavier, but they do have more flexibility.

Given that, I do have a fantasy of having a all Zeiss prime kit.

299

Lighting / Re: 580ex II or 600EX-RT

« on: April 04, 2012, 11:28:10 AM »

On using legacy flashes with the 600, check out Syl Arena who found a workaround. Since we're using wireless, you can use a cheap optical trigger to get your 580's to play with the 600. I'm debating whether to sell the 580EXII and 480 to fund a fourth 600, or just do this option.

If you have the money, I highly recommend the 600. Simple, clean, easy system, I'm really liking it.

300

Lighting / Re: 600EX-RT

« on: April 04, 2012, 11:25:30 AM »

Hey guys!

There is not all that much info out there on the new flash/trigger combination yet so I thought I'd post a link to a first impressions video from photographer Dan Carr. He gives some interisting thought about the two way radio signal not being used to full potential.

Here you go:

Initial Thoughts on Canon's New 600EX RT Flash & ST-E3 Radio Transmitter

Michael

Good post. I don't think his detractions are all that big. This flash is a big jump forward, and in any R&D development you have to draw the line and cut possible features out, it seems to me that Canon really gave us a lot (I work in similar kind of development)

• Remote flashes don't comunicate gels back to the master. I don't see this as a big deal, you really should be using a grey card or other for WB regardless and not hope that you can get it right with a generic settings
• Remote control of zooming. Sure this would be cool, but on the other hand that's a physical change, like putting a modifier on the flash which means you have to physically be at the flash. Like I said they had to draw the line somewhere and I bet that this particular feature just got dropped off, and may be implemented in a future flash, meanwhile setting zoom on the unit isn't a biggie.
• He likes setting the flash from the camera back, which I don't have on my 5DMKII, but it doesn't bother me a bit. I prefer using the dedicated, really nice LCD on the back of the flash instead of digging down into my camera menus which is slower
• I agree Canon should have provided more gels