Messages

16

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 7D - How bad is it? Really?

« on: January 25, 2013, 01:19:38 PM »

Its a wonderful camera, people that bitch about it don't no how to use a camera.

you cant get a better camera for the money

+1

I have just bought a 5D3 to gain my wide angle ranges but I will still use my 7D to compliment it. You need to expose correctly and when you do, noise is NOT an issue, neither is sharpness if you have good glass and technique.

17

Lenses / Re: Step-up Ring, Filter...

« on: January 23, 2013, 07:45:24 AM »

Pick the largest lens diameter you have and buy filters for that size. Use step up rings for the smaller lens'. The only disadvantage is the cost of the larger filter & hood issues. I use a 82mm polariser on my 77mm lens's without issue apart from slight vignetting on my 17-40 set wide.

18

Technical Support / Re: Color Space: sRGB vs AdobeRGB

« on: October 20, 2012, 05:56:08 AM »

Shooting RAW gives you the full options in post so that gives you the most flexibility and future proofing options.

What is important to realise is that there is still only 255 steps between colours in either colour space (8bit jpeg), adobe rgb having more of a step between each colour. This is only important when you tweak the curves and potentially stretch and get banding in areas like sky. This is why capturing raw, converting to 16 bit depth and choosing srgb or adobe rgb to edit is best, choosing which one really depends on the final display (monitor or print).

Just my 2p!

19

Software & Accessories / Re: Sharpening Before or After Noise Reduction?

« on: April 29, 2012, 05:43:59 PM »

Just my opinion. I would have thought it better to apply sharpening after NR. Sharpening could, depending on the threshold, also accentuate the noise, negating the NR done after. If the NR is done first, then the sharpening should only affect the 'larger' areas of contrast (where it matters), and cannot now affect the smoother (non noisy) areas of the image.
This all is dependant on the start image and what is finally desired - soft skin tones v gritty b&w landscapes, where you may not need to do either / both.

20

EOS Bodies / Re: Can the 5D Mark III Trigger Off Camera Flashes Like The 7D through IR?

« on: April 18, 2012, 01:12:30 PM »

No. No built in IR transmitter. The 7d uses its pop up flash to control the remote flashes.

Your option is to buy an IR transmitter or use a flash as a master on camera.

21

EOS Bodies / Re: 5D Mark III is it better than the 5D Mark II

« on: April 18, 2012, 12:50:55 PM »

Fully agree with you Bosman regarding the quality of picture v the resolution and the expense of moving. Stick with Canon!

I'm not so sure about the lens mount diameter restricting the lens f number though (up to a point), I think I can remember a Nikon f1.0 lens from a while back and I think they also do a f1.2 standard lens. The f number is purely a ratio of focal length divided by the aperture diaphragm, plus the mount diameter has to let pass the full image circle of a ff sensor.

22

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Which external mic for Canon DSLR?

« on: April 17, 2012, 11:46:22 AM »

I have used my Rode on camera to video fairly strong sounds (waterfalls, trains, aircraft...) and the quality is better than the built in mic, just! The biggest difference is to get your mic as close as possible to the source, as the other guys have also said, either using your Rode on a boom with an extension lead, a lavalier or using a digital recorder. Some of these start at around £$70 so are not too expensive and give you full control and much better sound, either using their built in mics or your Rode as an input. I have used my video mic pro into my Tascam DR07ii to act as a shotgun when I couldnt get close, with decent results.
The H4n is vgood, multi track with xlr inputs but may be expensive and more than you need, the H1n or Tascam DR 8 offer external inputs and good built in mics with probably all you'll need.
The syncing is easy enough in most decent editors, by zooming into the video & audio tracks, you can then drag the audio to coincide with an obvious event (eg, clap). The advantages apart from good clear audio are that you get a continuous sound track independent of video takes, meaning that you can cut to many different angles with good consistent speech etc. There are software available to automatically sync your tracks but I've found it easy enough in both Final Cut and Premiere doing it manually.

23

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Which external mic for Canon DSLR?

« on: April 16, 2012, 06:07:44 PM »

To me, this seems to be the camera gain setting. Does the audio 'bars' move well over to the right when monitoring / recording? If they do, does the audio track show a good waveform amplitude in the video editing package? Does the audio sound ok if played back in camera? If the audio level 'bars' are not moving to the right on the camera display, it must be the mic / mic battery / mic cable or camera input hardware / gain. I'm just trying to think what it might be and rule things out.

I can't see why this mic is not so good for dslr's compared to other kit, as long as it is outputting the correct levels.

I'm off to bed here in the UK, but will keep an eye on this for you...

24

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Which external mic for Canon DSLR?

« on: April 16, 2012, 05:32:15 PM »

Just one other thing I just thought of, does the stereo mic have any gain switches on it? Is it set to '0' and not any negative value causing a low output?

25

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Which external mic for Canon DSLR?

« on: April 16, 2012, 05:27:37 PM »

Sounds like you have either got a low manual gain in camera or the mic needs a fresh battery? You should see on the rear screen of the 5d the audio levels. These should be showing a peak around -12 db when shooting your video (with sounds!), if not, adjust the manual camera gain using the 'Q' and touch wheel until you see this. I don't have the 5d so am saying this from reading the manual from memory! Someone else can chime in if I'm wrong... If you can't get a good audio response, try placing the camera+mic near a good sound source to prove the mics functioning, if still no good, check the mics battery, then try another mic!

You should not have to crank your speakers up to hear the audio, that's why you're hearing the hiss!

26

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Which external mic for Canon DSLR?

« on: April 16, 2012, 05:05:20 PM »

Ok, I'm wondering if you have your gain too high in the camera? Low source sounds on auto gain? Could there be any pickup of external interference where you're shooting?

Having the mic as close to the source is everything for quality, you may know this and I apologise if so...

What I meant regarding zoom mics was the brand of digital recorder, like Tascam, have a look at the Zoom HN4.

You can try filtering out any hiss in post but getting clean audio up front is your priority. The Rodes do get good reviews so I'm puzzled and I don't know if you would see an appreciable improvement with other 'consumer' grade mics. Good luck!

27

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Which external mic for Canon DSLR?

« on: April 16, 2012, 04:31:07 PM »

Do you mean handling noise or hiss? I have a Rode video mic pro, on a 7D, and it's pretty clean although the lack of input control causes gain issues. I have now bought a Tascam DR7 to record and it's much better to place as close as possible to the source and easy to control. I then sync in premiere. You could plug the Rode into a digital recorder as well. The zoom models get good reviews as well...

28

Technical Support / Re: Canon 7D Unusual Problem?

« on: April 16, 2012, 04:19:01 PM »

My 7D has done this from new 2 years ago, when closing the memory door. I have not had any issues with the camera and never considered it before. I would check with Canon as its under warranty, but as I said, I have not had any adverse issues.

29

EOS Bodies / Re: 36x36 mm cmos sensor

« on: April 01, 2012, 04:10:07 PM »

you're right, thinking outside the box! There are quite a few obstacles but non are impossible, maybe expensive though.

Regarding the mirror, how about a semi-transparent (pellicle) as was in the old EOS1 (RT?), that would remain fixed. I don't know what the mount - sensor distance is and this may limit this. An electronic finder would be ok but we wouldn't get the fast AF.
Looking through the old posts, most miss the fact that you crop for the final result, not end up with a vignetted square image. The lens baffles could be removed?
How about a new body, waist level finder and rotating back for our EF lenses?

30

Software & Accessories / Re: What kind of filter to get?

« on: April 01, 2012, 06:04:00 AM »

I'm assuming for landscape? Get yourself a decent (Hoya) UV filter on your lenses, buy the Cokin P with ND8, Graduated ND 1 and circular polariser. The polariser will act like a ND2 for you. These would be the most useful. I personally don't like coloured grads (especially tobacco - remember them?).
Just make sure with the P system that you don't get vignetting on any wide angles you may have.