Messages

16

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Quick help needed!

« on: December 01, 2012, 09:00:55 AM »

Don't be afraid to use a high ISO setting. Change the iSO according to circumstances. If you are making stills with 1/300 of a second and F7.1, choose a lower ISO. If you are taking pictures with 1/10 of a second and F2,8, opt for a much higher ISO if you can.
Be practical. If you have a zoom lens, use it. Do not expect studio quality photographs (which are mostly boring anyhow). Choose interesting, vivid subject and you will be fine. Don't hesitate to discard pics that have come out badly. Have no regrets.
If you have only that 50 mm lens, you will be forced to come close to your subjects. Don't be shy! (but stay friendly and polite, of course.)

Of course, after taking each photograph, check it using the [>] button on the left of the back of your camera. Enlarge it to check sharpness. If unsharp, try and take the picture again or ajust the ISO setting if neccessary.


Success,

RobPan.

17

Street & City / Re: Recommendations Amsterdam

« on: November 30, 2012, 04:37:42 AM »

Too much to mention. Renting a bike is a good idea, IF you are an experienced cyclist and you don't have problems with right hand-side traffic.
NB There is NO Damplein in Amsterdam, the proper name is simply Dam.

Outside of the center, I can recommed seeing the Tropenmuseum, near Artis (the zoo). A nice colonial building, proudly exhibiting the riches we stole from the Indies.
Inside the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) (next door, same building) you will notice the door handles in the form of elephant heads.
The Aula (used as theatre and for meetings) has remarkable wooden statues towering above your head.

Outside Amsterdam one could mention Haarlem, very beautiful centre, church with a famous organ (often used for concerts), canals etc.
A small but beautiful old village North of Amsterdam (reachable by bus) is De Rijp. Townhall by Leeghwater, museum.

South of Amsterdam, on the banks of the Amstel river is the town of Uithoorn. Not very exciting, but the Cindu, a chemical factory bordering the Amstel is worthwile if you are interested in industrial designs.

Futher from Amsterdam, not very far from Dordrecht (reachable by train an bus) is Kinderdijk, famous for its windmills. Very spectacular, but rather touristy.

Delft and Leiden both have very attractive centres.
All depend on how much time you will have.

If you go in summer and the wind is North, you can easily cycle all the way from Amsterdam to Dordrecht, following rivers most of the time.


Kind regards,

Rob (in Solo)

18

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: Post Your Best Hi-ISO/Low Light 5DIII Shots!

« on: November 27, 2012, 06:30:11 AM »

Hi,

These twe shots were made at the besalèn of the Solonese gamelan maker Pak Tentrem. (A besalèn (Javanese) is a smithy, perapèn in Indonesian.)
The round object in the center is a kempul, i.e. a small (about 50 cm) hanging gong, with a boss in the center. Here you see how the boss is being hammered out, the last phase before the kempul is thrown in cooling water, the slug scraped off and polished.
In the back one can see another fire in which a wilah demung is being produced, heated and hammered alternatively. A wilah is a (bronze or iron) key of a metallophone with usually six or seven keys. The demung is a large and low-tumed metallophone.

(1) 5D3 with 24-105 mm (kit) lens, 1/20 sec. at F6,3  ISO12800
(2) The same, 1/15 sec. at 6,3 ISI 12800

19

EOS Bodies / Re: !!!FIRST!!! - Full Frame Mirrorless Camera

« on: November 21, 2012, 07:57:28 AM »

[Bodies come and go, but good glass should last for 20 years or more. ]

Hmmm... my body is already over 73 years old. My glasses, however are about one year old and will need replacement in around two years time.

20

Lenses / Re: New 50mm f/1.4 lenses are metal throughout?

« on: October 22, 2012, 09:43:29 PM »

Yes indeed, the lenses are all metal. The point is, the newest Canon sensors are too sensitive for glass lenses. At ISO 1000000000 and above you would need a shutter time of a millionth of a second or faster. The simple solution is to make a titanium lens. With that and a recent sensor you can take lovely pictures of black cats in dark rooms. Success!

21

Software & Accessories / Re: Problems with Imagebrowser EX

« on: October 12, 2012, 09:40:37 AM »

(Reply to bbasiaga)

The post is about Imagebrowser, not Zoombrowser. I never had any problems with Zoombrowser, but the 5D3 uses Imagebrowser instead.
The file limit is 1000, not 10.000 as I wrote. A surprisingly small number, I am just an amateur and I have many more photographs, what about professionals? Kok aneh!

Kind regards,

Rob.

22

Software & Accessories / Re: Problems with Imagebrowser EX

« on: October 12, 2012, 09:35:03 AM »

(reply to Smithy)

This is what I tried, but with the same result. The program hung again with the message: 'Estimated remaining time : less than 1 minute'.
After waiting for several minutes I opened the Task Manager and clicked End Task to close the (non responding) program.

Importing files was not possible. But, to my surprise, after a second attempt in which I attached the card reader to the computer, it suddenly worked and I could import files from my FD card. Let's hope it will work in the future as well!

BTW I am the owner and the administrator of this computer.

Thanks for yor reaction,

Rob, Munyung, Jawa Tengah.

23

Software & Accessories / Problems with Imagebrowser EX

« on: October 12, 2012, 05:36:33 AM »

I hav just arrived in Indonesia for a five months stay. When I tried to install the software that goes with the 5D3, the installer hung while installing Imagebrowser EX (fast computer with Win-7 and 4 GB RAM). It told me that it was 99 pct ready, less than 1 minute remaining and stayed like that until I forcibly ended the program.
Imagebrowser now runs but has some troubles.
The worst is that it will not import photos from my CF card through my card reader. When I attach my card reader and indicate that I want to import pictures through Imagebrowser, a small window appears with the text : canonIHL.dll <remainder of line in Japanese> [OK]. Highly amusing, but I cannot import my pictures and have to revert to the MSDOS/Command Interpreter. (When I click OK the window closes.)
Anything I can do to make Imagebrowser run properly?
And, last but not least, will there be a version which accepts more photographs than the present limit of 10.000?

Kind regards, thanks for any useful tips!

Rob, Munyung.
5D3 24-105, 100mm f2  85 mm f 1.8

24

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: 5D MK III Images

« on: April 16, 2012, 05:31:41 AM »

Please have a look at these:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1032&message=41175338

Wonderful pictures from the night zoo in Singapore, some shots even at ISO 51200, look terrific!

Kind regards,

Rob.

25

EOS Bodies / Re: Will you tweak your new 5D MARK III ???

« on: April 11, 2012, 02:18:45 PM »

Really though, if I so desired a camera without an optical low-pass filter I would sooner sell all of my Canon gear and buy a D800E. The hue change to blacks and removal of the warranty and self-cleaning unit are too much to sacrifice.

Exactly! On the other hand, if he had money to burn, it was an intersting experiment.

Kind regards.

26

EOS Bodies / Re: Unofficial Canon Mirrorless Concept

« on: March 22, 2012, 02:07:31 PM »

I fail to understand what the function of the pentaprism would be in a mirrorless camera. Where is the M-Leica-type viewfinder/rangefinder?
With some others I would prefer an 36x36 mm square format, kind of mini-Rollei so to say. A built-in flash is not needed (see the 5D). Flash is the plague of photography, gives ugly unnatural pictures and can be dispensed with most of the time if we can work with the extreme ISO speeds as seen in the 5D.
(The late Cas Oorthuys would have been delighted if he had been able to work with the 5D.)

Kind regards,

Rob.

27

Lenses / Re: Recommend me a lens that's better/more useful than a 50mm lens

« on: March 18, 2012, 02:34:34 PM »

Before I went digital, I had two F-1 cameras, and the lens I most often used was a FD100 mm f 2.8. I think I used it in about 60 pct of my pictures. 100mm is ideal for portraits, and is also fine in the theatre (I had Ektachrome pushed to 800 ISO which went well).
You will also be able to take some outstanding landscapes and snapshots with it. In other words, a fine all-purpose lens. In my opinion it will give you much more pleasing results than wide-angles.
If you wish you may supplement it with a 28 mm or something similar. But you may well find yourself using the 100mm much more often.
Today, Canon has a EF100 mm lens at F2.0 for around US$506. You will probably be able to use it indoors without flash (much to be preferred!) as today's cameras will allow you to shoot at 1600 or 3200 ISO (or even at 25600 ISO if you are the happy owner of an EOS 5D mkIII). The rather shallow depth of field is ideal for portraits.

Kind regards,

Rob.