Messages

31

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Fastest compactflash card for 7D

« on: September 13, 2012, 02:06:55 AM »

Just a quick update. My new Lexar 32gb 1000X card showed up today from Adorama ($139.00)

Mine still says "backordered" at B&H and I ordered on Aug 30th as well. I emailed B&H about delivery time they sent back a zero-value answer ("usually ships in 3-9 days". Sure, that's for new orders. What about MY order?)

Crap. I just got notice from B&H that my Lexar cards, ordered the same day as Richard, are delayed until 21. September, and only 1 week for shipping is not enough to reliably get them to China.
Now for Plan B.

32

Canon General / Re: Europe trip, 1-2 months

« on: September 12, 2012, 06:18:06 AM »

+1 on the Norwegian fjords. Lysefjorden is very accessible from Stavanger with Prekestolen (The preacher's pulpit) and Kjeragbolten among the highlights. Can be done in 1 day. If you're lucky the ferry will stop for watching the basejumpers near Kjeragbolten.
Not so accessible, but quite as beautiful: Geiranger. There's a reason why we're using a Norwegian word for fjords.

If you want to see some spectacular waterfalls, go to Norway as well.

As others say, there are plenty to see in Europe. First decide what you want to focus on, like nature or cities.

33

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Fastest compactflash card for 7D

« on: September 11, 2012, 04:38:30 AM »

Just a quick update. My new Lexar 32gb 1000X card showed up today from Adorama ($139.00)

Mine still says "backordered" at B&H and I ordered on Aug 30th as well. I emailed B&H about delivery time they sent back a zero-value answer ("usually ships in 3-9 days". Sure, that's for new orders. What about MY order?)

34

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 1DX Autofocus Test: Tennis

« on: September 10, 2012, 08:27:13 PM »

Outrageous - I demand that Canon return to their dodgy and impressive tracking algorithms of the 1D MkIII immediately!     

35

Lenses / Re: Post your 24-70 II Experiences Here

« on: September 10, 2012, 08:15:22 PM »

You have written 4 paragraphs without any punctuation.

Your point being, kind Sir?

36

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 6D Announcement Soon? [CR1]

« on: September 09, 2012, 10:54:42 PM »

I'm sure every manufacturer would produce just one model of anything if they could be confident it would sell and if they had no competition. But, they do have competition and if Canon doesn't meet the market demand, others will.

It is clear from the Rebel line that using modern manufacturing techniques, it's possible to offer minor differentiation and still keep the line profitable.
 
Consumers like choices. Ever go shopping for a TV, a car or even laundry detergent? I don't know about others, but if I'm spending $1,000 or more on a product I'm going to make sure I've compared every available model and picked the one that I think will work for me. If one manufacturer doesn't offer any choice, I'll go to the one that does offer some choice.

You may think so, but there is a lot of people that don't think that way. Consumers don't necessarily want many choices and  many features. They just want a product that works well for them, and is well thought out and well designed - Apple's strategy is the current prime example of this.

Hmm ... can't imagine that I just wrote that, considering how anti-Apple I generally am

37

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D3 Second Curtain Sync - Design Flaw?

« on: September 09, 2012, 07:34:25 AM »

This is a bug, plain and simple -- and one that Canon really should fix in the next firmware release.

+1

Either not in the requirements, or not designed right.

You in software too?
 

Close, but no cigar. Used to design ICs, before turning to the dark side (ie: management).

38

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D3 Second Curtain Sync - Design Flaw?

« on: September 09, 2012, 02:04:03 AM »

This is a bug, plain and simple -- and one that Canon really should fix in the next firmware release.

+1

Either not in the requirements, or not designed right.

39

Lenses / Re: 400, 200 or...?

« on: September 08, 2012, 02:43:11 AM »

The 400mm IS Mk I is an excellent lens, no questions about that!
That was what photographers said to Canon when they started out designing the Mk II: keep the sharpness, but shed weight and add the modern IS (4 stop).

If you don't have something planned where you need the 400mm, I'd suggest you to wait until you have that specific need. Might even keep SWMBO happy

40

Lenses / Re: 400, 200 or...?

« on: September 08, 2012, 02:23:12 AM »

Hi. I have got the option on a couple of lens, just don't know which one to attack first.

(I already have a 70-200 usm II 2.8 and other lens for the purposes of background). Moving up to a 5d3 from a 600d so selling the ef-s lens in due course.

Lens I have option on (all used, prices are pre haggle, incl. estimation of freight and customs fees)

Canon f2.0 IS 200mm, price about 5k USD
Canon EF400 IS USM I f2.8 (not the latest sadly), price about 6k USD
Canon EF500 IS USM I f4 prob about 7.5k.

Moving from the 600D to the 5D3 will convert your current "112-320mm" lens into a 70-200mm lens, due to going from 1.6x crop to FF. The 400mm is quite long on a crop body (640mm), but I believe* that it will be more useful on a FF body.

I agree with ScottyP about the single stop on the 200/2, never mind that it's supposed to be totally awesome.
The 400/2.8 IS Mk I *is* a heavy beast. Get a sturdy CF tripod and a gimbal head.

*) Haven't had a chance to test the 400mm on my 5D3 yet, so this is based on extrapolation from my current 70-200mm experience.

41

Lenses / Re: Canon 70-200 f2.8L (non-IS) vs Canon 70-200 f4L IS

« on: September 07, 2012, 07:00:51 AM »

If you are mainly taking sports pictures, then the IS won't matter that much.
I'd go for the f/4L IS.

42

EOS Bodies / Re: Need advices, white line across photos...5D3

« on: September 07, 2012, 12:49:41 AM »

I would contact Canon/reseller. Mail in description of problem and pictures as well (at least one RAW).
Sounds like a sensor issue to me.

Sorry.

43

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D3 ignores microadjustment in LiveView

« on: September 06, 2012, 07:59:04 AM »

This the 5D3 and 1Dx share so much on the AF side, I assume that this applies to the 1Dx as well. Confirmations of this observation on both 5D3 and 1Dx is appreciated.

Yes, that's normal in all cameras with Live View, for the reason you state.  Note that applies in Live AF - if you use Quick AF (where the mirror flips down and phase detect AF is used) then the AFMA is applied.

Ah, well not all cameras. My old 50D certainly didn't do this (it cannot do contrast focus, so it has to flip the mirror).

My reason for posting the observation is that I hadn't seen this on the 50D, I didn't see this in the manual, and ... well, I think it's a pretty neat feature.
So when the next 5D3 newbie comes along asking "why doesn't it ..." we can point to this posting

44

EOS Bodies - For Stills / 5D3 ignores microadjustment in LiveView

« on: September 06, 2012, 12:31:56 AM »

While doing some manual AFMA testing on my 5D3 (firmware v1.1.3), I noticed a peculiarity about focusing in LiveView - the camera ignores the AFMA setting, and will even not report any AFMA value in the EXIF data! My old 50D always used the AFMA data.

After looking into this a bit more and thinking it through, the observed behaviour seems correct and to be expected. When the camera is in LiveView, the image sensor is used to directly observe the focusing where the focusing is needed and therefore you don't need to adjust for any tolerances between the lens/AF sensor complex vs the image sensor. Thus, you always get the optimum focusing

The downside is of course that focusing in LiveView is much slower than when using the normal AF sensor.

This the 5D3 and 1Dx share so much on the AF side, I assume that this applies to the 1Dx as well. Confirmations of this observation on both 5D3 and 1Dx is appreciated.

45

Lenses / Re: Lens align pro or Spyder lenscal

« on: September 05, 2012, 11:57:39 PM »

If you mean within +/- 10 AFMA units, I'd expect that to make a difference in many situations, either shooting wide open or with close subjects.

Shooting at f/2.8 on 2 meters distance, being 5 AFMA units just spoils the image because the focus is not where you want it like the attached a 50% crop where focus is not on the eye, but on the body of the duck.