Messages

61

Lenses / Re: Thoughts on Canon 20mm f/2.8?

« on: March 21, 2013, 01:47:57 PM »

A 24mm pancake would be another great option. It's as wide as I and most others generally want to go on 135 format for typical stuff, and it's the same almost-exactly-textbook-normal focal length on APS-C as the Shorty McForty is on 135.

But there would be a lot to be said for a Holy Trinity of pancake primes (a Short Stack?) in something like 20-40-80.

Assuming, of course, that all three are optically comparable to the Shorty McForty....

Cheers,

b&

Agreed, I've been uhhhming and ahhhing for some time about which one of the new primes to get for my 7D as a walkaround lens, the 35 IS appeals to me because it's 2 stops faster than my f4 lenses, but it's fractionally longer than a 50mm on full frame, the 28 is just slightly wider than a full frame standard lens and the 24 is closest to the 40 pancake, but both the 24 and 28 are only f2.8. I like the thought of a slightly wider than standard compact stabilised walkaround lens, and the 24 comes closest...... but the 35 is faster..... decisions, decisions  .... Still, the longer I wait the more they come down in price! 

62

Lenses / Re: Thoughts on Canon 20mm f/2.8?

« on: March 21, 2013, 01:17:07 PM »

As a wide-angle complement to the Shorty McForty, a 20mm pancake would be most welcome. Shorty McFatty?

(And, I'll note, Voigtländer has one -- albeit manual focus only -- so it's entirely doable....)

b&

I'd buy a 20mm prime as a pancake or otherwise if it was good optically, it'd be a great walkaround lens for a crop camera, especially outdoors. The 40 pancake is a bit too long for a walkaround lens on crop.

63

Lenses / Re: Thoughts on Canon 20mm f/2.8?

« on: March 21, 2013, 12:21:36 PM »

If you check out the Photozone review of that lens, it suggests it suffers with a large amount of field curvature (as mentioned by the above poster), making it harder to achieve sharpness across the frame. Perhaps Canon in due course will update this lens in a similar manner to the 24 and 28mm 2.8 IS and the 35mm f2 IS, at a price of course....

64

Street & City / Re: How to not get beat up when photographing public places?

« on: March 19, 2013, 10:24:49 AM »

One thing to keep in mind if the situation really goes to h*ll - your 5D3 with 70-300L weighs 2 kgs (4.4 pounds), and is on the end of a 3 foot tether.  In cave man days, that would have been all you needed to feed the family...or deter a saber tooth tiger.

Totally off topic... I apologize... but I thought I'd share what was until now a forgotten (repressed?) episode in my life.  When I was a young man, about 19 or 20, the girl I was dating got abducted.  I pretty much went nuts.  After about six weeks of me going insane - the police telling me she'd just left me... they quit looking, I got a message from her.  She was being held in a house - two blocks from the police station.  Both of her captors were gone, and wouldn't be back for an hour.   She could not get out - the windows were barred from the inside - totally normal looking from the street.  There was one un-barred window - very high, close to the ceiling in the rear bathroom.  I stood on a trash can outside and cleared that window with a Nikon F2 with MD-2 motor, and 80-200/4 lens.  Totally cleared as in "no glass left".  She got on the tub and was able to get an arm out, I was able to grab it, and she got out.   We didn't end up staying together long after that, but... over thirty five years later, she's still one of my closest friends, and we see each other several times a year.

Cameras can be handy.

Fascinating story, did the cops get those responsible?

65

Lenses / Re: EF or EF-S for 7D/70D

« on: March 18, 2013, 06:01:42 AM »

Future-proof your lenses.  Get EF mounts and not EF-S.

Indeed, always EF if budget will allow.

I'm not disagreeing with this, and the point has probably been made already in this thread but.... what if you want to go ultra wide on crop, without reverting to fisheye? Much wider than 28mm full frame equivalent (approx 17mm on crop), your only EF lens option (non fisheye) is the 14mm L prime, and with respect to cost it is certainly not a value option for a crop camera! Plus it's still only giving an equivalent to approx 22mm full frame FOV. Therefore, some dedicated crop sensor lenses are unavoidable if you want to go seriously wide on crop.

66

Canon General / Re: Which eye do you shoot with?

« on: March 15, 2013, 05:20:22 AM »

Unless I'm using live view, I always use my right eye. Why? Force of habit I guess, but using my left eye would just not feel natural nor balanced. And also because my vision is better in my right eye than my left.

67

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 7D Mark II Information [CR1]

« on: March 07, 2013, 01:36:42 PM »

out of interest, how many people use a grip on their 7D mark 1 that don't want a want an integrated grip on the 7D mark 2?

As somebody who owns a 7D at the present, I would prefer to be able to choose whether to use a grip or not (I do not own a grip for my 7D). I prefer the more compact size of the gripless body for portability whilst hiking/travelling etc. Having said that, if the 7D update pushes it towards full on sports and wildlife territory as the rumours suggest, with price to match, I will not be buying it. I shoot landscapes more than anything so the coming 70D may be better suited. Or I may consider stumping up for a 6D.... would love a 5D III but just can't justify the cost.

68

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

« on: March 07, 2013, 06:54:58 AM »

Great quote comes to mind: "The best time to buy a new digital camera is when it's NEW."

I wouldn't buy a 60D, T4i, or 7D today. They will all be replaced soon.
Wait or buy a 6D, 5DIII, 1Dx etc.

That's all well and good, but just because the (e.g) 7D is old tech doesn't mean you can't still take great pictures with it. If the buying price was the same as when the product was new I would agree with you, but if the buying price of those bodies has dropped due to newer models being imminent, why pay full whack for the latest and greatest? There are some that need and are prepared to pay full price for the latest tech. Fair enough. But that isn't everybody.

69

Lenses / Re: Photozone has released their review of the Sigma 35 1.4...

« on: February 27, 2013, 04:05:46 AM »

Is photozone credible after their missed 24-70 II review.

This zoom is said the best ever made in its category in some reviews such as Dxomark. I trusted photozone.
I doubt.

In fairness to Photozone, is it not possible that sample variation had some part to play? From the review, it sounds like they only tested a single copy of the 24-70 II. Much has been said in this forum about variation between samples of the new 24-70, so I think it's a little unfair to make that conclusion. If somebody in this forum believes they have a stellar copy of the 24-70 II, why not send it to Photozone for a retest?!

70

EOS Bodies / Re: 7DII and D400 Specs

« on: February 26, 2013, 06:08:42 AM »

Ah thanks for explaining. So EF-S lenses don't fit on APS-H Canon cameras?

No, EF-S lenses can only be used with APS-C crop sensors- the image circle they produce isn't large enough to cover the larger sensor formats. That and the fact that there is an extended 'cap' at the rear of EF-S lenses that projects further back into the mirror box than on full frame EF lenses- if used on a full frame or APS-H sensor the mirror would collide with the back of the lens and not be able to flip up fully out of the way. Having said that..... people have modified some EF-S lenses (10-22 springs to mind) and removed the rear 'cap' and possibly made some other modifications and then used the lens on larger sensor format bodies- in the case of the 10-22 I recall reading you could only use it down to about 14mm at the wide end before either severe vignetting occurred or the mirror collided with the rear lens element!

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Finnish wearing on my 5D Mark III

« on: February 25, 2013, 10:10:37 AM »

Interestingly Canon's own brochure for the 5D MKIII states that the base plate itself is steel to withstand 'the rigors of professional use' (I thought I read in another source it was infact stainless steel) whereas the rest of the body is mag. alloy, I'm not sure if this differs from other canon DSLRs, but I wonder if the different material has caused issues with the black finish not adhering as well compared to the mag. alloy sections- hence the uneven wear pattern with the base plate worst affected?

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

« on: February 19, 2013, 08:58:45 AM »

Looks great but I highly doubt it will come close to noise wise to a FF sensor especially with 6 more MP.

If thats what your hoping for then I think you will be disappointed. An APC camera will always have more noise than a full frame sensor.

Indeed, that's the thing... It's all still speculation of course but the key thing is the 'ISO performance close to the 5D mkIII'. Being that it's not a full frame sensor, how close is close?!

73

Reviews / Re: Why I Chose a Canon EOS 6D over a 5D MKIII

« on: February 18, 2013, 05:55:07 AM »

Dustin, some fantastic images there! Thanks for posting. Inspirational stuff! What part of the world do you live in? 

74

EOS Bodies / Re: What if the rumored 5Dx is actually a 4D?

« on: February 15, 2013, 12:56:52 PM »

And as you said elsewhere on this site, without high fps, you can't take good photos

Obviously the mods removing your previous remark and susequent rebuttals to the same effect wasn't sufficient to prevent you from having another go at the expired horse....

Thank you for your insightful comment. Now would you like to comment on the topic of the 5Dx/4D?

My comment was about as insightful and relevent to the topic as your repeated belittling of anybody who wishes to use high speed burst on their camera. Don't want to use it yourself? Fine. But don't REPEATEDLY preach to the rest of us that by using it it somehow makes us devoid of any skill.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D III Dynamic Range

« on: February 14, 2013, 01:22:22 PM »

I am astonished that so many fellow Canon users rush to flog whoever mentions that Nikon have been doing one single parameter of sensor design better than Canon for some years. Rather, I would hope that you should welcome the debate and fair criticism in the hope that Canon listens and improves their system.

-h

I have no issue with acknowledging the fact that Nikon etc have superior DR etc at low ISO with their sensors compared to Canon. I do not mind the debate. The trouble is the debate is soured by those who constantly 'bang on' about the superiority of Nikon. Some of the comments would have you believe you could hardly take a decent picture with a Canon camera. It is therefore not surprising many people have grown tired of the same old arguments. The topic of this thread is 5DIII dynamic range. The topic being debated by Aglet in some of his previous posts, by his own words is fixed pattern noise and banding, which is not the same thing. I do not have experience of the 5DII and the banding/FPN issues to make any informed comment on that.