Messages

121

EOS Bodies - For Video / Re: 5D MKIII supports STM?

« on: June 11, 2012, 09:13:51 AM »

If you're asking if the 5D3 can autofocus while taking a video, the answer is no. I own a 5D3 and have long maintained that the problem with autofocusing during video, at least with Canon DSLRs, wasn't the camera but rather the lenses. They are just too noisy and jerky. On the other hand, I own a Panasonic HDC-TM700 video camera which is very smooth but rather slow when autofocusing.

There is, however, expected to be a firmware upgrade for the 5D3 really soon, so there may be hope.

What I want to know is why the new 24 f/2.8 IS and 28 f/2.8 IS lenses aren't STM also.

122

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon EOS 7D Firmware Version 2 Coming Soon

« on: June 10, 2012, 08:18:38 AM »

"Oh crap, we've got all these old 7D bodies lying around that aren't selling (because of the 5D2 getting cheaper, or the D3200, K5, NEX-7, or whatever), and we need to get rid of them before the 7D mk 2 is announced in a few months".
"I know, let's take the firmware from the new 7D2, it won't cost us anything much to port it to the 7D, demand for the 7D will pick back up again and help us clear stocks before we drop the 7D2."

Or am I too cynical?

Canon doesn't sell items on consignment and there is no stock.  They take orders from vendors, most of them pre-paid, then they produce the items and ship them off.  Canon doesn't have to get rid of anything.  That's on the vendor and the vendor orders want their customers want regardless of current stock.

Vendors get special pricing that they later mark-up.  This margin allows them to reduce prices when a new model--aah!  Do I actually have to explain this?

And how do you know this?

123

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon EOS 7D Firmware Version 2 Coming Soon

« on: June 08, 2012, 02:30:43 PM »

well, since they were at it, they could have gone the full mile ... and added EC in Manual mode with Auto ISO too. 

I can't think of a reasonable explanation why they wouldn't include that and AEB capability in both the 5D3 and this new 7D firmware. It seems like such a nobrainer. I also want a shutter speed safety shift for when there is too much light (e.g., the sun comes out from behind the clouds) in "M" W/Auto ISO and the camera starts to overexpose. Using "A" with Auto ISO would almost do this except that, with my 5D3, the fastest "Min Shutter Speed" that can be set is 1/250. I want 1/1000, at least.

124

EOS Bodies / Re: New 5D Mark III Firmware Before the End of May [CR2]

« on: June 08, 2012, 08:50:08 AM »

1. improved Auto-ISO function! Primarily adding exposure correction for "M" mode on Auto-ISO.  That would be really easy to fix in firmware and make Auto-ISO a lot  more useful.

+1. I use "M" mode with Auto-ISO about 80% of the time. I'd use it even more if EC and AEB were usable. I also want a safety shift when there is too much light in M/Auto-ISO and the camera overexposes.

125

Lenses / Re: Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Information.

« on: June 07, 2012, 11:42:12 AM »

Let's see. This is full frame lens? STM is quiet during focusing, presumably so that the camera can focus while taking videos. (Then why are the 24 f/2.8 IS and 28 f/2.8 IS lenses USM, not STM? Because they're IS lenses perhaps?) The 5D3 can't focus while taking videos, but there is a firmware upgrade due for the 5D3, really soon now, with the rumor that features will be added. Dare we hope?

And while you're at it, Canon, make exposure compensation and automatic exposure bracketing functional in the 5D3 in manual mode with auto ISO. The present situation is inexcusable.

126

EOS Bodies / Re: What's your acceptable price for the 1Dx

« on: June 04, 2012, 08:18:12 PM »

I think the price is very reasonable for 1DX.  I haven't heard many complains for the price of 1DX.  I only hear the complain for it delay.

Yes, given that the 1Ds3 was at $8000.. I agree. but then again, quite a lot of the people who had the 1dx on preorder.. cancelled once the 5d3 was available.. stating that the price was reasonable (compare to the 1dx) with quite a lot of 1dx features built in it.

So let's rephrase the OP's question for those people who own or might purchase the 5D3, as follows: Given a 5D3 price of $3500, how low would the 1Dx price have to be before you would have purchased a 1Dx instead? I own a 5D3 and my 1Dx price is $5500. Neuro's price is at or above $6800.

127

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 70D & 3D Prediction from Japan

« on: June 04, 2012, 07:26:32 AM »

The 3D sounds wrong. Why a 1D class body when the Nikon D800 costs $3000 and appears to be selling quite well? And what's with the built-in flash? Firthermore, if this is intended as a studio-oriented camera, then even the speedlite transmitter doesn't make sense unless, of course, Canon is going to start selling studio flashes.

128

Lenses / Re: Which 3 Primes to go for. Your advice will be appreciated

« on: June 03, 2012, 09:12:30 AM »

Back in the dark ages of the 70's and 80's, I used: 20 f/2.8, 35 f/2, 85f/1.8, 200 f/4 (replaced with a 200 f/2.8 ) and 50 macro.

Now, my standard kit is: 17-35 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8, 100-400 and 100 macro. There is no way I would go back to an all-prime kit and the only time that I use my primes is when f/2.8 just isn't fast enough. The 300 f/2.8 is the exception to that rule and I'll use that with 1.4x and 2x TCs until Canon gets the 200-400 out the door.

129

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS-1D X Delays [CR2]

« on: May 31, 2012, 07:18:59 AM »

Maybe we'll have red af points and f8 in the revised version.

That would be my guess. More importantly to me, where is the 200-400 lens?

130

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS-1D X Has Begun Shipping to a Select Few [CR2]

« on: May 24, 2012, 06:54:14 AM »

So where is the 200-400 lens? That would seem extremely useful for both Euro 2012 and the Olympics.

131

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Seriously people, how many of you have actually read the 5DIII manual?

« on: May 22, 2012, 08:33:00 PM »

I read most of the manual before I bought my 5D3. That's why I bought it. The PDF of the manual is on the hard drive of the laptop that I (sometimes) take with me on photo assignments.

132

Lenses / Re: Would anyone consider this to be "pro-level" lens choices? Read on..

« on: May 22, 2012, 11:23:20 AM »

Your choices look fine to me. I'm puzzled why you would sell the 100 macro since, on those rare occasions when I shoot a formal head & shoulder portrait, that is the lens I grab. (I also own an 85 f/1.8 and 135 f/2 but I'm not a fan of minimal DOF portraits.) The macro lens is, if anything, too sharp for portraits but too much resolution is better than too little.

133

EOS Bodies / Re: Availability Update: EOS-1D X & EF 500L II & EF 600L II

« on: May 21, 2012, 10:08:20 AM »

Is Canon going to miss the Olympics with large numbers of 1Dx's? And what about the 200-400 zoom? Last year at this time, I expected to own one by now.

134

Lenses / Re: whats the best lens for jewelery pictures canon rebel t3i

« on: May 17, 2012, 10:09:24 AM »

With true jewelery photography you want to have maximum control over the depth of field.  There is no way to achieve this with macro lenses alone when shooting rings for instance.  Half of the picture will be sharp, and half of it will start to get blurry.  Decreasing aperture will yield in loss of image quality.  Tilt-shift lenses from canon are quite good but won't get you close enough to the subject in a lot of the cases.  If you're serious about it you should look into large format cameras.  You can pick them up real cheap these days on ebay.  They allow complete movements of the front and back standards.  The lenses are superior, and you can purchase them relatively at low cost too.  You could probably opt in for Calumet lenses or try attaching an enlarger lens.  The plus side to large format system is that you can purchase a plate which will allow you to mount Canon equipment and in the future you can also mount medium format sensor.

As a previous poster pointed out, extension tubes can be inserted between the camera body and the tilt-shift  lens to allow closer focusing. They effectively do the same thing that extending the view camera bellows does - move the lens further from the sensor/film plane. The Canon tilt-shift lenses also take teleconverters very well.

Does anybody use view cameras any more?

135

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon 7D Mark II Info? [CR2]

« on: May 14, 2012, 05:39:50 PM »

I already bought a 5D3 to replace my 5D. The 7D2 could be the perfect replacement for my 40D.