Messages

376

EOS Bodies / Re: mhm... open letter to canon?

« on: September 26, 2012, 08:23:31 AM »

Many of these executives at canon are like execs at most other large corporations, they're good at corporate politics and doing things that help them move up the corporate ladder.  This doesnt make them great at making business decisions, just great at saying the right things to the right people.  After many years they finally get to a level in the company where they have the final say and/or significant influence on the business strategy, and features/pricing of a product like this new 6d or the ridiculously priced 24-70ii....and they end up making average business decisions which lead to "ok" products.

Steve Jobs constant focus on the product at Apple should be the most important class they teach at business school.  Make things that customers will fall in love with....profits will follow.   Not many people will fall in love with a canon 6d...IMO.

Edit...there was a "big miss" this year, but it actually came from Nikon.  They came with a 36mp "slower" camera that isn't as good of an "all around" camera as the 5d3...and targeted towards a narrower group of photogs.  But what if Nikon had done what canon did by simply upgrading their very popular d700?   They would've had a d800 out at $3,000, 22mp, 8fps, AND the much better sensor everyone keeps talking about....that would've forced canon to adjust their pricing a bit on the 5d3.

377

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Canon U.S.A Inc. Announces moving of Corporate Headquarters

« on: September 19, 2012, 05:33:05 AM »

Love it...great creativity!   Let me add a little please....

The mayor of nearby city Lake Seny had this to say about Canon's decision to move to lake failure,"we thought we had a shot at being the new home for canon usa because so many of their executives are golfers, and Lake Seny is known world wide for the quality of our city's driving range". 

Industry analyst D.R. Exmer had this to say, "engineers at Canon have been working to increase the quality of their  own city driving range by adding things like gapfree micro golf balls, but it seems like golfers continue to prefer the quality of Lake Seny's driving range".  Exmer also added, "even folks from nearby lake Nokin drive to lake Seny for the city's driving range"

Ken Blockwell, who was recently seen on Canon's driving range had this to say, "it doesn't matter what city driving range you use, just hit golf shots".  "I use cheap plastic golf clubs from the 1980's all the time, and I'll use whatever driving range that's closest, people just need to hit golf shots and forget about the quality of the driving range". 

Analyst DR Exmer, upon hearing Blockwell's advice had this to say, "that's the kind of advice I would pay for".

378

EOS Bodies / Re: Describe the 6D in one word...

« on: September 17, 2012, 05:59:54 AM »

Anyway, 11 cross-type points well spread and the AF performance could have been questionable in comparison with D600's 39 points (9 cross-type); 10 linear + 1 cross type for a +2000$ camera in 2012 is what it is: insulting.

+1

+2

379

EOS Bodies / Re: Describe the 6D in one word...

« on: September 17, 2012, 05:58:55 AM »

Regarding the Canon 6d..... for the same price, the new Nikon d600 is a better camera based on specs and Nikon's better sensor technology.

380

EOS Bodies / Re: Nikon user Swapping to Canon with a 5D3

« on: September 16, 2012, 09:05:19 AM »

Hi
 Can I ask which nikon camera you were using before the switch..Im currently a nikon user with a d700 and  pro glass,but i cant see
the d800 as a good upgrade for myself, so have been looking at switching to canon for the 5dmk3.
Maby im doing something wrong but find  myself shooting at 6400+ alot and the d700 struggles from there on, and the d800 doesnt seem much
of an improvement iso wise.

Ive never used a canon before so im not sure how i will get along with the controls..was it easy enough to pick up.
I also hear the canon 24-70 is very hit and miss with regards to getting a sharp copy(the mk2 is stupidly expensive) is this true..my nikon
is very sharp even wide open.

the nikon 24-70 is a better lens than canon's 24-70.....I imagine that canon's new 24-70 is probably better than the nikon but your right, it's expensive.

381

Animal Kingdom / Re: Need help - photographs on dull days

« on: September 09, 2012, 05:43:27 PM »

I'm not that great at PP, but I'll give it a try because I need practice 

382

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: Take a look at this image, can someone with great PP skill make it work?

« on: September 04, 2012, 10:58:29 PM »

I can't resist a challenge!

nice job dirt castle...looks great!

383

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: Take a look at this image, can someone with great PP skill make it work?

« on: September 04, 2012, 07:23:58 PM »

I've tried another edit.  Now that I know it's possible to make it work, I'm trying harder.  I'm looking forward to trying some of the layering technique when I have more time.

By the way...these beauties were fishing (and then resting) on the "old man".  (mighty mississippi) just a few miles south of downtown minneapolis.  Baldies have had a huge resurgence over the past 15 years as officials have worked hard to clean up the "old man".   

Please critique or comment.

384

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: Take a look at this image, can someone with great PP skill make it work?

« on: September 04, 2012, 07:15:56 PM »

Jamie...that looks great.  I also would be curious as to your editing workflow?

385

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: Take a look at this image, can someone with great PP skill make it work?

« on: September 04, 2012, 07:14:44 PM »

Here's my quick version.
I don't like doing too much PP, if i do it's using DPP from the raw file. This was in GIMP with the full-sized jpg from flickr.
Anyway:
crop out the crap, size ended up 1250x1000 (about as low as i'd go for a web-sized photo)
fix the curves, darken the blacks, boost some highlights, recover some mid-darks.
because I'm only using GIMP and didn't have the raw-file, my noise-reduction consits of a 1-pixel gaussian blur, followed by an unsharp mask, radius 1.4, amount 0.4, threshold 5.
Could do a lot better with more time and the raw file, now i'm really late for work.
Try the curves yourself from the raw-file, it's good to practise, as said earlier.

Thanks dr...good info!

386

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: Take a look at this image, can someone with great PP skill make it work?

« on: September 04, 2012, 07:11:54 PM »

Here is what I would do (This is meant to teach you to fish, not to catch the fish for you):

Open in Adobe Camera Raw. Kick up the blacks, contrast, etc. to get the overall image as best as you can. Don't worry about the shadows or highlights right now.

Open as a smart object. In Photoshop, make a new smart object via copy (must be a new smart object so the two objects are not linked.)

Open the second smart object in Adobe Camera Raw and start working on the highlights, to bring some detail back into them (adjust exposure first) (Always work downward from the list of adjustments in Camera Raw, starting with exposure and moving down the line. If one adjustment messes up the exposure, go back and adjust the exposure slightly).

Send the second layer back to Photoshop. Now you have two layers, one should be optimized for the midtones, and one for the highlights. Do you need one optimized for the shadows? If so, make another smart object copy and repeat the above in Camera Raw for the shadows.

After you have your two-three layers, add a layer mask to one of the layers. Using the brush tool paint away the parts of the layer to reveal the layer underneath that you want to use. (For example, if your layer optimized for highlights is below the layer optimized for midtones, you will paint away the highlight areas on your midtone layer to reveal the highlight layer underneath) If you paint away too much, switch the brush to white and paint it back in.

After you are done with the second layer, then do the same with the third (create a layer mask and start painting away the areas you want to reveal on the layers below).

This is a really abbreviated version, but experiment and you'll get the idea. Smart layers are absolutely great in this regard, because you can compress the range of tones to fit the subject.

When you get done, link the three layers and then copy all three. You'll now have six layers (or however many you've created times two). Make the original layers invisible and then merge the copied layers using "merge visible" that way, you have one layer you can work with and three invisible layers that preserve all  your work, in case you have to go back and adjust something later.

Now, this isn't going to help with cropping (which this photo is going to need quite a bit of). Your can either crop it beforehand in Camera Raw or crop it later in Photoshop. I'm not sure how much cropping you'll be able to do and still have a decent print, I would just start chopping away gradually, until I reach a balance that looks good.

Smart object technique courtesy of Scott Kelby. Highly recommended.

Of course in Photoshop there are a dozen different ways to do the same thing. I just find this the easiest.

unfocused...I really appreciate the time you took to explain your process to me.  I'm going to try that when I have some time.  Thanks.

387

5D MK III Sample Images / Re: Take a look at this image, can someone with great PP skill make it work?

« on: September 04, 2012, 04:47:02 PM »

Why is it posted as a png.  Thats not a useful format for editing.  provide a link in Raw.

you're right, I've fixed this.  now there's a link to a flickr acct. in the original post.

thanks.

388

5D MK III Sample Images / Take a look at this image, can someone with great PP skill make it work?

« on: September 04, 2012, 03:24:09 PM »

I'm looking for a little help and/or an opinion from someone with more experience/knowledge about post processing.

I found these two beautiful bald eagles sitting together for a portrait, unfortunately, they were about 250 yards away and sitting in shade. 

Used a 5d3, 70-200 2.8ii, 2xiii.  At 380mm.  ISO 800 - 1/500 - f/7.1

I played around in Aperture trying to make this image work, and I'm just struggling.  I'm wondering what somebody with  more experience/knowledge could do with this image?  Or are the distance and light issues too great?

This is an untouched straight out of the camera image...I've only cropped.

Here's a link to the raw version
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31549996@N08/7932287884/#sizes/o/in/photostream/

389

Lenses / Re: 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II not fitting securely to 5DMKIII body???

« on: September 04, 2012, 12:03:24 PM »

Gino...I have the 5d3 and 70-200ii and I also have "play".  I noticed it right away when i bought the lens.  Like you, I don't get it with any of my 5 other lenses, just the 70-200.

I'll often notice a slight "jiggle" at times when I move the camera or walk around with the lens pointing down.

It bothered me so much at first that I drove to two different camera stores to see if the same thing happened with their demos...it did.  Now 6 months later, I've been to several different camera stores and checked them out and every single one had this "play"....including nikons with 70-200 mounted.

It is very normal...I've checked at least a dozen combinations and every single one had some "play".

390

Lenses / Re: Help..need advice. My lens was submerged briefly...

« on: September 03, 2012, 03:57:02 PM »

ok..i'll look for silica gel packs....i'll ship off to repair after i "dry" it out for a couple days

thanks to you both.