Messages

1

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: Advice on 1st flash

« on: May 16, 2013, 06:33:08 PM »

I have a 600EX-RT, 430 EX II, and Yongnuo YN568EX.  All good, but I mostly do off camera.  If you are going with on camera, and on a budget, the 430 EX II is the best choice to start with.  While I like the Yongnuo, I find the AF assist beam to be hit/miss (with more miss) and not even close to the center AF point.  My two cents on Yongnuo is they are best for off camera work.  But they are workhorses and usable.  It is just the 430 EX II is a better choice for the first speedlite.  Best of luck.

I agree. I have a couple of Yongnuo YN560s and they are great manual flashes. I also wouldn't hesitate to buy one or two YN565/YN568s instead of a second Canon flash, but I would definitely get the Canon as a first flash. It's less likely to have problems with current and future DSLR bodies and the warranty is there if you ever need it fixed. (Yongnuo offers a comparable warranty on their own flashes but there is no service center in the USA -- you'll have to ship it to China for repair/replacement!)

2

Pricewatch Deals / 600EX-RT speedlite deals?

« on: May 16, 2013, 04:38:54 AM »

Hey guys... sold my 430EX II setup and looking for a deal on a couple of 600EX-RTs... The current price of $499 is pretty great, but I'd take the refurbs from Canon direct for $380 if they would get them back in stock (not likely).

Are there any other deals on the 600EX-RT? I saw some of the ebay ones going for $480ish a while back but they've disappeared!

3

Lighting / Re: Issue with 600ex flash

« on: May 15, 2013, 07:07:54 PM »

I think this can happen if there are problems with the connection from the camera hotshoe to the flash. Maybe your flash cord is damaged and you should try a different one.

4

Lighting / Re: Buff Einsteins can use any Balcar accessory?

« on: May 14, 2013, 05:52:54 PM »

I'm pretty sure the AlienBees and Einsteins have always used the Balcar mount. PCB doesn't call it that on their website but it should be the same thing.

5

EOS Bodies / Re: No 7D Mark II in 2013? [CR2]

« on: May 14, 2013, 05:37:14 PM »

Can't you do that with the 6D?

There's not much range on the little canon remote, plus you have to be in front of the camera. It's nice to stay hidden, 30 or 40 feet away, and be able to see what the lens sees.... You should be able to do anything over wireless that you can do tethered, plus using the tablet to do intervals, trigger on sound, changes in exposure, movement......

He's not talking about the Canon remote shutter, he's talking about the 6D's integrated Wi-Fi. Canon has released an app for Apple and Android devices called EOS Remote, which can remotely control the 6D completely from the phone.

6

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: Advice on 1st flash

« on: May 14, 2013, 02:59:04 PM »

The 430EX II is an excellent first flash. It has Canon build quality and reliability, TTL, zoom, decent power, and quick recycle. If you become a professional shooter and need a more powerful flash in the future, you can still keep it and use it as a slave to a 580EX, 600EX, or Phottix Mitros.

The 430EX II will last as long (probably longer) than your camera body and you'll find constant use out of it.

7

Canon General / Re: Lost a 5DIII. Deciding how to replace. Big Value = Bad Idea?

« on: April 26, 2013, 06:32:01 PM »

Anyone know if DigitalRev is an authorized reseller?  Their prices seem pretty good. 
http://www.digitalrev.com/product/canon-eos-5d-mark-iii/MTAwMDQwNQ_A_A

I would not purchase from DigitalRev, especially after this fiasco... 
http://fstoppers.com/digitalrev-allegedly-selling-used-cameras-as-new-and-are-yet-to-issue-a-response

DigitalRev offers their own 1 year warranty on all their Canon products, so in the event that you purchase a defective Canon camera and Canon refuses to service it under warranty, DigitalRev will cover the cost of repair or replacement. I forgot where I read this but it's somewhere on the DigitalRev site and I believe it to be true.

What happened in that story above was a DigitalRev employee took one of the DRTV 5D3s and shipped it as new in order to improve his performance rating (they were out of stock and he would have had to cancel the order otherwise, negatively affecting his rating).

That was an isolated incident and DigitalRev has taken appropriate action against the employee and compensated the blogger who wrote the story. Additionally, they hired an internal auditor just to ensure that something like this would never happen again.

The whole incident showed that despite the bad employee, DigitalRev was really on top of their customer service. I would definitely buy from them!

8

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Sigma Announces 18-35 f/1.8 DC HSM Art for APS-C

« on: April 26, 2013, 04:21:29 PM »

Let's say Canon releases the new 70D with a next-generation crop sensor... Now let's say this new sensor has noise performance as good as the 5D Mark II. (A stretch, but I think it's possible)

A crop camera with better ISO performance than the same manufacturer's previous full frame? Show where this has ever happened in history.

You're right, it's never happened in history. But maybe it will soon. (Yes, that's a big maybe!).

I'd guess that the noise performance of the new Rebel SL1 can't be too much worse than the original 5D's. I think the 7D Mark II has a good chance of having excellent noise performance. It will never beat the latest full frame bodies, but maybe it can give the previous generation of FF cameras a run for their money.

And what about using Sigma's f/1.8 zoom on a full frame camera? Sure, it's not designed for FF, but from the Korean site with the samples it appears to mount and work properly on a 5D Mark II (though with heavy vignetting at all FLs below 28mm). If you're willing to lose resolution by cropping out the vignetting, then you actually can achieve FF-level noise performance with this lens, and still shoot at an f/1.8 exposure. (AND get the full f/1.8 depth of field as well!)

I'm not trying to say that crop will be better than FF -- it never will be. I just want to clarify for the people who may not know or understand the facts: at the same ISO/ shutter speed, an f/1.8 crop exposure is always brighter than an f/2.8 FF exposure.

If crop performance can approach FF performance at only a fraction of the cost, then that's good news for photographers everywhere. That's why this new lens is a big deal and that's why I want to get one. (I don't even own any crop cameras right now!)

9

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Sigma Announces 18-35 f/1.8 DC HSM Art for APS-C

« on: April 22, 2013, 03:15:27 PM »

Right, the FF lens "gathers" twice as much light, and then spreads the "gathered" light over a much larger sensor. The crop lens "gathers" less light, but then focuses the light onto a small sensor, creating a brighter exposure than the full frame lens despite having "gathered" less actual light.

10

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Sigma Announces 18-35 f/1.8 DC HSM Art for APS-C

« on: April 22, 2013, 02:17:56 PM »

Yes, once again you're correct that the 1.8 crop lens has the same light-gathering ability as the 2.8 FF lens.

However, the important fact (to me, at least) is that the exposure from the 1.8 lens will be twice as bright-in camera than the 2.8 lens at the same ISO -- for low-light shooting this is more important to me than depth of field.

11

Lighting / Re: T3i - 600EX-RT or Canon Speedlite 580EX II

« on: April 22, 2013, 01:52:57 PM »

Also if you use the Phottix Strato's and I had them initially and they do work wonderfully for manual flash, if you're going to suggest an upgrade to them, why not the Phottix Odin?  They are superior to Yongnuo triggers all day long and I find the TTL in the Odins to work seamlessly with my Canon cameras.  The Yongnuo triggers are sketchy at best if he wants to get long service out of them imho...

The cost of the Odin system begins to approach that of the of RT system... Four YN622s cost $180, while one Odin transmitter w/three receivers costs $575.

If you're willing to shell out for TTL flashes and Odins, maybe the 600EX RT is the better way to go as you won't have to hassle with more batteries and separate triggers.

I don't think the Canon  ST-E3-RT will work on the Rebel.  The full advantages of this latest flash system can only be realised with the 5D Mark III or the 1Dx.  However, the 600EX-RT will work like the 580EX II with on camera flash & TTL metering etc. and wireless off camera flash through its line of sight light sensor.  It just won't have the radio capability with the OP's Rebel.

The ST-E3-RT should work fine on the Rebel. Some features may not be available, but from what I've read, features that are only supposed to work on the 5D3 and 1DX actually do still work on older cameras like the 5D2 and Rebels, despite the fact that Canon's documentation says otherwise.

12

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Sigma Announces 18-35 f/1.8 DC HSM Art for APS-C

« on: April 22, 2013, 05:53:00 AM »

They also posted what it looks like when mounted to a full frame camera:

http://lcap.tistory.com/entry/Sigma-18-35mm-f18-with-5D-Mark-II

Vignetting is not too bad at 35mm, so it's like getting a 35mm f/1.8 prime for FF that works at 18-34 on crop

13

Speedlites, Printers, Accessories / Re: Where is this new flash?

« on: April 22, 2013, 12:04:08 AM »

Figured I'd bump this thread. Given there's an announcement on the 23rd, anyone think a cheaper RT flash might sneak its way in? My suspicion is that a $400 RT flash will never exist, at least while the ST-E3 is around. People have been complaining that that triggering unit doesn't have AF assist, so a 440-EX RT would basically be a slightly more expensive AF assisting radio trigger. The only way I see canon getting around that is making this hypothetical flash only capable of being a radio slave, which I have a hard time seeing happen. Thoughts?

I'm with Neuro on this one.

A 400 RT flash is definitely possible, and if it does come out it will be a slave-only unit, just like the 430EX flashes are slave-only units to the 580EX.

Of course, Canon doesn't really seem to want to release a cheaper RT flash right now because it would steal sales of the 600EX.

14

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Sigma Announces 18-35 f/1.8 DC HSM Art for APS-C

« on: April 21, 2013, 09:06:39 PM »

Or let me give you a different example:

Let's say Canon releases the new 70D with a next-generation crop sensor, and costs $1200 at launch. (Likely to happen if Canon wants the camera to compete with the Nikon D7100. Additionally, I believe the price would drop shortly after release, just like the 6D)
Now let's say this new sensor has noise performance as good as the 5D Mark II. (A stretch, but I think it's possible)
And let's pretend that the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 costs $1200. (Honestly, I think it will cost a little less than this)

So now you've got your Canon 70D with Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 (which you paid $2400 for) and you shoot it at ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/200s.
Now you take your old 5D Mark II (which you bought used for $1200) and mount your 24-70 f/2.8 (the mark I version, which you also bought used for $1200) and shoot it at ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/200s.

Guess what? The crop image is going to be brighter than the FF image. And if the new, next-generation crop sensor really does have high-ISO noise performance as good as the 5D Mark II, then you also have a brand new crop setup that costs the same as a used FF setup and still gets a brighter exposure because of the large f/1.8 aperture than the f/2.8 on full frame, with the same noise at any ISO.

I would take that crop setup over that FF setup any day.

15

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Sigma Announces 18-35 f/1.8 DC HSM Art for APS-C

« on: April 21, 2013, 08:49:38 PM »

Why do you care how much light the lenses capture? That's irrelevant. What I care about is the final exposure.

Because the Sigma is an f/1.8 lens, it may be quite possible that the 24-70 does not create a bright enough exposure for a photographer in a low-light situation, so the Sigma will be much "nicer" to use in that situation.

What about using the FF system at a higher ISO? As the FF sensors larger area allows it to capture 2.56x more light, you can use an ISO 2.56x higher (just over a stop), without suffering from any more noise than the crop sensor. ISO 10,000 on a typical APS-C sensor gives the same noise as ISO 25,600 on a typical FF. If you do choose to make use of the higher ISO's made available to you, the final exposure is the same, and the f1.8 crop system offers no low light advantage over an f2.8 full frame system.

You're right, the newest FF sensors typically deliver the same ISO as a crop sensor could with less noise. But when the next generation of crop sensors come out, the difference won't be as big. And let's not forget that crop bodies cost significantly less than FF bodies. Not everyone has the budget for an FF camera.

Also, not everyone has the latest FF sensor. What if you're shooting in a low-light situation with a 5D classic (the original mark I version) with a 24-70 f/2.8 and a Rebel T5i with the new Sigma 18-35 f/1.8? I would personally use the Rebel+Sigma in that situation.

I haven't seen any RAW samples of the T5i (and I'm actually not too familiar with the 5D's files either) but I'd guess that the noise performance gap between those two cameras isn't that huge.