Topics

31

Lenses / Canon vs. Tamron

« on: January 30, 2012, 01:16:12 PM »

Another "rumors" site focused on a brand that shall remain nameless but which starts with "N" says Tamron has moved into the #2 spot among lens makers in Japan.

That's pretty impressive, especially since their lineup is fairly limited. Tamron's two top lenses are their 18-270 all-in-one and their new 70-300 zoom. This makes me wonder if we won't see an all-in-one soon from Canon and also, I wonder, if we are due for an upgrade to the non "L" Canon 70-300mm IS. And, if we are, I wonder how Canon improves on this lens without hurting the "L" version.

Of course they can leave off the weathersealing, but it seems like they would need to improve the optics, IS and maybe the focusing. But, they might be worried about hurting sales of the "L" version, which I suspect haven't been all that stellar anyway. On the other hand, they may figure the two are focused on such different markets, if they can sell five or six non "L" versions for every one "L" it might be worthwhile.

What do others think?

32

EOS Bodies / Tastes Great...Less Filling

« on: January 27, 2012, 06:06:18 PM »

Okay, I think polls should be fun and simple. Fewer choices the better. Just to stir things up over the weekend, let's see what people think.

And, yes, I know there are lots of other considerations, but keep it in perspective guys. This is for fun.

33

EOS Bodies - For Stills / RAW and ISO

« on: January 25, 2012, 04:09:24 PM »

Aargh! Somewhere buried in the posts of the last week or so (I think) was a discussion of RAW files, native ISO, how digital cameras read the data, etc. etc.

Now I can't find it. But, at any rate, it was way more technical than I could follow. I'm wondering if some of the more technically-minded participants might be able to give us non-techies a simplified explanation of what they were talking about and why it matters (if it does indeed matter).

When I go out to take pictures and set my 7D to ISO 400 (hey! I shot Tri-X most of my life) and shoot RAW am I really setting the ISO to 400 or am I making some compromise that I am not aware of. And, should I care?

34

EOS Bodies / Rebate Extended/New Rebate

« on: January 14, 2012, 12:15:56 PM »

Looking at both the B&H and Canon USA sites, it appears the 5D and 7D rebates have either been extended or a new $100 rebate is in effect. Anyway, expiration date now appears to be Feb. 4.

35

EOS Bodies / Is "X" the new "L"?

« on: January 10, 2012, 01:41:03 PM »

Two new Canon cameras aimed at up-market buyers. Both designated as "X."

I'm wondering if this is a new marketing strategy by Canon. Given their success at convincing us that lenses with red rings around them and the letter "L" after the name are worth paying a premium for, can we expect a whole series of "X" cameras?

I don't foresee a 5D "X" (that's what the 1D series is reserved for) but I can definitely see a 7D "X" in the future. Marketed to pros wanting more reach than the 1D, but also selling to enthusiasts who have to have the latest and greatest.

36

Software & Accessories / 1000 X Flash Card

« on: January 06, 2012, 05:57:34 PM »

I see Lexar has announced a compact flash card that they say is 1000X.

I've seen some discussion of this before, but can't seem to spot it now so I apologize for starting a new thread on what may be an old topic. But, would some of the technical people out there care to offer some enlightenment as to what if any advantage there could be to super high speed cards?

My understanding is that for shooting, you really only need a card fast enough to clear out the buffer of your camera before it becomes full. Beyond that, the only advantage to a fast card is that it can transfer data more quickly to your computer.

Is that correct? And, if so, on a 7D (for example) how fast would that card need to be to keep ahead of the frame rate of the camera. I've never had a problem with my 7D, but I do buy better cards, although not the most expensive.

Am I missing something? Is there any reason to buy a super high speed card if you don't really care how long it takes to download your images to your computer? How do you know what speed is adequate for your camera?

37

Canon General / Missing lenses on Canon Refurb Site

« on: December 20, 2011, 01:05:28 PM »

Hmm...so I'm a little obsessive about checking the Canon USA Refurbished Site. I noticed that right after they ended their 15% off sale they removed several lenses from the refurbished site list.

The list went from five pages to just over four. Not sure what all has been removed but I see the two 70-200mm f4 lenses are gone, as is the 70-200mm f2.8 IS Version I.  This doesn't appear to be a case of them being sold out, as that is routinely noted on the descriptions.

I'd say this is a sign of new lenses, but I'm not sure I'm buying it. After all, the 50D is still listed on the refurbished camera site. Just thought I'd note this and encourage some speculation. We certainly speculate about a lot of goofier things here.

38

EOS Bodies / Canon Refurbished Camcorders 20% off

« on: December 14, 2011, 10:31:11 PM »

Another Canon promotion. 20% off Vixia consumer camcorders. http://usa.canon.com/app/emails/esdec11vi/?WT.mc_id=EM1112ES06017&RID=1-4EZNVQ&CON=1-BJZ-2368&PRO=&CID=1-4DAYGJ
 
Promotion code: UVLYE0JW

Doesn't interest me, but maybe someone?

39

Software & Accessories / Your Personal 7-Point System

« on: December 09, 2011, 04:37:57 PM »

This is an offshoot of a thread that has been growing fast. The original post was about how "earth-shatteringly" disappointing the Canon 7D is. http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php/topic,2375.0.html

I was struck by how insightful some of the comments were and thought I'd start a new thread. It's named after Scott Kelby's book about his "7-Point" workflow for all images he processes. The point of this thread is simple.

Share your tricks and techniques. When you are processing a RAW image, what steps do you routinely use? What secrets are you willing to share with others? How do you reduce noise, improve sharpness, expand range, etc. etc.

There's a lot of knowledge out there. How about sharing?

40

Software & Accessories / Printer Discount

« on: December 08, 2011, 06:42:14 PM »

I got a discount code for 60% off a Canon Pixma Printer. Secret code is: UV557A7C. It's for the Pixma MG5220. Don't know if it's a good deal or not. I don't need a printer.

Don't know if it will work for anyone else.

Here are the links if someone wants to try this:

http://www.usa.canon.com/app/emails/esdec11ii/?WT.mc_id=EM1112ES03017&RID=1-458B6E&CON=1-BJZ-2368&PRO=&CID=1-40JW62

http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10051_10051_260259_-1?WT.mc_id=EM1112ES03013&RID=1-458B6E&CON=1-BJZ-2368&PRO=&CID=1-40JW62

41

Software & Accessories / Tripod Collar Support?

« on: December 07, 2011, 04:15:08 PM »

I'm not sure how to explain this. The Sigma "Bigma" lens comes with a tripod collar that doubles as a hand grip (recessed areas for fingers) that makes it easier to hand hold the lens (at least in theory).

Has anyone ever come across a similar accessory for Canon lenses? Either a special tripod collar, or even better, a pistol grip that can screw into the tripod collar to make it easier to hand-hold a large lens (like the 100-400)?

42

Canon General / 15% Off at Canon Refurbished Store

« on: November 30, 2011, 05:50:35 PM »

I just got an e-mail from Canon this afternoon. 15% off refurbished SLRs and Lenses at the Canon refurb store. I think you have to be a subscriber to their e-mails. Looks like they provide unique codes for each e-mail. But, here is the weblink (doesn't show the code unfortunately. I already used mine. Sorry)

http://www.usa.canon.com/app/emails/esnov11xii/?RID=1-41J2A7&CON=1-BJZ-2368&PRO=&CID=1-3WF6RN

43

EOS Bodies / Great Prices Now

« on: November 30, 2011, 02:09:36 PM »

I'm impressed with some of the price drops I'm seeing. Looks like the reductions that we were seeing earlier in Canada and Europe may be starting to hit the U.S.

Not just the 5D, but the 7D as well. (In fact, I saw this morning that you can buy a 7D with a 28-135 for less than the body only price just a few weeks ago). Too bad I'm not in the market right now.

For the record, I don't consider this a "sign" of anything other than Canon is trying to scoop up added market share. (Actually, maybe I do consider this a sign: they are concerned about competition from Sony, Fuji, etc., and figure the best way to compete in the DSLR market is cut prices and try to lock people into their system. But, I don't consider it a "sign" that new product announcements are imminent.)

44

Software & Accessories / CMYK Improvements

« on: November 21, 2011, 05:33:17 PM »

Anyone out there have any experience with CMYK?

I'm working on a photo book and I'm a little stunned at how much is lost converting from RGB to CMYK. Color shifts, dull colors, etc. I'm not expecting an image to "pop" quite like it does on a screen or a tablet, but losing all the brilliance in certain colors (reds, yellows and greens particularly) is more than a little frustrating.

Some of the images rely heavily on color and tone contrasts to work and the images lose way to much in the conversions.

I've had a little luck adding adjustment layers after converting to CMYK, but that seems to introduce an entirely new set of challenges. I've found no decent reference books. Eventually, the book will go to a professional printer to tweak the images, but in the meantime, I need to produce a good sample to pitch the project.

45

EOS Bodies / Up-sampling: Your thoughts?

« on: October 20, 2011, 12:07:51 PM »

I mentioned this under another topic, but I thought it might be interesting to explore a little more directly.

Canon's announcement of the 1D X emphasized that the images could by enlarged through up-sampling. Maybe this is just hype to cover up for the reduced resolution. Or maybe not.

I'm neither an engineer nor a software specialist, so I confess that I don't know anything about the technology. But I do wonder if Canon engineers have concluded that rather than cram ever more megapixels onto a sensor, it is more efficient and produces better image quality to interpolate additional information through software.

Amazing things are already being done with software (content aware fill, for example). Some of the stuff on the horizon is also mind-boggling (Adobe's sneak peak of a proposed Photoshop feature that corrects out of focus images and the "light field camera" are just two examples)

Granted, up-sampling cannot add detail where none exists, but why should it be difficult to take a studio portrait shot at 18 mp and increase the effective resolution by two or three times, interpolating the data from existing pixels?

Perhaps we are entering an era where sensors are used for dynamic range and light sensitivity and software is used to expand the resolution.

Your thoughts?