Messages

151

Software & Accessories / Re: Recommendations needed for Compact Flash cards for 5D Mk III

« on: September 21, 2012, 08:33:33 AM »

So if you're not maxing out your camera's buffer with continuous bursts or video, a fast card will do nothing for you - except drain your wallet.

That is not entirely accurate.  Faster cards mean spending less time waiting for the images to move from the card to your computer.  This may not be important for some people, but many photographers will have hundreds or thousands of images to transfer and slower cards simply take longer.  Time is money (to most).

152

Lenses / Re: Best way of doing AF MA?

« on: September 20, 2012, 03:05:50 PM »

I see, is it typically done for all the lenses you use or just the ones you are having issues with?

All of them since you may not realize that you are not getting the sharpest image possible.  Some of my lenses I thought were pretty good actually needed a fair amount of correction.  They are crazy sharp now.

153

Lenses / Re: Canon EF 50 F1.2L And EF 35 F1.4L Sharpest Settings

« on: September 20, 2012, 02:59:35 PM »

Neuro said,

"The 50L has focus shift - as you stop down from wide open, if back focuses, but at some point (which is dependent on subject distance) the thicker DoF overcomes the back focus.  So, if plotting the sharpness of the 50/1.2L based on autofocus (assuming it's AFMA'd normally, i.e. at f/1.2), I'd expect it to be sharp at f/1.2, then get progressively softer as you stop down until somewhere in the f/2.2-f/3.5 range, then get progressively sharper again, peaking at f/4 or f/5.6 then dropping again after f/11 when diffraction sets in."

So Neuro, here's the question, and I'm just spitballing.  Is there a workaround for the 50 1.2L's focus shift?  Have you ever AFMA'd your 50 1.2L at other apertures than f/1.2?  It seems you could generate a lens adjustment lookup table for the lens based on f-stop to squeeze the most sharpness from the lens.  I know you said it depends on subject distance, but the DIGIC knows what that is and could factor it in.  If there is utility in this approach, the next logical step would be convincing Canon to provide the capability to enter lens adjustment values based on f-stop.

I tried the AFMA for my 50 1.2L and I found that it also varies by focus distance.  Basically there was no way to get an accurate adjustment unless you only shoot at a certain aperture and distance.  I sent my 50L back and spent my money on other glass.

154

Lenses / Re: Best way of doing AF MA?

« on: September 20, 2012, 02:56:40 PM »

Question about AFMA for two 5D3s. Do I need to do each AFMA separately or can I just use the settings from the first body and copy it to the second?

You have to do it for each body.  The whole point of a AFMA setting is to correct the slight differences in lenses and bodies.  One body may be off by -2 and a lens may be off by +2 which means it focuses just fine (net of zero) but the other body may be off by -6 and the same lens is off by +2 for a net of -4.

155

Software & Accessories / Re: Recommendations needed for Compact Flash cards for 5D Mk III

« on: September 20, 2012, 12:53:01 PM »

Started having Sandisk failures so I switched to Lexar 1000 16GB cards.  No problems so far and they are FAAAAASSSTTT.    Using them in a 1DX and 1D4.

156

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Show your Battle Scars! - Show your shutter counts!

« on: September 20, 2012, 12:48:48 PM »

No easy way to get accurate shutter count on many Canon bodies.  My 1DX is a few months old and has ~100K actuations.  Shooting sports, I can put 30K on it in a weekend.  No big deal. Shutters were meant to be replaced. 

Holy $.... 100K... In a couple months....That's hard to comprehend....

20k on a single job?? Did you have ten batteries then? Wow! I can't really see why it would be wrong, it seems dead on to me.

When I shoot dog sports there are about 400+ dog runs per day for 3 days.  I shoot about 25 images per run which is about 30K for that weekend.   

157

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Show your Battle Scars! - Show your shutter counts!

« on: September 20, 2012, 12:15:56 PM »

No need to use software for the 1d x, it tells you in the menu. Mine is between 10 and 11k.

The system status menu that shows the release cycles does not appear to be correct on mine.  It shows <20,000 and I have shot more than that on a single job.  I am not sure why it is wrong, but it is.

158

Lenses / Re: Best way of doing AF MA?

« on: September 19, 2012, 04:14:40 PM »

Yep, another focal pro user here.

159

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Show your Battle Scars! - Show your shutter counts!

« on: September 18, 2012, 01:10:44 PM »

No easy way to get accurate shutter count on many Canon bodies.  My 1DX is a few months old and has ~100K actuations.  Shooting sports, I can put 30K on it in a weekend.  No big deal. Shutters were meant to be replaced. 

160

Lenses / Re: Canon EF 50 F1.2L And EF 35 F1.4L Sharpest Settings

« on: September 14, 2012, 04:11:56 PM »

Yes, Its at its best at F/8, but meh, What lens isn't?

My 200 f/2 on my 1DX isn't sharpest at f/8.   

161

Lighting / Re: Need Assistance on how to improve skin tones with strobes

« on: September 14, 2012, 02:38:03 PM »

Many mono lights have color shift throughout the power range but especially at the far ends of the power settings.  Modifiers can certainly do this as well (and change over time).  Regardless of this, you can fix it in post (especially if you shoot RAW).  Reducing the red shift should not take more than 1 minute in post with either Lightroom or Photoshop.

162

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 1DX Focusing Issues... Please share your experiences...

« on: September 13, 2012, 01:59:07 PM »

I agree that you need to make sure you have AFMA set for your lens.  I would also recommend learning a new way to focus your shots since the 1DX has a ton of settings when it comes to auto focus and using one shot is probably not the best in many situations.  I used to use one shot quite a bit, but I almost never use it now and the 1DX rewards me with about a 98% hit rate even with some very difficult shots at 85 f/1.2 or 200 f/2.  That hit rate is after approximately 100K shots on my 1DX.  Yes, I shoot quite a bit too.

These videos might help understand the complex auto focus system on the 1DX.  I am still trying to learn what settings are best for each type of situation.  Get it right and you should get killer sharp images.

http://learn.usa.canon.com/galleries/galleries/tutorials/eos_1dx_tutorials.shtml

If you use a tool like FoCal then you can test auto focus consistency which should help you understand what focus points are more consistent and if your lens is working properly.

163

Lighting / Re: Test Your Knowledge with Strobes/Thinking outside the Soft Box

« on: September 12, 2012, 02:48:45 PM »

Not sure I fully understood how you were triggering the lights, but if you were using a wireless sync then some will not work near the max sync shutter speed.  Some need to be slowed down a bit (like 160/s) to keep from showing the shutter.  Low batteries in triggers can also cause this.  Looks like simple shutter/sync issue to me.

164

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D3 Second Curtain Sync - Design Flaw?

« on: September 10, 2012, 09:58:45 AM »

I agree that the option should be available even when a flash is not mounted since you may be using a remote flash (with a basic trigger).  Older Canon cameras allowed this and for good reason (lots of photographers used it without a flash or canon trigger mounted).

Cannon needs to put that option back in the menu system full time.  Now I need to go check my 1DX and see if it is missing the same option.   

165

Lighting / Re: Perplexed on Aperture Choosing with Sekonic Meter

« on: September 10, 2012, 09:08:52 AM »

I also use FoCal and I can tell you that some lenses are better at f/8-f/11 than others.  My 135 f/2 is pretty good all the way up to f/10 or so but my 200 f/2 is much happier in the f/2.0-3.5 range which is right where I use it the most.   

(Note:  both lenses are fine at f/8 but do better at other apertures.)