Messages

76

Canon General / Re: Curious Distraction: Explain your username, avatar picture, etc...

« on: January 28, 2013, 09:59:04 AM »

My avatar is a self portrait - a sagittal MRI of me

Self portrait, i love it !

The choice of my avatar : because this photo has been taken in of my favorite places in the world, the peninsula of Osa and its amazing Corcovado national park (Costa Rica)...

I couldn't resist.  I had to Google "sagittal MRI" and I found this fascinating page using a sagittal MRI of Homer Simpson to explain the subject.  Pretty interesting!!  And if you look at a lot of sagittal MRI images, I think you will agree that Neuro's looks pretty good in comparison.

http://www.ariser.info/training/imgproc.php

77

Software & Accessories / Re: Which iMac

« on: January 28, 2013, 12:18:06 AM »

OK, I can't resist.  I have to chime in because honestly, I'm like the Neuro (based on Neuro's stellar cranial reputation on this forum) of IT when it comes to this subject.  Sorry, no offense Neuro!!  Between my knowledge and my associates' knowledge, I'm pretty solid on computer stuff ever since roughly 1985.

So now that I've established myself as an IT badass  , let me say this...

I could have written the posts by Niterider and intence01.  They saved me a lot of effort.  And they were mostly right.  If you like iProducts, great.  They are pretty, they do what they claim, they make a LOT of money for Apple.  I agree with Niterider, I also don't like Apple.  I like their products for the most part but they are WAY too expensive.  Apple is way too arrogant, greedy and controlling, not to mention hypocritical.  That said, I've owned Apple before, an IT associate owns Apple currently and I may even own it again someday.  But don't kid yourself.  The hardware isn't any different.  When you buy iProducts, you buy the whole rosy experience, the Apple ecosystem including the hype and the marketing.  In reality, you have a different OS and slightly different software but with limited driver or troubleshooting support from Apple.  Take away the matte Aluminum and the hardware is no different.

So forget brands and focus on what matters.  Your data, your image files.  What keeps them safe?  What helps your workflow?  Fault tolerance, backups and performance.  Sorry but Win7Pro and a high end Intel computer + Lightroom + decent IPS monitor will get that for you.  Spec out lots of RAM (16G +), and i5 or i7 CPU and a RAID1 Mirror drive array and you are ready to roll for at least another 3 years.

And FWIW, an iMac is a laptop with a 27" LCD attached.  Fine if that's what you want but not worth over 2 grand.  I've spent that but I have a i7 system wiith 32G of RAM, several 2TB Mirror arrays, 180G SSD, decent video and a solid 750W power supply/solid case.  I also use a U2410 DELL IPS Display.  It's been running for going on 2+ years.  Runs like a champ.

What do I gain by spending more to have an Apple product?  I don't fault anyone who does but I simply would rather put all that extra money toward a lens or even an iPad.  (Even though I actually have a nook HD+.)  I like Apple stuff just like the next guy but I cringe at how they take advantage of their customers' wallets with their overpriced products.  They didn't end up having the highest stock price on their own!  It required a high profit margin.

78

Software & Accessories / Re: Rucksack Camera Bags

« on: January 27, 2013, 09:11:11 PM »

If you're not carrying a huge amount of gear what you can do is use a regular backpack or messenger and put in inserts. I use a North Face Surge and put in an insert thing that fits a 17-50 f.8 and a 35mm with a T1i. I can also carry other lenses if I want but they'll be "loose." I put them in lens pouches in the backpack. It works for me and there is space for laptop and other things for the day, unlike with photo bags. Also, no one will assume you have expensive stuff in it.

Pretty much ditto!  Every few months I look at photo bags again and eventually end up back to the point where I question the whole photo bag approach.  Expensive, single use design with little room for anything else and ultimately a huge attraction for thieves.  If I'm doing real hiking on the trail, I'm hiking first, carrying photo gear second so the lenses, etc go in individual pouches that can be stowed separately in a true hiking backpack so the weight can be balanced, etc.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with photo bags per se, but in general I've never really warmed up to them.  Either I end up needing way more gear than they can carry on a local project (so I use larger trunks or rolling carts) or I carry less on my person using smaller modular bags for lenses on my belt, etc and a regular daypack for anything else including photo stuff or misc.

79

Software & Accessories / Re: Need help on Jpeg export settings in Lightroom 4.3

« on: January 27, 2013, 08:34:49 PM »

If i wanna print out jpgs with some Kodak (or else) instant printers u can find in store should i change the JPG colorspace to AdobeRGB first? Or is it nonsense since these instant printer machines arent that good anyway?

I'm no expert but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express recently and I believe that qualifies me to help... that and the fact that I did do some online research about AdobeRGB vs sRGB about a year ago.  There is a lot of mind numbing discussions out there that essentially end up at the fact that no one has any business using AdobeRGB unless they know why they need AdobeRGB.  People that are doing specific work in print houses, magazines, etc and they have specific reasons for needing that color space spec.  In fact, I also remember some mention of the fact that you may even be hurting yourself by using AdobeRGB but I honestly don't remember much about it except that I came to the conclusion that sRGB was where I needed to stay and I haven't heard much to change my mind since.

Maybe this thread will eventually shed more light on the subject.

80

Technical Support / Re: at what shutter speed you turn IS off?

« on: January 27, 2013, 05:31:37 PM »

Another reason to switch it off aside from the potential effect on AF speed/accuracy is that some wildlife reacts to the sound of it.

   Wow!  Really??  So does this mean that if you turn off the IS, you only get one shot when the much louder SLR Actuation scares off the wildlife?

81

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Emergency wedding, of sorts.

« on: January 27, 2013, 05:01:30 PM »

Well, I'm sure the OP's head is spinning by now.  If he's still with us, I'm not going to attempt to add more advice on top of all the stellar if not somewhat conflicting advice that's already been offered.  Of course, then I still end up writing way more than I intended below.  Well, anyway, read on if you like...

A situation just like this is what got me back into serious amateur photography.  Good friend, casual home wedding and just a borrowed 30D, one zoom lens, flash on a bracket and my own Digital Rebel.  Me and my wife took a bunch of pictures and I was hooked again.  (That was almost 4 years ago and I'm not sure I want to look at those pictures now.  Guess I should though just to see how I did compared to my current knowledge level since then.)

My point is that all the advice so far falls into two camps, run away or do your best along with details to support both.  Only you can decide what is best based on your relationship with your friends and your comfort/courage/knowledge level.  Sounds like you made a wise decision.

My vote would be to go for it as you outlined and learn from it, enjoy it and see what you can do.  I also own a 6D and from what you listed, you have a great collection of gear for your needs.  If you don't want to buy a big flash, don't.  However, you might consider a small SunPak RD2000 tilted up with a StoFen diffuser to use as fill.  Turn it off or on depending on what you think at the time.  Let ETTL do its magic and use the Flash Compensation setting to dial it down.  (I set Flash Compensation as the SET Button function for easy access on the 6D.)  Maybe set the Flash Function in Av Mode to Auto so the ambient light will balance with the flash more evenly (but with a much slower shutter speed).  Keep it simple.  Don't take every lens.  Put the 17-40 or 28-75 on your camera and get all the pictures you can.  Move around a lot.  Encourage people to get together, smile and wish the couple the best.  Shoot what's comfortable.  Push your limits but don't get a migraine doing it.  You can fix a lot with Lightroom.  Use available light if you are comfortable with that.

Bottom Line, don't try to be a "Pro Wedding Photographer" because you aren't.  Neither am I.  But you can perhaps be an amateur journalistic photographer with some practice and prep.  Be that.  Before the wedding, try to surf the web and look at all the images you can of wedding receptions, party events, etc.  Get posing ideas.  Get composition ideas.  Practice in the days leading up to the big day to help put yourself at ease.  My advice is to take what you can from BOTH camps of advice in this forum thread.  Just be you and prepare however you think works for you.  There's a ton of advice here, use what you can and let us know how it goes, maybe even post a few pics!

Good Luck and May The Force be with you!!   

82

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Emergency wedding, of sorts.

« on: January 27, 2013, 03:00:13 PM »

...what you need is a metric fuckton of knowledge

Coffee shot out my nose when I read that...

Meeee toooo!!!   

83

Technical Support / Re: at what shutter speed you turn IS off?

« on: January 27, 2013, 02:21:22 PM »

Hmm... I've never given IS a thought.  It just stays on and does what it does.  All I ever knew was to turn it off on a tripod but even that isn't an issue with the newer IS as they apparently detect that state and scale back their function automatically.  I never considered the possibility of gaining IQ by keeping or turning it off as RLPhoto mentions.  Anyone else besides Sporgon and RLPhoto have an educated reason and experience keeping IS off?  I may have to try it.  I guess the plan for keeping it off is just use it for low light, slower shutter speed and very long reach times?  I guess now I'm intrigued that I could get sharper images with IS off and so I'm interested in trying it.  My bigger fear is that I'll forget to turn it on when it's really necc.

I still have to think that IS was designed to be left on (not off) and so I wonder how much IQ etc is actually gained by going to the trouble of managing it, manually switching it off and on.

84

Canon General / Re: Why did you choose Canon?

« on: January 26, 2013, 07:56:59 PM »

Completely out of character for me, I never gave it any thought whatsoever.  (Although I do remember giving it a ton of thought back in the '80's when AF was still emerging and we were debating whether it was better to get Nikon with in the Camera AF and backward compatible lenses or Canon with in the lens AF and the new EF EOS system.  Oddly that was the last time I ever seriously analyzed it and I analyze everything!  Every SLR and DSLR I ever used was a Canon.  All the way back to the AE-1 and AE-1 Program I started out with.  When I got back into it several years ago, I borrowed then purchased a good friend's 30D and within a year I had lenses, a 40D, then a 5D, tons of other stuff, etc.  Most of the folks around me have Canon and those that don't... well they miss out!  (Because I have way more of this crap than any amateur has any business having.)

Eventually I am going to have to start going to some kind of AA for Photographers.  This hobby is really getting out of hand!!  Of I'll have to quit volunteering with Boy Scouts, School, Church and other misc things so I won't have anything left to shoot!

Besides, I look at some of my pictures and think I might be an OK photographer, then I look at the shots I made last night and wonder why the hell I even bother!!

85

Canon General / Re: Curious Distraction: Explain your username, avatar picture, etc...

« on: January 26, 2013, 07:43:32 PM »

I love cars, and have always loved musclecars. Back in high school and college, I made a habit out of destroying my friends four-cylinder Hondas and Mitsubishis with my V-8 Camaro. They called it the V8Beast, the name stuck, and it's made for a silly online handle over the years. Fortunately I've been able to make a career out of my hobby.

My avatar pic is just a piston and connecting rod assembly.

I had a '75 El Camino back in the day.  Rebuilt it from the ground up.  My buddies that I did all this stuff with had a '65 Fastback Mustang and a '65 Chevy Pickup.  We did more to them than to mine.  We transformed the '65 Pickup into a V8 Beast that with 5 lug wheels, Posi-Trak, 1 ton granny low tranny, 3/4 springs and disc power brakes, stereo, captains' seats, multi-coat paint job, roll bar, big hand made front push bar/bumper, etc.  We learned everything by doing it ourselves and reading books.  Lots of junk yard visits.  We taught ourselves to paint, weld, mechanic, fabricate, etc.  Hard to imagine all the stuff we managed to accomplish without the Internet.  Not sure if I can find the bathroom without a Google search these days....  (Thank God for StreetView!!).

FWIW, I think photographing products and in this case, automotive parts like that piston-rod assembly is some of the most challenging photos to make look dramatic and three dimensional.  Love to see more cool pictures of forged pistons!  Vrrrooooom!

86

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Against the odds?, or Common sense...

« on: January 26, 2013, 04:36:25 PM »

Welcome apop!  You should find that this forum is a positive place with a smaller than usual amount of malarkey and a lot of solid advice and frequent posts.  Enjoy the ride and have fun!   

87

Canon General / Re: Curious Distraction: Explain your username, avatar picture, etc...

« on: January 25, 2013, 05:14:39 PM »

I've used my name for various things in the past, mostly on forums but also online games as my avatar username. Not only that, I have registered 'croubie industries' as a business and used it when I subcontracted myself out for various engineering jobs (in a sort of "Vandalay Industries" way, if you don't know what that is then you're too young. Go rent some Seinfeld DVDs).

But the truth of where it came from? Me and a mate, back in high school (so at least 12-14 years ago), were around at his place late one night sampling some 'herbs' that he'd grown in his garden. We started just babbling crap, made up words that sounded cool, and I particularly liked the sound of 'croubie', we even tried to get it to catch on as a slang word for the herbs, it caught on with a few friends (particularly good when discussing nefarious activities around people we shouldn't, like parents).
Then I got a subcontracting job and needed a business name. Well, I didn't need one, but using my actual name sounded less 'business-like', so I made up 'croubie industries' as a sort of 'vandalay industries', but also having a dig at my bosses (who didn't know my other made-up meaning for the words).
13 years later and it's still around, even if it doesn't have the herbal double-meaning anymore (we all grew out of it, as most kids do).
Meanwhile, the global-octopus of croubie industries has stretched into many areas: photography & accessories, hifi/pa/guitar speakers and amps, computers & parts, and I can't think of what else. It's amazing what you can get when you ring up suppliers and say you're from a business (rather than some poor uni student), trade prices and free samples and all the rest.

"And you want to be my latex salesman."

Mine's a much similar story, minus the original origins and 415 associations. I'm really a trumpeter, but you can't make a living playing trumpet. But at ASU a couple decades ago I needed something for which I made up something vaguely resembling a corporate identity, and I've been using it everywhere since.

b&

I guessed it right!  I suspected that meant the musical instrument!  And FWIW, it was your username that inspired me to start this thread.  ASU = Angelo or Arizona?  I'm originally from San Angelo, TX where there is an ASU located.  Oh, and from what I know, it's not easy making a living playing a camera either!  And around these parts, I think it's 420.   

88

Canon General / Re: Curious Distraction: Explain your username, avatar picture, etc...

« on: January 25, 2013, 05:07:32 PM »

I've used my name for various things in the past, mostly on forums but also online games as my avatar username. Not only that, I have registered 'croubie industries' as a business and used it when I subcontracted myself out for various engineering jobs (in a sort of "Vandalay Industries" way, if you don't know what that is then you're too young. Go rent some Seinfeld DVDs).

But the truth of where it came from? Me and a mate, back in high school (so at least 12-14 years ago), were around at his place late one night sampling some 'herbs' that he'd grown in his garden. We started just babbling crap, made up words that sounded cool, and I particularly liked the sound of 'croubie', we even tried to get it to catch on as a slang word for the herbs, it caught on with a few friends (particularly good when discussing nefarious activities around people we shouldn't, like parents).
Then I got a subcontracting job and needed a business name. Well, I didn't need one, but using my actual name sounded less 'business-like', so I made up 'croubie industries' as a sort of 'vandalay industries', but also having a dig at my bosses (who didn't know my other made-up meaning for the words).
13 years later and it's still around, even if it doesn't have the herbal double-meaning anymore (we all grew out of it, as most kids do).
Meanwhile, the global-octopus of croubie industries has stretched into many areas: photography & accessories, hifi/pa/guitar speakers and amps, computers & parts, and I can't think of what else. It's amazing what you can get when you ring up suppliers and say you're from a business (rather than some poor uni student), trade prices and free samples and all the rest.

"And you want to be my latex salesman."

I love it!  What a great first post!  Let's see... The old "RL Co." I used to use.  "Robert Nelms" was a made up name we used as code on various things we would receive in the mail way back... it's all in good fun!  And many of your "ventures" above I have had a hand in as well, esp things to do with audio, computers, etc.  Thanks dude!!

89

EOS Bodies - For Stills / What Photo Web Host do you use?

« on: January 25, 2013, 04:06:08 PM »

Wasn't sure which section to post this in but the question is, which online photo host do you use and why?  For instance, I use Zenfolio because I wanted to make sure our Boy Scout and Church Youth images didn't end up being used in anything we couldn't control.  I've been very happy with Zenfolio.

However, I've noticed that aside from SmugMug, there aren't a lot of options if one doesn't want to sign away rights to pictures they host.

Does anyone know if flckr preserves the original owners' rights?  I notice a lot of folks on this forum use flickr as well as the "official" White House photostream.

90

Canon General / Curious Distraction: Explain your username, avatar picture, etc...

« on: January 25, 2013, 03:49:51 PM »

Hi everyone.  As I reply to some posts, it occurs to me that it would be interesting to get explanations or back stories from many of the user/contributors here on Canon Rumors about why they use/choose the username that they have.  For instance, neuro has explained it before but let's hear it again here all in one place!!  What does TrumpetPower possibly mean?  While we're at it, add some info about the avatar picture you use if you like.

In my case, RustyTheGeek started out many years ago as a domain name people would remember for my IT consulting business when they needed to email me.  Eventually it just made sense to start treating it like a brand, esp since it's never taken when choosing a username on forums, etc.  So there we go!  I still need to get an avatar picture uploaded.  Bad me.

Anyone else care to share?  Even if it seems self explanatory there might be more than meets the eye.