Messages

16

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5Diii pink picture problem

« on: March 25, 2012, 01:20:30 PM »

Had a similar issue with an old PowerShot A70 years ago and it was a hardware problem.

17

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Buying 60D, what lens + accessories get?

« on: March 24, 2012, 08:58:26 PM »

So I decided to get 60D. Now the question is regarding what lens and accessories to get.

1) Lens wise I will get 50 1.8 and I am leaning towards 15-85, but as a new DSLR user, will I be able to tell a difference between it and 400 pounds cheaper 18-55 IS ii? Is it worth getting 18-55 now, and later upgrading to 15-85 if I need to, or is it better to buy it in the first place and save those 70 pounds (good lens is always a good investment, right? )
(Though about 24-105 too, but being my main lens, 24 would be not wide enough on crop).

2) As for the future, I will want to get cheap telezoom, which I would use rarely (IS 55-250 fits here well, but maybe you would recommend another one (range and price are the important factors here, because I would use it rarely anyway (if I  get 15-85).

My suggestion: Get the 15-85 as your standard zoom. It has a great focal range (esp. wide-angle, compared to the 18-55), good build quality (except for zoom creep) and very good image quality. Regarding the flash: The 430EX II isn't that expensive and does just about everything you would want from a flash (especially since you can trigger it remotely with the 60D). The 270EX II ("II" is important since the first version can't be triggered remotely) sometimes lacks a bit of power when bouncing (forcing you to increase the ISO a bit) but it's a lot smaller and lighter.

I highly recommend the 55-250 as a telezoom, it's great value for money. From there, you'll have to go to the $1000 range to get a noticable step up in image quality.

18

Lenses / Re: Is 50mm Sigma that good?

« on: March 11, 2012, 02:16:05 PM »

Focus on the eyes, not the nose – remember that depth-of-field is very shallow at these apertures.
f/1.8 will probably not be enough to get the whole face in focus. Try a smaller aperture (e.g. f/3.2) first and work your way down.

19

EOS Bodies / Re: Nikon D800 vs Canon 5d3 sample images.

« on: March 05, 2012, 01:59:17 PM »

Yeah but the issue here is sharpness... and they seem to be pretty sharp.

It's okay but it's far from mindblowing. Whenever artificial light in involved and you can shoot at base ISO with the lens stopped down a bit, you can get that kind of sharpness even with a rebel and a kit lens. Seriously.

In fact Canon's sample image actually seems a bit soft to me. That might be caused by diffraction (shot at f/16), the RAW converter settings or the JPG compression.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing the 5D3. It's just that I've seen sharper pictures from lesser setups and therefore don't think this image does the camera justice.

20

EOS Bodies / Re: Lets get the 70D/7D Mark II rumors flowing!

« on: March 02, 2012, 03:45:06 PM »

I think the 5D3 already shows where the 7D2 is headed. After all, these cameras have probably been developed mostly in parallel and the 5D3 already borrows a lot of stuff from the original 7D design.

Therefore I expect:
- Pretty much a 5D3 body with an APS-C sensor and a pop-up flash
- All the new software features from the 5D Mark III
- New sensor, but staying at 18mp (there were rumors about that a while ago and I hope they are true)

I'm not sure if they'll give it a new AF system or update the current one (low-light AF performance could be improved but apart from that, the 7D's AF is pretty nice).


Overall, the 7D Mark II will probably be more of an evolutional upgrade. Canon's APS-C line already had it's "revolution" when the original 7D was released, and in terms of features, that camera is still pretty much up-to-date compared to the competition.

21

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon 7Dmk2 any rumors??

« on: March 01, 2012, 05:06:20 AM »

I believe that we will see a successor of the current 7D at not earlier than Photokina in September or in the early 2013.

+1

It's the 5D Mark III's time now 

No time for 7D Mark II 

Very true!!!

Then why are you still reading this thread?

22

EOS Bodies / Re: confirmation of 5D mkIII announcement date from a belgian vendor

« on: February 29, 2012, 07:22:01 AM »

You can't compare street price and list price.

List price of the 5D2 at its release:
Body only: € 2,499
24-105 Kit: € 3,299

Source: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos5dmarkii/2

23

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon 7Dmk2 any rumors??

« on: February 29, 2012, 06:53:19 AM »

Only pressure I can think of is that the 650D puts them between a rock and a hard place - either they gimp the 650D so it doesn't get close/surpass other model lines that are a lot older (eg sensor or DIGIC chip wise).

I don't think they'd hold back on the DIGIC 5 as it's already on announced possibly released Canon Point & Shoots.
As for the sensor  - we simply don't know. We dont' know how the shake up of the 1 series line with the 1DX and the 5DIII/5DX with the 5D and possibly 7D lines will filter down.

Canon has released new sensors and DIGIC chips in lower-end cameras before, so I don't think they have to hold back anything from the 650D. There are still enough other things to differentiate the 650D from the higher camera lines, IMHO.

24

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon 7Dmk2 any rumors??

« on: February 29, 2012, 06:01:40 AM »

The 7D is a big seller, probably Canon's best-selling "pro" DSLR. I don't see why there wouldn't be a Mark II version.

lets face it 7D is a 3 years old camera ( its time to be upgraded).

It may be one of the oldest cameras in Canon's lineup but it's certainly not "an old camera" technically:
- It has Canon's current APS-C sensor
- It has all the checklist features of newer DSLRs (high-res screen, video mode, etc.)
- It has features most newer Canon DSLRs either don't have or just recently got (LCD viewfinder, AF modes)
- It doesn't have any big weak spot (like the 5D2's AF for example)

My guess is that Canon won't release a 7D Mark II before Nikon releases the D400. They just have no pressure to do so.

25

EOS Bodies / Re: What will be announced on Feb 28?

« on: February 26, 2012, 11:13:40 AM »

My guess: EOS 650D (+ EF 18-135 IS USM, if that lens is real)

26

Lenses / Re: Patent: Canon EF 35 f/2 IS

« on: February 24, 2012, 08:37:34 PM »

Sounds nice. On a FF camera, this would probably end up as my walkaround prime: Faster than a zoom, stabilized, probably light and compact and hopefully not as expensive as the 35L.

But since I won't go to FF anytime soon, I hope an EF-S equivalent is on the way as well. But there probably won't be, since they just announced the new 24mm f/2.8 IS.

27

EOS Bodies / Re: Compression for Lossless Storage of Ulra-High MP Photo Files?

« on: February 15, 2012, 07:20:56 PM »

Adobe has introduced lossy compression for dng files.  It is said to produce better quality images, and still have much smaller files than regular DNG.

If it uses lossy compression, the result can not be better than the original file. Better quality than JPG - yes, but not better than the original RAW/DNG file.


Anyway, shoot RAW and buy more storage. Lossy compression just isn't worth it for archiving originals.

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EOS Bodies / Re: Compression for Lossless Storage of Ulra-High MP Photo Files?

« on: February 15, 2012, 10:54:23 AM »

CR2 already uses lossless compression (other RAW formats do as well).

29

Lenses / Re: What lens for 7D EF-S or L

« on: February 15, 2012, 10:51:09 AM »

May I throw in the 15-85? Widest standard-zoom for APS-C and tack sharp, especially at wider angles.

It's not f/2.8 but it's great as a general purpose outdoor lens.

30

Lighting / Re: Using the Built-in Flash

« on: February 13, 2012, 07:00:14 PM »

Don't waste your time pimping the onboard flash, it's just a waste of money.

Get yourself a 430 EXII and bounce it from whatever you can find (ceiling, wall, curtains, reflector). Flash photography will never be the same for you, I guarantee. You can later get some triggers to fire the flash off-camera, which will open yet another new world. But for a start, just get a plain 430 EXII.

Photography is all about light. If the available light is crappy: Make your own.