Messages

16

Lenses / Re: Macro extension tubes

« on: October 03, 2012, 01:10:28 PM »

Hi guys,

Been having fun with a reversed nifty-fifty (attached) but want to get a bit crazy by adding extension tubes...  can anyone recommend any, or any advice on what to avoid?

thanks,

John

It's hard to make a mistake with tubes other than paying too much for Canon ones :-) Kenko all the way - they work great and are reasonably priced.

17

Software & Accessories / Re: What are most people using for processing RAW

« on: October 03, 2012, 01:07:56 PM »

What do most people use? I guess the answer is Lightroom 4.1.

I don't know of any other alternatives :-)

18

Canon General / Re: Why you should take your camera to family Weddings

« on: October 03, 2012, 01:02:16 PM »

Inexcusable!!! I shot a wedding last weekend. Just before the ceremony, my 5D3 was reporting I still had 160 frames of open capacity on my 8GB card.

Professional event photographers still shoot with 8Gb cards? Phew! That's not a lot of shots on a 5D3 unless you are a JPEG shooter.
I'm still frequently surprised how fast a 32Gb card fills on the 5D3.

-PW

I think a lot of professionals think in terms of a card becoming corrupt and less to lose on a smaller capacity card.

That. I almost exclusively use only 8GB cards for that reason, but I also keep checking my shot count all the time. However whoever can't or doesn't want to keep monitoring space usage should by all means use larger cards. Either way people need to be obsessive compulsive when it comes to preparations because it's too easy to screw up.

19

EOS Bodies - For Video / Re: Canon EOS 5D Mark III vs Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera

« on: September 24, 2012, 01:09:25 PM »

This is embarrassing to watch. Not that an SLR needs to be able to compete with a dedicated video camera, but at least put up a fight in the DR department.... And the price point - OMG... At sub $3000, this video camera is probably the best bang-for-buck on the market. 5DMK3's footage looks like it's been downsized to 720p and then stretched to 1080p. I dont understand what Canon was doing for the past 5 years.

20

Canon General / Re: How many of us are making money out of photography ?

« on: September 20, 2012, 01:14:11 PM »

"hey, if I can get this to a point where it could take over, I could quit my life-sucking day job and just do this full time!"...

LOL I felt like that for years and solved that problem by getting a way better full time job :-)  Now my full time job makes shooting weddings look like vacation in Aruba, and I will actually start shooting LESS :-) I want my hobby back, I don't care for a second job anymore :-)

21

EOS Bodies / Re: At what price point will you consider buying the Canon 6D?

« on: September 18, 2012, 01:15:06 PM »

I don't see a reason to buy this over a 5DMk2 which has great build quality and normal sync speed (AND LOWER PRICE). This is an FF sensor in a rebel body - no thanks. Oh and "but it's got half a stop better noise at 6400ISO" excuse is getting old.

LOL am I glad I got that second Mk2 for $2000....

22

Software & Accessories / Re: Are Ultrabooks Fast enough?

« on: September 14, 2012, 07:30:44 PM »

Yeah it sounds like it's time for a new catalogue. More powerful box will maybe allow you to push catalogue size a little further, but no matter what hardware you get, eventually you will hit the wall because the resource consumption can go up indefinitely as your catalogue grows.

I did a little bit of digging and in 2011 alone, I had a total of about 52,000 RAW files in my catalogue (I don't keep any JPEGs in there) , so about 13,000 per quarter roughly. At times, I found even this to be too much for comfortable work, but I'm too lazy to start a new catalogue each month.

23

Software & Accessories / Re: Are Ultrabooks Fast enough?

« on: September 13, 2012, 06:11:30 PM »

Mine neither, seems like an overkill. Not to mention that i always work on multiple things at the same time, opening and closing catalogues all the tine would drive me nuts.

I'd have to do some digging to be able to tell you how many files i go through quarterly, i have no idea to be honest. I didn't have a scientific, measurable reason for going with quarterly catalogues, i just eye balled it cause it seemed like a good compromise between performance and convenience, and i'm happy with it ( for now :-))

24

Software & Accessories / Re: Are Ultrabooks Fast enough?

« on: September 13, 2012, 01:40:04 PM »

Well I now start a new catalogue every quarter (Q1-Q4). I mean it depends on how much you shoot but quarterly happens to work out perfectly for me because of the volume of pictures that I shoot. Just around the time when my LR starts slowing down, I create a new catalogue and start fresh.

Starting a new one for every job would be an excessive and unnecessary I think.

25

Software & Accessories / Re: Are Ultrabooks Fast enough?

« on: September 12, 2012, 01:28:10 PM »

I do all my post-processing with my MacBook Pro, 16gb RAM, and 512gb SSD.  It's super fast for anything that I throw at it.  The key is getting at least 8gb RAM and the SSD.  The SSD makes a world of difference.

I am sure your Mac runs great but I find on all these forums everyone immediately goes the Mac Route. I think ultrabooks like the Asus UX31A with it's 1080p ips antiglare screen prove that windows still has it's place. Also a lot of people who post these are looking at cost and I am sorry but you can get way more for your money on the windows side of the fence plus a much larger selection. Blu-ray Drives are another plus in laptops/desktops that are not on the Mac Camp. Don't get me wrong I have IPADS,IPHONES but when it comes to computers in general I find Windows allows me to do more frequent hardware refreshes and it's cheaper.

As much as you say that, I only have the one Mac and that is my Air...asides from that I am windows on everything else. I recently (ie in the past week) picked up a Dell Ultrabook so will be installing my usual software on that to see how it performs....but there is part of me that like the fact I keep the Mac for travel use only (as it collects dust the rest of the time) and it forms part of my travel work flow.

Yup exactly same here. I am all windows 7 +LR with 2 notable exceptions:

- 27" Mac display (hooked up to a custom PC on win 7)
- Macbook air

Macbook air will runs LR just fine. I've done lots of tethered shooting to it. Also remember that LR performance largely depends on the size of your catalogue. I used to only start a new catalogue every calendar year, but I stopped that nonsense because my performance was taking a serious beating.

And as somebody mentioned, with laptops it's all about the SSD. I'd rather get a slower processor and less RAM than have a classic hard drive (and they put 5400RPM drives in laptops for power savings which makes it even more unbearable. Same goes for those drives they advertise as "green"). SSD makes everything load fast.

26

EOS Bodies - For Video / Re: First Canon EOS C100 Short Hits the Web

« on: September 10, 2012, 10:04:50 PM »

I really wanted to like this video, but you have to have some story in mind first, not just a random sequence of clips with shallow DOF and people screaming "whoo-hoo" in different locations. What happened to story telling? Video has become all about showcasing steadicams, underwater casings, and suction cups. Yes, footage looks great, but I lost brain cells watching this (Maybe Neuro can help me get them back? :-))

They should just give all these promo projects to Vincent Laforet. Or at least the guy who shot Rebecca Black's "Friday" :-)

27

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Upgrading from Canon 60D to 5D MkII: Help me decide!

« on: September 07, 2012, 10:24:43 AM »

While the 5D MK III is a excellent camera, I sent mine back.  The inability to see the AF points in dark rooms is a killer.  I can see the much larger 7D AF points, but not the 5D MK III.
5D MK II's were available for under $1600 over labor day, and I bought a 2nd one after returning my 5D MK III thru CLP for $1407.
If I catch one of the 5D MK III's that is through a authorized reseller for $2800, I'll probably go for it, but $3500 is too much.

+1

Yep I got a second Mk2 as well.

28

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: EOS 5D3 - shooting first wedding on Saturday

« on: August 28, 2012, 01:51:40 PM »

I have to disagree. Keep that lightsphere on there. It DOES bounce the flash. In every direction. Much better than a bare speedlight.

And I will have to disagree with you :-) Any kind of Gary Fong-ish attachement is nothing but a WASTE OF BATTERY LIFE. Instead of using the battery power to hit the ceiling as hard as you can, you are dispersing the light all over the place for no reason.

It is the ceiling that will make your light source nice and big, and thus beautiful. Other flash related comments:

- Gel the flash with orange filter and cool down everything via WB so it's nice and even
- Use SHORT lenses when bouncing flash. If you are bouncing from across the room with 85mm on your camera, flash will look flat and ugly. To get the "I can't believe it's not softbox" look, you have to be close to the subject. I only use 35mm when bouncing flash. In fact I shoot my entire reception with 35mm.

- When it comes to walking down the aisle shot, there are 2 camps : some people prefer long lens (70-200) while camping at the altar as the bride approaches, but I prefer shorter lens while walking in sync with the bride down the aisle. The reason is - I can generally shoot wide open and still nail the focus because I'm keeping pace with the subject. If I camp, I gotta either pre-focus on a certain spot, or shoot slightly stopped down to make sure I nail it. You may think servo will help you here, but I advise you not to rely on servo for what is probably the single most important shot during the wedding.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do fine.

29

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Want to pull the FF trigger but on what? Help!!!!!

« on: August 21, 2012, 01:39:42 PM »

Makes sense to me. I just bought a second Mk2 as a replacement for my backup 7D (which I can't stand anymore). Mk3 didn't tempt me for a second. As far as bang-for-the-buck goes, Mk2 is king. And there is nothing wrong with AF by the way, the camera is amazing. Enjoy your toy!

30

Portrait / Re: First time at wedding - feedback please

« on: August 16, 2012, 01:50:32 PM »

Thank you so much! It's very usefull advice, just one question, if I may: you said i should use flash gels. I not shure, do i need to use warm gel or something cooler?
Thanks again very much!

Warm gel, then cool down entire scene via custom WB setting, and off you go. Yes it will never be exactly perfect, but it will be a LOT better than with no gel, and one click Lightroom fix across the board should take care of that.