Messages

76

United States / Re: Telephoto Zoom or Prime?

« on: November 03, 2011, 12:24:45 PM »

why u think u need a 5dmk2?  I'd stick with the 7d and spend the money on lenses

True, especially for any kinds of sport the 5D Mk II is not exactly the best camera. It has slow FPS and a lot of folks are not really pleased with the AF on it. Both are the reasons why I bought a 7D and not a 5D Mark II. Horses move fast, so a good fast AF is really important, also in order to catch the right moment the 8 FPS the 7D pumps out can be a real lifesaver. You might really consider in using the money for the 5D for some lenses. Does depend of course what else you want to shoot with the camera.

77

United States / Re: Telephoto Zoom or Prime?

« on: November 02, 2011, 03:43:47 AM »

This is indeed a tough one.
The primes will give you better quality, and unless you shell out for the Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS II you will most likely really see the difference there. (The test images I found on the net from the old 70-200 weren't that great, especially wide open) a prime at 200mm can be quite long however for an indoor horse show. It really depends on how close you will be, something you often don't have control over. I recently did an indoor horse shooting with my 24-70 and sometimes wished for something wider. (But granted, I was actually on the course for this one)

For me you have two choices:
1. miss some shots completely because of the fixed focal length but get really great IQ on the ones you do get
or
2. be able to get all shots but loose IQ in the process (mind you, the 70-200 isn't bad, it's just not too great from the image samples I found on the internet)

Not sure which way I would go, though I would most likely try to save up enough for the Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS II. You could get both primes for a bit more flexibility, but then you'd have to switch lenses a lot and at a busy horse show you might not have enough time for this.

78

EOS Bodies / Re: Light Field camera - Is this a revolution?

« on: October 21, 2011, 11:26:51 AM »

No, I don't think so... the computing power required for a "real" sized image from a "real" sized sensor would be ludicrous....

Actually Adobe implemented something like that on a modern graphics card a year back already. They were able to implement this feature by utilizing the GPUs in a PC. And the image that they used was taken on a real sized (16MP) sensor...

79

United Kingdom & Ireland / Re: err 20

« on: October 20, 2011, 11:08:33 AM »

Anybody knows of problems with the quality of 7Ds? I just met a semi-pro shooter who finally had enough of Canon and went Nikon because of this. Once his third 7D broke during a shoot he had enough of it. Apparently all simply stopped shooting...

80

EOS Bodies / Re: EOS 7D mrk. II

« on: October 20, 2011, 11:06:28 AM »

Looking at the 7D release cycle (of which there isn't one, obviously  ), I'm guessing if it's a single-digit (higher end) EOS, it'll be on a 3 year release cycle (similar to the 5D, and close to the 1D).


If that's the case, that would make it due for a refresh in September 2012.  However, that obviously sits just after the London Olympics and Euro 2012.  This makes me wonder whether Canon would consider a release prior to this in order to cash in on sales for those events.  Whilst I know it's not THE professional sports camera, as mentioned on here a lot, it is used by a lot of people for such things, with the APS-C giving the extra reach often preferred by sports shooters.  I know Canon have just announced the 1DX, however I think that will truly sit outside a lot of peoples budgets (other than the high end pro shooters).


Just my 2p!

I would think it just sits inside the budget of professional sports photographers who would shoot at the Olympics though. Just because of this I would actually think Canon will wait until after to get a couple of more sales from folks who would otherwise have gotten the 7D MarkII instead. (That is if the 7D will remain the fast APS-C camera of Canon. Who knows if the 1DX was the only curve ball Canon threw)

81

EOS Bodies / Re: Light Field camera - Is this a revolution?

« on: October 20, 2011, 11:03:32 AM »

No, it is not a revolution, it is a toy. IQ-wise it is competing with mobile phone cameras.

The Personal Computer (in its generic sense) started as a toy, too, and look what happened to the "real" computers.

The question is not whether, in its current, first incarnation it is a threat to the DSLRs or P'n'S cameras, the question is, extrapolating another 10 years of technological progress — is there any inherent reason that it will not be usable by Pros?

The digital camera and the phone camera initially got laughed at, too, because they started really low down, and look what happened to them...

Just by the way the technology is working the IQ of the Lytro will always be far lower than what you would get with a regular camera with the same sensor size. So no matter how much technology advances, the 'normal' technology will be ahead. Now it might be that at some point the sensors will get so good that the drop in IQ and resolution wont matter, but I do not think this will ever happen. Problem there is that at some point you will simply reach the limit of what is physically possible due to the way light behaves, and I don't think we are that far away from that border anymore.

82

Lenses / Re: 85 f/1.2 L II vs. 85 f/1.8 : How Much Brighter?

« on: October 20, 2011, 04:03:36 AM »

Have you considered the Sigma 85 1.4? I find this one a very nice compromise between the 1.2 and 1.8 that Canon offers. It's not cheap, but only costs about half of the Canon 1.2. The copy I have is perfect and what I found on the internet in terms of quality was all really good.
I know a lot of people shun Sigma, but I find that they have some very interesting high quality in-between lenses. And as long as you buy it in a brick and mortar store that let's you test the lens on your body the QA problems Sigma might have isn't really an issue.

83

Lenses / Re: Wide angle lens

« on: October 17, 2011, 12:24:53 PM »

You might want to look at these 3 links as well.

http://www.lensrentals.com/...de-angle/sigma-10-20mm-f3.5-ex-dc-hsm-for-canon

http://www.juzaphoto.com/...g/articles/sigma_10-20_vs_canon_tamron_tokina.htm

http://photo.net/equipment/wideangle-dslr

 I found them helpful in helping me decide to buy the Sigma 10-20 f/3.5. I really love the lens.

Uhm, the two first links aren't working. Looks like part of the url is missing.

84

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon naming protocol

« on: October 17, 2011, 08:50:59 AM »

If push comes to shove, just add a "Mark II" to whatever name you're at and you are good for a while longer. I guess They can push that one for at least 5 more iterations.

85

EOS Bodies / Re: Full 5D mark II Refund

« on: October 11, 2011, 02:57:12 PM »

I am sorry to spoil your wishfull thinking.

But that makes it all clear that we do not have to expect a 5D2 replacement within the mentioned timeframe.

To be short: Dealers are NOT stupid (They are in the business of making money)

True, a good dealer can't be stupid. Yet I believe that both stores brought out those deals from necessity (to sell more 5D MarkIIs) and doing a small gamble and not from actually knowing anything.

86

EOS Bodies / Re: Full 5D mark II Refund

« on: October 11, 2011, 03:02:45 AM »

That's the second German store now that offers this deal:

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php/topic,1749.0.html

Still doesn't mean much in my mind though. The risk is low and they will make their customers happy either way...

87

Canon General / Re: Photography - Equipment or Skill ?

« on: October 03, 2011, 03:14:17 AM »

Seems this is the hot topic for the month. This is the third place I have come across that particular argument within a week or so.

Basically the question is what you compare to what. Are we comparing the impact between a pinhole camera and a 1D? Or are we comparing the 60D to the 7D? Don't tell me the first doesn't make a huge difference, whereas the second one might be completely irrelevant.
But you also have to define the 'skill' part. Are we talking about the artist whose purpose it is to create interesting and pleasing photographs, or are we talking about a hired photographer whose job it is to produce exactly what the client ordered? A skilled artist with vision can take just about any camera there is and create wonderful pieces of art. But if you try to use that Mickey Mouse camera to shoot high speed sports action for a magazine you might be in for a rude awakening.

Skill and equipment both play a role. How much? That depends on what you want to do, simple as that.

Yet those first eight frames on the Mickey Mouse with it's plastic lens, flare, aberrations and bad exposures definitely had the most magic about them from the whole six days.

Paul Wright

But that is the perfect example of how important equipment is. (And I do not mean that I bet the client took the pictures from the Hasselblad) The Mickey Mouse camera was the important equipment here. Had he pulled out a P&S (technically just as ridiculous as the MM) it would most likely not have worked. At best the models would have been confused. But the fact that he used that visually ridiculous camera put everybody in a good mood. Setting the stage for a good shoot and also producing some unique and great photos with the MM. But then of course it takes skill to realize this, and to work with it. Having the right equipment does not always equal having the most expensive equipment!

88

EOS Bodies / Re: No 5DmkII successor in 2011...

« on: September 29, 2011, 01:09:14 PM »

I'd say it's simply a gamble on their part to be able to better sell the 5s. The chances of the 5D MarkIII coming out this year are pretty low. And I would assume that they mean possible to buy, not being announced, though that could be something a judge might have to decide when push comes to shove.
And even if it does come out, question is how much will they actually loose? I doubt they are selling the 5s in the hundreds a week. The reason they do this is obviously because they think they are not selling enough. So they will sell more units now and if the MarkIII really comes out this year they will have take a couple back (certainly while selling the MarkIIIs instead) They'll write off the losses but have made sure that there are some very happy customers with obviously large pockets out there that will stick with buying stuff from them.

Sounds like a low risk scenario to me...

89

Canon General / Re: Improving composition - photography skills

« on: September 25, 2011, 11:58:13 AM »

Experiment with your pictures. Take good but boring looking pics and simply re-crop them in all kind of ways. I learned a lot about composition by simply cutting away wildly at my pics. Once you see what works in post processing you'll be able to imagine it while actually lining up your shot as well. (At least that's how it worked for me) And yeah the rule-of-thirds is likely the most important thing to know and understand.

90

Canon General / Re: Autofocus Problem / Question

« on: September 20, 2011, 09:51:34 AM »

That actually sounds pretty straight forward to me, can't see why this would not be possible. Certainly a good idea!