Messages

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Software & Accessories / Re: What makes a Polarizer worth it's price?

« on: April 30, 2013, 09:54:41 AM »

I bought the Tiffen TICP77 77mm Circular Polarizing Filter and it's pretty much useless. $70 wasted, can spin that thing all day long and can't see the difference. It also knocks off a little over a full stop of light. I would read up on the reviews for what specific models you are interested in. BH usually has the most, just filter out (excuse the pun) the blah blah blah reviews from people just posting to qualify for the write a review promotions.

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Software & Accessories / Re: Websites

« on: April 19, 2013, 11:45:34 AM »

if you know wordpress "inside and out", just use that. get a free or inexpensive theme and your site can be done in a few hours. It gives you a ton of flexibility to enhance later, adding galleries or other features, even ecommerce support for selling your pics. It seems like a no brainer. check out themeforest.net for a ton of pro themes.

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Software & Accessories / Re: Method for taking names while shooting candids at an event

« on: February 18, 2013, 09:29:53 PM »

if they have a business card, get them to hold it to their face and take a snapshot close up. or if the atmosphere is not so casual then switch camera to vid mode for a sec or use iphone

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Street & City / Re: Your best street shots of any kind.

« on: January 27, 2013, 12:41:50 PM »

ok, just curious. Am I taking the topic title too literally. When it asks to post your best street shots, is that just a genre classification? Lots of great shots but it seems most of these photos aren't shot on the "street". Just sayin'...

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 7D - How bad is it? Really?

« on: January 23, 2013, 01:50:33 PM »

No offence to Pardus, this excellent image shows the detail and saturation possible even at high iso's with a 7D, I would say that set up for RAW and with the slightest of post-processing a lot of the background noise (unobtrusive in this JPEG, but there in the shadows) could be easily removed.

no worries, that was just a random shot from a tournament a couple years ago. nothing special but thought it would be a good example of real world expected results with jpg, unedited and no noise reduction. I shoot raw for things that matter but shooting for fun at a 6 game tournament, way too much time to deal with 3000 thousand raw files

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Canon General / Camera insurance in Canada

« on: January 23, 2013, 11:29:04 AM »

Hi, I home based business in Canada and recently my home insurance pulled the plug on my home business add-on. I have clients in the states and apparently is too much liability and now because of that denial other insurance companies wont insure my business as an add-on to my home policy. This is pretty ridiculous, in the 14 years I have been operating, never had a claim.

Anyway, need to get insurance. I do travel outside north america for photography and video work so whatever plan i get needs to cover that travel. I did find one company that would do it but is $5000 a year which just seems crazy.

Does anyone have a recommendation?

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 7D - How bad is it? Really?

« on: January 23, 2013, 11:21:46 AM »

7Dmki will be a fantastic camera for you. I upgraded from a 40D a couple years ago primarily to shoot my sons hockey game as the 40D and 70-200mm 2.8L still wasn't enough for poorly lit hockey rinks. most arenas you need to shoot 3200 iso at 2.8 and 1/500. I have since bought a 5D mkiii which is even better at the low light but still use my 7D as well for hockey as the reach is better. I would say wait a couple weeks to see if there is an announcement for mkii version at the japan show coming up, but if you really need it now go for it.

this shot was 1/500sec; f/4.0 iso 3200 focal length 108mm
(shot as jpg, cropped and saved for web in photoshop at 90 quality) but otherwise unedited.

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Street & City / Re: Your best street shots of any kind.

« on: January 22, 2013, 02:08:12 PM »

Puerto Escondido

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: 5D Markiii Auto Lighting Optimizer vs Highlight Tone Priority

« on: January 01, 2013, 02:27:27 PM »

HTP works really well with video, I don't use it for stills.

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EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Snow tubing with 5D III + 24-70 II

« on: January 01, 2013, 02:19:43 PM »

Spent a day last week shooting a catalog for a goggle company up at a mountain. It was a little below freezing and absolutely dumped snow all day. I hadn't take my 5Diii out in these kind of conditions before and was a little concerned, I brought a rain cover but they are a hassle and took my chances. My 70-200mm 2.8L and 16-35mm 2.8L ii and body were absolutely soaked, at any second was waiting for something to fry but held strong. Make sure all your rubber covers are on tight too. I dried off the gear and used big freezer zip lock bags with the air pressed out to avoid condensation problems before the drive home as my heater was cranked in the truck.

11

Lenses / Re: Moving on from my 7D to 5D MK III 24-70mm, 24-105mm or prime

« on: December 30, 2012, 08:01:07 PM »

I upgraded my 7D to a 5Diii this fall. I had the Sigma 10-20mm F3.5, it sort of worked on my 5D at 17mm above but never felt that it was a sharp lens. I got the 16-35mm 2.8L and love it. I shoot some real estate as well and you need to be under 20mm for 50% of most houses. I also have the 24-105mm F4L IS and really glad I took that over the 24-70mm F2.8L. I use that lens mostly as my walk around or if I am only taking one lens out. The IS and reduced shutter for me make a way bigger improvement then the extra stop of light. I can shoot 1/30 sec no problem with it. I also have the 50mm 1.4 and 70-200 F2.8L and covers everything I need.

Also if you keep your camera level, distortion is very minimal on 16-35mm for shooting rooms and easily corrected in RAW processing.

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Video & Movie / Re: timelapse. how they do this

« on: December 03, 2012, 01:51:41 PM »

Way longer exposures, 30 sec or more and no delay between shots

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Pricewatch Deals / Re: Get Pluraleyes 3 Free with purchase of RODE on camera mic...sounds interesting.

« on: November 30, 2012, 01:26:00 PM »

Ya I have been watching that one. My plurals eyes 3 demo expired a month ago and is $199 on it's own which makes this a smoken deal. However, I already have an Azden shotgun that works fairly well. Will probably bite the bullet though, to get the Rode mic pro for essentially $30 is great.

14

Lighting / Re: Current state of 5Dmk3 compatibility with triggers and strobes

« on: October 29, 2012, 12:24:59 PM »

I just bought a bunch of new gear. 5Diii, interfit stellar XD strobes and Cactus V5 triggers. The 5Diii with cactus V5 doesnt trigger my strobes through hotshoe or sync cable but will fire my 430ex. With the Cactus V5 on my 7D, no problems. My 5Diii sorta works with the strobes direct with a sync cable. Starts working fine but then when both have been on for a while, the 5Diii stops being able to trigger the strobe. If I disconnect and reconnect cable, It will fire once but that's it. If I then switch to my 7D, fires every time. Not sure what the problem is, exhausted my searches without much of an answer. Called interfit and they are sending me new ones. Contacted my 5D retailer too, they will replace the camera if it turns out to be the problem and not just incompatibility. Need to find another way to test out the camera I guess.

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5D MK III Sample Images / Re: Forest of Autumn EOS 5dIII - EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II

« on: October 28, 2012, 06:32:16 PM »

What are you using for post processing? Do you have a certain workflow for landscapes and the forest shots?