Messages

31

PowerShot / Re: Canon PowerShot D20

« on: February 07, 2012, 02:29:59 PM »

f3.9?  Digic 4?  I guess it keeps the cost down, but I was hoping for a reasonably fast f2.x and Digic 5.  Anyone think they may be leaving the field open for a pricier, better specced model?  I hope so, as direct flash rarely flatters so I'd value a faster lens and better high ISO performance.

32

Lenses / Re: Amateur looking at a Macro, Prime and Walkabout lenses... input please!

« on: February 03, 2012, 03:03:29 PM »

EF 100mm F/2.8 Macro USM.  Understanding that one of the primary differences between the "L" & non-L version is the Hybrid IS and that I use a tripod and light boxes - do you feel that the "L" version will produce noticeably higher quality photographs?

The L version is /likely/ to be sharper, but not by much.  The difference is insignificant.  Given your intended use it's an absolute non-issue.

would the additional range in F-stop be visually significant enough to entice me/you or would I have to make the jump to the F/1.2 to really get that benefit?

If you're often shooting wide open then you'll likely find a larger aperture lens more useful.  The f1.4 and f1.2 are a lot nicer to use than the f1.8, mainly because of proper focusing rings.  If going to full frame you'll get thinner depth of field equivalent to about one stop so I'd take this into account when considering an upgrade.

I was considering the EF 28-135 F/3.5-5.6 to cover a greater range for my walk-about lens - however I am open to suggestions.

I own the Tamron 28-75 f2.8.  28mm is not wide enough on a crop (though 50 or 55mm is also too short).  Your problem of being focal length limited will get worse when you go full frame - that 28-135 you're considering will now be nice and wide but feel a little short.  If you put a high value on quality my advice is to put up with lens swapping and either get closer or get the subjects to come closer.  I know this sounds flippant but it really is good advice! Use bait and perhaps a hide.  Develop a relationship with those squirrels so that they come to you.

Also, consider having the telephoto lens on as the default. Typically anything needing wider angles will be around long enough for you to change lenses etc.

Having advised against taking long range pot-shots at targets a lens worthy of consideration is the Sigma 50-500 OS.  Not wide enough for many purposes but that 500mm gets you real close, whilst 50mm is still a very handy starting focal length for a lens.  I'd rate image quality as okay-to-good rather than excellent, but it's a lens I'd love to own.

33

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon 1D-X: "Full" 2-Stops ISO Improvment...only in JPEG??

« on: January 28, 2012, 06:29:25 AM »

canon will get f£$ked by interviews like this one, well all is dommed now, good luck guys im jumping to the Nikon boat.

That is all a bit misleading.  A JPG is simply a converted RAW file, if you're getting two more stops of ISO performance in JPG, then you have to be getting that in RAW as well.

Sort of (by which I mean not really).  As well as being less noisy, Canon's in-camera noise reduction has been improved. One could get better results by shooting RAW and processing using 3rd party noise reduction software, but the gap between class leading 3rd party software and the in-camera software has been narrowed or eliminated.

34

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 70D... not a new question...

« on: January 26, 2012, 04:58:54 PM »

My question is: does it worth to a person who needs a camera like 60D this summer to wait for the 70D? and Is the speed of the Digic5 processor that much fast that makes people and photographers feel upgrading their old "Digic4-equipped" camera

Hmmm, on the one hand I'd wait because it /will/ be a significant upgrade, mainly in noise (allowing you to shoot in much less light) but also in processing power - I'm hoping for fun features like in-camera editing, in-camera HDR, focus peaking in live view etc.

On the other hand, when Canon introduces a new camera it's very expensive.  The new and old model then take a few months to fall in price... you may be in for a long wait for the 70D to be released only to find it's too expensive while the 60D isn't that much cheaper than it is now.

As for what I'd recommend Buy now. You (I'm guessing) have no camera and an economy that's about to be hit by more sanctions.  Buy now before inflation hits.  It'll be much cheaper and you'll be taking photographs months sooner.

p.s. irrelevant to your question, but I know three people that have travelled the world (independently of each other) and each found that the best, friendliest people on our planet are the Iranians.  I hope all goes well for you guys.

35

EOS Bodies - For Stills / Re: Why canon?

« on: January 26, 2012, 04:19:37 PM »

Getting good advice on web forums helped me choose Canon for the killer combination of price, features, quality and lenses.  Not the high-end stuff, but beginner stuff like the decent kit lens, 70-200 f/4 and 55-250.

What has locked me in is Magic Lantern. Features like focus peaking in live view, trap focus, intervalometer, focus racking... awesome.

36

EOS Bodies / It's gotta be full frame, not APS-C

« on: January 25, 2012, 02:44:47 PM »

I appreciate that most already presume it's full frame.  For anyone still undecided:

If we take a look at the pic above he's zoomed all the way in and the bird's head only just fills the screen.  With hot weather, APS-C and a 600mm lens it's not often you're focal length limited with a relatively big bird - heat haze makes it undesirable to shoot with the intention of cropping and becomes the dominating factor.

It's also possible the bird is both long-legged and on stilts and he wanted to capture the whole creature, or that it was early in the morning.

37

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Sigma 180 f/2.8 OS Macro Pre-Production Lens Goes Missing

« on: January 14, 2012, 01:00:13 PM »

Come on... Someone forgot his preproduction iphone in a bar... Sigma lost a lens... If there shows up a Detailed review in the next time its just viral advertisment

Milking it for all they can would certainly get enough free publicity to make the loss of the lens easier to bear. Wouldn't surprise me if someone lost a lens at the next trade show either.

What I can't understand is that they're not exactly vocal about what's happened - tweets (they do tweet), an entry in the news/featured items on their webpage, a facebook page devoted to recovering the lens & including CCTV stills of the chap making off with it etc would keep all the magazines and websites in a frenzied Sigma-coverage....

38

EOS Bodies / Focus Peaking

« on: January 08, 2012, 09:54:35 AM »

I’ve heard about a 50/50 split from people on whether or not it’s a real world issue, I’m on the side that it is for a decent chunk of people that would buy the 1D X.

I can see that it'd be nice to slap a 1.4x teleconverter onto a 400 5.6 rather than pack the 500 or 600 'just in case', and slow auto-focusing is normally better than /hurried/ manual focusing at these focal lengths unless you've got aids like focus peaking.  We know from the brilliant Magic Lantern (locks me into Canon as much as my lens collection does) that it is possible to add /that/ in firmware...

39

United Kingdom & Ireland / Re: Is amazon U.K third party ok for used camera gear

« on: January 04, 2012, 01:55:17 PM »

I just saw a canon 5dmkii for £800 on amazon through a third party seller. The seller had 95% positive response ...
In the future should i snap somehting like this up or is it risky?

95% is a little low for someone that merely has to take the money and post out the goods - 5% of orders cocked up in some way doesn't inspire confidence.  £800 for an as new 5dmkII is crazy.  Either a simple pricing error, stolen, broken or a scam.  You did right to avoid it, tempting though it must have been.

40

EOS Bodies / Re: Thoughts From Canon on a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera

« on: December 23, 2011, 11:30:59 AM »

I understand the "high IQ camera in a pocket", but I don't understand the "DSLR alternative in a pocket" or "big sensor + small lens, to make it fit in a pocket" ... Photography is not about putting things in your pockets.

"DSLR alternative in a pocket" or "big sensor + small lens, to make it fit in a pocket" is another way of saying  "high IQ camera in a pocket".

Don't worry if you don't see the attraction; most people don't see the attraction of a full frame body and massive lenses just to take snaps of each other at parties, nights out etc that'll be displayed on a computer monitor.  It's a horses for courses thing.

41

EOS Bodies / Re: Thoughts From Canon on a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera

« on: December 23, 2011, 04:56:15 AM »

They're attacking from both sides - DSLR for the interchangeable lens fans, compact with a zoom for everyone else.

Keeping the status quo is not "attacking."

Meh, thought the context made it obvious what I meant.  I should have made it explicit I was talking about the new camera from Canon, the one designed to take on the mirrorless cameras.

42

EOS Bodies / Re: Thoughts From Canon on a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera

« on: December 22, 2011, 05:24:02 PM »

If we discount misinformation for competitors, then he's asking these rhetorical questions to hint at what's coming.  My take:

<li>Does a mirrorless camera really need interchangeable lenses?</li>

Their mirrorless contender will have a fixed zoom not interchangeable lenses.  Faster in-camera processing of lens aberrations means it'll be easier to cram in that zoom lens and maintain picture quality.

Can we make a compact or DSLR that can beat the mirrorless cameras? (they believe they have it)

They're attacking from both sides - DSLR for the interchangeable lens fans, compact with a zoom for everyone else.

Higher sensitivity rather than high resolution (probably refers to quality over megapixels)

It'll have relatively low resolution sensor and will be larger than the Nikon.

Keeping the camera small, with a zoom of around 24-70 at around f2.8 will mean no APS-C sensor; the lens will be bigger than they want.  If Nikon and Pentax's small-sensored offerings do not do well then we can at least expect a larger sensor than these.  Taking the hint of relatively low MP, the sensor will be based on a DSLR sensor but will be 'cropped'.  How much will it be cropped?  To a size that lets the camera & lens fit into a large pocket.

43

Canon General / PhotoRec is the one you want

« on: December 13, 2011, 04:47:24 PM »

I have stored so many photos in my camera. Accidentally I have deleted all the photos by using delete all option from my camera. Can any one help in recovering the deleted images. All images are in JPEG format.

From experience the only one that is worth paying for is Photorec ... and it's free!

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

I had to recover a load of video from a memory card but, while every other recovery program pretended they recovered the files, they wouldn't play; they were junk.  This went for the paid for programs too.  PhotoRec was the only one to recover files that worked.  Just checked to make sure it's still free, and noticed the chap happily accepts donations and has an Amazon wishlist (nice touch).  I'll be sending him something for Christmas!

44

Lenses / Re: Is the cost for canons teleconverters too high?

« on: December 04, 2011, 04:35:57 AM »

We don't have the data to draw a supply and demand diagram to demonstrate the optimal price, and the issue is complicated by teleconverters cannibalising sales of super teles, but it basically goes like this:

You can sell more for less, or sell less for more.  There is a point at which the amount you sell and the amount you charge returns the most money, and that is the 'right' price to charge.

I suspect the teleconverters are not optimally placed on this chart, but that this is for calculated reasons.

45

Canon General / Re: What non-canon lenses do you use and why do you love them?

« on: December 03, 2011, 03:18:45 PM »

Sigma 100-300 f/4 - a compromise between price, speed and focal length. It's okay with the Sigma 1.4x converter.  The 2x is noticeably less sharp.  It's a beautiful lens to manually focus.
Sigma 10-20 - less expensive than the Canon 10-22
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 - much much less expensive than the alternatives, sharp wide open and a longer focal length than the xx-5x f/2.8 alternatives.