1Dx mk2 DPAF performance...not like the reviews

brianftpc said:
I used this camera to do a graduation outside and a dance recital indoors. I used it with a 70-200 mkII IS with 2X III extender at F8 and the live view DPAF had to constantly be babysat. if someone else walked by on the stage it would grab their face and they would run away with the focus. During the dance recital I only used the 70-200 and there was 1 girl it absolutely would not hold focus on simply bc she had a dress on that was close to the color of the stage background or at least thats what I believe. It searched on her nonstop in all 3 scenes she was in. I had someone else shooting for me with a C100 mk2 and it had absolutely no issues with focus using the 100-400 mk2. It rarely went out of focus. Keeping focus 99% of the time even the moment the lights went up during a scene change. Id say the 1Dx mk2 kept focus 80% of the time but when the lights would go from black to bright it would hunt like crazy trying to focus for maybe 3-5 seconds. It would also randomly lose focus even on solo performances for a second or 2. The conditions at the graduation were ISO 100 1/125 F8-F11. At the dance recital ISO 1600-4000 F5.6 1/30. Im just not understanding why the C100mk 2 has such a more efficient focusing system. Something about them doesnt seem likely that they are really the same.

Did you change the movie servo af tracking sensitivity? I've been hit by the same (overly quick at switching to a closer face) on the 70D and that body doesn't even allow you to tweak it, but the 1DXmkII has gained the ability to set the camera to be less prone to switch to a new subject also for movie servo af.

The workaround on the 70D that is also available on the 1DXmkII is to set a button to AF Stop to pause AF while holding it down.
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Canon EOS 80D filmmaker-oriented review (& 5D MKIII comparison)

Hi there!
I just wrote this review:
www.luciolepri.it/nwp/canon_eos_80d_review.htm
I was curious to check the new sensor performances and to see if this camera could be a good second body for shooting events. I was mostly attracted by the Movie Servo AF feature. Unfortunately, video noise, as usual with Canon APS-C cameras, it's very high...

Canon EF-M 28mm f/3.5 IS STM Macro on the Way

Rocky said:
neuroanatomist said:
brad-man said:
It indicates that the camera and lens were built to last...

Yeah, my first thought on seeing that was that their hypothetical M10 lasted a lot longer than my actual M, which died for no apparent reason (I replaced it with an M2, which was only $20 more than Canon USA's flat-rate repair fee for the EOS M).
Another proof that the big company has forced us into a " throw away society ".

True, although I haven't thrown it away just yet... ;)
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When might 1DX stop being sold new?

unfocused said:
CanonFanBoy said:
1DX seems like a good deal for some, and is being sold by many retailers concurrently with he new one.

When, typically, has that sort of inventory been exhausted after the introduction of a successor?

It is impossible to answer that and will happen at different times at different retailers depending upon the stock they have. Nobody could predict that with any sort of accuracy.

If you want one and can find one, buy it now.

Agreed. Aside from the very large retailers, or those that specialize in professional customers, most dealers do not keep the 1 series bodies in stock, so the supply is not that large to begin with. The 5D II was available for quite some time after the 5D III came out, but that was quite different. I noticed that Canon Price Watch shows the 5D II was last available refurbished 64 weeks ago. The Canon USA store is still selling the 1DX new and has at least 10 refurbished bodies in stock, which makes me think it will be around for a few more months at least, but who knows? I certainly doubt that Canon is shipping any stock to retailers, so you are probably limited to dealers that already have it in stock, or buying direct from Canon USA.

If I had the money, I'd be happy to buy a 1DX today. BUT, if I had the money for a 1DX Mark II I'd have to go that route. I'd wait a year though, just to see if there are any bad bugs that show up.

I'm sure they are both very, very fine machines.

I think I'd get a 400mm f/2.8L II or a 600 mm f/4L first though, and then the 1D body. Otherwise a 1D body wouldn't make sense in my situation. All three would be real luxuries. Heck, the whole hobby is a luxury for me. I never dreamed I'd have what I have now. I'm truly grateful for that.
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Gallery Show in Portland, Oregon

Fellow Canonistas,

More than 20 prints of my work will be available for viewing at a gallery opening in Portland, Oregon on June 2nd, 2016. The time is 6 to 8 PM.

The location is Club Privata, an upscale adult lifestyle club at 824 SW 1st Avenue in downtown Portland. Admission is free. There is an excellent full bar and a very good free buffet. Over 21 only.

All photos displayed were taken with Canon cameras. They will be on display for about two months. Here is one that will be in the show, but be warned, many are much more explicit.


p982586507-4.jpg

Canon to Finally Announce a 50mm f/1.4 Replacement Soon? [CR1]

Thanks for explaining the rating system as well for the feedback on the lenses. I had always shot with Canon until about 4 years ago when I sold off all my Canon gear and went with Leica primarily because of the compactness. After four years of totally manual photography, I decided just this past January to return the favor and sell off all my Leica gear and return to Canon.

That said, I am comfortable shooting my street work with the 50 1.2 or even sometimes the 35 1.4 II. But they do start to get heavy as I work through a 6 - 8 hour day. That was the reason why I was/am thinking about the 50 1.4. The 50 1.8 that I have is old - first maybe second generation. I have also thought about the 50 1.8 STM as another option. I'll have to give it all some more thought. And I do have the 40 pancake as an option as well.

Again thanks.

Ed
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600 EX-RT Evaluative vs Average E-TTL

Zeidora said:
CanonFanBoy said:
Zeidora said:
If you really want to freeze motion of bird, then you have to use low power on flash, because flash duration is shorter at lower power (around 1/1000-1/10000s); at full power it is at sync speed of 1/200s. That means either narrow beam, open f-stop, or hi-ISO. Alternatively, look at higher power studio flashes: AlienBees, Metz, Quantum, etc, or use multiple Canon flashes together.

Trying things out with prop sticks is great. Re different perching locations, use same set-up and put prop stick in various places.

Re books on lighting in general, I like Hunter et al. "Light, Science and Magic" from Focal Press. It is not strobe specific, but an excellent source for lighting in general.

I'm not exactly sure about that. I don't consider ISO 1600 to be high, but maybe it is. I think I had some latitude to lower it. Not saying you are wrong. Just not sure about myself I guess.

From what I understand the Canon flashes use multiple short flashes in HHS. I believe I had this 600EX-RT set at full power, but if it was giving multiple flashes for HHS then the flashes would have to be, as you say, lower powered and my full power setting negated.

This isn't a great bird photo, but the settings were: Manual mode, 1/4000 sec., f/5.6, ISO 1600, pattern metering. I need to pay more attention to what the metering functions do on my cameras. Also, I think I used 2 x 600EX-RT (Now that I think about it) and a third as a remote trigger.

Sorry for having been incomplete. There are two ways of freezing motion with flash:
- Dark environment, fully open shutter at flash sync speed of ~1/200s, and very short flash burst at low power.
- Bright environment, very short exposure time <<1/200s, continuous output flash = HSS.

I haven't used the second version much. Back in the day, I had an OM 280 flash, one of the first ones with continuous light output. The power in that setting is very low, so can only be used as a small filler. Haven't used it with my 580.

Here's a nice write-up from Canon
http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/infobank/flash/flash_synchronisation.do
Essentially, with HSS you get the full power over the normal sync speed, and it gets chopped down progressively as you shorten exposure = make traveling slit of curtains more narrow.
The write-up suggests reduction of GN to 1/2 @ 1/500s, which would entail 1/4 @ 1/1000s, 1/8 @ 1/2000s, 1/16 @ 1/4000s, and 1/32 @ 1/8000s.

Thank you Zeidora :)
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Boom stand

Thanks, Pookie and pwp, for the suggested stands with rollers. Both look great.

Early on I bought a C-stand. While I like its solid support (when positioned just right!) and ease of use with the boom, it is a major pita to bring anywhere, even with a minivan. And I should have gotten the turtle version, that is, one which allows the legs to detach.

The Manfrotto in particular looks tempting, but so do those Kupos. Wish we had somewhere within 100 miles to look at them, but those days are long gone.
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Update: Canon Speedlite 600 EX II-RT & EF-M 28mm f/3.5 IS STM Specifications

dufflover said:
I haven't touched my old Tamron 90mm macro in ages, but the IS and built-in light make this pretty tempting to get just for the heck of it! (if AU price is good)

I'd be surprised to get much change from AUD $500 given the state of the currency at the moment. Does't seem quite as much of a bargain around that figure (but better than the UK!)

d.
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Canon to Release Super Telephoto Zoom in 2016 [CR2]

The Sigma 150-600mm S is on special this weekend here in Aus for about $1900. I'm not actually sure how low it has been before but it seems like a good price. I have a twitchy mouse finger now as I have always found my 120-300mm w/ 2x TC sharpness a bit lacking for when I need 600mm reach, or at least the reduced AF performance means the final sharpness is worse (same either way). It's great with the 1.4x though and as I've learnt with my 70-200mm vs 100-400mm usage toss-ups, I don't want to be too hasty in trading away my low-light 400mm for a good 600mm only to lose that fading light option. And this rumoured lens might be just enough to stop and see what Canon may offer, as I can somewhat agree that in experience I do find my Canon lenses just that little bit more reliable in things like AF.
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1Dx mk2...The end of an era

So many improvements on the 1dx mark ii that its silly to compare on just sensor noise alone. The improvement as a system is rather huge with incremental improvements in almost all areas. Ive been running it through the mill shooting night sports at iso 51200. Never could concieve of that with my 5d3 and on the original 1dx those shots were not very pleasing but i could make them work with dxo optics pro.

Is it worth the money to buy one? Depends on how bad your GAS is and wether you have good stuff to trade in. Every feature added is worth the money if you need/desire those features. If its out of your budget then a 5diii will get you close...but you dont get 4k video and dual pixel af with touch screen with a 5d mark iii, you dont get 14fps burst, you dont get illuminated af points so you can see them in the dark, you dont get the improved af servo iii for faster and more accurate af tracking, you dont get gps tagging if thats your thing, and you dont get weather sealing like the 1dx so you can keep shooting when the weather is bad. Shall i go on?

My bank account is quite a bit less though because of it. ;)
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A9 Prototype in the wild: 72 MP

I find it spectacularly dubious that a field testing model would have specs badged right on it like this, but here you go:

http://petapixel.com/2016/05/12/man-spotted-72mp-sony-prototype-a9-wild/

So either this is a deliberate leak or (much more likely) a load of crap. A deliberate leak makes much more sense on a strategically targeted date, like on the eve of a 5D4 or D820/D900 announcement.

Also, I'm still putting my chips on an A9 (or other 'pro' rig) to be massive -- huge grip, intergral vertical grip, etc. At this price point and for those users, they're kidding no one with a 'smaller/lighter' rig. Those folks need a stout grip for that heavy fast glass, and an integral grip would do wonders for battery life.

- A

Canon EF 24-70mm f4L IS USM

Personally from a professional perspective I think DXOMark testing methods are flawed and Ive pointed this out to them.
When I tested this ONE example of the EF 24-70mm f4L IS USM lens it was tested with IS turned off because it was mounted on a test stand which is screwed to the floor. My results mirrored those of Photozone.de with the two lenses being years apart in manufacture. All the other lenses I tested that day (EF 16-35mm f4L IS USM, EF 100mm f2.8L IS USM, Canon CN-24mm T1.5) showed just how badly this lens resolved now the Canon CN-24mm T1.5 you would expect to be much better given the cost differential but the comparison to the EF16-35mm f4L IS USM you would not expect such a huge difference but there was.
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Canon Medium Format Talk, It's Not in the Works

Sator said:
I wasn't aware that Hasselblad and Phase One offered 24MP medium format sensors for people who just wanted the medium format "look" because higher resolution like 100MP count for nothing.

It's not that it counts for nothing, the size of the format encourages high pixel counts.

What I meant is that, every medium format buyer I can think of went to the format due to the size of the sensor, not due to the pixel count. A 70MP 135-format isn't likely to lure them away from their 50MP MFd format.

It will be interesting to see how LargeSense does (if they can bring a product to market) with their 9" X 11" sensor at 12MP. I suspect they'll live or die by how well the whole contraption works and what lenses they can support it with, etc., not by the cellphone-esque pixel count.

Sator said:
Found the interview:

http://www.fotosidan.se/cldoc/tv/video-interview-canon-eos-5ds-and.htm

For anyone who wants to say that he doesn't specifically state that the 5Ds sensor is a "scaled down" version of the experimental 120MP sensor, which he reminds us was first demonstrated publicly back in 2010, it is clear nonetheless that Canon does translate its R&D into manufactured lines even if in a scaled down fashion.

Thanks. I thought you actually meant scaled down, i.e. either size of format or size of pixels, as opposed to applying lessons learned from technology prototyping.
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