Macro lenses tend to be among the best because they are simple. A zoom macro is going to be complex and difficult to reach the quality of the primes.

With a Macro, its extremely easy to zoom by moving back a foot or so, so its not the same as when you are shooting something and standing on the edge of a canyon or river, and can't move closer (or further away). A zoom macro sounds nice, but is it really necessary?

This is my Ideal Digital Camera.... If Canikon developed such a camera, it can very well save itself from extinction in the near future as Mirrorless cameras are catching up in almost every category except battery life and autofocus but it's just a matter of time... So the two main things I'm proposing leverages a DSLR's attributes or even flaws into wonderful features Mirrorless cameras can't match.

1.) Lengthen the Pentaprism Hump either to the right, left, or BOTH sides so that it includes a Built in EVF alongside the Optical Viewfinder. This gives DSLR's the BEST of Both worlds. It can even be below the Optical viewfinder and keep the Hump the same...
2.) Use the large size of a DSLR by including a LARGE 4"+ Display. Make the corner more square if they need to to maximize the size of the display. This makes a Huge difference for aging eyes and is possible only on a large DSLR.

PS: Sorry for the Crappy MS Paint job I did at work. No Photoshop at work

Thoughts?

neuroanatomist said:

DominoDude said:

bdunbar79 said:

I agree, the 300mm f/2.8L II IS and 16-35 f/4L IS are common lenses on these lists. They are both on mine too. If I could just get those two lenses first maybe my perspective would change on camera bodies and my GAS would go away ;D

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Bad news! GAS is a chronic disease. Once you get it, it will only get worse. (Until either you, or your bank account dies...)

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The 600 II didn't cure it. I'm going to have to move on to buying 2-3 lenses at a time.

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I (as unemployed - still) envy your wallet and paychecks.
Sincerely,
/Frustrated BeyondBelief

Thanks for sharing, 9VIII. I have truly enjoyed watching them.

Canon Rumors said:

We use a very resource friendly software for the forum, however it isn't as widely supported. We're waiting for Tapatalk to fix their plugin, so if you don't have the software it won't nag you every time you visit.

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Thanks a lot for your hard work with this site! I would definitely appreciate getting TapaTalk support again

Thank you very, very much. Very kind of you to respond. Ok, I'll go for the minimal, square one. Do you think a black and white conversion is a better option?

Oh, smoke... Did I mention Smoke? Yeah, Smoke. I hate smoke. Constantly. Had to make all those lovely light beams from the LED gatling guns.

Seems like neuro and unfocused have pretty much explained IQ. For noise, multiple ISO by crop factor squared to get close to equivalent, so ISO 3200 x 1.6 x 1.6 = about ISO 8000.

As to lighting, soft light yields soft looking pictures. 7DII shot has petals in shadow so they look softer, 5DIII shot has them is bright sun so they almost glow. The brighter lighting on 5DIII shot may also explain why it has more apparent depth of field? These flower clusters don't look like they were taken on the same day -- arrangement of petals is sufficiently different to not be explained just by slightly different angle of shot? Were they the same cluster? Different day or different cluster may also explain some variation in coloration.

This is good news. I have both 25 and 85 on pre-order

Look forward to see wider than 25mm from zeiss in near future.

applecider said:

My big question here, and I'm serious, is will canon service this lens if anything breaks. They seem to have taken some pride in the series converting them from FD lenses to EF. I wonder if they keep track of the current owners and offer them some sort of support plan.

Imagine the price drop that would occur if canon came out with a good 1200mm f 5.6 DO lens that weighed less than 10# or 4 kg. and was hand luggable. Hint hint

And yes in comparison to a 600 L II and a 2xIII extender it would be nice to see some actual quality comparisons. Perhaps that is why the reviews are always short for time and bench testing is never feasible.......

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The focus motors are one of the weak points of "legacy" equipment. This one and the 200mm 1.8 both share the same motor in their "focus by wire" design, meaning if the motor goes even manual focus will not work. When I got my 200mm 1.8, I also got a spare new motor for it from an camera equipment maker.

Someone else made the point about the ultimate resolution of the lens. With a lens this expensive and painstakingly made, there ARE options not available to the opticians such as "retouching". They basically test the complete optic against its own refection in an optical flat that is falt to say 1/20 of a wavelength of light, and adjust it to get the best results.

RGF said:

ajfotofilmagem said:

Canon L lenses prioritize quality construction, and if possible picture quality. Retrofocus lens designs facilitate fast focus without moving the front element, and aberration correction. The trend toward lens L is the ring USM is near the rear of the lens, saving size and weight.

Exception to this are the STM lens where the focus ring is only an electronic sensor, and can be located in any portion of the lens, regardless of whether or not retrofocus.

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So is the focus ring near the rear of the lens something we should expect for tele zoom lenses in the future (especially L series)?

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I believe so.
But, if we consider a long lens as 600mm, the location of the focus ring "close" to the rear of the lens, can be almost 20 cm away.

back when I raced sailboats, I would have given anything to have something like this. 20 minutes of circling the boat as we practiced! WOW.

I also use a couple of YN-600EX-RT. They work very well and have transceivers built in. I've used them in ETTL and manual mode.

Julie G. said:

Hi,

I am planing on taking a trip to Jotunheimen, Norway in August, might be going alone too, and I am considering what gear to bring/buy.

I have:
Canon 5D Mark III with a Black Rapid Strap
Sigma 35mm Art
Canon 70-200 F4L IS
NiftyFifty
Extra memory card and battery (1 extra?) + a tripod

Anyone have any experience with using the Sigma 35mm Art for mountain landscapes? I love the lens, but is it wide enough? I'm entertaining the idea of getting a wider lens (wide angle or fisheye), not too expensive though. I might get a CP filter too. Any other things that's worth considering?

Julie

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Breezing through the thread-

Yes, learn how to do a handheld (or tripod based) portrait orientation panorama. You need to keep the exposure the same in the individual images and keep from refocusing the lens (back-button focus or put the lens in manual mode). The tripod will need to be leveled and you will need a panning base feature as part of the tripod or ballhead.

You can use any focal length. "Landscape" does not necessarily mean "14mm" or "16mm" or "24mm". You may find that a multi-image stitch at say ~35mm or 50mm looks more natural than a single shot at 17mm. Of course, if the scene is distant enough, handheld at 200mm+ could also work for a image stitch.

You may want more than one extra battery. Those are light enough and cheap enough. Same with cards.

I have used a Benro C2970T tripod and it would likely work fine for your listed gear. As a kit, the ballhead that it comes with is also suitable but I found that a Sirui K40 was much better.

CP filter and any required step-up rings- yes.

An extension tube and/or something like a 500D close-up lens may be useful for closer/smaller subjects along the way.

I am beginning to find that making a custom white balance makes more than a trivial difference in photos. You may want to look into something like "Clear White" from here: http://www.digitalphotographykits.com/ or find something else that is similar or works for you.

Maximilian said:

Mt Spokane Photography said:

I never use wipes on a lens glass. With some brands, you don't know for sure if they are safe. ...

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Thank you, Mt Spokane, for adding this up.

As I said before I wanted to use them for the monitor and NOT for optical glass except for the filters, occasionally.
I know that these liquids and cemicals used in those cleaning wipes can damage the coating, for example.

But these you couldn't even use for anything

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Some brands of filters are really tough to clean, and the isopropyl alcohol in glass cleaning wipes seems to streak more than other cleaners. I put a couple of drops of Costco eyeglass cleaner on mine and use a microfiber cloth. The cleaner uses a very diluted soap, has no grit or alcohol, and cleans filters easily, even those that tend to streak. I've found it far cheaper (FREE) and it works better. Costco has a dispenses for it in their eyeglass departments, so I refill free when I need more. A person can also make their own by using just a couple of drops of a grit free dish detergent like DAWN in a pint of water. My eye doctor recommended it for glasses and it works for lenses. Don't apply directly to a lens, wet a soft lens cloth slightly. Don't rub the glass either, just a light wipe is dangerous enough. Usually, just blowing away dust works fine.

B&H filters tend to be easily cleaned, but some of the other brands can be very difficult. Its the coatings that cause the issue.

Thank you for confirming my observation. In fact, I ordered a full-matte focusing screen for my 5DIII but it was scratched already out of the package and the seller did not respond to any emails. Of course, they would have said that it was OK when they sent it and it was me, the stupid savage, who had scratched it....I lost about 80 dollars and two hours of my precious time in this experiment.

I update my blog with some new shots (and 100% view). Taken on the streets, there is some post production but only in colors or B&W conversion and artificial vignetting. I've added some thoughts too.

http://www.mbelloni.com/2015/05/22/canon-ef-50mm-f1-8-stm/

Good reading (and forgive my bad english).

mfmalk said:

Photos taken last month, it boggles the mind that these scenes from 100+ years ago still exist.
Enjoy,
Matthew

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I did, thanks for posting. I'm no train-nut but I really liked what you captured there. I'd love to visit the place, smell the old machines, get a feel of the history in the air.

Valvebounce said:

Hi Jrista.
My apologies, intentionally misunderstand was a bit strong. I would also say that I find many of your posts most informative, including those here, it is just that the information starts getting lost in the noise!

Cheers, Graham.

jrista said:

Valvebounce said:

Hi Jrista, Neuro.
I find it incredible that two people, whom I would consider to have a far greater comprehension of the technical sides of each other's arguments than I, can continue to intentionally misunderstand each other's statements during these debates.
I'm fairly sure that I understand the point each of you is trying to make, right up to the point when you start this nonsense and confuse me. What is so sad is that I kind of get the impression that you both would want the same thing in the end.

Cheers, Graham.

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I have never intentionally misunderstood anything.

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I agree, there is a lot of noise. I've restore a number of people to my ignore list. Hopefully that will cut down on it. I can't help what you guys may see, but it should be easier for me to ignore all the noise and not bother responding to it.

DavidR said:

Hello
I live in Connel, near Oban on the west coast of Scotland.
I can thoroughly recommend a trip to Lunga, one of the Treshnish Islands.
There are organised trips that involve a ferry trip from Oban to Mull then a bus journey and a boat to Lunga and Staffa (famous for Fingal`s Cave).
The most important birds on Lunga are puffins and there will be huge numbers of them there just now, many of them approachable to about 1m! Also shags, guillemots and other sea birds.
If you go to Oban please also look into the Thursday sailings to Coll and Tiree for a visit to these Hebridean islands.
There are also trips to Iona which is very photogenic.

Farther north, consider Handa Island to which there are boat trips. The island has good sea cliffs. I`ve also even seen a lizard there.

However, perhaps the most spectacular place to see birds is on the day trip to St Kilda. After visiting Hirta, the main island, the boat we were on went past Boreray, a huge sea stack which has thousands of gannets. Be aware that this is an expensive trip and needs a lot of planning.

For more ideas look at the Scottish Wildlife Trust website.

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Thanks David for this tip. On my next visit to Scotland I will definitely see the west coast. The Scottish Wildlife Trust website I know, very informative.

I did use no name SDXC card without any issue with the 6D.
Now, I am using a Sandisk SDXC 64Gb Extreme and I am very satisfied. Fast and no issues.

I can just say that I ALWAYS format any card I put in ANY camera before use. I believe each camera may have some particularities and this is taken in account if the card is formatted in this camera.

PhotographyFirst said:

If you go to the studio comparison tool at DPR and set the cameras to display RAW and look at the color swatches, the 5Dsr is gaining on the competition in the color accuracy department. Must be using a much stronger CFA in this new model. Portrait shooters will be super stoked for sure.

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I have no doubt that the 5Ds(r) is using a better CFA compared to previous models, just curious how you came to that conclusion by looking at the color swatches and comparing with Nikon for example. Which one is "correct" in terms of color accuracy?

Untitled by RexPhoto91, on Flickr

Untitled by RexPhoto91, on Flickr

Untitled by RexPhoto91, on Flickr

Untitled by RexPhoto91, on Flickr

Untitled by RexPhoto91, on Flickr

Thank you all for your advice. It's been really helpful.

Unfortunately, a body upgrade is out of the picture. Otherwise I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade to the 70D. One of these days I'll get around to testing my focus to see if that is in fact the issue. I bought my 17-55 used, so no return policy there. But I figure I could sell it for what I paid for it.

As for switching from the zoom to primes... that is my biggest concern. That is why I sold my primes and went to the zoom... and now I want to go back!! lol. So I'm not really sure what I want anymore, other than a tele lens. Which is out of the question unless I sell my 17-55... which I don't want to do unless I have to. So many decisions, so little money.

I used the body grip on my t4i because the 17-55 is WAY too big for the body. Very front heavy and the grip balances it out more and gives me a better hold.

Not yet sure where I'll land on this. But again, ty for your opinions.

Diko said:

neuroanatomist said:

Diko said:

unfocused said:

... The only truly disruptive technology out there right now is light field focusing. If that can be perfected over the next decade, it's entirely possible we may be operating our lenses from a smart phone and then focusing the images later in post.

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It can and it has been ;-) One of its commercial names is Lytro and the tech is "Light-field camera".

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I presume unfocused is aware of Lytro. But surely you're not suggesting that the Lytro cameras represent the perfection of light field technology for commercial/consumer application?

Then again, maybe you think the original EOS 1D was 'perfection'. It had a 4 MP output, too.

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ROFL. No no no. ))) That with the 1D was a nice one.

As for the Lytro IMO it's still in its infancy. And honestly never had the chance to play with one around (yet). So maybe they will think something even more interesting.

So far I believe that "Light-field cameras" are great for smartphones. IMO they should be implemented there for simple end consumers that would enjoy it most.

I personally am not fan of post-focusing. The Photography for me is an art of statement (video is the art of storytelling). So the photo should be well created on concept level prior to shootin.

Who knows? Perhaps in photojournalism there could be a good use of Lytro-like-cameras too.

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I thought Lytro gave up on stills and are now only doing video related products?