7D2 and cases #5 & 6

So far I have found only one thing that makes no sense. In Cases 5 and 6 the manual states AF auto point switching is disabled in single point AF mode which makes sense. Of course this would apply to any case if you activated it. As you can see in Cases 1 to 4 it is on zero.

The manual and the AF setting guide PDF both state AF auto point switching is active in expanded and zone. Zone makes sense because you can see the AF points actually switching. In expanded mode the points surrounding the centre point are assist points. They are not switching. In fact they all illuminate together when AF lock is achieved in AI Servo.

I read a few things and did some tests. In single shot, expanded and single point you can actually see adjacent points light up sometimes. If one did, you took the shot you and view in DPP later you can see both the centre point and the adjacent AF point that assisted are red. Same thing on your LCD.

In AI "FOCUS" and expanded you can move the camera around and see the assist AF points light up now and then but the centre point always lights up as well. The adjacent point is still an assist point as far as I can tell.

In AI Servo all points are AF points are active and as I said they all light up when AF is achieved. So I don't get how the AF points are switching in expanded when in either AI Focus or Servo. I don't think too many people use AI Focus anyway so AI Servo is the one I'm actually questioning.

Sony to capture all the non-Canon sensor sales

AvTvM said:
Declining market demand for big fat mirrorslappers and pressure on profits will accelerate the industry's move to solid state, fully-electronic cameras, without any mechanics or moving mirrors on them.simply because it is so much cheaper to manufacture, quality control and service mechanics-free products.

I suppose you think those tiny high resolution micro-displays are dirt cheap? Try $50 and up just for the microdisplay - many times the cost of a mirror box.

We, as a civilization, are incredibly good at constructing mechanical moving devices. The engine in your car cost less than $3,000 to manufacture. My son's micro quadcopter, with 3-axis IMU, receiver, battery, battery charger, transmitter, carbon-fiber structure, and four miniature motors cost less than $40 at retail, meaning it probably cost less than $10 to manufacture, including the four motors. I buy servos with a motor and a 5-stage gear train for less than $20 retail.

Mirror boxes are very inexpensive devices to manufacture, as are pentamirrors and pentaprisms. That's why you can have $400 SLRs that include far more than a viewfinder, like the whole rest of the camera. Microdisplays require very expensive fabrication technologies much like chip fabs, and you still have to make all the viewfinder optics anyway.

And, by the way, the mirror boxes and AF optics aren't carefully tuned, they're calibrated electronically during manufacturing to account for varying optical path length.
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Beautiful B&W Photos

surapon said:
martti said:
Pookie said:
Thanks Surapon, the adult versions can be found here... http://www.davidkm.com/Portraits-from-San-Gregorio-St/

Christmas cheer and a Happy New Year to all :)

Technically beautiful shots but your model seems unhappy.

Thankssss, Dear Friend Mr. David.
You are an great Artist and Great Natural Portrait Photographer too. You Natural Light skill are fantastic.
Thanks again.
Happy new year of 2015.
Surapon

Thanks Surapon, unfort that is not all natural light. Elinchrom Quadra into a 1m Rotalux Octa, 45 deg right/above.

martti said:
Pookie said:
Thanks Surapon, the adult versions can be found here... http://www.davidkm.com/Portraits-from-San-Gregorio-St/

Christmas cheer and a Happy New Year to all :)

Technically beautiful shots but your model seems unhappy.

Well, this was by design... I was putting my twist on nudes by Jock Sturges. None of his subject smiled. In retrospect I would have liked a few smiles but then again it would have changed the whole feel of the shoot.
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How satisfied are you with the 100-400 II?

Besisika said:
Thanks for sharing and for the effort. At first, I thought it wouldn't fair to compare it this way, as one is wide open while the other one is 2 stops stepped down. However the results give me a clear idea of what the new lens can do. It doesn't matter to me which one is better, as long as it is close to the 70-200 ii, it is a very good lens.
Again, thanks for the test.

Yeah, that's exactly why I tested it this way. The question I saw was for a comparison to the 70-200. I saw it less as a question of "better" and more a question of whether the 100-400 II is "as good" a lens as the 70-200 II. For me, the answer is, "Absolutely!"

That said, I do realize that it's not something a few test shots can portray. Test shots just don't give the feel for how fast the AF is...or how the IS works for your shooting style...or the 100 other little things we all consider part of our experience.
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Have owned a 7D mk2 for half an hour :)

RGF said:
Beautiful dog - I am even more excited about dogs than photography (well almost).

We have a 4 yr old English Creme Golden, though she has a lot of tan color. Both her parents are very white - she was the darkest color of the litter and the most active/responsive at 6-7 weeks.

Great dog though she has a mind of her own. While walking her, Denali will sit down to tell us that we are going the wrong way. Takes a lot of coaxing / treats to get her to come with us (at times).

I find it very useful to combine a love of dogs and photography ;)
If you have a moment, you might want to see times when I've done this in my gallery at http://500px.com/moushu
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Tamron SP 15-30mm F2.8 MTF Available

andrewflo said:
Can anyone with a good understanding of MTF charts share how this compares to the Canon 16-35 f/4?

Most appreciated!
It's hard to generalize, and remember that these are theoretical charts, and real world testing is needed for a definitive comparison;but just based on the charts, center frame will be nearly the same wide open and edges will be a little softer on the Tamron at the tele end, and edges a little softer on the canon on the wide end. A good MTF explanation is here:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-mtf.shtml

More important, I think, is the f2.8 on Tamron and f4 on the Canon.
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Samsung NX-1, after their fridge, microwave and telephone, the camera, too?

I like the Lens Rentals reviews and blogs. There are more cameras going through different phases of destruction through their hands than anybody else's. Now Roger Cicala has taken the top-of-the line Samsung mirrorless and measured some variables against the Nikon 7100 with a similar size sensor.
His conclusion: This is a serious new player in the field of professional photography.

Its magnesium alloy body is weather sealed which might mean whatever since there are no norms according to which an electronical device could be defined as 'weather sealed'.
It most certainly has the highest pixel count on an APSc sensor which is the only back-lighted unit that big on the market. Due to its immense processing power it can shoot 15 fps continuous up to 78 high quality JPGs or 21 RAWs. It does 4K video no sweat. Battery life is promised to be 500 shots.

Autofocus has more points than anyone else with 205 phase detection points and 153 cross type sensors.
That is a lot of points! They claim the AF speed to bee 0.055 seconds, not specifying with which lens.

The touch screen is a million pixel Super AMO LED and the electronic VF has 2.3 million pixels.

Whoever is making their lenses seems to be doing a good job as in Roger Cicala's test it performed as well as the best Nikon lens of similar specs.

What's the catch?
The Korean hi-tech monster seems to have taken a new approach on how the digital camera/video machine should be constructed. You do remember when they took on iPhone when nobody would think it possible? Now they are seriously threatening Canon, Nikon, Sony and Fuji, all facing the shrinking markets with their half arsed innovation.

A link to the test:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2014/12/one-single-samsung-nx-1-test

50 1.4 dropped, no AF or MF

meanstreak said:
Twostones said:
My 50mm 1.4 was mounted on the camera and inside a camera bag when it suffered a bump. As a result the lens focus was jammed. I sent it in to Canon and they repaired it free. It is a known issue for this lens to be easily stuck when the lens front is extended and bumped. I keep my lens hood on all the time now to protect the front end from bumps and impacts. The returned lens had some rough feeling when focused by hand but it works fine in auto and manual after the repair. I’m really happy with Canon for standing behind their products.
[/quote

Were you still within the warranty period?

No it was not under warranty. The lens was 4 years old at the time. On the form i simply said the focus was stuck. I was very happy it was repaired free.
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Do you find yourself using your smartphone more than your SLR, MILC or P&S?

More than a few PJs use their phones for news. Check-this-out! A story from Ireland's RTE tv news, filmed entirely on an iPhone 6 Plus. http://vimeo.com/114265059

I'm planning to shoot some tests to see if I can use an iPhone for paid advertising work. For video, meant for the web, iPhone/iPod video is more than good enough. Ads are submitted to a magazine as 300 DPI PDF files, I'll test to see if iPhone quality is good enough for 1/2 page or even 1 page ads.

BTW sometimes I use my Canon EOS Elan 7n film camera, but most of my fun shooting is done with an iDevice. The DSLRs only come out for paid work.
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Bournemouth Art By The Sea Festival 2014

bnE1jt5.jpg

Back in 27'th of September I got a chance to visit one of most interesting and beautiful art festivals I seen this year, called "Art By Sea Festival", which take place in the Bournemouth, the south coast of England.

My trip that weekend been spontaneous and suddenly I been surprised, when I saw Fire Gardens all other the park on the way to the beach. I felt like I fall down in the fiery steam-punk world, surrounded by fire alchemists and robotic machines powered by steam. Fabulous atmosphere, interesting smell all around of unrecognized smoke, plenty artists and musicians from indie and experimental stage. That was spectacular and unforgettable experience.

Without hesitation I put this on my list of places to visit for next 2015 year and my recommendation for you to take a part as well ;) PS: sorry for my poor English.

Video
http://youtu.be/QrOomOQPkJk

Any ideas on getting good focus when shooting thru glass pane?

emag said:
The glass may be squeaky clean, but it's not optical glass and is likely not very flat on either surface. If a MF shot doesn't look good either, then that's your issue. Using telephoto magnifies the problem.

Apparently this is the problem at my house. Closer I get to the glass, worse the problem manifests. I tried MF, IS-off, then did an "angle shot" of a flat textured surface I often do in order to spot check AFMA, and noticed the center zone was blurred, but it gets progressively blurrier forward or backward, meaning it is in as much focus as it is going to get shooting thru the pane... LOL, guess I'll have to research if I can get replacement panes for a few places that will do better...
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Suggest Ideal Speedlite Accessory Kit for 600EX-RT units etc.

BFT is by far the best accessory for on camera flash and the best VFM.
Rogue Flash bender can do the same job and also serve as a larger light surface if you have no other choice than shoot with direct flash.
For off camera flash I really like the octagonal Westcott Apollo (or any similar umbrella softbox). It gives very soft light, with great direction control if you use the available grid, it is quite resistant to wind, protects the flash if the wind blow the stand off, packs small and assembles quick being an umbrella.
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Are Gitzo's really overrated?!

My old Leitz TillTall (bonk) failed and my brand new 20D broke. That's when I ordered the Gitzo 1228, ten years ago. I took it apart and cleaned it up and put new lithium grease in the threads. Good as new.
Overrated? Certainly not! I like stuff that just works.
The ball head is jerky so I got a Markins instead. I do not think I will ever need to change this setup.
An L-plate maybe. Not sure.
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