I have carried it at my side by the RRS replacement foot for an hour or so but it does get fatiguing on the shoulder. I think a combo of a strap and holding it would be better. Least tiring is on monopod over the shoulder or of course in a backpack if you are just hiking to get somewhere with no real shooting opportunities on the way.

In some scenes it can be a problem, e.g. buildings/structures where the viewer expects to see straight lines. In natural scenes you can compose your shot so that the existence of distortion is not really visible to the viewer.

Linked is a sample image in the built-environment and the presence of distortion is quite clear: http://www.4photos.de/test/Samyang-14mm-Wellenfoermige-Verzeichnung-.jpg

Since you are already FF, I believe the Tokina is the better option and will be a more versatile lens purchase. It will be way more useful most of the time. It might be a better option to rent a 14mm on the odd occasion when you might need it. There are options for distortion correction but you will inevitably lose sharpness as a result. It is better to shoot a cleaner image in-camera than to try and manufacture it afterwards.

I never owned any of the lenses you mention, but i'm looking for a landscape prime myself, so i can share the results of my research with you.

MTF charts show that the 17-40 is good enough when stopped down to f/8-11, so i think you're fine with it when shooting landscapes and long exposures. However, if you want take pictures of stars you're going to need a fast aperture and decent sharpness. The 24/1.4L is sharp.in the center, but somewhat disappointing in the corners when used wide open, showing low sharpness and high vignetting. It also shows coma when shot wide open. Stopping down to f/2.8-4 improve things a lot, but if you're stopping down to f/2.8, you might as well save a grand and get a 24/2.8 IS that boasts decent performances right from the fastest aperture. If you need the fast aperture for creative purposes, nothing can touch the canon L.

There's a brand now Zeiss 15/2.8 that's getting lots of praising reviews, but it costs something in the whereabouts of 3000$. The other Zeiss lenses show good sharpness in lab tests, so they are worth a thought, if you can get over the fact they don't have the autofocus.

My considerations: the 24/2.8 IS is a good all-arounder, delivering good performances in all the fields of interests at a fair price. If money wasn't a concern, i would have bought the Zeiss 15/2.8 as a dedicated landscape/starfield lens, and something else for street and handheld low light photography.

Sorry, I just found this funny.

jonathan7007 said:

UK Mike,
There are good suggestions that precede this; try also back button focus control with servo. This works best if you can get used to shifting the focus cluster, too, around the field -- on the fly -- with the camera at your eye.

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Good advice - i find back button focus to be a great help. Do give it a good go.

As you have i inherited the lens, a repair cost of around $300 is still a very good deal. Get it to Canon asap and start enjoying this lovely lens.

Timely thread for me. Thanks for all the shared experience and kit suggestions. Blower first...

Using a ziplock bag when going from a cold environment into a warm (as likely more humid) environment, esp one with a large crowd of breathing people, is prudent until the camera's temp warms up to close to the surroundings. Problem for me is that I need to shoot pictures when I arrive and shooting through a sealed ziplock bag isn't a skill I've yet mastered. And as you use a zoom lens, you move the warm humid air inside the lens and camera and can fog on the inside too. Grrr!!

Please correct me if I'm wrong but my simplistic attitude about humidity and my cameras/lenses is keep the camera/lens warmer than the surroundings and it can't hold condensation. For instance, when I shoot in very humid indoor pool areas, I warm up my camera/lens with the car heater on the way to the location. (I crack the car windows so I don't suffocate inside on mild days!)

Since I do a enough indoor pool shooting during the winter, I've even considered perhaps getting a pizza warmer bag for the ride over to the pool instead of using my car heater. I would assume a similar idea could be used indoors when returning from the cold outdoors if the camera needs to be used indoors quickly.

OP gone? Nah, just perusing. We don't have this kind of "mega-store" where I live although the local chaps can be very helpful. I do buy much of my gear online but the ability to handle gear and talk with a salesperson (my cynical-watch-out-for-urge-to-make-a-sale alarm sounds loudly) is of value so I do purchase from the local bricks and mortar shops, as well. They can't often beat the online guys but they do deserve to make a living and I value their help.

The beauty of the pilgrimage is that I can go home and buy online from these NYC stores without guilt so I've no issue with browsing and looking. In fact, nobody in my locale has an Intuos that I could handle but now, I did at B&H. If I purchase, I'll probably do so through them.

My assistant, well, still beautiful but, it was raining today, so they wisely stayed home. Just me and my stuff wandering with my finger on the shutter and an alternate lens in the bag. Sometimes the "overpriced" bags are just perfect, at least for carrying gear

Mt. Spokane,
I do have insurance against theft, loss, damage. Liability, etc. I should have been more clear. The CPS service is kind of "prepaid" repair and cleaning services with a discount of (now) 30%. When Platinum was $600 it was clearly a bad fit for me. Gold worked, and I did once or twice get the (then) 30% discount on repairs. I would never invoke my true insurance "perils" coverage for payment of even a badly damaged camera body. Theft, yeah.

You offered an interesting added benefit: CPS gets a better price in certain purchase situations. Is this for further discount off refurbished bodies? I have used the "Canon Loyalty Program" in the past, but I don't remember any situation in which I got a discount by identifying myself as a CPS member.

Faster turnaround time is a valuable benefit which I cannot buy, I believe. So that is in the "worthwhile" column. As I said, across-the-Pacific shipping to and fro is also a good deal.

The murky benefit (to me) of lens clean-and-check services is a downbeat part of the equation. Does anyone know more about helpful steps in a lens clean-and-check? I don't *think* Canon calibrates or adjusts a lens in any way during a clean-and-check. A CPS rep read me the official list of steps in the process. I would love to know otherwise.

This is NOT intended to be a rant about evil Canon trolls in Irvine, Jamesburg, Newport News (I think that's the Repair locations) but a examination of the benefit-cost balance.

Rienzphotoz said:

Don Haines said:

privatebydesign said:

Don Haines said:

traveller said:

Is it just the angle of the photo, or have you managed to remove/find a replacement for the centre column from the tripod? I've often wanted to do that with mine, but the replacement Manfrotto short column doesn't seem worth it and I don't feel like getting out the hacksaw! :-\

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You can also detach the bottom of the column and mount it on the shoulders to have a tripod with no central column.....

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No you can't. Not with the 055/190 XPRO models you can't.

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I did not know that....

As you can see in the above picture, you can do it with the 190CX3 model...

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I have a 190CX4 (which is almost identical to 055CXPRO4, except for the size and weight) ... if the the 190CX3 is anything like 190CX4, I don't see why it won't be possible.

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I think the cx4 and Cx3 are the same except for the number of sections of legs.... Check it out and see if yours detaches.... It's a little button on the base of the column.....

I used a 10-22 on a 7D, after getting the 16-35L II for my 5DII, I sold the 10-22...

Whatever...!!

Eli said:

... plus it's also weather sealed.

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I did not know that. The 100L is high on my next lens list. This is another plus. Thanks.

Thanks for all the advice, it helps a lot.... At the moment sound is not a priority as I am mainly shooting B-roll, but I would like to get ahead, so all your advice has been great, thanks!

I'll let you know how it all goes!

Methodical said:

When in stock, Canon has the refurbished 1Dx for only about $5200 or so.

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The Canon refurb price is $5439.20 plus sales tax or about $5850-5900 depending on what your tax rate is.

Rienzphotoz said:

Arctic Photo said:

I wonder where this guy would send the un-assembled bomb though. Canon? CR-Guy? Neuro? Maybe Nikon for failing to support him publicly?

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100% to Neuro ;D
The said accused has a special affinity towards Neuro ;D

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I know, I was here all the way under another name. Can't say I miss it.

"Who says that all cameras you review have to me modern?") ... thought this might be interesting to some:
Canon Top Twin Quartz Date Hands-on Review

Hi Dave.
I had these set on my 40D and found that I was going to have to resort to sticky labels to know what I had set each C mode for as could not remember what was where when I picked the camera up.
As the first thing I do is remove all sticky labels from technology, like Intel inside Radeon graphics etc there was no way I was going to add them!
As yet I haven't set C modes on my 7D, though I intend to at some point.
Some of the things you can set are ISO range limit, focus modes, drive speed, focus point selection settings, raw, jpeg or raw+jpeg, shooting mode just for a start.

Cheers Graham.

takesome1 said:

The difference is 39mm. Since 254 can be delivered for about $1400 and the cost of the 300mm f/2.8 is about $6700 the additional cost for 39mm would be $135.90 per mm.

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You should move the decimal point, to get something like less than $20 per mm for the $6k lens, etc.

Which makes my 15 fisheye a really luxury item and low value: $40 per mm!

I own the 500II since about half a year and I can only say that this lens cured my GAS. There is simply no room left to improve gearwise, after a V2 supertele lens. I use it exclusively handheld and I have to disagree with Jim Saunders -> I can handhold it all day long. Of course you can't hold it to the eye the whole time but you can usually find a place to support your elbow (your knee for example).

I wrote a post about my experiences a couple of months ago. You can find it here:
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=14283.msg258392#msg258392

Have fun!

Richard8971 said:

neuroanatomist said:

I guess you didn't try my suggested test. I shoot indoors a lot, there are usually strong light sources (ceiling light fixtures, floor lamps, etc.) in the frame. In that situation, a cheap filter is a bad idea (I did try a cheap Tiffen once, since it came on a used lens I bought - if you'll pardon the New Englandism, wicked bad flare; no issues with my B+W MRC filters).

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No offence but this wasn't about a controlled test using blah, blah and doing blah, blah. I picked up my camera with the filter on, took a shot. Took the filter off and took the same shot. Did the same thing with the other two. Just random shots that anyone of us could take. I DID take these indoors, with normal indoor lighting conditions, using my onboard flash. Nothing special...

Again, if you don't like filters, then don't use them. My test was to show that even though under very close examination you can spot a difference, but just viewing a photo normally, its a lot harder.

Life is too short. Go out and take some photos!

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It's as if someone handed you a $20 digicam and said it rendered purple/magenta hues as blue...and you compared it to your dSLR and concluded the cheap camera was fine...and showed pictures of a green lawn as 'proof'.

Your point was that a cheap filter is basically just as good as an expensive one, so there's no need to pay more, and you supported that point by showing a pair of images that were taken under conditions that would not reveal the major problem caused by cheap filters - flare.

Maybe you don't find the flare you get with cheap filters objectionable...but it is evident, and easily spotted even in normal viewing of a web-sized image.

Life is too short. Go out and take some photos...but be sure not to have any strong light sources in the frame!

arbitrage said:

Over the past couple months, the Canon Direct US store has had the 300 2.8II iS and the 400 4.0DO in its refurbished store at some great prices. They come with a 1 year warranty so that is at least an option on the shorter focal lengths. But I agree with others that the market for these lenses isn't swayed by $500 discounts.

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I just hope those are there for the Black Friday 20% off or whatever they do this year....

As along time user of the 5Dc, I would have no qualms with going back if need be to it. I would like to mention these things about using it though.

1. No live view. No biggie if your used to shooting with old film cameras.
2. The LCD is horrid but I used the histograms only.
3. Use the center AF point only and for fast primes buy an egs screen for it. It will raise your keepers a lot.

You'll appreciate the 5Dcs color rendition and the massive viewfinder when you get one. It's a no frills, plano workhorse camera and very similar to shooting old film cameras relying on your skill to get results. I can't knock it's iso 100-800 files as tthey are still excellent to this day.

tianxiaozhang said:

The Nikon Df is controversial (I like personally).. and this is even less exciting..

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Nikon's volume is much lower than Canon's, so being controversial is kind of an essential way for them to get more visibility and maybe scoop up some more market share.

Sadly, Canon's massive volume and market share are kind of their problem...even with competition from the SoNikon alliance and a variety of other camera and sensor manufacturers...they apparently don't feel enough pressure to push the IQ envelope much.

Personally, I hope the Nikon Df takes off. Might spur Canon into a more innovatively competitive mode.