Hi Neuro, I had a chuckle. :

My question is can the "extra DR" of a Nikon really enable images taken in the maner with which they use their cameras really enable such image enhancement?
Half the time the camera body is still moving when they hit the button!
Also has anyone else noticed the way Horatio leaves most of the shots by falling out of the frame?

Where my workshop for my classic cars is three of us were burgled, our CSI arrived with a camera, a bloody great tripod, I mean built like the surveyors put their theodolites on! and a flash on a cord he also took time to frame things accurately, my finger is in many of the pics he took holding the L shape measure on the door for scale and also holding a pencil to point to tool damage on the locks in situe, they then asked for the locks which were damaged beyond use so we let them take them.
No fingerprints were retrievable due to the surface they were on and though they had a suspect no arrest was made.
I wish we could have got some of the staff from tv, they could have got the prints, and the DNA in the prints and found the *#%€$¥*# with the loot before he disposed of it! ;D

Thankfully it was not my home as I think the feeling of intrusion would have been terrible having seen what it did to an old work colleague when his home was done.

Cheers Graham.

jthomson said:

neuroanatomist said:

jthomson said:

Isn't it obvious?

The higher dynamic range of the Nikon camera's is what enables them to pull so much detail when they enhance their pictures. :

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Well I thought it was funny.
The magic they can do with photographs is only surpassed by the speed with which they can do DNA tests.

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While an X100s would be a valuable addition to any photographers camera bag, you've currently got a brilliant second body in your 7D. But you'd miss shots with the X100s that you'd pick up with the 7D. You're talking about a downgrade.

As a suggestion, maybe you need to take a look at the way you carry your cameras. Two bodies with standard neck straps are seriously clumsy and downright painful for a full days shoot. A move to Spider-Pro holster system and more recently the CarrySpeed sling strap system have for me completely transformed the experience of working with multiple bodies. I use both systems together for some jobs. On Saturday I had a long all-day shoot where I was on my feet all day. I had the 5D3 with 16-35f/2.8II and 1D4 with 70-200 f/2.8isII on a CarrySpeed Double Pro and a third, much lighter body, a tiny SL-1/100D with 24 f/1.4II clipped onto the SpiderPro belt. Each camera was instantly ready for action and I my body didn't hurt at the end of the long day. With just neck straps, a shoot with last Saturday's flexibility and comfort just wouldn't have happened, and I was able to deliver a much stronger result for my client.

FWIW, the pin on the CarrySpeed F1 plate is 100% compatible and interchangable with the SpiderPro holster.

-pw

My advice-

Take your camera to the camera store and have them bring every 70-200 2.8 II out and try them in the store until you get happy. Don't leave until you get one.

Another lesson learned, if it ain't broke (as we say in TX), don't fix it. That old lens is looking better.

Anyway, picking an argument with Canon ( I had one originally with my copy about a year and a half ago) will be fruitless. To save you all the middle steps, here is what will happen. You will send it in at your expense a few times (shipping plus insurance), and have to be without the lens. Finally, after many letters and calls to low to mid level service reps, they will send you a refurb in exchange for your new lens. Save the ulcer. Some battles you just won't win.

Good luck with the lens

Aren't you the Lambo/Maserati poster?

Viggo said:

candyman said:

I bought mine last year in october. I do not see this halo effect.
I would say that this person got a defective lens. Recommendation is to bring it back and exchange it.

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..only that he has done that 3(!) times already...

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Dylan777 said:

Dylan777 said:

I took this picture with Sony RX100II, in low light. This is 3200ISO, JPEG straight out from camera, zero PP.

RX1 & RX 100 II always amazed me...body size and IQ.

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Just incase anyone interested to see the remaining photos:

http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/OrMEuOZU/1/6234908

1st picture was taken this morning, around 5:30AM California time, indoor,with little light at 3200ISO. The remaining photos were taken this afternoon with decent lighting, next to patio door. All jpeg files. Copied straight from camera - zero PP.

The RX100 II is a great small camera for this type of work. It fits in jean and shirt pocket well. It delivers great IQ, even in JPEG. I carry this camera to work everyday.

Ohhh...almost forgot, please excuse my crappy composition

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It is certainly great as to the advances made in digital cameras since my first Fujifilm MX700 in 1998. I recently bought a vintage 6MP Kodak DCS 460C from 1995 ($35,500 originally), and it could do about ISO 80 max. Now, many shoot at ISO 3200 and higher with impunity. I also remember the Polaroid ASA 2000 B&W film that would let you shoot by candlelight, but never quite lived up to that for me. (I think you had to increase the developing time to make it work.)

Have fun with it!!

Thanks to all who replied. It confirmed my suspicions that it is hard to go wrong with a refurb body or lens.

I have two of the Maha MH-C801D chargers, and I have found them to be rock-solid. Rapid charge, soft charge, and conditioning modes, individual charge per cell (x8) seems to have extended the life of my batts and with 4 speedlites each with external battery packs, it does make a difference to the wallet when you can get some longevity out of your AA's. Just like everything else you get what you pay for - I get that budgets are important, but I think I can safely say going with a cheaper charger with premium batteries is probably false economy. The Powerex site lists the MH-C801D as 90 bucks but B&H has them for $65.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=MH-C801D&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

For the cells I use all Powerex, a mix of Imedions in the flashes ready to go

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/883811-REG/Powerex_MHRAAI4_IMEDION_Ready_When.html

and Powerex for the external packs and to replace the ones in the strobes.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/883816-REG/Powerex_MHRAA4_Rechargeable_AA_NiMH.html

(Amazon is good for Powerex too).

Having said that I wouldn't hesitate to use the Eneloops as well as many of my colleagues swear by them. But I can honestly say the Powerex stuff has been bulletproof.

Oh, and pick up a proper battery tester while you're at it - the cheap ones don't properly "load" the cell to give you an accurate reading of the charge remaining. But a proper one can save you a lot of hours trying to find a dead cell. I love this one:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/321271-REG/ZTS_MINI_MBT_Mini_MBT_Multi_Battery_Tester.html

Users have been cleaning dirty shutter switch contacts and posting utube video's for years. If you have the tools and are fairly handy with them, its just a matter of taking your time and doing it right.

I find working on lenses to be tougher, depending on what I'm doing. I have several bags of parts from never to be reassembled again lenses. Its particularly nasty to get those aperture blades put back in place. I still do it, but I've lost feeling in my fingers, so it becomes extremely frustrating and difficult, it has to be done from some sort of memory for the correct motions with my fingers since there is almost no feeling.

seasamshoot said:

Thanks for all the advice.

How valuable is the IS on the Mark I? And is the F4 IS good for indoor portraits on a crop camera? Logic would suggest that it would basically be giving me a f5.6 depth of field wide open on the 70D. is that correct?

Thanks again.

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if i remember correctly, 70-200mm f/2.8 IS version 1 has 3 stop of IS whereas 70-200mm f/4 IS has 4 stop. about the sharpness, to me 70-200mm f/4 IS is more better than 70-200mm f/2.8 IS version 1 even at f/4. i am not trying to say that version 1 is not good, i did own this version before upgrading to version II, and version I served me pretty well on my candid shots.

as many people suggestion on 85mm f/1.8 for in door portrait, i am on the same page with them. but i do not have 85mm f/1.8; i am using 50mm f/1.4 instead for everyday purposes (it is 80mm on crop.) ideal focal length of portrait photograhy is twice of your sensor size if i am right (i think i got this information from computer science 178 course offered by uc stanford). all i have to do is just zoom by feet. number of people say that this lens is tack sharp at 2.8, but i see it at f/3.2 even at low light with high iso upto 1000 on my 30d, 3200 on my 7d and slightly greater than 6400 on my 5d3. however, i am not hesitate to use wider f/stop or even widest if i have to... below are images that i have recently shot with this lens at f/2 with my 30d (note: the very first image were shot with PL linear filter to get rid some of reflection that i did not want with breaking rule of using PL filter.)

for some reasons, available light in-door portrait without IS on 70-200mm f/2.8 does not convince me much on golden rule of shutter speed (yes, i violate shutter speed sometimes, but not all the time ), especially you have not eaten breakfast, lunch or dinner before shooting ;D

note: there is a pro protographer who is currently using 70-200mm f/4 IS and he is happy with it. his name is Tony Corbel. i am not a pro. photographer, i am just a learner and hobbyist giving out my own thoughts...

I was actually just shooting last night in a smallish music performance venue with a gripped 5d3 & (rented) 70-200 IS v2. I'll tell ya, if I buy one of these, I won't need to hit the gym any more. Just shoot for an hour or two with that every day and I'll be good!

More on topic, I have the RRS L-bracket and was using the B2-FABN clamp with my 5d3 camera strap on that instead of using my BR RS-5 (cargo) strap. Actually worked really well, and as much as I love the RS-5, it's a bit bulky on my shoulder and the strap occasionally limits my movement if I always have the camera in my hands and up and ready. The clamp was onto the L-bracket, and I didn't feel any problem with the 70-200 on it.

That said, I'd have preferred to mount an Acra-swiss plate to the lens tripod mount and use the BR strap with the clamp on the tripod mount as I bet it'd have been better balanced. Although with a gripped 5d3, the balance definitely feels closer to the body/lens mount area, instead of further forward like with an ungripped 5d3.

EDIT:
@Ben Taylor, that's the clamp I was originally going to go for, but then I saw the B2-FABN which has 3 spots to connect straps to. Pretty awesome and handy, even though it is physically a bit larger than the B2-FAB-F.

Here's a few more of our kittens. Again, constructive criticism welcomed.

Northstar said:

I'm curious, did you try the 9 point expansion or the 5 point before exclusively going to center point only? And if so, are your results better now?

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I became a convert in Denali (none of the PP done yet) mostly shooting wildlife at 400mm or 400 + 1.4x so I've not expanded the number of points, yet.

yablonsky said:

there is a good German site http://www.traumflieger.de/objektivberater/index_canon.php
with resolution charts / graphs. All lenses tested on 5D Mark II.

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Thanks for this one - I had never seen it. Now I just need to remember my German - I grew up there, but haven't spoken German in over 30 years

May I ask what kind of photography you are interested in pursuing? Are you interested in doing more and more weddings in order to earn income, or is the income from this work just an added bonus which will allow you to buy more gear in order to pursue other photographic interests?

I ask, because when you are first starting out and interested in generating income, the best thing to do will be to rent the lenses you need, rather than buy them. This will keep you in the black. It takes a $2000 lens some time to pay for itself when you're just starting out. It's good to own some nice lenses that you like and are comfortable with, for sure, but it's not something you have to do all at once. You can do it gradually. There's no reason to put financial pressure on yourself at this stage in the game if you're not sure about what you want yet. Buy the lenses you love and will use a lot (even outside of doing wedding jobs) and rent the others. Renting will give you the opportunity to use anything you want.

The 17-40 is great, I'd keep that one, but if you only own body, and are shooting weddings solo, you need that mid-range zoom (24-105). As I'm sure you've experienced, things move very quickly and weddings and you may find yourself in situations where you need more reach than the 17-40mm offers, yet you don't have enough time to switch lenses.

There is no doubt that you need a longer telephoto however, I will not advise you to sell the 24-105mm at this time in order to buy it...not unless you get a 2nd body so that you can have something wide at the ready (without changing lenses).

You could shoot an entire wedding with a 24-105mm on a single body, and still get pretty good results if you *had* to...and it wouldn't be that bad. That's the value of a mid-range zoom like the 24-105mm.

You could maybe do it with a 17-40 only, but portraits would not be a pretty sight. And you'd miss a lot with a 70-200mm only. On paper, it sounds good to have a 17-40, a 50, and 70-200mm -- that really covers every length...but it doesn't cover them in an ideal way with just one body--it will actually be an incredibly non-ideal setup and a pain in the butt to use. You'll be switching lenses way, way, way too much, and missing shots, slowing down the pace of the wedding, and it will be hard for you to get into a good rhythm of shooting.

The appeal of the 35/1.4 is understandable, and I won't try to dissuade you on that. Just keep in mind that your lens bag is getting pretty large, and if you're just on one body...it's going to be tricky to make use of all the lenses you bring with you. The only way to know for sure, however, is to try it out -- you might love the lens, or you might hate it. Try it before you buy it.

Keep the 24-105mm, it's a solid performer. It's great for outdoor weddings. Try a 35mm f/1.4...if you like it, consider buying it. The 35/1.4 will be great during receptions, certain kinds of detail shots, etc.

You still need something to cover your tele needs. If it turns out you aren't crazy about the 35 after trying it, then buy whatever 70-200mm is in your budget and you're done. Don't worry about mkI vs mkII vs IS, etc., just get what you can afford. IS is not that important for wedding work--fast shutter speeds are, and every version of the 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens that Canon has produced has been more than *great.* I use the old 80-200mm f/2.8 L "magic drainpipe" professionally, at weddings, constantly, it's my favorite lens of all time...and I've had it since I got my EOS-1 film camera in the early 90s.

However, if you love the 35mm, and use some of your budget on it, then consider the 200mm f/2.8 L prime along with it instead of the tele zoom.

You could probably get both the 35mm & 200mm for close to $1500 if you buy used (not much more new - sell that 85mm and you're good).

You won't have zoom with the 200mm prime, but it's fast, super duper sharp, inexpensive, and most of the time, with 70-200mm lenses, you're either on 70, 135, or 200. The 24-105 covers the wider end of that range already. Just break out the 200mm when you know you are going to go around and take tele shots.

Then you've got your bases pretty well covered -- two fast primes for low-light indoors (35 & 50), a good wide (17-40), good moderate-tele zoom (24-105) that will work great outdoors, (and indoors with flash), and then a brilliant, fast telephoto. That's more lenses than any single photographer really needs for a solo shooting job. You'll be hard pressed to have the time to use them all if you only have one body.

It's a misconception to think that you need to cover every conceivable focal length--it really isn't true, you'll be plenty close enough for a while if you go this route. Not having every possible focal length also forces you to try different things w/regards to composition.

To reiterate (1): You've gotta have a mid-range zoom if you're going to do weddings solo -- if you sell the 24-105, I'd only replace it with something like the 24-70mm -- but you don't necessarily have to get the mkII, you could get a used mkI, or even one of the older 28-70mm f/2.8 Ls.

Notes (2): If you're going to keep doing weddings (I'm just assuming solo,) you need a 2nd body more than you need to buy another lens. Beyond a 2nd body, you need a telephoto more than a 35.

Bottom line, rent things before you buy them -- rent some things you haven't mentioned too -- you might fall in love with one of them -- then buy what you can see yourself using long term -- and you don't have to buy the latest and greatest just to be in the game, Canon has made lots of good L lenses over the years, they are mostly all good, some of them are quite cheap now, and great wedding photography is about skill more than which version of which L lens was used. Find out what you like and works best for you.

Attached a couple of 80-200mm f/2.8 L "Magic Drainpipe" shots here, these are just a couple from the last year that I like, both 80-200mm shots were taken on the 7D.

The next EOS M is here!

My 6D has a squishy shutter button. I also have tried two others in store and they had squishy shutter buttons too. I just assumed they all did.

My old analog EOS cameras had 0.5 stop increments and f/3.5 value was among them...

Zv said:

Nishi Drew said:

Turns out to be an informative thread, nice advice guys!
And Zv, might I ask where in Japan you're at? I'm in the country as well and do the rare part time shoot for a wedding and portrait. Just curious, and I'm around Kobe/Osaka

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Cool! I'm around the Nagoya area. I've been to Osaka a few times it's a great place to shoot, loved it!

We're taking a beating from this tropical storm / typhoon this morning!

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Ah, not too far from here, though I've only been through Nagoya on the way to Tokyo and back....
Yeah the typhoon was strong, it degraded into a tropical storm right before landing I think, and this area got around 500mm of rain but not as hard hit as up your way

xps said:

CarlTN said:

Looks like an improvement over the 60D and 7D, but not enough of one for me.

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Might be true. My personal view: The collegues at our local photo club got one yesterday and shot studio yesterday in the evening.
Well, compared with my old 60D - I want to replace - the Iso performance ist just a little bit better.

BUT a big bit worser than the D7100. Sorry Canon, the AF is superb. But the IQ is still not in the range of the D7100. We compared true shot studio pics yesterday.

As written, this is my personal opinion.

But, lacking an alternative, I will fetch mine in Innsbruck today.

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If what you have seen is true, then how can Canon claim "class leading noise performance"? I kind of knew it wasn't going to even equal the D7100, let alone eclipse it. Fortunately for Canon, Nikon is still the inferior system with the inferior ergonomics and philosophy.

V8, great to see you back!

I bought 4 Einstein heads and a single Vagabond, have shot one or two assignments that called for outdoor power. Looking for similar car challenges way out here on my Pacific rock -- just for fun... owners of great iron here have few commercial aspirations that require spending $$ for a car picture but it looks like so much FUN!

Einsteins put out a LOT of light. Having Balcar attachment standard opens some options past the Buff modifiers, but the Buff materials seem good. Your point about the second or third Vagabond sounds smart and might keep wires out of sight in a more complicated setups.

B&H is accepting pre-orders for SanDisk 256GB Extreme Pro CF card with transfer speeds of up to 160MB/s and fast shot speeds of up to 140MB/s ... but the damn thing costs almost $1000
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1001262-REG/sandisk_sdcfxps_256g_a46_256gb_extreme_pro_cf.html

Canon used to run two rebates a year, Spring and late Fall. With the poor economy over the past few years, it has been one rebate after another. Obviously, Camera makers want to stop that because it hurts their profit.

The economy is improving slightly in the USA, so Canon is going to slow down on discounts and rebates to see if they can still move inventory. If not, expect some big rebates. Even the sale in the refurb store has far lower discounts than we have been seeing.

The few weeks before Christmas is typically a time for low prices, so save up to get the gear you want and be ready to jump quickly for a one day deep discount sale. By signing up at Canon Price Watch and entering your target price for a item, you will get a e-mail a few minutes after it goes on sale at your price.

RealPerson said:

I know this is an Old thread, but I am now having this issue.

Here is what I have found.

It seems to only be in sunlight or with the hot shoe flash.

I have ran 400 ss so I know it isn't motion blur.

I can take the camera into the studio and get AMAZING photos...

Only other thing I have noticed is the DOF seems so shallow compared to other Canon cameras.
I can be at a 7.1 or even 9 f-stop and from a persons nose to ear can start to be out of focus...
Or in sports a player carrying a football the ball is in focus while the face is so soft.

I check settings from old photos and I was even running lower F-stops with more DOF with the 1Ds mark II and 1D Mark II

Anyway, I hope Canon or someone can continue to figure out this problem as it would come and go, but now it is HERE and wont go away for my Camera. I guess I will call Canon in the morning and see what they have to say....

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It is a basic fact of photography that larger sensors achieve a shallow depth of field.

Some like the deep depth of field that they had with their tiny sensor in a point and shoot, and just plain hate the shallow depth of field in a FF DSLR. That's ok, but the only answer is to go back to the point and shoot, or use very small apertures.
You also need to understand that distance to subject has a huge effect on depth of field, so if you get up close, depth of field is shallow. Combine the two, large sensor and close distance to subject, and the shallow depth of field can be wonderful, or awful depending on what is needed for the image.

If you want more depth of field for a portrait, use 85mm - 200mm, some even use 300mm. Don't use 35mm and compensate by getting close.

Here is a image at 35mm at near mfd. I like the effect, but maybe not for a portrait.



On the other hand, here is a portrait of my son with a 135mm Lens at f/2.5. No problem with depth of field. Its a matter of lens selection to get the effect you want. The subject is standing away from the background so it will blur.

Ty...and yeah, so far the bag kicks butt. Got to put it to the test at a wedding and at an engagement shoot. Even on moist grass it rolled just fine. It really made the day go smoother, and working out of it was a joy.

I am aware that if i get to a point where I am flying, yeah, this bag may be too large. But - for now i am doing zero flying, so, I'll cross that bridge when i get to it.

Also - I did end up going with the 100mm 2.8 (not the L one) - so far so good with that purchase too.

All 1DX owners can absolutely answer this. Cause we all Know this is WAY WAY louder than the Mark III.
Some people don't like it but to me I consider it as the sound of the the Pagani LOL. The reason I asked is because cause Dave90210 was complaining about the noise from the Mark III and he was using the 1DX at the beginning and didn't say nothing about the shutter sound on that.

pipsk said:

mbworldz said:

I got one question for you, as you mentioned about the shutter sound is too loud from the Mark III.
When you played with the 1DX, what do you think about the shutter sound? Is it louder or quiet than the Mark III ??

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If I can answer you too, the 1DX is MUCH louder than 5d3. 5d3 in silent mode is almost dead silent but 1DX is like a machine gun, even if it's in silent mode it's not much quieter. I'd say it's not quieter at all, it only separates the two sounds of mirror locking up and shutter firing and slows down your FPS.

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RealPerson said:

Dianoda said:

7D has a rather strong AA filter - all the other bodies I've owned (T1i, 5D III, EOS M) have been sharper at the pixel level (edit - I only shoot raw, btw).

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Lot's of Sports people are having issues with the 5d III. VERY SOFT Photos.
I can take the camera in studio and Tack Sharp.

Could this be the AA filter, and different light???

I even have the issue with hot shoe and outside.

Or if part of the say football player is tack sharp, say football on chest, the face would be very Soft. Like the DOF is Very Shallow even on a 7.1 or Higher F-Stop. Wasn't like this with my 1ds

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That's weird. I've shot a ton of hockey with the 5DIII and 200mm f2L and haven't had that problem.

http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/2013-07-hockey-huntington/July-18-1999ers-USA-vs-Canada/4.html

That's f5, just a random one I grabbed. Most of that 2013-07-hockey-huntington is the 200mm, the beginning is the 135L; bought the 200mm in the middle of that after I tried one