CarlTN said:

I meant I wanted to shoot the whole sky with the comet in it, and feature part of the terrestrial view as well.

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I see, well, then perhaps a fish-eye would serve you good. But generally, if you choose a very short focal length, the comet will not look as impressive (unless it is very impressive). If you want terrestrial features in the foreground, another strategy is to choose a time when the comet is nearer the horizon, and use a focal length more appropriate for the comet.

CarlTN said:

Incidentally, how well would a 300mm lens work on the Vixen Polarie?

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I have no personal experience with it. The Polarie is intended for more wide-angle work, but is rated for 7 Ibs. of load, so it could potentially take a 300/4 for some 30s, if properly polar aligned. A 300/2.8 would probably be too much, including mount head and camera. An Astro-Trac could be the better mobile option, or a dedicated "light" tracking mount like the iOptron ZEQ25GT if mobility was not essential (i.e. no hiking with equipment unless you have plenty of assistents).

At 300mm it would be difficult to get foreground (but could yield spectacular results if you did; compare with full moon pictures showing foreground). You would ideally have the foreground high above you (a mountain or hill) to avoid seeing the comet through too much atmosphere. For a foreground project, I think 35-100mm would be a better trade-off between seeing both the comet and the foreground well enough. But as you say, it depends a lot on the comet.

If you haven't already, I would recommend you to look at other's comet pictures from past great comets, to probe the possibilities and get inspiration. Just remember that the last really great comet, comet Hale-Bopp, was in the pre-digital era (1997), so options were more limited then.

Well, if you consider their new, low-cost a3000, they could be looking to grab a bit more of the low-margin, high volume consumer end of the market... And they might at that price!

rs said:

sama said:

Just curious to ask if caught for cheating the customs, who will pay the penalty and if the items are seized/confiscated finally, who will be responsible for it ?

Click to expand...

On the DigitalRev site, if you add an item to your basket, on the right below the price it says the following:

[quote author="DigitalRev"]
No Import Tax/Duty to Pay:
Any import tax/duty charged will
be billed directly to us.

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Which is contradicted by generic (non UK) wording on the Customs section of their Conditions of Sale page:

[quote author="DigitalRev"]
Any additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by you, unless an Import Handling Charge is included in the price of the goods.
[/quote]
I've not paid any import duty on the items I've ordered from them.
[/quote]

It's not a contradiction. The answer is right in front of you:

"if you add an item to your basket"

What you've done by adding the item to your basket is invoking the clause from the general disclaimer, "unless an Import Handling Charge is included in the price of the goods"

You're adding an item to your cart, that includes the import handling charge.

I suspect that if you add a different item to your cart that doesn't include the import handling charge, it will not have the "Any import tax/duty charged will be billed directly to us" language.

The generic non-UK wording on the Customs section is the blanket disclaimer, which is superseded by your purchase contract for that one particular item.

Make sense?

Cali_PH said:

Here's a video of two timelapses I shot this weekend. Since the best & brightest streaks were 'off camera' I stopped part way through and tilted my camera up in hopes of catching more, although I didn't succeed. Still, I captured lots of the smaller streaks. Perseids was in the upper left, but we also saw a surprising number of meteors from other directions.

The lower right bump is Half Dome; you can see a couple of people coming down from it at the beginning and someone climb up & walk around on top later.

Done with some top-notch video software...Windows Movie Maker

Click to expand...

Not bad!

CarlTN said:

sagittariansrock said:

mrsfotografie said:

+1 I like the 'new' quality (and will probably get the 35 mm this year), but I think the nomenclature is just plain silly, and amateuristic too. Just like a car manufacturer printing 'Off Road" on a 4x4, 'Street' on a passenger car, 'Town' on something small and compact, just so you wouldn't get the wrong model by mistake :

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Or, like an expensive line of lens being called "luxury" (L)?

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+1, the new nomenclature is not "silly" at all. It is however an obvious marketing ploy...what matters is the product itself. But certainly calling something "art" is not earthshattering. If they had used "turbo", then that would have been silly. Art can certainly be generated from Sigma lenses.

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+1 Call me shallow if you will, but it's by far the best looking lens I own (and I own quite a few). Art is the perfect designation.

brianleighty said:

zlatko said:

brianleighty said:

Also, I haven't done a site scout yet but if I am super far back, do I rent something longer than the 70-200 I normally rent or just have wider shots instead? Appreciate the advice.

Click to expand...

I would use a wide focal length range for some variety, perhaps 24mm to 200mm, or even 16mm to 200mm. As for needing anything longer than a 70-200 -- that depends entirely on the location.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I understand it depends on location. Would you say if you can get full body head to feet that that's tight enough or is more needed?

Click to expand...

Yes, that would be tight enough for me. I would not rent a longer lens in that situation. This comes down to your own preference: do you really want a tight shot (like upper body only) from the back of the church? Normally, you would have it. But it's not essential in every case, especially when so restricted. And, depending on the camera, cropping can help.

All the previous posts do well to specifically answer your question as to the dual pixel advantages in focusing. However, there are some possibilities that may or may not actually ever be incorporated into later designs, using dual pixels, which could open up a number of options not now available. Somewhat like Fuji in some of their recent sensor designs, Canon could actually use one pixel in each pair for reading highlights and the other for reading shadows, thereby creating a sort of instant HDR exposure, increasing DR by quite a lot. Other arrangements could also be made to use one of each pair to read color information separately and differently from its mate in the same pair, thereby increasing color depth and accuracy. I'm sure that many things that others could think of, would also be possible , but these are some that sound interesting to me. Whether any of this could or will actually happen is another thing entirely. Maybe Canon already has this in mind, maybe not.

Regards,
David

I had a relatively good copy of the 24-105 that I just sold a week ago Monday. I replaced it with the 24-70 f/2.8 II on Sunday. So far I am not missing the 24-105 at all, despite it having more reach and IS. it was a great lens, but the 24-70 is something else. The colours it produces and the sharpness are amazing.

Maybe when I see Getitdigitial sell the 24-105 for $649 again I'll pick up another copy in the future.

Thanks again, loads of superb info, and exactly what I was wondering, nice!

I will buy some gelatin-ND and the cir-pol from Canon.

Btw, if anyone reads this and wonder if the 200 is worth it over the 70-200 mk2, I can not recommend it enough, it's an insane lens....

wsmith96 said:

so now that we have a list of commandments, what happens should we sin? Will we be cursed to use Vivitar for eternity?

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All your white lens will turn black so they look like everyone else's lens. ;D

And then there is this.

http://pixsylated.com/blog/update-deciding-between-canon-speedlites-600ex-rt-and-580ex-ii/

Thanks for the responses guys, will take all your ideas and suggestions onboard...

Rich

Switch the YouTube setting to 1080p and it looks better.

rpt said:

GmwDarkroom said:

Beautiful shot!

Camera, lens, and exposure? Or does that not show because I'm on an iPad?

Click to expand...

Yup! Exif shows up on my browsers on the laptop and I have not yet figured a way to get the Exif on the iPad.

Lovely shot joe.

Click to expand...

Correct about EXIF. Thanks for the kind words.

ankorwatt said:

tnargs said:

ankorwatt said:

d800 nope?

D800 AF is based on D4
please explain what is better in 5dmk3 and how you can make a statement like this

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This is the first time I have seen a serious claim that the D800 AF is equal or better than the 5D MkIII AF.

Roger Cicala of lensrentals tested and found that the Canon's phase detection AF is as accurate and consistent as its contrast detection AF, i.e. the standard deviation of MTF values of a series of static shots is the same for both AF systems. This is a remarkable achievement. The D800, 'nope'. It is just not as reliable on phase detection.

And that is with static subjects.

He also says there is a left side AF sensor issue with the D800 that is unresolved, and recommends the camera only be used for centre point AF. I hope THAT isn't 'based on the D4'!

Click to expand...

well, spend a month to compare them and then return

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Why don't you direct that very silly and irrelevant comment to Roger Cicala -- it is he who you are taking issue with (although I seriously cannot see the issue in my post that you are taking issue with. You simply haven't said anything except "I wanna have the last word, boo hoo"). ;D

(space provided here for the very silly last word about how he agrees with Roger Cicala but disagrees with me when I quote Roger!
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ )

mdmphoto said:

privatebydesign said:

Third party "digital" lenses are not the same thing as EF-S lenses, if you want to butcher the safety stops then some EF-S lenses can be used to take crap heavily vignetted images on a ff camera with the risk of severe damage to that camera, hardly seems worth the effort.

I do remember back in the day people did experiment with the practicality of various EF-S lenses on EF mounts, mainly so they could use EF-S lenses on the 10D as that predated EF-S and was EF only.

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The Tokina (Third-party "digital") 11-16mm f/2.8 lens is in fact designed for crop lenses, and is so marketed; yet its construction does allow it to be used, without vignetting, at 16mm, on FF cameras. I like it because I can use it on both my 6- and 7D bodies, with very satisfactory results. I tried this after learning about it on this and many other forums...

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Technically speaking, only lenses with an EF-S mount are EF-S lenses. Which means all third party lens with an image circle only designed to cover an APS-C sensor are in fact EF lens.

The EF-S lenses features an extra bit of plastic at the rear which prevents mounting the lens to any EF mount bodies. EF-S mount bodies have a corresponding extra cut out in the mount, enabling the body to take both EF and EF-S lenses.

Unlike Nikon FX, DX and all Canon mount EF lenses which must be designed to clear a FF mirror, EF-S mount lenses can make use of the extra room left over by the smaller mirror in APS-C bodies, so the rear elements can poke into the body a bit more. This allows some room for manoeuvre on how extreme the retrofocus designs have to be on EF-S lenses.

Pulling out the plastic cover at the rear of a EF-S lens such as the 10-22 does allow it to mount to a FF body, and you can look through the heavily vignetted viewfinder at 10mm - but when the mirror moves, it won't clear the back of the lens until its zoomed in to about 13mm. Incidentally, if you remove the filter the 10-22 fills the frame from 13mm onwards. But I wouldn't recommend trying - even if you stop it down fully, the corners are beyond mush.

neuroanatomist said:

KyleSTL said:

...but just wondering if there in any way an SLR could replicate the 'immersive' experience of a high quality eyepiece from a telescope, microscope or binoculars.

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What's one key difference between a dSLR viewfinder and the ocular lenses of a telescope, microscope (my good ones are Zeiss, BTW - we have less good Nikon scopes for tissue culture and a single 'beater' Leica on a lab bench ), or binoculars?

Shape.

The FoV for binoculars and 'scopes is circular, whereas the dSLR viewfinder is rectangular to match the image sensor. I suspect that accounts for a fair bit of the lack of an 'immersive' view through a dSLR VF.

Click to expand...

Great point. Additionally, when looking through a telescope of microscope, the image is projected directly into your eye, with little eye relief. When looking through a DSLR viewfinder, the image you see is a superimposed projection of a reflection off a rectangular mirror. Usually it is paired with a fairly significant eye relief (around 20-25mm for DSLRs)...so there is little chance you could get that vision-filling wide angle of view anyway (even if the projection was circular and not cropped to the sensor frame.)

I am not a 20 year photography vet or anything, but I have highly analyzed Canon's line and I can tell you this:

Full Frame bodies are in the midst of a pretty significant transition that probably will be mostly complete by around 2015.

Let's look at a couple of areas:
* Price. The 6D was one of the first "cheap" full frame cameras. Will it be the last? No. As one of the first cheap full frame cameras, there is a lot missing from the 5DMKIII that would be extremely useful - such as the autofocus system mentioned earlier. Or, even for longevity purposes the weather sealing and some of the controls the 5DMKIII has.

* However, even the 5DMKIII has some key features missing that Canon is currently beta testing with the APS-C users. Examples:

-Touch screen: Yeah, I know it is not 100% needed, but it allows you to INSTANTLY pinch zoom to EXACTLY where you want in image preview to see if you got a shot focused just as you wanted. Scrolling through images is also more intuitive, and menus can be made more intuitive via touch as well. And if you do any video at all, without touch you lose the useful touch-to-focus system.

-Wifi: Nice for both remote trigger and could be used at some point for high speed realtime backup. You don't need someone running SD cards to back 'em up if you have a laptop with an 802.11N/AC wireless router that the camera is streaming pics to for backup in the background. Now the 6D does have WiFi (as does the 70D), but it is far from reaching its potential in the field.

-"L" lenses missing IS: Image Stabilization is useful for video, but it is also useful for camera shake, especially in low light/long focal length. But, again here we are seeing a slow uptake as it is tested in the less expensive lenses (with some exceptions of course in the 100mm and over range), refined, and likely will eventually end up in the "L" lenses over time. It is odd that there is an EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS, but there is literally no similar focal length zoom of equal speed aperature w/ IS in the Canon EF lens lineup. Likewise we are seeing the introduction of consumer primes with IS across the board while this has not really happened in L lenses yet except in some of the lenses 100mm and longer; you might say IS is not needed, but it is nice to have the option of using. I would bet in a couple of years much more the the L-lenses will offer it.

My strategy: So in summary, the 6D and even the 5DMKIII are missing some key features that it is very likely their successors will have - as things like touch and wifi mature & become an expected feature - while at the same time the price of entry will likely go down as well.

While waiting for that to occur, I would hold on to your T3i until next spring and see what the 7D MKII brings. From the rumors, it looks like it might have some of these features (touch, wifi, excellent autofocus) as well as a refined sensor that may deliver less noise than the 70D. You could also see things added like a headphone jack for audio monitoring that would be immensely useful if you shoot video. In other words, it would be a nice fully featured upgrade to make while the full frame cameras continue to evolve and drop in price...

I've always heard the mantra that a wedding photographer needs at least one set of backup gear, including lenses. It might be interesting to have a setup that is similar to your subject: an APS body, an APS-C body, and a set of lenses that go with each with perhaps some for both (like the 70-200IIL may be too costly to duplicate, but you could get something like a 70-300L for instance to supplement it). Maybe keep your 24-70 for the APS, but buy an EF-s 17-55mm IS for the APS-C (the latter's FOV might be a little more workable with the 1.6x crop). Or, keep the 70-200ii for both, and pop it on the APS-C when you want to make use of the 1.6x reach. I would think it would be nicest to have both APS and APS-C because with Canon's implementations they are both strong in different categories (APS: detail/noise, APS-C: reach/speed).

While it is true you could spend forever waiting for the latest and greatest, I really do think touch, wifi, and the newer autofocus systems (if you were thinking 6D) are worth waiting for. They are not only nice to have, but can significantly improve the end result through quicker target acquisition through improved AF, much faster QA through touch zoom, plus improved backup potential through wifi. And they will most likely be available in all the full frame bodies in 2014-2015, but APS-C has 'em now.

actually I just saw that i can get a 6D + 24-70 2.8 II for a nice combo price, saving over 400$.

How is the 5D3 + 6D combo working out, anyone using that kind of configuration?

Thanks for the replies. I was just curious. I hope in the camera sense that doesn't make me bi-curious....that would be bad

BTW, I have been to precision camera - it's a great store and I go there when I travel to Austin on business. I purchased by EF 85 1.8 there back in June. As my avatar shows, I do live in College Station, so the trip isn't that far.

I also don't have anything against the longhorns - it's a good school. My mom is a longhorn, dad is a Missouri tiger, brother is a Red Raider, Sister is a Southwest Bobcat (can't get used to Texas State...), father-in-law is a Sam Houston bearcat, and cousin is a SFA Lumberjack. It's fun during football season

Gig'em '96.

paul13walnut5 said:

Could be pollen from the trees has settled in the interim.
The sun is right on the cusp of the pitched roof in the flare dhot, backlighting everything.
In the flare free shot the sun has moved. Perhaps behind the building and so contrast improves, crap isn't backlit.

I do not believe it is a filter design or coating issue.

Click to expand...

IC. Thanks for your help.

Did you try hitting "INFO" to scroll through the different overlays? One of them should be empty.

The big thing the 60D and the 7D have over the rebels is the shoulder display and controls. It gives a much better user interface. The 60D is a bit dated now, but is still a great camera. You will not see a world of difference in the RAW images of any of the APSC cameras.

If you want to photograph small birds or fast moving objects, the 7D has superior focusing, but most of the time the 60D will do quite well.

Whichever path you choose, getting and learning a software package like Lightroom will have the most impact for the dollar on your photos.

7enderbender said:

Krob78 said:

I'll be shipping my EF 100-400mm f/4.0-5.6L IS USM off for repair work this week. It's not been under warranty for several years now.

When I hit my AF (rear button focus), I can see the center point being pulled down as I look thru the viewfinder, it seems to click and keeps trying to capture focus but fails. Then I'll push the front shutter button half way for metering or sometimes just click it and take an image and try to focus again and then it will catch again and focus. When it does focus, it's spot on. Trouble is, it is only focusing about 1 in 5 images now...

Additionally, I can see part of the inside of the barrel moving when I look in it from the 77mm end. It will sway back and forth, whatever direction I move the barrel!

So it's going in, I can't stand it but I need it fixed. Is it wise to join CPS before I send it in or not? If so, what level does anyone recommend joining at?

All the best,
Ken

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Just went through that. I even called them before to see if they had any issues with me joining after my lens broke. In fact, they encourage it even if it's just to get the 30% discount.

So I upgraded my free "silver" membership to "gold", waited for the membership package with the 3-day-rush labels and the free clean & check vouchers and then sent in my broken EF200 for repair and my camera body for cleaning.

The silly old CPS strap and the book that came with the membership are on ebay right now and it looks as if some folks are more than willing to pay enough for those items that it pretty much covers my membership fee. And the 30% does make the repair slightly more palatable. I know, it's probably all a game and a racket that they have factored in in the first place. But I still have a CPS membership card and a pin in the end...

Click to expand...

The silly old CPS strap and the book that came with the membership are on ebay right now and it looks as if some folks are more than willing to pay enough for those items that it pretty much covers my membership fee.

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What a great idea!

wickidwombat said:

you need one of these if you are using your elinchrom skyport trigger

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ELINCHROM-UNIVERSAL-SKYPORT-RECEIVER-/200875414574?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item2ec51b942e

then hook up the 600ex with the pc sync cable and run in manual

Click to expand...

Hi, WickedWombat;

I've tried this setup and I cannot get the 600EX-RT to work when triggered from my Elinchrom transmitter hooked on my 5DIII hot shoe. I have the following gear:

-Elinchrom Ranger Quadra Hybrid (built-in skyport)
-Elinchrom Transmitter plugged in my 5DIII hot shoe
-Canon 600EX-RT
-FlashZebra female hot shoe to PC adapter/cable
-Elinchrom Receiver plugged to the 600EX-RT via the FlashZebra adapter

My 600EX-RT is in manual mode. Oddly, if I trigger my 600EX-RT on the flash unit directly it then communicates with my Elinchrom ranger quadra hybrid system and all flashes (including the 600EX-RT) trigger together wirelessly. However, if I trigger my flash system via my Elinchrom transmitter or the test flash button on my ranger hybrid, ONLY the Elinchroms fire and not the 600EX-RT.

Why would it only work one way? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Kevin


EDIT -

Woohoo! I guess I had to finally post my question after all my searching to finally find the solution: set to ETTL and Group B. Then poof! Elinchrom system can wirelessly trigger my 600EX-RT using a Skyport Receiver and FlashZebra female hot shoe to 3.5mm adapter.

Posted the above solution for any other member who might run into this issue!

Kev