Tested true freedom yesterday

Yesterday I was going to a friend's place to visit. This friend has two one year old twins. So I took my camera with me along with the recently bought four YN 622Cs. I do not have any ETTL flash, so I put three Nikon SB 28DXs at 1/2 and 1/4th power on top of three bookshelves directed towards the ceiling. The walls were coloured, so the white ceiling was my best bet for reflecting the light. Now, earlier I used to use cables to fire my flashes remotely, and that was cumbersome and clumsy. Boy, yesterday with the four YN622Cs (one on top of my camera, and the other three with the three SB 28DXs) it was so much easy and fun photographing the twins. I was not going for any dramatic lighting, I just wanted enough soft light to use a shutter speed fast enough to capture the twins's activities indoors (and the sudden moments like the photo below where one of the babies falling down after throwing a tantrum). It felt so great just to be able to reposition the lights without breaking a sweat. Some photos from yesterday attached. (Now I need to learn a bit of more post processing) Your comments are most welcome.

PS: YN 622Cs are my first remote flash transceivers. And they seem to work just great in manual mode.

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Canon 1DX Damaged by CPS

I got my camera back one day before I left to go to Tuscany on holiday, this was after having to send it back after the recall service when it came back with the sensor filthy. I've had major issues with my 1Dx since I noticed the oil splatter on it last September, about a month after I got it. Its been to Canon twice since then, and back twice again, once for the recall and again to clean the sensor. On first occasion sensor came back much cleaner but not perfect, 2nd occasion same thing, 3rd occasion (recall) sensor came back filthy, 4th occasion it was spotless.

Anyway thats a brief history of it, so for the first week or so in Tuscany I have used it largely for street images, shots of my kids in the Pool (12fps), the odd landscape but mostly all at the F1.2 - F5.6 aperture range using roughly 3 lenses, 85mm, 24-105 and 70-200. So on Monday past I see some mist forming in the Hills we are in and jump in the car to go to higher ground, and for all of my landscape shots I am using my 70-200, possibly the 24-105 to begin with, then switching but only one lens change. So now I am shooting at F16 and occasionally at F22. Get back to the Villa and dump the images into Lightroom and start to process them and to my horror there they are again, what looks like oil splatters. I can be pretty certain its not dust as all of the marks are the same size size, similar density and one clone/heal brush size in Lightroom fixes them all. There are bout 20 of them, on a portrait orientation image with the bright sky in the upper 1/3rd that is where the majority are showing themselves, in the lower 2/3rds where the landscape is its more difficult to highlight them. I'd need to take an F22 image of a bright sky to be able to pick them all out.

Do Canon have an issue with this camera which is not being highlighted by their main sector of users, sports/news photographers who are probably shooting at F2.8-F5.6 for most of their work and at these apertures the marks which will appear larger but are barely visible if at all at that range?

I'm seriously unhappy about the 1Dx, I've owned 4 different DSLR's prior to this and never had a sensor dust/dirt issue and I certainly did not expect it from this body having shelled out more than the total cost of the previous 4 on this one body. If its acceptable to the moderator I'm going to post this under a new thread too as a general question to get other user experiences.
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Fantasy Dayhiking Kit

drmikeinpdx said:
My Canon S90 is now my hiking camera. But I'm old and can't climb mountains like I used to. Frankly, the shots I got back in the day with a film SLR were never that compelling. Most ended up being snapshots of my fellow backpackers/climbers and that did not need a nice camera.

+1

What us old guys need is a bearer to carry our equipment.

Imagine the days when 11 X 14 glass plates were used. A photographer usually hired a unsuspecting young but strong man to pack his 200+ lbs of gear up a mountain side. He could only get away with it once in a particular area, word quickly got around that it was not worth the money.
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Upgrading from the Rebel XSi: Perpetual indecision

cheeseheadsaint said:
RGF: My lens line up is EF-S 18-55, EF 50f/1.8 and EF 70-200mm/f.2.8 IS ii. (i still have my EF-S 55-250mm but i've been using the 70-200mm instead) so primarily EF lenses. yeah the 1Dx is out of my range

rpt: i didn't consider that yet! hmm...I'm at a point where nearly all my images taken are with the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS ii and then sometimes the 50f/1.8 and almost always wide open.. especially when it gets dark. dunno what others lenses i would get.. maybe a faster prime but meh i hardly use the 50f/1.8 anyways at least in comparison to the 70-200mm since I mainly do sports. another thing prolly to mention is that I see this upgrade as a long term thing... like whatever camera i use next, I want to use it until its last clicking shutter before i upgrade.



70D specs look so good for sports photographers!! but surely the catch is the ISO performance. otherwise why the huge price difference?

So you've answered your own question. If AF is your main concern, then the 70D would likely do. For high ISO the 6D is the clear winner as long as you won't miss the reach with your 70-200.
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5D Mark II composition movement

JPlendPhoto said:
I wish I could show you how much it is shifting when looking through the viewfinder
If you tripod mount the camera, remove the eyecup and hold something like an iphone up flat against it, you can take an in-focus image of the entire viewfinder. That and a shot taken with the 5D2 from that same tripod position will do it.

However, that gets you nowhere other than satisfaction of proof. Taking it back to the shop as you've already arranged is the best course of action.
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first paid gig need help

scottkinfw said:
I'm no pro at all, but I would suggest a second body and forget about changing lenses. Maybe the 24-70 and the 70-200, and the flash.

Extra batteries and be sure that you have lots of memory. Aside from that, have some fun.

The others have made great suggestions.

sek

I was considering a second body like the upcoming 70d. It would make my sigma 35 close to 50mm
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How do you carry your tripod?

AcutancePhotography said:
mackguyver said:
Awesome! I've been thinking about using a golf bag cart, too, but thought I was crazy for the idea. I have bad shoulders and knees so I need something...

For some reason, I am having problems uploading the actual image. But here is a link to a picture of my cheap, inexpensive equipment cart that did not cost too much. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78495716@N08/9179598150/#
Use only this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78495716@N08/9179598150

The "/#" is causing the image not to show up...
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ALL-I or IPB?

crazyrunner33 said:
cayenne said:
Actually, right now, hoping that Magic Lanter can soon get raw working fully, and the CinemaDMG conversion will work...and I'll start using that to shoot RAW video with the 5D3....and working with that...

cayenne

The current Magic Lantern RAW is working pretty well as it, plus there is no need to use the CinemaDNG conversion; DaVinci Resolve was updated and now supports the DNG files from MagicLantern's RAW2DNG app.

Yeah, but I can't find a simple, step by step tutorial that will show me how to get the RAW functionality onto the latest ML alpha release.

I've read through forum after forum...and well, it isn't clear enough how to do this without making permanet changes and possibly risking bricking my 5D3....

I"m waiting for the RAW functionality install to become a bit more "prime time".

:(

Cayenne
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Second body for safari

BenSL65 said:
I am an enthousiastic hobby-photograher. I am going on safari in September and am looking for a second body.
I have a 5Dm3 as primary camera and plan to take with me my 24-70 f2.8 ii, 70-200 f 2.8 ii and 300 f4. In addition to that, a 1.4 converter (iii). A large oart of the photography will be in low light and I understood from the camp that 300mm with 1.4 converter should offer enough reach (the latter of course especially on a crop body).
I was hoping that the 7Dm2 would be available on time, but this is not the case.

I have been thinking about the following options:
- 7D, crop, eventually sell afterwards, eventually buy used
-70D, crop, newest technology, less weather/dust resistant, might be useful after the safari as well as relatively simple and small camera with fill-in flash and wifi
- 1Dm4, 1.3 crop, better image quality in low light, weather sealed

- or, the most expensive and probably most worryfree option, buy a 1Dx and eventually sell the 5Dm3 afterwards???

I would appreciate you advice.
Ben
And why exactly are you getting a 24-70 for a safari? Get a prime for landscapes. Choose the focal length of the prime appropriately.

If you have a FF, (as you do) get a crop camera to get you reach.
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16-35 f/2.8II vs 17-40 f/4

alexanderferdinand said:
@ Krob78: bad luck, you have got a bad copy.
I had a hard time even thinking about buying a third party lens, after using almost 30 years only Canon.
The drive is louder, but extra sound like you described seems to be a serious damage.
I have read many reviews on the net before buying, Tokina seems to have issues with quality control.
So I choosed to order it from a place, where I can send it back with no problems.
I wish you good luck with the replacement.
Thanks Alex, I did send it back however I decided not to opt for a replacement. Although it was mostly good, the weight was really absurd and I decided I didn't want to "try" another one, so I ended up with another Canon L lens... I picked up a 17-40mm L and it works great, just like I knew it would. Surprisingly and conversely, the 17-40mm L is amazingly light!! Almost too light for my liking!!

But no flare issues, nice color rendering, sharp. Price was excellent at only $625 for brand new in box. I use it mostly for interior Real Estate work, so f/4 isn't an issue as I'm shooting it primarily indoors at f/5.6 and f/8. A little wider would have been nice but the lens will pay for itself very quickly with a couple of shoots.

I wanted the 16-35mm f/2.8 but decided with rumors of a new wide angle being announced later this year (hopefully with IS), I decided to pocket the almost $800 difference and I'll take a look at the new offering when it comes out... If it doesn't surface, I'll think about upgrading at that time. For now, other than the amazing lightness (feels cheap), of the 17-40mm, I'm set... ;)
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Sony RX-1R

Dylan777 said:
littlewildcat said:
The FF Sony RX-1 and RX1R is out now. Will Canon have one like this soon ??

If Sony releases FF compact body(similar to RX-1) that allow user to swap lenses, I will sell one of mine 5D III + lenses to build smaller system.
Sony is listening. http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/strong-indications-about-the-nex-ff-release/
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400 F2.8 with Externder or 600 F 4.0 ? help need to take a decision....

neuroanatomist said:
Artie's subjective evaluations are convenient, because he can change his mind, even contradict previous statements, and it's all 'ok' because it's subjective.

@jrista - I have both the 1.4xIII and 2xIII, and after the novelty of f/8 AF (with effectively a single point) wore off, I usually use the 1.4x, and only rarely the 2x. YMMV...

Spot on..... +1 here.
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A bit confused on what to buy!

I just think it's an issue of technique, not camera.

For sure. While a camera may help in a few ways, I think that settling down and really focusing on using your camera to its potential would really help. I have a T3, which in many was sis similar to what you're using, and I would like to upgrade to a 70D soon. However, I need to remind myself that I can still get fantastic shots with my camera, and remember: the best camera is the one you have in your hands.
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Focus Issues with EF 24-70mm 2.8 usm

cqphotographics said:
So I know this lens has been criticized for having back focusing issues and the new version supposedly fixes those problems. However the prices for these lenses used and in good condition seemed to make sense. I shoot lots of landscapes and video so auto focus isn't' the biggest deal but ideally a lens like this would allow me to shoot more portraits and events, anyways thats beside the point.

Is there a good standard way to put this lens to the test and check how well the focus is functioning and how sharp it is?
I shoot with the 5D mkII which also doesn't have the greatest AF abilities.
But i'd just like to know if theres a good way to go about evaluating the lens because if it isn't up to par I can send it back and try a different one.

Just set it to f/2.8, aim it at end, mid and long at an angle at a crack in the sidewalk using single center point AF. If the DOF doesn't seem centered properly then adjust it in the AF manual AF calibration settings for that lens and keep adjusting until it seems centered properly. If you need much different values at long vs mid vs wide end then send it back as only the very newest bodies can adjust lenses for long vs wide end.
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