Sycotek said:

Brand new 70-200 II used on my 7D for a month or so (5000+ frames ) not a spec of dirt on the rear element.

70-200 II On the 1DX used for 2 events 3500 frames what looks like lubrication spray on the rear element.

Never had this issue with my old 1D's but none of them were this fast - anyone else have this issue?

I have had this spray on my 50mm but that's easy to clean in comparison.

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Quite a few different things can result in little specs ending up on the rear element. Maybe even a little spittle if you were talking while changing lenses? Or as you suggest, oil from the new mechanism. Nothing to be concerned about, grab some isopropanol and a microfiber cloth, or better yet, some of those little packaged lens wipes. Problem solved.

Really good feedback, I've really grown to like the build quality and weatherproofing that comes with the L lenses. I think I need to reconsider and take a serious look at the 17-55/2.8...much appreciated feedback from all!

There are a few trustworthy 'grey' dealers in the UK. I bought my 7D, grip and 70-200 f2.8 from one (on seperate occassions) and my T2i and T3i from another (again on seperate occasions) they both ship from in the UK and they promise to have taken care of any taxes. Never had a problem. That way you've not got any hassle with customs, and no worries about your case getting bashed about or pilfered....

I won't advertise the sellers on here, but if you want to PM me I'll give you their details.

Canon and their importers are just taking the mick with some of their recent prices, you aren't alone in seeking a better value alternative route.

Thanks for the thorough responses guys. I REALLY apprciate it. Thank you! I have a lot to go over and think about here, and also some testing to do.

http://www.frys.com/ads/page5

Click on the add and it will take you to the website. Add to Cart and sign in.. It's $3099 plus tax.

dirtjumper32 said:

Hey everyone so here in a couple of weeks im going to be getting the Canon 7d, But i heard that they are coming out with a new 7d camera, should i wait on it? or what should i do ? :-\

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There have been no solid rumors about a 7D Mark II so far. It could be announced by Photokina, or it might be the end of next year before we see a replacement. No one can really say for sure. If I had to guess, I would say we shouldn't expect a replacement until next year. The 7D was announced on Sept. 1, 2009. That would make it three years old by September this year. Canon seems to be moving to a four-year cycle for their products, which would mean the 7D is due for replacement next September or around there. Canon doesn't seem to feel too terribly much in the way of competition from Nikon internally...at least, many of their technological decisions don't seem to indicate as much. If Canon IS worried about competition but isn't showing it, we very well could see a 7D replacement this year...but that still feels doubtful.

So, the decision to buy/not buy now shouldn't be based on when the next 7D will come out. It should be based on whether the 7D is sufficient for your needs now, and whether you are happy with its IQ. The 7D is one of those cameras that either evokes great love or great hate. The last time I recommended someone buy the 7D regardless of when the 7D II was coming out (here on these forums even), they hated the IQ. I HIGHLY recommend you check and double-check the IQ of the 7D's sensor on as many resources as you can find. Make absolutely certain there isn't anything about it that will bug you once you buy it...noise at ISO 3200+ (as well as 2000, but 2500 seems fine), pattern/banding noise at ISO 100/200 (sometimes up in the midtones even), etc. might all be serious detractors for you. They are really only issues when pixel-peeping, but...some people are just pixel-peepers. If your a pixel peeper and you want top-notch 100% crop detail, IQ is the most significant factor that might affect your buying.

If you are the practical type, check out photos on 500px, 1x, etc. that are taken with the 7D. Any shot from a half-decent photographer with this camera is usually superb. Noise, color fidelity, sharpness, etc. are all very good with this camera. Its AF system is great, very capable and configurable. Its ergonomics are great as well. I love the frame rate and buffer, particularly with UDMA 7 CF cards...which lets me pound out about 24 shots at 8 per second...which is really great for capturing action. I have shot at both ISO 3200 and 6400...and while IQ really does kind of fall off a cliff at those levels, its good to have them available when there is no other option. Some judicious NR and/or selected (painted) NR in the areas that need it with Lightroom 4 can usually clean up unsightly noise at these settings pretty quickly.

As an owner of the 7D myself, I am a happy customer. It is not an IQ king in every respect and for every conceivable usage scenario, but it was never really intended to be. It allows me to capture birds and wildlife even in some pretty extreme light (pre-dawn, post-sunset). You can see all of my most recent shots (mostly birds) taken with this camera here: http://500px.com/JonRista

I'd suggest that you signup for the NWPhotographers group on facebook. They are a active group and post photos and advice for the Northwest and mostly around Puget Sound.
They also have a free website, but all the forum posting has migrated to facebook.
One of my Favorite side trips (I lived in Seattle for 35 years) is to Tillicum Village. Its located on a small island (Blake Island) and a tour boat takes you to it, which is a fantastic opportunity to use a 70-200mm lens or your 24-70mm as you cruise to the island. There is a salmon dinner and a indian show (degraded in recent years). Then, if you take the evening cruise, you will get a view of the Seattle skyline at night. Its a challenge to get good images, so plan ahead to have the right lens.
Some of the many places to visit.
Seattle Center - Space Needle is a good place to see for 100 miles.
Museum of Flight. If you like aircraft, it has a very large collection in several large buildings. Literally hundreds or thousands of exhibits. This is another challenge for the photographer, but except for the aircraft hanging in the great hall that are backlit on a bright sunny day, you can do it without flash.
Capturing those backlit aircraft will need HDR, and no tripods are allowed.
Waterfront - You can spend hours there, and the harbor tours start there.
Pike Place Market
Mount Rainer National Park - untold numbers of potential photo sites
Juanita Bay Park in Kirkland for birding photos
I'd also recommend taking a ferry to Victoria BC and taking some of the tours, or driving to Port Townsend and taking the ferry to Victoria from there. (You need a pasport or enhanced drivers license). You can take your car, but leave it behind, and take the tour busses.
Thats only a start, you could spend years.

cliffwang said:

bdunbar79 said:

It's probably the lens, unfortunately. That particular sigma lens is making it do something it shouldn't.

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That should be the 5D3's firmware problem. If the image is fine on computer, that means the image is really no problem. However, when 5D3 resized the image to a 3" LCD, it just didn't compute the output right.

sovietdoc, you should let Canon know the issue, so Canon could fix it in the next version of firmware.

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Turns out it's both

My Po

neuroanatomist said:

I can't speak for the 5DIII, but I find the 1D X gives me about two full stops over the 5DII in RAW high ISO shots. A little more than 1 stop directly, the rest due to better quality of noise that's more amenable to NR. So...I was ok with 3200 in the 5DII, and I'm ok with 12800 on the 1D X.

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This is exactly what I am finding with the mk3 too I will quite happily shoot at iso 4000 to12800 which I really didn't consider before

5 D Mk iii pros low light noise slightly better ease of use, the menus are far better organized.
HDR mode for in-camera editting if you're lazy like me
[/list] dedicated live mode button

Consneed lightroom 4 to edit RAW
low energy floresant bulbs at certain shutter speeds smears colors
[/list] weather sealing not as thorough

1d mk iv pros ergonomics
f8 max aperature focusing
[/list] 1d's just hold their value better

I own both, listed both on CL along with my 7d then never returned emails because I can't decide either.

The editing looks fine to me. U could have said "nope" also and i would have believed it
Plus i dont mind less details in the tuft. As long as the important aspect gets transported techniques dont matter too much imho.

This one is a macro of the side of a plastic bottle filled with apple juice taken out of the fridge:

The service form Nikon Europe is definetely better than Canon Europe CPS.

I had the change to test the new D4 and the D800E for some weeks.

The D4 is approximately on the same level like the 1D X. The 5D Mark III is a good deal worse in JPG like the D800E.

If I compare the D800E against the 1 Ds Mark III in landscapes I mzs say that the pictures of the 1 Ds Mark III are sharper and the colors are more even.

There will be a big megapixel camera from Canon in the next month.

Great work guys, I thought I was going crazy when the fours was noticeably off when I was sure I had done the AFMA. Fixed now (was only a prob with the 70-200 F2.8II + 1.4x converter, but it was a massive problem requiring manual focus). Thanks heaps, now I can concentrate on my trip through Canada rather than my autofocus!
;D

BozillaNZ said:

Canon really cocked up on this one. My friend sold his 24-70 I in hope of getting the II soon, but the price set him off. Now he's buying primes (that's worse, for him, financially)

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How did Canon force him to sell his lens?

I'm baffled that anyone would make a decision like that before getting the facts, especially in light of the 70-200 IS II story.

Aperture is set in 1/3-stop 'steps' (default, can be changed in C.Fns) regardless of ISO. Of course, at the expanded ISOs (50, 102400, 204800) are full-stop increments below/above the native range, so in an auto aperture mode (P, Tv), setting ISOs in the expanded range means full-stop aperture changes instead of 1/3-stop.

Not sure if that's what you mean. Can you explain a bit more what you mean?

The 135L is stunning. Love it on both crop and FF. Use it on crop for reach, then swap it on the 5D for distance candids.

I shoot all primes on two bodies. The 135L is one of the keys in my trio of primes. 8)

TexPhoto said:

It is not a good time to buy.

1. It's new, hard to find, priced at it retail, likely as high as it ever will be. Let them work the bugs out, and let the price fall a little.

2. You don't need this camera at your stage. i am not one of those people who think you need a manual film 35mm to start, because 40 years ago thats what they had. But I am one of those people who knows the difference between a photographer, and a gear collector. And when i read your post I think, gear collector. Do you talk more about your gear, or your photographs? Think about it.

You don't need a 2nd body, but if you must, get yourself a 7D. Shoot some sports, and other things that benefit from the high speed shutter, etc.

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A 7D would be a very bad choice - a 1D4 or a 5DIII would be infinitely better

For sports the 1D4 has many benefits, such as AF point metering, auto iso with minimum shutter speed + EC, plus of course 10fps

Nothing wrong with collecting gear either

I have the same combination and yes the speed does take a significant hit. But it isnt so bad if you start with a good focus near the target using an object easy to focus on - ie with more contrast than the objects you are going to focus on. In others words it appears taht if the autofocus has to move a great distance to achieve focus - if feels like forever. After you lock on focus you need to be careful not to loose this focus with the background esp if the background if very far from your subjects. this is my experience trying to use this combo for BIF - its qute a hit and miss. My feeling is that the 1.5x conv is a far more useful combo.

I also own both lenses and have to say they behave completely different.

The 85L offers that beautifull dreamy bokeh, but forget if you want to use it wide open, you better make sure your subject is not moving an inch (very narrow DoF and slow AF). Keeper rate is not so high (but since I only acquired this lense recently, I may need to pratice more). For headshots I stop the lens slightly down to get the whole face in focus (1.6-2.8). For torso shots wide open works well, because due to the longer working distance you have sufficient DoF to het the whole face in focus.

The 70-200 is really fast focussing and my preferred option for subjects that don't like to stand really still (such as kids). I love the clarity and the bokeh when used at the longer end. It works very well for action, and also for headshots. I use it almost always wide open. It's certainly more easy to work with.

I was in a similar dilema a few years ago and thought I'd try a cheap Chinese ring flash from DHGate befor eI spent $$$ on a Canon unit.
I thought that for $70 or so, it was worth the risk, and I am still using and abusing it, and it does the job.
It does the job so well, I haven't even thought about buying a better one, yet.

It screwed on perfectly with my Canon 60mm macro lens.
It also came with various step up and down rings too.

All adjustments have to be made via the camera's menu, but that's no biggie.

Even though it's only about 58mm in diameter, I bought a step up ring to fit my Sigma 150mm macro lens which has a diameter of 72mm, and I was really surprised that there is no vignetting with it (even on my 5D3), even though the opening is so much smaller than the Sigma's front element.

Hmm i better go check mines as well..

iMagic said:

Since the 1 series cameras have their battery voltage at 11.1 and the 5 series at 7.2, has anyone been crazy enough to say rewire a 5D grip to alter the batteries in series and overvolt the camera for faster framerates?

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There are more consequences of adding voltage than faster frame rates. So there's no way I'd even consider doing that. $3500 is a lot of money.

If you mean how many images left on your card, and it exceeds 1999 images, it wil only display 1999 until you have less left, and then start to count down to zero. It only means you have more than 1999 images left.