Of course I found it right after posting this. There is a drop down on the current promotions of Canon's site that takes you to expired promotions.

I'm planning a visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton and bringing my 5D3 with the requisite landscape lenses, my SL1 is my backup EF body. I'd like to leave the big whites home and carry a bridge camera. Both the Leica and Lumix (identical specs) fit my bill as 25-400mm zoom with f/4 aperture. Does the Leica have a superior IQ to the Lumix? Is the Leica being a crippled version of the Lumix make it less desirable given the $450 premium price? I'd like to hear ONLY from those who have shot either or both bridge cameras.

Leaving out stuff which I no longer use and ought to sell on, I have a 7D2 and a 60D. I suppose I think of the 7D2 as my "main body" but in reality I use them more or less equally.

If the 6D Mark II has a swivel screen etc. - the "full frame 70D" as it has been called - then that will replace the 60D to make a perfect complementary pair. Then which will I think of as my "main body"? I really don't know!

AcutancePhotography said:

Knut Skywalker said:

I have the RoundFlash, I like to use it, but I let the pictures speak for itself.

Click to expand...

Just my opinion, I find the catch lights too distracting.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the catchlights are very prominent in the eyes because they are so thick. "Real" ringlights are thinner and subtler. The roundFlash is great for products, too. I like to photograph things I want to sell on ebay with the ringlight. Great results.

Not my photo but a good illustration of the EF vs EF-S lenses, the extra protrusion of the EF-S lens can be seen on the right:

jasny said:

Why to invest R&D in advanced MILC while Rebels are selling like mad in US and Europe?

Click to expand...

Actually, Rebels are selling very badly these years as Canon DSLR sales are dropping like a rock (I surmise that Rebels account for the majority of Canon sales).

AcutancePhotography said:

pwp said:

Now there's an opening for a third card slot in Canon bodies...for a sim card!

Click to expand...

A device that can take pictures and can be used to make phone calls? That's crazy talk. Something like that would never catch on.

Click to expand...

haha well played

beckstoy said:

...What's best? What do you all use and love? Whatever I use will be calibrated - I just want suggestions for specific models. I'm guessing ISP, right?

Can you all help?
Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

As if you didn't have enough suggestions already I have been using the HP DreamColor LP2480zx 24" IPS display for several years now and have been pleased. It has RGB LED backlighting and covers 100% of sRBG and Adobe RGB and then some. I drive it with an ATI FirePro V3800 10-bit card over DisplayPort (this card has 10-bit support in Photoshop).

FYI: the Dreamcolor Calibration Solution device is required to calibrate the monitor.

Chaitanya said:

curby said:

So B&H is just going to carry nothing but shameless clone products now? First Yongnuo and now this.

http://www.canonrumors.com/2015/01/samyang-launches-135mm-f2-lens/

(that was a joke)

Click to expand...

Can you explain how the **** is this a clone?

Click to expand...

Do you see the yellow words????

it might be cheaper to just destroy the faulty units and manufacture new ones ... instead of shipping back, reparing, shipping again.

Great video!!!

Budging in - anyone has experience with the Aputure V-Sreen Video Monitor VS-3, and would be willing to share his experience?

Had the 50 Art back from service now two days, haven't really tried it enough yet, but so far so good (not sure if I should even say that out loud). I'm going to make my own neoprene cover over the whole lens, IF dust was the issue.

Nik said:

Thank you all for your input. 24-70 f/2.8 is going to be my choice. 8)

Click to expand...

An excellent choice sir...

That is a big lens!!

Probably a bit tough to handhold though.

Luds34 said:

Plus, how would selling 2nd hand work? If you must see a receipt, it's like saying each new purchase has one resale transaction built in, after that, it's used up.

Click to expand...

Interesting how it works in different countries. In Denmark its the norm and Ebay (DBA) specifically advises people to ask for the original receipt to avoid buying stolen goods.

No problem with resells; you get the original or a copy of the reciept from the first seller, who also writes one for the resell, so if you resell it again you just show the two (or the resell is noted on the original bill).

BTW consumer electronics is at the very top of the goods Ebay recommends this for.

Random Orbits said:

jdramirez said:

Random Orbits said:

If you're shooting at f/8, why would you restrict yourself to a prime? I have a similar setup in my garage, and I primarily use a 24-70. The zoom makes it easy to take pictures of kids from half body to full body shots. If I want something for a particular effect, then I'll use a prime with a large aperture, but most of the time, it's the zoom.

Click to expand...

I have one prime and two zooms... but when I am in a controlled environment, I gravitate to primes... While the zooms at f/8 are really good... I really like tickling excellence when it comes to using a really good prime.

I have all the respect for the canon 24-70 f/2.8L mkii... but I'm holding out for the rumored sigma 24-70 f/2 art if it ever comes out. I just like the idea of having an extra stop of light (two stops form where I am now) for my normal zoom.

I've just become a bit of a prime snob. I like my zooms... they are good (great), but there just a little something missing which makes me sad.

Click to expand...

Perhaps you should give the 24-70 f/2.8 II a try. It performs well wide open, and will be 3 stops faster than f/8. I do wish that the long end of the 24-70 f/2.8 II was a bit longer many times. Much fewer shots were are f/1.4 or larger. Those were reserved more specialty shots, but I usually found myself running out of space in the double garage to get the foreground/background distances right.

Click to expand...

+1 and I loved the color and contrast "pop" of my primes much better than my 24-70 f/2.8 (I). Then I picked up a 24-70 f/2.8 II and found that it was as good as my primes with the exception of the fast aperture, size, and distortion. My 24L and 50L are only used in low light or for shallow DOF these days. Also, coincidentally, the 16-35 f/4 IS has that same pop that I felt was missing from the 16-35 f/2.8 II.

Well I finally got the lens back. Timeframe was something like this -

Sent from TX to CA, 12/11
Arrived at Canon 12/15
Approved estimate 12/17 (within minutes of being notified)
Constant phone calls, emails for the next two weeks asking for status updates. Canon was also closed for 3 business days due to the holiday.
Item prepared for shipping 1/8
Shipped out 1/9, overnight
Arrived 1/12. So over a month, door to door.

Some notes about my experience, hopefully these will help someone else make a decision.

-The web tool where you check the status of the repair, is useless. It said "You have approved your estimate" for 3 weeks.
-The reps on the phone were generally very helpful and courteous. But of course they will not commit to timeframes, or really be able to give you much more information, than "your item is with the repair department."
-Reps were also very responsive via email and generally had a bit more information, as I suspect these emails actually go to the repair department. On one occasion they gave me a vague timeline, but again would not commit to it.
-They were kind enough to recognize that this repair was taking longer than usual, so they upgraded me from 2 day shipping to overnight shipping.
-The lens is repaired and I'm happy with the result. Focus assembly had become misaligned.

If I had to do it over again, I'd do CPS in a heartbeat. Gold obviously confers you a much higher status and quicker turnaround, I would have at least registered for the silver level though. (Not sure that would have made a difference, aside from having the 24/7 toll free number) Gold level, even at $100, would have saved me $40 off the repair price, and then I could probably sell that CPS strap they give you on ebay to make up the bulk of the rest. That, plus the fact that you can get equipment cleaned and serviced quickly makes it a bargain IMO.

I'm probably not going to join right away, but I certainly will prior to sending anything else in.

Thanks to both of you for the comments

Re: the tree photo. That one was a long time in the making.

Regarding the Case, I used AF Case 1.

Cheers,
Ted

MonkeyB said:

sagittariansrock said:

MonkeyB, I must have missed the picture the last time. Cute kiddo... What did you do to catch that smile or is this a natural model in the making

Click to expand...

he's a MER-MAN! i set up the exposure before dropping him in. oh, and we bathed and fed him first. usually have to get it right away, or he gets squirmy. i smile at him before bringing my eye to the camera and that usually does the trick.

Click to expand...

THanks DominoDude!!!!

Same boat as a lot of photographers I guess. Way too many bags that I'd like to admit. I guess also like clothing, my style and likes change over time.

Though when the other half asked me in surprise..."Wait, you're getting another bag, and spending $120 on it?", I simply opened her side of the closet to reveal tons of Michael Kors and Coach bags valued at goad knows what$$ ...

That kinda put the would-be argument to rest

I finally got the 35mm IS, but am yet to be really impressed. Maybe I got a bad copy? It's not as sharp as I'd thought it would be wide open, but I still got some pretty good shots w/ it over my holiday trips.

raptor3x said:

bholliman said:

distant.star said:

.
Looks like $550 USD at B&H...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1110672-REG/rokinon_135m_c_135mm_f_2_0_lens_for.html

Click to expand...

preppyak said:

Hmm, that'll have to come down to more like $400 to succeed. The 135L is at a street price of $7-800 used, and the refurb is right around $800. Cant see many (non-video) people saving $2-300 and losing one of the best AF lenses Canon has.
Also means the cine version would be like $700ish on release. Which is pricy as well.

Click to expand...

I couldn't see paying $550 for an manual focus, non-Zeiss, lens - why not pay a few hundred more for a lens with excellent AF and L build quality the Canon 135L?

Click to expand...

The image quality looks excellent from this first review.

Click to expand...

Image quality looks pretty good from that review! Aberrations look well-controlled, but sharpness and light falloff looks significantly lost at 2.0. 2.8 and on look pretty good though. Seems like a great lens, but focus peaking would need to be used. Forget about it w/ an OVF.

chrysoberyl said:

mackguyver: Yeah, you're right - I should have said taking RAW shots after selecting the HDR mode, but noting that the bracketed shots had to be processed into HDR in DPP.

DominoDude: Sorry for the confusion.

dcm: Please confirm that you shoot RAW while in HDR mode, then combine the RAW shots into the HDR version in post-processing.

Click to expand...

I always shoot in RAW or RAW+JPG mode.

My first HDR was done with a T2i. No builtin camera mode for in camera HDR and the Canon software did not do HDR. I shot RAW in Av with AEB and processed in Photomatix Pro. You can also preprocess the images in the Canon software for lens, etc. corrections and save as TIF or JPG before loading into Photomatix Pro.

I use the same approach with the 6D - shoot RAW in Av with AEB and process in Photomatix Pro. I have tried the HDR Backlight Control in scene mode on the 6D, but it only produces a single merged jpg image and that isn't generally what I am looking for so I don't use it. Maybe if I played with it more I might find something to like about it.

There is no RAW support in the HDR Backlight scene mode that I tried. I don't remember trying the HDR mode in camera menu 4 which appears to be the method you use. I haven't tried using any HDR features of the Canon software (ImageBrowser or DPP), didn't know there were any but I already have other software for this purpose.

If I find some time I might look at HDR mode in camera menu 4 but I think it will lack the flexibility of post processing if it produces an in camera jpg as documented. I could only speak to the current version, not any changes that might have been made since the original firmware.

Don't tell me we are still reading the beeping manuals! Real photographers don't read manuals! We just shoot!