Film EOS prices are rock bottom. It's a great time to buy.

And as there is no great difference between anything below the top tier there is no excuse not to buy the most recent you can (not to mention less wear and tear, more shutter life etc)

Avoid avoid avoid at all costs:

anything pre E-TTL. This means look for a EOS 300. EOS 30. EOS 3. EOS1V (or the more recent versions therof)

In fact if you get a 300x or 30v you will actually get E-TTL II which will work with select recent lenses to give you even better flash results.

Anything prior to E-TTL (EOS 1n, EOS 5 / A2e, 620 etc) will only work with your flash in A-TTL mode, which is prehistoric off the film metering as it exposes. E-TTL is preflash metered off the subject and far superior.

I currently have the EOS 3, though I recently had an EOS 300x. I would say get a AA grip for any film EOS you buy, the exact model required will depend on the model of EOS you go for, but as photographic Litihium batteries become more expensive and difficult to find a grip will be very useful. I have a PB-E1 on my EOS 3 which also gives it a little speed boost. The PB-E2 is worth the extra if you get a 3 as it perfectly mirrors the controls of the 3 / 1V.

As with any EOS camera I would recommend seeking out one with a pentaprism as opposed to a pentamirror.
This rules out most low end very cheap plastic bodies, but makes the 30, 33, 3 and 1V a good choice. Pentamirrors are crap enough on rebels, but dreadful on full frame.

The 3 is laid out like a current 1 series. Very intuitive to use after a wee leaning curve, the eye control is superlative (in my opinion) and you get AF at f8 etc. It does 99.9 of what the 1V can do (slightly less viewfinder coverage, no viewfinder blind, no EOS link, plastic outer casing but still weatherproof and plenty tough) but adds ECF and is around a third of the price. This also makes it a lot more expensive than very decent midrange bodies like the 30's (a 30v would be my midrange pick)

One caveat with almost all EOS bodies. Most of them use an IR frame counter for film advance and rewind. This fogs IR film. If you are using IR film you may want to look elsewhere or pay the extra for the 1V (there are other IR compatable EOS film bodies, but all pre-E-TTL)

Good luck from a very happy 3 user!

Films:

Reala 100. Nice for skin tones. Fairly readily available.

Ilford XP2 Super. ISO400 Chromagenic film (black and white, but can be processed in a colour lab, so 1hr negs / tinged prints possible. Very nice grain structure. Works great with yellow or orange filter to boost contrast a little.

Reala 800. Your low light friend. Go much faster than this and things get really quite grainy.

Velvia 50. Saturated fine grain transparancy film. Use with a polariser. Beautiful. It's like the colour is turned up to 11. Not to everybodies taste, and not for portraiture, but a film you have to try at least once.

others that may be trickier to get:

Fuji 160S really nice portrait film

Agfa Scala (probably impossible, as is processing) a brilliant black and white transparancy film.

Kodakrome 64 (again probably impossible, I've heard of some companies doing very limited batches of processing, a lovely film but probably not worth the hassle)

notapro said:

The problem seems to have resolved itself now, as inexplicably as it "appeared".

Maybe it was the phase of the moon, the weather, maybe this problem is intermittent, . . . who knows.

Just posting here to say that all's well again.

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Dirty contacts.

DJL329 said:

If you do a search on the forums here, you will find that others have recommended Midwest Camera Repair. They are a factory authorized service center for Canon and Nikon.

http://www.midwestcamera.com/lens.html

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+1.

I've had repairs done by them and was very happy. You can get a estimate by e-mail if you fill out their online form.

Sell the 5D2 while you can still get a decent price for it, and buy a 5D3 with a kit lens...either the 24-105mmL, or I hear you might be able to get the 24-70mm as a kit lens?

Sell the 5D2 and put that money with your $2K and get the 5D3 and kit lens.

If you have cash left over...the canon 85mm f/1.8 is actually a great bang for the buck non-L lens....


HTH,

cayenne

neuroanatomist said:

gferdinandsen said:

I have always found that a CPL usually precludes the use of a hood...unless you want to always take the hood off/reattach it after recomposing

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Maybe I just have longer fingers, but I have no issues. Certainly not with a 24-70, etc., but even with the 70-200 II it's not an issue for me to rotate the CPL with the hood attached.

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Much fewer problems with the new 24-70, but the old one had a hood nearly identical to the 70-200...a much larger hood.

The viewfinder issue is I think one only you can answer although I'm guessing we'll probabley see a Canon mirrorless with EVF and the new 70D sensor latter this year or early next.

To me what makes the EOS-M tempting isn't the body or the EF adapter but the native EF-M lenses themselves. Granted we've only seen three released so far but in terms of quality and/or value they seem like there a step above all of their mirrorless rivals, arguably above most DSLR options aswell.

Jack Douglas said:

Hey Mike,

Just had a look at your web page and I really like what you're shooting and the quality of your work. You're living in heaven (almost). Good luck. I'm betting, like me, your childhood included a good exposure to nature and that you had a parent of relative who loved the great outdoors and influenced you??

Just a deer, which is not difficult from my yard but the extra thrill came from the knowlege that this is likely the mother of the fawn we thought was motherless.

Jack

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Thanks Jack, just got back from a trip back to Ontario..had a phone call that my new lens has arrived and have an appt on Tuesday to go fetch it. As to my interest in the outdoors/wildlife, this only began about 6 years ago, not long after I acquired my first DSLR. And yes....it is like living in heaven here in Cape Breton!

Canon's answer is complete BS!

I have 300mm f/4L non-IS for a few ... decades!

I have used it with 3rd party Sigma 1.4 and Tamron 2X.
Now I have Canon EF1.4X II and EF2X II

With EF1.4X II it autofocuses fine with all my analog and digital bodies and the quality remains top!

With EF2X II it manual focuses except with my 5D3 which autofocuses fine with latest firmware.

I'm not happy with Canon's delay and delay and delay either

Many thanks for the links.....

i got two off the top of my head....

the first i came across was actually when i was working at a commercial lab. i ran all the E6 and C41 film so i saw ALOT of photography from many sources. one memorable roll came through with a 3 shot series that just dropped my jaw. 1st shot was bride and groom coming out of the church with arms raised about to walk down the steps (see where this is going?). 2nd shot everyone starts throwing rice, grooms arms still in the air and smiling....bride has started to stumble and is going down. 3rd shot everyone faces show realization of what disaster is about to happen, grooms face has an "oh @#%&" look and his arm is being pulled down as he starts to stumble while the bride has both arms completely outstretched and her face about an inch off the ground about to eat some serios pavement. there was no 4th shot.

the second instance i was a 2nd shooter on. we were at the brides place with her getting ready. the flowers arrive and are placed on the coffee table. the main shooter starts shooting the bouquet and arranges some small candles that were lit on the table around the flowers (mind you they were already there and lit...we didnt initiate that). she finishes up and goes back to shooting the bride. a couple minutes later someone comments on smelling something burning...we all start looking around and then suddenly POOF! brides bouquet bursts into flames. we scrambled to put it out and with some creative trimming and rearrangement the bride still had a bouquet.

dickgrafixstop said:

You questions begs two more
1.) Why would Canon want to partner with Zeiss who might well make a better lens?
2.) Why would Zeiss want to hook up with a turkey like the Canon M?

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1. They wouldn't.

2. A zeiss lens would almost certainly be MF, thereby negating the main critque folk who haven't actually used an m have about the m. As they say in Scotland.. Were you actually at the game caller?

I use the SunPak RD2000 virtually all the time with all my cameras, esp the full frame bodies with no on board flash. I too have noticed the ETTL to be flaky on the 6D. I emailed Sally Wall at TocadAmerica, the american distributor of this flash. She informed me that they are still waiting on the firmware update for the 6D. When that happens, you will likely need to send it in to be updated. FWIW, Tocad is responsive and has always provided good service and support. Sally's email is swall <at> tocad.com

Good luck!

While the lengths of the 16-35 and the 135 L are close, the position and diameter of the focus ring is different. You might borrow or rent one before taking the plunge.

Dylan777 said:

6D + 50mm f1.4 + 85mm f1.8 or 135L

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I'd go this route. Fast primes first. But depends on your type of photography.

Bought the 28 /2.8 non IS for the 30D back in 2011. Also worked quite well on the 5D3. Much lens for the money.

Lenscracker said:

I have a Sigma 24mm F/1.8. I like it enough that I actually sold my Canon 24-70mm F/2.8 L lens. The Sigma is better at F/1.8 than the Canon is at F2.8 at 24mm. My Sigma 50mm f1.4 is better at f1.4 than the Canon was at 2.8 and my Sigma 70mm F2.8 is better wide open than the Canon was at wide open 70mm.
The Sigma 70mm is really clunky and noisy but the image quality is superb. The Sigma 24 is also a terrific close up lens. I also use it at night on a tripod on the floor of my boat to capture night fishing action (with intervalometer). It is far superior to any of the zooms I have owned so far. However, I have not compared it directly to my Canon 16-35L II at f2.8.

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Very helpful post. Thank you so much! Much different to what photozone.de wrote about the siggy WA primes.

I will point out that the 70-300L is shorter (retracted) than the 70-200/4L - it fits vertically in many bags whereas a 70-200/4 would need to lay flat and take up two 'spaces' in the bag.

richlondoner said:

I will also be taking a 10-22 or the new 16-35.

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The 10-22 is an ultrawide zoom, the 16-35 is a wide-to-normal zoom (unless you're also bringing a FF camera for the 16-35). I'm not sure one is a substitute for the other.

IMO, the best APS-C standard zoom for travel is the 15-85.

agierke said:

never ever ever let anyone else (especially airline personnel) handle your cameras or lenses.

ever.

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So how do you ship them to Canon for repair?

optikus said:

Harry Muff said:

The advice I always give to people is simply to pretend they are holding a rifle. Seems to help them.

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Exactly that is, what I was told when starting to use longer lenses.

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Probably the NRA start a "shooting is good for your health" campaign :-> ... over here in Germany though there's a definitive lack of gun proliferation, not to my dismay as I might add, but the analogy is still valid and helpful.

G-V said:

Use a tripod ;D

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And tell all animals to please pose right in front of it in the correct distance and height ...

... fyi all: Yesterday I observed how I hold the camera and when, and with the great help from this thread imho my problem is a problem of these factors, I am confident it can be fixed:

1. Wrong left hand position when holding the lens & too little support from the left arm. Unfortunately, this really only works when holding the lens standing, is awkward when lying on the ground and not working at all when doing something else with your left hand (like supporting yourself or holding a flash which I often do).

2. Holding the camera only in the right hand when walking or not shooting, I need to put it in the other hand as often as possible and/or use a strap to lighten the load on the fingers

3. Unbalanced, heavier equipment: My problems only arose after buying a heavy lens and a large flash with flash bracket that puts more downward and rotational stress on my hand, at and the same time the hand strap didn't fit anymore worsening the problem - so at least need to get the hand strap attached again. With just a 60d+40/2.8 pancake lens it'd be a different story altogether...

Could the right photo have been done, or almost done, with an iPhone? Not saying it was, just wondering how close any of you think a smartphone could get to that (assuming the person shooting it was the least bit skilled as a photographer).

I get your point that the problem is the photographers were fired, and thus non-photographers are now responsible for taking pictures. I saw one of them interviewed on tv a couple of weeks ago. He was very passionate about his work.

The problem is, newspapers pretty much everywhere are losing money. Isn't the Sun-Times also? Explains why they would fire employees such as photographers. Then turn around and pretend they're being trendy by handing out iPhones to reporters...It's a shame the government can't do the same thing with their employees. Fire 90% of them, then pay the remaining ones a one time salary in the form of a smartphone...with no service plan included.

5D3 have abberation correction, so 24-105 should be fine for video, no need to apply correction later.
I don't know how good is IS in 24-105, but I own 100L and hybrid IS in it (similar to 24-70 f4) helps a lot for video, while on monopod or even handheld. As for wide end I got 24IS in march, and still impressed how good it is. And if 24-70 f4 have even better IS it should be realy great.

I'd love to get my hands on a 100-400L, but it's a really old lens so I'm not sure it's worth getting for a modern camera like my 6D...

tnargs said:

roadrunner said:

The only thing it is lacking is weather sealing and copy variance.

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That's code for quality control. :-\

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It might be a poor design as well, too sensitive to manufacturing tolerances.

Firstly, i'm not sure about the 6D at 12800iso vs the 5ds..i've never actually shot that high for a paid gig.
Especially for weddings, i don't think any couple would want photos taken at iso12800 with any camera to be used as an official photo.
To me, the high ISO is just a bonus for times when you need it for general shooting and personal use..i wouldn't use it for an official photo of any sorts. Personally, i try not to go above 1600 if i can help it.

I would go for faster and better glass IMO….there is a difference between a good 2.8 zoom vs an F4 one besides just the aperture…there's alot more to it than that.

My favourite combo for almost anything…the 5D3 with the 24-70mk2