Quick update, for what it's worth:

Gave the 24 a reasonably wide range of subjects and finished a shoot on a 1Ds Mark II body, and the accuracy and performance were remarkably improved, even in pretty significant low light situations. I'm thinking this lens is just too sensitive for a lesser camera body's AF system. The 1Ds II's AF is even a little dated compared to, say, the 1DX, or what have you, but regardless, there was a CLEAR difference in performance. I haven't sat down and played with the DVD cases like I did before, to test the exactness of the accuracy, but I'll do that soon...

Haven't gotten a chance to give it a whirl on the 5DIII yet, but when I do, I'll let everyone know.

paul13walnut5 said:

I had a mark 1 that lost infinity focus and couldn't be repaired unless I could source a donor lens with a different fault.
By that point I threw the towel in, optically there is no difference in any case.

I wouldn't buy a mark one now, mainly because of the parts issue, 23 years is a lot of iris movements etc...

They have become a cult item, fair enough, i just kind of think if you are going to spend 50% more for build quality then why not go that little bit further and get improved build, improved focus, improved bokeh, improved max aperture and pick up an in warranty in production servicable 1.4 instead?

I settled for the plastic fantastic.

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Actually from what I've heard the 1.4 is not really that reliable, with stuck focus rings for instance. History shows the Mk I to be remarkably durable, so it's worth having a unit that hasn't seen that much use over the years (hooray to my sublime copy )

Nothing wrong with the plastic fantastic by the way, given its low pricing (but still I prefer the Mk I).

jdramirez said:

RAKAMRAK said:

That is a good steal. Heck, that is even better than a steal..... that is almost a bank robbery.... enjoy....

If I was in the market for a full frame I could grab a 5DII for $1300 bucks today (saw on craigslist just now)...... seems interesting. Or for that matter a 7D for $800.

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it is funny... I never liked the 7d when it was a 1500 dollar camera, but now that it is a 7-800 dollar camera, where do I sign up.

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South Western CT is bundled under the "NY City" area and it's crazy how much they want to buy for and how much they want to sell for. Either that, or the stuff doesn't stay up longer then a few hours . . . I'm not sure which.

Good for you, either way.

I got my refurbed 7D yesterday (looks new) from Adorama all for $889 w/1 year warranty (through Adorama). I was waiting to see what the MK2 would yield, but at this price point, I couldn't resist. The AF on this thing is totally crazy. It's like the starship enterprise, no wonder people have been excited about it.

Since I got into my 60D @ $850 new in October 2010 and they're going around $500 now, I really can't complain.

try setting it to P mode and see if it works there. If it doesn't then you probably have a problem with your camera but if that works fine it's probably down to your settings. The small built in flash will generally prefer as wide open aperture as possible and a shutter speed of less than 1/200. Crank up the ISO a little to get more oompfh out of it.

From a video perspective an ideal studio would be matte black on the ceiling and walls, matte grey floor.

The set area can be dressed with colorama or curtains etc, but really you don't want light bouncing off anything it shouldn't be, especially anything that will introduce a colour cast.

BozillaNZ said:

I've completely dismantled my 1D Mark III to fix a mirror problem. Whole set of images:

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made my day ;D

Hi, sorry I haven't gotten back for a while. Been busy settling back here in Sweden. Those are very kind words from you guys.

Brett, hope you went out shooting some film and challenge your creativity.

Graham, I have thought of a couple of other projects based in town here. Especially one that I hope to realise as soon as I get back to work in a few weeks, I will spend some time walking the streets on Sundays putting it together over the course of a few weeks. I have another hobby which is golf, but won't find much time for it now. I did some stuff back in Asia, shooting courses and wrote a few articles that I got published (with some of my photos). Hope to get some more of that done, but the only work I've done on that has been in Asia.

Shutterwideshut, thanks for your words. Interesting about Manila. I've been there only once and it was on a quick business trip. Staying at Shangri La Edsa, ten minutes limo ride to the office and then back for a couple of days. Was alone so I didn't really fancy going out in the evenings. But the town looked interesting and I hope to be able to go back one day. You have inspired me and advised med on the long exposures. However, Sweden is located far north and this time of year the sun sets very late and rises very early (3.30 or so) so to catch the golden hour is not that easy. I am normally asleep by then. And I haven't invested in those expensive 10 stop filters you got so daylight is pretty much out of the question for me when it comes to long exposures. I'll wait a couple of months for it to get darker.

Take care all and thanks for the nice words and interesting discussion.

thanks
J

Normalnorm said:

Pi said:

sdsr said:

... the Panasonic equivalent of a 70-200 2.8, the 35-100 2.8, weighs 13 oz.

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That is a f/5.6 eq. lens. The closest comparison is the Olympus 35-100mm f/2.0, which is more than twice (!) the weight and the price of the equivalent 70-200/4 IS, longer, and not as good.

The m43 14-35/2 is 28-70/4 eq., and it is a heavy $2.3K monster. The overpriced Canon 24-70/4 IS looks like a bargain next to it, and it is considerably lighter and smaller, not to mention wider and better.

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The aperture equivalences are only valid if you are interested in equalizing narrow depth of field.

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And noise. And AOV.

Many people and most pros like a fast lens to be able to use a higher shutter speed. The DOF issue in no way affects that.

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Nothing else does. If you are not shooting with a phone or a P&S, you can choose whatever speed you want.

As for the price of any lens, it is either worth it or it isn't. I would gladly pay $2500 each for the f2 Olympus lenses if they would focus quickly on an OM-D. Not only would I be able to shoot wide open at good shutter speeds in dim light but I would also have the advantage of being able to have two people in focus in the frame.

Even though those lenses are large, the comparable lens in terms of true speed will never be made for a FF body.

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"True speed"? What prevents you from getting the same DOF on FF?

eml58 said:

CarlTN said:

eml58 said:

1st Cheetah Kill, Serengeti near the Grameti River, don't think this Lady was doing much more than 70-80Kph, so still had a gear in reserve, This mother Killed every single Day as she had 3 Cubs around 18 Months Old she was teaching & feeding as well as her self, Mothers, where would we all be without them.

1Dx 200-400, shot @ 560mm f/5.6 & 1/1600th ISO800

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I too like this one. How much of the image is cropped, if any?

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Hi CarlTN, Cropped top & bottom only to give the Image more length, overall perhaps 10% of the Image has been cropped, most of my shots of this Kill included only the Cheetah, at 12 fps the sequence still only included the victim in 3 frames, that's how fast the Cheetah was moving, the Thomson's Gazelle was doomed the moment the Mother Cheetah decided he was on the Menu. Once she Killed she stepped back and kept a look out for Lions & Hyenas while her 3 Cubs fed, only when they were filled did she then feed herself, remarkable Animal Behaviour.

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Thank you, and that's a nice story. I've seen cheetahs on the various animal channels. On Nat Geo Wild, they aired a show done by two brothers (can't think of them right now), shot a few years ago. They were on the Serengeti. The mother cheetah climbed on top of their truck to watch her cubs play.

distant.star said:

.
I want to know how you found one in stock. I've been looking for a week or two, and it's never in stock. You must have found the lucky minute.

My fastest ever shipping experience was with a computer software program in 1993. I ordered it a 2AM from a place near Columbus, OH. At 9:30 AM a FexEx driver knocked on my door and handed it to me. Amazing what can happen when you combine credit cards and jet aircraft!

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Mine was ordering a router interface card from California. An hour later it was delivered... and I was 3800 kilometers, 3 time zones, and one international border away...

neech7 said:

US buyers also have the option of buying online from Canada:

http://www.henrys.com/78480-CANON-EF-M-11-22MM-F4-5-6-IS-STM-LENS.aspx

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Henry's sent me a tracking number today ;D

Interesting thing is that Canon appears (from the 70D) to be counting pixels as output pixels (or individual payer pixels), not as per how many photosites are read. Which I think is a good thing, it just makes sense.

Yes very nice. Haven't been back to visit this thread in awhile. Can't wait for the temperatures to be a little bit cooler to get back out and photograph the wild horses near me. Hopefully before the BLM decides to round up the three herds that are just down the road from me. Some of the stupid neighbors are saying some of the horses have been a nuisance and have complained to BLM. The whole community is in an uproar and BLM will prevail and do what ever they want to!!!!

RLPhoto said:

8D :-D :-| :-(

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I just pre-ordered mine... :

why don't you just downloard the drivers from the cannon support page and use them.
Most canon scanners also will respond to the standard twain drivers in adobe products.

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/scanners/canoscan_series/canoscan_8800f#DriversAndSoftware

I took a photo of my Mac tower with my 7D and a my EF 50mm f/1.8 II

Thanks!

Erik
http://www.solargravity.com

http://500px.com/SolarGravity

https://twitter.com/SolarGravity

The big thing I learned is that compared to APS-c, I can crop a FF image from the 24-105 and still get what I want. Not he best phot, but here's what I mean......

Cory said:

My bad. It was this one (too big to attach):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corysteiner/9237322160/#

It was one of the first that jumped out at me, but has a few problems. I think some of my others are much better (top-70 are at http://cruiseaska.shutterfly.com ).
Thanks.

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Lovely! I remember seeing it now.

5000 days. (inspirational world around us)

Magnum: Magnum. (the zenith of the art)

The genius of Photography (BBC book and DVD)

The Kodak Encyclopedia of Practical Photogprahy (multi volume, I had the old 70's 80's series. Invaluable)

Badger said:

OK, be gentle. For some of us, photography is just a hobby and we don't get deep into the technical aspects of it all. I have a 6D but I couldn't tell you what processor is in it and I have no idea what dual iso amplifiers are.

Having said that, I am mildly curious about Magic Lantern coming to the 6D. Do any of my more learned friend have any information on when or if that is going to happen?

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I have good news for you my friend. It seems it is already available for the 6D.
As you can read here http://www.magiclantern.fm :

Available for Canon EOS:
5Dmk2, 50D, 60D
500D, 550D, 600D
soon: 5Dc, 1100D, 5Dmk3, 7D, 6D, 650D, EOS-M

If you need more 6D specific information (install guide) look here: http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5530.0 Keep in mind that ML is mainly for video guys but also has some goodies for stills. You should also keep in mind that altering your firmware might damage your camera. You should read the ML how-tos and guides before flashing.

But this specific feature of Magic Lantern which the OP mentioned in his links (dual ISO / dynamic range increase) will never be available for the 6D. It is a hardware limitation, not a software limitation in this case.

ecka said:

Imagine that you are a cyborg and you see the world through cameras instead of eyes. One camera has 8mp APSC sensor from 20D and another one has 21mp FF sensor from 5D2 (yes, it's weird, you must be made in China, or something). Both with 40mm f/2.8 lenses. You see everything in clearest details up to a single pixel, all of them, all the time. FF camera has 60% wider FoV, but with both lenses focused at the same distance you would see that they both produce the same DoF.
This is a very simplified concept (no need to tell me that), because I don't want to waste any more time on this, but it is real and correct. That's how your camera sees it and renders the DoF. The question is not "How do my eyes deal with DoF?". It is "How the camera does it?". It may not be useful for thumbnails and snapshots, but there is a need for it in photography with extremely shallow DoF and a lot of cropping, like macro (where you can't bring it back if it's oof).

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Seriously? A cyborg? Sure, the DoF from the same lens, with the shot taken at the same distance and aperture but two different sensor formats, will have the same DoF. While true (and something quite obvious that doesn't require a preposterous story to illustrate), it's irrelevant. They yield the same DoF, but what is that DoF? Imagine you have been preserved as a plastinated cadaver for an exhibit at the 24th-and-a-half Century Body Worlds exhibit, and me the cyborg is staring at your outstretched hand. Are your wide, strangely lifelike eyes rendered sharply enough to appear unblurred?

The camera doesn't render DoF. DoF is based on 'acceptable sharpness' and only exists when an image is viewed, and thus viewing conditions like output size and viewing distance matter.

Sorry, but it's now obvious beyond doubt that you just don't understand the concept of DoF (and apparently haven't bothered to even read the definition of the term), so this really is a waste of time.

It is indeed an interesting lens, and certainly one I would look into if i had a need.

alek35 said:

mrsfotografie said:

Samyang 14mm: One of the most arty lenses I own. The 'moustache' distortion is no dealbreaker for my use of this lens. Excellent sharpness and colors and the (self added) addition of an AF confirmation chip makes it sweet to use (MF is otherwise almost impossible due to the large DOF in the viewfinder, even with an EF-S screen).

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This got me curious - how did you add the AF confirmation chip ? It works on your Canon, right ?

Br,
Thomas

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It works on any Canon EOS camera

I bought an AF confirmation chip and glued it onto the rear of the lens as shown in the pictures below. I positioned it in the right place using the supplied alignment tool and checked it with a Canon lens. Note that I had to make a spacer to raise the chip to the correct level: flush with the edge of the metal mount. If you glue it inside the recess it won't contact the pins in the camera!

The chip is programmable so that it will report the correct focal length and maximum aperture but will work without programming.

More importantly, it has internal 'focus micro adjustment' which I programmed at f/4 to nail focus every time and give sharp results at f/4 and above which is the aperture range I use mostly. I found there is some focus shift in this lens depending on aperture so at f/2.8 and f/3.2 the focal plane is not the same as at f/4 and above. Programming the AF chip at f/2.8 therefore results in a false calibration for the stopped down apertures.

Now, for stuff at infinity focus, the focus confirmation is still OK even at f/2.8-3.2 but for stuff critically close to the lens at wide apertures I resort to the precision matte focus screen in my 5DII to check focus is in the correct place.

The chip is programmable as follows:

Samyang 14 mm: 14mm F/2.8, AFMA 26

Preparation:

1 Turn camera on and attach adapter with chip,aperture shows F1.4 on camera.
2 set Manual mode.
3 shutter speed to 1/60 second
4 aperture increment step to 1/3 EV. (it is the most Canon digital camera default setting).

set the aperture value to F/64 and press shutter button once.
set the aperture value to F/57 and press shutter button once.
set the aperture value to F/64 and press shutter button once.
Turn the aperture dial, set the Max aperture to F1.0.

For example: 14mm f2.8 micro adjustment 24

Enter programing mode: F64 shutter, F57 shutter, F64 shutter


Setting focal length
====================

Setting focal length mode: F2.2 shutter

Enter focal length value: F2.0 shutter F2.0 shutter F2.0 shutter F2.2 shutter F3.2 shutter (00014)

Store parameter to chip: F57 shutter F64 shutter F57 shutter

Focal length setting done to 14mm.


Setting Max aperture
====================

Setting Max aperture mode: F2.0 shutter

Enter Max aperture value: F2.8 shutter

Store parameter to emf chip: F57 shutter F64 shutter F57 shutter

Max aperture setting done to F2.8.


focus micro adjustment
======================

Enter programing mode: F64 shutter, F57 shutter, F64 shutter

focus micro adjustment mode: F2.5 shutter.

Enter focus micro adjustment value: F2.5 shutter F4.0 shutter.

Store parameter to emf chip: F57 shutter F64 shutter F57 shutter

Micro adjustment setting up done as 26.

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Note that it is possible to have the Exif report the actual aperture selected, but I use the lens with the camera set to aperture priority and maximum aperture ( f/2.8 ), then I stop down the lens manually and let the camera sort out the metering. This works the easiest but it does mean that if I actually take a photo at f/5.6, it is still reported as f/2.8. Focal length and exposure time are however always reported correctly.

Have you tried Calumet?

I use an interfit softbox. I would say it was good value, works well, but is not designed or consructed for serious professional use. My softbox is fraying and the seams splitting, rods losing their shape etc, but then I've built and rebuilt the box 100+ times on location for different jobs.

It was really cheap so it works out at about £2.50 a shoot. The quality of light is really good and subjects can work under it happily without cooking. Low power draw as well, an issue if you also run a monitor and set light off of a single 13A circuit (with reds, you can light and nothing else)

That's the trade off. To get anything much better you would need to spend much more. Law of diminishing returns and all that. If you are going to work it really hard I would look elsewhere.

i find myself a bit conflicted with this poll, because i have one answer for lenses and another for camera bodies