neuroanatomist said:

My vote: None of the above - use both if at all possible.

Also, consider the lens - I can't see using a monopod routinely with a 'light' lens like a 70-200...

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This.

For me, a monopod is really only useful for a Great White, and then just to take the weight off my arms. I can hand-hold the 400 f/2.8 at 1/15s and not have any camera shake -- but not if I've had to hold it up to my face for any length of time!

It wouldn't occur to me to use the monopod for any other lens. Tripod, yes, certainly; the vast majority of everything I do is on a tripod. But not a monopod.

And, of course, when I am using a monopod, I'm absolutely going to want IS if the lens has it.

Cheers,

b&

axtstern said:

Sigma 30mm 1.4
really small, old school lens, not sure if the electronic works with anything newer than 60d

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They actually just updated this lens, so, while not as cheap, it should work with all newer cameras.

And I'd go with the Samyang 14mm over the Sigma, but, there's also the Tokina 17mm too. Not a lot of great wide options if you are going for small

wickidwombat said:

do you need the zoom or the reach?
considered just picking up a 200 f2.8L

no IS either but it is a stop faster and is smaller and less conspicuous

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Well, for shooting portraits and candids, the reach may be really useful. Likewise the IS in a lower light scenario. I went from the 70-200 f/4L IS to the 200 f/2.8 because it was faster and I shot a lot of action (and used it mostly at 200mm anyway). So, IS didn't help me, but the extra stop does.

Considering you already have a 50mm and 85mm prime, then I'd say a tele-zoom is probably a nice accompaniment to that. The 70-200's are both great, and the suggestion for the 70-300L is good too. If you want it now, the non-IS lens is a great value, and your 5dIII will allow you to get away wiht pretty high ISO's. If you can wait, both the L IS lenses are pretty stunning

VitorMachado said:

Skirball said:

I was starting to get worried, it took much longer than normal for all the gearheads to come out and start chanting their 5d3 mantra.

OP: I own the 6D. I almost didn't buy it after reading all the S___ on here about it. But I went for it, and realized that most the people on here obsess about gear WAY too much. Good on you for taking a good look at what you need, and what you don't. Yes, more is better, but cost is a factor for almost all of us. Get the 6D, you'll be happy with it.

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Lol, I have to agree with you. The 6D gets no respect whatsoever because of its specs on paper, rather than criticizing the camera in real-world shooting. Anyways, I'm glad I got a reply from someone in my situation. I just simply don't have the cash to throw down an extra 1K on a camera. I have done extensive research and I think I've made up my mind. The 7D has been returned and I'm waiting on my refund. Thanks for the advice. Hopefully I made the right choice!

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Glad I could help. I spent a ton of time on here researching and almost gave up on the 6D because of all the negativity, until I found Dustin Abbott's well written thread:

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=12847.0

It helped a lot to see a voice of reason in a sea of wankery. Once you start looking around, you’ll see the 5D3 gets recommended to everyone on here. Some guy shows up, says he’s been shooting around a year, has a 600D but wants to upgrade; everyone jumps in, get the 5d3! Some kid is going off to college to study photography, owns a point and shoot and wants an SLR; everyone jumps in, get the 5d3! I don’t doubt it’s a great camera, but it’s completely blown out of perspective here. Maybe I wouldn’t be so jaded if I saw some sort of correlation between cameras and the work people produced with it, but there’s none. The last couple profiles that I clicked on of people that frequently chant the 5d3 mantra had hardly any, if any, action shots. All this talk of the impotence of the 6D, and the portfolio that you’re showcasing is all stills.

Vitor, it sounds like you weren’t using any of the functions that make the 7D so great. I’m guessing you’re going to love the IQ and noise performance of the 6D. I am curious to hear your opinions on the build. The 6D gets slammed a lot because it “feels like a Rebel”. I’m coming up from a 400D, and I can tell you it doesn’t feel anything like it, but I like the slimness of it. You may not feel that way coming "down" from a 7D. That said, I think the ‘flimsyness’ of the Rebel is exaggerated heavily. I’ve dragged my Rebel through 30+ countries, crammed in the bottom of my backpack, changing lenses, filters and SD cards in dusty third world streets, caught in sudden tropical storms, and 7 years later it hasn’t failed me once. I cherished its small body and light weight every step of the way.

I bought the Hitech 85mm Graduated Neutral Density Kit 6 from B&H just to get started and do some experimenting. Have been very happy with them. Haven't noticed any color cast and they seem durable with reasonable care. Got a couple of Cokin adaptors and a holder to use them with.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/811176-REG/Hitech_HT85GKIT6_85mm_Graduated_Neutral_Density.html

dave_bass5 said:

Does no one read their manuals these days?

Its all written in the manual as clear as it could be. Wouldn't the manual for the camera you own be the first point of call?
Its on page 324 for anyone that is confused.

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I personally am of the opinion that the official 5D3 AF guidebook from Canon is some kind of manual, therefore I was a bit confused by the wrong information inside of it.

But you are absolutely correct, I should have had a look into the other manual as well. Thanks for looking up the page!

YuengLinger said:

polarhannes said:

Maybe this is of help for you http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=13269.msg238526#msg238526 this does not describe how to cycle through the AF points the way you would like it to be but at least you can quickly switch between 2 different AF points.

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Thanks! I'm going to try this ASAP. Wonderful to have an AF guide tailored specifically to the 5DIII!

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Its also on page 324 of the manual that comes with the camera ;-)

Since you mentioned you're planning to use it in low light conditions, I'd vote for 135 f2. I own one and it's a great portrait lens, not heavy, so you could carry it the whole day without the tripod/monopod. I've never owned 100 f2 but I've heard a lot of good stuff about it too. Although it's not weather sealed, it's much cheaper that 135 f2.

It may sound silly, but have you considered Canon 90 f2.8 TSE? Maybe some of its owners can comment on it based on their experience but I think it should add some creativity to your photography.

Good luck with your choice. I think all three lenses you mentioned are excellent!

I had a 50/1.4 which I loved on film & early digi's....
never thought it was up to scratch on full frame digi bodies

tried 50/1.2 and was much better

but bought and kept 35/1.4L - superb lens....
i upgraded 28-70L to 24-70L, and then went to 24-70L II

but nothing replaces 35L - it's a fantastic piece of kit

ok,so Canon lens codes let us see year of manufacture - e.g. Z denotes 2011

my question is what's "normal" for a new lens ?
i.e. if I go into a store to buy a 85L II , what should I expect to see as the code - 2013 or is 2011 normal ?

I know it doesnt REALLY matter for the lens use, but I do notice when it comes to selling/trading people will try haggle a lot saying the lens is x yrs old etc

answered your own question... you need a back up...

If 35mm cameras don't make you happy,... you should consider MF. And, pentax D645 is a good option.

But, your third choice is as good too. Buy the best lenses n wait (or be happy with what you have)

A little update for those thinking of sending their lens somewhere other than Canon. So I didn't want to spend $370+ for a lens cleaning, Canon's going rate just to open a lens these days.Considered a lot of places including the ones above, thanks guys. I decided on Precision Camera in El Paso, Texas. http://www.precisioncamera.com/ I sent it there for two reasons, I was in a hurry and they promised the best turn-around time and two, they were the cheapest.

I was nervous sending them my lens because their price was so low. In part I was right. I was promised 10 day turnaround and I got it 14 days later after they had the lens for close to a week and hadn't sent me an email or called. I called and they sorta apologized and after talking to a manager, they expedited my cleaning. The work was alright but not as good as what the Canon factory in Irvine does on a good day. And they don't always have good days mind you.

Bottom line, if you want to go a little cheaper than $370+ and don't mind waiting a few weeks to get your repair done with a passing grade, go with Precision Camera. It was something like $110 and they do open the lens up. Also, I will note that most places that take in gear have a longer turn-around than 14 days.

neuroanatomist said:

Yeah, but that's lateral CA. Longitudnal CA is a different matter. Lots of magenta and green there.

Here's a test from a while back, focusing successively on each battery in the first composite, crops of the chrome ball in the second composite. You can see LoCA showing up green in OOF specular highlights behind the focal plane, and magenta in front of the focal plane. Stopping down reduces the LoCA. Watch out for those chrome bumpers and water reflections, people.

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Oops, You would have to point out my error.

Rienzphotoz said:

Interesting, thanks for sharing ... but, if I am not wrong, I don't think most photographers would be concerned with it.
I use 5D MK III with CamRanger for my WiFi needs and it is secured with a password, so me not worried ;D

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Well, I'm curious if that password makes for an encrypted connection...or not?

If not, would be trivial to do a man-in-the-middle attack, and gain info and access....

I use the the EF16-35 2.8L mk ll mainly for video. And for "bokeh" sometimes the EF28 1.8.

Don Haines said:

I see two big ways that the 7D2 and 70D can distinguish themselves from the Rebel line. One is sensor and the other is focus. If you look at the 7D and the 60D, there are a few minor differences between cameras, but only two big diferences. The 7D has way beter focusing and the 60D has the articulating screen.

I would not be surprised to see new sensors in both. I would expect to see touchscreens, wifi, and GPS in both. I expect the difference to be significantly better AF and a higher frame rate in the 7D, with a few minor improvements... I would also expect NO articulated screen in the 7D2.

Time will tell. I have no intentions of getting a 70D, but since it's features will give a good clue to the 7D2, I eagerly await it's announcement.

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I agree, the smart move would be to put the current 7D AF maybe tweeked a bit into the 70D it would essentiaqlly become the 7D low price replacement.

then give the 7D2 the 61 point AF and awesome build essentially put a new crop sensor into a 5Dmk3 10FPS?
maybe 8FPS full raw and 10FPS jpg or something like that, depends what processing they give It esspecially if it gets more megapickles I doubt it would get 10FPS raw as thats getting closer to eating 1Dx lunch.

what canon ACTUALLY do might cause some head scrathing however based on current form
it will be more in the 5Dmk3 price range but I can still see it selling tons

i need to make panoramic building picture it is nessery to buy panoramic head like this one http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/293646-REG/Manfrotto_303SPH_303SPH_QTVR_Spherical_Panoramic.html

TrumpetPower! said:

bdunbar79 said:

The 5D3 does horrible in harsh lighting with a lot of overblown highlights and shadows, such as outside at noon on a hot summer day. The RAW files aren't as easy to work with as the 1DX files are in those situations, I agree.

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I'd hardly say the 5DIII is horrible in harsh lighting. Harsh lighting is horrible, generally, yes, but the 5DIII handles it as well as you could reasonably ask it to. No camera is going to fix bad light.

Here's an example I was playing around with last week. Obviously, it's Arizona, the middle of the desert. And it's midafternoon. And I'm in the bottom of a steep ravine. I can't imagine anybody seriously looking to do anything pretty in harsher conditions.

This one isn't going in my portfolio, and it's not the shot I was out there to make, but it's a far cry from "horrible."

It's also basically straight out of the camera. No lifting of shadows, no HDR, no noise reduction...just white balance and exposure normalized with a ColorChecker passport, scaled, and sharpened for the scaling.

I took a three-shot auto HDR bracket; I always do for landscapes because it's so easy. But I wouldn't use any other than the normal exposure for this shot anyway. No need; the camera has all the dynamic range I needed for this shot and then some.

Cheers,

b&

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But you know how awful I am doing post work . That's where the 1DX gives me 3 steps .

heptagon said:

Erikerodri said:

hsbn said:

If it's not broken, don't fix it.
If you don't know where it is, and don't experience any problem with your camera/lens combination, then don't be so haste.

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Well my 50mm 1.8 front focuses everytime i use it so ive been having to use manual focusing so i am hopin i can just adjust it through the micro adjustment

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Did you also read the post here about the new quick and easy adjustment method?

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The program FoCal?

Thank you for the responses.

Sorry for not being clearer, what I was saying in my original post is I already have both a mk II and III and was wondering if there was a better one for studio.... I ended up taking the mk III which proved to be the right choice cause since it was a workshop we were having to take turns using the strobes; while I wasn't using the stobes (which had the model lights turned on) I pulled out my 50 and 85 1.2's and did some shallow dof shots which would have been a lot more difficult with the mk II since I would have been recomposing a lot more. So it looks like the AF does need to be taken into consideration even for studio.

Great information. If they have it for the 1D M4 and 1Dx it would interesting to see. I still have my 1D M4 for wildlife but have considered upgrading but hate to lose the 1.3x crop (though I would great low light sensitivity and better AF) lighten my wallet by nearly $6000 (ouch)

simonbratt99 said:

Ok er, its telling me the voltage in the battery? which in turn is (on the same scale) telling me if the battery is good or needs replacing. For £2 this better be highly accurate!

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Most of the traditional battery testers drain current from a battery and measure the voltage under load. For Alkaline batteries, this is a indication of remaining battery life. However, its going to be different for ni-cad, and nimh batteries, so unless the battery tester has a battery type selector switch, or specifically tests a particularly type of battery, then assume its only accurate for alkaline or conventional batteries, and then, only for a particular cell type.
I have one that provides 4 different loads so I can use high loads for "D" cells and light loads for AAA cells. The green, yellow, and red bars are only accurate for conventional batteries, but it will read volts as well.
Its only useful to tell battery condition in very broad terms, and I'd never use it on a rechargeable battery.

Harv said:

This question is directed to the technically knowledgeable out there and has to do with in-camera noise reduction settings. Although I'm shooting with a 1D4, I would guess the same would apply to all models.

In a nutshell, is in-camera noise reduction (assuming it's enabled) applied to RAW files or just to JPEGs? If it's applied to RAW files (which is all I shoot), have any of you shot RAW with noise reduction disabled, and if so, how were the results?

I tried to do a search here on this topic but was unable to find any information.

Thanks.

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Basically, the answer is no, but with qualifications.

Besides the long exposure NR mentioned, there is NR built in to the readout circuitry of the sensor, you cannot change this.

For Raw images, turning on noise reduction in the menu will set a flag in the raw file and DPP is said to read it and apply NR according to your settings. Other raw editors do not read the flag and have their own default NR settings.