brad-man said:

I have the Sigma and it is one of my favorite lenses. If this 35 drops to the level the 28mm IS was a few days ago ($550@Adorama), I may just pick one up for the same reasons. I almost grabbed the 28 IS as a replacement for my EF28 f1.8, but 2.8 isn't quite fast enough. Unlike some around here, I would like to have IS on ALL of my lenses...

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I recently rented the Sigma and bought the new Canon, used them mostly outdoors at night in very low light, and am very impressed by the image quality generated by both of them.

There is, however, one area where the Sigma plainly trumps the Canon, and that is coma. In the photos I took it was negligible on the Sigma wide open and completely gone by c. f2; and where it *was* visible, it didn't extend all that far into the image. I didn't try either lens on a crop sensor camera, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't show up at all when paired with such a camera. On the Canon it's not only much more noticeable, but extends farther into the image (though it's not as bad as the 28mm 1.8 or Nikon's 50mm 1.8D, where it covers all but a tiny patch in the middle) and would likely affect images created by a crop sensor. I suppose I should note that it's a rather superior sort of coma: the "sails" or "wings" (or whatever you call them) are crisply defined, not amorphous smears.

In any event, if you find coma as annoying as I do and take photos in situations likely to generate it, you'll want the Sigma, which not only trumps the Canon IS in that regard but (as far as I can tell) just about any other fast, wide prime. (I won't be keeping the Canon.)

One of the problems in this discussion is that the word professional has two meanings. One is a general term relating to the quality of one's work, one's ethics, and how reliable one is, with respect to others in a certain line of work. The other generally means that you are paid to do the work as opposed to doing it as a hobby. Ideally the two would go hand in hand but not always.

I believe Ken's definitions are useful his audience -- which is mainly people who are about to spend too much money on a camera.

Although there are several things I don't like in my Canon gear, nothing is really worth mentioning as far as image quality is concerned, I'm pretty OK with it. But there's one thing that really bugs me, it's not a quality issue, I'd rather call it a logical conflict. I know this topic has been covered hundreds of times among various fora in the last decade, it just seemed to me worth mentioning it in this thread. It's about the symbols used for metering modes. Spot (rectangle and dot) and partial (rectangle and circle) are quite intuitive, but evaluative (rectangle and circled dot) and center-weighed average (empty rectangle) are absolutely counterlogical, they should be inverted. I know we have all get used to this already, so Canon eventually swapping them would generate more confusion, nevertheless this thing is so illogical that really upsets me every time.

Logical cheers!

Mr. Spock

Interesting

Good one!

Not to say Manfrotto does not have it's uses but it isn't to be used with gear exceeding $4,000.

You are courting trouble if you do.

docholliday said:

dolina said:

Went cheap with the Manfrotto and really regretted buying it. I ended up buying a Gitzo that I am superbly happy with.

GMCPhotographics said:

Three years ago I bought a GT3541LS and it's extraordinarily stable compared to any Manfrotto I've tried. But it's achillies heel is sand and sea water. In fact it's so bad in coastal conditions that they are appalling. I recently did a trip on the Lincolnshire coast shooting grey seals and the tripod needs so many replacement parts in only 9 hours of shooting. It needs three lower tubes and all the locking joints need replacing.
In my opinion, these tripods are useless in extream sea salt and sandy conditions. They literally seize up or fall apart.

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I had a Bogen/Manfrotto that shattered on me at 20F - and dropped my Hasselblad 203FE with 110/2 on the ground when I was shooting. Yeah, that was the last of my touching anything Manfotto branded.

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Dylan777 said:

Alex said:

Very nice bit of kit.. Enjoy

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Thanks Alex....I'll take a day off from work tomorrow to test drive this "little monster". I'll post some pictures. Stay tune

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My wife took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese over the weekend with my RX1. Since then, I haven't seen my RX1 back yet

Here are some pictures that she took. Also, others were taken by her friend(s) with my RX1: http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/fPRlYszx/1/5948895

Here is a 45% crop that is currently on my facebook cover, shot with the Rokinon 85mm mounted to a large format field camera with Fujichrome Velvia 50, handheld while jumping on a trampoline at sunset...(ok I lied it's just from my 5 year old crop camera!) The camera needs to start kindergarten, it's getting old...but I hate to see it grow up! ISO 1600, f/1.4, 1/400/sec, handheld, live view focus and framing. I really can't accurately focus with the viewfinder and this lens, especially for darker scenes at a distance. The lens can really go almost this sharp when cropped at 100%, but not at ISO 1600, or wide open...maybe by f/3.2 or so, at ISO 800 or below. Ergonomics and lack of AF are the only problems with this lens. Those things cost money.

I am going to Denver for storm chaser convention this week. I set aside a couple of days for shooting with my new 6D and 16-35 f2.8L and need advice for good shooting locations. I'd love to shoot the skyline with the mountains in the background and any other cool mountain scenes. Any advice? Thanks...

studio1972 said:

compupix said:

The question is, why is the 5D III so superior to the 6D in this area? Is it processing power or something else?

Thanks,
Drew

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The 5D3 sensor is precisely 3 x the horizontal resolution of 1080p video, so all they have to do is combine each nine pixels into 1.

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Right, but are they actually doing that? Everyone keeps pointing out how easy and practical it is to do but I've never heard or seen anything else supporting the fact they are doing that. I want to believe it, I really really hope they are but I still don't have proof.

I can only go by my experience, but I love the Sig 8-16. It's hard enough to go wide on APS-C, and I found myself using it primarily at the 8mm end. My use has been primarily outdoors and sometimes on a tripod. It doesn't play well with filters so that would be my main reason I would recommend against it (that and it's fish-eye-y which you may or may not want to deal with).

I moved from the Tamron 17-50 to the Canon 17-40L. The Tamron (nonVC) is a really nice lens but is kind of noisy and lacks full time MF. I debated between the 17-55 EF-s and the 17-40L, and decided the weather sealing was important enough for me- I spend a couple months a year in a very dusty environment and I saw some complaints about dust getting in the 17-55. I bought a Sigma 30mm/1.4 if I need to work in low light.

Shots look nice, as far as you can tell from such small pictures with such huge watermark.

Make them bigger, and make the copyright way less intrusive. Then I can tell if they look really nice.

Or you have paying client who owns the pictures and they don't allow you to post better pics without the copyright?

Don Haines said:

Quasimodo said:

Did you guys happen to see that Sports Illustrated Giga Pan picture from the Superbowl?

Scary...


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130204/super-bowl-xlvii-gigapan/#

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I think that there ar about 50,000 release forms that need to be filled out, like the lady with the purple hair who was picking her nose....

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LOL, and as I pointed out in the earlier entry here, in Norway this type of picture was actually stopped by the government. I think it raises important privacy issues. I would have liked to have a Giga Pro Pan, but for landscape.

I've looked at all the options and It looks like Einstein will be my strobe of choice for the next decade.

Broncolor/Profoto- Fantastic mods, & fast duration's w/pack systems but steep... Very steep.

Elinchrom - Great Mods, (Neat inflated softboxes), but duration's are too slow and decent price for mono-lights, packs are pricey. Gives the Unique HSS, very interesting.

PCB - Ok Mods, Fast durations or Consistent color, not both at the same time... VML's are cheap, Mono's are cheap, Mods are cheap and Service is top-notch USA. HSS is not confirmed with odins...

Don Haines said:

GoPro, with battery backpack accessory for more battery life. Time lapse photography..... shoot a picture a second and make a movie out of it.... it should be "staggering".....

I just got one and am having a blast playing with it.... want to see my commute at 4000Kph?
https://vimeo.com/59271538?action_object_map=%7B%22566483720028899%22%3A414122825349009%7D&action_ref_map=[]

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WOW!!

I think this one may win the IDEA of the thread!?!?!

Ok..I"m gonna look into this solution!! This would be GREAT for St. Pats, and even when riding in Mardi Gras parades!!

Thank you!!

cayenne

media student said:

Thank you for your replies. Last year threre were made some announcements that have nothing to do with computers. So I think it´s possible to see something new from Canon.

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Don't hold your breath. Its not going to happen.

Axilrod said:

I think it has more to do with product differentiation and keeping it below the 5D3.

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I'm always happy to bash Canon marketing, but in this case I really wonder if there isn't more to it - maybe the increased dynamic range of the 6d?

The "less than 5d3" sounds like Canon but at the same time a little strange since people paying €3000 for a camera probably know that more mp isn't necessarily better, or we'd all be shooting with iPhones.

If you want to "warm" an image up. Tungsten light like others have mentioned. I prefer gels, bit more accurate with 1/4, 1/2 and full cuts so you can pick and choose (CTO that is for warming). If you don't mind abusing your gels a little bit you can jam them under a standard Sto Fen diffuser and BOOM you have a gelled diffuser~

nice!, i wonder how it will hold at 560mm against the 500 f4 IS,

Like everyone i am very curious to see the exact price once's available

your strobes look like they were diffused and didnt cause any radical shine on subjects face
certain brands do have more red than others... going into the red saturation in raw process can reduce the effects of that... even changing the red hue to reduce odd red saturation on certain asian skin pigmintation.
some softening could help in raw process or softening skin with filtration in PS..

Best always is good make up that does not react with strobes and shift hues.
Good Make up artists make our work look great.

wow NO price concern...
I own profoto 7b units and would love the new 7B3 AIR units.
still 1200 w/s but with Air transmitter you can not syc up to 1/1500 sec.
for outside groups id stay away from boxes and go with softlights...
they wont collapse under gusts of wind and will put out lots of power
if you need more power switch to Magnum reflectors...
the great thing about Profoto besides them making a grate pack and head is their wide line of modifiers and the third party makers of modifiers...
if price and now WIND is not an issue and you still desire a large diffused source id highly recommend Elenchroms Octabank or Profoto Pro BIG 7' either with a bi-tube head.

if you are shooting more serious portraits...
then you should be setting lights to manual for consistent output.
for cheap triggering use flash zebras optical triggers...
as long as other flashes are not going off around you... the optical slaves do not discriminate between one flash or another going off.

OK well in the past WEIN made a programable IR trigger but wasnt practical sun use or distance.

compatible yes ... if using in manual mode and connected via syncro cable and flash peanuts to trigger multiple units not a problem....
light is light.
but if you want TTL compatability... no no no not worth the thought or hassle.

the Profoto 600b puts out max 600ws @ 1/1000 sec.
at min power its like 1/6800 sec.
yes plenty fast to freeze action.
to shoot DSLR at 1/1000... I think normal max shutter is 1/160-1/250th depending on DSLR.
with a properly programed pair of TT5s you potentially can get 1/1000th shutter timed sycro with flash but its iffy... ive tried it with my 1DsIII TT5s and profoto 7B...
If using Profoto Air transmitter this will sync up to 1/1600 shutter...
fast.. so fast you might clip your max output of the 600w/s output time of 1/1000 BUT you will have the speed you need! killer light and flexability!

AH YES the "dead zone"

ive had this happen in interior situations and outside in totally open area...
I know its not a distance thing but some kind of interference be it phone wifi whateva....
ive done a few things that helped...
1. go to the closest 600 and turn off and turn on same with transmitter.. it relinked and held while walking away back to area where it started.
2. placed transmitter on off camera cable and held it on mini magic arm on tripod.
3. just moved the effected lights just a bit ... dont know why it worked but some standing radio wave voodoo... like sound radio can get jumbled in areas / close proximity to #@?* things...

I wish Canon made like a booster add on antenna or something like that to reduce this kind of problem and maybe give the system added working distance.