Need a little help with 300mm 2.8 IS that I just bought used...

PackLight said:
curtisnull said:
None of my IS lenses including my 300/2.8L IS II make any audible noise with the IS on. Of course, it would't surprise me if some people on this board are listening to their IS lenses with a stethoscope.

All the more reason for us to upgrade our Version I's, we can get rid of the stethoscope and the whirly noises.

No no no. You got his post all wrong. What he means is that he "wins."
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Patent: Integrated Lens for an APS-C Compact Camera?

Amazon is selling the G1X at $629 and the RX100 at $648

Anyway, I took quite a few thousand photos with the G1X and loved all the images I got from it. My main camera is the 5D2 and I have a few Canon glass. It does not make sense for me to invest in another mirorrless lens system for my leisure camera.

The G1X is a great one lens solution for me. I do hope Canon would address the macro distance and short battery life issues in the next version though.
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Nikon AI-S primes or two good zooms?

Dump those Nikon lenses and go Canon asap. I was the same as you when I started shooting DSLR video - had a collection of Nikon Primes that I adapted to Canon, and used full manual the whole time.

It was a good way to start, but once I upgraded to Canon glass (& 3rd party Canon mount glass) I was so much happier. I could use AF for stills when I wanted to, I could see my aperture value on the rear and top LCD screens & I could adjust shutter speed or ISO and Aperture simultaneously with one hand. Much easier and nicer to use.

If you do go for the 2.8 zooms, then consider adding a 50mm 1.4 for those times you really want to shoot in the dark (like wedding receptions). I use 2.8 zooms for 90% of what I shoot, and love it.
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Any plan for 50mm pancake?

I don't know much about the physics and science of optics, but the responses above sound pretty logical!

Also from a marketing standpoint, the pancake lens goes hand-in-hand with the smaller APS-C cameras, (ie an almost-pocketable DSLR!) and on a 1.6x crop camera, 50mm is too long for many people as general purpose lens. 40mm, on the other hand is a nice compromise between a standard view on both APS-C and FF.
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Which extender is best

expatinasia said:
On amazon.co.uk the Kenko 2x Teleplus PRO 300 DGX is £144.99 while the Canon Extender EF 2x III is a staggering £399.

Ironically, there are very few reviews on both, but the Kenko does seem to have a slight "points" advantage, though that may be due to the lower price.

Before the 1D X firmware update providing f/8 AF, Art Morris blogged about getting AF at f/8 with the Kenko 1.4x on the 800/5.6L. At that time, I had just received my 600/4L II, and really wanted to know if the Kenko 2x would allow f/8 AF with an f/4 lens. I only found one comparison between the Kenko and Canon 2x TCs, on a birding forum. The guy had shot pics of a US$5 bill with both TCs behind a 500 II - with the Kenko, the bill was very soft, while the Canon 2x was sharp. Still, it was only one review. I had planned to test the Kenko 2x myself, and in fact, had both the Kenko 2x and 1.4x (for AF with the 100-400) in my B&H cart...but before I got around to clicking Buy, the firmware update was announced, so I bought the Canon 2xIII instead.
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attaching lens hoods

distant.star said:
Ray2021 said:
The alternate orientations that you can put the hood on when you do not align the spots also generate the same final symetry of the hood on the lens (even when using asymetric hoods like this petal one for the UWA zoom). This is the way I found my lens on the body when I read this post. So apprently I wasn't paying attention to Canon's instructions. ::)

So just put the hood on anywhich way that it will go smoothly onto the threads. I personally never cared if the writing was on top or bottom. :P

You must be one of those anarchists I hear about!!

If canon weren't busy making 20 different versions of the 24-70mm to fleece customers, they'd have put a hit on me for nonconformity like that. :P
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Recommended photography books

+1 on Michael Freeman's books.

The meat of the matter you may want to study is how photographs are taken, critiqued and analyzed. This wholistic view is discussed by David Hurn & Bill Jay's 2 books: 1) On Being a Photographer, and 2) On looking at Photographs.

A good thing to note on these books is that it's not presented in your typical lecture-type format - what you actually read are them talking to each other on different topics per chapter, very much like an interview-type format with the 2 authors interviewing each other. I found the conversational nature of the presentation makes the book an easier reading considering the subject itself is heavy and typically hard to understand.
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Infinity and Cold

I've been using my 24-70 f/2.8 and 16-35 f/2.8 quite a bit for night sky photography, and what I've found is, although there isn't a hard stop on either, there is a fairly consistent soft stop. what I do is, I turn until I hit the soft stop, then come back the other direction slightly, and I've been able to pretty consistently nail the infinity focus I'm looking for. I think at this point it's just muscle memory that's built up after doing it a bunch of times. it may sound wildly inaccurate or ludicrous, but you'd be surprised how finely tuned you can hone your muscle memory.
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Selling 70-300 IS - Suggest Replacement?

Kind of a hard question to answer as the primary need for the lens was not specified. Given the large selections of lenses and bodies you already have, I would strongly suggest going for a decent tele prime. Indoor events could use a 200mm f/2 or the 300mm f/2.8 II. You can add TC's to them for different lengths. These are suggested as price was not given as primary issue. Since you have so many camera bodies, you don't really need the functionality of the zooms as much as a person with only one body to work with. My 2 cents at least.
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anger at 1 dx review on professional photographer magazine

bornshooter said:
... and his reply to me " i didn't go into custom functions as didn't have the space to,idea was to talk about design and using it out of the box.otherwise a review would read like an instruction manual which would be pretty boring read".


I write for magazines, and there is always a balancing act in what you write, what the editor wants, and what the people want. For the most part, the buyers of magazines are not looking for super technical pieces, they want something easy to read, and almost conversational. I fully agree with the people who are going to post "NO!!! We want full technical info and in depth real coverage!!!" The problem is that information is more often than not found on sites like this, where most people will skim over it and only a few will get involved.

This causes most reviews to be written as an overview, instead of an actual review. Combine that with the need to write about new items, and a lead time of often several months before an article is written to when it hits the stands, and you can see where the internet simply slays its print edition older siblings.

I agree that mentioning a custom function would have been better, but there ends up being a lot that a Nikon shooter isn't going to know, and a lot that a shooter new to the 1DX doesn't know as well. I blame most of that on the time constraints which are put in place for the articles.
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New Lens Purchase Dilemma

of the three, I'd buy the 135. This is a fantastic lens that produces spectacular results. But for a
portrait lens, I'd stretch a little and buy the Zeiss 85mm f1.4. Unless you're using that 5DIII as a
point and shoot, the lack of autofocus in a portrait session should be no big deal and the results
will blow you away. It's 2/3 the cost of the Canon 85 1.2 and is a wonderful performer.
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Pairing 6D with Mac running OS X 10.8.2

Bearcat1 said:
Does the WFTP software come free with the camera or is that extra? I have a new 6D and I can't use the setup on the EOS Utility for the Web, FB, YouTube. It gives me an SSL Certificate Error running Mountain Lion.

The software is free and included with the camera. I haven't tried the FB & YouTube functions. Did you note the updated firmware for uploading video? There was a problem with the firmware that shipped with the camera.
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Which extension tubes to buy?

+1 for Kenko.

They are not too expensive and really do a great job. I haven't try to autofocus with them, but the focus confirmation and aperture control works perfectly. I personally believe extension tube are a great choice; it's a cheaper way to start doing macro, and even if you decide to buy a macro lens in the future, you will still be able to use them to increase even further its magnification. I use the Kenko on a SMC 50mm f/4 Macro (it is a 1:2) to be able to have approximately 1,5:1 magnification.
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