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Sep 21, 2012

Just got Reikan Focal Pro last night for my mac since theres a beta version now and absolutely love it. Very simple to use Well worth the price.

Halfrack · Sep 21, 2012

bdunbar79 said:
I would say don't do that, and it's unecessary. Just turn around quickly. Have two cameras, each on a monopod, one in each arm. It's pretty easy actually as I've done similar.

I actually shoot with 2 cameras on a single tripod (70-200 on the left, 300 on the right), with a third sporting a wide angle on my hip. Just thinking out loud... I saw an NFL guy walking around with 4 Canon bodies and wide lenses on a pole to shoot all 4 directions at once - Superbowl maybe??

Yes, a composed shot is true money, but when you've got lots of people moving around, with a championship won, spray and pray may be the only option.

revup67 · Sep 20, 2012

In an earlier thread you mentioned windows in your garage as a factor you worried about. Did you get the shooting area free of ambient? I am guessing you did but just mention it to get a confirmation. You seem to understand that ambient light is unwanted, except for modeling lights.

I agree with others. Except in some editorial shoots, portrait success is helped by smaller apertures than the settings you seek. In the portrait you shared earlier a couple stood or sat facing you with shoulders overlapping. Even if you pose with shallow depth of field in mind you cannot keep both pairs of eyes in exactly (f2.8-level-exactly) the same distance to camera. Further, subjects move after your finger starts pushing the shutter release. It adds a risk factor that most portrait sessions and fee structures cannot support.

In your studio, you may have tough limits on how far behind and how wide your background can be, but I urge you to see how great a distance you can squeeze out of your floor plan. Find wide enough material for the tones you seek. This also offers the chance to incorporate lighting control over background through the use of another head. Fun and cool. Then the smaller apertures are not bringing background materials into sharp enough focus to cause issues.

A third note: ISO 50 isn't a good idea if the dPreview review of the 5Dmk3 is correct. They showed a truncated tone curve for that speed that was weird. Check it out and see what you think.

If you stuff more diffusion material into the softboxes watch out for color shifts.

The softboxes seem a bit low, although you described them as above the face level. I usually like more shadow. Not sharp, really but more tone range, so your goal may be different. Is the inside of your shooting space dark enough to insure that light bouncing around will not influence the image in either color, amount, or direction? I used to have to keep my walls dark grey or drape black cloth around the set in my studio space. I had more room, though, and higher ceilings (here I am guessing) than your space.

Keep up the experimentation. Vary the lights, move one back to make it a fill rather than shared key. Go with one light and a 4x8 white card right outside the frame as a reflector. When I started all this experimentation cost lots of cash (film and processing!) and was not rewarded with instant feedback except for Polaroids from the 2 1/4 and 4x5 (I did have a Pola back rig for the Canon F bodies that made a soft 1x1.5-inch image on pack film. Hard to see details! Anyone here remember that crazy thing? Hand made by a small Boston firm.) I betray my age.

Jonathan - sorry for the delay here. You speak with sound experience where I am just getting started and learning daily. I have not blocked out all the ambient light. Which I am aware will effect the overall light. I am using a light meter to properly gauge each shoot (about 15 minutes each). And you are right, the shallow DOF would be for 1 subject only. I try not to shoot wider than 5.0 or 5.6 with 2 or more subjects as I know one is asking for trouble with OOF shots. Not familiar with the truncated curve you speak of but overall I'll bump it back to ISO 100 then and use a smaller Av. or toss on an ND. I am shooting for sharp so with this tutorial I can sharpen and soften as needed http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/smooth-skin/ this offers the full control one would need in both smooth and sharp worlds. Good points about varying the lights. I guess I am sticking with a formula that works but perhaps can get better results by not keeping the lights evenly paired. I do have two reflectors with booms/arms that I used to fill in shadows so those do help (32" and 42"). Ahh..no worries on the age thing we may be about the same or close. I got my first Canon (an AE-1) in 1983. Many thanks for the wonderful response and insightful response.

emag · Sep 20, 2012

BOJ has been attempting to stimulate inflation in Japan for years, as is every central bank in the world now. Perhaps Canon expect this to take hold relatively soon and are pricing their latest products accordingly.

Marsu42 · Sep 20, 2012

TrumpetPower! said:
Why add hooks for knobs that you know will never get twisted?

To enable the most versatile marketing. A dev cycle of a dslr will take a while, and the engineers won't know what the market or their ceo demands when the design is ready. So if the cost isn't too high it might be clever to have something in hardware with the option to disable it later due to marketing reasons.

RS2021 · Sep 20, 2012

The fixed lens offerings are clearly opening ventures...one has to fully anticipate the prices to come down, paradoxically, with more features and interchangable lenses as the industry matures. Just look at the dSLR history. The break point would be them selling more bodies as more people gain more confidence in the technology, buy into the platform, increasing demand, increasing competition, all of which typically increases supply, generally reducing cost.

Mt Spokane Photography · Sep 20, 2012

The global economy is in a nosedive. Introducing new products is going to be delayed if possible. Companies do not like to come out with new products that can only be sold at a loss. It cost a bundle to introduce and build up inventory of a new product, and Canon already has several new ones being introduced. I suspect they are conserving cash.

Bosman · Sep 20, 2012

My focal results from 50L from 5 ft of the target shows F4.5 to be sharpest with Micro adjustment of 8. It drops dramatically from there to F1.2. Sharpness peaks from F4 to F5.6 as i had guessed before testing.
I don't have the 35 but the 24L and it was best at F4 +7 micro adjustment.
This will be best for me given this is my distance from subject more often than not.

powershot2012 · Sep 20, 2012

Some people either love or hate the flip screen. For me, it is not a deal breaker one way or the other; all depends on what you like.

I think most who are disappointed in the G15 is due to the sensor size and Canon didn't step it up to match or beat the competition. I don't think Canon saw Sony coming up and surpassing it with the RX100. Probably take them another year to have something comparable. Until then, the RX100 is riding the wave.

Gman said:
Without the flippy screen it's not worth it 'Techradar' seems to think so too with a non committal review.
If push came to shove I'd buy a G12 at the lower price but then it's not a lot different to my G11 which is working perfectly well since it's overhaul.

I was really hoping for something more radical The only major changes are a better lens and the loss of the screen which makes it a no go for me and I am not shelling out 500 quid just for the new lens, for my needs it's just not justified. I'd be replacing something OK with something mediocre!

Nikon just stole the Canon's thunder!

thepancakeman · Sep 20, 2012

That's awesome! Thanks for the laugh! ;D

Sep 20, 2012

a canon response would be like this:

"our sensors are good enough for our customers. we never heard any complain."

Sep 20, 2012

bdunbar79 said:
Richard Lane is the "other" 1DX manual

Thanks Bud! 8)

bestimage · Sep 20, 2012

I hope so, would love to add life size print to my package

daveheinzel · Sep 20, 2012

marekjoz said:
It's their 60 anniversary, so it should rather have exactly 60 AF points marked in viewfinder with Svarovski crystals cut with diamonds brought from the the mine below the Mariana Trench and every next year they could add another crystal as a service worth another 399E.

Haha, perfect.

Invertalon · Sep 20, 2012

I picked up my 24-70 II last night from PC Nation... I just called and confirmed they still indeed have stock and not a fluke with the online status. Mine is being shipped tonight and overnighted to me (just got off phone with them just now). Since I was a first time customer they did a verification over the phone to my house phone number, that way they could release the order faster and ship it ASAP.

I have learned to never pre-order... Same thing with 5D3... I got it before Adorama/B&H/Amazon through The Imaging World. They had stock one day and had it the next. Best to just find through another vendor if you want it quicker than a pre-order list (esp if not at the top of it).

wsgroves · Sep 20, 2012

Thanks for all the info everyone. I will set it to 5.6 and forget it like you say. I did read it gets sharper there on the edges then wide open anyways.
I will also try to focus on the ground a few feet ahead of me instead of letting it auto focus. You say that will keep more items that are rather close in focus more then just framing them?
I am also unsure about the hyperfocal.

Thanks.

HughHowey · Sep 20, 2012

My new body is "out for delivery." I've been reading the 404 page manual for the past few days, familiarizing myself with the settings and AF options. What do you wish you'd known the first day? Any customizations that you've found to make life easier? Here's your chance to impart your wisdom.

And not that anyone asked, but the 135L is going to be the first thing I slap on that puppy.

Albi86 · Sep 20, 2012

Marsu42 said:
Albi86 said:

Again, so sad.

Click to expand...

I'd expect a commercial enterprise to want to make money - so I'm ok with a little flash (or maybe even none) if I can add a real flash later on. Unfortunately, Canon will grant us no such option to upgrade the af module in the 6d to have cross-points. But maybe we can buy a firmware upgrade later on that enables 1/200 x-sync and 1/8000 shutter - it's certainly no hardware limitation...

No one expect companies to make no profits, but when they cut on essential and well-established features just to make you pay for the relative accessory, then to me it sounds a lot like a spite or an attempt to milk me like a cow.

See EOS-M's lack of flash, when every 100$ compact camera has one.

See Canon's refusal to put the 3 years old 7D's AF system into a brand new 2100$ FF camera.

See Canon's new, ridiculously-priced line of Speedlites.

This is the sort of things I'm talking about, because they are only arrogant and insulting.

Sep 20, 2012

seems like everyone on here gets good feedback no matter what
some of these might be better
xanderofsc.tumblr.com
i also can't really bring the camera up higher anymore. im in a wheelchair

Sep 20, 2012

Looks like a great idea! I'm already using the Capture One remote capture (which requires a wifi laptop tethered to the camera) so the Canon implementation looks miles better.

I note in the screen grabs that the 7D is mentioned, is this a function that can work with the WFT grip? What about a T3i with Eye-Fi card?

Been looking for a less clumsy way of doing things and this app looks great! Not going to buy a 6D though.

Sep 20, 2012

I had version II with the plastic (crap) hood which doesn't really reverse mount properly and scratches if you breathe on it.

The version I was identical in every way except that it had a metal sliding hood constructed into the lens. If I were to consider this lens again I would probably seek out a Mk1 for the hood issue alone...

Either way, optically superlative lens which is joyful to use.

I use a monopod or tripod most of the time, and I would really recommend the tripod mount, although the lens is fairly light for it's type, if you shoot sports the tripod ring makes it really nice handling on a monopod for pans etc.

Sep 20, 2012

Hi,

I'd like to take photos with wireless flash with my 5diii.

I have a 430EX, 4 manual Panasonic flashes and two 350w strobes.

I'll need to use: TTL, HSS, 2nd curtain wirelessly and I need something reliable.

Q1) I'm considering 600ex-rt & st-e3-rt. How could I add my existing flashes to fire with this setup?

Q2) The 600ex-rt & st-e3-rt is a little pricey [$860 @ B&H], so is there a more cost-effective way?

Thanks,
Andy

PS 2x 600s and 1x e3 could probably be ideal, but I'm not a professional photographer so I wish to avoid spending so much.

luoto · Sep 20, 2012

AvTvM: I had tried that several times and the lens does NOT focus in AV mode, for example, pressing shutter down half way. Both with an old 1.x firmware and the latest 2.0.3. In AV mode after "clear all camera settings" the only way to get focus automatically is with the AF-ON button.

Markus: Thank you. For some reason you got through the fog. Please report to Canon HQ to help write their documentation! Even after the reset all settings, it was still sitting in the stage you described, so I needed to make the change.

Now I can perhaps learn the new function and when I forget to press the AF ON button, it is there in shutter as a safety catch for now.

Thank you again!

Random Orbits · Sep 19, 2012

pdirestajr said:
A question I always wonder:

Why do people say the 50mm is a little tight on a crop body, but the 85mm is never too tight on a ff. Same goes for the 85mm on a crop vs the 135 on ff.

Different uses. The 50 can be used a general walk-about lens on FF; a lot fewer people would use a 85mm on FF for street. In practice, it doesn't really matter because one can use 35/50/85 on a crop or 50/85/135 on FF and they would give roughly the same framing but different DOF. The difficulty is that there is a lack of fast glass on the wide end. The 24 f/1.4 would require a fast 15mm lens, which does not exist...

TAF · Sep 19, 2012

rporterfield said:
How do I feel? I feel happy for those that were able to take advantage of the deal and get this great camara. I am also happy that I have been able to use it all summer.

+1

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