600ex-RT AF assist power

Am I the only one who doesn't appreciate the 600EX-RT flash? Sure it's nice, and the build quality and extras are great. But for someone who documents weddings and uses the Canon on camera flash as a fill light / Qflash off camera as main, the extra features are kind of useless. Sure, for portraits or other shoots having two of these flashes or even three would be killer.

However, like the 580EXII before it, the 600 is just too slow when it comes to recycle times. I know the whole thermal protection stuff that's built in. I guess I've just grown accustom to firing away my 580's and not missing a frame. The 600 sits in my bag unused after a couple of trials :( Much like the 580EXII before it. I found that even shooting a procession and trying to grap three nice shots of each wedding party member coming down the aisle (at this point it's my main and only light) can be risky. The flash will tell me it's getting too warm then shut down if I have to push it just in time for the bride! Then I'm forced to kick it up to 10000ISO which is doable but not always ideal.

And yes, I'm using the Canon battery pack as my source of power for the flash.
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5D3 Bracketing

Louis said:
Thanks! so what on earth does Auto bracketing Cancel and enable do?

thanks for your reply!

Now, I could be wrong about this, since I forgot to bring my camera with me today (sigh), so I can't test it out. BUT, normally when you set an AEB sequence, it will stick until you turn the camera off or reset the AEB sequence to zero. If you want the AEB to stick even after you turn the camera off/on, you can toggle this function. And if you didn't complete the AEB sequence the camera may retain that info as well when powered off/on. But I would definitely double check this before taking my word on it.

This is useful for those that do a lot of HDR photography, or simply a lot of AEBing. Personally, I have one of my custom modes set to a fixed f/8 aperture with AEB at -2EV, 0EV, +2EV and ISO at 100 as my default "HDR Mode". Way easier than modifying those settings in Av each time I want to get an HDR shot.

Hope this helps!
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sony and hasselblad

Hassy have never used their own sensors, and as they used Kodak made sensors in the past and don't have the size or the budget to make their own, they have to use someone else's sensors, and I guess, right now, Sony was the best they could find.
Canon isn't interested in selling their sensors to anyone else, so Sony was it.

Although I do find it a bit strange that Hassy went to Sony, as they already have an alliance with Fuji, who make the Hassy lenses for their large format cameras (and they are very good too), and Fuji also make reasonable sensors too.

I think it is very brave of Hassy to go into new markets, as in their 70 odd year history, they have only ever made large format cameras, but I guess as this market is now being eaten into so savagely by FF DSLR's as well as the Leaf products and even the Pentax 645, they have to do something to stay bouyant.
They are obviously looking at how Leica can make digital cameras that are well behind the best current technology and still get high prices for them and Hassy are going to do something similar, as they believe they still have a very good name with pros and rich amateurs and offer leading edge tech with cameras made from luxurious materials to appeal those people with money, who want something good, different, luxurious and expensive - but still offering better value for money than Leica.

Personally, I hope they are successful as they are using a slightly different approach to other manufacturers.

Not everyone wants a plain black camera, and I'm sure there are many people who would like to say they have a Hasselblad as it does add some credibility to their photographic prowess, even if they are lousy photographers.
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Dell Ultrasharp 2711

i think about buying this monitor.. but i read very mixed customer reviews.

some praise it as the best 27 ISP you can buy for the money.

some say it has problems with color accuracy over the screen area or suffers from backlight bleeding.

i have a colorimeter and i don´t care so much about if a display has great deltaE out of the box.
but when the upper right corner shows some red cast and the lower left a green cast im a bit worried.

so to those who own this monitor... are you happy with it?

Who really is the target demographic for the 6D?

Freelancer said:
ecka said:
Not that anyone needs IS for sports, but I may trade my 5D2 for EOS-M with Foveon X3 sensor in it (which is only good at ISO100-200).

depends on the sport if IS is usefull or not.

Sure. Actually, I find it to be very useful for accurate framing when using tele lenses, even in perfect lighting conditions.
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EOS Remote

cliffwang said:
Hopefully EOS Remote will support 5D3 + Eye-Fi.
I've got that combination and it would be great if it did, but close to no chance in my opinion. The Eye-Fi is only functioning as a normal SD card that also happens to be able to transmit them remotely. While technically you could use the memory bus to transfer live-view images and start a capture etc it would need extensive cooperation between Canon and Eye-Fi to work, if they'd done that already I'd expect they would have also written software to be able to use the capability from at least a PC.

Most third-party apps seem to need the camera connected over USB to a laptop / PC with Wi-Fi as victorwol said. If you're talking about the official Canon app I think it's only for the 6D, you probably need a 7D Mk 2 :P.

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SLR/eos_remote.aspx
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Shooting both in front and behind yourself?

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.
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Test Your Knowledge with Strobes/Thinking outside the Soft Box

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.
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POLL: Would you pay for firmware feature upgrades?

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.
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The Mirrorless Future

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.
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Is that really it for Canon at Photokina 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.
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Canon EF 50 F1.2L And EF 35 F1.4L Sharpest Settings

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.
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Canon PowerShot G12 Digital Camera

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!
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Hasselblad at Photokina and lensrentals sense of humour :-)

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.
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