Hello.
I and many of our friends are in the baby growing phase of life. I have one and one on the way. So as is natural, a few friends have asked me to do pregnant mum shoots. I accepted the first and was generally disappointed with the results and have declined further requests until I figure out the best poses and / or techniques.

Do I do a lingerie shot? Lingerie seems inappropriate for what should be a celebration of (new) life.
Nude, Demi Moore style then, in maybe b/w? Don't know, especially hard to do with friends though.
Mums dressed in sports type gear to accentuate the bump? But what if mums are larger and not happy with sports clothes?

So my question is have you done pregnant women photography and what poses worked? And if anyone has links to sites, I'd be happy to follow them too. Suggestions welcome especially as I'll be using my local model as a test!

Thank you for any suggestions.

P_R.

Off to singapore for a work conference tonight and will tag on the last weekend for some sight-seeing!

I was thinking of taking 24mm and 40mm. Go wide! Suitable?

Also any advice on places to go/see would be appreciated!

Thanks

Looking into a super telephoto. I have my 70-200 F/4 IS which is great. I have rented to 100-400mm L which is found to be great, just not as sharp as I would like it to be at 400. I figure the 400L with a monopod should make for some good birding shots...Any experience?

And yes, I saw a few past postings but they are all over a year old...

Just wanted to get some thoughts from people who have had both cameras.

I shoot a lot of varied stuff from portraits to events, landscape, nature and wildlife (this is where my main interest lies). I upgraded from a 7D to a 5DIII mostly for the better noise handling and full frame sensor despite losing the crop factor advantage. I have been very happy with my 5D3 and I would absolutely love a 1DX for the integrated grip, better weather sealing, FPS and deeper buffer.

The 1DX however is currently not in my budget so I have been kicking around the idea of going from my 5D3 to a 1D4. The only issues that I have run into with my 5D3 are having to wait for the buffer to clear from some action sequences I've taken and the lack of interchangeable focusing screens when I've been using some of my Zeiss lenses and manually focusing large aperture lenses.

Anyone have any thoughts on this crazy idea?

I've find a cool way to use safety shift in 5D. If you use Tv mode and safety shift (ISO), camera will use as high ISO as needed. It actually works identically w/wo flash.

The best thing is that you can use autoISO or set ISO manually. If you set ISO manually, consider your setting as a minimum ISO setting, camera will rise it anyways when needed. This is very nice feature in low light, where fill flash is needed. You can, for example, set high ISO to have f2-2.8, but when it gets darker, f1.2-1.8 are used and if that is not enough, ISO will be risen even more.

My local specialist shop has a pair of secondhand L teles in stock - both in fantastic condition. I've currently got a 70-300 non L and a 10-22 that I can't use on my 6D, I've also a 1.4x II and potentially a 135L to trade...

Getting shut of the 70-300 non L and 10-22 is a no brainer, but I'm cut between the two white L teles that the shop are selling, both with a 12 month warranty. The 70-200 would work with the x1.4, but would I miss the 135L if I traded that in too ? Hmmm...

Thoughts ?

Hey everybody so I was looking at a bunch of shots I've taken recently with my 85 1.2 II on my 5dIII. I've noticed that on a number of shots that are taken wide open, the bokeh balls seem to be "cutt off" on parts. I've attached a picture to show what I am talking about. If you look at the upper right hand part of the frame you can see some of the out of focus highlights appear as balls with parts that are "sliced off." I've heard some people say something about the light gets cut off by the mirror box or something like that, but I was just curious what you guys thought. I basically just want to verify that this is normal functioning for both the lens and the camera.

I came across this article the other day...a lady was complaining about the high prices photographers charge for weddings, etc.

This was a very interesting article about the lady complaining, and a very well, logical, thought out response.

Give this a read and let me know what you think......

http://petapixel.com/2012/01/26/why-wedding-photographers-prices-are-wack/


cayenne

What have you seen for idiotic accessories or for items that were just not thought out....

I saw a car window mount tripod head..... You roll down the window, slip it over the edge of the glass, and mount your camera or spotting scope to it. This one was marketed as XXXXXX window mount, real tree camouflage. Why would you need camouflage? With a couple of square inches of camouflage the critters will not be able to see you? That somehow they will miss the car, the big white lens, and the person behind it, but it is the tiny mount that matters?

Sort of like camouflage flashlights

So this year has been tough, I was laid off from the day job and doing a bit of second shooting at weddings has dried up with the guy I was shooting for (if any UK chaps are looking for a South East based second, please drop me a line!) so with Christmas knocking on our door I was filled with a sinking feeling when my step daughter (12 years old) said she wanted a camera like mine and wanted to learn all about photography.

Now this would be a lovely pass time for us and give us more chance to bond so I set about looking for a used low end dslr and settle on getting her a 450D as they have enough features for her needs starting out and cheap enough for my current situation.

I call Wex and get talking to a rep there and explained what kind of thing I was looking for and my level of equipment (5d3 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8 etc) and rather than just go to the huge stock list and just send anything, seems to have found me a very good example.

Boxed near mint looking original packaging 450D with most cables still in original packaging which is a great start indeed. Open the box and the body looks like it is brand new, as does the kit lens (18-55) so I am chuffed to bits with the service and the quality being totally as described which is quite unusual for used equipment.

Needless to say I will be looking for another body should I ever start to shoot weddings solo and she will want to upgrade from the 450D at some point and get a couple of her own lens....Wex will now get a good bit more trade from me in the future as good customer service is something long lost these days (or maybe I was just too used to Jessops lol).

Anyway that is all, if you want a bit of kit, sure they are not as cheap as a bunch of online traders...but you get a service that online cheap box shifters never give...so props to them

Hello !

First of all, let me introduce myself. I am French, I live in the French Alps close to Grenoble (the 1968 Winter Olympics city), and I have been a photography fan for many years.
Since November 2012, I moved from Olympus 4/3rd DSLR to Canon Full Frame, with an Eos 5D mkIII body and some EF lenses. I shoot mainly wildlife, nature, landscapes and sports, but I intend to dig into portrait and social photography in the coming year.
Two weeks ago, I got a Speedlite 600 EX-RT for my birthday with the ST-E3-RT trigger and an external Battery pack from Godox (Propac PB820).

I spent time to read the instruction manuals and to test this new gear at home. Yesterday, I went playing in the snow with my kids, and it was indeed an ideal case for my first “in real conditions” use. The weather was sunny (so, a lot of light with the white snow), and I wanted to try some fill-in.

Body was set to Av mode, auto ISO, center weighted metering, and equipped with the EF 70-200 f2.8L IS II. Flash was in E-TTL mode, high speed synchronization, and the external battery pack was plugged (Speedlite’s C.Fn 12 set to both inner batteries and external battery pack). I’ve been surprised to notice that when shooting 3 photos in bursts, the flash fired the first shoot, but not the following ones.

I thought that fill-in was indeed allowing burst with flash firing, and that adding an external battery pack would allow faster recycling to ensure even better flash firing at each shoot.
I know that compensating the light due to snow and sunny ambiance requires some power, but I am a bit disappointed here. Is it the settings of my gear, or shall I consider that this case was a bit “extreme” for a first “in real conditions” ? Could you advise me ?

Another question : why, when using a Speedlite with the body in auto ISO, the ISO automatically sets to 400 ?

Thank you all for your help and advices.

Hi Folks.
I am making a Christmas wish list, thought I might try my luck with one more expensive gift! Something in the 70-200 range!
It will be second hand, used, pre loved or whatever you prefer to call it!
I am thinking in the £400 to perhaps £500 budget, so it looks like I may be able to get an F4L IS, F2.8L non IS or I have seen Sigma F2.8 with IS for about the same price. All price estimates are from completed eBay sales, and the F4 for sale locally.

Which lens would you go for and why?

What are the chances of getting a poor copy of each individual lens?

Edit. I am not specifically in to thin DOF pictures though I do understand I can stop an F2.8 down to F4 should I wish to but it doesn't work the other way!

Thanks for any insight into this dilemma.

Cheers Graham.

I bought my first auto-focus micro adjustment capable camera this week (Canon 6D-$1400 Black Friday special). My question is, should I?

1) Go out and shoot pictures without worrying about AFMA?
2) Only consider AFMA if I am unhappy with real world images?
3) Use AFMA feature no matter what on all my lenses?
4) Selectively use AFMA for my fast lenses (F2.8 and wider)?

If the answer is to use AFMA, what work flow do you recommend?

Paul

Hi,

I'm looking for a lens that has autofocus to cover me in the wide angle realm of 24mm. Generally I prefer shooting with primes, and don't own any zooms. On the occasion that I need a zoom I generally rent. Part of the reason why I invest in primes, is there speed that I would not normally achieve with a slower zoom.
The Canon 24mm f 1.4 although, awesome is way out of my current price range, so I've been checking out the new 24mm f2.8 IS, and have been pleased with it's image quality. However it's aperture speed is only at 2.8, so I can't help but wonder if I should be just looking to get a fast zoom, like the Tamron 24-70 f2.8 which also has Image Stabilization, but would give me versatile focal lengths, or if I'd be gaining a much better image by the 24mm f2.8 prime.
I mainly shoot either street photography portraits or studio or location portraits.
With my street photography, speed of autofocus is also key.

Would love to get peoples recommendation and thoughts.

Who here has upgraded from the 24-105 to the 24-70 ii? What are your thoughts and was it worth the change?

I have extensive experience with my 24-105. It's my favorite landscape lens and have shot with it for years. Always been a touch soft in my opinion, but nothing I could not get past in post.

I don't care about IS. This is a pretty short lens and most of my shooting with it is tripod mount.

Im curious to hear how you guys store and organize your gear when you're at home. I can't fit all my stuff into a case any longer, nor do I really want to use overpriced cases when mobility is unnecessary.
Most likely leaning towards a cabinet or drawer solution.

Please post some photos of your setups.

Hello, I am looking for a desktop wallpaper showing the 5DMk III as a main subject. I googled some of them, but I'm not fully satisfied yet. I would prefer a low key picture allowing distinct display of icons. Could anyone share? Many thanks in advance!

I'll try not to bore you with my history details but I think I am wanting another camera. Let me try and explain...

I began shooting about 6 years ago with the XTi, a decent camera that I picked up used for a great price. As with most people who get into photography seriously I quickly "outgrew" the XTi, not because it is a bad camera, far from it. I had really starting enjoying photographing wildlife and I found myself wanting more than just 3fps, not to mention a larger camera body as I have large hands. I am not a "more megapixels are better" kind of person so I started looking for an affordable upgrade. The 60D had not been released yet and the reviews between the 40D and 50D pretty much stated that the image quality between the two are almost identical. Not to mention that the 40D, at the time was about $400-$600 cheaper than the 50D. So I settled for a very lightly used 40D (3800 clicks) for $500 bucks. The price increase for the 50D wasn't worth the few more features it had over the 40D. In fact I loved it so much I purchased a second 40D recently ($250) as a back up for my 7D.

I loved the image quality it had over the XTi (14 bit color vs 12 bit color) and the much faster frame rate. I had used it for a few months before I lost it to a theft. My insurance company offered me $1100.00 to replace it so I put up a few hundred more and bought the 7D for $1550.00

Now I LOVE my 7D, it does exactly everything I ask of it and more. I don't want to go full frame, even though I do love the way they process color, but I have been looking at the 1D mark 4. Right now, used copies run about $3000 ~ $3400. I don't mind dropping from 18MP to 16MP because, like I said at the beginning, I am not worried only about MP. I would love to gain a higher frame rate and I hear the AF system on that particular camera is lightening fast. The APS-H sensor would be a trade between FF and APS-C. I would imagine the slightly lower MP and larger sensor than the 7D would result in lower noise at higher ISO. I am not overly worried about the 7D noise because I don't "pixel peep" my images and any noise from high ISO images (ISO 2000+) don't show up in my 11 x 14 prints.

I shoot on a regular basis with the battery grip on my 7D so handling the larger body I would already be used to.

My question is, is the 1D4 worth $3000 over already owning the 7D? I figure it would be a great affordable alternative to the 1DX, I think the camera every one of us wants! LOL.

I appreciate your thoughts. Again, I don't want the 5D3. I am not really interested in going FF (unless it's the 1DX, got 7b grand handy?), so please keep your comments about the 1D4, I'm not really interested in hearing about how the 5D3 is superior to the 1D4. Nothing personal, I just want to keep this thread about the subject I am asking.

D

I'm sure this subject has been discussed but I am curious. For the most part, the "memory card wars" have "ended" with two major players. SDHC and CompactFlash.

Now, if memory serves, compactflash, was for a while, faster and had larger capacities available than SDHC. But I've noticed lately that SDHC cards are just as fast, have almost a high as memory capacity, for the most part. I mean CompactFlash Extreme Pro has 256GB cards and SDHC has 128GB and 64GB cards available. I would imagine that 64GB cards are about as high as most people carry around, unless you are a professional and you need a larger card.

My wife's Nikon D7000 and D7100 have dual SDHC slots. Pretty sweet I think, but my poor 7D has 1 compactflash card available. This is ONE feature I would like to see in Canon bodies. The 5D3 dual slots don't count as they are mixed AND the SDHC slot doesn't transfer as fast as the CF slot.

Canon and Nikon have both not standardized memory card usage. In saying that, both Canon and Nikon use CompactFlash cards on the higher end bodies and SDHC on the "lesser" bodies.

Now that SDHC cards are faster and have higher capacities is there an advantage anymore? I know that a lot of people don't like putting all of their photos on large cards just in case there is a failure. I think 32GB/64GB is about maximum I would go.

Not that I really care, BUT compactflash cards ARE almost twice as much as equivalent SDHC cards. I bought a 32GB extreme pro card for my 7D and it was $140.00 while I spent that much buying TWO SDHC 32GB extreme pro cards for my wife's D7100. Not to mention that now she has 64GB if shooting room vs my 32GB on her D7100 and 2 64GB extreme SDHC cards in her D7000!

D

Hi, I am having some weird issue with my 6D and I hope someone here can help.

The problem is that the AFMA does not work in "One Shot" and "AI focus" modes. It works in "AI Servo" mode. The weird thing is that if I keep pressing the AF-ON button (my focus buttton) as if in AI Servo mode, then AFMA works in both One Shot and AI Focus modes. You can tell if AFMA applied for that specific shot by reviewing the detailed info of the photo on LCD of the camera. I confirmed this by looking up the EXIF data with DPP.

The weirder thing is that when I examined the photo 100% crop, it seems like the AFMA was applied the whole time at the value I set at even though the detailed info on LCD or EXIF data showed that it did not apply.

No one (there were 4 different technicians) at the service center could figure out why and the lead technician left early that day (Fri, yesterday). So they said they will talk to him on Monday about this issue and will call me.

Does any one have any clue what is causing it? I think it's a simple camera software problem that just need to be reset - like computers where you can clean install the Windows. Is there something like that for Camera software? I tried resetting custom functions or camera settings, but it did not work.

Oh, one more thing I want to mention. The AFMA was working fine until just a few weeks ago. The problem started when I had an error message in FoCal software during fully automatic AFMA run where I had to force close the program. It may have been the FoCal that somehow did something to the camera software.

Thank you for reading my long post and any suggestions to fix this. By the way, my camera is still under warranty so the worst case I will get a replacement I guess.

Andrew.

So November 28th Adorama had a deal where you get the following:
Canon T3i and 18-55mm, a 75-300mm a 50mm f/1.8 II, a Slinger Photo Video Bag, a SanDisk 16GB Class 10, a USB 2.0 Secure Digital (SD / SDHC) Reader and a Digital Card Case and a Manfrotto Monopod all for the bargain basement price of $659.

It is a meh deal... not awful... not great. BUT... advertised on the page were the attached images. Notice that the 50mm would be a CRAZY good deal if they sent the 50mm f/1.2L? I thought... hey... maybe if they make one screw up, then they might make two. No... I got the 50mm f/1.8.

So I sent them Adorama an email on on December 4 and then again on the December 5 which read:

Ya'll sent me a different lens than was pictured. Mind providing me an explanation?

I didn't get a response... and I think that's what I'm annoyed about. They could at least do me the courtesy of saying they screwed up and it wouldn't be practical for them to give me a 50mm L, but hey... maybe they try and make it up to me by not ignoring me.

So... is it my own stupid fault or did Adorama maybe defraud their customers... just a little bit and I do have the right to be annoyed?

I take about 78,000 pictures every year with my T3i. I read that entry-level DSLRs can take about 150,000 pictures. I have had mine for about two years. So, it may have taken over 150,000 pictures. Should I sell it and get a new one now?

This past week or so, the Canon refurbished website offered several variants of their 35/2 lens. Some descriptions said 35/2 while others said 35/2 IS. Some product illustrations showed the old lens while others showed the new IS lens. In addition, the old lens illustration was shown with the IS description, and vice versa. The price varied from about $220-$255 USD depending if you got the 15% off sale price. I was tempted by the offer, but did not buy one because I thought the product offering was fraught with errors and typos. Curious if anyone out there did buy one of these and if you have/will receive the 35/2 original or the 35/2 IS version. (If you do get the IS version for this price, I will be exceedingly jealous.)

When I take three primes with me for a days' shooting, say 24-50-100mm, I find that I come back with images that are much more interesting and artistic than if I would shoot the same subjects with my 24-105. I'm not necessarily talking about image quality between lenses, per se, but more about the "wow factor" that we all know when everything comes together. When I use a zoom, I am aware that the laziness factor kicks in sometimes, and I take the easy road to composition by just twisting the zoom ring, rather than expending the extra effort by getting closer or lower. Do you find that to be the case with your personal shooting style? Or do you take better pictures with a zoom? Or do you find no difference? Personal insights one way or the other would be appreciated.