Picked up a K-mount adapter to try out a coworkers old tamron lenses, they were too fogged up and one was missing all damping on the zoom so i let him keep them.

Are there any old K lenses that I should keep an eye out for? I noticed what looks like a 50mm F2 pancake, and some 50mm F1.2 lenses.

Hello,
I know a number of photographers dream of a trip to Namibia. I had the chance to spend a few weeks in May and I can say that the reputation of this country is not a lie. I think I have a relatively conventional route:
- Etosha
- Epupa Falls
- Khorixas area (incredible)
- Spitzkoppe
- Walvis Bay / Swakopmund
- Sesriem / Sossusvlei
- Back to Etosha!

It was my first safari experience so i made some mistakes in etosha but i think i have learned. I saw elephants (easy...), lions (male, female, children), leopards, cheetah... I do not think there are areas better than others. I still prefer Hallali, water points around are exceptional (many carnivores) and people are more respectful of nature. I was shocked to see that at Okaukuejo, everyone was laughing, talking loudly, without looking at the spectacle of the water hole...
If (with my limited experience) I had to give advice:
- Leaving the camp as soon as possible
- Do not drive like a maniac on the road
- Take detours (I saw lions in the middle of the road and so many other things ...)
- During the day, do not just look at the water point but the whole area around, especially the shadows

For equipment, I had a 70-300mm L 5dIII (also 24mm and 24-105mm). Of course sometimes i was too short, but the equipment has still allowed me to take some "acceptable" pictures . I let you judge.

http://500px.com/Goulab

Do not hesitate to ask questions!

Video:
https://vimeo.com/97638615

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/97638615" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/97638615">Voyages(s) : Namibie</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/alexisgoubert">Alexis Goubert</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

I thought these were the same exact lens but with a different brand. The Rokinon is $45.00 cheaper then the Samyang... both from B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/769532-REG/Rokinon_FE14M_C_14mm_Ultra_Wide_Angle_f_2_8.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/859167-REG/Samyang_SY14M_C_14mm_f_2_8_Super_Wide.html

Is there actually something different between the two?

I'm fairly new to photography and I just bought a Canon 550D with a 18-55mm kit lens.
I am going to New York this winter and am wondering if I should buy a wider lens so that I can get nice pictures of the buildings and wide pictures of the roads/parks. I also want to do a bit of street photography too.
I was looking into getting a 50mm prime lens for it but I don't know if that's a good idea or not.
Any help would be appreciated and thanks for reading this post.
Robert.

http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/874-canon_1018_4556is

This has actually been online for two days, but doesn't seem to have its own thread yet (unless I've missed it, in which case please accept my apologies), despite having been mentioned in at least one thread already.

It looks like a great lens, with vignetting and the plastic mount bayonet being the only real weaknesses.

For my crop Cameras I own the Tokina 12-24mm 4.0. But I need an wideangle lens for my 6D too. The 24mm 2.8 IS from Canon is ordered. But I´d like to get one about 20mm too....

But which one? An 2000€ prime is to expensive. The highest price is 1000-1200€, I´d like to spend for ist.
The Sigma 20mm?
Or should I wait for the 16-35mm 4.0 from Canon and send the 24mm back?

Does anybody know, how the old 17-35mm L USM zoom lens performs on the 6D? I still own one - bought about 20years ago.

Please give me your advice!

Thanks
Daniela

I dropped my 85mm 1.8 today. When everything looks okay to me except the "mount ring" is bend. I guess that's what it called.

After I dropped the lens, I tried to put it back on my camera 5D Mark II. Once I fit my lens to the camera, and I got stucked when I tried to turn and lock the lens to secure on my camera.

I think I can fix it myself but I just couldn't find a mount ring replacement part online. Does anyone of you know where I can buy one? Please help! Thanks million.

Jennifer

I'm quite happy with my new sigma 50/1.4 art now replacing the canon 50/1.2 in my collection. Use it on my 5D3 and 5D2 (astromod) bodies.

Wanna share my quick and personal test for the best aperture of my new Sigma 50/1.4 ART on my astro-modified canon eos 5D3. The pics are showing stripes (centre and below extreme corner lower right) with apertures from 5.6, 4, 2.8, 2, 1.4 with equivalent exposures between 160-10s. raw developed in DXO with vignetting and distortion switched off! My personal conclusion: vignetting invisible at 2.8, perfect sharpness and aberrations at 4.0 but already very good and quite usable for astro work at 2.8 - this is two stops better than my (now sold) 50/1.2 copy...

(the strange color comes from the UHC clip in filter and the high background)

pic 1: centre (5.6-1.4) , 100%
pic 2: corner (5.6-1.4) , 100%

Can anyone that owns this lens attest to the sharpness of this lens? How is it wide open? Looking to shoot football with it. Any advice on this lens? I've heard mixed reviews on the sharpness of this lens although I've heard nothing but good on how fast it focuses. Any suggestions for a sharper alternative prime at this focal length?

Interesting info at:
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/photokina-agency-debunks-some-myths-camera-industry-is-growing-in-revenue-and-mirrorless-sales-increasing/

Photokina agency debunks some myths: Premium Digital Camera Msrket is increasing.

The last couple of years we heard a lot about the digital camera market being in crisis and the new mirrorless system cameras not taking off. Well, the Photokina partner agency GFK shared some unexpected data (Source: MirrorlessRumors):

1) Revenue increasing:
While it’s true that in terms of numbers the companies are selling less cameras it’s also true that companies are selling more high profit margin premium cameras! This means the last couple of years average price of the cameras increased (and therefore also the profit margins increased).

2) Mirrorless is taking off (slowly).
While Mirrorless keeps being not popular in US it’s taking off in all the rest of the world.

3) Premium fixed lens camera is growing fast
Sony certainly did the right thing with the RX line. They offered a premium and class leading range of fixed lens camera that are to-day unmatched by other companies.

The current trend in the market goes in favour of Sony that leads the probably two fastest growing segments in the digital camera market: Mirrorless and premium compacts. And as an addendum watch this nice graph that explains why smartphone users actually buy a larger sensor camera:

The autofocus issues with the new 50 mm Sigma ART are very dismaying, in light of its great build quality and image quality.
Has anyone had autofocus issues (or any other such issues) with the 35 mm Sigma ART?
I use the 5D3 and 1Dx.
Thoughts and advice deeply appreciated.

Please pardon my erroneous posting location--I put this post originally in the Canon section -- my error, sorry.

I seem to recall Canon working on a new autofocus system which got me wondering earlier... could DPAF technology be implemented in the AF module. As opposed to using it in the image sensor, couldn't it possibly be used in the AF modeule to allow for full-scene AF coverage with RBG metering and tracking? Is DPAF responsive and speedy enough to replace the 61pt AF system in the 5D-III/1Dx or is this idea perhaps flawed in some other way?

I know some people don’t like these threads but a similar post about what camera to purchase last year was very helpful to me. Reading everyone’s thoughts and opinions was very useful so here I go again . . . I think I know what the best option is but would very much appreciate the thoughts of others

I’m trying to cover a gap I see in my lens collection. For indoor sports, especially my youngster’s swimming galas and for concert photography I have the following options:-

24-70L F2.8 (original version)
100L Macro F2.8
70-300L
Camera is a 70d

All lenses I’m very happy with but the problem is that the 100 doesn’t have quite the reach and the 70-300L struggles in low light even if it is better than I expected!

So, naturally one of the fast 70-200 F2.8 zooms is the answer I thought. Eventually having read reviews I settled on the latest Tamron lens in that category. Yes, would love to opt for the Canon but it’s out of the price range and living near military bases I don’t fancy being mistaken for a hostile rocket launcher ;D. The Tamron looks relatively discrete.

So job done? Well I happened to notice just how positive everyone was about the 135L F2.0 which gives me a bit more reach than today and a stop more light and is apparently very snappy in the focus department . PLUS, it apparently works well with a 1.4 extender at F2.8. All in for a similar price to the Tamron given the deals that are available to me.

I really like the sound of the 135L, when it’s long enough I get that extra stop of light and it sounds like a killer lens for various uses. I can well imagine it would produce the best indoor pictures that I take over time. And with the 1.4 extender at F2.8 I get pretty much the reach of the Tamron zoom. But the Tamron has decent IS which particularly at the longer end and in concert lighting can be crucial so it’s probably my best bet overall.

Make sense? Are there other options out there that I should consider? I’m happy to listen to all and any advice. Obviously I will refer to Ken Rockwell for the authoritative answer if opinion is evenly split .

One last point, I know some people are going to talk about a full frame camera but bear in mind that even though indoor photography is important to me my main interest is outdoors and needs the reach of the crop camera and my distance issues become more pronounced too on FF. So yes a 6d is a "one day" idea it's not for now I think.

....and the sun shone through it by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr

Hi guys,
A little over a year ago I acquired the 70-200 2.8 IS II "dream lens" and was kinda disappointed since it wasn't so exceptional as expected.

The images were ok but were not justifying the 2000 Euro Price Tag. But I needed the range and thought that poor images are more likely to result from a user error than from a highly regarded lens so I kept the lens and tried to improve. Soon I found out that this lens is a beast to handle on a 5d2, since its really difficult to focus at 200 2.8 with the outer focus points in low light, even in fairly good light. So I found a workaround and soon I was able to get really good concert and event shots with this lens on a 5d2 even with some more static sport as table tennis. But flowers and wildlife were still unacceptable.

Being desperate I diged out my first DSLR lens, a sigma 18-200 DC Sony a mount mounted it on a Sony alpha 300 and compared it to the 70-200 2.8 II on a 40D both at f/6.3. Surprisingly the sigma was much better!

I couldn't believe my eyes so I sent the lens to cps and the changed pretty much the entire inside of the lens, some optical elements, the barrel and the IS. After that it was on pair with the sigma but I am still not convinced that I have to spend nearly 2000 Euro on a lens to get equivalent IQ as a 120 Euro lens. Initially I intendet to use the 70-200 with extenders to get some tele for occasional use but currently i assume that would be a waste of money.

So I am asking you for help: what am I doing wrong?

For you to judge I took some images to illustrate the issue: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=9A24089482BEBF7A!1547

The strange glow is the issue that bothers me. I know that these are macro lens subjects and usually I use my 100L for that but sometimes I just don't have it with me, so the 70-200 has to fill the gap.

Thank you in advance and sorry for bad language
I follow this forum for quite a while and you are great guys

Hi all, not really sure where to post this...
So I go to gather up all my gear for my first solo wedding job, charged batteries? Check! Clean lenses? Check! Formatted cards and plenty of them? Check! Working 50d? Check... Wait WHAT! The thing wouldn't turn on! thinking it was just the battery grip that I had attached to it I feverishly remove the grip and try to turn the camera on with a single battery. Again no good I make a few quick google searches, try to find a solution, however all to no avail. I'm already well past the time that I was supposed to leave for the before shooting and all, so I quickly barrow a friends 7d and go off and shoot the wedding. All went well at the wedding thankfully. But when I got home the camera was still not turning on, so I took it over to the repair department at my local camera store, they teated out the batteries and played with several other batteries. Again no good. My next step of action is to send the camera to canon and see what is wrong with it. But of course that will take several weeks to get the bid and make any possible repairs( though from what I've seen online the repairs are going to cost more than I payed for the camera, which will probably lead me to scrapping the poor little 50d. So herein lies the dilemma, I have a two week long trip to Grand Teton NP for which I leave in a week. I was originally going to buy the new Tamron 150-600 for the trip but now my main camera is down and most likely out. There is a pretty good possibility that I could use a friends 60d on the trip if I had to though I would rather not. So the real question to this rather long story us what should I do? Buy a 7d/70d to replace my 50d without knowing if it is really going to be unfixable? Or buy the Tamron and use the 60d and just hope that the 50d is fixable( I have an old T1i if the 50d is out so I wouldn't be without camera)
what would you guys do?
Ps Sorry for long the long question.

Hi,

I have some time looking for an explanation about the differences between the 1Dx and 5DmIII bodies. In some pages i found that 5DmIII is "weather resistant and" the 1Dx "weather sealed".

Is there some reference of how effective are the sealings as the IPxx code?

Thanks.

Hi everyone,

Today was the open house day (pit lane walk) at the Canadian F1 GP. Here are a few pics that I took while going around. I hope you enjoy some of them.

'll be attending the whole weekend so I'll probably show some more later.

I am looking into picking up a B + W 105mm Circular Polarizer to go on the end of my Lee filter holder. Does anyone familar with the product have any idea what the difference between the two that B and H Photo Video sells? Other then the price of course. They are both 105mm Kaesemann. I am not sure what "extra wide" entails considering they are both 105mm. Any help would be much appreciated! thanks!!

B+W 105mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer Filter

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/10873-REG/B_W_65016142_105mm_Kaeseman_Circular_Polarizing.html


B+W 105mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer Extra Wide MRC Filter

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/856348-REG/B_W_66_1071051_105mm_Kaesemann_Circular_Polarizer.html

Title says everything...
I'm definitely amazed by the potential of using the crop mode shooting macro:

https://vimeo.com/96759229

Hi,

quick questions about octagonal modifiers, all the octobrollybox versions...

1, which way do you prefer the octobox to be lit up (and is there a difference)?
what I mean, I found basically the same shape/size octobox, but one has an umbrella like pole in the middle, closed back, the strobe sits behind the diffuser and aims back on a reflective inner back... the other has a hole in the back, with the strobe aiming at an (inner) diffuser screen (so it doesn't block the light and is naturally more accessible)

2, is there a big difference in light quality between an umbrella and the closed version (brollybox)? what is your preference?

3, is there any significant difference between octobox (like example 1, a,) vs a brolly box (2, b,)?
seems quite similar to me (except that the strobe/speedlite is sort of in a way), but the cost isn't... the brolly box is much cheaper

4, is it a significant advantage going from a 80cm (32inch) umbrella/octobox to a 110cm one (43inch)?
I understand that distance to subject matters and the relatively larger area gives a softer light... but is it a big real world difference?


I know that many answers start with it depends", but anyway, thank you for any insight




examples:
1, a, http://098776d263023324e4ab-83dce928c02d69c5e386bf35b135c77e.r38.cf6.rackcdn.com/01cc604e2cbc4072e606cbc592fb56fa_10153000725_4db7b38958_z.jpg
1, b, http://www.x-skong.com/queam/picture/VE0129-6.jpg

2, a, http://ebay.doufin.com/photos/lightup/umbrella-softbox-2-1.jpg vs regular shot through
2, b, http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/8/6/8/4/6/5/webimg/399741761_o.jpg?nc=436 vs regular reflective

i've never used this feature until today. took some shots with it around my house with with a 24-70 & 70-200. at 24mm the shutter speed on AV was at 1/30. at 200mm it was at 1/200.

anyone have experience with this feature and whether it's reliable or not?

I was wondering, do you always carry your dlsr with you? Or do you have some portable mirrorless/PoS setup?

If yes then please share photos/description of your optimal backpack setup. I would like to get bit inspired what is obsolete and what is necessary and why :

Hi

Got a second hand 7D with the old 1.2.5 firmware.

Can anyone advice if I can go directly to 2.0.3, then to 2.0.5?

Or do I have to upgrade to 2.0.0, then 2.0.3 then 2.0.5?

thx