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  • Poll Poll
Monopod VS IS (Image stabilization)

Would you say a monopod is equaly effective and cheaper option then having IS on a lens

  • Equally effective

    Votes: 3 15.8%
  • IS is better

    Votes: 10 52.6%
  • Monopod is better

    Votes: 3 15.8%
  • Don't know

    Votes: 3 15.8%

We all know that having IS on a lens adds at least $500 to cost. A good quality monopod costs around $100 or maybe a bit more. How many thinks a monopod is equally effective but a much cheaper option that prevents hand shake and stabilize image rather then going for IS option on some lenses.

Any regrets for leaving camera at home?

Today I was just heading to the shops for something and spotted this out of the corner of my eye. Needless to say when you need it you just don't have your camera, luckily I had the cell phone to catch a quick pic before he headed off. Los Angeles is always full of surprises. Does anyone else have similar experiences?

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Help me choose a wide prime!

Hai guys!
So I'm looking to get a wide prime.
Has to be less than 50mm, faster than 3.5, and well, good optically, lol.
Lenses I'm looking at:
Canon-
24mm 2.8 IS USM
35mm 2.0 IS USM
20mm 2.8 USM
28mm 2.8 IS USM

Hoping to stay Canon due to some "discounts" I can get.
Price isn't that big of a obstacle, but the less the merrier, lol.
Any reviews on these?
Sharpness is nice, but I worry more about chromatic aberration. I hate CM in photos :(.
Also, I'm doing mainly video, but shoot pictures every now and then.
Again, sharpness would be nice, but I'm using the wide angle primarily for video work.

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6D Micro adjusting lenses

Hello, I read the instruction manual and have been doing some research online regarding the 6D and microadjusting lens abilities but I have not found a clear answer whether it can or will do it. Some websites claim that it does but I cannot find for the life of me how to do so. How would you be able to do so? Sorry, I have not had a body that had the ability to do this. thanks in advance for any info!

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New Online Camera/Lens Information Tool

The reproducibility of focus on my 7D for some lenses was poor and I had to take many shots to get keepers. The main reason I upgraded to a 5D III was Lensrentals measurements of the consistency of focus showing that the 5D III is much better. FoCal are now publishing on-line the collected results of users on lenses:

http://www.reikan.co.uk/focalweb/index.php/online-tools/lenscamera-information/

The ones I know well from experience are borne out in their surveys.

• Variability indicates the range of focus results you might expect. A Low value means most shots will be very close to ideal.
• Accuracy indicates the average focus result compared to ideal – as this number increases, you would expect less perfect focus across a number of shots.

5DIII 100-400mm L Variability = low (3.6%), Accuracy is good (2.1%)
5DII 100-400mm L Variability = significant (11.3%), Accuracy is acceptable (4.4 %)
7D 100-400mm L Variability = significant (13.3%), Accuracy is acceptable (6.0%)
5DIII 70-200mm L Variability = low (3.0%), Accuracy is excellent (1.6%)
5DII 70-200mm L Variability = low (4.2%), Accuracy is excellent (2.6%)
7D 70-200mm L Variability = moderate (4.5%), Accuracy is excellent (2.3%)

Just what I have found: the 100-400L has been given new life on the 5D III, and the 7-200mm L IS pretty good on the 7D and slightly better on the 5D III (the 5D II was thrown in for comparison). It is a useful free tool.

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What would cause Canon to release the 35L II?

So the 35L II has been rumoured for a long time. The widely held belief seems to be that Canon delayed it after seeing how good the Sigma 35 f/1.4 is.

What do you think will happen here? Do you think that Canon will go through the trouble of redesigning the 35L II and release it sooner? Or do you think that this lens is set to languish?

Is there anything that would force Canon's hand in this matter? The release of a high MP camera would seem to be such a trigger, as the 35L would perform poorly on such a camera.

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Elinchroms and High Speed Sync

Hello all,

Since googling seems not to turn up any understandable results I decided to ask if any one here who could shed some light on the issue (pun intended. :))

I have been narrowing my options down to getting either the 500BRXi kit (500/500w) or the Ranger Quadra RX setup. However, they all say they can do flash durations down to 1/6000th of a second (give or take) but flash sync speed is only 1/250th of a second.
Speedlites can do HSS easily, no problem, they emit several pulses as the shutter traverses across the sensor to light the whole thing. Fine and dandy, but apprently the Elinchrom's cannot do this.
I was thinking though, if I set the camera to 1/2000th of a second shutter speed, but the Elinchroms to output flash over 1/1000th of a second, shouldn't that cover the whole sensor and then some?

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Lens recommendation

Hello this is my first post to this website. I recently purchased a 6d and am on the fence between 2 lenses. I currently have a 70-200 2.8 sigma os, and am borrowing a family members 17-40l in the meantime. I upgraded from a rebel t3i which i still have and plan to still use. I take portraits, occasional street photography and would like to get into weddings at some point. The 2 lenses I would like to get are the sigma 35mm 1.4 or the tamron sp 24-70 2.8 vc. Id like to get both in the future but will have to settle on one for the time being. Which one would I be happier with result wise?

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Wireless Control camera with iPhone, for animal shots , night shot, and more

Hi, There is a new product that Wireless Control camera with iPhone,
http://www.zesty.co.jp/en/smartshutter/index.html


It is a GPS Logger and Timer Remote Control
For location shooting, Shutter release, Long-exposure,
Continuous-exposure and Time-lapse
via Bluetooth 4.0, distance ~50m

I think it can be used for animal shots , night shot, and more

Any review?

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  • Poll Poll
Buy, Wait, or Switch? If Canon's next crop body releases don't improve sensor.

What will you do if the expected 70D or 7D II don't have better sensor performance?

  • I'll still buy the next new crop body, 70D or 7D Mark II

    Votes: 6 10.0%
  • I'll wait until the next generation that actually delivers better sensor performance

    Votes: 23 38.3%
  • I'm tired of waiting, my next crop camera is not going to be a Canon

    Votes: 7 11.7%
  • I've already switched but will buy Canon again if they step up to the competition

    Votes: 2 3.3%
  • I've already switched and will not consider Canon again (for a long time)

    Votes: 1 1.7%
  • I'm going full-frame instead (whatever brand)

    Votes: 21 35.0%

The 70D satisfaction poll had me thinking this would be a more interesting poll and, since someone there suggested it, this should expand on the happy vs unhappy binary with a little more variety of options.

I had a 7D, loved the AF, viewfinder, built-in level, and overall performance of it. However, i sometimes used this camera for landscape type shots because it was what I had with me when the scene presented itself and I was often disappointed with serious shadow banding if I tried doing much with the image in post.
I sold my 7D while it still got a good resale price and have been hoping a new 7D Mark II would arrive this summer with an improved sensor, hopefully providing cleaner low and high ISO performance. If the AF improved over the original, that's an added bonus. Once I got accustomed to the way it worked I was able to get adequate AF hits of birds, and even some bugs, in flight. Sometimes even in low light.

I had a couple 60Ds. I kept one of them because it's a nice light compact camera that makes a good walk-around or travel camera. If I were to buy a 70D it would have to be all that, possibly even back to the body design of the 20/30/40/50D, AND have greatly improved sensor performance. I'd not buy it if it offered; more video features, WiFi, GPS, a bucket full of firmware features but no sensor improvement.

I have not yet chosen to replace my 7D with a competitor's camera, mostly because of one lens there's no good substitute for, the EF 100-400mm L IS. I could use a competitor's fast 70-200mm with a 2x adapter but that would likely cost me more than a new Canon body so I'm still undecided to pick a solution in this area. There may even be perfectly viable options in the micro/four-thirds range to do this job but I'm in no hurry.

So... Things to think about before voting, or buying.

• If a 70D shows up with a better sensor than the original 7D or 60D, and an improved AF system over the x0D line, maybe even comparable to the original 7D, it would have to be priced competitively with a used, original 7D to be worthwhile to some, depending on what their intentions are for such a camera.

• What level of sensor and AF performance improvements might you want from a 70D or a 7D Mark II to entice you to buy one?

• If the 70D doesn't have sensor performance improvements over the 18MP sensors that Canon has supplied over the past few years, will you still consider buying it if all it provides are some extra features like raw video out, WiFi or GPS?

• If the 7D Mark II gets an AF system comparable to the 5D Mark 3, maybe 10 fps, but does not get much, if any, improvement in sensor performance, will you still buy it?

• What is the minimum set of improvements, over the previous body being replaced, would you say is enough to warrant Canon releasing this as a product with a new badge on it? Would that make you buy it?

• Are you considering cameras from competitors like Sony, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus or others?

• Have you already purchased a camera from one of the competitors because it offers better performance in some way compared to what Canon is currently offering?... or is rumored to supply?

• Or have you had enough of the rumors of future Canon products, looked at available competitor's products, and still decided that it's time you tried a full-frame camera instead? (even though they have different trade-offs compared to crop sensor cameras)

Any other viewpoints you'd like to present, share and discuss are welcome, of course.
And Canon, watch this thread. :)

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Networkable DSLRs trivially hacked

Here're a couple security researchers giving an hour-long presentation at Shmoocon. They demonstrate that the 1Dx is basically an open sieve when it comes to security.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7RjJNLnWF8

If you turn on WiFi or plug in a network cable to your DSLR, basically anybody can do anything they way to it. Read all the pictures off the card; upload whatever they want to the camera (think of somebody uploading something really nasty and then tipping off the police officer standing right over there); even turn the camera into a remote surveillance device without your knowledge.

I'm sure Canon will fix this; they won't have any choice. I'm also sure it'll take a while, and that they won't get it right the first or even the umpteenth time. That's just the way that big companies new to networking react...they'll ignore it for a while, then grudgingly make a half-assed attempt at fixing things that won't do anything, and eventually reach a state where there're constant minor updates to stay on top of with the odd more major one just to keep things interesting.

But, in the mean time, you would be well advised to only turn on WiFi in areas where there is no possibility of anybody hostile being within physical range of your camera's WiFi signal. Similarly, only plug the camera's ethernet cable into a secured and trusted network fully firewalled from the Internet.

It's a same, because I was just thinking of how neat all this WiFi control stuff could be. Ah, well. Some day....

Cheers,

b&

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6D Autofocus not impressive

I rented a 6D camera body to take helicopter skiing in Canada. I brought my 24-105 f/4, 40 f/2.8, and my 50 f/1.8 lenses. I found the autofocus to be slow with all 3 lenses, especially in lower light. I really experimented by changing many of the autofocus parameters and resetting the rental body to factory settings to make sure nothing was amiss. I found the 6D autofocus to be for the most part as good as my Rebel 550D with each of my lenses. I was really disappointed because a want a new body to replace my Rebel. Lensrentals.com checked the 6D and found it up to factory specs. Looks like I may have to pony up for the 5D m III. Does anyone think the climate and elevation had anything to do with the slow AF? Or does the 6D really have a mediocre AF?

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Also chasing Tack Sharp

This is similar to another thread about sharpness, but what I'm looking for is a lens that is sharp wide open. I have the 50/1.4 and 50/1.8 Mk1 and while they sharpen up nicely at about f4 or 5.6, they leave much to be desired wide open.

Here's what I'm looking for:

Wide aperture (prefer 1.4, but 1.8 would work. Maybe f2.)
Sharp wide open.
Approximately normal length. Something from about 30mm-85mm, 30 would be better than 85.
Autofocus (so Zeiss and Samyang are out)

Any suggestions? I'm seriously considering the Sigma 35/1.4, but I'm seeing conflicting reports of exactly how much better it is than others, and how it compares to other focal lengths. Can I get sharper with a different length?

I currently shoot on a crop body, but may move to FF on one body. I do not need weather sealing. IS would be nice, but not essential. Sharpness is more important than price, but price will be a factor.

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Canon 24-105 F/4L

I currently have a T3i with the kit lens, a Canon 50mm f/1.4, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM II Macro Zoom Lens and a Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM that I'm selling. I will be buying the Canon 6D with the 24-105 f/4L In your opinion will I be able to get low light shots with the 24-105 f/4L on the 6D, as I have with the Sigma f/2.8 on my T3i?

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  • Poll Poll
Prime vs zoom

Do you use primes, zooms, or both

  • Only primes

    Votes: 12 11.7%
  • Zooms when I can, specialized lenses for Macro, TS-E, super telephotos

    Votes: 12 11.7%
  • Zooms all the time

    Votes: 5 4.9%
  • Both primes and zoo

    Votes: 74 71.8%

Do you zooms or prime lens. In my case I will use a zoom if I can but I need a specialized lens 14mm UWA, Macro, long glass.

I don't have any primes that overlap with zooms (16-35, 24-105, 70-200) but have been reading how great some of the primes are.

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Best tele prime for full frame?

I'm thinking about buying a lightweight travel tele to compliment my 50 1.4 and 16-35L ii. I would like to keep my bag light when walking around cities for long hours using a messenger bag. I like shooting everything from street scenes, portraits of my wife, and low light environments like the inside of churches. My current contenders include:

1. 135L
2. 100L is macro
3. 100 f2

I already own a 70-200L ii, but carrying that along all day will destroy my shoulder. I have a black rapid strap, but I'm more interested in reducing the weight of the items inside of my bag than getting the weight off of my shoulder when shooting.

Anybody have any suggestions on what might be the best option? I know some people love their 70-200 f4 lenses, but I don't want to get that b/c it's a bit redundant with my 70-200L ii and I also think f4 is too slow for my tastes.

More info: I have the trinity of L zooms and they are fantastic. However, there is just something appealing about traveling with primes for normal and tele shots that are lightweight.

I have a nice ONA Union Street messenger bag and a larger Dakine camera backpack. I could take my zooms with me in the backpack, but the lenses aren't as accessible, plus I look like an American tourist when traveling abroad with the big backpack, and there is still the matter of weight.

Since I have already bought into the Canon system, I'm not willing to purchase an m4/3 system just for travel or use a Canon rebel crop camera. I want to stick to lightweight ef lenses. Thus, my request for recommendations based on the primes listed above.

I am happy using the 50 1.4 as my go-to walk around lens and my 16-35 when I want to shoot more environmental stuff. Now all I need is a lightweight tele to complete my lightweight walk around kit for my messenger bag.

I like the images I've seen on Flickr taken with the 100 f2, but I question if the focal length is long enough to get detailed shots of gargoyles and stuff like that outside of churches. The 135L is also really appealing. Everyone seems to love this lens and the extra length might be useful. However, you need to crank up the shutter speed to get crisp shots and that might be harder in dark environments. I know I can always crank up my ISO, but less noise is always better.

Thoughts?

Thanks for your insight!

Jason
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Best lens for this purpose

I've been asked to video/photograph an HO model train set with my 5DmkII. I'm going to need to rent a lens to get it done, though, as I don't think my 50mm f/1.4 is up for the job. I'm guessing some kind of tiltshift lens with a fairly short focusing distance, if there is such a thing, but I have no idea in what focal length would be best. Thoughts?

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Which kit or head to go with

OK, I have 2 600 EX Canon flash units with the ST-E3 controller, but found them too slow for model work. I added a battery pack to help with recycle times, so I may be ok. If I were going to grab a kit or even a single head with a beauty dish, what would you recommend? So far I was dead set on the Einstein 640 with the commander system to remote control it. I planned to add a beauty dish and maybe a vagabond batt pack. The price for all of that was right around 1150.00. I hear good things about that light, but I knkow there are loads of options. I doubt I'd use it anywhere near a wedding or for events, but maybe for modeling and Senior Picture type shoots. Thoughts?

I have never used off camera lights and have only used speed lights.

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