This past summer, a ring of fire set over the Grand Canyon. I was there, at Lipan Point, attempting the hardest photographic challenge I've tried yet: to capture the experience of an annular solar eclipse over the Grand Canyon. I think I might have succeeded. At this resolution, the dot of the Moon is just barely visible in the composite, but at full size it's as visible as in the black-and-white crop.

The composite was shot on a 5DIII with the TS-E 24 II. Three masked frames from the seven-shot two-stop bracket make up most of the composite. Another two frames make up the black-and-white crop, which I then layered in with the rest with a bit of Photoshop reconstruction.

If anybody else has attempted to photograph the Sun and something else in the same frame, and managed to retain detail in both, I'd love to see it!

Cheers,

b&

My friend is interested in moving into a DSLR from the high end P&S world. She is not interested in a kit lens or a slow tele (55-250). I have shown her what a pancake is capable of and she has it on her short list along with the nifty 50 as well. She has borrowed a T2i in the past and is comfortable with the ergonomics and menus.

Video is not a concern but if it's there well bonus. She is shooting product stills for her furniture biz, family portraits, candids and vacation pix. Nothing where much more than 135 on a crop is needed. Here is the list I've shared with her for her options below $800.

Used:

T3i (9+ B&H) and 40 pancake $600
same with 50 1.8 $560
50D (EX+ Keh) and 40 pancake $615
same with 50 1.8 $575

New:

T3i body and pancake $679

Highest suggested
T3i and 18-135 $819

Any suggestions of which of these to go for or something I haven't mentioned?

So I was reading the rumor on Canon's roadmap for 2013 and got me to thinking... Is the 1DX really Canon's workhorse?

I'm a beginning fashion and beauty photographer that is working to get bigger and higher profile jobs. I currently have a 5D Mark II which has served me quite well for many things in this arena. However it's not as great an all-arounder that I would like for my non-fashion jobs which helps circulate my name and get me some additional income.

The 5D Mark III is a great camera. But the lack of a user-replaceable focus-screen and no pro body is a downside. It's fast enough and the AF is more than adequate. But not sure if it's something I would be happy with for 4 or more years. Which is what I expect from a pro camera.

The 1DX is what I want except that it doesn't have the higher MP of the 5D series. Well, I was a little disappointed when it didn't have built-in WiFi... But overall, it's pretty darn nice. The way I look at it, as long as I have the appropriate lens, it can pretty much handle anything I throw at it. Which would allow me to take more jobs that I know technical limitations won't be an issue.

However, I'm a little concerned about the 18MP. For publication in large format magazines, I think 18MP would still be fine. For fashion and beauty, is there a big advantage to go with 22MP? The only step-up I see would be Medium Format which I don't see a need for at least a couple of years. How much of an advantage would that be over a 1DX/5D3 in the fashion/beauty markets?

https://vimeo.com/58263312

"Because there is no actual competition for this camera, there is no other camera of this size, of this weight, of this sensitivity that can shoot 4K for this price, therefore it's worth the money." He says it's "overpriced" only when compared to the 1DX. He goes on to call it "an astonishing camera" and says "he's in love with it."

Looks like the new Sigma 17-70 is nearing an intro. I'm considering replacing my 30 1.4 with it for everything except for sports (I use my 100 2.0 and 200 2.8 for that). Another option is to keep the 30 and add a Tokina 11-16, but I do like the one-lens-solutions and 17mm might be enough.
My camera's a T1i and I really like that "L" quality that I get with my prime. Might a Sigma zoom be at least a little similar in that regard to a Sigma prime? I got a good one, too, that's sharp everywhere.

.
From the "I'm glad I'm too old to look forward to this kind of world" department:

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/nova_the_next_generation_of_drone_surveillance_20130126/

The fear mongers of our world are developing a surveillance camera for drones they are calling the "Wide Area Persistent Stare" that can watch and record everything that happens in a small city.

"This is done by stitching together streams captured by a curved mosaic of 368 lens chips into one fluid video. Standing at a monitor, an operator can zoom in on specific areas anywhere within the image, opening up to 65 windows that contain magnified views while maintaining the larger context.

"From an altitude of 17,500 feet, Argus can see an object 6 inches off the ground, and automatically identifies everything that moves. Its recordings can be stored at a capacity equivalent to 5,000 hours of high-definition footage and are instantly retrievable at every level of magnification."

I'll bet when this comes about someone makes a small fortune selling hats with big mirrors on top.

Recently, I found out how much we are already being watched. A man killed a woman inside her house in Philadelphia. Cops gathered all the records from all video "security" cameras in the neighborhood. They zeroed in on one man they saw on the street, did some enhancement on his face and compared that image to the state driver license records to identify him. He confessed after 10 or so hours of persistent interrogation. Glad they caught him, but that kind of power scares me just as much as any criminal does.

Dear Canonrumorers,

1, Hi,
because after being a long time reader I registered to say...

2, Thank you,
for all the info, advise and pictures you guys deliver in a nice and friendly way. I have been amazed many times by pictures posted here, learned many things about photography and I'm still being surprised by the technical knowledge in some posts (you kneurow who you are : ) ). And with that you also helped me with my...

3, Upgraaaade,
after about eight years with my 350D, I got the 6D. Now, with most upgrades, there is some excitement about some stop of better ISO performance, however I got some more differences to explore, including some things considered standard now : )
e.g., live view... there is a thing like that now,
or video recording... it does that as well
the sensor is a bit bigger in this one : )
the rear display with about 10 times more pixels gives a better clue,
ISO range went from 100-1600 to 50-102400 and noise wise... : )
plus the DR, colors, pentamirror vs pentaprism and of course bigger VF...
oh, and my 8mp went to more than 20mp
(and for some of you, I do know about the 5DIII, but where I live that's more than 50% the price and I couldn't justify it for my hobby at this time)

lens wise... I got the 24-105 kit (and am still surprised how wide is 24mm all of a sudden : ) ), have the nifty fifty, that was probably my best photo investment ever (except the initial), because for that price, it gave me something fast, a taste of primes and thought me about DOF, then the 17-55 f2.8 IS that replaced the 18-55 non IS kit about 2y ago (yes, bit better : ) ) and a Sigma 70-300 (that I got with the 350D kit and for some reason thought its only for crop, turns out it works on FF as well)... and some cravings, as probably most of us

So, thanks again and with this done (the upgrade was pending for a long time and got me confused and looking up the gear more than taking pictures), I hope to be able to helpfully contribute every now and then, however the downside on the camera is that I now feel to be worse than my gear and some of your pictures here support it strongly.

Stig

why does a 15 mm fisheye , corrected in ACR,so that the lines are straight,still have a wider angle than a normal 14 mm?
I've made a comparison with 16/35 (II) ,15 mm fisheye, en samyang 14 mm,and I think the fisheye,lens-corrected,is the sharpest.(all shot at 2.8,same white balance)

I currently own the Canon 50/1.4 but am disappointed with its performance from f/1.4 to f/2.0. At f/2.0 it sharpens up nicely, but what's the point of an f/1.4 lens that can't be used wide open?

Is the 50L any better in that range? I've read so many conflicting reports about the L. Some love it, others insist there isn't much of a difference (in sharpness, at least), between it and the 50/1.4.

Then there's the Sigma 50/1.4. I've heard it might be the sharpest of all at f/1.4, but it's extremely prone to AF problems (which I'm not willing to deal with).

I was really hoping Canon would come out with a new 50/1.4, or that Sigma would update its 50/1.4 to the "Art line" with similar quality to their new 35/1.4. No luck on either front — so far, at least.

Guys ... how many posts till one can change their signature / profile. I am upto 73 posts (I think) and I am not getting any option to make a change in the signature / profile at the moment.

Any suggestions?

do you guys know of a place to rent lens on a sunday?? and central london would be the best

thanks for any help! really appreciate

I know 6D has external flash sync of 1/180s....

Canon cameras have only 1/160s or 1/200s not 1/180s My question is:

If i shoot with 6D at 1/200 in studio i will get that black line on the bottom of the frame like the one i get from 7D shooting at 1/250 ( 7D has a flash sync of 1/200) ?????

The wait for the 7DII / 70D reminds me of the building anticipation for the 5DIII. When launched, it was intially trashed by people (remember the thread "Is the 5D3 good at anything") and subsequently became everyone's (except 1DX users) favourite camera.

Do you think the 7DII / 70D will go the same route? What will be the criticisms?

I have recently purchased a 5D MIII to replace my 7D. I was wondering if anyone had advise on what case to use to shoot my daughter who is a dancer. Most of her performances is as the principal subject so there are no other dancers around her. She also dances with a group but not that much. To me it seems that maybe I need to use one case when she is with a group and other when she is the principal.


Thanks

Here's a timelapse video of some footage I collected last year around where I live.

https://vimeo.com/55701938

Here's the link to an article about Apple CEO Tim Cook's view about "product cannibalism" that I think Canon/Nikon should adopt:
http://qz.com/47728/tim-cook-is-absolutely-right-apple-must-embrace-cannibalism/

Tim Cook had an interesting take on their own products taking away sales from their other lines of product. Such as the Ipad mini vs Ipad. He basically says, if they don't cannibalize their own products, someone else will.

I can see how its happening right now, with Sony releasing RX1, RX100, A99 and other companies selling a ton of different micro 4/3 cameras. Canon and Nikon should basically stop crippling their mid to high end cameras. For Canon's example: such a simple thing like not including spot metering on the active AF point on the 5d Mk3. Less crippling means less people switching to brands that would meet or exceed people's needs/wants. And even if someone buys the 5D mk3 thats not crippled instead of a 1DX, at least that person is now locked into the Canon brand, which would translate to more sales in the future when that person's needs exceeds what the 5D Mk3 can do and needs to purchase a 1D level camera.

This video is made with:
Camera: 5D MK III
Lens: 50mm f/1.4

SETTINGS:
Mode: Manual
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 25600
WB: Auto
Picture Style: Auto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6XHTIEeOvs

With a bad dust storm brewing outside my weekend plans to go out with my 5D MK III and Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 VC went for a toss ... I am not a professional but I decided to mess around with high ISO on 5D MK III and make this short video.

This video is made with:
Camera: 5D MK III
Lens: 50mm f/1.4

SETTINGS:
Mode: Manual
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 25600
WB: Auto
Picture Style: Auto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6XHTIEeOvs

It is interesting to hear stories why people choose Canon when there are a lot of other firms? Nikon, Pentax, Sony...

I personally was always interested in photography and was shooting quite a lot when I was young with analog cameras Smena and Zenit- E (Soviet type cameras). My first digital camera was P&S Sony bought in 2004, however, i was not satisfied with its quality (at that time analog cameras quality was much better than digital).

In 2007 I acquired Canon G7 which was able to produce better quality photos comparing to other P&S cameras. Finally in 2012 I decided to buy DSLR and definitely choose Canon as they had more attractive design comparing to Nikon and much bigger variety of lenses (I always admired L class white lenses, which in my mind was always associated with superb quality). I never Pentax, Sony or other firms. Currently I am happy with my EOS 7D, however, have plans to move to FF (of course, that would by 5D Mark III). That's why my almost all lenses (except for EF-S 18-135) are compatible with FF cameras.

It would be interesting to hear your stories why you choose Canon.

So, I do a bit of fine art reproduction / copy / giclée work, and I'm expecting to do more in the future.

I get great results with the Canon 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro.

More is always better, of course, which is why this question.

Can anybody offer a recommendation of a significantly better lens to use (with a 5DIII)?

At optimum aperture (presumably somewhere in the f/5.6 - f/11 range), it must be visibly (not just measurably) superior in all these categories, in this order of importance:

[list type=decimal]
[*]Distortion. The CM is virtually distortion-free. Any candidate lens must have no more distortion than the CM.
[*]Sharpness. The CM at f/8 is very sharp, but I suspect there might be even sharper lenses by now.
[*]Corner sharpness. The CM is very good in the corners at f/8, but not quite as good as in the center.
[*]Light falloff. Again, at f/8, this is well controlled with the CM. A candidate lens shouldn't be worse, but my workflow already compensates for less than perfectly even illumination so it's my least important criteria.
[/list]

I'm confident that the CM is far and away the best lens that Canon offers for this type of work...the question is if there's anything anybody else offers that's even better.

I'm aware of the Zeiss f/2 Makro-Planar, but the distortion comparison at The Digital Picture

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Lens-Distortion.aspx?FLI=0&FLIComp=0&Lens=727&Camera=453&LensComp=287

shows, to my eye at least, visibly more distortion for the Zeiss, which makes it a non-starter. (If the difference is more due to lack of proper alignment of the test target in Bryan's comparison, I'll reconsider.)

Given the versatility of the Canon mount with adapters, I'm willing to consider anything that can be physically attached to the camera. Basically everything is on the table, including even medium format lenses. But the Canon 50 CM seems to have the least distortion of any of the competition in Bryan's database, which makes it a very hard act to follow.

So...any suggestions, or is this already as good as it gets?

Thanks,

b&

So, long story short, a friend of mine is moving his wedding to a week from now (it was suppose to be 6 months away). And he knows that I do some photography as a hobby and said he'd want me to photograph it.

I am in no way a professional photographer.

my gear: Just upgraded to the 6d, canon 17-40, Tamron 28-75 2.8, 40mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8, and a nifty lowelpro bag, so i don't mind carrying all my lenses. I also have a rode mic and a led light that I use for video sometimes, but i didn't plan on any video. So I don't exactly have professional gear. I mostly just do some landscapes, or some walkaround stuff when I travel. I'm a casual photographer, as I like to put it.

He says relax, have fun, take some candid photos. But I don't want to disappoint. Should I spring for an 85mm? or a speelight? I don't know when else I would use it, so I don't want to buy it for one day. Should I rent one? Anything else i should keep in mind? Or specific photos I should remember to get? Not sure how I should approach this.

Thanks!
Anything helps!

during my interwebs searches.

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/technical/speedlite_flash_system_for_eos.do

Hey all, i just joined this forum!

I have been into photography for a short time but and never registered here.(I did read the rumors and some topics)
I am not really familiar with canon gear, because i used to own nikon.

So why did i recently switch to Canon?, it's not that their sensors are better on paper.
It's the ergonomics !, i just love the feel of (any) canon camera.
Also there are a lot of lenses to choose from, and the second hand market is quite big.

It doesn't matter if it's a 650d, 7d, 5d, 1d, they all fit my hands better then the nikons
I have used a d7000 and recently sold my d800 and 200-400 (have been ridiculed for that )

Yesterday i bought a used 1d mkiv , it will be quite the learning curve for me.

I had a lot of doubts about switching, internet is full of unhappy canon users envying the sensors nikon is using.
A lot of people are talking about switching to nikon ever since the d800 and d600 were released.
I am quite new to photography and that lead me to read a lot on the internet when purchasing gear. You kind of become a victim from the pixel peepers , trolls and bashing.

So when i was buying my first camera is was either a d7000 or a 60d.
I don't think i encountered any reviews that favored the 60d.
Hence i ended up with the d7000 ( even tho i hated the placement of the shutter button and the camera didn't really feel that good in my hands)

It took me over a year to make the switch to canon ,quite a costly one to make the switch, but i see that as punishment for my ignorance.

I have learned photography is not only about technical specs of a camera, and that waiting 2.5 hours for an animal to make a run for some impala is not fun when you are holding a camera that doesn't fit your hands well ( especially when constantly focussing with the af-on button).

It is a tool, and when your working in the ground, i rather have a shuffle made of a slightly inferior metal that fit my hands well, then a superior metal made which gives me cramps or blisters.
In the end both will get the job done, but i think i will be happier in the first situation.

So even though i don't expect to get the same level of detail in my photos, i hope i will enjoy photography more!
I hope to learn a lot about using canon equipment in these forums ( especially the auto focus is still somewhat of a mystery to me)

So to anyone who is thinking that the grass is greener on the other side(maybe on the lcd yes), I would advise to also think about the ergonomics, costs of switching and other things then only the superiority of a camera(sensor)!

Anyone who has some good links about the auto focus system in the canon cameras or some other tips that can be useful to me, please don't hesitate to post them!

for now, anyway, and likely for a long time to come
That's gotta make y'all happy if you bought one.

www.dxomark.com/index.php/Publications/DxOMark-Reviews/Canon-EF24-70mm-f-2.8L-II-USM-A-Peerless-Performer/Conclusion

The Tamron would suffice for me for what I'd use it for and how I'd use it.