Hi all,

I am looking for some advice about upgrading my current camera. Here's what I have at the moment:

Canon 550d, 50mm f1.4, 70-200 f4 L IS, 430EX II flash, Sigma 17-50 f2.8 OS

I am interested primarily in portraits / people (maybe 80%), about 3/4 of which is of my 3 year old daughter. The rest is mostly travel. I do not do any wildlife, sports etc, that have special requirements. A 3 year old is a fairly high-speed object with erratic movement though.

There are two reasons for upgrading. The first is that the autofocus of the 550d struggles with fast moving subjects (i.e. children). The second (less important) reason is that low light performance of the camera could be better. I am generally happy up to about ISO 800, but after that it degrades rapidly. I have also found the performance of the 17-50 disappointing, but I think this is because the AF system is particularly ill-behaved with this lens; the keeper rate is lower (maybe 60%), and there is fairly consistent back-focus which I can't correct. I generally do not print anything larger than 8x10. I will occasionally shoot video, but nothing serious.

I am trying to decide between the 7D and a 5D III. In the 7D case, I would stick with the 17-50 and hope for improved performance given the better AF system and AFMA. In the 5d III case, I would sell the 17-50 and replace it with a 24-105 f4. I live in central Europe and hope to buy something on my next trip to the US in about a month (delivered to a friend's house to collect). For this reason, the 6d and 7d II / 70d (if they ever appear) are not options. Prices here are much higher, and I will not be back to the US for at least a year after this trip. I also tried a Nikon d600, but really didn't like the ergonomics, plus I don't want to dump everything and start again.

The 5d III offers everything I want of course and is FF, but the price is very high and the camera is basically overkill for my purposes. I don't care so much about the super robust build, dual card slots etc, and would gladly pay less to give up these features. In this case I only have sufficient budget to buy the kit with the 24-105, which would leave me with a 3 lens configuration (50 1.4, 24-105 f4 and 70-200 f4), which will not actually be taking advantage of some of the camera's AF capability, and moving from the 17-50 f2.8 to the 24-105 f4 partially offsets the ISO improvements. I can get the 5dIII + 24-105 kit for about 3750 USD. That's not from an authorised dealer, but I don't care because I won't be in the US to return it anyway if it breaks. I can recover ~450 USD by selling the 17-50 in this case, so say 3300 USD net.

The 7d is maybe a more logical choice for me, since it is a lot cheaper and addresses the more important AF concern. However, I am not keen on buying something that is about to be replaced by a newer model. It also has the same sensor as my 550d, so presumably the same low-light performance. The video capability is somewhat worse. Refurbs go for about 1200 USD on occasion. Given that that is about 2000 USD cheaper than the 5d III option, I would also consider buying some additional lenses; probably the 24-105 f4 anyway (I realize not a popular crop choice, but the range I like most on crop), and an 85 f1.8 or 100 f2. Even with those two added to the purchase, the total cost is several hundred dollars lower.

I'm grateful for any advice or other ideas.

I have read the lists and charts written a couple years back that AF was only available on 1D series bodies when using a Canon TC with a compatible lens.
Has this changed with the 5D3?
I have zero experience with TC's and am interested in using one with my 70-200 f/4 and 200 2.8.
Can anyone point me to a list or chart of compatibility and AF with the 5D3?


Also, do the Kenko's AF with all lenses and bodies where the Canon's do not?

TIA

Looking to buy a 1dx but wondering about a price drop for the holidays. Does anybody remember from past experience how long after release the 1 series bodies price declined?

are they worse then fixed ND filters?

i dropped my 10 stop filter and now i need a new one.

im thinking about buying a variable filter but if the quality of fixed ND filters are visible better then i go for the standard model.

any first hand experience?

Hello,

I'm an amateur photographer and i'm new at this forum. I think that I can know a lot with yours comentaries .

I'm from Barcelona, so my english isn't very good.

Here I put some photos like a presentatnion of me.


Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


Ferrari 312T - Giancarlo Casoli por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


Fernando Alonso - Ferrari por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


IMG_0311 por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


Valentino Rossi #46 - Ducati Team por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


IMG_8893 por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


IMG_8126 por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


Heikki Kovalainen - Caterham F1 por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


Kimi Räikkönen - Lotus F1 Team por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr


IMG_9602 por Xavi Bonilla, en Flickr

best regards

I'll start this one off with a photo taken with the 24-105 at a Historic Blacksmith Shop in Allaire Historic Town Wall, New Jersey. Done in Photomatix using Fusion (not Tone Mapping) on 3 bracketed images then post processed in ACDSee Pro 5:


Historic Allaire Town - Wall, New Jersey by Revup67, on Flickr

Hi,
I am about to purchase either 1.4x III or 2.0x III canon extender. Initially it will be used with 135/f2.0 on 7D and in a couple of months with canon 300mm f2.8 IS II lens.
I used to have 1.4x II and used it with 70-200 f/2.8 IS II so I do know about the max aperture and AF speed differences when you use them on a given lens.
However I have no experience with 2.0x III and would like to know a bit more from people who actually used them with 135 f/2 and 300 f/2.8 IS II lenses.

Question the the users: IQ: if you take a shot with 1.4xIII on and crop it to the size of the one taken with 2.0x converter will there be a significant gain in the detail (with these two lenses 135 and 300 mm). I vaguely remember reading a review that stated there is not much if any difference, but again I may be wrong. Looking at these samples seems to prove they do differ:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-Extender-EF-1.4x-III-Review.aspx
Further down the page there is a nice comparison of a flower carpel and there is some difference between 1.4 and 2.0 on The Canon 180 L Macro.

Second question AF performance. Main use of 300 mm and 135 with TCs will be birds and BIF. I remeber that 1.4II together with 70-200 f/2.8IS made AF significantly slower.
Is there a massive difference in AF speed reduction between 1.4xIII and 2.0xIII on 135mm and 300mm lenses.

Thank you for your help.

Good day, I have a quick question...

I use all 3 custom functions...and I love it...but there is one thing I don't know how to do...is to change the "metering mode" when I am on a custom function.
Let's say I'm on C1...and saved with "Metering mode" in MANUAL...

How would I go about to go to Aperture "Metering mode" in C1

thank you

.
Amazing image from one of the finest photographers I know:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bowne/8173879127/#

The pier at Ocean Grove, NJ during the storm.

Has anybody compared these 2 lenses at 24-35 yet?

Hi,
I brought back 30GB of pics from 2 weeks holiday in the UK. Many were bracketed shots. Its been a pain in LR to sort them out into groups containing the different exposures for a single "scene". I know LR can stack them according to time, I wasn't too taken with that feature. But I will admit that I am new to LR so still learning.
In the end I used the time stamp and looking at the shot to identify them.

So anyone have any tips about how to organize bracketed shots?

Would it help if the Camera would name the files so that it would be clear from the file name which shots belong together? BTW. using a 5DIII.

Opinions.

Cheers Brian

just found this post on German foto community http://www.fotocommunity.de/forum/d-slr-fortgeschritten/drahtloses-blitzen-mit-speedlite-fuer-alle-eos-359176 which claims the small external Canon speedlite 90EX which was released alongside the EOS-M seems to work as a wireless master flash [line of sight, optical] on all Canon EOS DSLRs. Mastering capabilities almost equal to the 580EX.
3 groups and best of all HSS mastering on top.

I cannot verify, sicne this speedlite is not available yet were I live and furthermore I have a 7D with pop-up master flash built in. Although that one will NOT do HSS mastering.

If confirmed, this would be a really interesting and cheap option for owners of EOS bodies without pop-up flash, namely 5D/2/3 and 1D/s/X.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-6825B002-Speedlite-90EX-Flash/dp/B008NF8998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352565396&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+90ex

I'm interested in buying a new lens this Christmas and I am thinking about the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 for my Canon 60D. At the moment my 50mm is the Canon EF 1.8 version. After reading some reviews it seems as if the Zeiss isn't all that great and that the corners are soft. My question is if it is a good lens on a crop body seeing that the corner sharpness wouldn't be as bad. Are there other problems with this lens besides corner sharpness? I have no problem with manual focus, if anything I think it looks kind of fun to have more to manually adjust when composing a shot.

I am wondering if some light could be shed on the max useable print size for landscapes taken with a 5dii/5diii. I have looked over another post on this forum that discussed this topic and have read some of the links provided, but am still left wondering a few things:

1) The link that was given referencing a tutorial on Adorama's website suggested that the print size be limited to the pixel dimensions divided by 135. That would give a roughly 42" x 28" print (rounded up) printed at 240 dpi for the 5d mark ii. My question is, how accurate is that assumption? What if I print at 300 dpi?

2) How much of an advantage does someone using a d800 (or for that matter a 46mp Canon when the time comes) have over someone using a 5dii when printing at say 45" x 30" or 60" x 40"? Anyone with experience printing landscapes from a d800 vs. a 5dii/iii?

3) What do you find the best program is to enlarge landscape photos? I have Perfect Resize 7, but have found that I like the results from CS6 better. I feel that Perfect Resize 7 gives results that look more like a painting (on the screen, I have never printed one of these to a 60" x 40" size, so maybe it looks better than CS6 once it is printed), but I really don't know a lot about the program and only use basic settings. Am I missing something there?

4) I know that a common answer to the question of how large can you print a photo is, "It depends." I would like to get a more specific answer from someone that commonly does print large, high-detail landscape photos. How large are you willing to print landscapes taken with a 5dii/iii?


Thank you in advance for any responses to any of the above questions!

I am not surprised this business is filing for bankruptcy with all the negative reviews it's been getting from Yelp (which their VP regularly moderates and removes 1 star reviews), and from reseller ratings.

I figured I would post this here as CanonRumors.com utilizes them in the price comparison watch, honestly they just aren't worth to deal with - heads up to all.

http://www.twice.com/articletype/news/abe%E2%80%99s-maine-files-chapter-11/103879

I just bought a cheap 2nd hand Dobsonian 6" telescope with a T-mount and Canon adapter. Anyway just set it up during daylight hours to have a play around and all fine through the eye-piece but couldn't get anything to focus through the camera. So I pushed the focuser on the telescope in so the 5D was pretty much as close as it would go to the telescope body and moved it around to find out where it was focusing. It turned out I could focus on a power pole a little under 20 meters away, so now I have a nice photo of an insulator (actually was suprised how well it turned out).

Anyway I decided to remove the T-mount and hold the camera towards the telescope, then realised it would attach directly to the thread on the telescope without the T-mount. When mounted that way now I can focus out to about 4KM. I've never used a telescope before so maybe it's all normal and it will focus on very distance objects OK because the light will "cross over" one more time or whatever the right term is? Will find out tonight I guess.

Another interesting thing was to get a decent live-view image I could use to focus I had to select a 1/15 shutter speed whereas the metering reported 1/250 was correct which turned out to be about right.

So, got my first Macro lens (vintage Vivitar 55mm f/2.8 1:1 m42 mount) and tried a few shots handheld when I was out San Diego Decompression. What do you guys think? How could I improve these types of shots, aside from having a good tripod and possibly a set of real macro rails.

I pretty much shoot my sigma 85 at f2 most of the time because I find dof too shallow on 1.4 and really only go to 1.4 due to extreme low light so an 85 f2 with IS that sharp wide open might tempt me. Especially if is smaller and more compact. Since it seems canon are putting IS on all the non L primes I think this is a possibility just when is the big question?

I just got a 5d mark iii offer from canon authorized dealer for 2980, should I jump in or wait for black friday deal?

need your help, thank you

Hi Everyone,

I've shot Leica Rangefinders for the last couple of years. Prior to that I was a Nikon film user. I just purcahsed a Mark III and to say I'm overwhelmed would be an understatement. I have the opportunity to get on the field this weekend for the pregame activities, warm ups, etc. at the Panthers-Broncos game. I have a 70-200 II IS lens but I need some advice regarding settings for the Mark III. I'm reading the manual and a Nook download but I just don't have the time to learn and figure things out for myself since the game is this weekend.

Any help with settings, etc., would be greatly appreciated!!!

Its available at B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/895598-REG/Rokinon_cv85c_85mm_T1_5_Cine_AS.html

The 5D3 seems like an under-whelming camera to some CR users. Instead, lets flip the conversation on its head.

What do you like most about your MK3 or about the MK3? My Fav's are the AF and In-camera RAW processing.

2 Votes per person.

Poll Above! ;D

Looking forward to f8 in April, I have the 100-400L and am wondering which teleconvertor to buy the 1.4 or the 2.0? Canon or Kenko?
I suspect 1.4 is the way to go but would love to hear opinions and see some images that may convince me which is best.

Regards, Alan

I recently bought an Aluratek ADMPF119 19" Digital Photo Frame from BH. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED guys. It' great to display your pictures on 19" frame. Huge different from 10".

What I like:
1. THE SIZE, 19"
2. Clear & sharp
3. Colors and contrast are great

I'll have some drywall works this weekend ;D
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/706737-REG/Aluratek_ADMPF119_ADMPF119_19_Digital_Photo.html


I been using this Sony. I’m happy with it, but the display size is only 10”. I’m going to put this one on Ebay soon.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/734819-REG/Sony_DPF_XR100_10_2_Digital_Photo_Frame.html

Hi,

New to FF so my EF-s lineup is not of any use. I've got a 24-105L, a 70-200, and a 50 1.4. I had an EF-s 10-22 with my APC before that was used rarely, usually only for interiors of buildings. I am looking at a 17-40 used with a date stamp of 2006. I am not asking about this vs. 16-35 vs prime.

I've handled the lens. It seems to work perfectly. It looks like it is brand new except for a small scuff on the mounting plate (not a scratch but a scuff). Given that I don't use this focal length much and given that the lense seems to be in excellent shape, would you pull the trigger (can save myself a couple of hundred $)?

Thanks.....