Hello from Okinawa Japan

[blaydese]

Hello from Okinawa Japan!
To keep this short, I'll just list things:

1. I live and work on Okinawa Japan, work for
DOD and love living here. My wife is Japanese
and our kids were born here, now age 12 & 14.
2. I'm 42.
3. I've been taking pictures since I was about
12 years old. (Not pro, just as a hobby, I've got
about 300GB worth of pictures now)
4. I've been looking for a DSLR forums for about
a month now, and Canon Rumors seems about right.
5. dpreview is just way too much and thus needed a
forum that is mostly about Canon products.
4. Yup, you guessed it, I bought my first DSLR last
week. After months and months of searching and
reading I landed on the 60D:

a) Water and Dust resistant
b) Affordable
c) Popular and most folks seem to think
it's a good starting camera.
d) Lots of accessories, third party parts that fit it.
e) Warranty and the AAFES extended warranty;
if I throw it against a wall, w/lens they'll replace
it for free for two years.
f) Sensor / 18MP
g) Video quality (Kids events etc.)
h) Astronomy Photography
(Yeah could have gone with 60Da,
but got no $$ for that one)
i) I want a heavy, bulky camera, (Yeah crazy huh?)

(There will be a whole another post on
the camera, questions, etc. coming up,
so I'll stop there.)

5. Owned many point and shoot, hybrid
and SLR Film camera in the past. Time to
get with the big boys and girls. And learn
a DSLR, Canon has some great video's on YT.
6. I've had a few pictures published in
military magazines over the years.
7. I'm a HDR landscape and nature preference
kind of guy. But I want to get into studio/
portrait, live action, and more.
8. I'll be asking the same old dumb new
guy questions so please "bear" with me.
I will do a search each time, but I'm only
finding answers to my questions already
about 40% of the time.

I sign off each post with the word "Peace!"
I'm not a hippie, I'm not anti-war, I just
think we should all learn to chill.

Oh and I'm Retired Army. 80% disabled veteran.
Go Army! Beat Navy!
Peace! 8)

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Welcome to CR. The Canon 60D is a very nice camera, I expect a replacement model with more features to be announced soon, perhaps a touch screen, autofocus while taking video, optimized for the new STM lenses, etc. It might be worth waiting.
My main arguement against the 60D is that you can not use AFMA to fine tune the autofocus to match any AF error in your lenses. It doesn't matter too much with the kit lenses and their smaller apertures / depth of field, but when a user decides to go for a wide aperture f/1.8 or f/1.4 lens, for example, they will always benefit from fine tuning, the alternative is to send the lens and camera body to be adjusted, and then the next new lens will be off.

 

[blaydese]

I expect a replacement model with more features to be announced soon, perhaps a touch screen, autofocus while taking video, optimized for the new STM lenses, etc. It might be worth waiting.
I know, it's the Canon 4Ti (650D)
Too late, already got the 60D.
The 4Ti did not have some things I wanted.

What is STM lenses, that I did not know about?

My main arguement against the 60D is that you can not use AFMA to fine tune the autofocus to match any AF error in your lenses.

Okay, wosh! Right over my head, I have no idea what you're talking about. :-[

It doesn't matter too much with the kit lenses and their smaller apertures / depth of field, but when a user decides to go for a wide aperture f/1.8 or f/1.4 lens, for example, they will always benefit from fine tuning, the alternative is to send the lens and camera body to be adjusted, and then the next new lens will be off.

Again, whaaaattt?


I want to get a 50mm lens soon, the cheap one, like 100 bucks, will that look like crap now?

Okay, some quick questions.

1. How many external speed lights can you control with the 60D? 2, 4, 8, 20 ? I can't find that anywhere and I want to do some BIG outdoor urban night shooting and want to place some about 26 meters away (Max distance, I did find that out). I'm thinking I'll need speed light triggers right?

2. My Canon SX20 can zoom to 80x, my 60D is only as good as the lens that is on it, what lens will equal the 80x zoom of the SX20? (Keep in mind I'm on a tight budget.)

3. Where is a good place to buy on-line a second or third battery? I KNOW there has to be a thread on this, but when I search, too many results come up and I get no answer after reading about 20-30 threads. Just more questions.

4. Other than ebay, where can a guy find used camera equipment, astro phto equipment, etc. I'm looking for a used one of these:

http://tinyurl.com/87j3bdj

Thanks,
Peace!

 

[Marsu42]

4. I've been looking for a DSLR forums for about
a month now, and Canon Rumors seems about right.
5. dpreview is just way too much and thus needed a
forum that is mostly about Canon products.

Welcome to the forum, just be sure not to get cornered by "Canon doubles the price" and d800 vs. 5d3 infighting that has lead to high tension over the last months...

but when a user decides to go for a wide aperture f/1.8 or f/1.4 lens, for example, they will always benefit from fine tuning

You can get around afma by buying a new lens that fits the body, we all know that but it's extremely tiresome anyway (Thanks, Canon!).

But you're saying afma is *always* required? Is this based on your experience, or is it really that unlikely to get a Canon f1.4 lens that doesn't need afma? And for a little afma, you have to do detailed testing with professional chart-gear as far as I understand it?

the alternative is to send the lens and camera body to be adjusted, and then the next new lens will be off.

True and very annoying, but only the case if you have multiple small aperture lenses. With f2.8 the dof seems to be so large that afma isn't required, so if you only add one fast prime to it you still should be fine with one trip to Canon service.

 

[blaydese]

* Correction, 30GB not 300GB worth of pictures. LOL!

Peace! 8)

 

[MK5GTI]

welcome to the forum.... can you do some scan of the Capa photography magazine scan for this forum?

 

[dmills]

Welcome to the forum. I'm here in Hiroshima and have a 60d. Just bought a 5d3, but that won't be arriving for a couple of weeks, as I bought it in the states, and am having a friend bring it over.

 

[Northstar]

Hello from Okinawa Japan!
To keep this short, I'll just list things:

Blay..if this post is short, I'd like to see your "long" post

Welcome, and congrats on your 60D, you've made a good choice. Three things:
1. Read your manual
2. Shoot on manual
3. Start saving for an L lens

The 50 1.8 is a great lens and it's as sharp as anything starting at about f4.

By the way, thanks for serving and your sacrifice.
Peace

 

[RLPhoto]

Hello from Okinawa Japan!
To keep this short, I'll just list things:

1. I live and work on Okinawa Japan, work for
DOD and love living here. My wife is Japanese
and our kids were born here, now age 12 & 14.
2. I'm 42.
3. I've been taking pictures since I was about
12 years old. (Not pro, just as a hobby, I've got
about 300GB worth of pictures now)
4. I've been looking for a DSLR forums for about
a month now, and Canon Rumors seems about right.
5. dpreview is just way too much and thus needed a
forum that is mostly about Canon products.
4. Yup, you guessed it, I bought my first DSLR last
week. After months and months of searching and
reading I landed on the 60D:

a) Water and Dust resistant
b) Affordable
c) Popular and most folks seem to think
it's a good starting camera.
d) Lots of accessories, third party parts that fit it.
e) Warranty and the AAFES extended warranty;
if I throw it against a wall, w/lens they'll replace
it for free for two years.
f) Sensor / 18MP
g) Video quality (Kids events etc.)
h) Astronomy Photography
(Yeah could have gone with 60Da,
but got no $$ for that one)
i) I want a heavy, bulky camera, (Yeah crazy huh?)

(There will be a whole another post on
the camera, questions, etc. coming up,
so I'll stop there.)

5. Owned many point and shoot, hybrid
and SLR Film camera in the past. Time to
get with the big boys and girls. And learn
a DSLR, Canon has some great video's on YT.
6. I've had a few pictures published in
military magazines over the years.
7. I'm a HDR landscape and nature preference
kind of guy. But I want to get into studio/
portrait, live action, and more.
8. I'll be asking the same old dumb new
guy questions so please "bear" with me.
I will do a search each time, but I'm only
finding answers to my questions already
about 40% of the time.

I sign off each post with the word "Peace!"
I'm not a hippie, I'm not anti-war, I just
think we should all learn to chill.

Oh and I'm Retired Army. 80% disabled veteran.
Go Army! Beat Navy!
Peace! 8)

A 7D or A 5Dmk3 is the camera you'd want. Tough as nails but also small with excellent IQ.

 

[awinphoto]

Welcome to the forum... I think what mt spokane was referring to regarding a replacement was an upcoming 70D or 7d2... But dont even sweat it... The 60D is plenty of camera to get your feet wet, get your chops going, and if and when you outgrow it, you can look at the 7d series, 5d series, or 1d series when your experience and budget will allow. AFMA is referring to the manual adjusting of the lens in regards to the Autofocus. Sometimes it is close but do to some tolerance level on the body and lens, it may be a hair off either front focused or back focused and the AFMA fixes that... Odd's are you may never need that, but it's a nice feature to have in an extreme situation... but sending the lens/camera into canon and have them re-adjust within the warranty period works just fine as well. Lens selection, get some general purpose zooms, and when you get to the point where you see habits of using a certain focal lengths such as 35,50,85,100,200, etc... Then look at getting some fast prime fixed lenses... you lose the convenience of a zoom but gain it back and then some in image quality and shallow focus opportunities. Good luck and let us know if you need any help or assistance.

 

[lecoupdejarnac]

A 7D or A 5Dmk3 is the camera you'd want. Tough as nails but also small with excellent IQ.

Doesn't anyone read? He said he already bought a 60D. Oh and there is nothing "small" about a 7D or a 5Dmk3

I wouldn't get too hung up on L lenses either, especially if you are operating on a budget. There are some great Sigma, Tamron, Tokina lenses out there that will really save you some $ over the Canon competition. Just be sure to read the reviews on any lens before you buy it, if you haven't checked out these sites yet they're a great place to look for in-depth reviews:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/
http://photozone.de/

Note I didn't link Ken Rockwell Ok he's probably not as bad as most people think it just depends how seriously you take him...

 

[robbymack]

welcome and thank you for your service

 

[squarebox]

4. Other than ebay, where can a guy find used camera equipment, astro phto equipment, etc. I'm looking for a used one of these:

if you are in Japan you can use
http://www.net-chuko.com/

Japanese used lens are usually in great condition and come with a 6 month warranty from the store usually. But the thing you'll probably find out sooner than later is that camera equipement is MUCH cheaper in the US than in Japan, even though it is made here. My recommendation would be to buy from B&H photo and have it shipped out to Japan. YOu'll have to pay about a 5% (goign up to 10% over the next few years) in duty charges, but it'll still be significantly cheaper unless you are buying anything released this year.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I expect a replacement model with more features to be announced soon, perhaps a touch screen, autofocus while taking video, optimized for the new STM lenses, etc. It might be worth waiting.

I know, it's the Canon 4Ti (650D)
Too late, already got the 60D.
The 4Ti did not have some things I wanted.

What is STM lenses, that I did not know about?

My main arguement against the 60D is that you can not use AFMA to fine tune the autofocus to match any AF error in your lenses.

Okay, wosh! Right over my head, I have no idea what you're talking about. :-[
Camera bodies control the focus of a lens by commanding it to focus at a particular point. There is always some error in both the camera and in the lens, nothing is perfect. The more advanced bodies generally have a feature called Auto focus Micro adjustment that allows you to fine tune the Lens and body combination.

It doesn't matter too much with the kit lenses and their smaller apertures / depth of field, but when a user decides to go for a wide aperture f/1.8 or f/1.4 lens, for example, they will always benefit from fine tuning, the alternative is to send the lens and camera body to be adjusted, and then the next new lens will be off.

Again, whaaaattt?
In many cases, its not a significant issue, but due to the very shallow depth of field that a wide aperture lens is capable of, a focus error of a inch or two can be easily seen. Being able to fine tune the focus for such wide aperture lenses will let you get the most out of them.


I want to get a 50mm lens soon, the cheap one, like 100 bucks, will that look like crap now?
If you use the lens at f/1.8, its possible, even likely that it will not achieve perfect focus. It just depends on how tolerances in the body and in the lens stack up. They might cancel each other out, or they might add and then its worse.

Okay, some quick questions.

1. How many external speed lights can you control with the 60D? 2, 4, 8, 20 ? I can't find that anywhere and I want to do some BIG outdoor urban night shooting and want to place some about 26 meters away (Max distance, I did find that out). I'm thinking I'll need speed light triggers right?
You can only control Canon speedlites in the camera menu. I don't know that there is a limit, but certainly its limited to a short distance.

2. My Canon SX20 can zoom to 80x, my 60D is only as good as the lens that is on it, what lens will equal the 80x zoom of the SX20? (Keep in mind I'm on a tight budget.)
The SX20 can zoom to 20X optically. Beyond that, its just cropping a already small image. The many times larger sensor in a DSLR makes it impractical to have a long zoom range. 20X would be too big, and too expensive.

3. Where is a good place to buy on-line a second or third battery? I KNOW there has to be a thread on this, but when I search, too many results come up and I get no answer after reading about 20-30 threads. Just more questions.

I can't speak for Okinawa

4. Other than ebay, where can a guy find used camera equipment, astro phto equipment, etc. I'm looking for a used one of these:

http://tinyurl.com/87j3bdj

Thanks,
Peace!

 

[87vr6]

Japanese used lens are usually in great condition and come with a 6 month warranty from the store usually. But the thing you'll probably find out sooner than later is that camera equipement is MUCH cheaper in the US than in Japan, even though it is made here. My recommendation would be to buy from B&H photo and have it shipped out to Japan. YOu'll have to pay about a 5% (goign up to 10% over the next few years) in duty charges, but it'll still be significantly cheaper unless you are buying anything released this year.

First off, I'm also in Okinawa, so こんにちは. I live in Isa, Ginowan.

If you have a FPO/APO box (which I assume you have access to, since you mentioned AAFES) you won't have to worry about duty fees, which leads me to my next point, ANYTHING camera related is cheaper, way cheaper online from Adorama or BH than AAFES or out on town. Plus better customer support. This is how I buy practically everything, as stuff is just too expensive here.

Be aware, that with at least Adorama, they won't send items that are over a certain dollar amount through USPS priority mail, which I'm sure you know is the only way to get things mailed here, quickly and relatively cheaply.

Since you have been here for 12 years and I only 8 months, I'm sure you know that are many fantastic locations to shoot at here.

Check out my Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronspics12345/) and this guys, whose live here for almost 40 years (http://www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/). Enjoy, and let me know if you ever wanted to get together as I can show how to operate that new 60D of yours. If you needed the advice of course.

 

[blaydese]

welcome to the forum.... can you do some scan of the Capa photography magazine scan for this forum?

Thanks, and...
I'm sorry I don't know what Capa photography
magazine is, you'll have to post a link, or something
to help me find that.

Welcome to the forum. I'm here in Hiroshima and have a 60d. Just bought a 5d3, but that won't be arriving for a couple of weeks, as I bought it in the states, and am having a friend bring it over.

Awesome, yeah I wish I
had the $$$ for a 5D
Mark III. Let me know
when you post some pictures.

Blay..if this post is short, I'd like to see your "long" post

Welcome, and congrats on your 60D, you've made a good choice. Three things:
1. Read your manual
2. Shoot on manual
3. Start saving for an L lens

The 50 1.8 is a great lens and it's as sharp as anything starting at about f4.

By the way, thanks for serving and your sacrifice.
Peace

Ha ha, yeah I can make some
very long posts. I'll do my
best not to do that. ;D

1. I'm reading and watching all the 60D videos: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=canon+eos+60d+tutorial&oq=canon+eos+60d+tutorial&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=youtube.12...0.0.0.292.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0.

2. I'm going to do that in a few months,
after I learn the camera more.

3. Tell me about it, I have my eye on this:
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM

Welcome to the forum... I think what mt spokane was referring to regarding a replacement was an upcoming 70D or 7d2... But dont even sweat it... The 60D is plenty of camera to get your feet wet, get your chops going, and if and when you outgrow it, you can look at the 7d series, 5d series, or 1d series when your experience and budget will allow. AFMA is referring to the manual adjusting of the lens in regards to the Autofocus. Sometimes it is close but do to some tolerance level on the body and lens, it may be a hair off either front focused or back focused and the AFMA fixes that... Odd's are you may never need that, but it's a nice feature to have in an extreme situation... but sending the lens/camera into canon and have them re-adjust within the warranty period works just fine as well. Lens selection, get some general purpose zooms, and when you get to the point where you see habits of using a certain focal lengths such as 35,50,85,100,200, etc... Then look at getting some fast prime fixed lenses... you lose the convenience of a zoom but gain it back and then some in image quality and shallow focus opportunities. Good luck and let us know if you need any help or assistance.

Ahhh Oki-doki, manual focus, yeah,
I'm going to start that in a few months,
I have noticed that there are some pics
coming out a bit off, so coming from a
SX20 to 60D I'm used to it.

I wouldn't get too hung up on L lenses either, especially if you are operating on a budget. There are some great Sigma, Tamron, Tokina lenses out there that will really save you some $ over the Canon competition. Just be sure to read the reviews on any lens before you buy it, if you haven't checked out these sites yet they're a great place to look for in-depth reviews:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/
http://photozone.de/

Note I didn't link Ken Rockwell Ok he's probably not as bad as most people think it just depends how seriously you take him...

Okay, understand, I'll be cautious
on the L series lens.

Thanks for the sites,
I know of the first one,
the second one I saved,
will check it later.

4. Other than ebay, where can a guy find used camera equipment, astro phto equipment, etc. I'm looking for a used one of these:

if you are in Japan you can use
http://www.net-chuko.com/

Japanese used lens are usually in great condition and come with a 6 month warranty from the store usually. But the thing you'll probably find out sooner than later is that camera equipement is MUCH cheaper in the US than in Japan, even though it is made here. My recommendation would be to buy from B&H photo and have it shipped out to Japan. YOu'll have to pay about a 5% (goign up to 10% over the next few years) in duty charges, but it'll still be significantly cheaper unless you are buying anything released this year.

Oh, thanks for the site,
I can ask the Boss AKA:
The wife... to check it
out too.

Yeah I know Japan is
expensive, but you
never know, a used cap,
tripod, etc. may not be
that bad.

Lens and big ticket items,
I'm all about AAFES and On-line.

Getting my telescope from B & H ;D

First off, I'm also in Okinawa, so こんにちは. I live in Isa, Ginowan.

If you have a FPO/APO box (which I assume you have access to, since you mentioned AAFES) you won't have to worry about duty fees, which leads me to my next point, ANYTHING camera related is cheaper, way cheaper online from Adorama or BH than AAFES or out on town. Plus better customer support. This is how I buy practically everything, as stuff is just too expensive here.

Be aware, that with at least Adorama, they won't send items that are over a certain dollar amount through USPS priority mail, which I'm sure you know is the only way to get things mailed here, quickly and relatively cheaply.

Since you have been here for 12 years and I only 8 months, I'm sure you know that are many fantastic locations to shoot at here.

Check out my Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronspics12345/) and this guys, whose live here for almost 40 years (http://www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/). Enjoy, and let me know if you ever wanted to get together as I can show how to operate that new 60D of yours. If you needed the advice of course.

Konichiwa! Nihongo Shabimasuka?

I'm in Misato AKA: Mihara
(Not Mihama with the ferris wheel,
Mihara in Okinawa City)

Yup, APO box for the win !

Yes, On-line cheaper for
little things, but the camera
I went AAFES for return and
extended warranty plan,
it's awesome, I can toss this
thing against the wall and it's
fixed free for two years.
I can also buy more extended
warranty if I want. So after
two years, I want more peace of mind.

I'll check those flicker accounts.

Here are some low resolution sample ONLY
pictures from my first day out with the new
camera.

PLEASE BE KIND, I'M NOT A PRO. :-X ;D

Peace! 8)

 

[87vr6]

I hate to be the one to say it, but you process too much, especially the HDR.... You need better software, or preferably better techniques...

When doing HDR, it really should look like this:

Canon 5DII-4474 by volksron, on Flickr

Yes, it's technically not a HDR with multiple exposures blended, etc... But it doesn't have crazy saturated colors, however, it does have equal (or close to it) detail in the shadows as well as the highlights.. Especially if I could show you the RAW file..

 

[Marsu42]

I hate to be the one to say it, but you process too much, especially the HDR.... You need better software, or preferably better techniques...

I thought the same thing, but of course it's a matter of taste and my first hdr shots looked exactly the same. When hdr was introduced, everyone was crazy for this "hdr style", but in the meantime the reactions are less enthusiastic.

My hint concerning high dynamic range shots: Take 7 raw shots with +-0,5ev (use magic lantern or the 5d3). Back @home, get Photomatrix (it integrates with Lightroom), import the shots and then choose if you want to use the more natural looking exposure fusion with all shots (the final shot is assembled like a puzzle) or "real" hdr with the 3 extreme ones (all exposures are layered). Then you can fine-tune the sliders to get either an "artistic" or natural expression.

And don't throw away the source files after assembly like I did with my first shots - in 1-2 years if you've learned more you may want to re-process them!

When doing HDR, it really should look like this:

No, it shouldn't ... look at the blue of the sky on the top right, the brightness jump is a sign of an assembly artifact and doesn't look natural.

 

[Northstar]

yes, the 100-400 is a good lens for the money - if you need length and zoom. the 200 2.8L prime will get you length and better IQ for less money.

I added the "save for an L lens" with a bit of tongue in cheek. with that said, the build quality and images that come from some L's are fantastic, and make saving, looking for, and eventually buying one a worthwhile path to start on. IMO.

 

[RLPhoto]

Not to be mean, but MY EYES!!!!

There is alot of members here who do awesome HDR's. @lex! is one of them, and his stuff is great i'm sure he's got some tips around here somewhere.