dave_holland

<p>I would not put it past a company like Canon or Nikon to design a charger that requires you to use only their battery, and not a competing knock-off. Sounds like they are willing to take the hit as far as their reputation, to preserve a hefty profit margin on peripheral gear. Sometimes that kind of corporate strategy can backfire....</p>

<p>That response describing the Lexar 800 Firewire reader as a great tool is not the experience I had with that device on my Mac Pro. Upload speed is no faster than a Sandisk USB2 on my Mac, and I've had system crashes needing a reboot because the device is sometimes not recognized by my Mac operating system. My Lexar firewire is now relegated to a useless device -- not sure it it's the Lexar fault, a Mac operating system fault, or something to do with my firewire connection. I don't have another computer with firewire to test it independently.</p>

<p>Mostly I agree with Philip Wilson, above. Since I've lately been shooting the big boys in well-lit rinks, the problems with lighting are not as severe as they were in all those dim Alberta rinks with smaller kids.<br>

I certainly agree with the 70-200 2.8. I have both the IS and non IS variety, and I prefer the non IS for sports because action requires a fast shutter, so the IS doesn't add much. Also, having dropped my IS lens from 18" and then paying a $700 bill, I love my non IS lens even more. These days (with new sensors) the fast 2.8 glass isn't as critical, but 2.8 is still gold. Definitely worth it. Right now I'm using an MK IV but I shot tens of thousands of hockey images using a 20D, and for a while there I was using studio lights for creative effects. 5D was an ironic step backward because of the slower shutter rate.<br>

In the rinks I now shoot in, usual settings are ISO 3200, 1/1250, f 2.8-3.5, manual exposure. I disagree with Philip about exposure. For action on-ice photos, I never use anything other than manual exposure, adjusted to about +1 EV for the rink to make the ice white. I think manual exposure is marginally faster, but more importantly your sensor won't be fooled as much by too much white ice against a variable dark background in the stands. With a fast shutter speed you will notice that those rink lights are cycling and often on the same circuit, so you may have to manually adjust the WB of keepers in photoshop. (The 'shutter speed' of the human eye doesn't detect cycling but shoot for a day and notice the dramatic difference shot to shot). That said, I shoot purely in large jpg, no RAW because it's not necessary and it's slower (though you'll have to use curves to properly adjust WB of a jpg image later).<br>

Technique wise, if the kids are really small then you can often get onto the team bench. Remember the closeup shots of kids hanging over the bench. When getting close bench shots I'll switch back to Av exposure mode to open up the light around the face. I usually hang out behind the visiting team goal at ice level, since you'll get faces more often than you will from the opposite end. Another critical technique issue is to program your camera to focus with your right thumb. In older cameras this was the CF4 adjustment. This way you dissociate focus from shutter release, avoiding back-focus which is so common otherwise. The vast majority of professionals use this technique.<br>

I definitely agree with adjusting WB in camera at the start of a shoot and then sticking with it. Avoid underexposure at all costs as noise is a huge issue. In photoshop, get the full CS5 program since you'll find that curves is a real friend. Finally, the most important photoshop plugin that I own is Noise Ninja for noise reduction. Anybody who shoots hockey needs to understand how noise reduction software works. Nikon have put this directly into their cameras but Canon have left it for post production.<br>

Have fun and good luck shoot lots. All but my youngest are now gone, and now I have to buy a ticket to watch my own kid play. Consider making an electronic slideshow DVD for the parents at the end of the season. I use Proshow Gold.</p><div></div>

<p>If I'm traveling light I carry a Wolverine, which is a portable hard drive similar to the Epson variety. Mine has a little screen but viewing is limited and of course you can't do any manipulation. It's about the size of a small pocketbook. Mine is a little slow for uploading (an older version) but I can't afford to upgrade it yet.<br>

Lately I have also carried a laptop, which comes in handy when waiting in airports. You can do the photoshop work there provided you bring an adapter for the local electricity available. I still take the Wolverine, which fits nicely in most hotel safes. I upload the cards to the wolverine and then I upload the wolverine to the laptop. So, I have the cards, the Wolverine, and the laptop all stored in somewhat different places. I haven't looked into online backup, which would add an extra element of complexity and possible safety.<br>

When I got my most recent laptop I looked into small notebooks, but they don't seem to have the speed capabilities of larger devices. If you want to run hungry programs like Photoshop you evidently need something larger. Too bad.</p>

<p>I have the CP-E4, and I still use it occasionally. But the biggest improvement in recycle time came not with the battery pack but rather my move to NiMh batteries. Although they charge to slightly lower voltage, their ability to quickly discharge will leave conventional alkaline AA's in the dust. Try that first.</p>

<p>For sports and wildlife, it is unparalleled. Outstandingly responsive focus and dramatic shutter speed, good grain and excellent detail. At times when shooting stationary birds, I would like a little smaller area for each autofocus target, and it is a little awkward to reach for the set button on the outside barrel of my long glass. To get the most of high ISO images you will want to use a noise reduction program, but it's only necessary if you are shooting at ISO higher than about 3200. For sports the high ISO ceiling allows me to boost ISO a full stop higher than I would dare otherwise.<br>

For me the only curious weakness is it's ability to find focus in very dim light, so for wedding photography it may not be as good as some of the full frame options out there. It's a little heavy if you are mountaineering, but it's all you would expect from a pro level sports body. It uses an APS-H sensor, which slightly crops the field of view, at a 1.3 factor. So, your wide angles will seem to be a little less wide, long lenses will seem to be longer, and you need to open a stop wider if you want to achieve a similar level of 'apparent' bokeh (the latter an artefact of standing a little farther away from the subject with the same lens). A smaller sensor uses more of the lens sweet spot, discarding edges that would otherwise be visible with a full frame camera. So, you end up with less vignetting and less edge distortion than you would otherwise.<br>

For assorted rants from Nikon owners and shills who don't own Canon gear, you can go to DP Preview....</p>

<p>George, that shot of your daughter is from really close. Do you think you might have been inside the minimum focusing distance for your lens?</p>

<p>Most of us here shoot for big game. I mean, a superb shot that has excellent sharpness and quality that is not achievable with one size fits all equipment. But when you have more equipment than you can carry, compromise has to happen. I tend to make a guess as to what end of the focal length spectrum I want to shoot in the day, then carry the gear to make it happen. Of course, that's the time when you may later wish you had a longer lens, or a macro rail, or a different flash modifier. Hopefully you will have time to walk back to the car and get what you want, ha ha.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Put all your stuff in a bag. Then carry it for a day. Then come home, tired and hungry. How much of what you carried did you use? Remember that storage of unused equipment can be a problem when you are traveling, and so there is vested interest in efficient travel. You've got too much stuff to travel far with it.<br>

If you want to travel with off-camera flash, then I would take your 7D and use it's optical trigger to fire your 580, and you retain ETTL. That way you can leave some of the extra triggering gear at home.</p>

<p>Rob Hanashiro also did another set regarding equipment for remotes, as follows. Great videos on that Sportsshooter forum.<br>

http://www.sportsshooter.com/special_feature/ssacad3_remotes_bert/index.html</p>

<p>Believe it or not, there is a big difference between 16mm and 17mm. On the wide side those small differences cause huge changes in your end product. However, of all my L glass, the 16-35-I is the lens that I regret buying the most. I almost never shoot that lens wide open, so the extra cash and weight for fast glass is unnecessary. Also, I'm still waiting for a new ultrawide FF zoom from Canon, somewhere in the 14-20mm range would be ideal for my use. Although there are countless anectodal reports that the 16-35II is sharper, most of us would never notice the difference and I think there is a marketing hype issue going on there as well.</p>

<p>More and more I come to the notion that there are dramatic differences between the full frame cameras and those with cropped sensors. Keep your 5D and add an aps size sports/wildlife camera later. Nothing beats the smooth bokeh of a full frame sensor and fast glass.</p>

<p>The economics of out-dated technology follow a J-shaped curve, with old stuff still available but hard to find and expensive. Can you still buy a new view camera? Sure. But don't expect to find all models, and expect to pay a stiff price for mid-range gear. I'm guessing the Canon 1V model will be very rare in the future, but I'll also venture that mid-range models will be available for decades to come. After all, you can still buy 32rpm vinyl records, and turntables to play them.</p>

<p>I totally agree with Steven F.</p>

<p>Sure, the sports cameras have better AF for sports and fast moving wildlife. If you want a 5D then sports/wildlife will not be high on the list of priorities.</p>

<p>As well as the two pocketwizards, you need to buy a pretrigger cord for your cameras. I believe the same cord will work for both of your cameras. I made my own from a canon hardwire trigger, and I posted a description of how to do this on my photostream on flickr, here,<br>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8456144@N07/sets/72157600415521015/<br>

click on the photos for more notes and links.<br>

You can also buy a pretrigger cord, but they are expensive. Also, you don't want to try this for the first time at a wedding, as you will encounter problems. One common problem is the fact that your camera could go into a sleep mode and so you need to set it up and test it to be sure that you can take multiple shots without pause.</p>

<p>There is also a cool description of how to do this on the sportshooter forum, here.<br>

http://www.sportsshooter.com/special_feature/ssacad3_remotes/index.html</p>

<p>Right around the time that the 430II came out, Canon made more sophisticated algorithms to account for different sized sensors. I'd have to check to see if the 430I was designed to do this. In any case, it's a minimal issue that will have little practical application for normal use. You've got yourself a great little flash.</p>

<p>Mark, it's more complicated than that, and more versatile as well. Of course the camera can adjust flash output, and that's the main parameter the camera adjusts to create fill flash. If you are using one of the automatic or semiautomatic exposure settings, the algorithms for exposure adjustment are fairly complex, incorporating the requirement that you be shooting at or slower than the camera's sync speed. Because not all the scene will be within reach of flash, the semiautomatic camera settings are set to give roughly correct exposure even for distant objects and even when using flash. Adding flash to that, the ETTL flash pulse fires just before the camera exposure and the camera meter detects the result. Based on the result of that, flash output is adjusted to try and fill shadows without blowing out highlights. It doesn't always work the way it is supposed to, and I find that backlit subjects are notoriously underexposed using Canon's automatic settings. So, most of us shoot with manual exposure and ETTL for flash output, or sometimes all manual.<br>

Think of this as two separate exposures, one for ambient light, and the second for flash. Ambient exposure is sensitive to shutter speed, ISO, and aperture, and flash exposure is sensitive to ISO and aperture, not shutter speed. Because flash falls off to the third power of subject distance, beyond about 10 feet your little speedlight offers very little contribution. Understanding those two facts, you can do your own all-manual adjustments and get exposure correct with minimal trial and error.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

<p>I don't have a 7d, but I have shot plenty of sports. I certainly agree with the advice to focus with your right thumb (usually CF4 in most models), to give you more control over when the camera focuses, and to dissociate focus from exposure. Your number of incorrectly focused images will go way down. The one other issue that I find important is to shoot with manual exposure. This is particularly important with hockey, where the white ice can confuse automatic exposure meters. I also routinely adjust white balance before the shoot begins, to reduce the effort of postexposure correction in photoshop. Regarding your question about flash, it's a whole more complicated game to try and shoot sports using flash, and you gotta be really close for the flash to have significant effect. If you are just starting out, I suggest you leave it for another year.<br>

Regarding your question about 'dust', I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean that you are shooting into the sun, and you are getting sunlight bouncing directly into your lens causing lens flare? Remember to shoot with a hood, and avoid shooting directly into the sun. It would take a LOT of dust in the air to get significant atmospheric bounce from a speedlight. Make sure your lens is clean, and avoid underexposure.</p>

<p>The fundamental questions, like this one, are always the best ones, and the ones that the OP stands to benefit from the most. Here's a text that goes the heart of what is happening, "Light, Science, and Magic".<br>

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Introduction-Photographic-Lighting/dp/0240808193/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271307273&sr=8-1<br>

If you want shadows to disappear, you need to give the illusion of a huge light source, or at least multiple sources. A larger light source softens the edges of shadows, and multiple sources fill the depth of shadows. Consider spending some time on the strobist website, and do lighting 101 and 102. Bottom line is that point sources like a speedlight only give soft light if there is a major contribution from ambient.<br>

Dave</p>

 

<p>I agree with most of the posts above, shoot all manual, plus or minus ETTL. If it's three minutes to get ambient exposure, it won't matter a lot how long your shutter stays open, as long as it is longer than your sync speed, usually 1/200s. However in other (brighter ambient) settings, ambient does contribute somewhat to exposure even at fast shutter speeds. In that case I like to have a little ambient softening the otherwise hard shadows coming from your bare flash. I usually shoot at about 1/60sec to get a more general lighting without having to add a lot of lighting gear. The place you can get into trouble is if you have roughly equal contribution of ambient:flash and a slow shutter speed, resulting in flash ghosting from motion of the subject or the camera. Although that can give you cool effects at times, flash ghosting is usually undesirable.</p>

<p>Yes, shoot a thousand or so images this weekend and you'll be much farther ahead than you would be if you just go for internet advice.<br>

That said, what you want to think about is effectively two separate exposures, the exposure of foreground that is mostly flash, and the background ambient that is mostly from ambient light. In those thousand or so frames this weekend, think through in your mind how both of those exposures are working. There are some basic principles you need to get clear in your mind to understand this.<br>

(1) For distant objects, beyond about 15', flash contributes little to exposure. So, if you want a well lit background, you need your ambient exposure to pick that up. To boost ambient background exposure, lengthen shutter speed or open aperture or boost ISO or use all three.<br>

(2) Shutter speed has nothing to do with flash exposure, since the flash is effectively instantaneous. That's a critical point because if your background is too muddy then you can lengthen shutter speed without affecting the flash exposure of the foreground. Of course you need to keep shutter speed below about 1/200s to avoid exceeding your camera's sync speed, but at your stage you may want to worry about that technical issue at a later date.<br>

(3) Your Canon camera, when set to ETTL, will automatically calculate how much flash you need to balance exposure. Therefore, what I usually do is shoot in all manual exposure (M-mode), relying on the camera's ETTL flash microprocessor to fill in the rest. Typical starting settings would be 1/60s, f4, ISO 800, and I usually adjust my ETTL to -1 EV. That's approximately what you get when you shoot with full automatic, but the advantage is that you can do your own fine-tuning after you review a few frames.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

<p>Nathan, your reply speaks to why I hesitate to buy stuff on Ebay. The temptation for people to fail to disclose negative information is just too strong. Personally that would cross an ethical boundary, but I have learned that on Ebay others don't hold morals so close.<br>

Although Canon don't formally service this lens any more, I would still be tempted to look for somebody who could take it apart and try cleaning internally. Properly cleaned, you might get full resale value later.</p>

<p>When you look back at pictures from years ago, what photos stand out as memorable? I'm guessing that you will value anything with a family member in it, family photos in the context of novel background. Therefore you need a wide enough lens to include contextual background yet still keep the dominant feature the foreground people. Ergo, go wide, and leave the really long glass at home. I had big glass at Disney in Orlando, and they didn't give me any problem, but a tripod might draw more unwanted attention. Some of our best family photos were done with a P&S camera.</p>

<p>I liked the ECF, as well.<br>

Canon also need to work on their G11 series cameras. The G11 is a P&S for knowledgeable photographers, usually a second camera to take on holiday. For some reason Canon decided to cancel ETTL functionality specifically when the camera is switched to manual exposure mode. Canon engineers don't seem to understand how their equipment is used -- for the G12, please fix that problem.<br>

On the topic of lenses, I'm waiting for a sharp, professional level ultrawide zoom for use on the FF and APS-h series sensors. It's been a long wait.</p>

<p>+1, M.P.<br>

I was interested to see a poll on Sportshooter a few years ago. Simple question, how many working sports professionals shoot Raw. Answer? A minority, most use in-camera large jpg. You see, these guys have their exposure and WB and picture style down clean, no mistakes.</p>

<p>What is important to working professionals is workflow, getting home to the family and meeting a deadline. What they don't want to do is spend hours on the computer rather than going to their kids' baseball game. They value their time and their workflow. And they don't want to clutter a computer with huge files that are too big for email.</p>