erin.e

Jeff (www.spirer.com) , feb 05, 2006; 12:42 a.m.

Spend as little as possible on equipment. Take some good workshops or college classes on photography. Then decide what you want to buy, if anything.

 

The most sensible and practical advice. And to follow on from that prudent buying of second hand lenses ( the ones you have selected)maybe with a used 10D body would be good start if you are a beginner, you won't outgrow one in a hurry.

 

Would be a shame should you soon lose interest and a big wad of dosh if photography is just a passing fad for you!

Why do you need a monpod and IS to pan motocross when just a hand held 70- 200 2.8 of any make will do it?

The only person who is going to have any delusions about the white lens being of any importance to motocross spectators or crooks wanting to pinch it is yourself.

 

If that is a concern the Sigma EX HSM 70-200 don't give mauch away to the Canon equivalent and only costs half the price. Plus its BLACK.

Oh, to save further confusion, opening and viewing a jpeg file and then reopening and viewing it again and agian does not cause any deteriation. Only if you open it, modify it in some way, and save the changes does a degradation occur.

"Everytime you edit and save a jpeg file, the quality of the image will degrade"

 

True, but if things are done right in the first place using the higest quality JPEG format in camera, exposure, white balance, etc you only need to edit the image one time with very little manipulation then save it as a Tiff. End of problem.

Throw the Canon crap away, you are much better off with your 6 Metz MZ54 units.

The D30-60-10D are still too much camera for many consumer dickheads that have brought into the consumer rat race to own the latest bells and whistle product.

In answer to your question, quote "Is there a new canon dslr coming out' unquote, I am sure the answer would be a resounding YES!. But when, only uncle Canon knows.

Dan and Wilson are on to it.

 

The light ain't going to change and you can get there early and chose the correct manual exsposure to do the job with your 20D by doing some test shot.

 

 

Does'nt really matter whether you shoot JPEG or RAW if you have the correct exposure sorted out before the game starts.

 

 

What you are looking for is correctly exposed faces and let everything else fall where it may.

Hmmmmmmm, You ignored the advice of the two most knowledgable posters in the thread!

 

You will have to look at everyones portfolio who posted here to find out who they are :-)

 

 

With the $600 you would have save by not buying the IS lens you could have brought a 85 1.8 that would be very useful in some of those low light gyms that you posted about!

 

You will find the monopod in most cases a hinderance, IS or not, with a 70-200 2.8 which was designed to used as a fast hand held meduim telephoto

The large Billinghams are used by plenty of U.K. pros that carry a lot of equipment. The smaller ones are carried by poseurs that want to make a fashion statement (often Leica fondlers)and have a bodyguard to knuckle over thieves

Could also mean "Shit, the marijuana patch is just behind that tractor!" and a shot from the road could encourage a like reply from the farm if they have something serious to hide!

 

A nice friendly conversation with the camera kit still in the car and a small flip folder of some of your better images maybe will get better results.

 

Don't give up, just remember that a percentage of people are going to decline but more will be prepared to give you a chance if you have an open and friendly approach.

 

If you are walking up to the 'Redneck Hillbilly with the rusty junk' and a wrong attitude it will show befoe you open your mouth.

And if you approach in a whiny, suckholing manner they will just want to kick you because you are inviting them to.

You need some picture I.D. to establish you aa a bona fide news photographer, signed by the Editor in Cheif of your University Press.

Hell, it should be no trouble to whip up a nice professinal photo ID with access to all the resources you have at a UNI! Print the word PRESS large across the top.

 

Always ask for the media person or tent when you turn up unannounced at any happening.

 

If it is a breaking news event, just flash the "Press" pass at the person manning the perimeter, if that don't work, ask to see the boss or someone who can approve your clearance.

If it does work attach a longer lens, 70-200 2.8 is good, and take establishing pics as you approach the scene in a polite, non abrasive, but not intrusive manner, just incase you are told to "PISS OFF!" in no uncertain terms.

 

Just acting in a confident, polite, professinal way will open many doors to you.

For soccer outside my preferred method is to situate myself beside the goal net with the light coming from behind and to photograph the approaching play.

 

Aperture preferred auto, lens wide open with a polariser fitted and a low ISO setting if needed to drop light levels on a real bright day.

 

I nearly always use centre weighted metering, as it proved good enough in the time when there was nothing else, and still delivers consistent exposures plus spot (or partial spot) where there are huge difference in light value between the subject and background.

 

If you prefer manual, taking a reading from the grass will get you in the ballpark range, then chimp and use compensation to get the faces exposed correctly and let everything else fall where it may.

 

I set the camera AF to AI servo, I just use the centre focus point and be aware to have it on a player and not between two of them where it will run off to the background.

 

I also use the shutter button to activate focus tracking, but that is mainly because of habit and economy of actions required to use the camera.

 

This formula has worked well for me with AF film and digital SLRS for sports pics of outdoor games such as Hockey (lawn) Soccer, Rugby, Cricket, Tennis, Netball, Triathlons, Bowls and a few others that I have covered for the sports section of our local paper.

 

You own a nice 20D so experiment with the advice given by contributors to your thread until you find a formula that works for you.

I guess you are thoroughly confused by now. Read about how the auto focus options work in the 5D manual and then follow on to the link that Mark U has thoughfully provided you for a more in depth tutorial, then experiment.

Yep, that cured it, thanks Sean.

Hmmmmmmmm, lets see.............

Good Skills!

Round one to the Pommie pugilist over the Aussie slugger in the Leica Forum World Heavyweight Toey Posters match ;-)

Thanks Sean, will try that next time I include a link

Apologys for the hard to understand post. It really pisses me of how the paragraph breaks disappear when a HTML link is included in a post which makes for a compressed, difficult to read contribution.

"Some kinds of photography, such as PJ, don't lend themselves to careful preparation, but studio, still-life, portrait, figure, and much landscape photography DOES lend itself to exacting preparation and forethought. So, except for PJ and other grabshot work, why SHOULD photographers have a lower success rate than painters? Do we all just have ADD so we don't have the patience to prepare carefully?"

 

Humph, Speak for yourself, oh Pompous One! Have you done PJ work for publication? It really is all about knowing you equipment intimately so you can capture that elusive "Cover" or "Front page" pic if the opportunity presents itself. Also about interesting interpreation of mundane topics, which is great experience in making one capable of capturing a 'decisive' moment.

 

You will find that PJs have a high hit rate and don't 'machine gun' with a motor drive in the vauge hope of capturing something if the picture editors had to trawl through heaps of crap that photographer would be fired.

In a smaller operation the photographer is his/her own picture editor and presents maybe half a dozen images to the picture desk as a select

plus is to busy to be looking at zillions of "hopefull grabshots"

 

Some notable P.J.s are Sebastio Salgado, Jim Nacthwey, Don McCullin, pus many others who could hardly be called 'Grabshooters'

 

And among quite a few PJs here on Photonet we have <a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/2517806">Michael Ging</a> who has 'grabbed' quite a few masterpieces, but only because he kwows what he is doing and is prepared when the opportunity arises.

 

The caption with Michaels image is worth reading!

Tim Holte spoke the hard unvarnished truth in his post. Photography is the everymans everywomans art, of course some everymen everywomen are more skilled at it than others.

Why do I get a little box suggesting that I subscribe to photonet

most times I post in a forum? Should this not be directed at non

subscribers instead of paid up ones?

Bye bye Clint.