vemuri

Thanks Puppy for the response. The photo I was taking about is available at :

http://www.photo.net/photo/2485320&size=lg

Hi,

 

I have been having this lens for about a 1 1/2 year so far and have

been noticing the flare issue while shooting sunsets recently.

Earlier, all my shots were on film camera and I have so far had two

sessions with EOS 300D and 70-200 f/4 L trying to shoot sunsets. Have

been noticing this problem while trying to shoot into the sun.

(Ofcourse after taking precautions not to damage the camera or the

eye) No filters used and shot at f/8. Am I doing something silly or

does the crop factor of 1.6 make this difference in anyway? I have

experiened flare problems before on Velvia too but while using other

lens or filters but never on this L lens. Does the hood make a

difference even when shooting into the sun? Any advice would be very

helpful. Thank You.

 

http://www.photo.net/photo/2485320&size=lg

Adorama has Minolta 5400 at $829 today. Compared to that Canon FS4000

still sells at $599. So if there isn't a requirement for third party

software like Vuescan, the difference between the two is further

down. So wouldn't that extra resolution and higher speed worth a lot

more than that small difference in price? Looking that way, unless

Canon offers some rebates or cuts their price, Elite 5400 looks a

clear choice. So from your experiences(even though short), do the

users of 5400 see a necessity for Vuescan or such in future? If not,

may be my wait is over. Thanks for your time.

Hrish,

 

To me, it's looks like the application of a blue filter (May be a ND Grad or a totally blue Cokin or such). Just IMHO please based on my limited experience.

Hi,

 

While looking around for scanners, I have come across HP S20xi

scanner which costs less than $100 and yet has good reviews for it's

class. It's a 2400 DPI without Digital ICE but most reviews quote

excellent scan quality. Any comments on this scanner will be highly

appreciated. For people planning to move into digital in a year or so

and for good resonable slide scans, wouldn't this be an appropriate

scanner for short term and cost wise instead of spending $600-$900

and then moving to digital. I know that what we pay is what we get

but from the reviews, it looks like this gives a lot more than what

we pay for. Am I wrong? Any experiences with this scanner?

Thanks to all of you for your detailed replies. These points do help me a lot.

 

Well, my choice of Av mode was based on my previous experience where I used the P-Mode to take pictures of people in a room during night with just the few normal overhead lights and another small light source focused on the subjects. Ofcourse my Flash at that time was the built-in flash. The shots I got also suffered from poor sharpness for subjects standing beyond my main subject. In other words, in shots where I had people placed in two rows, the second row of people weren't in very good sharpness. This was with shots taken from about 5-6 feet distance and the Camera placed on a firm surface and timer used to avoid shake.

 

Based on that experience, I assumed that the P-Mode would reduce the DOF and approached Av Mode. Now since I have the 420EX, may be I need to try P-Mode again.

 

Any suggestions/comments over that.

If the grain could be because of underexposure, could it be because of failure of reciprocal law too? Does that happen even at an exposure of 1 sec? May be not? Anyway, thanks for your detailed response.

Hi,

 

I shot some Graduation cermony and indoor birthday function shots of

my friends using my Canon Elan 7E and Canon EF28mm f/2.8 and EF 50mm

f/1.8 II lenses. All the shots were during nights and mostly under

dull lighting with Flash (420EX) being the major light source. I was

in Av mode with most of the exposure times around 1/8 sec to 1 sec.

The film was Fuji Superia 400 and I used a Tripod. The Apeatures

were anywhere from f4 to f11 for various shots.

The problem is after getting the film processed and printed, I notice

that most of the shots suffer from lower sharpness. Some shots are

good but many lack good sharpness and I can clearly see the grain

even at 4x6 size print.

 

I have been shooting for long with this camera and lenses but haven't

seen this problem before. ofcourse I shot very few sessions of night

photography of people under dull lighting.

So why could this be? Is it the film or processing or the combination

of all including the dull lighting or focusign issues? I was under

the assumtion that with both being good prime lenses, I was good with

420 EX during nights.

I had this experience with my Elan 7E long time back but was then

using the average EF 28-90mm lens that comes as a kit and was using

the P Mode.

 

Could this be related to bad focusing of the camera during low light

conditions?

Hi,

 

Firstly, if it was planned for India, your brother should have purchased a USA lens as it would have a Worldwide Warranty and would cost just a little more. I know this is not the solution for your problem now.

 

Coming to your issue, I would definitley get a quote form any Canon Dealer if available at your place. As you said it might just cost you as much as your shipping to USA or little more as labour is cheap India. In addition, if you ship to USA, during its return transit, you might(Just a chance) get into Customs issues unless your brother had paid custom duties the 1st time.

 

Good luck.

Hi again,

 

Firstly, thanks for all the prompt replies. oming to the questions you raised,

 

Nature Photography: I am more interested in Landscapes, Flowers, Sunsets/Sunrises etc most of the time.

 

Budget: For now is about $1000

 

I don't think I will be making a true comparision if I try to compare photographs taken with primes with the ones taken using my 28-90 f4-5.6 USM which doesn't have a good reputation at all.

 

As of now, I have been using Films (mostly Fuji Reala 100) but had been careful with the Print labs. I plan to start using slides pretty soon. I do use a Tripod most of the times.

Hi,

 

I am starting to get more serious with my Photography hobby and would

like to hear some suggestions going forward.

 

I presently have an Elan 7E with the regular 28-90mm USM lens.

 

I am planning to purchase better quality lenses going forward and

have been looking around trying to gather knowledge of different

lenses.

 

On learning a few things, my biggest question at the moment seems to

be : Should I go for Zooms or Primes?

 

With my inclination being towards Nature Photography, what would be

the best choice : Zooms or Primes? I understood the basic Pro's and

Con's of the two but in practical applications, looking into future,

for a serious but not a professional Photographer, which would be

better. Coming to Primes, what are the suggested set?

 

Thanks for your valuable time.

 

Ravi

Hi again,

 

So if stopping down to something about or below f/16 reduces the sharpness, what are the situations where we can really apply these low Apertures. Doesn't greater DOF have greater sharpness as their characteristics for even the high end lenses?

 

Sorry for the ignornace but I have always been of the opinion that smaller apertures (stopping down) have greater sharpness always.

Firstly, thanks to all of you for your prompt replies.

 

I do use Tripod almost all the times and I am from Portland, OR where it's cloudy most of the time. That's the main reason for mentioning "Low Light" even though I am getting started with night photography too.

 

One of the frequent experiences I had with 28-90mm USM was that as I stopped down below f16 in Aperture (for greater DOF), I was losing sharpness which I observed espcially with my fall foilage photos using Reala 100. I felt that could be because of the quality of the lens based on many reviews. That's the reason for starting to think that a better lens would improve it. I have no problems with potraits or close up shots most of the time.

 

Once again, thanks for your time and responses. I would appreciate your comments on my photographs too if you have time to take a look at them.

Hi,

 

I have an Elan 7E with the 28-90mm USM lens. After shooting plenty of

rolls of film, I am sure that I need to upgrade my lens to something

far better. Most of the time, I do nature photography.

 

Coming to the question, on reading different reviews, I am down to

Canon 28-105 USM, Canon 28-135 IS USM and finally Tamron SP 24-135mm.

The first one is cheaper compared to the rest but what I am

interested in knowing is which one would be the best especially for

low light conditions. Compared to Canon, does the tamron one has any

specific advantages other than being slightly wider in zoom.

 

Thanks for your time and comments.