nashvegasphotographer

Well, I can use the drop down under file properties to set the copy right flag to "copyrighted" but I thought you should be able to do this in a metadata template so that when I apply my template to a group of images this copyright status is set automagically. Am I incorrect in that line of thinking?

In Adobe Bridge CS3 my images have a copyright status as "unknown". This field

is un-editable in the metadata. How do I correct this?

 

Thanks in advance,

I re-tested my 10D using a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens. The results were MUCH better showing that my problem is in fact the lens and not the 10D. Thanks to all that helped me out and saved me from sending my camera in un-necessarily.

 

Now the question is what to do about the lens. I'm going to check with Sigma to see what they say.

 

Here's an update shot from the 10D with Canon 50mm 1.8<div></div>

When you were doing your focussing tests -- I presume you were using "one shot" focussing. The question I have is were you just focussing once? Sounds strange but I found the following when I used a 10D and the Canon 24-70L Focussing once often gave a missed focus shot. -- Usually to the other side from where the focus was originally. -- ie If the lens was on infinity and I focussed on an object at 3m, it would front focus, and if it was on say 1m, and I focussed on an object at 10m it would back focus. Basically the camera/lens combination was overshooting initially and not coming back. I got into the habit of double or even treble focussing, and that cured the problem -- razor sharp every time. I don't have the same problem with the lens on my 1DMk2 or 1DMk3 so I guess it was a camera fault which I never bothered to get "repaired"

 

Hope this helps -- Steven

 

I was focusing 2 or three times until I didn't hear any more movement from the focusing motor.

 

I'll post an update tomorrow after I test with a true Canon lens.

Thanks to all for the added insight. I've been saving change from the couch cushions to buy some good Canon L glass, but for now this Sigma was the best I had. I'll borrow a friend's Canon 50mm 1.8 and test this again and post back my findings.

 

I do hope it's just the lens as I'm planning to upgrade to a Canon 24-105 L soon.

For Comparison here's a shot manually focused using the same parameters.<div></div>

I've had my 10D since July of 2004. It's never been razor sharp like I'd like,

but lately it seems worse. After some searching I found Bob's article on doing

a focus test and tried it out.

 

I got as close to 40* to the target as possible and used my Sigma 28-70 2.8 EX

lens for the test tripod mounted. It seems my 10D is front focusing when I use

auto focus.

 

I called Canon and they want me to send it in. They had no idea what the

estimate for repair would be until they get the camera body.

 

Does anyone have experience with this? I've been eyeballing a 40D but I'd like

to have this 10D operational as a backup.

 

Advice is appreciated.

 

-J<div></div>

Many thanks. I think I got what I needed.

I did try Google, mentioned that in my opening post, and didn't really see anything that looked like it went beyond commercial type photography.

 

I'm just starting to work toward doing this "professionally" so I've not sold a lot of images outside of a few calendars and posters of from motorcycle races I've shot.

 

Also, is it a good idea to join an association that is specific to one area of photography, or should I look for one more generalized to help from limiting myself? Although I enjoy shooting mainly motorcycle racing, I do quite a few other subjects as well such as families, pets, etc.

 

-J

I must admit I'm pretty much lost here. I've recently enrolled in a Business of

Photography class and we've been given the assignment of finding a Photography

Trade Organization to research and consider joining. I've searched on Google,

but am not really having success.

 

My main subjects have been Motorcycle Races (think MotoGP Superbikes), and land

scape/city scape photography.

 

I'm having difficulty finding any PTOs for those subjects. It seems most are

for commercial subjects like office buildings or product.

 

Any help on this is appreciated.

 

-J

Many thanks for all the suggestions, and for not beating me up on this question.

 

I'll shoot the next event in M. I should have known that CF and AV mode deal was whacky, I just didn't trust myself enough to know more than the camera.

 

Thanks again for all the great tips.

I've been shooting outdoor sport events or nature/landscapes for years and feel

I've done pretty well with these scenarios and have learned a lot, but I wanted

to start doing something a little outside my comfort zone to learn a new area of

photography.

 

I've started volunteering at my local church to shoot some event photography as

a way to get more involved with the church, to practice, and I love to shoot and

thought this would be a new area to delve into. The church is huge with a lot

of concert type events as well as banquets etc.

 

I've done 2 events thus far. One was a banquet under what I considered

difficult natural lighting conditions of small Christmas lights and candles. I

shot this with a 10D and 580EX with Stofen Omni bounce. The flash was directed

straight ahead as the room was all wood ceilings (think log cabin). Most shots

turned out "OK" but some, mainly the portraits with flash were a little hot and

cast a shadow here and there. I used an aperture of 2.8 on most of the shots at

ISO800. I set the custom function on the camera to lock in the shutter speed

for using flash an AV priority which kept the shutter to 1/200. In nature

photography I had all day to test and try new settings, but at events there's

only a limited amount of time and you obviously want the highest success ratio

so any advice here would be appreciated. I seem to have the most trouble with

flash shots.

 

The other event I shot was a Christmas program under what I'd call concert

lighting. I mainly used a Sigma 80-400 OS EX on the 10D at ISO800-1600 and no

flash at AV wide open (4.5-5.6 depending on focal length for this lens). These

turned out quite well, although I had about 10% of the 400mm shots have some

blur in them.

 

I'm scheduled to shoot another event this Sunday which I'm told will again be

low light and no windows. I plan on using the 10D and 580EX again, but was

considering trying some type of bounce device such as a piece of note card or

the like attached to the flash and aim it up. The ceilings will be 30-40ft high

and walls are carpeted so not much bounce flash opportunity here.

 

Any suggestions are appreciated for those in the know. I realize practice is

the best teacher, but again, I only have so much time at these events and would

like to have some type of starting point.

 

Should I stop the lens down to 4.0 or 5.6? One of the other photogs at the

church that I've been working with suggested that, but I've not seen any of her

work and I don't think her lenses are faster than 4.5 or so. In program mode

the camera sets everything to 1/60 and 4.0 regardless of available light so it

kind or surprised me that setting the custom function for locking in shutter

speed in AV mode with flash set the 10D to 1/200.

 

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the novel. I can provide some sample shots of

the past two events if needed.

Thanks for the explanations. I understand how this works now and will have more successful shots as a result.

 

Thanks again!

 

-J

I've got a 10D and just recently purchased a 580EX Speedlite to go

with it. The flash is great, as it should be for the price, but

I've got a question on metering.

 

I've read the entire series here:

http://www.photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

 

However, I'm still missing something. When in AV, TV, or M modes it

seems the cameras metering ignores the fact that I have a flash

attached. For instance, I was taking some test shots in manual and

set the shutter to 1/60 and f/8.0. The cameras meter told me I was

about 4 stops too dark to take the shot, however the shot came out

pretty close to accurate according to the histogram and looked good

visually.

 

My question: Is there a way to know via the cameras metering system

when a shot will be correctly exposed with the flash attached or is

it guess work/calculation?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

-J. Orrand

Thanks again for all the great suggstions.

 

Yes I do use a tripod (bogen manfrotto) and an Acratech ball head mount for landscape work, but I'm rarely in a position to use these items for the shots of bikes, etc. Mirror lockup is also used for landscape, but again not for the bikes as time just does not allow it.

 

Shooting in the f5.6 - 8.0 range is something I will start to experiment with. I do use auto focus on the 10D and have it set to use the center focus point only. I trust the auto focus more so than I do my eyes as my vision isn't what it used to be.

 

I'm self taught, and may just need to invest in a good Photoshop book as that seems to be where I'm weak.

 

-J

Second shot showing post processing with .2 pixel and 400% unsharp mask.

 

-J<div></div>

Thanks for all the responses guys. The tip on using higher Unsharp Mask setting in Photoshop CS seems to do the trick. I tried a .2 pixel with 400% and it's now razor sharp.

 

You guys rock!

 

-J<div></div>

I've been shooting with a 10D for a couple of years. I'm very

familiar with the camera and it's functions, but I'm looking for some

assistance on obtaining sharper images. I'm somewhat of a

perfectionist and I don't feel my images are as tack sharp as they can

(or should) be. I'd really like tack sharp if possible as I shoot a

lot of motorcycles which have high levels of detail.

 

I'm using the following lenses:

 

Tamron 17-35 SP AF Di LD f/2.8-4

Sigma Pro EX 28-80 2.8

Sigma Pro 80-400 EX DG APO OS f/4.5-5.6

 

I've got the color saturation and sharpness bumped up to maximums in

the settings menus on the 10D.

 

Should I be shooting at higher f-stops to obtain sharper images (f11

or higher?)

 

I've used unsharp mask in Photoshop CS (usually 10% with 5 pixel radius).

 

Any other advice would be appreciated.

OK, I called Sigma to get the answer directly.

 

They have designed this lens with the DG lens composition. It HAS NOT been released as of yet, but is slated, tentively, for mid July. The guy I talked to said that date could change, but that's what he has currently for a release date. I'm going to wait for that.

I see the lens you're referring to as DG on the Warehouse site. Is there no way to confirm or get that lens? That'd be great.

Thanks to all who responded. My thoughts were that maybe someone had read an article on "soon to be released" equipment that I might have missed that would give a hint as to any upgrades this lens might see (such as the DG designation one poster mentioned).

 

My issue with the Canon 100-400 is the push pull zoom. I don't particularly like that and prefer twist type zoom function. I'm just picky I guess. If the Canon were a twist zoom I'd give it more consideration.

I've been considering a Sigma 80-400 lens for my Canon 10D. I own a

28-70 EX and it takes great shots. My only complaint is the noisy

focusing motor (not hsm). I've read umpteen reviews of this 80-400

and it seems it's beating out the Canon equivalent in the reviews for

picture quality, sometimes by a lot. Has anyone heard any "rumors"

that Sigma plans to make this an HSM model? About the only complaint

of this lens in the reviews is the noisy focusing motor. I assume

it's the same one that's in my 28-70 and it's definitely noisy. If

this lens had HSM I think it would be perfect for my purpose. I've

been eyeing it for nearly a year thinking Sigma might release it as an

HSM model, but so far no dice.

 

Thoughts/Opinions?

Thanks for the feedback. I've done some testing and will sell the clients CDs with 150dpi 4x6 JPEG images. I did some test prints at that resolution and they looked good at 4x6 but began to pixelate at 5x7 and looked pretty rough (for my tastes) at 8x10. If the clients want to have pixelated 5x7s and 8x10s rather than purchase professional quality prints from me that is their option. This is a nursing class graduation ceremony of about 40 students so I've priced the CDs accordingly.

 

Thanks again.

The clients will be purchasing the CDs. My goal is to provide images that will give them decent 4x6 prints, but be pixelated at anything above that.

 

Would sizing the picture to 4x6 (document size) and setting the res to 300dpi accomplish this? 150dip?

 

That's the answer I'm looking for.

I've got an assignment coming up where I'll be shooting a ceremony.

The clients have requested a photo CD of the shots taken. I'd like to

provide them images that will allow up to a 4x6 print from the CD

files but no larger. If they need larger images, say 5x7 or 8x10, I'd

like to have them purchased through me and printed by my lab.

 

What settings should I use on these JPEG images for the CD to allow

them good 4x6 prints, but nothing larger than that? Do I do it

through the document size in Photoshop, or should I manipulate the

pixels or ?

 

I've searched the site and found some good articles explaining how to

enlarge JPEGs successfully, as well as explaining JPEG compression,

but nothing that really describes what setting should be used ot allow

a certain size print and nothing more.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

-Nashvegas