james_wong3

Ditto for Robert, the used items go for the same as new USA retails, what a joke. And I thought the stuff made there would be cheaper!

I had been refused a hand check in Switzerland and China with pushed tri-x, one stop, got x-rayed came home and develped it myself with no ill effects. Last time in China I forgot some film in the CHECKED luggage and again no problems. I guess the machines are better now than they used to be. Same stuff happend to me 15 years ago and the outcome was fogged.

 

But just the same I will still try to hand check and not push my luck...

Call Canon I had the same problem and all the little caps are a few bucks each and they had them in stock!

I have the 17-40l and I have been happy with it, nice and light with good image quality. All of my glass has been Canon, except the cheapie Zenitar but thats manual so I guess it does not count, up until I saw the Sigma 12-24. I had my doubts as this was the first non Canon lens I bought. I have to say I am quite happy with the Sigma,and yes as the above poster said it is heavy and maybe it is not as sharp as some of the other lenses I have but I shoot with film and the perspective at 12 mm is amazing. Guess the decision is like the other posters said what do you want to use it for.

 

If you are using the 12-24 with a non FF digital camera you may want to ask if you really need to carry that much weight and plus it is not that bright of a lens. I am assuming you are using a digital since the other two lenses you are considering are non full frame lenses. So 19-38 at 1.6 is not really that exciting for the two downsides of weight and small maximum apertures.

 

I agree that the contrast and color is good with the 12-24 and that the sharpness is not going to amaze you, but where else can you get a non fish eye 12mm at FF and auto focus for a several hundred bucks? Incidently the 17-40 and the Sigma 12-24 will set you back about the same money.

 

The only quality issue I have a gripe about the sigma that none of my canon lenses have is a tendency to under expose the images when set to AV mode on my eos 3. I have noticed the same tendency when I use the manual Zenitar fisheye with the eos3 as well. So maybe its the camera and not the lenses. Or maybe the camera has problems metering at over 100 degrees for the field of view. Either way it is not a big deal either compensate the exposure manually or if it is really important when in doubt I shoot in manual with an incident meter. Anyways print film is very forgiving of exposure error...

 

Good luck with your photographic journey and do not forget to have fun!

Thanks!!!

Hi all! Does anyone know how to adjust the viewfinder on the Canon

7? If the lens is at infinity the rangefinder patch is off a little

to the left and down of the viewfinder image.

 

Thanks for all responses.

Thanks for the answers! I agree that a non rangefinder coupled .95 lens would be a nightmare to hyperfocus. I want this lens for its low light performance. no point then in getting a television lens then...

Hey guys,

 

Does anyone know if you can use the canon C mount televison

50mm .95 on the 7 rangefinder? I know you can mount it but I do not

think you have the rangefinder pin. Without the rangefinder pin can

you still focus it through the view finder? It would suck to only

hyperfocus with the lens barrel.

Any one know?

Hey Marc,

 

What lenses are you comparing it to, so I can understand your estimate of its picture quality.

Anyone have experiance with this lens? I was curious as to the

quality of this lens. Searching photonet yields very little on it.Is

it on par with the image quality of the 24-85 and the 28-135 IS

midrange lenses? I am not looking for L quality in this lens.I

travel a bit for work and have a few extra hours away to shoot. More

interested in it as a travel beater lens when I do not wish to carry

a truck load of primes or be conspicuous with L lenses. Most

interested in responses from film body owners.

Does anyone know of a program that will let you batch update a group

of files? I am looking for a quick and easy way to paste a logo or

copyright in the bottom corners of groups of images.

 

Thank you!

I have the 85 1.8 and the 100 2.8 macro. I do not find that the 85 1.8 lets you get tight enough for a head shot only. The 100 on the other hand does let you take tight shots of peoples' faces. I do not know for you but I picked the slower 2.8 for it doubles as a macro lens as well as a portrait lens. Be warned that the 100 macro is a little too sharp for flattering portraits. I think you can always diffuse a sharp lens but you cannot do the reverse.

Yes you can mount this on a bracket. You will need the off camera shoe cord #2 from Canon. I shoot it with a stroboframe press t; you may like another company or another stroboframe.

 

I used to shoot with a Metz 45CL4 which was a handle mount and put the flash on the side of the camera. I sold the unit because I did not like the shadows it was casting to the side of people's heads.

 

As the above poster said I do not recommend you mounting the flash to the side. Above works better to hide shadows in your frames.

Another flash sample

Hey Derek, I shoot club events for promotors in San Francisco. I use the 550EX with the same capacity NiMh batteries. I shoot mostly with a 50 1.4 prime, 400iso color print film and shoot on the open end at f1.4~f2.8 on a stroboframe bracket and a stofen diffuser. Subjects are people and distances are within ten feet. I do not bounce the flash as some clubs ceilings are black.

 

I find I can shoot for about 2-3 hours and burn about six to seven rolls of 24 exposure film on the same set of batteries. I do leave the camera on while I turn the flash off while looking for photo opps. I do not know if that really saves batteries, but I do it anyways. I also shoot these events with manual exposures, and the matching settings on the 550 ex. Flash fall off is a problem for me, hope your results are better than mine.

 

hope that helps on the expectation of how many rolls of film you can shoot on one set of batteries.<div></div>

I agree with Simon. The 50 1.4 is my favorite prime. Never used a 50 1.8 so I cannot comment on it. If you do not need something too long check out the 24-85usm. I shot with only this lens and the Elan 7E for about a year when I was getting serious about being a photographer. Even though I have gotten better as a photographer and have shot for hire and now have several L lenses and Eos 3 bodies, I still like to shoot for myself with the 24-85 and the appreciate the silence and light weight of the Elan7e.

Pig Alley at night<div></div>

I got back from Paris about two months ago and had the same issues you had. Even though I have the 50 1.4,85 1.8, 100 2.8, 28-135IS,17-40l,70-200L IS, 75-300IS, and 24-85; I choose to carry the 28-135IS.

 

It is pretty flexible for focal range, vs size vs weight. I did not want to carry all the primes and though the telephotos or wide angle zoom would have been nice, the focal distance of the 28-135 I felt was more useful for 80% of the oppurtunities. But your focal length choices are dictated by your own style, you may value a different focal length.

 

No one mentioned the 24-85 which I like very much. I have taken it to China and Thailand and was very happy with the results. It is much smaller and lighter and wider and faster than the 28-135IS.

 

Just remember to use all of your tools that are available to you. Fast film is pretty good these days. And don't forget about B&W which pushes mush better than color print and slide films. I shot the catacombs of Paris with Delta3200 pushed one stop and was fairly happy with the pic considering the conditions they were shot under.

 

I did not bring a tripod. But with some creativity you can "find" support. I.e. park benches, railings, as the above poster said use good technique by bracing against the wall for support. You may be surprised at your results. Check the posted picture of a bridge over the Seine. It was taken without a tripod. Check the lower right corner of the frame, you can see the railing that I sat the camera on. :P Better to have the shot and crop it when it comes time to printing than to have only memories of being there...

 

The second posting is from pig ally. Shot at night handheld with IS on and iso 400 color print film. I had to brace my back against a street sign to try to keep stable.

 

Good Luck and have fun!<div></div>

Used the wein on my elan 7e with speedotron 2403cx; works fine. I found that the ssr from wein, a wireless transmitter, would not work unless I stacked it on top of the safesync hotshoe mount. The ssr wireless transmitter looks stupid stacked but it works to trigger the speedo without a sync cord.

My question to you is what do you need the bracket for? If you shoot people pictures in dim light then now you are talking. I disagree with the above poster that these brackets are useless. I actually sold my Metz 45 because I did not like how the shadows were showing up to the left of the peoples' heads. Then I tried the 550EX on top of the camera and still got shadows near the tops of the peoples' heads if they were near something to have the shadow fall on. On the Stoboframe Press T, I very seldom get shadows to distract you from the subjects, even if they are standing near a wall! I wouldn't dream of covering an event without my flash mounted high above the camera.

 

I cannot comment on the fit of your combo as I shoot with a EOS3 and a press T frame and a 50mm 1.4

 

Only annoying thing with the bracket is that the nut sometimes gets loose and you have to tighten once in a while. But then again I thrash my combo because I shoot two events every week.

Do not bother using this thing with alkaline batteries. The recycles are glacial. Get the best rechargable batteries you can. I shoot events in San Francisco at nightclubs and dark bars and find I can shoot about seven rolls of film on a full charge with decent recycles.

 

Granted that I shoot ISO400 and 50mm @ 1.4 to 2.8 and subjects are within 10 feet. If you are maxing the guide numbers you may have different results.

 

I have shot events with one 550ex controlling two slaved 420exs and I do not have issues with the recycle times of this set up as well.

 

If you need instant recycles get a battery pack to go with the 550ex.

 

I can't comment on the Nikon as I have never used it. My Metz45 seems to cycle like the 550ex.

Give the Elan 7 series a try. It will give you the features you need for less than the EOS3. As far as IR film goes, I know that the manual says the film advance uses IR diodes and thus will fog the film, but I have ran IR film through it with very little to no fogging of the film. I have ran Kodak HIR film through both the EOS3 and Elan7e reasults were ok.

 

If you need that split prizm you have to get the EOS3 for the interchangable screens.