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affen_kot

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Posts posted by affen_kot

    Vote your favourite portrait lens

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Has any one ever actually recieved a Canon rebate?

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    <p>both of my rebates went smoothly (€100 back on a 70-200L F4 and €50

    back on a 420EX through the <a href="http://www.canonextrapromotion.com/intro.aspx" target="_blank">canon

    extra promotions</a> rebate going on now in europe), taking about three weeks

    in total.</p>

    <p>i even received confirmation emails showing me how to <a href="http://www.submissionstatus.com" target="_blank">check

    my rebate status online</a>. pretty sweet.</p>

    Can anyboday please tell me the street price of D5 in Hong Kong and/or Taiwan?

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    avast, do you have any idea if the 24-70L will be any less expensive in HK shops than, say, the equivalent of bh's price of 1140USD? not to piggyback on someone else's thread, but i'll be there on business in november and you seem to know specifics about shops in the area.(this lens' price is astronomical here in the EU - 1250 euros...was going to pick it up on a layover in the states - automatic 20 percent price reduction - but if there's a significant price difference between the american and chinese shops, i can wait till i get farther west.)

     

    cheers...affen

    50mm macro in liu of 50mm "normal"?

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    i posed this question to myself as well the other day, but kept coming back to four possibilities (all which include keeping the 1.8 version, because what are you really going to get for a used 50mm 1.8 on sleazebay? 40 bucks? better just to hold onto it's low light capabilities):

     

    1. getting the macro version...is the macro feature - only 1:2 - worth an extra 250 euros?

     

    2. switching to another lens type altogether...with the european "extra promotions" rebates running until the end of the year, you can get a brand spanking new 60mm EF-S 1:1 macro lens for 300 euros. this is a new design, one that is very sharp, and more importantly where macro comes into play, isn't merely 1:2 like the 50mm 2.5 macro. but will i be using EF-S lenses in, say three years? will i be able to recoup any funds when i go to sell it? cost, 300 euros.

     

    3. the 50mm 1.4? it offers slightly better (possibly not noticeable) color rendition and sharpness; slightly better build quality; slightly better low light capabilities (although both the 1.4 and 1.8 are soft will above F2 anyway). quieter and speedier focus. worth 300 bones extra? one can buy 4 1.8's for the same price. cost, 300 euros.

     

    4. just being happy with the 1.8 version, getting on with life. cost, 0 euros... bah.

    Canon EOS10D vs. 20D vs. Nikon D100

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    i would suggest that you put your money into the best glass that you can afford. camera bodies come and go, but you'll have your 24-70 for many years if you take decent care of it. as for the brand, that's up to you based upon what you need. i went with canon because of the innovative and intuitive body designs (actually switched from nikon after a few years with semi-pro bodies and primes), and the fact that canon digital bodies seemed to be leading the digital revolution.

     

    as long as you get a dslr that at least has the features of the Nikon D70 or Canon 350D, you'll have what you need to begin and learn with for a few years. digital photography as a subject is a vast expanse (or a large hole into which you can throw things like, say, money), and one that will keep you extremely busy learning for some time. no matter what camera you use, there will be a long learning curve that will take you from a lost beginner (because processing digital is truly different than dropping your film off at the lab), to capable enthusiast (when you can make most of your images look good through PS tweaking and mild tricks, partly because you're taking better pictures to begin with), to seasoned digital photographer (where you're abilities actually begin to be hampered by the equipment you have at your disposal).

     

    don't forget to save some money for software. for the beginner, i would recommend photoshop elements 3.0 or 4.0. you can always upgrade to the full photoshop later for something like 250 euros (which brings us back to the analogy of digital photography as a deep hole). a canon 350D (which is what i would recommend to you, 870 euros new with grip) will come with a suite of canon RAW conversion utilities, and the very useful 'digital photo professional.'

     

    anyway, good luck in your decision. whatever you end up getting, have fun. cheers...affen

    35 f/2 vs. 50 f/1.4

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    <p><a href="http://photodo.com/prod/lens/canon.shtml" target="_blank">photodo.com</a>

    gave the 35mm f2 a 3.9, and the 50mm f1.4 a 4.4. to me 0.5 equals a noticeable

    difference in image quality, based on having used two other lenses on the list

    that were 0.4 apart on the photodo scale. and, 35mm will end up as a 56mm normal

    lens on a 1.6 crop DSLR, which would be good for photojournalistic street shots,

    but possibly not ideal for portraits (although you can shoot portraits with

    anything, really). </p>

    <p>i do have to preempt my opinions by saying that i shoot normally with a heavy

    tripod and cable release - and MLU if the subject isn't prone to erratic movement

    -in order to get the maximum image quality (now whether my pics are interesting...that's

    a different story). to me that means that i wouldn't trade my 50mm for a prime

    of lower quality unless i really 'needed' that length. but only you are the

    judge of what you need or want: you might find the 35mm extremely interesting

    for street shooting, as an example. <a href="http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/cb/index-int2.htm" target="_blank">cartier-bresson</a>

    used a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/museums/photogallery/bresson/gal_1-6.htm" target="_blank">normal

    focal length</a> for much of his street work, and not one of us here can touch

    bresson.</p>

    <p>cheers!</p>

    What Background Lighting for Wireless Flash Set-Up?

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    ambient light sources can be a real help for background lighting (short lamps, low-set wall lighting, etc). using what's already there forces you to learn white balance settings and to possibly carry some gels along, but with creative use of indigenous light, camera angles and subject placement, you can get some great results. try this site for some creative lighting inspiration:

     

    www.dg28.com

    Bob speculates on the 5D

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    speculation and uncorroborated opinion will always have their place at photo.net (which is why i read photography books). if everyone who posted a claim on p.net were restricted to publishing a bibliography, there'd be nobody here (or in the least, p.net would be much less entertaining). it's easier to be an armchair politician than an actual politician.

     

    speaking of speculation...does anyone think that we here in europe will get the expected canon announcement 6 hours earlier than the americans, or will we have to wait for north america to wake up first? cheers...affen

    580ex feature set and 350D's ability to use it

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    this question has to do with the 580ex's feature set and the 350D,

    in particularly the passing of white balance information between

    flash and camera. i am contemplating getting a 580 and relegating my

    550 to a slave for background fill; but i'm still not sure if my

    350D can take advantage of all of the new features of the 580.

     

    according to bob atkins, "The 580EX also communicates with the 20D

    and 1D Mark II to ensure better white balance."

     

    this seems to be similarly stated in nearly every .pdf/wepage on the

    580, but whereas most of these spread sheets were written before the

    recent introduction of the 350D, there is no mention of it's ability

    to "talk" with the 580 and tweak its white balance to the given

    conditions. or is this this lack of mention due to the fact that the

    350D has deliberately been left off of the list (many sites'

    given "date of last update" are incorrect, so i'm not sure)?

     

    the basic question is...can the 350D/xt take advantage of all of the

    new features of the 580 (i'm mainly concerned with the white balance

    info-passing), or is my camera below the cut and inable to use all

    the latest nuances?

    i guess, in the widest sense my question is... as a 350D user who

    mainly uses flash in a portable studio-like setup, am i better off

    just getting another 550 while i still have the opportunity to buy

    it new w/ warrantee, or will i be able to go ahead and get a 580

    knowing that i can use it to its fullest extent? thanks for the

    thoughts in advance...affen<div>00DHoS-25270784.jpg.4e9200e0c78bce0a1bb5232eb03c999f.jpg</div>

    Canon 70-200 f/4L, Why? What do you use it for

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    for portraiture, you don't need this lens. as it's already been said, the ones you have already will fit your portraiture needs very well.

     

    for photojournalism, though, i'd recommend the 70-200 (whichever variant fits your budget). one isn't always afforded enough time to change to the appropriate lens in the field, and then there's the dust/contaminants issue. if you're covering the paris-dakar rally, you'll get a camera full of topsoil changing from a 50 1.x to a 200 2.8.

     

    cheers!

    Why do they make viewfinders with only limited coverage?

    in Canon EOS Mount

    Posted

    it has a lot to do with consumer greed. canon (and the other manufacturers) know that most consumers will - en masse - race out and fight each other to buy a camera with a 50-percent-coverage finder, just to save 20 bucks over the model that has an 80-percent finder. slight exaggeration, but you get my drift. the major manufacturers have to cut corners where they can to maintain their market share in the "budget imaging" arena.

     

    we have low-quality products/services because there is a huge market for them, and i would venture a guess that there always will be.

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