kaustubh

I have never printed pictures at home and am thinking of buying a

canon ip6000D. lets leave the printer price aside for this discussion.

my main concern is "is it cost effective to print color photos at home

?" I can get 4X6 prints for around 20-25 cents each (in us) and 8X10

for around $4-5 each.

how many pictures can I print from one set of cartridges ? I know

thats difficult to estimate because of the different colors. Are there

any ballpark numbers out there on any website/forum that I can go and

study ? say roughly x-to-y 4X6 OR x-to-y 8X10 ? looking for something

like that.

What are you guys' experiences ? can we say its cost-effective for

8X10 and not for 4X6 ? just based on price of ink and good glossy

picture paper ?

at the back of my mind i know i will end up spending more with home

printing...just because i will take many more prints than what I would

have :-) lets not complicate matters by putting that in the equation

:-) lab is very close to my place and hence collecting prints is not

an issue.

say, i have to print 100 8X10 pictures...wud home printing be cheaper

? or say, 200 4X6 ? what wud be cheaper

Thanks in advance for helping me go through this dilemma

Kaustubh

Does Canon EF 1.4x II Extender work with 300 f/4 L non-IS lens ? The

compatibility chart on BH lists only the IS lens. I have the non-IS

lens and am thinking of buying the teleconverter.

thanks in advance

Kaustubh

As others have said, I doubt if they will ever come up with it. simple reason, that i can

think of, is that they would not want it to cannibalise the markets of 300 f/4L IS (as you

urself said u wont buy it) and 100-400 L IS. last thing they want is their own lenses

competing with each other.

IMO, such holes (needs, rather) shud be filled by the third-party guys like sigma, tamron

etc.

With so many people shifting to digital and (hence) using higher ISO settings, the need of

IS might be actually going down. And people, after spending over 1k on digital slrs, might

be, in fact, looking for such great bargain lenses. It would be interesting to find out if

they have sold more of these recently than in the past.

Kaustubh

now that chris has answered one part of you question about Av mode, let me take a shot at the other

yes, ur photo can get slightly overexposed if it is light toned. You will have to use some flash exposure compensation. here's the deal...even though ur shutter speed is 1.6 sec, the flash duration may not be that much. flash duration, if this is fill flash mode, will be a short one....majority of the time the shutter is open...flash is not exposing the subject. hence, this does not cause gross overexposure.

typically, with fill-flash, u will have to dial in negative flash exposure compensation for light toned objects....a little less for middle toned and not at all for dark objects..or perhaps some positive fec for dark ones.

there are many such 'wud like to have specs' in lenses. canon wont make them because they dont want those to canibalise the business of the more expensive lenses....which wud have more profit margin i suppose. in this case, they don't want their own lens to compete with the 2.8 version

third party manufacturers shud be looking at these things and trying to fill the holes.

e.g sigma has a 120-300 f/2.8 lens and a 100-300 f/4. why doesn't canon have these ? i guess because they do not want their own lenses to compete with the 100-400, 300 f/4, 300 f/2.8, 75-300 DO etc.

similarly, why does canon not come up with 400 f/5.6 L IS ? they dont want it to compete with 400 f/4 DO and 100-400 IS.

my 2 cents

kaustubh

do this test....

1. have a dark bg and a white subject...partial metering...make sure the subject is large enuff to cover the area of ur partial-metering....and not too large. don't put the flash on, set shutter speed to, say, 125 and do partial metering. check what aperture camera suggests.

2. now put the flash on and do the same exercise...same metering mode..same shooting mode...same shutterspeed. check if the camea now gives u a different reading. If it is, its most likely using evaluative...u might get a wider aperture...thats becos camera is giving weightage to the dark bg. if you get the same aperture, its sticking to partial.

note that camera does not change aperture-shutterspeed after firing pre-flash.

BTW, I always shoot in evaluative and hence never worry too much about this.

Kaustubh

Cathy,

I have read good reviews of the sigma 100-300 f/4 ex if hsm apo (all the good things) lens. you might want to consider it...with a sigma 1.4x it can be extended to 420 f/5.6. the combination shud be around US $1000.

never used it though.

Kaustubh

the subject says all about my question. Does anyone out there have

experience with this combination ? if it does work, does it work in AF

mode or MF on elan7e.

I am debating between sigma 100-300 f/4 if ex hsm apo lens and the

canon 300 f/4 L IS lens. I already have sigma 1.4x that I use with my

sigma 180mm ex if hsm apo macro lens.

same Q for sigma 2x. Even if it were to work, i know that 600 f/8 can

be considered quite slow.

Thanks in advance.

Kaustubh

BTW, how hard it is to find accomodation in the teton/yellowstone area for that season ? I have heard that it is and one has to make reservations well in advance.

I intend to go there during that time and am not planning to camp...nor will I have the budget to check into a $250/day room :-) i am also in an unfortunate situation of not being able to plan right now. The dilemma is what would be the latest time to plan and still get decent accomodations....either in the parks or just outside.

sorry for digressing from the main topic.

thx in advance

Kaustubh

Yakim...thx a lot...that second link answers a lot of questions that have been troubling me for a while

Kaustubh

here is some info regarding metering with flash.

http://bobatkins.photo.net/photography/eosfaq/flashfaq.htm

However, this does not get into details of the effects of different metering modes.

Say, we are concerned about 3 metering modes (center-weighted, evaulative and partial) and 3 shooting modes (Av, Tv, M), then we are looking at 9 combinations. Does someone know how E-TTL metering works for each of these 9 combinations ? and what does the camera exactly do afetr the pre-flash ? change shutter-speed aperture ? or decide power of the output of the flash ? or decide the duration of teh flash? Suppose it works same for Av and Tv. Still...there are six combinations. Can someone throw light on this ?

Thanks in advance

Kaustubh

I will tell you what I know about non-flash metering. I am not too clear on what exactly happens with flash. i always use evaluative while using flash and it is good 99% of the times.

the 7e/ 7ne has 35 small squares (or may be rectangles) for metering purposes. Imagine a matrix of 5 rows and 7 columns. The inner matrix of 3 rows and 5 columns is built around the seven focussing points.

Note that although this covers most of the frame, it does not entirely cover it....doesn't matter.

partial metering: the light from a few (perhaps 5 in the shape of a plus sign) squares including focussing point and around the point u have focussed at (u can set this as center point irrespective of focussing point... as mentioned earlier) is measured. The shutter-speed and/or aperture based on shooting-mode is set accordingly. The light from rest of squares is ignored.

evaulative: light from all sqaures is considered. most weightage is given to the few sqaures around the focussing point , a little less weightage to squares further away from the focussing point and the least weightage to squares farthest. What this weightage is and how the algorithms come up with it is largely unknown.

Evaluative is pretty good. I used to use elan2e before. I feel that the evaluative of elan 7e beats it by a distance. I have started relying on it in more and mor..even in tough conditions.

about ettl metering with flash....

I have never found good info on how the metering modes ineract with the shooting modes e.g. everyone says that in Tv and Av mode, camera meters the background and uses the flash only as a fill flash. What if i am using partial metering ? I haven't found an answer to that. May be....the camera uses evaluative metering in Tv and Av modes irrespective of the setting. It doesn't bother me too much because I always use evaluative with flash. In M mode flash is supposed to be the main light source....again don't know how metering modes interact with this.

Another thing I am not clear about is " I am using Tv, I set a shutterspeed...based on BG, camera sets the aperture....after pre-flash, does camera alter this shutterspeed-aperture combo ? I haven't seen this happen. or does it just make the decision on the duration of flash that will be required ? "

If you cannot get to the bottom of this...dont worry....put the metering mode evaluative and shoot pictures.

Kaustubh

Bill,

thx for the answer. so you are saying the preflash and metering thereafter has no effect on the shutter-speed and aperture used for the actual shot. assuming camera did not move or the ambient light did not change.

suppose I am shooting a middle-toned subject on partial metering from 2 feet away. The camera meters the scene (or rather the 9.5% area around the focussing point) and sets f/8 and shutter speed 1/90. This means the subject will appear middle-toned even if flash were not to be used. (or doesn't it ?)

In this situation, won't even a small duration flash overexpose it ? note that i am shooting with a 420ex from 2 feet away.

Ideally, I would like the camera to increase the shutter speed after metering after preflash to prevent overexposure. I am still having a difficult time to believe that without altering the shutter-speed and aperture, the camera exposes the object correctly. I have tested this and the camera does seem to get the result right.

Kaustubh

I have the old canon 100 mm f/2.8 non-usm macro lens. I want to sell it infact because I purchased a sigma 180mm f/3.5 hsm ex macro lens. I have been very happy with it and don't see much use for the 100mm now...at least for macro. the sima 180mm is slightly more expensive than the new canon lens (in the US)...but not as expensive as the canon 180m macro. It gives great working distance (useful for shooting butterflies ) and has a tripod collar. has its own big hood and a nice case.

the canon 100mm f/2.8 lens is very sharp though....fantastic for portraits....gives great blurred bg when opened up to 2.8 or 3.5. However, for 1:1 macro, one might need a focusing rail to get great results.

the internal focussing and usm for the new lens must help. One more difference, i think is the diameter. The old one used to be 52mm...the new one is 58mm i think. am not sure what difference that makes for the image

Kaustubh

perhaps this is too basic a question.....what does the camera set after the preflash is done ?

I don't think it alters either the shutter speed or the aperture. (or does it ?) My guess then is that it sets the duration of the flash. am not sure if 420ex varies the output in any other fashion.

let us assume I am using partial metering and am metering off a middle-toned object in Av mode. Distance of camera/flash from object is 3 feet. I think it will set the shutter-speed so as to expose the middle-toned object correctly (i.e. middletone). From the answers so far, it is clear than elan2e sticks to partial metering when the flash is on.

After preflash, if the camera is not altering the shutter-speed and aperture, how does it prevent overexposure of the object ? One wud think that even the slightest duration flash wold be sufficient to overexpose it.

Note that I am not unhappy with the results I get....however, I cannot seem to see what the camera is thinking in each different situation that I am testing.

Thanks a lot. This is very educational for me.

Kaustubh

I know this has been discussed before. However, I could not find a

single thread with answers to all questions below.

I have a canon eos elan 2e and a 420ex flash. I would like to know

(a) if the metering modes (partial, evaluative, average) are respected

when I use the flash ?

(b) If so, are they respected in all modes (P, Av, Tv) ?

© If not, then, is evaluative mode used irrespective of the setting ?

(d) does elan 7e do things differently ? I am planning to buy one

(e) does flash 550ex give a different behaviour ?

I have read on some threads that eos-3 always meters in evaluative

mode when flash is used. am not sure what elan 2e does.

I have read bob atkins info and some other websites...but no one says

this varies from one camera body model to another

Thanks in advance

I live in Irving and would like to know some good labs in the Dallas

locality. I mostly do slides (velvia). I have used wolf camera

satisfactorily for a number of years. However, their processing lead

time has gone up lately (over a week). Hence the request.

Thanks in advance

Kaustubh

Thanks everyone. I finally bought this lens and am very happy with it.

Kaustubh

I have a Canon EOS Elan2E body and use the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro

lens for close-ups. that works like a charm. I am planning to get a

Sigma 180mm f/3.5 lens (new one)....just to give me more working

distance (for butterflies, insects etc.) Primary reason for sigma is

the price differential w.r.t similar canon lens :-)

Are there any known compatibility issues (elan 2e-sigma lens? related

to AF..especially eye-ball focussing ? I have read that the sigma

lens switches to MF at close distances. I don't have a problem with

that.

Thanks in advance

Kaustubh