john_kramer3

My god, I see that a set of ink costs about $600! Will one set last through my above mentioned need to print out, say, 100 10x14s?

 

Also any real difference between the "normal" and "professional" model of the 3800?

How much does it cost to *operate* one of these machines?

 

How much do you spend a month/year on ink and paper?

 

There are what, 8 cartridges? I have no idea how long they might last or even what they cost.

 

Let's say I want 20 framed photographs. Having never printed before, it might take 5 prints (or more!) per frame to get what I like..

I have been shooting nice raws for a long time, and working up my photoshop

skills. Now I finally have enough money to look into getting a printer and start

doing some serious framing. I don't think I need to print anything larger than

11x14.

 

The question is, which printer would be the end all solution for me, if I want

to make nice exhibition quality prints to mat and frame?

 

The last time I looked into printers, which was a long time ago, it seemed like

the two players were the Epson R1800 and R2400. Are they all they are cracked

up to be? Also, I can't choose between black and white and color. Do I have to

buy both printers?

 

Any other ideas?

 

Thanks!

Regarding the 50 f/1.4: Yes, there are considerations other than wide open performance. One point to consider might be how long the lens can stay out of the trash can. From a production and quality control standpoint, the 50 f/1.4 must be one of the biggest sources of embarassment for the people at canon. It's an absolute piece of garbage that requires almost bi annual repairs and replacement. I have gone through 3. (Replacements that is: I'm not even counting repairs). I don't know if all the non-L series lenses are built so poorly, but I wouldn't buy one again.

No, I agree it's not normal on a 5d. especially if you're not on continuous you should be able to shoot it almost like film. even when the memory card does fill up it's only slows you down by a second or two anyway.

 

As suggested again, if it happens again, see if the red light is on, indicating it's something to do with your card.

 

Follow the advice of #1 and format the card INSIDE THE CAMERA every time you take it out. ie: every time you clear old pictures, reformat it with the 5d's format option. If your card has anything about it that suggests it could be fake, replace it. ie: cheap price, cheap store, etc.

I need to rent a Canon 580ex flash, and if possible a Canon 85 f/1.2L lens in

Buenos Aires, Argentina. Anyone know a shop that rents equipment? Would the

rates be comparable to new york (~$75 per week)?

 

Thanks!

To everyone: Thank you for all the time and advice you have provided to help me with this. I will try to rent a good flash rather than purchase a substandard option. The only problem with that is the wedding is in Buenos Aires, Argentina -- not sure how difficult it will be to find a shop that rents equipment there. Since I live in China, I won't be able to rent anything from "home" either.

 

To William: I'm sorry if my reply was sarcastic. But my point was this - I don't think that posting a message like mine on a forum full of wedding photographers results in the most pragmatic solution. In other words, I think that most people on this forum have never met a couple before who want a low-key wedding. Everyone here lives (and more importantly, works) in an environment where a wedding is the prom of adult life. The couple I'm shooting for don't really care about any of the things that most brides and grooms in a traditional wedding spend months sweating about. I wasn't even asked to "shoot a wedding". I'm doing this for me, more than them. I have nice equipment, and a lot of experience and no matter what I do it will be better than relying on somebody else to bring their point and shoot digital camera. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

My reply wasn't meant to be rude. I owe helpful people like you on photo.net all of the development in photography I have made over the years. I was frustrated reading many of these replies thinking "We're not looking at the same big picture here"

I have to say, I actually went out of my way to not post my message on the wedding forum. But it got moved.

 

I was expecting a lot of the replies I received ("WHAT?!?!?!? NOOOOOO!!! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!")

 

So, I'll take your advice. Instead of trying to go out and shoot 25 gigs of raws with such unworkable limitations, I'll just put a few disposable cameras on each table and let the guests handle the photography. But don't worry, I'll make sure they are the kind that have a flash.

I have never used a flash before, but I am going to shoot my sister's wedding

and realize that a flash is probably a necessary piece of equipment for

something like this. Since I will never use the flash again afterwards, I'd

prefer to get something cheap, but obviously care very much about the success of

the photos. I have a 5d with a 17-40 and 70-200 2.8 isl

 

Can I get away with a $100 220EX? What would the issues be with choosing this

model versus a more expensive flash? Any guidance/advice would be appreciated.

Are there any great, less obvious places to take pictures of the brooklyn

bridge/etc at night. Obviously I know about the brooklyn heights promenade..

where else?

Well, you shouldn't have exchanged the money before you left, but you probably already knew that. Now you may face a terrible problem if you don't spend all the money - it can be a terrible ordeal to change RMB back to the USD, as it's not a freely convertible currency.

 

The best way to exchange money in any foreign country is usually to use your foreign ATM card and withdraw locally. That way you get the credit card exchange rate, which is usually a lot better than banks/etc. In China the two banks that will nearly always take foreign debit cards are 1)China Construction Bank and 2) Bank of China.

 

$1000 a week is an unbelievable amount of money in China. I don't know what kind of lifestyle you live at home, but I live in China quite comfortably for $250 (~2000rmb) a week - that includes a big apartment/etc etc in Beijing. Nanjing is obviously cheaper than Beijing. Then again, if you book a hotel through expedia or something, you can probably easily spend $200 a night for a hotel room. If you get a comfortable, but not 5 star, local hotel you can probably spend more like 200 rmb per night. A really nice hotel in Nanjing should definitely not cost more than US$100 a night - more like US$50. If you're paying more, rent it for a day or two, and then find a new place when you're walking around Nanjing.

 

If you have a chance to travel, I would strongly recommend you try to get to Suzhou and Hangzhou - both beautiful places very close by. If you go to Shanghai you'll take a big hit on your budget, as you're effectively leaving China and going back to the west. You could go to Suzhou for a day (I think its about 2 hours from nanjing), then go to hangzhou the next day (another 2 hours more or less) and spend 2 days in hangzhou. Hangzhou is quite beautiful - an enormous lake, with temples and mountains in the distance, a beautiful walk around the lake with restaurants/etc. and gucci, ferrari, and nightclubs on the other side. take your pick. even there you shouldn't spend over $50-$100 a night for a hotel by the lake. ESPECIALLY in the winter.

What an impossible question to ask. My new years resolution is to learn some new

tricks in photoshop and I'm looking for one book to focus on. I know there must

be a million photoshop books out, so I am hoping somebody might have a

recommendation for a particularly fantastic book. I'll try to describe my

background and skills a little:

 

I am pretty good at computers in general, and I can do many things in photoshop

already. My objective is to process my raws well. I am fine with doing some

manipulations to make the image look best, but not to the point of using

photoshop to create new artwork, if that makes sense. At the most maybe I would

paste in a new sky or something.

 

I can do many things already - ie sharpening, etc. So I don't need an absolute

beginners book. However, I'm not great at deciding what looks best, so I guess I

would like to see a number of concrete examples for each new "trick"

 

Any help?

 

THANKS in advance!

I agree with the other posters. I made the same decision a half year ago and bought the 17-40, and it is by far my favorite lens to use. However, I would trade anything to make it a 16-35. If it's at all possible, do it. you're going to want to upgrade it sooner or later. f/4 just sucks.

Oh I'm using this with a 5d. It seems like the body affects what aperture you'll be able to use. I'm looking at this on B&H and they don't specifically mention the 5d.. hope that is a good thing.

I use a 70-200 2.8 IS and sometimes I want some more range. I have looked at

the 100-400, but spending another $1300 and carrying around another bowling ball

of a lens doesn't sound very appealing.

 

A 2.0x canon extender currently costs only $279. Apparently this will make my

lens a 140-400 f/5.6 - - and autofocus will still work.

 

What's the catch?

I thought I wrote up a follow up to this post, but it didn't seem to come through.

 

First, to clarify... it seems like my use of the words "bouncing around" did not convey the severity of the problem. If you were to, say, put the lens on a tripod, and activate the AF, it would look like there was an earthquake. the bouncing will continue until you release the AF. often if you try again the problem will go away.

 

So, it sounds like I need warranty service. How long does it take to send it in to the NJ service center? Thanks again.

I found the canon quick service center. it's in a building called the Regent off Wangfujing (same building as ferrari and every other european sports car)- email me if you need to find it. Here are the results:

 

1) an american warranty does not seem to be valid in china, they will service products for $ here, or warranty products bought in china. they told me I'd have to return to the US to get warranty coverage.

 

2) They also told me that my 70-200 2.8 IS was "too expensive" for them to repair. they do not get many of them there.

 

3) I asked them about getting my sensor cleaned professionally. They said they'd do it for 150 kuai RMB. I went for it. they returned it and didn't charge me. I can't promise they'll do the same for you, but it was really nice and they did a wonderful job with a sensor that had 3 months of sand from the middle east inside.

 

4) They're very kind and professional, but you should expect to use Chinese. I don't think they speak any english.

Thanks for all the fantastic responses, as if there were any doubt, photo.net is clearly an amazing resource.

 

I shoot on a 17-40 and I absolutely cannot stand F/4, but I'm hesitant about giving up 5mm with the 16-35. Now I'll be able to see how much I use the 35-40 range. Thanks again!

Is there a way to see what % you shoot at each focal length?

Like the majority of people, I'm thinking about replacing one lens with another.

Since no lens is perfect, my replacement choice would require me to lose some of

the focal length of the lens I currently use.

 

I am thinking there should be some kind of program that can report statistical

data from the meta data inside your raws and jpegs. I would be very interested

in searching through thousands of my photos and seeing how much I use each focal

length. I would like to see how much I actually use the range I'm looking to

give up.

 

Does this sound pretty anal?

Like the majority of this forum, I'm thinking about replacing one lens with

another. Since no lens is perfect, my replacement choice would require me to

lose some of the focal length of the lens I currently use.

 

I am thinking there should be some kind of program that can report statistical

data from the meta data inside your raws and jpegs. I would be very interested

in searching through thousands of my photos and seeing how much I use each focal

length. I would like to see how much I actually use the range I'm looking to

give up.

 

Does this sound pretty anal?

There is a huge difference between a canon service center and a guy trying to pry off the outer element of my lens with a knife. Since the fakes and actual stores charge the same price (expensive) you have a lot to lose. You can buy knockoffs of canon lenses, too. I haven't seen a body faked, though.

 

I wasn't able to find canon's offical service center site through their website. They have a great article about a "quick service center" they opened in beijing, but naturally did not decide to list where it was or when it was open.

 

Do you think my US warranty is valid here?

I have a 70-200 2.8 IS, and when I trigger the autofocus, the entire image in

the view finder bounces. Usually I can recompose the image and try to focus

again, and it will work fine, IS and all. Thus, I can still use the lens

normally, but there is obviously something very wrong with the lens.

 

It's about 6 months old. A few questions

 

1) anybody have this problem before? If so how did you fix it, and how much did

it cost?

 

2) do you think the warranty would cover this? I can't say for certain that the

lens wasn't dropped, and subsequently damaged. However there are no marks of any

kind on the lens. How good is canon about giving you the benefit of the doubt

about whose fault the problem is?

 

3) Is canon warranty the worst thing in the world? I think I've read a number

of stories of repairs taking 8 months, etc etc. I'm in China and I bought the

lens in the USA. I can't imagine what complications that will add.

Has anybody has good experiences repairing an EOS body in beijing? I am mainly

looking just go get the sensor on my 5d professionally cleaned (how much do

other canon centers charge to do this? Cheaper to just order a cleaning kit and

have it shipped over?). However, I also have a slightly broken 70-200 IS to

repair. If it's cheap and professional, I woudln't mind getting it done here.

 

I'm afraid that in China everything is fake and the mere presence of canon signs

means nothing about quality, etc. Hope to hear some good experiences.

I am surprised at the rest of the feedback you've received. You are absolutely right - the Elan 7e is incredibly slow at autofocus. Anyone who holds it alongside another body will notice this immediately.

 

I shot a 7e for about 4 years and never noticed it because, of course, I wans't comparing it to anything else. It was only when I was buying a new camera body and tried them all out back to back that I noticed how AMAZINGLY slow the 7e is. That being said, focus speed isn't everything and it certainly didn't affect the quality of my pictures (as I shoot landscapes). But now that I'm on a 5d there is no looking back.

Most of the posts above talking about the military problems are coming from people who haven't been to myanmar in years. I live in the southwest of china and make it there frequently. Just to give you an idea of how things have opened up, there is, of course, no longer an exchange requirement upon entering. about two years ago they were one of the first countries in the world to implement an electronic visa system (which sadly is no longer), you can now get a visa on arrival in Yangon - but usually the problem is convincing the airline to let you on the plane without a visa! I have traveled around quite a bit and haven't had any problems with the military, and certainly haven't had my film confiscated!

 

I have never like Mandalay much, if I were you I'd try to get to lake Inle, which isn't that far from Mandalay. If you really pushed yourself (and essentially skipped Mandalay) you could do it and I think your photographs would be a lot more interesting. If you only have the choice of Mandalay and Yangon, I'd of course spend more time in Yangon, which I like quite a bit. I'd recommend sunrise at the Schwedagon more than sunset because if you arrive there very early, you'll be able to get a lot of great shots of monks inside little shrines praying... the sky is black, the shrine are lit up from the inside and you have the outline of the monk inside.. really a fantastic shot. but get there about an hour before sunrise.. I think I left cenral yangon around 430am to get those shots.