haunting_your_thoughts

I used to have the same problem with my 580 EX. Finally, I figured out the trick, and I get great shots even with little or no lighting present. I angle the flash 60 degrees, pull out the white reflector on the flash. put my flash exposure compensation to a higher compensation, and get great shots every time. This is good especially if you don't have the money to spend on expensive lighting equipment. The flash exposure compensation helps to brighten your pictures. The 60 degrees helps bounce flash off the ceiling, and also off the flash onto your subjects. Hope this helps.

Hello all,<br><br>Thank you for your responses. I am not Jake the Wrestler with the snake. Very funny photo though.

<br><br>Alan, as for the Flash, I use a 580EX Canon Speedlite. It serves it's purpose very well, especially in

low light situations.

 

<br><br>At present I have only one body, the 3 lenses and a 580EX Canon Speedlite. A second body would be the

next reasonable move along with the IS kit lens. After that, I would probably get the 50mm F/1.4.

 

<br><br> Anymore ideas are welcome.

 

<br><br>Thanks

Hello,<br><br>My present lens collection includes:

 

<br>1. Canon 18-55mm EF-S<br>2. Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8<br>3. Canon 100mm F/2.0 USM

 

<br><br>I shoot weddings and portraits. My copy of the 18-55mm EF-S lens is sharp enough that I was able to take

a decent

group photo of 37 people at 18mm and F/7.0. The Tamron 28-75mm lens is used to run around in weddings and do all

types of stuffs. The 100mm lens is used for special portraits and is also a very sharp lens. I am looking for a

possible 4th lens to add to my collection. I was thinking of either the Canon 35mm Any ideas? If I were to buy a

lens, I want a lens that will make my pictures stand out. I cannot afford an L-series lens, but I am sure that

there are equivalents out there that are close enough.

 

<br><br>I was thinking of one of the following:

 

<br>1. Canon 50mm F/1.4

<br>2. Sigma 30mm F/1.4 (received some bad reviews)

<br>3. Canon 35mm F/2.0

<br><br>

My Camera is a Canon Rebel XT 350d (8.0 MP) camera.

<br>

Or, am I better off going investing my money into the

Canon Rebel XSi, and sell my present Rebel XT?

<br>

Budget for lens: $300-600

<br>

Budget for Camera: up to $800

<br>

Any input would be appreciated.

<br>

Thank you

Or, maybe you'll just disappear once you get into that car. Hehehehe Good luck. Hope you don't get greedy and walk into a trap. Maybe you should meet in a public place first. Maybe they want your equipment. either way, good luck if you dare take it.

Or, you could hire me to put together your book for you. At a very reasonable price, and my company would be glad to put the order with Asuka Books for you. We accept Paypal. Drop us a request, and check us out

I would recommend you to get 2 extra flash along with silver umbrella's to light up the area you'll be shooting.... that'll probably be the best thing to do since it will light up the area well. Also, practice with the additional flashes. Read up on flash metering and compensation.

 

After having educated yourself well, and having practiced a few times... you should do just fine. Practice group shots if you want to take excellent table shots. A fast lens is good if you are shooting a portrait of 1 person because of their shalow depth of field. However if you are shooting groups of people at tables... you need an f stop of 8 to 11, and good lighting to get a nice and well-lit pic.<br><br>

Some people make the mistake of using a fast lens (f1.4 to 2.0) in the dark and end up with images that are off-focus. You are better of having a slow lens, proper lighting, and images that are clear. With fast lenses.... you have to be right on the money of what you want to be in focus, because everything else will be off-focus. Hope this helps.... :) (twist your head sideways to smile back)

Hello all,<br><br>I am new to the business and Have some questions

for those of you experienced ones in here... <br><br>I have a Rebel

XT and I need to print my pictures into the poster size of 16x20". Is

that possible? Do I have to make any adjustments in Photoshop prior

to the printing? I have Photoshop CS2 and I normally shoot in Jpeg

mode.<br><br>My next question is... What are the albums that you

provide to your customers if you shoot digital? Do you have a certain

company that you go to which does the texturing and book-binding for

you?<br><br>I have a wedding coming up in january and figured I

should start early research so that I can be well aquainted with the

field. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If I had the same issue... I would definately NOT consider the 24-105. Why? Although the range maybe excellent, there's no such lens that excels in quality both at the wide end (24mm) and the long range end (105mm) Not to mention the fact that it's an f4.0.<br><br>For children you are better off getting a zoom lens with the least limitations. You dont need something too fancy, at the same time you shouldnt go for something dirt cheap. When I have kids, I would be using the Sigma 18-50mm or the Tamron 28-75mm to do general purpose shots. For football, If I cannot afford the Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS, I probably would go for the Sigma 70-200 f2.8. If I find the game being played in well lit areas, I would even risk it with a Canon 75-300 and make the soft images sharper by editing the images. To avoid risk of losing those very important shots, you can even get a Canon 100mm f2.0 or Canon 135mm f2.0 L lens both of which are fast and excellent for portraits and sports. But... It's not my money we are talking about here.... so, i wish you the best.

If I were in your place, I would probably use the 17-40mm EFS, the 50mm and the 75-300. Why the 17-40mm? Because its' wide enough and also would suite to illustrate city streets in a better manner, especially if they are wide. The 50mm would be a general purpose and the 75-300 for telephoto. You can sharpen the images at a later time if something appears to be softer than the norm. I would not go wityh the 60mm lens (although it is begging to come along) only due to the sligh overlap factor.

Hello Bob,<br><br>The main way it is possible to off-focus in this scenario is if you at first focussed on the background, held the shutter button halfway and then took the exposure after bringing the lens on the center of your image.<br><br>The other way by which this is also possible is if your lens is defective, or if your sensor is misaligned. You can do a test for off-focus sensor in your camera. There are several forums here which help with that. At first I believed my 350 D was out of focus until I tested out my 350 D along with my 100mm f2.0 and the focus was dead on.<br><br>Finally, if you used manual focus when shooting, your eyes may have been fooled with the dark view-finder of the 20D. I made that mistake with a 50mm f1.4 and my results were awful. Whatever the case, I wish you the best. Since it's too troublesome to repeat a shot, I would first perform an alignment test before jumping to other conclusions. A simple test would be to tape a paper with a decent size black line across it, on a wall and then try shooting it with the black line in focus. If your paper is out of focus, your camera or your lens maybe defective.

If you want quality baby-pictures with excellent bokeh, you can use your 50 f1.8 with the f-stop of f1.8. Now... here's the trick... The best way to focus is by using the eyes. If the eye is in good focus, the face will look slightly off-focus giving the portrait a soft look. There are lenses that are specifically meant to achieve the soft-look.<br><br>If you are taking the picture of more than one person, you are going to need the f-stop to be anywhere from f5.6 to f8.0 and you should be able to get everyone in the picture if they are posing. FOr children who are playing around, you can change to f12.0 or even f16.0 to allow greater depth of field. If you think that there is a guide to the Depth of Field and Bokeh required for each portraits, there isn't because it all depends on one's shooting style. The best way is to experiment, like someone else mentioned in here.

Both of my lenses the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 and the Canon 100mm f2.0 perform very well. They are excellent in low light situations. The Bokeh of the 100mm f2.0 is also excellent.

Since you already have the 580 EX flash, you can have an assistant do the extra flashing for you with a second 580 slave flash on a monopod. A Flash bracket would be excellent as well. Have you considered getting a Canon 100mm f2.0 lens or a Canon 80mm f1.8 lens for portraiture? That would be a good option as well. As for me, at first I was considering to get the 17-85mm lens but given it's price of nearly $600 I decided to get the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 and Canon 100mm f2.0 in addition to my kit lens of Canon 18-55mm. Sometimes the f2.8 or f2.0 lens can help in low lit conditions, especially if you have to take a hand held shot. A second body would be good, but before you do that, make sure you get atleast 4 sets of batteries for your 20D, and 4 sets of Batteries for your 580 EX to be on the safe side. A few practice sessions as a second shooter would be helpful to further your education. Lastly... learn photoshop. There are many cool tricks that can help you gain more business through sight and word of mouth.

It is funny how many photographers get caught into the same trap of non-payment. If it were me facing this situation... I would probably explain to the mother that a contract is a legal and standing agreement between two or more parties. Breach of contract means no refund along with no services rendered. No in's and or but's. Everyone else is getting paid on or before the day of the wedding... and everyone has a contract. Why does it have to be me who suffers the consequence of her lack of money.<br><br> If the mother keeps insisting, I would state that the Bride and the Groom has to be aware of the situation and a possibility of not having a photographer to have a memory of their wedding. I would explain to them that the contract was violated and as per the contract, the services do not have to be rendered on the wedding day. No money, no photos. For the future, I would separate the retainer fees from the cost of producing the albums and prints so that I get paid in full prior to the wedding regardless of what the B&G decides to do with the rest of the images.

At the 100mm and above range, you are going to definately need an IS lens to minimize involuntary hand-shaking. So if the 70-200 f2.8 L IS is out of your budget, I would recommend the 75-300 IS. If you don't believe me... Go here... <a href="http://www.photo.net/equipment/canon/300_compare/">Bob Atkin's Evaluation of 75-300 vs 300 f4.0 L</a> While 75-300 might be a little out of your price range depending on which you pick, make sure you pick the best quality with IS available.<br><br>Here's another evaluation of the 75-300 compared to 100-300 <a href="http://www.photo.net/learn/nature/x-300">Go Here to see that</a><br><br>Lastly, You might want to wait until Mid-octobr for this lens.... The Canon 70-300 f4.0 - f5.6 IS lens worth $600 and change. <a href="http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/canon_EF_70-300.html">70-300 evaluation</a>. As the article brings out, the new lens can easily outperform theexisting Canon 70-300 DO IS lens. However it also depends on the fact if you are willing to wait or not. Also the other question is... what is the real purpose of your lens? Is it for walk-around photography? or is it for portraiture? or for all kinds and types of imaginable work? I wish you the best in your shopping.

I want to buy a second DSLR...and it more than likely will be either the 20D, or the 5D sometime next year. The info on the Beach Camera is alarming... And for so many people to go through the same troubling ordeal... that gives me the idea that something's wrong and prevents me from wanting to take the risk in throwing my money to the greedy online retailers. If you are looking for an honest retailer, they would be willing to honor any online web prices that they will have. The dishonest online retailers usually publish this in their website.<b> We are not responsible for typographical errors.</b> If a website does not have that statement somewhere in their policy or their terms of service or return policy, they can be held liable for the online price that they advertise. Even if the price goes down, I would rather buy from a store that has a physical location where people can go in and shop. Such as J&R World, B&H Photo Video, NJ Camera, Kanoga Camera, etc. Online stores try to sell a camera to the buyer who is unaware of the risks. They usually will ship the item without any problems if the buyer buys their CHEAP accessories for double the price of the BEST accessory. If you look to save $100 with an online store, you could end up losing $1000 for 2 months till they feel like refunding your credit card. Ofcourse, they wont cover the finance charges.

What kinda camera did you use? and what kinda lens?

Magnus... It's a good thing you ask before you actually screwed up the whole event. As far as I think, your equipment is fine except that you need a few additions to your gear. You need a decent Camera Bag to put all of your stuffs in. You need a powerful flash. In Canon the most powerful is the 580 EX. I dont know Nikon Flashes but if I were you I would opt for the top of the line flash to be on the safe side and not screw up the ahots with low light sitations. the BEST way to shoot if you are not well aquainted with your flash and autofocus would be in Aperture Priority since the Camera would set the time. However, you should use an ISO speed that will give you the desired brightness with the least loss of quality. I would even recomment a third battery. Next, I would also recommend that you get a 2GB compact Flash card... Why? because you are going to be shooting lots of pictures, and if you screw up, chances are out of the many pictures you shoot, many will be usable. If you know your equipment very well, and dont have to change exposures, you can shoot in JPG mode. If you dont know your equipment and have to shoot with the possibility to change exposures, you will need more CF cards. Formals and group photos should be done in RAW mode so that you can give yourself the leeway in the ability to change some image quality without sacrificing a whole lot of quality.<br><br>Next on the agenda... <a href="http://weddings.about.com/od/photographer/a/Photogchecklist.htm">Go Here</a>. This will tell you the shots that you are not to miss. You should have a checklist that you should go down and mark each shot as you take them. If you forget to mark them, you are prone to mistakes. Just because this is your first wedding doesn't mean that you cannot do it. You can do it. Think of this as a learning experience but not as a time for experimenting. Have you been reading the various forums on wedding photography? If yes... I commend you. If not... you better hurry up and start reading as much as you can since on the wedding day, you cannot refer back to a manual photography. I would also recommend this link <a href="http://www.mpix.com/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=14697">Link for beginner Wedding Photographers</a> This website helped me since I am also a new beginner myself but I have been practicing and that makes the art perfect.<br><br>As with regards to more gear... a Bracket would be good to avoid red-eye, but that's correctable in the computer through Photoshop or other image editing software's. As with regards to lots and lots of CF cards... not necessary if you are shooting in high quality JPG mode along with some RAW shoots. On the average you would require about 4GB of CF cards shooting in an all RAW mode. As with regards to lenses. the kind of lens you will need for this lens is going to vary depending on space. If your area is small, the 18-70mm will do just fine. If the area of coverage ie large, you will nead a telephoto lens which you already have. The 50mm f1.8 will do just fine for portraits and formals. Just make sure that the aperture is set to f8.0 since that will give you the best depth of field. Well... That's my advice to you. The rest can be filled in by the others.

If I were happy with my copy of the 28-135mm lens by canon, I would refuse to switch. Is the extra 4mm that important? to some... yes. Those who care about the 4mm are the ones who probably have so much money coming in that they dont know of any other way to spend it than to put it into every new "L" lens that they see in the market. Infact, these are the ones who keep Canon in business. Not that I am anti-canon activist or something.<br><br>I have a Tamron 28-75 f2.8 which I am perfectly happy with even if I have to switch between my canon 18-55mm sometimes if i need that wide angle. However that soometimes is not so often that I would go out and buy a 24-105mm. True that for me it would be a longer range, but i already have a 100mm f2.0 and so I dont need the 24-105mm f4.0 L.<br><br>Do you have $1400 burning a hole in your pocket? If yes, then you can either get your 24-105 f4.0 L, or you can save your money for now and get something bigger and better. Perhaps that second flash or the much needed accessories that you cant live without. It all depends on your needs. I was at first excited about the new lens... but the f4.0 killed it.

If money is not an issue: The the 16-35, but dont be disappointed when you find out that you are not going ti get images that are worth your money due to barrel distortion or soft-on-the-35mm-side issue. However the overall quality of the lens is excellent compared to other lenses in the same range.<br><br>If money is an issue the 17-40mm lens produces images that are of just as good quality except that you cannot use it as well for low-lit environments.<br><br>If money is really really an issue, the 50mm f1.4 is an EXCELLENT lens that in my opinion excels other lenses in may ways and its quality is superb with excellent flare control. It's a GREAT lens for the price and also in low lit situations. You can also get several other lenses that are just as good if you are willing to opt for other non-canon name brands. I would absolutely recommend the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 and the Sigma 70-200 f2.8. If you are looking for something like an all-purpose around the house lens where one lens will solve all issues and yet not be going out on an arm and a leg. There's the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8, or the Canon 17-85mm EFS lens, or perhaps the most common kit lens of the Rebel XT and 20D... Canon 18-55mm lens. I recommended the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 because eventually you will see the need for a longer lens and will wish you had one to get the job done. Also get a bag in which you can carry all your lenses so that your equipment is protected.

Are you using a filter along with your lens? What kind of lens are you using and does this happen with different lenses? I had a similar problem once. I was using a 50mm f1.4 and I saw reflection lines appearing in my image due to the filter having some dirt in it and reflecting stuffs into the sensor.<br><br>I wish you the best in your quest.

Having an EFS lens is limiting. Even if it maybe excellent in quality and surpassing in wide-angle... If you are a guy with family to take care of and have enough money on a monthly basis to be able to get by... the likely hood of you switching to a fullframe would be very little, especially if you are stuck with EF-S lenses. True that the 10-22mm lens is excellent, but paying $800 for that lens makes me have second and third thoughts. Many people dont like the 1.6x Crop Factor of the Digital Rebel XT and the 20D. In fact, Canon might come up with a cheaper version of the 5D in the long run to attract prosumers to the FF world of DSLR. But then... those who solely invested in the EF-S lenses now have to sell their EF-S lens in hope of getting back enough money to be able to buy the EF lenses. Ofcourse, if you already have enough EF lenses... then do what you think is the best. If I had all the money in the world, I'll buy them all and then start to substract which lenses I dont like.

Thanks Jim, I appreciate your help. Do you think my lns might be a bad copy? If it performs soft at f2.0 then wouldnt it also be true when I see through the view finder that things will appear blurry? The images I've taken... well... While I look through the viewfinder seems acceptable and clear to the point where I can see individual leaves, but when I shoot the picture and zoom in.the picture looks horribly blurry. I normally dont shoot at f8.0 but decided to give that a try and my image was still blurry, but not as much as f2.0. I am going to be performing an off-focus possibility test on my Camera today. Hopefully that will clear up the off-focus issue. If not, I will have to send it in to Canon for a lens replacement. I wish I had known about the soft aspect of the Canon 100mm f2.0 at f2.0. If I did, i would have got the 135 f2.0 L. :-(

I am sure you all would agree the fact that... "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Ofcourse, every beholder is different and so the level of beauty that satisfies one may not satisfy the other. The money is yours and ofcourse many can comment on how you should use your money. However I guarantee that no one will offer you some money towards the purchase of your new lens. The bottomline is... go with what suits your needs and preferences and although the opinions of others may help shape our thinking, it cannot shape the amount of money we possess to get that new lens. If a lens can get the job done and with quality that is just as good, or beyond your expectations, go for it because that is the lens that will work for you without making you regret your decisions. Others can comment that it's not an "L" lens, or my cheaper lens can outperform yours and so on... However, you can try testing out different lenses by going to the store with your Camera and CF card in it and requesting for samples and then you can download the picture in the computer to evaluate. If i were you and had a 20D and dont plan on upgrading anytime soon and I also am concerned about the bank... I would evaluate the available options and go with something that is reasonably well-performing and satisfying to my eyes. Forget about the "wow" and the "excellent" of the ones who own the L lens because Their brain might be stuck in that self-convincing mode. The best kind of lens that surpases those made by canon are those in your eyes... and it came for free.

I know that in spite of all these answers you are still going to doubt the autofocus... Your best bet is to go to the first website that was posted by MAD Wand in this forum and download the attached pdf file. Make sure you print atleast the last 2 pages to test out your camera with. If precision in focus is of great importance to you, you will perform the test just to satisfy your mind. I am going to be doing that test tonight when I get home.<br><br>Best wishes on your new purchase ^_^