michael_brant

I took a similar trip in 2000 to the Antarctic Penninsula. While for the most part it will be warmer than you think, the weather changes can be severe. I found I didn't need as much waterproofing as I thought - the suggestions about the big zip lock bags was a very good one (I wish they had them when I went!). Just keeping the equipment dry from the ship to the zodiac to shore was all I needed. A rain/snow cover will help. Bringing the equipment in and out of the heated ship's interior will pose the usual challenge with fogging of lenses. Put them into a sealed bag before you bring them in.

 

I didn't have the hand warmers and did OK but they're not a bad idea either.

 

By all means bring the widest lens you have. When the weather cooperates, you will be visiting some of the most beautiful areas on Earth.

 

Telephoto will help, especially from the ship when traveling between destinations. You will have opportunities to shoot penguins swimming and on icebergs, Orcas, Porpoises, and a variety of pelagic sea birds. Shooting from a moving ship is a bit of a challenge but not too bad.

 

A monopod can also be used as a walking stick. You will be doing some rock climbing and traversing over snow and ice, I suspect.

 

Hope this helps.

 

-Mike

Here's a website with some tips.

 

http://www.lightningphotography.com/tips.html

 

Were you planning on doing this at night or during the day? Daytime appears to be trickier as you can't leave the shutter open as long.

I've had Error 99's when I've used the external battery pack and the pack was loose (dial had some play in it. I've also had and fixed it by cleaning the contacts on the battery with a pencil eraser.

I have used eye cups from two sources, neither one appears to be the one in the link you've provided.

 

The last one came via Ebay from a firm in Hong Kong.

 

My only complaint about them is that they tend to break off from the bracket that holds them to the camera. Otherwise, they come without any glass and just fit on the viewfinder the same way that the Canon eyepieces do.

Has anyone done a comparison of low light - ISO 3200 between the 20D and the 40D?

For convenience purposes, I'd want all my photos in one catalog. For performance purposes, I want catalogs to be smaller. Therefore I need a compromise.

 

The two factors I use to determine when and whether to create additional catalogs are performance and relationships.

 

Catalogs with too many photos can bog down. I had a catalog of 30,000 photos and broke it into four separate catalogs and I find Lightroom to perform noticeably better.

 

I will carve out sets of photos that have a relationship with each other, but not to any other photos I have to make a catalog. For example, I shoot nature and sports. I can't see any time I might want to do a search that would cross these two areas so I broke sports and nature into separate catalogs. I later broke sports into basketball, lacrosse, football, soccer, and field hockey. I never need to search across these groupings so they stand as separate catalogs.

 

I don't know if this approach is 'text book' but it has worked well for me.

Most or all of the books currently available are for version 1.0 of Lightroom. Version 1.1 added some new functionality.

 

Martin Evening put out a PDF with updates, I'm not sure if any of the others did anything to update their books. I imagine a new wave of books updated to support 1.1 or 1.2 will be available in the next couple of months.

Any opinions yet on low-light/high ISO performance? I shoot high school basketball without flash and would love to hear that the 40D is an improvement over the 20D.

If I can hitch a ride on this thread, I've read many of the posts in photo.net, as well as the excellent tips from J. Harrington.

 

I am confused by what seems to be conflicting advice on lens choice. I have an EOS20D and three candidate lenses: the Canon 17-40 F/4L, the Canon 50 F/1.4, or the Tamron 28-70 F/2.8.

 

Some of the posts suggest that the faster lenses are best, others suggest the widest lens is best.

 

Which of these three would you recommend for shooting Meteor showers?

Thanks Bryan,

 

I have had the camera hooked up to the laptop in the past. I should be able to do it again. I just have to remember how. Thanks for the tip, it's a good one.

 

-Mike

Alec,

 

Say it isn't so! My wife is of a similar opinion. I suspect you are right and I pray you are wrong.

 

I didn't volunteer so much as was 'volunteered' by the class mothers. They've seen my work - I do sports photography for the school and I've discussed my lack of experience and the chances that things might not go according to plan. They claim to be OK with this. Its a small school and most of the parents know me and understand the gamble they are taking. They have greater confidence in me than I do!

 

But I take your advice very seriously and I will discuss this point with them one more time.

 

I will also look at setting up the laptop/camera tethered.

 

Thanks,

-Mike

Wow! Thank you all for the input.

 

To answer the question, It is a small high School with only about 170 seniors in total. I'd guess no more than 70-80 couples, give or take.

 

I'm not making any money here. I'm doing this as a gift to the class - my son is one of the seniors. I might be reimbursed for printing costs, but that is it.

 

I like the suggestion for posing the couple. I don't know what the background will be; I'm likely not to know until the last second.

 

1) I have softboxes, not umbrellas. Will that make a significant difference?

 

2) How far away from the subject should I try to position the lighting?

 

3) I will place one Softbox above, behind me and slightly to the side. which side should I place the second light?

 

4) Should the second light be lower powered than the first?

 

5) Do you think there is value to using multiple CF cards and checking each shot on a laptop immediately after? It will add time, but at least I can be sure if the photo came out OK (no blinkers). I don't find the 20D's LCD very useful.

 

I don't think I will use the optical triggering. Too complicated for me!

 

Is there a good resource where I can study up on lighting placement, power, etc.?

 

Mike, Your link is very informative, thank you.

 

Thanks all for your help and your patience.

 

-Mike

Hi,

 

I'm an experienced sports and nature amateur photographer who's been

'volunteered' to take the couples' shots at the local high school's Senior Prom.

I have no experience with portrait or 'posed' photography so any help you can

provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

The location will be at a professional catering establishment. I've not seen

the location and my schedule may not allow me to do advanced scouting. I'm told

there is an area for outdoor shooting and that's the plan, weather permitting.

The shooting will start around 6-7PM. I'll be shooting indoors if the weather

doesn't cooperate.

 

I have a Canon EOS 20D with four candidate lenses: Canon 50mm (not the

expensive one - I think it is the 1.4), Canon 85mm 1.8, Canon 100mm 2.8 macro,

and a Tamron 28-70 2.8 zoom.

 

I've ordered This from BH Photo:

 

VS160 2 Monolight 2 Softbox Kit - includes: 2- 160 Watt/Second Monolights,

Reflectors, 24x32" Softboxes, Light Stands, Sync Cord - 320 Total Watt/Seconds

(120V AC) REG.

 

I also have a 580EX speedlight. I don't know if I should use it.

 

That puts me over my budget for this project so no or low cost suggestions are

preferred.

 

I was planning on tripod mounting the camera for consistency.

 

I'm assuming I want the fastest lens speed that will work with the flash

(1/250th at around 8.0-11.0 aperture and ISO as low as possible.

 

Any and all suggestions will be gratefully received. In particular, I'd like

your opinions on lighting placement and settings and posing, lens choice and

confirmation of the camera settings.

 

Thanks,

-Mike

I use the Kirkland brand photo paper with my Canon i9900 for my 'everyday' photos. I'm far from an expert on this subject, but I couldn't detect a difference in quality between the Kirkland paper and the Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy. I have tried other off brands and have noticed a difference, but not with the Kirkland paper.

Thanks all,

 

1) I use the CF 4 change - I agree it made a big difference when I changed to it.

 

2) Do you suggest that I stop using AI-Servo?

 

3) I've tried prefocusing as well as aiming the autofocus at the subject's feet. These work reasonably well when the subject isn't moving or is moving in a predictable fashion. There are many instances where I have to follow the action and can't use these techniques.

 

4) Can you elaborate on the 'focus then recompose' problems?

About a month or so ago I purchased the 50 1.4 lens for use in

available-lighting indoor high school basketball.

 

I typically shoot on aperture priority between 1.8 & 2.2 to get the shutter

speed I'm looking for. I'm using AI-Servo and have the focal point fixed on the

center of the viewfinder.

 

I'm finding that even after significant use, I get a very high number of

autofocus misses - the target is out of focus but something else, usually the

background is sharp. I'm new to the lens, but not to sports photography. I'd

expect a certain number of misses, but not as many as I'm getting.

 

So much for the background. Onto the questions:

 

1) Is it possible that there could be a misalignment in the lens or is this just

pilot error? If it is a misalignment, can it be corrected?

 

2) I've tried to analyze the photos to see which way it might be missing (high,

low, left, right) but I haven't been able to tell. Is there a way I can easily

determine what is happening, either by test or by photo analysis?

 

3) Any suggestions/tips to improve my accuracy?

 

Thanks,

-Mike

Wow, Thanks everybody.

 

I think it is most likely the lighting. I went back and compared this particular gym (the one that motivated me to post) with shots at other gyms and it was clearly much more pronounced. I don't know what kind of lights they were, but they were not traditional fluorescents; The fixtures were round like a metal halide or sodium vapor or something like that. They were arranged in pairs with about 10 or 12 fixtures for the entire gym.

 

The lens is a Canon, and it is brand new.

 

I have and will continue to fix this in post-processing. It is an easy fix. I was more concerned that I might have a defect in the lens and/or camera. Secondarily I was worried about my settings and whether they might be contributing to the problem.

 

Thanks all for the help and the excellent explanations.

Hi Mendel,

 

How would Manual Exposure help me? I've seen this tip before, but I've never understood the reason.

 

I'm shooting in a relatively low light situation and need to get a reasonable shutter speed to capture the action. This limits me to an aperture setting of 2.2 or less to get a shutter speed of 400 or greater.

 

At the same time, I want as much depth of field as possible to get all of the players in the play in focus and to increase the odds I've got my subject in focus. I'm shooting at 2.0-2.2 most of the time. If I go to manual, wouldn't this essentially give me the same results? What am I missing?

 

Also, would shooting in manual eliminate the color and brightness variations?

 

Thanks,

-Mike

Hi All,

 

I'm shooting indoor high school basketball using available lighting. When I

shoot a burst, I'm fairly consistently seeing significant variation in the color

temperature and brightess in some of the shots in the burst. This only happens

in bursts.

 

Pertinent data:

 

EOS 20D

50mm 1.4 lens

Raw

ISO 3200

Aperture Priority (usually around 1.8 - 2.2

shutter speed 800 or so - I try to keep it above 500

Custom White Balance (I use the Expo Disc to set).

 

Custom Functions:

 

CFs 2,3,4,8,11,13 = 1

CF 5=2

All others are 0.

 

I don't recall this happening in the past, but the lens is new and the camera

was recently in for servicing.

 

I don't know if any of these are factors but I listed them just in case.

 

Also, opinions on my settings are welcomed.

 

Thanks,

-Mike

I did post this on the Adobe forum. I'm waiting for a response.

Hi all,

 

I've recently started to work with Lightroom 4. I've encountered the following

on a batch I'm now trying to process.

 

Several of my shots will distort when I view them in the Develop Module. I do

not see an apparent pattern to which shots distort: some are portrait mode, some

are landscape. These photos are part of a shoot and I have a number of shots

that display properly.

 

By distort, the top and bottoms are too close together and the sides are

stretched too wide. It has a fun-house mirror effect.

 

These shots will display properly initially then I get a "working" message

followed by the distortion. The distorted shots display properly in the Library

module, if I go there first. The Library module will show them distorted after

going there from Develop. If I click another 'working' photo, then go the the

Library Module, then choose one of the 'offending' shots, it will display it

properly. As soon as I return to Develop, here comes the distortion.

 

What's odd is that there are a number of shots, all taken at the same time, all

imported to the PC together that never display incorrectly. All are in Canon's

Raw format.

 

I'm not sure if this is or isn't a potential factor, but I import the photos

from the card into Photoshop Elements 5. I use PE5's export capability to move

them into a working folder, where I bring them into Lightroom. This is on a PC.

 

All suggestions are welcomed.

 

Thanks,

-Mike

I am very happy with the job done by Panorama Factory.

Hi Grayson,

 

I have tried the hand blower. It worked well on most of the dust but I still have some particularly stubborn dirt that blowing won't fix.

 

I'm conscious of the dangers of sensor cleaining, and I cannot afford the time to send the camera away. I've read many of the posts, as well as general articles on sensor cleaning which is why I'm pursuing the VisibleDust solution (no pun intended). I'm leery of using wet solutions, in light of Canon's fairly non-ambiguous policy.

Hi,

 

I'd like to order the VisibleDust sensor cleaning products, but I suspect the

Econo 1.6x Sensor Cleaning kit contains more than I need. Am I right or will I

need all that the kit includes? If I can get away with spending less by

individually ordering just the parts I need, obviously that is the way to go.

Which parts do I need? Is their another product or kit I should consider?

 

Thanks,

-Mike

Hi,

 

My question pertains to photographing outdoor sports with my 20D and a 300mm/2.8

lens.

 

I'm shooting a variety of high school sports (soccer, football, field hockey). I

shoot in raw and vary between Tv (usually 800 or 1000) and Av (love the

crispness at 5). I shoot at the lowest possible ISO but usually end up at 400

or 800. I've gone as fast as 1600 for late afternoon/early evening.

 

I've been using evaluative mode and frankly I suspect this is not the best.

I've noticed problems, especially when shooting the teams in white jerseys or in

varying and bright sunlight. Is there a better mode for this application?

 

Thanks,

-Mike