corey_gardner1

I shoot portraits all the time at 2.8. Also, the faster lenses are generally higher quality especially when shot wide open or close to it.

Since you're interested in portraits you might also look at the 85 1.8 as another option. I think the build quality and smoothness of the focus ring is fine. The main reason to use primes is speed - shooting at 1.8, 2.8, etc. The difference between shooting at 5.6 and 1.8 is huge and opens up alot of creative options. Alot of times you want to blow out the background for creative reasons or shoot portraits in lower light conditions. This is all tough to do with a slow zoom.

I have the 2.8 version and the image quality wide open is excellent. I shoot wide open more than half the time so the 2.8 is very useful for what I do. I think you're at a point where you're just going to have take the plunge and see what works for you. Buy the 2.8 version from a place with a good return policy (BH Photo for example), use it for a week and see if it meets your needs. If not, trade for something else.

One of the side benefits of Photoshop is the backend support that is available. The vast majority of tutorials in books and on web sites are written for Photoshop. You can also get actions easily on the web which can help speed up the learning process. This is worth a ton.

I have both and the 85 1.8 is a better choice.

You can also take the Gradient Map method mentioned above and add a Soft Light layer before the gradient map. Adjust the opacity as desired. This gives a pretty punchy black and white.

I wouldn't suggest any of the photo backpacks as they generally make lousy backpacks. I would go with a regular comfortable daypack and wrap your lenses in t-shirts for padding. These are far more versatile than a camera bag. I have an Osprey Stratos 32 and love it. Very comfortable, lots of organization pockets and you can use it for more than just camera stuff. If you carry a camera bag, you have to carry that and another one for all of your other gear.

The 2.8s are quite heavy. I carried one around Hawaii for a week and after about an hour my shoulder was sore. Boils down to which is more important to you - 2.8 or weight. How you shoot will make that decision for you. I shoot at 2.8 at least half of the time so it is well worth it to me but I wasn't looking for a travel lens. I wanted speed.

And to further answer your question, in your budget I would probably suggest the 70-200 f4 as well as you will shoot wide open most of the time and it is very sharp. Anything better in a zoom is going to cost you significantly more. It's all a compromise.

Depends on what conditions you shoot in. There is a big difference between shooting a basketball game indoors and a baseball game outside at noon. I shot my son's indoor basketball game last weekend with a 70-200 2.8 and it worked great but anything slower would have been unusable. If your need is for lower-light situations then you are going to want speed and there are several options there, the least expensive being primes.

A good place to start is Real World Photoshop CS2 by Bruce Fraser. While it's all good, Ch 6 and 7 give you a good base for what you can do. It also covers RAW processing although he has a separate book that goes in much greater depth.

One side benefit for me as an amateur using Photoshop is that virtually every tutorial in books on photography are written for Photoshop so the backend support and learning is enormous. You can also buy or download actions off the web which increase productivity and helps you learn from others. Just some thoughts.

85 1.8 is a beautiful lens in your price range.

Another option that isn't technically a photo bag but works very well is the Mountainsmith Swift II lumbar pack. I use it for a 20D plus a 70-200 2.8. I prefer non-photo bags as you can use them for other stuff when you don't want to carry around photo gear.

Try Phanfare. Several people I know use it and I set up an account last week. I like it. It allows you to have a url (ie..mypictures.phanfare.com) so it's easy for people to find. It's a site for you to share pictures with people you know and give the url to, not just anyone off the street such as flickr.

Definately go for the lenses instead of upgrading the camera. As far as lenses go, that's a tough call and really depends on your personal preferences and how you shoot. The 70-200IS is a big heavy (emphasis on heavy) lens but is fast and very useful for what you've described (sports). The new 70-300IS lens is also reportedly good and alot lighter but much slower. I love fast lenses so I would choose the 70-200 if it were me. There is a huge difference in the types of photos you can get between shooting at 2.8 on the faster lens versus 5.6 on the slower lens. Think hard about what you want to do with it. Are you going to value speed and control over depth of field over a lighter lens or vice versa.

Depends on what you're going to do with it and your personal preferences. The 70-200 F4 L IS will be alot easier to hand hold as it weighs MUCH less than the 2.8 version and has the image stabilizer. I think it is a 3-4 stop stabilizer so you will be able to eliminate camera shake problems easier than the faster lens. It would make a fantastic travel lens. The faster lens is also very nice, will give more background blur for portraits and will provide higher shutter speeds to stop action but the tradeoff is the weight. It is MUCH heavier than the F4 version so keep that in mind if you are looking for something more portable.

You need speed. Probably an 80-200 2.8 zoom would be your best bet. If that turns out not to be fast enough for the basketball (indoors) maybe supplement with an 85 1.8. Another option would be the 85 1.8 combined with a 200 2.8 fixed lens (more compact if that is an issue).

The key to not getting frustrated with photoshop is realizing that you don't need to know everything, just what you want to do. Find out what you want to do and then look for a book that specifically shows you how to do it. There are books that focus specifically on techniques related to photography and others that focus more on graphic design. Based on what you listed I would look for a book on web design and graphics centered around photoshop. The photography specific books won't show you how to design buttons or other web stuff.

It's not cheap but I would look at a Mountainsmith Cairn II waistpack. Very comfortable to wear all day and versatile (can use it for more than just camera stuff). It will easily fit everything you want.

Look at the 17-40 f4 and 70-200 f4 L lenses which are half the cost of the faster versions. Fill in the gaps with a few primes. Fixed lenses are a great way to get speed and high quality at a much lower price.

Nice shot George. That's exactly what I wanted and wasn't getting at all so it went back. I've been looking harder at my focusing techniques (focus/recompose, etc) and how the canon's focus but there are alot of shots that it shouldn't have been an issue as there was little subject movement.

I took about 500 images with the lens over a week. The first example above is not cropped at all. The second one is not a 100% crop but I did pull out that portion of the image to show what I was referring to. The softness is apparent even with a passing glance (no pixel peeping). Sharpening didn't really fix either of the above images.

 

Jan - I struggled with tracking a moving subject (kids). I did focus/recompose quite a bit. Again, this is a 20D. If I put the camera in AI Servo mode, the camera wanted to use the center focusing point. Changing the focus points manually worked but I had to then keep the chosen point on the subject. If I switched to AI Focus mode it took the camera a bit of time to "catch up" with the subject so I missed shots. For some reason I struggled tracking a moving subject so I'll have to look into this technique more. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

 

I already have a return code from B&H so either way I'm swapping it out as I have little time left. Now I have to decide between the f4 again or jump up to the 2.8 non-IS version. Would the 2.8 version be better for action photography (focus faster)?

Thanks for the responses. Camera is a 20D. I'll be swapping it out today for another copy. If the problem is still there I'll know it's something else.

Above images are both at f4. I want to be able to use the lens wide open for limited DOF as I usually take pictures of people.