erictomenga

<p>I was identifying with you (hobbyists, flickr, 30D, vacations, family, published) until I checked your flickr site. For a mild mannered clerk you travel like superman. Yemen, Jordon, Toronto, Prague, Mexico and Amsterdam are a mix of vacations spots and travel restricted countries. I have a 30D and my crowning achievements are a couple of photos used in a blog, one children's book and a old scanned slide of my fathers in another book. I have only lusted after L glass and couldn't justify the cost of a new body with my hobby. I don't think I would classify your photos as hobbyists. Get the new body and use the 30D as a spare body. You deserve it.</p>

<p>I 2nd the 50mm F1.4 for all the reasons most people recommend this lens.<br>

I am assuming since you would be in an official capacity you would have good access to the side lines. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>@Mattthijs: I understood the math but misunderstood the meaning. I do think the extra mm may help.</p>

<p>Thanks again for the reply.</p>

<p>@Philip: Thank you. I thought the same think. I'll keep the wide angle on most of the time. My next purchase may be a 2nd body. </p>

<p>@Matthijs: Thank you. I wanted the extra stop and little plus the reviews on the 200mm were great. I got mixed reviews for the f5.6. <br>

@Mike H: I'll try out the flash to see how well I handle it. I got them to play around with a home studio trial and I wasn't blown away with the results. I do need more practice but with a 4 year old around it is a bit of time issue. I have manfrotto monopod and tripod. Not the carbon ones so they are heavy, good for defending against charging rhinos and stable shots but not easy to bring along with family nor does the monopod fit in the luggage. Thank you for the heads up and I hope for clear skies in July.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I am an amateur photographer with much to learn who regularly reads this site but don't post much. After much research (thanks to this site) I decided to go with the 70-200mm f/4L USM lens for my new zoom. AT $600 I couldn't beat the quality and price combo. I would love the IS version or even f/2.8 but I can't justify (aka afford) the cost. I already have the 1.4x extender and a 100-500mm Tamron so I think I am good with my zoom range. The new lens will give me the range I need when I don't have room for the 100-500mm monster. I considered the 28-300mm IS USM but I did not like the f/6.3 as I do like to take wildlife photos. The most pressing reason for this purchase is that I am heading over to England for my first time and want to make sure I pack right.</p>

<p>My plan is to take my 30D, 16-35mm f2.8 L, 50mm f/1.4 and my soon to be purchased 70-200mm f/4 L. Along with my extender and considering London's low light(aka cloudy) and inside touristy stuff I feel that I have all my bases covered. I would like to keep my extender on the 70-200mm at all times, get a filter for protection and hood which I would remove during storage. Is it OK to keep the two attached? I would like to bring one of the two vivitar 285hv flashes I have but to be honest I'm not very confident in my experience with it and having to rely on more of a manual mode than canon's flash. Should I just leave the flash at home? </p>

<p>Any suggestions warning about a few days in London? After London I head to Norwich to visit relatives.</p>

<p>Last question. My wife's uncle knows about my camera hobby and threatened to give me his old EOS (forgot model but it is film based) plus a lens or two. I'm not holding him to his word but if he happened to convince me to take them, will I have any issues with older UK based lenses in my US based 30D? I'm sorry I can't give an age or range but think back decades at least.</p>

<p>Thank you for reading and for a wonderful source of information for my photography habit.</p>

<p>- Eric</p>

 

<p>I've really really wanted one of these and with a trip to the UK coming up this summer I've been watching the prices but now it is just too far off my budget. </p>

<p>http://www.lenshoods.co.uk/hoods/Canon-EF-400mm-f-2.8-L-IS-USM.php</p>

<p>I would imagine you would print it out and measure that.</p>

I bought the 16-35/2.8L lens for my 30D. I decided I wanted a L series lens and since I would eventually get a full sensor body one day. I guess you will have to decide on whether double the price is worth the better optics and sealed body.

Coming in much later to this thread, I have a similar set up to Wayne. It's brand new and I'm just setting it up and decided to do a search on my setup to see if there are any issues. I don't see anything resolved and wondered if there was one. I plan on using my pop-up flash to trigger two 285HVs and two digital peanuts.

The model 285HV mentions a "Removable sensor can be camera mounted with the optional sensor cord permitting automatic exposure when using side bounce flash photography. " in the specs which I had thought was a slave trigger but maybe it's not. In which case I'll get two of those Peanuts and I should be all set then. Thanks again.

Steve, Thank you for the response. I've decided to keep my costs low for now and get two of the vivitars so that means I would trigger them without the 580EXII. The problem is that those flashes won't trigger via the on-camera flash. I'd have to plug one of them in using the PC-1 cord and that will trigger the 2nd one. I'd want to buy a long PC cord to replace the 1' one that comes with the flash. Now according to the model 285's info it has a sensor on it already so I wouldn't need the peanut slave.... ?

Thank you for the responses. After going through what you suggested Henry, I might consider holding off on the 580EXII and choose 2 Vivitars. I saw the <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=workaround.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=263022&is=REG">Wein PN Peanut slave -Digital</a> version. Would I be able to use that to trigger the Vivitars in manual mode? Or do I need something like the Wein Combination Slave and Foot for Vivitar 283 & 285?

I know ETTL won't be available but looking at the cost of everything I needed added up to just one 580EXII, I'd be willing to wait to upgrade. With the savings I can get the AC adapters for the Vivitars and a diffuser for on-camera.

I've been searching through this forum and Strobist and feel that I've gained enough knowledge to see how much I

really don't know about flash photography. A lot it seems but I think I have enough knowledge to ask a question

now. I have a 30D for over two years and decided that I was start to take my own family holiday portraits at

home to save some $. I know the initial cost of the equipment will be more than a trip to the studio but I could

use the same equipment in other family events and in the future to make it worthwhile.

 

My plan was to purchase a 580EXII, a tripod/adapter/umbrella. I know a 2nd flash would be a big plus and thought

about a vivatar 285HV as a secondary flash. It would keep everything within my budget. The big question is the

triggering. Wireless would be great but e-ttl isn't supported and Canon's wireless trigger at $214 is too

expensive. I found info on a flashzebra.com site in one of the threads here that had a long enough cord to make

a simple pc connection enabling the e-ttl. However, how would I trigger both flashes with that? Could the

vivatar be triggered by the 580EXII? I'm trying to avoid manual triggering. Any advice?

I love my 16-35mmf2.8 lens on my 30D. It's my first L lens and so far my favorite. I agonized over the different wide angles available and haven't regretted it once. Except when I took a look at the bill but it was only for a few seconds.

I have the same range of lenses and body and thought. What I wanted to do is replace the kit lens with a good wide angle lens. I debated within myself about going to the EF-S 10mm-20mm lens but thought that someday i will upgrade to a full frame so I went with an option that won't required me to sell my new lens. So for my early holiday gift I got myself a 16-35mm f2.8L lens. Did I need it? No but I really really wanted it.

Honestly, Nikon was out of stock when I went to buy my first DSLR. It was a toss up between Nikon and Canon at

the time and from everything I read I'd be happy with either company.

I have to echo Chris's thanks. The amount of knowledge I get from these forums is more than any other class or book I have read. I just don't know if I could hold off on upgrading my lenses if I had the opportunity to got to L glass. ;-) I still have a lot to learn and look forward to reading the suggestions and information here.

I have the 28-135mm IS on a 30D as my everyday lens and if your talking indoor use I wish I had the wider 17-85mm but when I'm outdoors I welcome the 135mm end.

Commented on flickr... I looked at your other shots on flickr and none of them appear to have any noise. The pool shot you did also had no detectable noise and was excellent by the way.

Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure

If you looking at the Sigma you also might want to look at the Tamron 200mm-500mm. I have one and like it a lot. I plan to use it mainly with wildlife but since it's new I can't give you a complete breakdown of it's pluses and minus. Check out http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=248&sort=7&cat=43&page=1 for more info.

Maybe I don't know enough but isn't the video card a factor in the processing too?

I agree with Jay's post. I have that non-IS cheapy 75-300 lens and bought it because I was new and wanted to play around w/ a zoom lens. The needs you stated do not match the lens you asked opinions on though.

 

I do suggest the 50mm f/1.8 as well if budget is of a concern because you'd cover the first two, portrait and night photography.

Sorry for posting that size photo. I had thought it would make it as an attachment.

I agree with the 50mm option, I had my 50mm f1.4 at a Walk with the Dinosaurs show in a low light environment and it worked very well. Of course the the dinosaurs there were taught to pause for a non-flash photo op. ;-)

 

Don't know what your light levels will be at but my favorite pick of a T-rex in shadow (no spots) was ISO 640 at f/1.8 for 1/400th.<div></div>