angel_bocanegra

<p>Is it really that hard to just wait until your 5D2 arrives and test for yourself rather than listen to mixed opinions here? Test first, then come back and post for other options if you are unsatisfied with your 17-40. But if you have problems getting sharp pictures with that lens I see two reasons;</p>

<ol>

<li>Bad copy</li>

<li>Your shooting technique. </li>

</ol>

<p>Just check out the statistics of the Bureau of Labor and Statistics for photographers <a href="http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos264.htm">here</a> .</p>

<p>I can see someone flipping burgers making more money than your average Joe with a DSLR wanting to take pictures on the side for weddings or events. Numbers don't look good even for full time professional photographers.</p>

<p>What camera body will you be using? If on a crop body I would go 85mm f1.8. 85mm is too long for APS-C, 135mm even more.</p>

<p>Dont waste your money with pocket wizards. They are expensive if you want one for your three flash heads plus the tranmitter for your body. You are looking at something close to $1000. Why not just buy an alienbees system for more a few hundred dollars more? You can get 3 flash heads, radio triggers, mods and the battery pack for under 1400. You should be fine using your setup with just your 7D's popup flash.</p>

<p>If you have windows PC, you are pretty much SOL if you want to edit and burn to DVD from a 5DmkII. Unless you drop $100 usd for a video converter to convert 5DmkII .mov files to AVi and then edit to burn to a dvd with a vegas, you should pretty much start saving for a mac. You have no idea how easy it is to burn to dvd or upload to youtube. It only takes a few clicks, it imovie and idvd come free with every mac and you dont have to worry about any technical stuff. You just drag and drop, cut here, cut there, move this here, move that over there, drag an audio file from itunes to project, drag some pictures from iphoto, and presto, you are done. Here is a quick one I did yesterday in only 45 minutes. 20 minutes to edit and 24 to render to a dvd and upload to youtube.<a href="

<p>The nikon looks better but this is a bad comparison. First the composition is more favorable for the top image. Also the nikon image may has warmer tones. Anyone can easily make the bottom image be almost identical to the top. But I think the op has Nikon bias.</p>

<p>General rule of thumb is to go three F stops under or over the smallest and widest apertures available for the lens. For my 24-105L, I go F8 for the sharpest but F4 is also sharp.</p>

<p>here is my quick take on a 3 min 5DmkII home movie I did. Took me 1 hour in all. 30min to edit and another 30 to render and publish via imovie 09. <a href="

<p>Manuel:</p>

<p>What timeline properties did you use and how did you render that?</p>

<p>First thing I notice is that the video is 16:9 format rendered in a 4:3(standard def) timeline or rendered 4:3. That is why you have the vertical and horizontal bars. I am working right know uploading a video from imovie. Hopefully I get it right. But back to the subject, I could never get vegas pro 9 to render properly the .mov files from my 7D and 5Dmkii. I get audio sync issues, multiple crashes and I cannot apply any heavy editing. When I convert to avi, everything is much easier. I dont know if its me, but Juan Gabriel there seems to be out of audio synch.</p>

<p>It is a great video camera, dont you agree? Better than consumer dedicated video cameras.</p>

<p>A couple of post down and you will see one that reads "5DmkII vs 7D". Same subject you are posting about which is better for weddings.</p>

<p>What kind of lighting were you looking to explore. There is;</p>

<ul>

<li>continuous tungsten: Good for beginners and cheap to start and maintain.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>pack and strobes: can be expensive to begin and requires more technical knowledge, expensive to maintain</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>monolights: same as above but no pack required.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Strobist: use on camera flash heads like canon 430ex 580ex, nikon sb900 sb800.</li>

</ul>

<p>If you want to make a career of photography you really need to know the right people. Like it is mentioned, photography is not an easy career because its so easy to get into and its attractive to A LOT of people. Check this website from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, <a href="http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos264.htm">http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos264.htm</a> , the number dont seem that good for a photographer wanting to make a career out of their cameras. Here in Los Angeles, CA, there are millions of people advertising for cheap affordable, budget wedding gigs. Competition is tough here.</p>

<p>I have both and they are great cameras. But I find myself using the 7D more because of the simplicity of using wireless flash for portraits and outdoor fill light for creative effects. I also love the new AF system of the 7D and how the high ISO photos have a film like grain look to it. With my 24L and 50L I get pleasing Bokeh. I dont understand people that say otherwise, they make it seem as if with APS-C its impossible to get Bokeh. The 5Dmk II does better from ISO 1600 and above and the images have another feel and look. It comes down to which camera feels more natural to you. The 5D has bigger viewfinder and bigger top LCD screen, but the 7D has a more rugged and better ergonomics.</p>

<p>My solution to get rid of the "jumping" and stutter was to say goodbye to windows and hello mac snow leopard. My macbook pro 4gb 2.53ghz has no problem playing full file with quicktime. And to edit the files, all I need to do is drop in imovie and convert the file to the AIC(Apple Intermediate Codec) format, which imovie does automatically if you select in preferences to import video at full original size and optimized for imovie. Problem with imovie 09 and final cut express is that all video is converted to 30fps. We dont get to edit and output in 24P or the files native frame. For that I would need to upgrade to final cut studio.</p>

<p>Quick solution for windows is to buy a program called neoscene which converts the file to avi format, and therefor making it possible to edit with any non linear video editing program. My favorite is sony vegas pro 9. But my pc was already old so it lagged quite a bit to convert.</p>

<p>If you just want to view the file on a pc with out the stutter, download a free program called VLC, and there are instructions on the internet if you search on how to modify the program to view 5dmkii or 7D files.</p>

<p>You wont see any difference with your camera because your image is cropped away the shadow the lens produces with the flash when it is at 17mm. In a full frame camera, the wide panel is useful to eliminate that shadow you would otherwise get with out the diffuser.</p>

<p>Remember, even though you have a wide angle lens, its not necessarily that wide with your camera. That is why you get the wrong readings, it gives you more or less the equivalent for your sensor size. The wide panel is for wide angle lenses. Like the 10-22 with your camera, then you would need to pull out the panel.</p>

<p>Sharpest what? wide open, three F stops above the widest, zoom, prime... Pretty much every lens is sharp at some point. Trick is to find its sweet spot and learn how to properly expose for maximum sharpness.</p>

<p>Lustre finish is a paper available from kodak and distributed by Adorama from their premium paper selection. I much prefer Lustre over Glossy since Lustre is a combination of matte and glossy. I would choose Lustre. Glossy and matter are the most common paper types amateurs use.</p>

<p>You will be pleased with silk. Kodak decided to discontinue that paper and its my favorite. Adorama still has it and you should order that. Downside is the biggest size they have is 11x14</p>

<p>Its true what you say about the 28-135 being more contrasty and somewhat different image output than my other L's like the 24-105 or 17-55(not L but similar glass elements). I have that lens you are complaining about, but the non IS version and it gives stellar images.</p>

<p>Why did you trade a 40D for a 50D. I don't see a real "improvements" there. 40D to 7D, now we are talking.</p>

<p>No real pros use Leica s2, nikon d3x, EOS 1Ds and any other more than 3K camera out there. Artist on the other hand can use a pinhole camera made at home from cardboard if they really wanted too.</p>

<p>totally normal</p>

<p>I dont think elements comers with ACR which is the feature in Bridge and PS CS4 that allows you to open and edit RAW. Another alternative is adobe lightroom. The academic version for that is only $89. ACR is the same in both lightroom and PS CS4.</p>

<p>I recall you recently posted about acquiring this lens for the right price or something like that. Maybe now you know why it was cheap if you actually payed a low price for it.</p>

<p>Have a chill pill my friend. Photography is no university degree. Here you can specialize one day in landscapes, the next you can specialize in porn in you really want.</p>

<p>Photography is not really a profession like being an architect, doctor, engineer etc. I think my 5 year old neighbor is a photographer and he can call himself one with no "ethics" involved. Now being an artist and a photographer to interpret your art is another call. For that, I think you need to have an established reputable name, full time income from your art and know the right people.</p>