john_sutton9

<p>I've worked in IT for about 20 years too, been burned enough in the past that I wait for the early birds to figure out what isn't working so I don't have to go through it. About the only thing i'm really interested in is the buffer boost. I do a lot of wildlife shoots (come on winter migration to the south) and have started doing sports on a regular basis, so this would be a very welcome upgrade.</p>

<p>The "Features" I was asking about are issues that people have experienced after the upgrade that would require backing it out, i.e., like the Iphone v5 software upgrade that caused all sorts of problems. I don't want to put in an update and find out that it is a dud. I'm confident that the firmware has been verified by Canon, but...</p>

<p>Just looked on the Canon site and saw that the new version of 7D firmware has been posted. Has anyone had a chance to install it and if so are there any "features" ?<br>

(it's not a bug, it's a feature, it's not a fix, it's an enhancement)</p>

<p>Except for the 2 kit lenses that came with the XTI, all of the other lenses have been on the 50D. All non-kit lenses have been swapped out between the 50d and 7D repeatedly for the last 4 weeks. In and out of the car, variable temps and lighting conditions, on monopods, tripods, hand held, using remote triggers. I used all non-kit lenes this weekend on both bodies, no errors except for the Tamron. Probably 2K shots between the two bodies in 4 days, not real heavy useage, but enough to cause errors if it was the 50D. <br>

The kit 50mm and the 70-300mm are seldom used any more, unless someone tags along w/o a camera to use or they have hardware issues (forgot to charge batteries, forgot extra cards) w/ their camera, then they get stuck w/ the XTI. Still works fine, but would rather shoot w/ the 7D. </p>

<p>I have 5 other Canon and 2 other Sigma lenses that I've been using with this body. NEVER, ever got the Error#01 message with any of them. Batteries are always fully charged when I go out and seldom drop below about 50% during a day's shooting. Since most shoots are for my enjoyment, to relieve stress and not for pay, I don't spend a lot of time looking at the thumbnails. I wait till I get home to get depressed by bad shots. :-P<br>

This lens was purchased to replace the "wonderful" 28-135 kit lens, and while not a fantastic lens, I've gotten some remarkably great shots with it. I have shot it on a 7d (this last Sunday to be exact) and it did hang at least 4x. Was shooting on a monopod, light overcast, 200th sec, iso 200, f/9. Temp was mid to upper 60's.</p>

<p>I have a 2 yr old 50D body (light to moderate usage) for which I recently purchased one of the NEW Tamron 18-270 zoom lenses. Actually, 2 of them. <br>

Lens #1 worked OK on days 1 and 2, almost all shooting was on the tripod, air temps upper 40's to low 60's. Day 3, was shooting in air temp mid 80's, almost all hand held. After 30 min or so of shooting, started getting Error #01 message (unable to communicate), requiring the body to be turned off and lens reseated. The time span between the error message and camera lockup dropped from around 10 min to almost 2 min (every 5 - 10 frames) and had to cancel the shoot. Lens went back to store the next day and was replaced, although they could not reproduce the error.<br>

Lens #2 is doing the same thing, although not with the same frequency and not with any real commonality of holding/settings/air temp. Seems now to be a random event.<br>

Today I called both Canon and Tamron. While not exactly pointing fingers at each other and saying "it's their fault", neither was willing to own up to the issue. I realize that the body is 2 years old and could have dirty contacts, those will get cleaned later today. However, I was wondering if others who have a Canon body and this new Tamron lens are running into the same problem? Could this be a production run issue? I don't want to take the lens back to the store, I don't think it's their fault and if I get another one from them, it will probably be out of the same production batch. If it goes to back to Tamron, what type of service level can I expect for new/in warranty repairs.<br>

Thanks to any and all who are able to help me with this.</p>

 

<p>I suggest you try <a href="http://www.aetn.org">www.aetn.org</a>, look at the Exploring Arkansas pages. Lots of 30 minute programs that cover the entire state and although I've lived here for 45+ years, there are tons of places I've never heard of on there. Brief maps and instructions on how to get to the different places, plus best time of year to visit.</p>

<p>Iteresting that someone else running Vista has had the same issue. Both of my vista machines, a desktop and a laptop, both gave me an errror "Device detector has stopped working" after recent updates in the last 2 -3 weeks. Anyone heard of a fix from Microsoft on this?</p>

<p>It is the one with the fine threads on the shaft and inside the base of the head. Both are badly stripped. There is also a lot of oxidation on both the aluminum and iron parts, although I was told that this was kept inside and not exposed to the weather. I'll go get the WD 40 and try to take the head apart before I take it to a machine shop.<br>

I hoped someone might be able to point me to a repair shop that had parts, but remilling or epoxy may be the only choices since Vivitar customer service doesn't even know that they made the thing.</p>

<p>I'm going to Land Between the Lakes WMA in Kentucky in mid October to try to get shots of Elk, Bison, Deer and anything else that will hold still long enough that I can take a good picture of. I lived in Todd County and traveled through the area in my childhood, but it's been about 30 years since I've had a chance to go back and visit the LBL area. I'm aware that the Elk and Bison are in the area near the Visitor center, and plan to visit the areas around the Dams to try to get water fowl shots too. I would appreciate feed back from people who live in the area that can help me make the most of my three days there.<br>

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.</p>

<p>I've been given (so I've been told) a 35 year old Vivitar 1321 Professional Tripod which has been in storage for about the last 25 years. Unfortunately, the screw threads on the center riser tube have been stripped where they go into the head. I like the way the head works (tilt and pan) and would like to find replacement parts. I've looked online but can't seem to find anything. I tried going to Vivitar's site, but they were less than useless.<br>

Does anyone have any clue where I could find the parts or should I just try taking it to a machine shop and having them remill the tube and head?<br>

Thanks in advance for any help.</p>

Brian,

I can't tell you what exposures to use, but from my experience (daughter in ballet for 20 years), expect the lighting to vary wildly. And whatever you do, do not use a flash during the performance, I wouldn't even use one during the dress rehearsal. That's a good way to get a dancer hurt.

Some of the best shots that I saw during my daughters time on stage were shot from the wings. Her picture was in the paper once when she was dancing the Snow scene from the Nutcracker. The photographer was in the wing and caught her in mid leap. It wouldn't have been as dramatic from the audience.

Sarah,

I'm very aware of the dust issue. My wife and I shot pictures at Rodeos during the 70's and my OM-1 sounds horrible to this day, even after having sent it off to be repaired/refurbished during the 80's when we quit. I think a lot of these will be shot in pasture areas, as they want shots of the horses running. I do like your suggestion of early morning shots though, the light will be softer and they would probably like that too. Thanks for the idea.

Alan,

Thanks for the response. There were several things you mentioned that I had not thought of, biggest of all, all the

paperwork. I'm not sure how big a wheeler and dealer the owner is and with the economy in a slump, I'm sure i'll have

charge less than I'd like to to. If I can make enough to pay for the trip and buy some new equipment (I'd love white

lenses for my Canon), I'll be happy. :-P

 

Ian,

Unfortunately, I have a feeling these won't be the right horses.

I'm planning to visit relatives next month and have been asked by their friends to shoot pictures of horses they have

for sale or stud. I've done shoots of horses before and know how exasperating it can be getting them to "pose"

correctly, so I expect at least a half a day's worth of time to get enough good shots. It's been about 20 years since

I've done any commercial work, so I'd like to get some feedback on what a reasonable current hourly rate would be.

Thanks in advance for your input.

check out instructables.com. They have some do it your self cable pages for canon, may work for Nikon too

For what it's worth:

 

In February, I managed to get a nasty scratch on the filter on my 70-300 lens on my XTI. Because I was on at trip at the time, I dropped into Best Buy and picked up one to replace it. For the next 2 weeks, absolutely nothing I shot was in proper focus and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.

 

Just to be sure, I took off the new filter and the focus problem was gone. I would have never thought a filter was the problem, but when I went to the local camera store and got a better quality one, the focus problem went away.

30 plus years ago, my wife and I took lots of photos at rodeos. I recently "rediscovered" them, packed away in a

closet. I'm not sure what I can do with these as I never got model releases from the participants. We would process

the film and then mail or deliver pictures on demand.

Could I use them commercially as these were public events (like a high school or college ball game) or am I limited

strictly to personal use. There are only a couple of people whose names I remember and only one who I could easily

contact. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

I have an old Vivitar 283 and it's filters that I'd like to use w/ my XTI. I've been wondering about being able to use it on a flash bracket instead of w/ the hot shoe. Strobist says it's way too hot, but I wasn't sure it that was hot shoe mount or w/ the flash cable. Any suggestions on this?