tram_luu

What do you guys think of the Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L?

Dan,

No worries. You used the :-) so I knew your comment was in good fun.

OMG! I love this forum, that's probably why I spend hours scanning this forum rather than actually doing work! Well, that and shopping online. Anyway, I love all the advise and I will keep my Xti (even though someone has already offered me money for it) and I will buy an external flash (430EX Speedlite or 220EX Speedlite?) and probably a new lens. I've invested quite a lot into my Xti so I guess I should just keep the darn thing. Now.....I will reread all the comments and do some research.

 

And just to assure all of you guys out there, I live in sunny San Diego County, so my kids are outside all the time. If you've never been here, the weather is awesome most of the year. But the natural lighting isn't fantastic in their play area.

 

Thanks again and I guess I need to get back to my real job...corporate finance and banking. :-(

Using m cheap 50 does help but I was hoping to not be constrained by a prime lens. I'm going to take your advise and buy a faster lens and see how things go. I'll write back when I do and tell you how things have improved.

 

I'm at work so I don't have an examples I can show you but I appreciate everyone's advise and feedback. My favorite was from Brad regarding the reflector. :-) You must not have kids yet!

I use my cheap EF 50 f/1.8 lens about 50% of the time.

Thanks for your comments. I'd say 99% of my frustration is not being able to take natural light photos. I really dislike flashes. And I know some of my light issues can be fixed on PSE 6.0 but I was looking for less work. And I guess I'm just complaining.

I have a Rebel Xti that came with the EF-S 18-55 lens. I take mostly pictures

of my young kids (they move around a lot) in low light situations and I get

very frustrated with the ISO setting on the Xti. It only goes to 1600. I'm

thinking of selling it all and starting fresh with the 40D. Is that a good

idea? If so, do you think it's worth looking into used 40D's.

beginner question: how do you take a meter reading?

the xti only has 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 ISO. nothin' else, friend.

the xti only goes up to ISO 1600.....darn. so, should i use my 50mm f/1.8 lens? should i use that or the stock 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens?

 

any way to force the sports mode to up the shutter speed? seems like a useless function otherwise.

 

i just got photoshop elements so i'm still learning how to process my pictures.

this is my first posting to this forum......here i go:

 

details: canon rebel xti with the EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 lens. indoor

baseketball with an average amount of light for a gym around 3 pm in the

afternoon. (i live in san diego county so it's always sunny!) i used both the

Tv mode (ISO set to 400 and 800) and sports mode.

 

i was at my 5 year old's indoor basketball game, first using the sports mode

but the pictures were blurry because the shutter speed wouldn't go past 1/60.

then i switched to Tv mode and set the ISO at 400. the pictures came back

dark, so i turned up the ISO to 800. the pictures were still too dark but

better than before. so i cranked the ISO up to 1600. still dark but slowly

getting better.

 

my kid has another game this saturday. same gym, same lighting, so what should

i try this time? the kids are only 5 but they run fast.