evphotography

<p>I don't have any experience with the 85mm lens, but I shoot 35 f/2 on my 5DII and it is a great lens. From f/5.6-11 this is one of sharpest lenses I have used. The very extreme corners are tad soft at 5.6, but sharpen up nicely at f/11. The center section of the image is very, very sharp. At $225 for new lens, this one is a bargain.</p>

<p>Your probably little surprised at the responses, but I have to agree with most that with the type of photography you are going to be using it for, the 5DII is probably your best choice. They are plenty rugged enough for what you will use it for, think about what you have been using and it's lot better built then a 20D. Also the extra WA coverage for indoor shoots like you mentioned will be big help. You also mentioned wanting the extra features and 3" LCD, well the 5DII has them all, 1DIII doesn't. Wait till you see the LCD on 5DII with high resolution screen, it will make your 20D screen look pretty bad.</p>

<p>Dust is something you have with any camera, but with the 5DII and the sensor cleaning it has you won't have to clean it nearly as often. My old 5D attracted dust like a magnet, but not so with new 5DII I have now. I have only shot maybe 1000 shots with it now, but haven't had to clean it or clone dust spot yet from an image. Don't worry about switching lenses, just be careful while doing it and you will be fine.</p>

<p>By all means go for the 40D body, much more camera and you will be much happier with it after using it for a while.</p>

<p>Here check this site out, it should give you a good idea of what to charge. It's a stock photo price calculator.<br>

<a href="http://photographersindex.com/price-adv-calc.htm">http://photographersindex.com/price-adv-calc.htm</a></p>

<p>The size you are wanting is very large and most photographers wouldn't even consider a print that size with 21MP DSLR. You are talking about a 4x6' print, that is even very large for MF and really probably need LF to make exhibition quality. You would have to uprez your image about 750% to get that size. A 5DII at 240 dpi is just little under a 16x24" print. Usually you don't want to print any lower than 240 dpi for the quality you want.</p>

<p>As some has mentioned probably 15MP sensor with hopefully as good IQ in terms of noise. But other than adding HD video there isn't a hole lot more they could offer. The D300 is already a pretty feature rich camera. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.</p>

<p> If you are going to get software, buy Lightroom 2.0. Much, much cheaper than Photoshop and is a great RAW converter, plus much, much more.</p>

<p>I agree with Josh, I don't see problem with any of things you listed except maybe mirror lock up. Even that isn't so bad when you add it to "My Menu" settings and it defaults to that menu selection when ever you press the Menu button. Or you can add mirror lock up to one of the Custom selections.</p>

<p>The 70-200mm f/2.8L IS is awesome lens, large upgrade from what you have. But I would definitely want more WA then just 50mm in my bag. I would consider the 17-40L, price wise it is a steal and on cropped sensor body it is sharp center to corner. You got spoiled now when you saw what you can get with really sharp optics, so I don't blame you for wanting to upgrade. Once you starting buying good glass, you won't want use anything else. Nice thing about investing in good lenses is that they don't become obsolete in few years, leaving you to want and upgrade. I have 70-200mm f/4L that I have owned for about five years and you will have to pry it away from my dead body to get it from me. One of best investments I ever made.</p>

<p>Its not that is outdated, the 5D was fine camera when it came out and still is today. Excellent IQ and for most people 12.8 MP is plenty. But in terms of features its not all that impressive, but probably most people don't feel they need or want those extra features the newer models have, so who cares. I purchase my bodies based on the features it has as long as the IQ is still there as well. I purchased a new 5DII, but that is only because I been wanting a 20+MP FF camera with high resolution 3" screen and some of other nice features they also included on new model, so for me the new 5DII was my dream camera. Which now I wouldn't think about upgrading for probably another 4-5 years. It may seem frustrating to buy a new body every 3-5 years, but when you think about how much you would have spent if shooting film for that long, then its not that bad. So if the 5D has everything you need or want then there is nothing at all outdated about it, get some good use out of it and hold on to it for while.</p>

<p>If I was considering spending the money for BH-55, I would go with Arca Swiss Z1. I have used all three of the heads you mentioned and Arca Swiss is by far the best head I have ever used. None of others will maintain same tension when camera is pointed downwards. Makes for a nice smooth working head with plenty of strength to spare. I have owned a B1 for about five years now and another before that for about 2 years and never once had problem with mine, never locked up once.</p>

<p>You got taken by these guys with the bait and switch tactics. Want to sell you a higher price "no name" replacement that isn't probably worth it. It is probably to late now , since you already ordered it. I had friend get taken like that on Nikon body he bought over year ago.</p>

<p>As stated above, use a tripod, shoot at the lenses optimum aperture which for 17-40L I found to be f/11 for overall sharpness especially in corners. Also if shooting at shutter speeds of about 1 sec- 60th sec I also always use mirror lock up on the camera. Then for ultimate sharpness I shoot usually 2-3 frames, now this only works for tripod work. Focus one shot for very foreground, then focus on middle ground and shoot another, then if needed I focus one for very background and shoot another. Then in photo shop, I open all three, copy and paste the one with the mid ground and background on top of foreground shot. Then using masks on the middle ground and background layers expose the part from that image that is sharpest. Then you can get extremely sharp images from foreground to background and always have lots DOF without having to shoot at very small apertures that usually cause diffraction and rob the sharpness from the image.</p>

<p>Just upgraded myself from the 40D and like most have already mentioned, IQ is awesome. Really like having those 21MP, really gives you the option to do some serious cropping if needed and still have fairly large image file. But another thing I really like is the added features, like high resolution screen and previews when viewing image playback. My menu now allows you to customize seven functions instead of three, new battery with detailed information is nice also, to be able to change ISO, AF, Drive mode, WB, etc. from back LCD with one push of the set button is another nice feature if shooting with tripod.</p>

<p>Don't take this personal but please make sure if sending them anything in writing to make sure and use spell check before sending it off. If written requests are anything like this post, it would look very unprofessional. <strong>Unseure</strong> (unsure), <strong>freelancers</strong> (free lance photographers), <strong>prefessional</strong> (professional).</p>

<p>For large prints I think the Pentax 67II would be the choice. First off 55mm on 6x7 is 28mm equivalent in 35mm terms. So if you got the 55-105mm and added the 45mm prime you would have plenty of wide angle coverage. But look at this also. Say you shoot moderate amount of film over next three years, let say 1000 images a year. Film cost for 120 film would be about $12 per roll including developing. Which is ten frames on a 6x7. Take 100 rolls of film times $12= $1200. In little over 2.5 years you just bought a 5DII. With a 5DII I don't have to even consider film cost, just pull the trigger as much as you want. There was always something about spending $25 for 20 slides with film, then end up throwing away maybe 16-18 frames that bothered me with film. Plus in terms of features a MF camera don't even compete with camera like 5DII. Like you mentioned that 3" LCD is awesome, especially on new 5DII, I use it like a mini view camera. I know with every single shot weather I got the exposure and sharpness, DOF, etc. that I wanted.</p>

<p>Hey Paul are you using a Contax prime or zoom lens? From what I have read those adapters with chips can only confirm focus at one set focal length for any lens, even zoom lenses. So if the adapter chip is set for focus confirmation say at 50mm and you are using a zoom lens and it is set at say 35mm, then it could be giving you a little wrong information about true point of focus. Here is pretty good article on those adapters, maybe read it and see if it explains anything.<br>

<a href="http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Contax_db_Adapters.html">http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Contax_db_Adapters.html</a></p>

<p>I don't see this being relevant at all, like Sam mentioned this doesn't take into consideration features or build quality of the camera. Based on this assessment, then the Olympus E520 is best camera to buy even though it scored a lot lower on dxO scores.</p>

<p>That is a good start Charles is to go with the ICC profiles provided by Epson. An even better solution is to have a really good profile made for your printer & paper you use. One I have used myself and are really good is from "Cathy's profiles". Here is her website <a href="http://www.cathysprofiles.com/">http://www.cathysprofiles.com/</a>. Her prices are very reasonable compared to what most people charge for a professionally done profile and are very good indeed.</p>

<p>They did it David to just Piss you off, and it worked. But from the responses on your thread looks like there are more people that want those lenses then you thought. I personally think they are great addition to their lens line up. Get over it and stop complaining, better yet sell all you Canon gear and go Nikon, I'm sure if you write Nikon and tell them what lenses you would like, they will make them for you.</p>

<p>I think this is great news, should make a lot of Landscape photographers happy. Hopefully they will be higher quality then their previous WA lenses. Now if they would just update and make a really high quality 20mm & 28mm lens, they would stop getting criticized so badly for not having some high quality wide angle lenses. If they are as good as price tag, then it will make the new breed of 20+ MP camera owners very happy. </p>

<p>Just be careful in the cleaning here, I have never seen a sensor that dirty before, makes you wonder about those blowers. I would definitely try a new blower and try to get as much off of the sensor that you can before cleaning it with a sensor pad. I guess since it is rubber particles it shouldn't hurt the sensor but like I said I have never seen one that bad before. Something I like to do when using a blower is put a vacuum up close to it while you blow them out so it can suck up any dust you break loose instead of just moving the dust and/or particles around. Good luck here, that is a bummer.</p>

<p>That is kind of up to you if you want to carry around that much glass in your bag. Me personally would take the 24-70 2.8L and get a 70-200 f/F or 2.8L and that is all the lenses I would need. But if you really want to try out the other lenses with adapters then I guess you don't have any choice but to take them and that is a personal choice that only you can make. Have to remember with a crop sensor body, any of the Canon's L lenses is going to perform awesome and be sharp from center to edge, since you are only using the sweet spot of the lens.</p>

<p>What I personally think Brent is that you are worrying to much about lens reviews and what you read on the Internet from pixel peepers. Your right that completely wide open the 50 f/1.4 isn't as good, but at 2.8 and above it is awesome and the auto focus in low light isn't that bad either with the USM. F/2.8 is a pretty fast lens and lets a lot of light it. I just picked one up for my 5DII and it is by far the sharpest lens in my bag without a doubt and I own several L lenses. Remember when shooting at apertures wider than 2.8 that your DOV is so small you really have to nail your focus point dead on. With the AF in 1Ds MarkII body you shouldn't have any problems in low light. One thing I can tell you is that for a lens costing $325 new, you will not find a better lens out there, PERIOD! If you really have the have the build quality of a 50 f/1.2L then it won't be that, but if you don't need that build quality the 1.2L in no way performs better to justify the extra $800 or more it will cost you, not even close. Pick one up, trust me the sharpness will not disappoint you, I still am amazed at how sharp this lens is every time I look at my images taken with it, it's scary sharp.</p>