robert_campbell8

<p>Tofino, BC<br>

Jayson </p>

<p><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6090/6057309110_c0120120e4_z.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6141/5958349575_5747ce68f7_z.jpg" alt="" /><br>

5D2, 17mm, ƒ/8, 1/350th, ISO 100 - adjusted</p>

<p>Wish the fences weren't there.</p>

<p>Hey Folks,</p>

<p>Predicament.</p>

<p>Canon 17-40 f/4 for my 5d mkii (I have a 24-70 f/2.8 already) or, should I get an olympus Ep-2.</p>

<p>My reason for getting the 17-40 was the compact size and weight to bring the 5dmkii mountaineering.</p>

<p>Thoughts?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>Hi there!<br>

I have some interesting ideas I'd share with you for this idea as long as we keep it open source as a tool for everyone to use for their cameras, and not as a product to sell.<br>

Rob</p>

<p>Larry, how do you carry the camera? Do you use the neck strap? Grip?</p>

<p>Get back to me please!</p>

<p>Larry, I suspect there is a way to lock it, such that it wont be possible to change the mode by removing the mode dial from the camera once you've set it. However it will likely be rather involved.. probably removing some of the camera body, and looking at other Canon mode dial construction, there is likely a screw that holds the mode dial in, accessed from the bottom.<br>

Once this is all done you likely will not be able to change the mode dial again easily without reassembly.. and you may lose protection of the internal circuitry once it is removed.</p>

<p>This is just a first thought however... I have a 5Dmkii personally and I'll look at some options for locking the mode dial for you. <br>

Let me know if you think of anything, I'm glad to try and help the fire department, even if it's not my fire dept, or in my country.</p>

<p>Rob</p>

<p>http://gizmodo.com/5614865/canon-eos-7d-studio-version-adds-security-functions-and-barcode-reading<br>

New Canon 7d with security features, allows you to lock on/off features.<br>

Perhaps this is a camera the school will want.</p>

<p>The entire purpose of this post was to show people two things:</p>

<p>1) The Canon 70-200 F/4 IS lens has distortion, evident enough to be seen by the naked eye</p>

<p>2) The distortion can be easily corrected with available PP softwares</p>

<p>I think that it also showed that people have rather different interpretations as to what qualifies as "a lot" of distortion, that most people don't notice it or care and that most people who own the lens are very quick to rush to it's defense :)<br>

<br />Regardless, I thought that this post was laid out very well, exhibiting straight forward evidence at the beginning and we had a good discussion regarding measurable distortion and perception.</p>

<p>My name is not Dan, however, I thought I would add my experiences to this thread as well. My experiences with this lens encompass both full frame (5D2) and cropped (40D) experiences. </p>

<p>Firstly, I find the lens to be sharp, quick focusing have effective IS and exhibit unnoticeable distortion for any shots lacking framed parallel lines.</p>

<p>Secondly, I find that if I do frame a shot with parallel lines that the distortion is detectable however <em>easily </em>corrected with LR as many people have pointed out. </p>

<p>Thirdly, the performance on my 40D was slightly better than my 5D in terms of resolution and distortion in my opinion. My 'tests' however were not standardized, merely observation of my photos.</p>

<p>IMO the real questions are:<br>

what are you shooting with this lens?<br>

why are you using this lens to shoot that?<br>

is there a better lens for doing this application?<br>

Do you care about the distortion? (there is no denying it's presence)</p>

<p>Just ask yourself these questions and work with what you have. Comparing the lens to other lenses and expressing an opinion of a quantity of distortion may satisfy the gear nerd in people and lead to some good discussions regarding repeatable, conclusive testing, but I'm of the opinion that the lens itself is one of the best tele-zooms for a Canon mount (with IS and AF), and there are not many options other than it.</p>

<p>Two shots from the short weekend. Kind of sad, clouds were present.. not much shooting time.</p>

<p>First one is around ~400s, second is ~1560s</p>

<p>Needed more time to play around..</p><div></div>

<p>Hi Dan,</p>

<p>Firstly, I wanted to thank you for the detail of your post and the link for more information. I'm going to be going out of town this weekend to a much nicer location for some astrophotography than I have had easy access to. I am going to play around with some of my current lens options and examine some of the results to see if I need to bother with alternative expensive solutions to achieve the results I wanted.</p>

<p>You're certainly right about the concept of "exposing to the right", I noticed I generally had to brighten my previous shots, which seemed to introduced a lot of noise. My use of the histogram before this upcoming experiment has been rather limited, I am kind of excited. I will as before post any shots to show progress for anyone interested.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I've now ventured into the realm of tracking mounts for my tri-pod.. what have I done!<br>

Has anyone had any experience with Barn-Door style devices?</p>

<p>M.P,<br>

Thanks for the comments!</p>

<p>I can say that I had my Live view in "stills only" with exposure simulation on. I do know that if I pressed the aperture preview button near the lens mount, the display did change.</p>

<p>Upon further inspection, just playing around with my 5D now yielded that when on "stills only" with exposure simulation off, changing the aperture did nothing until I pressed the preview button.</p>

<p>Furthermore, pressing the preview button with the lens wide open changed the display as well. I suppose that the camera may be increasing the brightness/gain on the sensor just to make it easier to focus when you're in live view regardless.</p>

<p>Hey there,<br>

<br />I remember on my 40D that when on "AV" mode,<br>

-the<strong> large dial on the back</strong> of the camera next to the screen controlled the <strong>exposure</strong><br>

<strong> </strong>-the <strong>smaller dial next to the shutter</strong> controlled the <strong>aperture</strong></p>

<p>When in manual mode,<br>

-the <strong>large dial on the back</strong> next to the screen controlled the <strong>aperture</strong><br>

-the <strong>small dial next to the shutter</strong> controlled the <strong>shutter speed</strong></p>

<p>meaning that in my experience the aperture dial was not the same between AV and M modes.</p>

<p>Furthermore, you may try pressing the AE lock button (*) and scrolling the wheel near the shutter (a-la rebel XTi).</p>

<p>Hope this helps..</p>

<p>And another.</p>

<p>I really appreciate the help! The results are there :)</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>No aurora borealis last night for me.. but some shots? The live-view focusing really helped. A great tip.</p>

<p>As a note:<br>

I ended up using my 50mm 1.8 wide open to do the focusing with live view zoomed in. High ISO and long exposure noise reduction were active. When shooting I stopped down the 50mm to around f 3.5-4.</p>

<p>I discovered some dead pixels on the sensor and the screen (no big deal).</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>Hi John,<br>

Thanks for your response. One other thing I realized is that I wasn't shooting raw. I will remedy that tonight.<br>

Any suggestions for noise reduction? I have Lightroom on my PC and Aperture on my Macbook, if that gives a start.<br>

Thanks again.</p>

<p>Hello Photo.net community,</p>

<p>I was hoping to grab some opinions of some more experienced photographers regarding doing some night time photography with my 5DmkII.<br>

I was having some trouble getting some nice clear low noise shots of the night sky.<br>

A few of the issues I was having:<br>

- Images not focused well<br>

- Noise<br>

- What lens should I be using from my stable? (I have: Canon 24-70 ƒ2.8L, 70-200 ƒ4L IS, 50 ƒ1.8II, Sigma 105 ƒ2.8 Macro)<br>

- Shooting wide open versus stopped down?<br>

- Trying to balance exposure and reducing trails from the stars (this is obv. related to the above question)</p>

<p> example image.</p>

<p>Many thanks for all the advice!<br>

<br /> I suppose looking at these responses.. I should have added that I am a student (and not married haha), and living in Canada (doesnt really matter, though things cost more here.. stupid Canada). So, cost is definitely something I have to consider in my decisions, and ideally I'd like to prioritize what I have to get, and build up the gear when I can afford it, maximizing utility of my purchases!</p>

<p>Mark - I will be reading this, I've watched a few videos, online, but I'm guessing nothing will give me more insight than the first event (and ideally the clients will be happy with it, as they know I'm just starting out).</p>

<p>It seems everyone is critical in mentioning a backup body, is this just as a redundancy? Or would most of you consider using the backup body as a second body to reduce lens swapping?</p>

<p>Matt - Selling the Sigma is something I'm definitely considering, as I dont see myself using it.. at all... 17-40L is probably something I can realistically afford... The other thing I could do is sell that sigma, and put the money towards a used 5Dmk1...</p>

<p>Would people consider a 5D mk1 as a good option for a "main" body and the 40D as backup?</p>

<p>Again, advice welcome and appreciated.</p>

<p>Rob</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hey folks, just wondering if you had some nice suggestions for anything (gear wise) I might be missing for starting out wedding shooting.<br>

<br /> Main Body:<br>

Canon 40D, with Vert Grip and 2x batteries<br>

Lenses:<br>

Canon 70-200 F/4 IS<br>

Canon 24-70 F/2.8<br>

Canon 50mm F/1.8<br>

Sigma 105mm F/2.8 Macro<br>

Flash:<br>

Canon 430 EXII with Omnibounce<br>

Cactus V4 wireless (if needed, for some fancy shots)<br>

Storage:<br>

2x 4Gb High Speed Flash<br>

Computer Backup</p>

<p>The only thing I'm lacking is some sort of carrying accessory.. I have a standard camera bag.. but I dunno how comfortable etc it will be for a long time standing up...</p>

<p>Any suggestions would be appreciated!</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Rob</p>

@ Robert as well as Alan

I have an XTi and I make great use of the Custom Functions on the camera.

Menu -> Tools -> Custom Functions (C.Fn) -> 04 Shutter/AE lock button -> Set to 1 (AE lock / AF)

This will set the camera up to use AF only when you press the * button on the camera. I've completely gotten used to this now... very fun to use the 1/2 shutter to lock the exposure as well.

This will solve your problem of not being able to take a shot even though the camera thinks it is not in focus.