mike_oflaherty

<p>It all depends if you are going to crop or not. Have used 6400 doing a shoot for the company I work for in low light, mostly mechanical rooms during equipment upgrades. The results are quite good, they are not going to be on the cover of Nat'l Geo but good enough print for a article in some industrial magazine.<br>

Mike</p>

 

<p>How are you metering the picture? Spot, partial or evaluative. I have found through trial and a lot of error. If you are using spot you can blow out a picture with little or no effort.</p>

<p>Great choice to pick from. The questions is what are going to strap it to, a crop or a ff camera?</p>

<p>If you have ever noticed the guys on the sidelines of any sporting event with those big white beauties they usually have them strapped to a mono pod. They are light enough to carry all day and really help sturdy the camera. Have used this combo with my 300f4/L IS with a 1.4X, it's a great help for doing panning shots a well as leaning up against something to get the shot.</p>

<p>You know you may have started a p***ing contest. Now my suggestion to you would be to take both of these beauties out for a test drive if you can, that will either make or break it for you. There really is no other way to find out what would suit your needs until you have the tool in your hands.</p>

<p>No you should not send it back. The real problem is your fighting physics/thermodynamics and a thing called volumetric expansion. I would imagine when all lens are put together in a factory it's in a cool environment, so when it cooler they don't bind, increase the temp everything gets bigger and binds. No way around this, you may have to live with it. Did not mean to come off as a smart ass.</p>

<p>mike</p>

<p>Judging by the responses so far a net book is not the answer. You would be better off to upgrade your laptop with the jam to do what you want. I'm running a Gateway NV53 it has the power to do video and still editing. Nice thing would be you can load all the software you have. Just a note no problem running video unconverted using Quicklime. Hope it helps.<br>

Mike</p>

<p>I'm guessing but are you really talking about is focus? If so what were the settings, hand held, mono or tripod, still shot or panning, auto or manual focus, what type of lens were you using? Just a few other things to consider if it sharpness and focus is what you were really talking about.</p>

<p>Mike</p>

<p>What it seems to me is that you want to do is a side by side picture comparison in ff and 1.6 full frame if I'm reading this right. The best bet you can do is go to your local dealer and see if you can take a test drive with a ff and a 1.6, it's the best way to see if it will work for you.</p>

<p>I just had my 28/135 repaired, tried the same as you cleaning etc in the end the IS was gone. They replaced the motor and it's back up to snuff. Now it it all depends what you consider a whack. My repair was $164 and about 3 weeks in the shop. Some may say dump it, up grade but if it does the job keep it, get it repaired and enjoy it.</p>

<p>You are on the right track with the used, tubes and the extender. Check around the local shops as well as on line. Good glass will cost you most of that 3K but it's worth the cost. Just checked B&H they have 2 used 300mm f4L IS lens for under a 1K couple that to a Canon 1.4 extender you have a nice 420mm full frame or a 672 mm 5.6 L IS in a crop sensor. You'll still have enough to buy a body Like a 50d with a battery grip some extension tubes maybe even a flash. The most important thing though is to hone your craft. Even with the best equipment you still can shot bad pictures. It's 90% of what's in your head and 10% equipment. Others may argue that sharpness, contrast etc. but you are capturing the a moment in time that's never going to happen again. If it's able to tell the story you had in your mind at that moment you and your equipment have done the job. It's nice to do it in style if we can but it's better when we can do it right. So keep practicing and have fun shopping. Hope this helps, by the way I've shot a lot of bad pictures with good equipment, I'm still learning new stuff all the time.</p>

<p>I use my main lens which is 28/135 3.5/5.6 IS on my 5D2. It works quite well, the IS gives a nice steady cam effect when panning, however you get the noise from the lens due to the location of the built in mic. So a external mic would solve this. This lens gives you a nice range to work with. Hope this helps</p>

<p>Sounds just what you need to start. Don,t worry about pixels at this point in time, learn the craft first. You can find some good deals on used equipment such as lens at your local camera shop, e bay, etc to stretch your budget dollars.</p>

<p>Take them both fro a test drive it will be the only way you'll get a true answer . Both are great cameras, if money is not the issue I would go with 1 series. Myself I could not justify that amount of money for a hobby and settled for a 5D2 since it's a ff and that's what I was used to shooting with on my old A2E.</p>

<p>The best thing you can do is to take both of them for a test drive. If you are able to try them side by each under the same conditions and at the same location then compare the results when you get home. You have a lot of 5D2 and 7D users here that swear by their camera and no other, so it becomes, pardon my English "a pissing contest of sorts." Only you can decide which one is for you. They are both great cameras and both will give the results you seek.</p>

<p>Nathan I'm only guessing it could be building or street lights in the picture. the longer the exposure greater the burn, signage would completely washed out except for a big glowing blob. Then again like you said until we are informed to what is trying to be captured in low light we can only speculate to what is trying to be done.</p>

<p>Not bad. Try adjusting the angle of the light to eliminate the flare on the bottom stone. The twinkle effect that is there is what you want but not over do it. A little more practice and you'll be there.</p>

<p>Done a few myself for friends and family asking what they want is prime. Check out other peoples work, the galleries here have some really good stuff to get ideas. Have a backup camera, lots of batteries and most important a rain location just in case that happens.<br>

Now what to charge, like what Dan said "Nothing." This is your gift to them and let them know that. In most cases they will give you some form of remuneration for your work. Shoot both raw/jpeg if you can do a quick edit to get rid of the really bad shots. Burn on to disc and give to them the next day if possible. Besides how often do you get to take pictures of pretty girls and not get in trouble for it.</p>

<p>I use a Canon user. So I'm guessing the VR is the same as the IS(image stabilization) on the Canon. Couple of things turn up your ISO to increase the speed of your shutter range at 1/400 should stop most motion when combine with panning with the subject in focus. If you have a function of a continuous focus set that on and start panning and clicking, it takes a little practice but you will get good results. Yes it's hard trying to keep the subject with on eye closed, try with both eyes open it takes a little getting used to but ti does work. Hope this helps and enjoy.</p>

<p>Sreehari I did not know that, you learn some thing new each day. If such is the case a new lens will not help that much, it's time to save some coin and upgrade the body in order to get the results that are desired. The old camera could be sold for use towards a new one or it will make a great back up.</p>

<p>Come on Mark no need for that. It's the reason why the post was here in the first place, they are looking for our help or insight not criticism of their plight.</p>

<p>Howard,<br>

I've had my 5d2 set at 400 ISO since it will give me that quick out of the bag chance at a shot that I would normally have missed with a lower setting. Now as for shooting low light it all depends on what you shooting, if it's still set it to 100 ISO, if it is moving and you don't want blur crank it up. There really is not much wrong with noise, in the old days it was film grain which would add that mystique to a shot. Try envisioning your shot before you shoot with different levels of noise or setup your rig and bracket a bunch of shots at various ISO's and see what you like. The greatest thing about doing this in digital it's not like the old days when you had to get everything developed, then see if you got the shot 2 days after the fact and wasted $20 in doing so. Experiment that's what it's all about getting what works for you. There really no right or wrong as long as that's what you set out to do in the first place.</p>

<p>Need more information. First off what was the camera set to? A 3sec/6 sec exposure without a f stop does not give much info to what is going on. Does it work at with the flash, normal daylight or does it just seem to not work when you are shooting in the darkness?</p>

<p>For a $100 what do you expect for buying used, as they would say. I'm sad to say it looks like your in a bit of a pickle. A nice camera buy the way, couple of suggestions, use lithium batteries they will last longer or buy a good set of rechargeable batteries or hunt down a PB-E2 on the web. Really don't worry about the cost, the results your going to get will well justify the cost of a new/used grip. After all it only was a $100 for the body and grip.</p>

<p>Years ago the Hotel I used to work at would have Jewelers hosting small private show/sales in the guest suites. We made up a rig of florescent 4' lamps with full spectrum tubes in them at the request of the Jeweler. So I would guess that the full spectrum would give off the right light to make the product sparkle under the light if the Jeweler knew what they were talking about. Another suggestion would be go down to a Jewelery Shop look at there displays and ask what type of lighting the use.</p>