martin_engineer

<p>....Like Mark Says.... just chillax and enjoy the awesome power of the 5dmk2</p>

<p>get the 550d or a used 40d / 50d / 60d<br>

more money for lenses</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Looks like a very fast workstation. If you're not interested in future upgrades I'd second the suggestion for looking into Intel Sandy Bridge architecture (i7 2600) to cut the price a bit, especially if you're not interested in over-clocking. <br>

Another thing you might want to consider is a Solid State Disk (SSD). There are some nice informational videos about those on youtube. I'd be so bold as to cut the ram to "only" 6 or 8 GB in order to afford an SSD. <br>

Do you have a backup plan? At the very least I'd recommend spending a few bucks from my budget for an external hard disk for backups. </p>

<p>So, I gather this: "it's not what you know, it's what you can prove in court".<br>

What happens when several people come forward and claim ownership. How do you determine who is lying and who actually pressed the button? Granted there are ways to verify the identity of the actual shooter, what if there are no other witnesses nor security cameras to verify who took the actual photo. What might a judge determine in such as case?<br>

I would argue that......An artist 'draws' a picture of you. When he gives you the picture you now own it. The act of giving you possession of the only copy of a digital image also gives you full rights to it. </p>

<p>With respect, maybe the problem is with your eyes and not the technical equipment. See an optometrist.</p>

 

<p>Ruslan,<br>

Keep in mind that you are not simply buying a camera and lens. You are buying an entire photo system. It is like joining a cult or a gang. I suggest that you explore your future expansion path. What lens' and accessories would you like to buy in the future? Will you ever need to rent a lens for a wedding... try renting a Pentax lens.<br>

The 40/2.8 is usually under-rated and called a weird focal length. But anyone who has to carry it around for a day will appreciate it's sharpness, bokeh, fast focusing and light weight.<br>

- M</p>

<p>I'll guess, that if you contact Canon, they'll tell you that the noise difference between ISO 640 and 800 is minimal therefore the camera choose 800 and that moving to F6.3 give better image quality than F5.6...... just a guess.</p>

<p>Out of interest, I'd be curious to see a noise comparison test between ISO 640 and 800 on a 7D.</p>

<p>So, either the camera is broken, or it's choosing what it thinks are the best settings.<br>

If the image exposure and focus are on the mark then it's not broken.<br>

If you think you can come up with better settings, then that's what M - manual mode is for.<br>

If you think that the Canon engineers and firmware programmers made a mistake in their calculations, then you should let them know.</p>

<p>I'll stick with APS-H thank you very much.<br>

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/megapixel-cmos-sensor-eos-dslr,news-7856.html</p>

<p>John Crowe's edit looks pretty good. If you have the time and patience you could get rid of the chroma noise in the guys suit using Photoshop. In the high ISO range, I find that most noise appears in the shadows and dark areas like a tux. The wedding dress has almost no noise that I can see.<br>

I think that once you get the prints, they'll look better in your hand than on your computer screen.</p>

 

<p>Ask yourself what do you want to shoot, and how do you want your pictures to look.<br />You can shoot landscapes with the 50mm lens and portraits with the 11-16mm.... <br>

My advice... get both.... the 11-16 first, because it's more fun, but will get boring after a while... then get the 50 when you're ready for something else.</p>

<p>Hey Guys,<br>

Thanks for the responses. I would have never thought of turning one around.<br /> I'm gonna see if I can borrow a second polarizer and take some test shots this weekend. </p>

 

<p>My question is to anyone that has experience using two circular polarizing filters as a variable neutral density filter. I'm interested in this mostly for long shutter speed landscapes, but also to reduce depth of field for outdoor portraits in bright sunlight with flash.<br>

Any caveats to watch out for?<br>

How's the quality, compared to a ND filter?<br>

Does it matter if they polarizers are different brands?<br>

Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>+1 for getting the kit lens. It's a jack of all trades and will give you an idea on which lens you'll want to buy next.... If you've got a few extra bucks, check out the 50mm f1.8 in addition to the kit lens.</p>

<p>Ask a knowledgeable friend to format your computer and reinstall Windows and all your software. Throw him a few bucks. That is the cheapest way to make your computer run faster.<br>

I must say "Don't buy a Dell" - because I find their customer service is lacking.<br>

Whatever computer you choose to buy, you can always upgrade the hard disk space by adding extra internal or external drives. You say that the PC only has 320GB?.... well for under $50 you can add another 500 GB.<br>

RAM upgrades can get tricky sometimes... try to keep it to the same brand, Speed, Latency.... best of all.. just dump your old Memory modules and simply install 2 GB of new memory.<br>

Whatever you do... get the 50mm f1.8 lens.</p>

<p>Hey Chris,<br>

I moved from a K10d with a bunch of DA* and DA Limited lenses to a Canon system. I must admit that I often miss the Pentax, but I would never switch back.<br>

It all comes down to what and how you like to shoot.<br>

-M</p>

<p>Don't American's have some laws about freedom of the press? This guy is clearly filming a documentary and posting it online, does he need a large company backing him in order to be a legitimate reporter? If a CNN reporter or did they same and posted it on CNN.com would they get arrested?</p>

<p>Hey Ulf,<br>

I remember that my K10D would sometimes hunt a bit in low contrast situations. I found that using the center point only and placing it at an "intersection" or high contrast area would help.... eg... focus and recompose. I also noticed different performance with different lenses.... the kit lens was surprisingly fast focusing. The 50mm f1.4 was pretty good in low light too.<br>

If you have a flash unit I would put it on the camera even if you don't actually use flash. The AF540 for example emits a beam that helps with focusing.<br>

good luck<br>

- Martin</p>

<p>Hey Jay,<br>

Full Frame has<br>

- Better images at high ISO... that means less noise and more dynamic range at the higher ISO's<br>

- overall higher dynamic range... greater range of tones from highlights to darks<br>

- more pixels in the case of the 5d mkII... allows crazy detail... or the ability to do crazy crops....<br>

- The ability to print larger prints with less loss of detail due to enlargement.<br>

- greater depth of field control.... can get a thinner dept of field... or you could stop down more and not face the bad effects of diffraction untill F16 or so.<br>

All that being said... I suspect that it is very difficult to see the above differences in a print made by a 7D and 5D Mark II. Anyone who is not an expert and dosnt know what to look for will not be able to tell which camera took a particular shot.</p>

<p>Another vote for the 24-105... the 5D Mark II automatically corrects for distortion and vignetting. A bunch of newer bodies do this as well with most canon lenses. <br>

Consider the 50mm F1.8... I know it's not as good as the f1.4 but can you really tell the difference after stopping down one or two stop. It's extremely light weight and low cost.</p><div></div>

<p>I've used both 18-55 and 50-200 non WR kit lens' in light rain and mild to heavy snow with no problems at all.... no moisture or condensation inside. I read somewhere that it's good to leave them in the camera bag for the temperature to normalize when bringing your kit inside from cold weather.<br>

Javier. I don't own a K-7... only had 20 minutes to play with one.</p>

 

<p>With digital you don't have people using the same body for 10 years. Most photographers will upgrade digital bodies at least every couple of years. That means more DSLR's sold, more money. Better business model. Why would Canon or Nikon put resources into a less profitable venture?</p>

<p>Hey Marius,<br>

I've actually got a question for you. How do you find that lens focuses when you're shooting non-macro stuff. I've got the same lens and it hunts terribly for non-macro shots. Even with the focus limiting switch at the correct position.<br>

- Martin</p>

<p>Hey Gregory,<br>

DO NOT BUY ANOTHER CAMERA. Spend a few bucks on a rain cover. Spend the rest on a nice lens.<br>

I think you'll find that the K20d is equal in may ways to the EOS 50d and that the K7 is a little bit superior to both in terms of handling but not necessarily image quality. The only thing I find lacking in the Pentax bodies is the autofocus. I'm sure you'll agree after you use the Pentax for a week that it's noticeably slower.<br>

The Samsung 14.6 and Canon 15.1 mega pixel sensors will be pretty equal in image quality if you shoot RAW.<br>

The Pentax bodies are just as durable as the Canon. I've personally manged to drop a K20d from 6 feet up onto concrete. It's still shotting flawlessly... except for a scratch on the body. I'm sure you'd be able to hammer nails with it.<br>

Happy shooting.<br>

- Martin</p>

 

<p>Wow. lots of good responses.<br>

I'd ask him if he's got a way to backup his pictures. If not, maybe look at an external backup solution for him. You don't want him crying on your shoulder when his computer breaks and he looses all his images.<br>

Otherwise... if he's got a PC, there's nothing wrong with PC's. If he want's to learn something new... there's nothing wrong with Mac's either... just get a Core i5 or i7 model with at least 2 Gigs of ram and decent specs.... maybe a SSD would be nice. ( Solid State Disk)</p>