fuccisphotos
-
Posts
968 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Events
Downloads
Gallery
Store
Posts posted by fuccisphotos
-
-
<p>Also you can rent a body like the 5dmkIII which has much better low light performance and the placement of the buttons on the body is VERY similar. </p>
-
<p>Louise, before buying tons of gear I would suggest second shooting a fair amount. This will give you a better idea of what your equipment is capable of. When I shoot in the darkest of dark churches that don't allow flash I use my 50 1.4 and my 135 2.0. I bought the 135 2.0 on the advice given to me in these forums and I love it. I too am a small female, and weight was a real consideration for me. For those times I absolutely need a longer lens, I have the 1.4x teleconverter which makes it a 200mm 2.8 lens. The bokeh on the 135 is SICK. For first dances there is no lens I love more. My second shooter uses the 70-200 2.8 IS and I love how his shots come out. But here's the catch he's a big strong guy who is over 6' tall, and by the end of the night even his hands and wrist hurt from the weight of the lens. My kit is a 50 1.4, 16-35 2.8, 24-70 2.8 I, 135 2.0, and 1.4x teleconvertor. I bring with me the 5dmkiii and a 7d. If I need really zoomed in shots I use the 7D. I also bring a handy dandy cheapo light tripod with me to weddings. Why? Because most churches will let me use it, and if it's THAT dark a church that a ripod is necessary, it's usually a full mass, so I have time during the ceremony to have it set up, and I'm not allowed to move around much anyways. That way I don't have to worry about IS. <br /><br />Bottom line though is it needs to work for you. I'd suggest going to a store and actually holding the 70-200 2.8 IS on your camera. Hold it up to your face. See how long you can comfortably hold that. That will be your answer. And if money is tight, get the nifty fifty the 1.8. Frankly I like the bokeh on it better than the 1.4, but the extra light was worth it for me to get eventually, but the 1.8 did the trick for the start of my wedding career. <br>
As for a flash, don't go with non-name brand flashes. They tend to be very under powered and unreliable. Get yourself tow 580 EXIIs if you can still find them, and a bunch of rechargeable batteries. Many 580exiis are on sale as they are no longer in production, but they are still AMAZING flashes. </p>
-
I would explain to the bride that if she hates photos of herself that is all the more reason to get a pro. A pro will know how
to make her look her best. No offense, but you likely won't. I would avoid direct flash and instead strap a notecard on as a
bounce card for indoor shots. That will likely produce better shots. After the wedding download the free trial of Lightroom.
This program is far better suited for editing the volumes of photos you will have to edit than doing it in photoshop.
-
ProPhoto blogs is great and is word press based. I too use zenfolio for sales. The seowith Wordpress is fantastic. Better your odds by naming your files something searchable like the name of the venue. Also be sure to fill in the alt field with keyword rich stuff.
-
<p>EVERYONE!!! get legal! Yes Bob. I'm super legal. My husband is an attorney and my father in law is a CPA so I work hard to do EVERYTHING by the book. I have insurance as well, it just is a $250 deductible. I like to avoid that when I can =) We'll see how the new filter does. </p>
-
<p>Went ahead and splurged on the nano version of the B+W 77mm one. Thanks everyone for all your help!!!! Once again Pnet is sooooooo helpful!</p>
-
<p>Thanks dave! That is very helpful!</p>
-
<p>Do you think if it hit the ground without the filter the lens would have been more damaged? I feel like the lens would have been less worse for wear than the possibility of damage caused by getting the damaged filter off. But I have never had a lens without a filter on hit the ground so now I don't know. Dave, are you saying one like this is good? It seems quite cheap??? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/11974-REG/B_W_65_070156_77mm_Ultraviolet_UV_Filter.html</p>
-
<p>Josh, thanks for letting me know. I didn't know there were such things as the ones with brass rings and a filter wrench!!! That's super helpful. I will consider that for future use. </p>
<p>Anyone have any suggestions on how to find out if there was any damage to the lens or camera from the fall? If I'm not seeing any difference in my images that's one thing, but I'm wondering if there's a more precise way to get things checked out.</p>
-
<p>Ryan, do you have a digital rebel or a film rebel? saying you want to move to a dslr makes me think you are currently working with film? If not, why are you looking to move up to a new body right now? Once you answer that question we can likely be more helpful. I can tell you the progression of my own biz with equipment.</p>
<p>Started out getting a rebel Xsi in 2007 as a present, had shot film most of my life before that. bunches of friends got married so I started taking some shots as a guest. They liked the shots a bunch. I got married and saw areas that I thought I could improve and places where I could learn. I had my 35-80 from my original film kit rebel from the 90s and a 70-300 variable aperture piece of crud and a 50 1.8. I assisted and second shot using only my 50 1.8. After my first 2nd shooting gig I got a 24-70 2.8 and a rebel t1i in 2010 and a 430exii. After my next 2nd shooting gig I got a 580exii. I shot with this set up as a 2nd shooter and a primary for VERY low budget weddings for the first 9 months. Then with what I saved up I got the 5dmkII. I made this jump for the full frame sensor and better ISO performance and slightly better AF. It was great for those low light churches, but for scenes that were not low light it really barely made a difference. At this point the 5dmkII was my primary and t1i was back up body, and xsi as third string.<br>
Then after getting some advice from people on pnet I got the 50 1.4 and the 135 2.0 L with the 1.4 tele-extender and a 12mm extension tube. I'm small so hand holding the 70-200 just plain wasn't a viable option. After that I got the 16-35 2.8 for dance floor shots and wider angles. After that after playing with my 2nd shooter's 7D and seeing that I didn't know when the 5dmkIII was going to come out, I got the 7D to replace my t1i as my back up as I no longer felt it was a suitable back up for the level of photography I was doing. This was back in early 2012. The 7D's autofocusing is FARRRRRRR better than the 5dmkII. I found myself using the 7D more and more and the 5d only when I had to for low light situations. I got another 430exii and a set of pocket wizards. I eventually sold the pocket wizards for cheaper radio triggers as I was mostly using them in manual mode anyway, so it was just a waste of money for me. Then I got another 580exii while my other one was in the shop, figuring since they were being discontinued to take advantage of the sale and have a good backup. Finally my 5dmkII was getting up there in shutter clicks and my 2nd shooter got the 5dmkIII allowing me to play with it a little and see the IQ on his files. The decrease in noise was astonishing. Having so many more cross type focus points was very appealing. It was on sale, I went for it in early December.<br>
Along the way I picked up a color checker passport, and just today for christmas got an expo disc for on the job color correction (I do a same day slide show and can't wait just for post for good color). I've also added an ND filter to the mix.</p>
<p>So which should you get? Well it all depends on why you want the camera. I've seen people who only know how to use their 5dmkii on green take miserable shots and I've seen people who have rebel xs who have skills get fab shots. So my advice is don't move up to a new body until you need one, and then buy what you need plus just a little more so you are fairly current. But before you do that, get a name brand flash and some good lenses. Learn to use those REALLY well. Then after that, I'd consider a new body if your work flow necessitates it.</p>
<p>If you are buying a body now with the anticipation to use it for shooting wedding photography professionally, and already have some good glass and flashes, then buy the best camera you can afford. If you are in a region where you will likely be shooting zillions of dark church weddings go with the 5dmkiii if you can afford it, if not then consider the 5dmkii or 6D. I haven't shot with the 6D but I hear it's high iso performance is amazing. But also hear it's autofocus is crummy and more like a rebel's. 7D is great for starting out 2nd shooting. As a 2nd shooter you often are shooting from further away so that crop factor is helpful. The autofocus is great. The high ISO performance is better than a rebel's but still nothing compared to the 5dmkii. </p>
-
<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>just wanted to share this cautionary tale with you. <br>
So I have always placed a UV filter on the front of all my expensive lenses as a means of protection. Now some have told me this is not a good idea, you are putting a piece of cheap glass in front of your expensive glass, decreasing the image quality, yada yada yada. Well I was always debating it, but thought to myself, my god I'd rather spend the money to replace one of those filters than the whole front lens element, and better to have slightly lower image quality than a scratched lens!</p>
<p>So in my 3 years as a professional photographer, and 17 years as an amateur, none of my filters ever got scratched, leading me to believe that using my lens hoods, the chances of my actual lenses getting scratched would be low. But what has happened is when lenses have fallen on the lens element the metal of the UV filter gets bent out of shape. This makes it next to impossible to get the filter off. Also if the filter is no longer perfectly straight or has a chip as a result you may really introduce some bad image issues!</p>
<p>So recently my 24-70 was on a tripod when a guest knocked over the camera. I had the strap on but when reaching for the camera going down, it hit the floor lens first because by leaning down for it, it gave it slack. There's the first lesson learned. But then to get the UV filter off it took just about everything under the sun. I couldn't use the lens at all the rest of the wedding because the UV filter had a bit of a chip. Luckily I have other lenses to back myself up (newbs reading this, this is why you need multiple lenses and multiple bodies!!!!)<br>
Upon getting home I tried everything you can imagine to screw the thing off, no luck. Finally I resorted to wire cutters which did get the filter off, but you have to do this with the most insane level of care to not risk hitting the lens element.<br>
So now I see that what I was trying to prevent all along, of scratches to the lens really don't happen, but lenses hitting the floor at less than great angles, etc, can really dent the UV filters and make it really likely to get stuck, making it likely that your front lens element would get messed up in the process of having it removed/cut off. So my suggestion is, don't risk the decrease in your image quality, ditch the UV filter, and use your lens hood even when you are indoors and not trying to prevent flare. When you are the dance floor I think that lens hood is the best protection you could have. <br>
The other thing to learn from my mistakes is as I was going through and trying to remove the filter myself, it hit me, I was likely voiding my insurance on that lens. But if I'd just taken it to a repair shop straight away it likely would have been covered. So don't make my same mistake. If it's a lens that costs more than the cost of your deductible, do yourself a favor and bring it in to the repair shop first, don't try it yourself!!!!</p>
<p>On a secondary note, after a lens ever hits the ground, other than you just looking at the images coming out that appear fine, how can you tell if it is still ok? Can you send it to canon or something to have things checked out? If so, how much does that type of thing run???? With my previous ones I just said, ok I can't trust it again since it took a tumble from about 15 feet up, and got a new one. But this time it only fell about a 2 feet. Oh yeah, it was also on my BRAND NEW 5dmkIII when this happened. So is there anything I should do to have the 5dmkIII checked out? Thanks for any suggestions you might have!</p>
-
<p>If you are charging people prices over the production cost you should still be paying the sales tax on that price you are charging them, not sales tax on what it costs you. For example when I sell my prints on zenfolio, it calculates the state sales tax on the price of the item for the customer, not the price of the item for me. When I sell an album I outline how much the production cost is and how much my design cost is. The sales tax is on the production cost of the album. I am not an accountant, but my father in law who does my taxes is, and he told me this is the way to do it. When I sell a DVD with the high res jpgs with the reprint rights, I do it for $490 for the reprint rights and $10 for the images on DVD. It costs me $10 for the light scribe DVD + case + printed cover for the case so that is what is taxed. This type of set up works for Massachusetts. I can't speak for other states.</p>
-
<p>Just an update, I now use Jared Platt's actions in lightroom and they are fairly good, and just started out using alien skin's Exposure 4 which has some amazing B&W conversions. Look so much like film!</p>
-
<p>I've had 3 bookings from them over the past year. I got nothing when I wasn't in the featured spots. Things picked up a little once I purchased a featured slot on the first page. In my area they have over 100 photographers listed. At almost 4K for the year, I would say it hasn't really done a TON for me. But plenty of my brides list that they just found me on the internet. So I can't be sure if they came from the knot or not. So now on my contact form I made it a drop down menu that includes the the knot and wedding wire and google search etc so I know more specifically where they are coming from. I figure I'll hold on to the listing until engagement season is over around February and then reconsider re-upping. My 2nd shooter who also has his own business has seen some success with a paid wedding wire listing. <br>
Where it makes sense to put your money advertising wise was discussed a ton on the bridal bootcamp class Sal Cincotta is doing on creativeLIVE right now. I think he'll be talking a bit more about it during the week long class. And if not, they often replay the class right after for free or you can buy the class. http://www.creativelive.com/courses/wedding-photography-business-boot-camp-sal-cincotta</p>
-
<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>Just a reminder that this week on creativeLive Sal Cincotta has his Bridal bootcamp all week. Yesterday he went over a TON of business and marketing stuff that was very helpful. The live feed today starts that 12:00 EST. You can watch the class live for free here:<br /> http://www.creativelive.com/live <br /> For more info on the class go visit this link: http://www.creativelive.com/courses/wedding-photography-business-boot-camp-sal-cincotta</p>
<p>Hope it helps you as much as it has helped me!</p>
<p>-Vail</p>
<p>p.s. If you didn't catch it live, Kevin Kubota's Photographers Ignite is up online to watch for free now too. Matthew Kemmetmueller had great advice on groupons. Lindsay Adler had some good practical advice on how to shoot in poor lighting situations that we regularly face at weddings. AJ coots talked about networking with other photographers, mentioning forums like photo.net. I spoke about ways to strip away the negative stereotypes in the wedding photography industry and by doing so earning back the respect our industry deserves. The videos are available here: http://photographersignite.com/?projects Enjoy!</p>
-
I believe that bower lash only works in Ttl, no manal option. I had an assistant bring one to a wedding once. It was
terrible. The next week he sold it and bought a canon flash after I let him use a 430exii to see the difference. For on
camera flash, the extra money is worthwhile for the proprietary flash. For off camera, you can get away with some knock
offs, not all.
-
<p>Mason,<br>
These guys actually did my sister in law's wedding that I was a bridesmaid in. I asked them the same question. They told me they basically have no life and spend tons of hours in post-processing. They don't do it with specific one size fits all actions. </p>
<p>here was my email with them:</p>
<blockquote>
Brendan,
I adore the shots you put up of Kara and Jonah. I was wondering, particularly for the shot of them on the street and the one of the couple by the fence. The colors are just fantastic. And the same with the guys' pink ties. Do you use any type of post processing filter or is that just straight out of camera? If it's the camera, whatever camera it is, I WANT ONE! =) Thanks and great job!!!
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Thanks Vail, We do quite extensive post processing to really make our images ‘pop’. I wish it was from within in the camera. I’d have much of my personal life back if it were! -Brendan</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So if you write them, I doubt you'll get much more of an answer than that.</p>
-
<p>I just wanted to bring something new to my posing. Just was feeling a little stale. Used a few of the poses I saw him do on creativelive this week and did like them. They were quick and easy and did make ladies' arms look nicer. ;) Meaning less time spent in photoshop with the liquify tool. </p>
-
<p>I just heard about songfreedom.com and I'm pretty impressed at their catalogue. Have any of you used it before? I'm a little surprised that many of the tabs on their site don't work to give info on how the whole process works, etc. A way to legally play music with slideshows that is mainstream would be really nice at under $50/song. I'm wondering if they just give you a link or an MP3 so that I'd be able to have it with my zenfolio slideshows. They say you can use it on your website, but I'm wondering if that streaming license costs much more than the synching license. Any experiences you've had with this company would be helpful to know about. =)</p>
-
<p>I've been a bit bored with my posing lately and am currently watching Doug Gordon's Creative Live workshop right now and I'm liking much of what he's doing. I'm trying to decide buy the class or perhaps buy one of his posing decks. </p>
<h2>Core Deck 1 Bride & Groom Glamour Flow Posing 2011 $125</h2>
<p>But it's $125. I'm wondering if any of you have ever bought this and what you think of it. I've thought about making a collection like this for myself of my fav poses to review on my ipad before a wedding or engagement shoot and to show clients in case they aren't getting what I'm going for. Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>-Vail</p>
-
<p>Full time, but I also teach some private photography classes during the down season and take some headshots, fashion, family, and maternity shots when I get the work offered to me. Luckily I do have a husband with a job with health insurance for the two of us, so it made starting up the business easier.</p>
-
<p>What did you use to get rid of noise on the first one David, the blacks look great! I'd love to see the exif on these! Thanks!</p>
-
Check out creativelive.com. Their past workshops are for sale and new ones when live are free. :)
-
Kennedy,
If you have gotten used to the superior focusing system of the 7d I wouldn't get the 5dii. I got the 7 d as back up to my 5dmark ii to
replace my t1i. Now I use the 7 d a ton. The 5d is used primarily for getting ready and formal shots and wider angle ones of the venue
and VERY low light situations. I don't have any efs mounts so there is a crop factor to contend with for wider shots. For the first dance
and parent dances I use a combo of both cameras. Then for the rest of the night I use the 7d. It just finds focus soooooo much quicker
and more reliably than the 5dii. The 5dii also doesn't have the portrait/landscape specific auto focus point selection which I find super
useful. So I say save for the 5dmkiii or if you want the full frame just as back up, get one of the new prosumer 6d which is a cheaper full
frame, sell 40d.
Before spending a ton on bodies though, I would get some good glass. My kit is the 24-70 2.8L,135 2.0L, 50 1.4, 16-35 2.8L. And a 1.4
tele converter and a 12mm extension tube for macro shots. I don't own the 70-200 because it is just too heavy for me, but I rented it for
fashion week and that lens was sick amazing.
Rode VideoMic Pro problems on 5DMkIV
in Canon EOS Mount
Posted
I am having the exact same problem with my 5dMKIV. The rode works just fine on the 5dMKIII. The first time it happened I assumed it was user error. I wish I had sent it back during warranty period for that problem, instead during that period they had to put in a new motherboard as it kept corrupting memory cards. SPL1 how much was the repair with the CPS discount?