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Yes, I know this blog has been rather bare lately. Things have been extremely busy between work and home and I haven’t had much time to get to this blog.
Still, I have had time to take a good number of pictures lately. I hope to have the chance to display many of them soon.
For a birthday gift at the end of last year, I bought the Canon 100-400 lens. It has been rather cheap lately, so I couldn’t resist getting a zoom longer than my 70-200 4L IS. Of course, my luck will be that they do wind up upgrading it later this year, but if that is the case I should be able to get a good price for mine since I bought it at a good price.
I also bought a Gitzo monopod together with the RRS tilt head. I will review these at a later time, but from experience I knew that if I wanted a sharp picture, I needed some kind of stabilization.
I’m not much for taking shots of teddy bears and diagrams in the house to test a lens. I prefer to take it in the field and give it a try.
The following are the shots I got. At the end I will give my impressions of the lens.
Recently while taking some drop photos, I wondered whether I could increase the shutter speed past 1/200. With high speed sync, I often took pictures at 1/250 and 1/300 – but I wanted to see if I could exceed it.
I had thought a bit about using a PocketWizard MultiMAX, but after reading through the manual and reading about others’ experiences, it doesn’t seem that it can get me much past 1/300. Therefore I came up with a rather simple idea that amazingly worked.
I setup my MT-24EX on my 180L and used it to trigger to 580EX flashes. The MT-24EX was set as the master and both 580EX flashes (actually one 580EX and one 580EX II) were set as slaves. I placed both 580EX flashes on the end of Wimberley macro brackets – which held the weight fine. I then set the MT-24EX to high speed sync.
The entire camera loaded thus was quite heavy and large. I suspect in the field it wouldn’t be too practical – though a monopod may help things. My goal was basically to blast the subject with light. Since I was watching the kids at home that day, I couldn’t go outside to try with a live drop so I hooked up the hose on the faucet with a rubber band.
I am a very biased and opinionated person on all subjects I care about – so it is especially true for photography. I really have not published a ‘beginners photography’ blog because there are so many of them out there already. However, after seeing a number that I sharply disagree with, I thought I would post my own.
I will not talk about specific camera models or Nikon vs. Canon here. This is for those who want to become photographers – not equipment collectors. Therefore, the following are my recommendations for people who want to get into photography.
What should I do first?
This is simple, do not buy anything? Huh!? Before buying any equipment, I strongly recommend you go to the bookstore/library and get one or two books on the type of photography you are interested in. I do not recommend the general photography books as those aren’t very helpful. Get books from photographers known for their work. The book I started out with is John Shaw’s Nature Photography Field Guide
The point is you need to understand some things before you buy. Unless you understand what an SLR does for you and what the differences are between different lenses, you’ll be unlikely to make an informed decision.
Well, it’s time again. Before discussing my photography resolutions for 2009, I thought I would review how well I did on my resolutions for 2008. The ones in red I missed completely, blue I hit somewhat, and green I met completely.
Vision
Online
Knowledge
Equipment
Microstock
Given that, it’s time to go through my goals for 2009.
OK, I now have to say that the AF in the 5D Mark II is definitely a step up from the 5D. Given that hardware-wise they have the exact same AF, the difference must be the Digic IV processor.
This weekend we took the kids to a birthday party at a jumping house. I had been to this identical location several months earlier with my old 5D and I was keen to see what the true difference would be.
Recently someone asked about traveling with both photography equipment and children. Since I have done quite a lot of that, I thought I would share my experiences.
We have two boys – ages four and five and we usually take one international vacation each year and fly domestically twice each year. Our domestic flights are usually either to New York City (which is an easy direct flight from Seattle) or to Rochester, NY – which is more difficult because we have to change planes and the aircraft are smaller.
So far we have taken our kids to Rome, Singapore, Thailand, Israel, and Mexico on separate trips. Our five year old has been to ten countries already and both are very used to aircraft and are seasoned travelers.
In every trip since I bought my DSLR three years ago, I have brought the majority of my equipment. The equipment has varied as I accumulate more of it but it started out as a fully loaded Tamrac Expedition 5 and now I use an Airport Accelerator from ThinkTankPhoto. The following are my recommendations for traveling safe and sane with both.
Finally, my Canon 5D Mark II is on its way. However, from this process I have learned quite a bit about my old camera and how I will handle camera upgrades in the future.
The day after the 5D Mark II was announced, I decided to preorder it. At first I was very skeptical of the camera, but in the end I decided that a camera with basically the same sensor as the 1Ds Mark III, without the AF and the weather sealing but with video was a good deal at $2700.
After reading on a rumor site that the camera would be released early, I called Buydig to see when my camera would ship. They confirmed that it was coming soon so I sold my old 5D in October. Unfortunately, this turned out not to be true so I have had to get by without a camera for the last two months.
Being without a camera for so long and watching as people started unboxing their Mark II’s has left me with the following conclusions.
Before I begin speculating, let me first state very clearly that I have absolutely no inside knowledge of what Canon will release next year. These are just educated guesses. However, it can be fun to guess.
To be honest, recent lens releases by Canon have been extremely dull. I was completely underwhelmed with the recently announced 24mm 1.4 II as I really have absolutely no use for a lens like that. My suspicions are that this trend will continue for next year.
There are two main reasons why I think Canon will not release many new lenses next year.
That being said, the following are my opinions on upcoming lenses. Rather than state what I think will be released compared to what will not, I will rank them from one to ten with one meaning the chances are very low to ten being an almost certainty.
For some time, I have been reading different rumors about Canon on Dpreview.com and CanonRumors.com. Recently, I have grown frustrated with the information presented – most particularly CanonRumors. In fact, I cannot remember when they have actually gotten something right there – even things they mark as ‘done deal’ have turned out to be wrong (for instance the early release of the Canon 5D Mark II)
Therefore, I thought I would compile my own list of rumors. These are exactly that – rumors. However, I have compiled them based of numerous posts in DPReview, past practices of Canon, and common sense. Therefore, without further ado.
When will Canon release the 5D Mark II?
They will release it the same time they have been saying all along – at the end of November. I think this will be very close to the end of November, and many packages may arrive the first week of December.
Will everyone receive the 5D Mark II that preordered?
It depends on when you preordered it, but everyone in the US that preordered within the first few days of the announcement will receive it in the first wave. If you have not already preordered the camera, you likely will not receive it this year unless you get in on one of the first orders from B&H or you get lucky with your local camera store.
What SLR cameras will Canon announce soon?
Canon will release an upgrade to the 40D/50D next year – most likely in September but there is a possibility for April. The new model, tentatively called the 60D, will be similar to the 50D but will have video.
Will Canon release a 1 series body next year?
Yes, the new body will include video, will have more megapixels (though my guess is the 1Ds body will not be substantial – probably from 21 MP to 24). The bodies will have a new AF as well. High ISO performance will be similar to the 5D Mark II.
Will Canon release a new flash to update the 580EX II?
Yes, it is just a matter of time. There is always a small team at Canon working on the next flashes. It is possible this flash may be released next year, but I don’t think Canon feels rushed here.
Will Canon ever get rid of the direct print button?
Nope, the button will be there for the foreseeable future. Some exec at Canon has a soft spot for this button. They have made it more multi-purpose though – it now controls Live View. This is likely the future of the button. Canon will keep the direct print feature until it becomes too expensive to maintain. When someday in the future a new generation of printers is released that won’t work with this button, expect the direct print feature to be removed, but the button will stay for Live View purposes.