Your gear. The good and the bad.

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DexterPunk
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by DexterPunk »

That's excellent. A colour cast isn't as much of an issue these days anyway as it was with film. Could do some nice short duration work with those. :)


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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by Speed »

Colour cast isn't too great an issue but I really like to be able to set the WB myself & know it's exactly right, straight out of the camera.
Paired with the CamRanger & the iPad I can show my subjects the images immediately & I know they look as good as they can.....colour wise. :)

I have never liked auto White Balance, it has just never been spot on for me.
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by DexterPunk »

It usually isn't unless you're under natural light from my experience. And yeah it's always preferable to get it right, but at least you have some flexibility these days. Trying to colour balance for film was a nightmare.



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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by Big Kev »

That's my lens purchases done for the year. I think I have everything I need for now :)

Image

Crappy weather here today but I dashed out literally for 2 minutes when we had a tiny break in the clouds and grabbed this at 400 + 1.4x (560mm) as a test.

I missed the focus by a tiny bit as it was windy but it's not a bad start.

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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by norbs »

I still say the Nifty Fifty is the best value for money out there.

Nice shot Kev. The long lenses are nearly as tricky as macro stuff. I had a quick play with a Nikon 600mm F/4 lens at the Tour Down Under in January and was shocked at how hard it was to get the focus bang on. It didn't help that I had no idea how to use a Nikon camera. :)
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by DexterPunk »

Yeah they are easy to get it close, but getting critical focus is rather tricky at times. When you do nail it, damn they look good.


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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

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DexterPunk wrote:Yeah they are easy to get it close, but getting critical focus is rather tricky at times. When you do nail it, damn they look good.


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Dex, I was surprised at just how narrow the DOF is on a 600mm at F4. I suppose in real world terms it is probably measured in metres, but when a cyclist is coming at you at 50kph, it is a lot more challenging than I thought it would be.
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by J.D. »

Long lens technique is hard to acquire. Takes a lot of practice.

Despite what a lot of people assume, big primes are not easy to use.

Were you using the AF tracking mode norbs?
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by DexterPunk »

Sometimes people also forget that DOF is not just controlled by aperture, but magnification. A long lens can produce some fairly high magnification. Because of the magnified error due to hand shake etc, a fairly wide aperture is usually better to keep the shutter speed up, that also contributes a bit.


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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by norbs »

J.D. wrote:Long lens technique is hard to acquire. Takes a lot of practice.

Despite what a lot of people assume, big primes are not easy to use.

Were you using the AF tracking mode norbs?
No idea JD. I was just handed this monster of a thing and told to have a go. It felt like it was shooting 10FPS. It was on a monopod and it was in and out of my hands in 30 seconds.
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by Swain OHaw »

norbs wrote:
J.D. wrote:Long lens technique is hard to acquire. Takes a lot of practice.

Despite what a lot of people assume, big primes are not easy to use.

Were you using the AF tracking mode norbs?
No idea JD. I was just handed this monster of a thing and told to have a go. It felt like it was shooting 10FPS. It was on a monopod and it was in and out of my hands in 30 seconds.
That basically describes my experience with a 1DII and a 500mm prime a few years ago ... also surprisingly difficult to adapt to in 30 seconds as the 1D functioned quite differently to my 20D of the time.
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by DexterPunk »

Grabbed some new toys last week. 1Dx and an extra battery and a new flash... Old one seems to have packed it in for some reason. I might see if it's possible to get fixed.

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Canon 1Dx + 600EX-RT




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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by markus »

New toys here as well.

Bye bye Canon - hello Fuji :)

I realised that I can do 90% of my photos with an x100s and carry less stuff. For the remaining 10% I now have an Xe-1 with 18-55 and 1dmkIIN+135L.

Best viewfinder ever and the ooc jpegs are amazing. Not missing the 5dmkII and bag of Ls :)
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by markus »

Amazed how good the Xe-1 is as a sports camera.

Image

Af is really fast and accurate, much much better than the 5dmk2. There is however a quite large 'lag' - with 5d you get the exact moment but miss the focus, with the Xe-1 you get the focus but miss the exact moment :D Though to be honest it didn't take that many shots to be able to anticipate when to press the shutter to catch the jump.
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

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Finnish BMX championships today. I had the Xe-1 and 1dmkIIn+135L. Those Fujis, the best cameras I've ever had - or used.

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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

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That is high praise indeed Markus.
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by DexterPunk »

I always loved the X100 style. Good to hear the X100s is doing a good job. It would make a great travel camera I reckon.


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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by Swain OHaw »

Coming here for sensible advice given that it's about the only place I'm likely to find that on the internet ...

Flash (aaah!) ...

I've got an evening/night wedding coming up. I don't shoot weddings except friends and family and usually they're during the day so I can manage without a flash but this one is also paying, and going to be under pretty low light throughout the evening, so I'd rather not bodge it throughout ... I've also been considering the need for a flash generally if I end up staffing for a theatre here, it's generally good to have one ... and if I'm doing more portrait work as well. In conclusion, I'm sold on the idea ...

Budget is a bit low at the moment, so the top of the range Canon 600 is out of the question, but I've got enough for a 430 new. The wedding has come up short notice and only in a week, so I don't really have time to look too much at used stuff (though there's a good Photography shop in Madrid that's open with the big market on Sunday that I'm going to have a look at, see if they have anything bargainous) so I'm thinking that or one of the third party options, but am wondering if anyone knows anything of those ... I did a bit of reading and they do seem to be disadvantageous compared to the Canon one, but they also evaluated things in the usual online manner with graphs and charts of things, so I'm wondering if anyone has real world experience for or against.

Obviously the 430EX can only be used off camera as a slave, but something else I'm unclear of despite literally "some" research is whether you can still use it as the sole flash off camera with a transmitter? A cable is also a solution for one flash, unless I want it really off camera, and Nikon make one of those that runs from the hotshoe to a flash, apparently it works with Canon stuff as well. Again, answers on a postcard please ...
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by DexterPunk »

You should definitely be able to use a 430 both off and on the hot shoe. I would say go canon. See if you can find a 580EXII at that market.

You need that flash off camera or bounce it. Essentially you gotta get the light source off axis. You are probably going to need a sync cable (no ETTL, everything will be manual), and a diffuser or sorts. One of the round fold up ones. An assistant would be useful. I've done a night wedding. Family and group shots at night, outdoors was a challenge but we got there in the end. Scout out your location in advance. Try and be aware of what you're walking into.


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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by Speed »

A friend of mine is one of Perth's best wedding photographers. He uses Yong Nuo flashes & I think triggers also.
He reckons that he has the same power as the 580 at a third of the cost. Definitely worth doing some research.

I rarely use my 580 flash these days as I mostly use strobes but if I was in the market for one I'd beg, borrow & steal for a 600.
I think the functionality is better.

If you're planning on triggers also, stay away from Pocket Wizards.....overpriced shit & they have frequency noise issues with 430's & 580s.
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by DexterPunk »

The 600 is nice. I grabbed one a few weeks back. The interface is much better.


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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by markus »

If you will be doing off-camera flash only, the old Nikons such as SB-26 and 28 are excellent choices. Bomb proof and with all the necessary settings.

And do go to http://www.strobist.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - it has all the answers and then some :)
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by Swain OHaw »

DexterPunk wrote:You should definitely be able to use a 430 both off and on the hot shoe. I would say go canon. See if you can find a 580EXII at that market.

You need that flash off camera or bounce it. Essentially you gotta get the light source off axis. You are probably going to need a sync cable (no ETTL, everything will be manual), and a diffuser or sorts. One of the round fold up ones. An assistant would be useful. I've done a night wedding. Family and group shots at night, outdoors was a challenge but we got there in the end. Scout out your location in advance. Try and be aware of what you're walking into.


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Yes, I was planning to at the very least be bouncing it ... not sure how my girlfriend feels about becoming an assistant, especially as it's her family so she'll need to be in some of the group photos ... fully intending to get to the location in advance, preferrably with the flash to give it all a go, and also practicing as much as possible during the next week as I've not used flash since Uni.

I'll see what's kicking around down at the market, there's certainly some awesome Medium Format stuff down there but I'm not sure what their newer stock is like, probably depends on the timing of your visit but I'll see if I can get lucky ... if nothing else they might have some of the off camera kit, but that's probably going to be for a little later.

Currently having a good old read of Strobist ... have generally heard that old Nikon flashes are the way to go for cheap Strobist stuff, maybe one to consider for a second flash later, if I go that way, as long as they are Masters. I don't have much time to shop around unfortunately, and would like to get some practice in before the wedding, so am probably going to end up on the new market unless something comes up down at El Rastro.
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by Swain OHaw »

I did some bounce tests in the store, worked pretty well and I'm generally satisfied, a little more playing around in real conditions required but generally I think it should be ok ... I've also found a lens rental company in Spain so I'm probably going to go that route and get a 580EX II for the weekend. Bit low on dough this month so being able to do the wedding with a flash and pocket the proceeds makes more sense.

For the off camera stuff, it seems like I'm at least as well served by some older second-hand flashes that will be cheaper to get a bit later on when I have more time to get it all sorted.
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Re: Your gear. The good and the bad.

Post by DexterPunk »

Sounds like a good plan. Let us know how it all goes.
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