Canon EOS 5D Mark II: 21MP and HD movies
09-28-2008, 07:20 AM
#171
Contributors
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Seoul via Singapore and Vancouver
Posts: 1,774
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2014 530d XDrive M Sport
Originally Posted by UUronL' post='680225' date='Sep 29 2008, 12:12 AM
Sorry, been away a while.
Regarding RAW converters.
I like DPP the best for Canon personally. The latest revision is quite nice, if you haven't tried it in a while, check it out. For Nikon, nothing beats Nikon Capture. Period.
Regarding lenses.
If you aren't shooting a full frame camera, I don't really see the point in the 24-105 for the Canon. The 17-55 f2.8 EF-S is stellar. For Nikon, the 18-70DX is killer - I love mine.
D70, 18-70DX
The other alternative is the 18-200DX. Again, costly - but far better than any of the other kit lenses. While the 70-200 VR is a killer lens, I have never had issues hand-holding with my 80-200 f/2.8. The model I have can be purchased new for about $800 and it's pro-build. Just a thought. This is a handheld 100% crop with that lens (zoomed). Shot with my D70.
Regarding FPS.
I don't get this at all. Max shutter speed captures motion, not a blaze of shutter releases. Pick your moment, and 4fps should be plenty. My D70 shoots 1/8000, as does my 5D. What more do you need if you're not a professional sports shooter?
Anyone care about speedlights and lighting? If so, there are several real differences to consider.
Canon isn't progressive when it comes to wireless flash-control on the camera body. My old D70 had this in 2004. The new 5D Mk II doesn't even have this yet. However, you can control flash groups wirelessly from a Canon speedlight (Nikon permits this too). Also, x-sync is moderately important depending on the type of shooting that you do. Even with high-speed sync, some cameras can't get the shutter curtains out of the way fast enough and you see them in the shot. The D70 was an interesting beast - it had a hybrid shutter, so at high speeds it was electronic - blanking the CCD. By putting a little piece of tape over one of the hotshoe pickups, you could make the camera sync at up to 1/8000!
Canon does however have a standard PC-sync terminal on-body for traditional lighting systems, which can be helpful if you're a serious lighting person. Again though, not a huge deal since the Nikon speedlights have the PC-sync terminal.
Anyway, despite all of this, I find it easier to get pleasing flash photography with my Canon gear, although I started initially with the Nikon system. (the first shot above was lit from the side diagonally with wireless SB-800)
Regarding RAW converters.
I like DPP the best for Canon personally. The latest revision is quite nice, if you haven't tried it in a while, check it out. For Nikon, nothing beats Nikon Capture. Period.
Regarding lenses.
If you aren't shooting a full frame camera, I don't really see the point in the 24-105 for the Canon. The 17-55 f2.8 EF-S is stellar. For Nikon, the 18-70DX is killer - I love mine.
D70, 18-70DX
The other alternative is the 18-200DX. Again, costly - but far better than any of the other kit lenses. While the 70-200 VR is a killer lens, I have never had issues hand-holding with my 80-200 f/2.8. The model I have can be purchased new for about $800 and it's pro-build. Just a thought. This is a handheld 100% crop with that lens (zoomed). Shot with my D70.
Regarding FPS.
I don't get this at all. Max shutter speed captures motion, not a blaze of shutter releases. Pick your moment, and 4fps should be plenty. My D70 shoots 1/8000, as does my 5D. What more do you need if you're not a professional sports shooter?
Anyone care about speedlights and lighting? If so, there are several real differences to consider.
Canon isn't progressive when it comes to wireless flash-control on the camera body. My old D70 had this in 2004. The new 5D Mk II doesn't even have this yet. However, you can control flash groups wirelessly from a Canon speedlight (Nikon permits this too). Also, x-sync is moderately important depending on the type of shooting that you do. Even with high-speed sync, some cameras can't get the shutter curtains out of the way fast enough and you see them in the shot. The D70 was an interesting beast - it had a hybrid shutter, so at high speeds it was electronic - blanking the CCD. By putting a little piece of tape over one of the hotshoe pickups, you could make the camera sync at up to 1/8000!
Canon does however have a standard PC-sync terminal on-body for traditional lighting systems, which can be helpful if you're a serious lighting person. Again though, not a huge deal since the Nikon speedlights have the PC-sync terminal.
Anyway, despite all of this, I find it easier to get pleasing flash photography with my Canon gear, although I started initially with the Nikon system. (the first shot above was lit from the side diagonally with wireless SB-800)
I ended up going back to Canon. Bought the gear yesterday. This is what I got:- Canon 50D body
- EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens
- EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens
- SPEEDLITE 580EX II flash
- BG-E2N battery grip
Canon and the camera shop I deal with regularly gave me a great deal!
09-28-2008, 07:30 AM
#172
Contributors
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,573
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2006 530i Sport
Silver Gray - Black Leather - Anthracite Maple
Manual Transmission
Premium Audio
Cold Weather Package
Rear sunshade
Sirius Radio
Autobahnd Roadblock (3M) film kit
Originally Posted by seoulman' post='680233' date='Sep 28 2008, 11:20 AM
Ron~ some more great shots! I ended up going back to Canon. Bought the gear yesterday. This is what I got:
- Canon 50D body
- EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens
- EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens
- SPEEDLITE 580EX II flash
- BG-E2N battery grip
Canon and the camera shop I deal with regularly gave me a great deal!
I ended up going back to Canon. Bought the gear yesterday. This is what I got:- Canon 50D body
- EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens
- EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens
- SPEEDLITE 580EX II flash
- BG-E2N battery grip
Canon and the camera shop I deal with regularly gave me a great deal!
WOW! Can't wait to see some beautiful 50D shots!!! Congrats!!!
09-28-2008, 07:38 AM
#173
Contributors
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Seoul via Singapore and Vancouver
Posts: 1,774
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2014 530d XDrive M Sport
Originally Posted by UUronL' post='680241' date='Sep 29 2008, 12:30 AM
WOW! Can't wait to see some beautiful 50D shots!!! Congrats!!!
I just have to make some time to go out and shoot some pictures! 
09-28-2008, 08:54 AM
#174
Senior Members
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: North Carolina, USA
Posts: 1,517
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2008 BMW 550i
2006 BMW X3
Originally Posted by UUronL' post='680225' date='Sep 28 2008, 11:12 AM
Regarding lenses.
If you aren't shooting a full frame camera, I don't really see the point in the 24-105 for the Canon. The 17-55 f2.8 EF-S is stellar. For Nikon, the 18-70DX is killer - I love mine.
D70, 18-70DX
The other alternative is the 18-200DX. Again, costly - but far better than any of the other kit lenses. While the 70-200 VR is a killer lens, I have never had issues hand-holding with my 80-200 f/2.8. The model I have can be purchased new for about $800 and it's pro-build. Just a thought. This is a handheld 100% crop with that lens (zoomed). Shot with my D70.
Regarding FPS.
I don't get this at all. Max shutter speed captures motion, not a blaze of shutter releases. Pick your moment, and 4fps should be plenty. My D70 shoots 1/8000, as does my 5D. What more do you need if you're not a professional sports shooter?
If you aren't shooting a full frame camera, I don't really see the point in the 24-105 for the Canon. The 17-55 f2.8 EF-S is stellar. For Nikon, the 18-70DX is killer - I love mine.
D70, 18-70DX
The other alternative is the 18-200DX. Again, costly - but far better than any of the other kit lenses. While the 70-200 VR is a killer lens, I have never had issues hand-holding with my 80-200 f/2.8. The model I have can be purchased new for about $800 and it's pro-build. Just a thought. This is a handheld 100% crop with that lens (zoomed). Shot with my D70.
Regarding FPS.
I don't get this at all. Max shutter speed captures motion, not a blaze of shutter releases. Pick your moment, and 4fps should be plenty. My D70 shoots 1/8000, as does my 5D. What more do you need if you're not a professional sports shooter?
I had the 80-200. I took great pics with it but started to have focus ring problems. It was repaired but I think it lost some of its sharpness. I then had color fringe issues with it on the D200 and traded for the 70-200 VR.
Re FPS, I shoot lots of sports pics, mostly driving schools and some sports. Given the speed of pitching and hitting, A higher FPS gives more shots to show the motion. The below night baseball pics pushed the limits of the D200 high ISO but illustrate that.
Although camera responsiveness is important as is shutter speed (unless you want motion blur).
09-28-2008, 09:21 AM
#175
Senior Members
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: North Carolina, USA
Posts: 1,517
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2008 BMW 550i
2006 BMW X3
Originally Posted by Richard in NC' post='680284' date='Sep 28 2008, 12:54 PM
How much PP and sharpening did you do with those pics? With Photo Shop I presume? I struggle with PP sharpening, getting it super sharp yet natural.
09-28-2008, 09:26 AM
#176
Contributors
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Seoul via Singapore and Vancouver
Posts: 1,774
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2014 530d XDrive M Sport
Does anyone here use Aperture instead of Photoshop and/or other Adobe software? I currently use Aperture and I was wondering if I need to get into something like CS4 (which is really expensive) when it is released.
09-28-2008, 11:25 AM
#177
Contributors
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,573
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 2006 530i Sport
Silver Gray - Black Leather - Anthracite Maple
Manual Transmission
Premium Audio
Cold Weather Package
Rear sunshade
Sirius Radio
Autobahnd Roadblock (3M) film kit
The best Photoshop sharpening action I know is one that Bob Atkins (old time Apple dude) developed.
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/
It creates a pretty advanced mask, and sharpens areas that have detail, and doesn't sharpen areas that don't contain detail. I don't think that either of the images I posted were sharpened with it since I did them before I had developed my PS skills that much. The first image was sharpened rather crudely - the second image was sharpened using a custom filter designed to perform convolution sharpening with a custom kernel.
Sharpening is a difficult thing to master, and printing makes it even harder since your print files should look oversharpened. I went to a week-long digital fine art printing workshop that was put on at Santa Fe Workshops. It helps to get some good instruction.
Bob's action does something akin to this process.
http://www.digital-flight.com/thebigeye/HP...%20wavelets.htm
I actually incorporate convolution sharpening with the Bob Atkins action nowadays. This is what I can achieve with it. I think it's pretty natural and artifact-free.
100% crops.
Unsharpened - RAW
Sharpened - RAW
Using the Bob Atkins action with convolution sharpening custom filter (applied to the luminance channel in L.A.B. colorspace)
Remember that you only sharpen once, and you sharpen for the final output resolution. So, resize - then sharpen once at the very end. The only exception is the "local contrast enhancement" trick, which uses a large radius unsharp mask to heighten contrast in an image.
I also occasionally use the "History Brush" to brush away some or all of the sharpening applied to certain items. Sometimes even a good mask can allow certain things to get oversharpened.
I think I "history brushed" the earrings and her teeth in this picture. Possibly some of the other jewelry if memory serves.
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/
It creates a pretty advanced mask, and sharpens areas that have detail, and doesn't sharpen areas that don't contain detail. I don't think that either of the images I posted were sharpened with it since I did them before I had developed my PS skills that much. The first image was sharpened rather crudely - the second image was sharpened using a custom filter designed to perform convolution sharpening with a custom kernel.
Sharpening is a difficult thing to master, and printing makes it even harder since your print files should look oversharpened. I went to a week-long digital fine art printing workshop that was put on at Santa Fe Workshops. It helps to get some good instruction.
Bob's action does something akin to this process.
http://www.digital-flight.com/thebigeye/HP...%20wavelets.htm
I actually incorporate convolution sharpening with the Bob Atkins action nowadays. This is what I can achieve with it. I think it's pretty natural and artifact-free.
100% crops.
Unsharpened - RAW
Sharpened - RAW
Using the Bob Atkins action with convolution sharpening custom filter (applied to the luminance channel in L.A.B. colorspace)
Remember that you only sharpen once, and you sharpen for the final output resolution. So, resize - then sharpen once at the very end. The only exception is the "local contrast enhancement" trick, which uses a large radius unsharp mask to heighten contrast in an image.
I also occasionally use the "History Brush" to brush away some or all of the sharpening applied to certain items. Sometimes even a good mask can allow certain things to get oversharpened.
I think I "history brushed" the earrings and her teeth in this picture. Possibly some of the other jewelry if memory serves.
09-28-2008, 01:27 PM
#179
Contributors
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: So Cal, USA
Posts: 14,776
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: 545iSMGSilver GrayAuburn Dakota LeatherLogic 7 Premium SoundSports Package
Haha wow! this topic is hot. I didnt go thru the 8 pages but I was shown this video from a friend sometime last week.
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?ac...;articleID=2086
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?ac...;articleID=2086
09-28-2008, 06:35 PM
#180
Contributors
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 21,274
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Ride: Mini Cooper
Originally Posted by seoulman' post='680291' date='Sep 29 2008, 01:26 AM
Does anyone here use Aperture instead of Photoshop and/or other Adobe software? I currently use Aperture and I was wondering if I need to get into something like CS4 (which is really expensive) when it is released.
1 Abdobe Lightroom 2.0
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/
2 Aboube photoshop which you have.
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/family/
light room is to fix the shot from the raw
photoshop is to retouch and put SE on to the photo
that the basic but there is alot more fun in both software as you use it more.
I have been using photoshop from day 1 when it was out just for the mac 1990 Photoshop 1.0 and itis still the best in the world as most of you will know.
I will be getting the Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended upgrade. This is part of my life just like the E60
For lightroom, well if you done developing before then you know why you will need this.
I did B&W developing back at collage and it was very fun.
I know I will never get a chance to do that again but until now that lightroom is out itis almost the same thing but on a computer.