Your current GAS list? (1 Viewer)

[Citizen87645]

I tried it on a T3i and there are no problems. So I tried it on the original 7D and also no problems. It will work momentarily on the 7D Mark II, but eventually it loses its way and never recovers. I'm running the latest firmware, so I guess I have to live with it until another firmware maybe corrects the problem.

 

[Sam Posten]

While waiting for my D500 I'm getting the hankering to try a Sony A7R2 and the new G Master lenses. Must stay sane and out of the poor house!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

It's only money, Sam.

I usually use my Canon 24-105L f/4 IS lens for landscape shots, but last week I used it a lot for people shots on a cruise -- I usually use a Canon 50L f/1.2 for my people shots, and a telephoto for most action shots. I packed light for this trip, though, and just brought along the 24-105L and 16-35L f/4 lenses, along with my mirrorless EOS M and 22mm pancake lens. I found the 24-105L a little lacking in nailing focus when I was trying to capture people in motion. I guess I found this lens's limitations.

I will not buy a 24-70 f/2.8 lens. I will not buy a 24-70 f/2.8 lens. I will not buy a 24-70 f/2.8 lens. I will not buy a 24-70 f/2.8 lens. I will not buy a 24-70 f/2.8 lens.

 

[JohnRice]

So Sam, you are getting a D500, or just speculating? I'll probably have a chance to at least try out the A7RII, if I want. I'm curious about mirrorless. I'm actually planning to get an a6000 soon. I might actually go for the a6300 once I can get some real world experience with it, but one of my goals with it was to have something good, to carry around, that also isn't extremely expensive. I was hoping the a6000 would go on closeout once the a6300 comes out, but I'm told they will both stay in the line.

Scott, do you mean the focus of the lens itself (the 24-105) just isn't fast enough? This whole interaction of AF speed and accuracy, and what part is played by the lens and what part is played by the camera still baffles me a little.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

John, yes, the 24-105L seemed a little slower to focus than the telephotos I own, which was causing me to miss focus using my normal technique and settings on some action shots, such as my wife and grandniece on the carousel, a person in our group competing in a belly flop competition, etc. As I mentioned before, though, this is not a lens I would normally use for such shots, but it was all I had with me on this trip -- I left the telephotos at home.

 

[JohnRice]

Do you set your camera so that when you push the release all the way down, it shoots regardless of if it thinks it's in focus? What's that called? Release Priority?

 

[Sam Posten]

The A6000 and the 55-200 are my go to for Concerts and Pro sports. Easy to sneak in and they never bother me about em.

I preordered the D500. The D300 was my first Nikon Digital and I have been waiting YEARS for a replacement for birding and kids sports.

I LOVE the small form factor of crop mirrorless, and everyone is raving about the A7R2, but $3k + $2k for the GMaster is too much just to jump in on.

 

[JohnRice]

Are you happy with the 55-200? I got thinking, and realized that if I get the a6000, I probably might as well get the 55-200 as well since it's so cheap as a kit.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Do you set your camera so that when you push the release all the way down, it shoots regardless of if it thinks it's in focus? What's that called? Release Priority?

Actually, for action shots I have several settings assigned to one of the custom shooting modes on my body -- a very handy feature on Canon's more advanced bodies. I use AI Servo mode, which is constantly adjusting focus and tracking the subject in the frame, and release priority is irrelevant in this mode. Other settings are a high shutter speed in shutter priority mode, high speed continuous shooting (6 frames per second on the 5D3, 10 fps on my 7D2), auto ISO, and probably a couple of other things that I cannot think of right now.

The custom shooting modes (C1, C2 and C3 on my bodies) are quite handy, as I can easily switch between a normal setup in manual, aperture priority or shutter priority mode to a customized mode with many specific settings by a quick turn of the mode dial on the camera when I want to switch from shooting still objects to something in motion. I have C1 setup for flash photography, C2 for general action and C3 with specific settings for shooting ice hockey at our local arena (which I have not done any of this season, unfortunately).

 

[Sam Posten]

Yes, the 55-200 is on my NEX 100% of the time, I literally have not used any other lens on the 6000. It's no 70-200 2.8 but good luck sneaking a big ass VR lens in to a small theater or ball game.

I use release priority with AF-ON 100% of the time for my DSLRs. I would rather have a few OOF shots in a batch of 800 rather than EVER have to guess when my camera might take a shot. Of course, having 9+FPS spoils you on this...

Not on my NEX tho.

 

[JohnRice]

Thanks Sam. It's good to know the 55-200 is acceptable to you. It looks nice and small, plus you can get them used incredibly cheap.

 

[JohnRice]

Sam, I have a couple gear questions. I was looking at the PocketWizard and wondered if the PlusX is the one you use. You said you use the newer, less expensive one, and it seems to have all I really need. It's pretty basic, 10 channel while the other one that's 50% more has more channels and "quad-zone" triggering that I really don't think I need. I got a cheap rf trigger to try, but it's worthless. I wish they had a hot shoe on them.

The second question is if you've ever shot video with the a6000. If I get an Alpha, I need to decide between the 6000 and the 6300 and one of the big differences seems to be video. That's not a big issue, but I might be wanting to shoot some video. If the 6000 does a nice job, that should be fine. I think good AF is my main concern. It's just that the D7100 I have is completely worthless for video, since live view AF basically doesn't work on it.

 

[Sam Posten]

Rarely use video on my Nexs but it does what I need for the most part.
Yes, the PlusX is what I use.

 

[JohnRice]

OK, finally pulled the trigger on a super wide zoom. I've been going around in circles on what way to go, and finally found a decent deal on a Like New Sigma 8-16mm. I've had the original version of the Tokina 12-24mm for several years, but it doesn't make as much sense in my system, because half it's range is duplicated by the infinitely better Sigme 18-35mm. Plus, I notice that when I want to go wider than 18mm, I also tend to want to go wider than 12mm, so the Tokina doesn't fit the bill. Plus, it's not as sharp as I'd like and it has a huge diameter (77mm) which makes it a hassle to fit into a camera bag with all the other stuff. The 8-16mm is slower (who really cares?), but sharper and a more reasonable size

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Looking forward to seeing some ultra-wide shots from the new lens, John. I do not use my 16-35L f/4 IS (on full frame) as often as I'd like, but there are times that a UWA lens is the only one that works.

 

[JohnRice]

I think you have to seek out good subjects for a lens that wide. I lot of times people just use them for no reason other than "Look how wide this is". I don't know how often I'll use it, but at least it'll be an option.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I think you have to seek out good subjects for a lens that wide. I lot of times people just use them for no reason other than "Look how wide this is". I don't know how often I'll use it, but at least it'll be an option.

I agree. A wide angle shot needs a strong foreground element to really work well. I find that most of my landscape shots are in the 30-50mm range, while the wide shots are quite infrequent. I actually have used my 16-35L as much for interior shots as landscapes, and I do not shoot interiors very often.

Even one of my favorite "wide" shots isn't as wide as it could have been. I took this in Glacier National Park using my old 17-40mm lens set at 20mm.

 

[Citizen87645]

I tried it on a T3i and there are no problems. So I tried it on the original 7D and also no problems. It will work momentarily on the 7D Mark II, but eventually it loses its way and never recovers. I'm running the latest firmware, so I guess I have to live with it until another firmware maybe corrects the problem.

So after a little more use, having autofocus with a macro lens seems like kind of a toss up. Manual focus combined with physically moving into position seems like a solid workaround if not a preferred way of shooting macro. I ordered Canon's precision focusing screen to see if that will help things as well.

 

[JohnRice]

I've been looking around at all the inexpensive, portable lighting gear that's available these days. It really blows my mind. Now I'm itching to experiment with artificial lighting on subjects that you usually don't light. Have any of you ever tried any of these "bargain" electronic flashes? The one that jumped out to me is this Altura set. It seems like a pretty decent, powerful flash, and I'm used to manually metering artificial light, for more flexibility than TTL. I realize the wireless triggers may not be reliable, but at that price, who cares? I can see setting up a couple flashes in softboxes like These. That adapter looks really nice, and it's even a Bowens mount, which is what all my monolight gear is. Anyway, a couple of those softboxes, a couple flashes and a couple small light stands would be fairly portable. I can dig out one of my Minolta Flashmeters and mix old school with high tech. Any ideas or feedback?

 

[JohnRice]

Seriously, this amazes me. When I was shooting professionally, This is the same flash head I used for Architecture and some products. I still have my entire collections of Bowens monolights and Speedotron gear. For half the price of ONE Speedotron flash head, I can get two electronic flashes, Bowens adapters, softboxes & small light stands and have a usable, portable location lighting setup. slightly less powerful, but still. Sounds like fun.