Questions for the photographers...

flyingcheesehead

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iMooniac
Hey Shutterbugs,

I just got a new toy - Canon 70D with the EF-S 18-135 and EF 70-300 lenses. I have a lot to learn!

If you have a DSLR... Which one? What lenses? What accessories do you find the most useful? What software do you use for importing/sorting/basic editing?

One thing I've really liked about shooting with my iPhone and my P&S (Canon SX230) is that they both have GPS and geotag photos automatically. It seems that except for the consumer-level DSLR's, nobody has GPS built-in... And Canon is happy to sell you a hot-shoe GPS... Those start at the low, low price of about $230 online! :hairraise: Is there a less expensive alternative?

One of the things that drew me to the 70D was the built-in WiFi. Rather handy in this day of social networking to be able to beam a photo or three on my phone to share on Facebook.

I initially set up the camera to shoot raw + jpeg with full resolution on the raw file and the jpeg at 1920x1280 which is plenty big enough for sharing on the web. However, when I import (currently using iPhoto, going to upgrade to Aperture), I end up with two copies of the picture - NOT what I want.

So, relating to that:
1) Do you shoot in Raw, JPEG, or Raw+JPEG and why?
2) If you use the Canon EOS Remote app, what do you get in your phone's photo library when you shoot Raw and move a pic over?

Thanks much for your suggestions!

Kent
 
Kent-

I suggest you check in the Canon forums at http://photography-on-the.net/forum/- It's pretty much all Canon.

As for software, consider GIMP, I use Corel. Both are less expensive than Photoshop. There's MicroSoft ICE for making panoramas (free)

For geotagging, I use a Bad Elf with MicroSoft PhotoTools plus (Free). You can use your cell phone to create the track but I find the Bad Elf works better.

For lenses and accessories, that really depends on what type of photography you do. I use my kit lens and a 50-500 mm Sigma most of the time. You can do macro, landscape, nature, portraits, and so forth and these use differing accessories- that's why I suggested the forums above. For fun, look in a B&H catalog.
 
Hey Shutterbugs,

I just got a new toy - Canon 70D with the EF-S 18-135 and EF 70-300 lenses. I have a lot to learn!

Very nice camera!
If you have a DSLR... Which one? What lenses? What accessories do you find the most useful? What software do you use for importing/sorting/basic editing?

I have a Canon 5D Mark III (full frame) and a Canon 7D (Crop sensor). I have a bunch of lenses, my two most frequently used are a 28-105 F4L and a 70-300 F4L (both IS). I have a wider-angle L lens (non-IS), a couple of fixed, and a Sigma 2.8. The Canon L lenses are my favorite. IS is essential for the long lens.

I don't know if the 70D has the lens micro-focus adjustment capability, but if it does, use it. Fine-tuning the AF makes a stunning difference on my 28-105.

Best accessories are a flash (the one I have is hot-shoed on the 5D and my older Canon film camera, and can either hot-shoe or slave to the 7D flash), a tripod (I hand-shoot most of the time, but some folks use tripods a lot), and a box called CamRanger (www.camranger.com). You have wifi in your camera - camranger does that function and much more.
One thing I've really liked about shooting with my iPhone and my P&S (Canon SX230) is that they both have GPS and geotag photos automatically. It seems that except for the consumer-level DSLR's, nobody has GPS built-in... And Canon is happy to sell you a hot-shoe GPS... Those start at the low, low price of about $230 online! :hairraise: Is there a less expensive alternative?

I believe CamRanger will allow you to do that.

One of the things that drew me to the 70D was the built-in WiFi. Rather handy in this day of social networking to be able to beam a photo or three on my phone to share on Facebook.

I use CamRanger for that. Built-in wifi would be nice, but not available on the 5D Mark III (or 7D).
I initially set up the camera to shoot raw + jpeg with full resolution on the raw file and the jpeg at 1920x1280 which is plenty big enough for sharing on the web. However, when I import (currently using iPhoto, going to upgrade to Aperture), I end up with two copies of the picture - NOT what I want.

Yes, you get one CRW image and one JPG image. That's how it's designed.
So, relating to that:
1) Do you shoot in Raw, JPEG, or Raw+JPEG and why?
2) If you use the Canon EOS Remote app, what do you get in your phone's photo library when you shoot Raw and move a pic over?

I shoot Raw+JPEG. Raw allows you to save the full resolution file for later editing & allows you to "post process" the image in Canon's DPP program. JPEG throws some info away - and you lose more in editing and resaving. For web-based stuff, that's not a really big deal, but for printing & higher resolution work (or extensive editing) you want Raw. (Side note: the engineer in you will want raw. Trust me).

I don't have the Canon remote - I do use CamRanger remote & save in the camera. The stuff that transfers to the phone/iPad is fine. With the Apple camera kit, you can import directly from the memory card BUT Apple will import both raw and jpeg images (but it won't display raw).
 
Oh, and I use a variety of programs for post processing. DPP for adjusting parameters on the RAW images, Lightroom for some work, and Irfanview (on windoes) for quick and dirty work.

In choosing a package, many photo packages work in 8-bit (which is fine for JPG) but Raw can contain enough additional information that you want a 16 bit package if possible.
 
Nikon D-50
28-80
55-200
70-300
JPEG; fine mode. You've got to convert them to put them online anyway.
Nikon software and Photoshop Elements.
 
If you have a DSLR... Which one? What lenses?

Nikon 5100D most of the time at present, usually with either the stock lens or the Nikon 70-300 zoom lens (I forget the model number at the moment). Those two cover more than 90 percent of my needs.

What accessories do you find the most useful?

Tripod, monopod, filter set, remote shutter release, fluorescent safety vest, safety harness, hardhat.

Also, the cell phone numbers of a couple of friends who are deputy sheriffs. I shoot a lot of man-made structures, especially electrical transmission towers, water tanks, abandoned bridges, railroad-related properties, and so forth. Sometimes it's difficult to determine who owns the land and/or the structure; sometimes I don't bother; and sometimes I do have permission, but local law enforcement objects anyway because of the risk aspect. Having the deputies' phone numbers helps a lot.

What software do you use for importing/sorting/basic editing?

Photoshop for professional stock work. Fireworks for Web stuff.

I initially set up the camera to shoot raw + jpeg with full resolution on the raw file and the jpeg at 1920x1280 which is plenty big enough for sharing on the web. However, when I import (currently using iPhoto, going to upgrade to Aperture), I end up with two copies of the picture - NOT what I want.

The JPEG is handier for previewing. The ones you don't want, you delete, along with their corresponding RAW files. Problem solved.

So, relating to that:
1) Do you shoot in Raw, JPEG, or Raw+JPEG and why?

RAW+ JPEG at the highest possible quality settings. JPEGs are handy for quick previews, but are compressed and lack a great deal of information needed for post-processing.

For professional or serious amateur work, you need the RAW files. For snapshots for your own use, use whatever you like; but considering how cheap memory cards are and the fact that you can delete the stuff you don't want easily enough, I can't come up with a good reason not to save both at the highest quality the camera is capable of. You never know when you're going to accidentally take a truly fantastic, marketable shot.

-Rich
 
I have a Sony E-33 with a G series 70-400mm f4-5.6 lens. Unless I'm shooting for money I shoot in JPEG. I don't do much post production outside of cropping or what manipulation can be done with simple programs. If I'm shooting for money I'll shoot in RAW and if it's a complex compilation image I have a friend do the 'shop work and then deliver a TIFF or JPEG depending on what the client wants.
 
Nikon D-40 with 18-55 kit lens and 55-200 VR lens. I also have the Nikon SB-400 flash.

If I'm just doing stills/scenics, I find my Cannon S95 does a fabulous job without having to drag along all of the extras.

I don't do much post processing, I just cull the herd from all the pics I take.
 
From my experience what I can tell you is to buy the best lenses that you can and get last year's camera body. The camera body will depreciate real fast, the lenses will not. It hurts really bad to buy a 4000.00 camera body only for it to be 1799.00 in 4 months.

I shoot Nikon and currently this is my kit:

Nikon 400mm F2.8 AFS-II
Nikon 300mm F2.8 AFS-II
Nikon 105VR F2.8
Nikon 28-70 F2.8
Nikon 35 F1.2

Nikon D700 12.1megapixel FX full frame sensor 4 years old
Nikon D2hs 4.1megapixel 8 years old - my favorite because if you aren't going to print and blow up the image to 40x60 4.1mp is plenty!
 
I started in photography because I wanted to take better pictures of airplanes at air shows. I've branched out beyond that, done some paid gigs in product shots (lay up, lay down, click click), real estate, air to air (my favorite), and I have shot weddings. It's not my full time gig though but I enjoy it as a hobby and the occasional financial windfall. I bought my first DSLR in 2007, since then I've used everything Canon makes from the EF 35-80mm to the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS, from the Canon 10D, Rebel XTi, to the 5D Mark III. So that's my background. I don't have a lot of time in the game, but I started with obsolete/cheap gear so I feel like I've been around longer than I have been. I also collect film cameras for fun.

I just got a new toy - Canon 70D with the EF-S 18-135 and EF 70-300 lenses. I have a lot to learn!

It's actually pretty simple. Use the lowest ISO possible. Higher iso = more grain "noise" in your photos. ISO 100-3200 should be your useful range without getting too noisy. 6400-12800 is probably tolerable but only when you really need it.

Av = Aperture Value = you set the aperture, camera sets the optimal shutter speed.
Tv = Time Value, you set the shutter speed, camera sets the optimal aperture.
M = full manual, you set everything.

Green box = full automatic.

I don't use the other settings.

I use Av when shooting stills, Tv when shooting action, and M when shooting with a flash.

If you have a DSLR... Which one? What lenses? What accessories do you find the most useful? What software do you use for importing/sorting/basic editing?

For free, you can use GIMP and Picasa. Picasa can handle RAW files. I personally use Gimp + Picasa for small things like resizing and cropping single images. Picasa is also good for processing JPEG's. For serious editing, I use LIghtroom 4. I love Lightroom.

For my personal gear, I shoot a Canon 5D and a 30D. Old enough to be fairly cheap but new enough to do what I want. Generally speaking, I use the 5D full frame camera to shoot wider angles and the 30D for telephoto only.

For the 5D, a 50mm f1.2 basically lives on it. I switch it out to a 16-35mm when I need a wide angle. Occasionally I use an 85 f1.2. For the 30D, I use a 70-200 f/2.8 when shooting inside an airplane and a 100-400mm when I need the reach.

Probably the most useful accessory I have is an external flash. If you're taking pictures indoors, being able to bounce the flash off the ceiling makes all the difference in the world.

Next is a circular polarizer filter. I use it on bright sunny days. I don't use those clear UV filters. All they do is take away clarity and add chromatic aberations IMHO. I am pretty fanatical about keeping the lens cap on though. The lens cap stays on until just before I take the picture, then I put it back on after I take the picture.

A Rocket Blower is nice. Get the biggest size.

Microfiber cleaning cloths... I used to buy these but I loaded up on a bunch of them from the Eurocopter helicopter booth at Oshkosh. :D

I also like the Peak Design Capture Clip, but I could live without it.


I initially set up the camera to shoot raw + jpeg with full resolution on the raw file and the jpeg at 1920x1280 which is plenty big enough for sharing on the web.

Most of the time, I shoot only in RAW. It's just so much more flexible than JPEG. I only shoot in JPEG if it's going to be a quickie snapshot, and then I always use full resolution. It's nice to be able to have the detail later on to crop with.
 
I've always been a Canon man making the leap from their film to digital cameras was helped spurred by the fact they used to loan out cameras at Oshkosh and got to shoot with a D1 years ago. I bought a 20D right before my trip flying around the Australian outback.

I have the following lenses:

17-55mm zoom.
70-200mm zoom
50 mm compact macro
45mm tilt shift (OK, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I always wanted a view camera).

the above area all canon EFs.

I also have a Sigma 50-500mm zoom and a 1.4x teleconverter.

I've got the Canon flash as well (in addition to the cheesy one build into the camera).

I've got a remote control trigger release and a few tripods (two regular tripods and a monopod).

Oh, and I did inherit a 4x5 view camera.
 
I have a Nikon D7000. Though I have a number of lenses, I find myself using a Tamron 18-250mm or a NIKON 70-300mm. The TAMRON is really good with profiles and the NIKON is good for medium long shots. I do have a 200-600mm which is a bit bulky but is good for long shots.
As for photos, I try to keep them all original so at the moment, no special software. Any ones that do get manipulated are copied first. I never delete a picture because if you do use a software program, I've found you can recover some shots. Plus there is a benefit to the memory.
 
From my experience what I can tell you is to buy the best lenses that you can and get last year's camera body. The camera body will depreciate real fast, the lenses will not. It hurts really bad to buy a 4000.00 camera body only for it to be 1799.00 in 4 months. y!

Concur, but really the quality of the picture is only as good as the lens. Spend the money on glass.
 
From my experience what I can tell you is to buy the best lenses that you can and get last year's camera body. The camera body will depreciate real fast, the lenses will not. It hurts really bad to buy a 4000.00 camera body only for it to be 1799.00 in 4 months.

Doh! The 70D was just released in August. That said, the timing was right - The 70D's predecessor was out for three years, so I figure I probably have 2.5 years of having the latest greatest body in this range. And the whole mess including the lenses was under $1600. I've seen the body for under $1000. So, it won't break the bank to get a new body eventually.
 
Nikon bodies: D2H, D2X, D200, D700, D7000 (plus two old film bodies )
Nikon lenses: 50 1.8, 12-24DX f4, 85 1.8, 70-200 2.8 VR, 28-105, 55-105, 24-120, 70-300
Photoshop CC with several plug-ins
Lightroom
Proshow Producer for slide shows / DVDs

Shoot all raw, then batch process through Lightroom and generate high quality JPGs so seldom need to go back to raw files.
 
RAW + Adobe Lightroom

Lightroom is an amazing program. It has a steep learning curve, but well worth the time investment I think.

The Lightroom tutorials at www.luminous-landscape.com are really helpful.
 
I've always been a Canon man making the leap from their film to digital cameras was helped spurred by the fact they used to loan out cameras at Oshkosh and got to shoot with a D1 years ago.

Yep - That's what got me interested in DSLR's to begin with and Canon specifically. A few years ago my P&S crapped out right before OSH, and I was going to have an opportunity to go in the tower that year. I went to the Canon booth and had my media badge on, and they lent me a 1Ds MkIII and some really nice lenses - $13,000 or so total in equipment for the day! The camera was so far beyond my abilities at the time that I didn't scratch the surface of what it could do, but I still got some amazing pictures. That's what got me hooked!

I think the 50D was what they had out at the time in the prosumer range, and the 5D had just come out. I was paying attention when the 60D arrived, and my brother got one of those since then. I didn't feel like dropping the coin right then, so I've been waiting... But my beautiful bride said she wanted to buy me a camera. I looked and saw the 70D had some really nice features that I liked, and the price/performance was what I wanted still, so it wasn't a tough decision.

I've got the Canon flash as well (in addition to the cheesy one build into the camera).

I see some of these Canon accessories and I'd like to have them, but wowza, they're expensive! You can buy a P&S camera for the price of a flash!

I'm interested in what everyone uses for a flash - Is there any particular reason to go with Canon? What sorts of features would I be missing out on with a 3rd-party flash?

I've got a remote control trigger release and a few tripods (two regular tripods and a monopod).

One of the nice things with the 70D's wifi is that I can use my phone as the remote trigger release... As well as changing quite a few settings and seeing a live view of what it's looking at. Very cool!

I have some tripods - I've used them with my other 3 cameras (Canon SX230 P&S, Canon HV20 video, and GoPro Hero3 Black). But, they're all cheapos that you can get at Target for $15. Seems the sky's the limit in terms of pricing there, too, and I'm not sure what to look for.

I also use a tripod as a monopod - I extend one leg all the way and leave the legs otherwise folded up, and extend the top as far as it goes. Works OK, and lets me turn it into a tripod pretty quickly! I can't think of any drawbacks to this method, but I've never seen anyone else do it so maybe I'm missing something?
 
For free, you can use GIMP and Picasa. Picasa can handle RAW files. I personally use Gimp + Picasa for small things like resizing and cropping single images. Picasa is also good for processing JPEG's. For serious editing, I use LIghtroom 4. I love Lightroom.

Isn't Picasa just a photo-sharing web site? :dunno:

I'll be getting Aperture instead of Lightroom - That way I can use my existing iPhoto library.

For my personal gear, I shoot a Canon 5D and a 30D. Old enough to be fairly cheap but new enough to do what I want. Generally speaking, I use the 5D full frame camera to shoot wider angles and the 30D for telephoto only.

Yeah, most of what I do, I like to be able to zoom way in so the crop sensor seemed like a bonus to me. I may change how I feel about that after a while, it already seems like you really have to be a lot closer to compose a shot just so. I spent a lot of time up close to things last night.

Probably the most useful accessory I have is an external flash. If you're taking pictures indoors, being able to bounce the flash off the ceiling makes all the difference in the world.

Yes - I don't like the built-in one much at all, would really like to be able to bounce it off the ceiling. (See my question about the Canon vs. other flashes in my previous post!)

I am pretty fanatical about keeping the lens cap on though. The lens cap stays on until just before I take the picture, then I put it back on after I take the picture.

That, I'm gonna have to work on. The GoPro has its case and thus no lens caps, while the HV20 and SX230 both have automatically retracting lens caps. I guess I'm gonna have to be the guy that uses those little lens cap leashes.

A Rocket Blower is nice. Get the biggest size.

Aha, nice.

Microfiber cleaning cloths... I used to buy these but I loaded up on a bunch of them from the Eurocopter helicopter booth at Oshkosh. :D

Now there's a great tip! :D

I also like the Peak Design Capture Clip, but I could live without it.

That also looks like it could be pretty handy for carting it around at Oshkosh!

Most of the time, I shoot only in RAW. It's just so much more flexible than JPEG. I only shoot in JPEG if it's going to be a quickie snapshot, and then I always use full resolution. It's nice to be able to have the detail later on to crop with.

Yeah, I need to play with the EOS Remote app. If I can shoot only in Raw but still get a shareable format through the app, I won't have much need for the JPEG. It's sure gonna eat up my hard drive in a hurry, though. I have over 15,000 photos in my library already. If they were all Raw images... Yikes, that'd be 450GB of pictures!
 
BTW, here's a couple of pics I've taken so far. Critique away!

This fur ball is likely to be the subject of a lot of my photographic experimenting:
attachment.php


Yes, they're upside down for a reason - They're drying. I tried rotating it, and decided I like it better this way:
attachment.php


I saw a purple cast in the snow outside late last night, so decided to try to capture it using a looooooong exposure... Kinda cool that it looks like daytime outside despite very little light:
attachment.php
 

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Hey Shutterbugs,

I just got a new toy - Canon 70D with the EF-S 18-135 and EF 70-300 lenses. I have a lot to learn!

If you have a DSLR... Which one? What lenses? What accessories do you find the most useful? What software do you use for importing/sorting/basic editing?

Kent,

Watch out! This will burn another hole in your wallet! Congratulations though, you've got a nice one. Especially the fast-focus dual-pixel sensor. It's real nice for video too.

I got back into photography 2 years ago with a Canon 60D.

#1: throw away the included neck strap! Now that I am getting (ahem) older, my neck can't take that. Bought a Luma Labs cinch. Real nice.:thumbsup:

My first lens was just a $100 EF 50 mm f/1.8 because:
1. 50 mm was "the" kit lens back when I got an AE-1 film camera
2. I had to relearn everything, so I wanted to start out slow, but with a lens that would give me complete control with a wide aperture.

However, the 50mm was a mistake for a crop sensor camera, since the field of view is so tight. It's pretty useless indoors for any kind of group shot.

One of the craziest things I had to get my head around was being able to change ISO settings from shot to shot. When I had my AE-1, you loaded a roll of film and you were stuck with it for 12, 24 or 36 shots! :)

Anyway, I thought hard about how I would be taking photos, and read a lot on POTN, and I absolutely love my EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS for indoors/general shots, and an EF 70-200 f/4 (non-IS) for outdoors. Covers a pretty wide range and did not bust the budget. People will always debate primes vs. zooms ad infinitum. Your choice. Remember though - the EF-S lenses will only fit on crop sensor cameras. EF lenses will fit on both crop and full frame.

Forget that pop-up flash, it'll make for flat, snapshot-ish pictures. I bought a Canon 430EXII first (yeah I know it's like $250) for ease of learning and compatibility (i.e. ETTL auto exposure). Having a flash head that can bounce and rotate will make a huuuuge difference in having beautiful soft light in your flash pictures. Plus the 430EXII can be controlled optically off-camera from the pop up flash on your 70D. Yongnuo flashes are cheap and fairly well regarded replacements. I eventually sprang for a Yongnuo YN468-II and some RF603C wireless flash controllers for some real nice off camera flash setup.

Tripod is good. People spend $500 on carbon fiber tripods! :loco:

I am still using iPhoto. RAWs choke it a bit (2011 dual i5 mini, it's CPU intensive). Apple needs to get off their butts and update Aperture and then I will probably buy that (and a new Mini when they get off their butts on updating that too).

Anything else? I am still looking for a good camera backpack. Haven't decided on one yet, but I did not like the shoulder strap messenger bag types.

Oh yeah, I bought most of the above used through POTN users. Glass lasts much longer, and there are plenty of ADD people who change lenses like they change underwear. Canon USA has a refurb website too. When a 15 or 20% off sale hits on that a few times a year, good prices abound, if you can get in fast enough.
 
BTW, here's a couple of pics I've taken so far. Critique away!

This fur ball is likely to be the subject of a lot of my photographic experimenting:
attachment.php


Yes, they're upside down for a reason - They're drying. I tried rotating it, and decided I like it better this way:
attachment.php


I saw a purple cast in the snow outside late last night, so decided to try to capture it using a looooooong exposure... Kinda cool that it looks like daytime outside despite very little light:
attachment.php

Study "White Balance"
 
I have an older Canon 20D...I recommend the 85mm f/1.8, inexpensive and a nice and fast lens. I also have the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS which is a great lens as well.

Also, do yourself a favor and get a flash, even if it's an older 430. Right now that will be the best money spent if you plan on taking pictures inside at all.

Light, lenses then body is the best bang for the buck when upgrading to get the most out of your talents
 
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Kent, the pictures are a good start.

I would suggest you not use the full auto exposure setting. Recommend either the aperture or time priority. I prefer Av, except when shooting moving objects. Auto white balance is OK. As you get experience, using manual WB gives you more control.
 
In addition to the above, I think your ISO was too high (resulting in some graininess); and you have some chromatic aberration, especially in the second and third shots.

Incidentally, the ability to correct chromatic aberration is another good reason for working with RAW files.

-Rich
 
#1: throw away the included neck strap! Now that I am getting (ahem) older, my neck can't take that. Bought a Luma Labs cinch. Real nice.:thumbsup:

Yeah, I noticed that even sitting on the couch with it on while I was reading the manual.

I bought a Canon 430EXII first (yeah I know it's like $250) for ease of learning and compatibility (i.e. ETTL auto exposure). Having a flash head that can bounce and rotate will make a huuuuge difference in having beautiful soft light in your flash pictures. Plus the 430EXII can be controlled optically off-camera from the pop up flash on your 70D. Yongnuo flashes are cheap and fairly well regarded replacements. I eventually sprang for a Yongnuo YN468-II

What are the differences between those two? The 430EXII is $300, the YN468-II is $87!

I am still using iPhoto. RAWs choke it a bit (2011 dual i5 mini, it's CPU intensive). Apple needs to get off their butts and update Aperture and then I will probably buy that (and a new Mini when they get off their butts on updating that too).

I got Aperture tonight... I've got a lot to learn there too! But it was updated to 3.5 in October, so relatively recently. Is there a specific feature you're waiting for?

Glass lasts much longer, and there are plenty of ADD people who change lenses like they change underwear.

I've rented equipment from borrowlenses.com and ATS Rentals and had pretty good luck with both... So if I have an event coming up like OSH I'll probably get some temporary "stuff" too. :)
 
Isn't Picasa just a photo-sharing web site? :dunno:

It is, it is also a free image editing app. It's pretty basic. Like Apple, Google is just trying to suck you into their complete universe of apps and products.

I'll be getting Aperture instead of Lightroom - That way I can use my existing iPhoto library.

You'll want to use Lightroom if you are processing large amounts of photos, trust me. Have you tried using Canon's Digital Photo Professional? It came with your camera and it is actually a very good program. Lightroom is more efficient at working with large quantities of files though.

Yes - I don't like the built-in one much at all, would really like to be able to bounce it off the ceiling. (See my question about the Canon vs. other flashes in my previous post!)

Main difference between a Canon flash and the cheaper third party flashes is ETTL. Evaluative Through the Lens light metering. The flash sees what your eyeball and your sensor sees. The flash knows what all your camera and lens settings are and it will automatically set the flash power to be optimal. It works really well. I have a 580EXII and a 550EX I use as a backup or an off-camera flash. I just set my camera to M, 1/200 (maximum shutter sync speed), and f/8. The flash does the rest 85% of the time. The remaining 15% I fiddle with the exposure compensation value on the flash.

The cheap flashes are fully manual and you have to figure out out how much light you need either from intuition/experience or by using a handheld light meter.

Canon flashes also are capable of recycling/refiring pretty fast.

That, I'm gonna have to work on. The GoPro has its case and thus no lens caps

Well the everyday lens I use costs $1.8 AMU so it behooves me to take good care of my equipment. :)

It's sure gonna eat up my hard drive in a hurry, though. I have over 15,000 photos in my library already. If they were all Raw images... Yikes, that'd be 450GB of pictures!

When I first started, I took a lot of photos, most of them weren't very good. With experience I got more careful, knew what I wanted the photo to look like before I took it, and I took fewer, better pictures.
 
So, I just did a quick test. I set the camera to Raw-only, shot a pic, pulled it to my phone via the EOS Remote app, and emailed it to myself. It came through as a JPEG at the resolution I was previously using for JPEG's on Raw+JPEG. Sweet. So, I'll be shooting Raw-only from now on I think.
 
So, I just did a quick test. I set the camera to Raw-only, shot a pic, pulled it to my phone via the EOS Remote app, and emailed it to myself. It came through as a JPEG at the resolution I was previously using for JPEG's on Raw+JPEG. Sweet. So, I'll be shooting Raw-only from now on I think.

Look at the file size on the camera chip make sure what you are shooting is worth all the space.
 
Look at the file size on the camera chip make sure what you are shooting is worth all the space.
I shoot everything in both RAW and JPG and never have a problem.

SD cards are pretty cheap, and a 16 GB card stores a lot, even at 20.2 megapixels. These are what- $10 for a name brand card now? Maybe $15 for the high-speed card. Using multiple cards on a long trip really isn't a bad idea since if the camera gets lost, only the pictures in the camera are lost.

Multi-terabyte hard drives are cheap now too for storing the pictures and back-up, and I delete pictures that aren't good during post-processing anyway, if they aren't so bad I delete them while chimping my shot. I'm a long way from running out of disk space.

The nice thing about RAW is that, as suggested earlier, one can change the white-balance and do other things to improve the image. I'll often shoot using auto-white balance and change the white balance later when I get home if needed. This way, I'm not messing with remembering to change it for clouds, because I go inside for a minute, etc.

To Kent- Also look in the manual about back-button focusing and the different focusing options. Back-button focusing lets you compose the focus and the exposure separately if needed. Some people swear by back-button focusing, some feel it is an unneeded option. I feel it is a useful tool at times.

As you purchase lenses, remember that not all of them will work well on a full-frame camera if you choose to go that route eventually, but all lenses what work with full-frame sensors will work with your APS-C size. You'll get longer "reach" on a telephoto lens (my "Bigma" acts like a 750 mm on APS-C), but wide-angle lenses are less "wide angle".

The 70D is a great camera and one I'd consider upgrading to myself.
 
I still have my ME Super SE stowed away somewhere. At least I think that's the correct model name...been forever and a day since I've thought about it.
 
The 320EX is slavable & fully automagic... and the 320EX "kit" is currently on-sale at Adorama for $199.[/url]

Is Adorama well-regarded? They had the GPS way cheaper than anyone else online and I'd never heard of them so was a bit wary.
 
Is Adorama well-regarded? They had the GPS way cheaper than anyone else online and I'd never heard of them so was a bit wary.

Yes, they're well regarded. One of the big dogs in photo online/mail order.

I have purchased (literally) thousands of dollars of camera gear from them. Fast delivery, good folks. Long had/still have a storefront in NYC. I use them and B&H photo (and a very good local shop) for my photo needs.
 
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Yes, they're well regarded. One of the big dogs in photo online/mail order.

I have purchased (literally) thousands of dollars of camera gear from them. Fast delivery, good folks. Long had/still have a storefront in NYC. I use them and B&H photo (and a very good local shop) for my photo needs.

Good to know. I bought the camera from B&H, had an idea of their rep from previous discussions here.
 
Good to know. I bought the camera from B&H, had an idea of their rep from previous discussions here.

I shop between B&H and Adorama. Good service from both. Lately it's been Adorama because if you join their club, you get a small rebate with each purchase (totaled something like $60 on 5D).
 
Spring for the 430EXII, but not a new one. You should be able to get one for around $200 on Photography On The Net website (google it) or Craigslist, used.

It's just a better flash than the 320EX--trust me.
 
I am totally unimpressed with Aperature. I consider it to be one of the biggest wastes. It's slower and clunkier than iPhoto (which is no speed demon to begin with) and really offers little in the way of processing. Mostly I just use iPhoto to sort through things and fire up PhotoShop when I need to so some real processing.
 
I've got a Canon Rebel XT. I'd love to upgrade to something that also shoots video, but I can't justify the expense on that quite yet. I've got the two lenses that everyone gets, but they were both a bit slow for me so I also got the Canon 50mm/1.8 lense.

This is what I do:

For manual settings (Program, Av, Tv, Manual) I shoot RAW only. Automatics (green square) save as JPG.

I'll then import everything to iPhoto. Edit as appropriate. I've got Photoshop for more intensive applications but rarely need to use it. iPhoto will store the RAWs as RAW. I'll export JPG or whatever I need whenever I need it.

That way I get full quality but don't duplicate images.
 
I have a Nikon D7100, I got a 3rd party GPS(Solmeta) that I like quite a bit, as it sends the basic data to the camera but also logs it for download every second like a dedicated GPS logger. They don't appear to do anything for Canon though.
My current glass collection(from memory) is Nikon: 18-200 VR, 35mm 1.8, 50mm 1.8, 85mm 1.8, 135mm 3.5(Manual Focus), Sigma: 150-500 OS f/slow and just ordered a 17-70 walking-around-lens for when the 18-200 is overkill.

I did find out that the 150-500 may be nice for taking pictures of airplanes far away or on a full frame camera, it's a bit overkill when you're at an event where you can stand closer to the runway.

Other thing I found recently is switching from a 40MB/second card to a 95MB/second card, while it put a much bigger hole in my wallet, makes burst shooting much more fun. And my policy is shoot early, shoot often, I enjoyed film, but I more enjoy being able to take 900 images in an afternoon and just discard 500 of them.

Workflow is RAW only and Adobe Lightroom. I'm of the mindset that if I need to throw data away I'll do it in post processing, I have multiple TB of disk space though.
 
In addition to the above, I think your ISO was too high (resulting in some graininess); and you have some chromatic aberration, especially in the second and third shots.

Incidentally, the ability to correct chromatic aberration is another good reason for working with RAW files.

Rich,

I was under the impression that chromatic aberration was something that is normally seen at the edges of a shot... And both the 2nd and 3rd shots were cropped.

I guess I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. ?
 
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