ddrueding
Fixture
Where do I sign up?
udaman
Wannabe Storage Freak
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Messages
- 1,209
Hmm, e_dawg said in Jan '09 he was getting married in the summer, so we can conclude the marriage is the reason he no longer posts on SR 
. Ergo, just rent women, might be much more expensive to maintain, but much easier to discard
. Ergo, just rent women, might be much more expensive to maintain, but much easier to discard Yes, we all have our price...
If you think about it, going into a relationship is like getting a car. You can either rent (date / club), lease (longer term relationship), or purchase (marriage).
Some people get tired of renting and like the convenience of always having a car around so you can just get in and start driving when you need it, so they lease. But there is a time limit with a lease -- you either need to buy at the end of the term, or you need to return it... you can't just extend the lease indefinitely. As well, when you want to return it at the end of the lease, you may find that it's not quite so easy. You can get blamed for all kinds of damages and might have to pay various charges or risk a lawsuit.
To avoid the hassle of leasing and returning every few years, some people feel purchasing for the long haul is the solution. Some figure although it's a massive up-front cost, you save in the long-run. Problem is, as the years pass, the value depreciates. In fact, they say you take the biggest hit as soon as you drive off the lot.
In an effort to maintain the value, some will put a lot of effort into pampering their baby, buying lavish accessories, treating it to a deluxe service, etc. But after the initial 3-year no charge maintence , you find that it constantly needs new parts and accessories. The cost of maintenance and upkeep seems to keep going up, and yet it doesn't perform quite the way it used to when it was new. Breakdowns become more frequent, and you're starting to think about a new model.
Now you realize that getting rid of your old car is not quite so easy either. After doing some research, you find that you will take a huge loss to sell the car, and you wonder whether you're better off keeping it until it dies
ddrueding
Fixture
On the pano head? Isn't there an external power connector on that thing?
No pano head yet. It is only about ten years for UPS shipping and missed deliveries.
The LP-E4. I have five of them.
ddrueding
Fixture
Ouch, 2300mAh should be good for a while...
ddrueding
Fixture
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Awesome! So who says bugs are filthy? They have a bath everyday even before most of us! And in really fresh water!
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
Stereodude
Not really a
That's either lens serious flare or overexposure, or perhaps both. They're reasonably fixable.
You need to crank the brightness way down and the contrast way up. I'd push the RAW file down about 1 to 1.5 stops and then do the rest with software brightness and contrast adjustments.
You need to crank the brightness way down and the contrast way up. I'd push the RAW file down about 1 to 1.5 stops and then do the rest with software brightness and contrast adjustments.
Pradeep
Storage? I am Storage!
Must have had sun shining of the cockpit window or somesuch.
For what looks like very bright conditions like that an ISO of 100 or so may give you better results.
If you can, set the camera to bracket your exposures (it will take shots above and below your current settings).
For what looks like very bright conditions like that an ISO of 100 or so may give you better results.
If you can, set the camera to bracket your exposures (it will take shots above and below your current settings).
Pradeep
Storage? I am Storage!
If your lens isn't too heavy in situations like that you can often shield the lens from direct sunlight with your left hand.
udaman
Wannabe Storage Freak
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Messages
- 1,209
That's either lens serious flare or overexposure, or perhaps both. They're reasonably fixable.
You need to crank the brightness way down and the contrast way up. I'd push the RAW file down about 1 to 1.5 stops and then do the rest with software brightness and contrast adjustments.
Hmm, I just might be skillier than SD, supposed he did a quickNdirty on the image, while I went and fired up Photoshop and tweaked it with 'curves' as well as desaturating.
Looking at the histogram in PS, we see all channels, red, green, blue oversaturated, with red being the worst, so I took some out of each channel. So I think SD's rendition might have oversaturated colors, which is what Ken Rockwell loves...me I prefer accuracy!
After doing that we see there is a triangular piece of metal that is reflecting sunlight and overexposing the image. The human eye, as well the LCD on the D40, do not register what the sensor is recording. That severe reflection off of the piece of shinny metal, as well as a small strip we can see is reflecting off the 'strut' are what lead to significant overexposure.
But we can see not all detail has been lost, and bcuz I'm skillier, I've recovered more detail in the faces of the boys (ie the important subject matter) while SD has caused the boys face on the right to lose highlight detail
.Notice that translucent red circle at the border of the blue/magenta? jacket/brown pants? Guess we'll have to wait for LM to chime in, but I'm guessing it's a lens flare artifact, the light reflecting off of the metal piece is bouncing around from the lens optical grouping and ending up with that red circle on the sensor
Just a guess, but a polarizing filter might have mitigated those harsh (our eyes don't see the reflections as harsh, probably almost invisible) intense reflections?
Rockwell recommends Hoya or Nikon over B+W polarizing filters, but the HD filters are pretty expensive, not sure the software Rockwell mentions can do all that much in such a situation.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filters.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/hoya/hd-filters.htm
http://www.adorama.com/HY58CPLHD.html?sid=127053714146123
udaman
Wannabe Storage Freak
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
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- 1,209
btw, though it's not quite as good as the 7D in IQ (same sensor, shouldn't it be exactly the same IQ?)... dpreview seems to love the 550D
Don't think it was an April fools review:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos550d/
If only it was a FF Rebel for $800 instead of a crop factor, I'd buy that in a heartbeat...alas, will probably be another 5yrs b4 that happens...in the meantime I'm likely buying a Sony camcorder w/30mm effective wide-angle zoom lens.
Don't think it was an April fools review:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos550d/
If only it was a FF Rebel for $800 instead of a crop factor, I'd buy that in a heartbeat...alas, will probably be another 5yrs b4 that happens...in the meantime I'm likely buying a Sony camcorder w/30mm effective wide-angle zoom lens.
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
Uda's looks pretty good. Do you know how I'd do that in the gimp?
I think that was with my 18-55mm lens which has no filter on it.
I think that was with my 18-55mm lens which has no filter on it.
Stereodude
Not really a
I gave it a real quick & dirty in about 30 seconds with Gimp which is all that's installed on my work PC. Sorry if that's not up to your standards. :wink:
Stereodude
Not really a
You don't want to do it in GIMP on the file you uploaded to Picasa. You want to process the raw .NEF file to recover some of the highlights first. You want to adjust the exposure by about -1EV and then use that file in GIMP. I've never used ViewNX, so I'm not sure exactly how you would go about doing that (but it can adjust exposure).
Then in gimp you'd want to use the curves tool while monitoring the RGB values of the light and dark areas to make sure you're not chopping them off.
And just for Uda I gave the picture another shot (still using GIMP) without making it look all undersaturated and full of artifacts like his.
BingBangBop
Storage is cool
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
- Messages
- 667
I thought people here might be interested in this Q&A concerning the House Finale being shot exclusively using Canon 5D Mark II's
http://www.petapixel.com/2010/04/09/house-season-finale-filmed-entirely-with-canon-5d-mark-ii/
http://www.petapixel.com/2010/04/09/house-season-finale-filmed-entirely-with-canon-5d-mark-ii/
My Canon 5D MKII arrived today (came in 2 days with free 3 day shipping from B&H!) along with a new Lastolite 33' 8-IN-1 reflector that I can play around with.
Sorry Lunar, you never got back to us with details on your used equipment. I have a few photo projects coming up (one next week) so I bit the bullet and bought it new. I'm excited to play around with it this weekend.
Sorry Lunar, you never got back to us with details on your used equipment. I have a few photo projects coming up (one next week) so I bit the bullet and bought it new. I'm excited to play around with it this weekend.
Stereodude
Not really a
FWIW, I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to sell and of his gear used to any of us because he'd have to provide a return address to the shipper and then he'd lose all of his privacy. So, it sits unused and collects dust instead.
That's kind of what I was figuring also. I had the same concern if I were to buy a multi-thousand dollar item and I don't even know Lunar's name. I'd have to know an address to send money or like you said a return address in case something was wrong. If he lived near me (which he might and I'd have no idea) I could have even met in person to purchase. I respect his privacy concerns which is why I went forward with my retail purchase. No hard feelings from this side, I just wanted him to know I decided to move on and buy my own.
I'd have to know an address to send money or like you said a return address in case something was wrong. If he lived near me (which he might and I'd have no idea) I could have even met in person to purchase. I respect his privacy concerns which is why I went forward with my retail purchase. No hard feelings from this side, I just wanted him to know I decided to move on and buy my own.Stereodude
Not really a
Yeah, I sorta forgot about having to send him the money as well...
Anyhow, enjoy your new camera.
Anyhow, enjoy your new camera.
udaman
Wannabe Storage Freak
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
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- 1,209
Was thinking I should go buy the 7D @Costco, use it for up to 90days, and then return it via their 90-day buyer satisfaction guarantee. Then go buy the 550D and use it for up to 90-days to see if I like either and return it for full refund, to know if I like one better than the other, justifying paying nearly 2x for the 7D...for what?
Then I thought...meh, neither really is what I want, as both are cropped sensors...and Nikon is rumored to release as many as 3 new DSLR's soon....wait N see what Nikon does.
Then I thought...meh, neither really is what I want, as both are cropped sensors...and Nikon is rumored to release as many as 3 new DSLR's soon....wait N see what Nikon does.
ddrueding
Fixture
If what you want doesn't exist, hasn't existed, and isn't likely to exist; I would suggest just a bit of compromise
udaman
Wannabe Storage Freak
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http://www.borrowlenses.com/category/canon_super_tele
Expensive rentals, but they do have all of the Nikon & Canon perspective control lenses, incl 17mm TS-E
darn, CP filters don't help much with metal surfaces (why isn't the reflected light polarized off of metal?)
http://www.schneider-kreuznach.de/tipps/polfilter_e.htm
Expensive rentals, but they do have all of the Nikon & Canon perspective control lenses, incl 17mm TS-E
darn, CP filters don't help much with metal surfaces
(why isn't the reflected light polarized off of metal?)http://www.schneider-kreuznach.de/tipps/polfilter_e.htm
ddrueding
Fixture
BorrowLenses doesn't look awful. I stuck a sample in my cart:
1D MkIV
200/1.8
Gitzo G-1410
Gimbal Tripod Head
Quick Release Plate
$627 for all that for the weekend? Not a bad deal, and the price per day falls of dramatically as you approach a week.
1D MkIV
200/1.8
Gitzo G-1410
Gimbal Tripod Head
Quick Release Plate
$627 for all that for the weekend? Not a bad deal, and the price per day falls of dramatically as you approach a week.
www.lensrentals.com is the best rental choice IMO. Roger is a good guy.
ddrueding
Fixture
www.lensrentals.com is the best rental choice IMO. Roger is a good guy.
Nice. Cheaper, too.
ddrueding
Fixture
They have an GigaPan Epic Pro available...so tempting.
Lunar, what is the longest lens you have shot with on yours?
Lunar, what is the longest lens you have shot with on yours?
ddrueding
Fixture
www.lensrentals.com is the best rental choice IMO. Roger is a good guy.
I've been reading tons on the site, very interested. Mainly I enjoy the humor in every bit of text on the site.
Review on the 400/2.8
Zip, zilch nada.
It is not useful for my purposes and I waited too long for the return. It is probably useable with a medium body and up to a 200/2.8 or a small zoom like a 70-300/4.5-5.6. A pro body and a 70-200/4 or 300/4 are not too stable, since the mount must be on the camera rather than the lens tripod mount ring collar as with a normal tripod.
udaman
Wannabe Storage Freak
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Messages
- 1,209
^$430/week...maybe a hour with a 'g/f experience' would be better, lol can't afford of one them in real life either.
Already have the g/f for the experience and don't need to waste money on a fake one. $400 is relatively cheap to borrow a exclusive $10,000+ item for a week. I would only do the 4 day and save a couple hundred. I would likely need a decent tripod to support it.
ddrueding
Fixture
udaman
Wannabe Storage Freak
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Messages
- 1,209
Cell phones to obsolete dSLR's
http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNLDE63J15F20100420?rpc=44
While they may dent sales of stand alone Flip HD candy bar style HD camcorders or many of the less expensive, less capable PnS digicams; I don't see either higher end PnS or dSLR sales being impacted in a significant way by the ever improving cellphone/cam/vid models. Both will exist for a long time, imho.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNLDE63J15F20100420?rpc=44
Apparently the chief of *sales* @Nokia has gained access to Steve Jobs' reality distortion field supply of Xtra potent Kool-Aid :bstd: Either that or the translation done by Bablefish failed
While they may dent sales of stand alone Flip HD candy bar style HD camcorders or many of the less expensive, less capable PnS digicams; I don't see either higher end PnS or dSLR sales being impacted in a significant way by the ever improving cellphone/cam/vid models. Both will exist for a long time, imho.