I am going to second everything that peety3 said. 100%.
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I am going to second everything that peety3 said. 100%.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinh Nhut Nguyen
Agree. How's that sound Jordan?
Quote:
Originally Posted by peety3
35 is too close to 50mm to invest $1500 to. That is the main reason I went with a prime 85. I had a prime 35 that I love and to get a 50 didn't make much sense to me. The 16-35 is a great lens although I rarely find myself shooting at 2.8 so I think 17-40 shouldn't be ruled out. The 24-70 is oh so golden. It's another reason I don't have a 50mm prime.
Hmmm... well you know, I'm extremely inexperienced with my flashes. I barely know how to use them. I can never get the right light with them. I bought a book on how to use the flashes well, but it hasn't arrived (yeah... European customs!)
What do you mean bracketing? Like exposure bracketing where it takes multiple photos? Hmm...
Yeah I like the 24-70 f/2.8, but I feel like a new one will come out sometime soon - plus my 17-55 2.8 is basically the same thing when mounted on my 7D. Perhaps I could mount the 70-200 on the 5DMKII :)
Yeah, I do think I want to get rid of all my EF-S-like lenses (the Tokina 11-16, the EF-S 60mm Macro for sure) except for MAYBE the 17-55... but really it would be nice to be without that too. I wouldn't want to have ONLY those two lenses for weddings... because I really would like to have a landscape lens. the 16-35 or the 11-16 is great for that... but the 16-35 is better and more versatile. Perhaps that's the thing to do? Get rid of my 50D, Macro, ultra-wide angle and buy a 5DMKII with that? then save for the 16-35 later on?
A flash bracket mounts your flash higher atop your camera so as to eliminate the red-eye effect. It has nothing to do with multiple pictures.
Ahhh okay thanks. Was thinking of bracketed exposures, haha! Yeah I have a lot to learn about the flash!
; ) Jordan
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jordan
What exposure mode are you in? In P, the camera doesn't care about the ambient - it just tries to get a non-blurry picture. Full-auto is as bad or worse. Tv is tricky - ISO is set, and shutter speed is set, so it figures the aperture necessary to get the ambient correct, then figures out the flash power needed to get the flash light correct. I prefer Av - ISO is set, and aperture is set (so you know depth of field), so the camera figures out shutter speed to get the ambient correct, and figures out the flash power needed to get the flash light correct. Exposure compensation changes the ambient in Tv and Av, and flash exposure compensation changes the flash. Manual exposure mode gives you whatever ambient you've dialed in - maybe too little, maybe too much.
Keep in mind that Tv might result in an "impossible" shutter speed (the ambient isn't bright enough to get a proper exposure with the ISO you've set and the widest aperture of your lens), and Av can result in very long shutter speeds leading to camera shake blur (so you'll have to manage ISO and aperture carefully).
Also, read the Strobist blog's page on gelling your flashes - long story short, buy the Strobist gel pack from B&H or your local shop, slap a CTO gel on your flash if you're underneath incandescent, or a 1/2CTO and 1/2 +green if you're underneath fluorescent. Set your white balance to match the ambient light source, and you'll have much more accurate color during flash-lit shots.
Hmm... well about 85% of the time I shoot, I'm in Av mode. Then about 10% I'm in Tv and about 5% in Manual.
This is when I'm not using the Speedlite. When I have it attached, which is almost never, right now I just keep it in P so that it gives me the "good shots" (even then they aren't as good as they could be). I never use full-auto and never use P either except when the flash is mounted. I really want to get good with the flash but I just don't know enough about it right now :(
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jordan
"basically the same thing" doesn't do the 24-70 justice. It has magic air inside it, or something.
Pick your poison - "I want the 5D Mark II", or "I want a landscape lens". I don't think there's a middle ground here, at least without waiting, doing this the "one piece at a time" way I suggested earlier, or going with cheaper lenses now. Honestly, I have to say throughout all of this, what's so amazing about the 5D2? I've used a 5D1 before, and it's just so sluggish next to a 7D or even a 40D (50D should be similar). You'd be fine with the 24-70 and 70-200 at weddings. I've seen wedding photographers shoot a wedding with nothing more than a 24-70.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jordan
[:O] [^o)] [:#]
What's 'P' anyway?
What's probably messing you up in Av mode is one of the C.Fn's (it's C.Fn. I-7 on the 7D) - Flash Sync Speed in Av Mode. The default '0' setting is Auto, and with that setting and a wide aperture, if there's some ambient light the shutter speed will generally not be enough to freeze subject motion. If you set it to 1/250 - 1/60, it will restrict shutter speeds to that range which is sufficient to stop (people) movement in 'social' situations, and you won't get the flash-frozen moment with ambient-lit people movements superimposed. You can also force it to use 1/250 to pretty much stop all motion. With either of the non-auto settings, flash power will be adjusted to account for the aperture you select. Personally, I pretty much always apply some negative flash exposure compensation (usually -2/3 or so).