The Canon 60D

While this review of the 60D isn’t exactly “Hot off the Press“, it’s actually a pleasure of mine to bring a more realistic real world use review of this darn good camera.  Aperturent.com loaned us a 60D over a month back which was great.  In fact it was so great Tiffany and I immediately purchased one for us to use for a destination wedding.  Several shoots later and getting more and more familiar with the camera, it’s time to write  this review as someone who’s put the camera through several trials and test.

Having already covered Canon’s 18mp sensor lineup with reviews of the 7D and T2i earlier in 2009/2010 there isn’t much to say about the sensor of the 60D as much as the new ergonomics and features built into the camera.  So for those wondering about the sensor performance of the camera, it’s pretty much on par with the 7D and T2i.  I suggest you check out my reviews for some samples there, or great reviews such as this one from DPreview.com that goes into full depth about the technicalities and comparisons between cameras.

What you can expect from this review is a candid account of what I like, and don’t like about the 60d.  It’s a good camera but it’s far from perfect, and with the release of the D7000 from Nikon looked obsolete fairly quickly if you compare the two.  Yet tech specs on paper tend to quickly not matter as soon as you are in the field with the camera, so thus the concentration on more real world usage.

For some more resources on the Canon 60D, or Canon in general I highly suggest these websites/forums

Photography on the Net – Canon Camera Section
Canon 60D Flickr User Group
Canon Flickr Group – One of the best Canon groups out there

The Canon 60D – Ergonomics, changes, and the interface

A major concern on the internet when the 60D was first announced was how the body was going to be constructed from high impact plastic instead of the old magnesium alloy used in the xxD series before.  Many people feared it as a sign of  downgrading the xxD cameras from prosumer level to standard consumer, while others cried that the 60D wouldn’t be as resistant to being damaged as other cameras (though maybe those concerned should concentrate on not  throwing their cameras everywhere).  Well after using it for a month in some pretty heavy usage situations, and also currently comparing how the 60D feels against my 5D Mark II, I really don’t feel a quality difference at all. The 60D feels robust, there’s no outward creaking that annoys me, and the camera feels weighty enough compared to say a Canon T2i that it feels quite professional.  Overall it feels great in the hands with grips at the right places, and feels like it can take a good bit of abuse.

The back of the 60D looks very different compared to the 50D.  One of the main selling points is the articulated screen which will be addressed later, so first we’ll talk about the new button layout.  Where the Canon 50D engaged both the left and right hand of the photographer for navigation, the 60d is almost completely navigated with the right hand.  The only option during use for the left is the mode dial, the on/off switch, and delete during image navigation.  Even the rebel has more options on the left during image navigation and use than the 60D.  While it can be argued that this makes the camera easier to use, I find it absolutely annoying only for the fact that even after a month it’s confusing when using the camera.  I miss accessing the menu with my left hand, all my Canon camera’s were that way for a long time. In fact it feels like the camera is slower to navigate because you only really use your right thumb and now it has to travel more places to use the interface.  Something removed from the camera compared to the old xxD series is the white balance/metering mode button.  You can changed the set button to emulate either white balance/metering.  The picture styles button is also missing, which was given a second life when it came to video functionality, this was annoying.   So if  you read between the lines you can probably tell the camera’s missing some buttons I miss.

Outside of that the camera works pretty much the same as all the other Canon cameras.  The mode dial on top has a slight change, there’s a lock on it now (and option you can now purchase for $100 for your 5D Mark II, and 7D) which you need to engage to change the dial.  Its a neat feature that takes a little getting used too, but once you do it helps with storage and if the camera gets knocked about, definitely a keeper.  What’s really annoying, and my god Canon needs to fix this is let the dial rotate completely both ways.  If you are on manual and you want to go to video, you have go 11 clicks in one direction to access it, where on the wheel it’s just 4 clicks the other way.  That’s annoying.  At least put the video option up by the advance mode options.  It would of been extra nice to have a  selection dial like the 7D.  It’s a pity also that there is only one C option up top, as this feature is something that really kicks butt.

Note the removal of the old joystick control that’s been there since the Canon 20D.  In it’s place canon has placed a round 4 way controller on the wheel with a set button in the middle.  It actually has been pretty easy to use, and hasn’t been a problem for me to navigate the user interface with.  I prefer old joystick option, but that’s more a nostalgic reaction and this new location didn’t affect how the camera worked at all.  The new controller is slightly raised from the wheel so using it really isn’t an issue for those concerned about how it looks in photos.

The articulating hinge is really nice

The articulating screen is a Canon DSLR first, and I have to admit it is pretty useful.  When used in conjunction with live view, it allows some pretty cool angles while shooting macro, and even video.  The hinge system feels strong, and it’s great having another way to protect your LCD (by turning it backwards) while storing your camera.  I enjoy the 16:9 wide screen that came out with the t2i and playback on it has been a pleasure to look at and pretty accurate to what shows up on the computer.  The only drawback with the screen is that the sensor to “Flip” the screen into proper orientation seems to jump early in some place.  There’s a location where you will have the LCD in an orientation that’s usable only to have the menu screen upside down.  How much will you anyone use it in this orientation I’ve no idea, but I found myself adjusting the screen a few times during macro shooting.   (The orientation is pictured below).

Another major difference to note from the Canon 50D and the Canon 60D is the change of storage media.  The 60D uses SD storage, and is compatible with the new SDXC (Mega capacity) cards.  As a user of CF cards for years now I’ve never been too much a fan of SD cards.  They tend to be slower and also more flimsy than CF cards in my experience.  Their smaller size actually made them easier to lose.  Yet that was years ago and it seems like SD cards have made leaps and bounds when it comes to speed (though they are still way too flimsy for my taste).  What you can’t deny is the price difference between SD cards and CF cards.  8 gigs of SD of fast speed average around $25, capping at $49 if you go the luxury route where CF cards can be nearly double the price.  Availability is also a factor as SD cards can be found pretty much anywhere for cheap, where CF cards are limited to brick and mortar specialty shops (normally at a premium) or online.  So as much as it pains me to say, it looks like SD is in and it’s the future for storage on consumer level devices.  Heck almost all laptops, desktops, and even tv screens have SD readers in them now.  Amazing.

Overall the changes to the body aren’t bad.  It’s just more of a nuisance after getting used to how the old layout was.  Considering that the 40D brought the controls to the bottom from the left, this may be a small negative overall.  It would of been really nice to have a white balance/metering button, a sync port (removed on this model), and also a dedicated video button, but for the price differences it’s understandable why Canon left them out.  Here’s a quick list of likes/dislikes about the outside of the camera

Likes

• Plastic composite body feels great, better than the T2i.
• Articulating screen does actually help get new unique compositions easily
• Beautiful LCD screen is sharp and accurate
• New control joystick takes a little getting used too but it’s design very well
• Use of new cheap SD interface means less cost over time for storage
• uses the same LP battery type as the 7D and 5D Mark II

Dislikes

• WB/Spot meter button would be REALLY nice
• Right handed heavy interface, feels slower to navigate than old cameras
• Why does the mode dial wheel stop?  Video is annoying to get too.
• Articulating LCD movement sensor seems a little too fast to change
• Missing sync port and buttons make this camera feel too consumer and less prosumer

While the outside design of the Camera has changed, the user interface is still pretty much the same.  Like the Canon 7D the Canon 60d has a built in wireless flash controller (essentially a ST-E2) that will do wireless TTL, and manual triggering of Canon EX flashes.  The software interface allows you to modify this via the “Flash Control” menu option.  Owners of the 40D/Mark III cameras or after may notice they have this option, the only main difference is the 7D and 60D have the extended option of “Wireless Func.” under the Built-in Flash func. settings.  Unlike the 7D which allows you to control 3 groups with the wireless, the 60D limits wireless functionality to 2.  This really isn’t a major problem at all, the wireless system is something that’s cool to have, but really never used by many people even when the options there.  It’s not something that should be removed, by all means it’s actually very cool, but infrared reliability isn’t great and there are better options for wireless flashing available to a user that the inconvenience of IR really rears it’s ugly head. This is for the end user to determine though, and the inclusion of the wireless function does add value to the camera.

Another sales point for the camera is the ability to apply creative filters to an image, re size the image in camera, and also Raw image processing in camera.  It’s another case of “Wow that’s neat, but I’ll probably never us it more than once”, but even more so than the wireless flash option.  If one doesn’t have access to a laptop (like traveling and packing light, or just in general) this can be a fun time waster in between shooting.  Something this may be really useful for is in use with conjunction with an Eye-Fi card which is supported by the 60D.  One can edit in their camera, make creative modifications, and send the newly created image straight to wherever their Eye-Fi destination is.  Potentially useful for bloggers or photojournalist at the cutting edge of technology.

Outside of those changes the menu system and interface of the 60D is the same as most recent Canon cameras.

The Canon 60D – Real world use

Tiffany - Canon 60D with the 85 1.2L II @ 1.6

Now to using the 60D in the real world.  I’m personally not a fan of taking shots in a studio of little setups so one can compare iso levels, dynamic range, and various other aspects of the camera and lenses while looking at the same old photos.  It’s not that those test and setups are  useless, on the contrary they are great, but those test have long been done by other review.  Since trying out the 60D for a few days from Aperturent, and also picking up one afterward I’ve been able to use the camera through various scenarios.  There’s been the standard portrait shoot, the destination wedding, school work shooting, and of course general shooting.  In each one the 60D performed well.  Autofocus was accurate, the camera has a nice quick click to it, and both Tiffany and I found the camera to be responsive to everything we needed.  The 60D is pretty much what you would expect a Digital SLR to be in this generation.  Fast to turn on, fast to focus, reasonably fast fps, and no bottlenecks in the usage.  Paired with great L-Series lenses and fast memory cards (very important if you want your SLR’s to feel fast) the 60D didn’t have any use hiccups the whole time.

So lets talk about how the 60D during certain types of shooting.  Lets start with portraiture.

Dawn - Canon 60d with Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II

The 60d is great for portraits, but than again so is the Canon T2i/7D/5D Mark II and more.  I was impressed with the results with the 60d when the camera was paired with lenses ranging from the 24 1.4L all the way to the 300 4L IS.  The images were sharp, contrasty, and colorful.  This is as much the lenses one uses on the camera as the camera itself though.  I was very impressed by how the 100 2.8L IS macro and the new 70-200 2.8L IS II  performed on the camera.  This is probably from how Canon is optimizing their new lens systems to work for the higher megapixel cameras.  Compared to the T2i I like the 60D’s ability to manually enter white balance, it help make portrait sessions easier because its nice getting it right while one shoots.  In studio the 60D rocked at portraiture, and worked wonderfully to give great accurate results.

While editing some of the image files from a recent shoot, Tiffany did notice that there was noticeable noise at ISO 400 on the 60D files compared to the 5D Mark II.  I personally notice that iso 1600 on the 60D wasn’t as usuable as on the 5D Mark II, but on par with the Rebel T2i and 7D.  In this situation it maybe more us being spoiled with full frame cameras.  The 60D files did seem to have less leeway with recovery, exposure, and color than the 5D Mark II had, even at low iso shooting.  Banding, and luminance noise was quicker to show up during editing.

Overall the 60D was good for portraits, when paired with a great lens.  Anyone looking to purchase a 60D for portraits I suggest picking up a prime lens like the Canon 50 1.4, or one of the third party nice 17-50 2.8 solutions.  People with deeper pockets look at high end L series glass like the 24-70 2.8L, 70-200 2.8L IS II, 100 2.8L IS Macro, 50 1.2, or 85 1.2l II as great portrait lenses.  Look below for more samples of portraiture.

The Canon 60D for weddings

Tiffany and I had a great wedding in Cancun in November which proved a great test for the 60D.  One of the things that was really cool about the 60D was that it shared the same battery as the 5D Mark II, which is a major awesome point when it comes to packing since you don’t have to bring a bunch of battery chargers.  The light weight of the 60D also made it a pleasing camera to use during the trip, as it was easy to lug around and be at the ready.  This was particularly useful during night when the bride and groom to be challenged the island to drinking and Karaoke .

Yeah I had to put this photo in, can't have a wedding without large amounts of Alcohol

As a wedding camera the 60D performed amazingly.   Tiffany had an easy time using it during the wedding and so did I. It was perfect paired with a 5D Mark II and is even better because of its light weight and use of the same battery.  The 7D one ups the 60D only for the fact that it uses CF cards also.

Something that is of annoyance to me is the lost of the sync port.  My style of wedding photography mixes on board flash with strobes, so I normally have a pocketwizard triggered by the sync port of my camera.  This isn’t an option anymore with the 60D, and requires the purchases of a separate triggering unit.

The Canon 60D for General use

In all the advertising for it the 60D doesn’t claim to be a master of any type of photography, and this actually makes it perfect for general usage photography.  With a decent FPS rate compared to the T2i and 5D Mark II, the 60D performs well at sporting events or any events that require a decent FPS speed.   I found the 60D just right when it came to most general application photography we were going for such as macro shooting, commercial shooting, and even simply walk around shooting.

This is where to 60D gets a lot of accolades from me, the camera is pretty much a perfect fit to do everything photography wise pretty well.  The articulating LCD screen really helps get different angles, the auto focus is the old 9 point AF but it just works and works well.  This has always been something that disheartened me on the web, it seems some people are convinced that having more AF points mean the camera will get more in focus, and having less AF points automatically mean your af doesn’t work or it isn’t sharp.  The 9 point af system used since the 20d has always been fast and accurate for me, and as Canon adds more cross type af points to their mid range line the af seems to work better.  This is subjective though, but as someone who has used these cameras for general use and for critical client use they haven’t let me down.  The 60D on paper has improved upon the AF points so this seems to something Canon is addressing in their own ways.  Yet if it’s critical to have more AF point options one can spend some more and purchase the 7d which caters to that need.

Something that’s great about the 60D is it’s not really a camera that’s “Too much” and yet the camera will evolve with the photographer that has it.  The 60D comes with enough options on it that the photographer doesn’t feel like the quickly outgrow it, which unfortunately happens with the rebel line as the photographer finds some limitations as they use it.   The 60D has advance features which the photography can start using to advance their photography, yet is simple and easy to use that you can pick it up and just start shooting.  If the photographer feels they can offer professional service, the 60d would transition into a “professional” camera without missing a beat.  The camera is also designed well enough that it can cater to both professional and consumer general usage.  More of this would be talked about in the conclusion, please enjoy some general usage photos.

The Canon 60D Video

Canon’s award winning video system lives on in the 60D.  With video controls and quality comparable to the T2i and 7D there’s not much to write about.  Here’s a video done for a class taken this quarter.  All live video was done with a Canon 60D lit with a 500 watt tungsten light.

The Canon 60D – Compared to a Canon T2i – Should you buy it?

The 60D falls right into place between the Canon T2i, and 7D.  Many people interested in the Canon T2i now have to decide between either the 60D or the T2i, and some who already have the T2i maybe tempted to upgrade.  So how does the Canon 60D compare to the T2i, and is it worth difference in price?

If compared side by side the 60D immediately feels like the more robust camera compared to the T2i.  The addition of the top LCD on the 60D helps hammer that feeling in, along with the better build quality.  The articulating LCD is actually quite useful and is very helpful for new compositions and video recording.  In short the 60D physically is a lot better camera than the T2i, and appears more professional.  As silly as it may sound this can be a major influence in a person perception of you (A gripped 10D looks more professional than a Canon T2i, though its way worse quality wise).

Image quality wise the camera’s can be very similar.  In fact I would say the T2i is pretty much the same image quality as the 60D.  Even further if the photographer knows what they are doing, and nail exposure than the cameras could easily get comparable results to a full frame camera.

Personally I had a t2i for general usage the 60D wouldn’t be much of an upgrade.  The extra features are nice, but the T2i is an extremely capable camera that produces great results.  Saying that the 60D does look better.  If one is a photographer looking to do more professional photography, and they are shooting with the t2i the 60D has a chance of making the photographer look more “professional”.  Obviously this is subjective, but after years of seeing Rebels get balked about by people who aren’t even familiar with photography it’s a point worth mentioning.

For people looking to purchase either the T2i or Canon 60D, this is hard match.  At $699 roughly for a T2i the 60D is nearly 50% more in cost.  For general day to day shooters, you won’t notice much difference between the two cameras, and can easily use that extra $300 to purchase a high quality lens (which does more to make a difference in photography than cameras sometimes).  If you plan on shooting professionally the 60D is a better buy and will pay the difference fairly quick.  As mentioned its more robust and also is built to be used professionally.  I would purchase the 60D in this situation.

Should you purchase this camera as a 2nd body to a 7D or a 5d Mark II?  Quite simply yes.  The 60D is capable of getting great results, the changes aren’t game changing and it’s easy to pick up, and the camera uses the same battery which is really useful.  It’s not as versatile as a partner to the 5D Mark II in comparison to the 7d, but it still has that great extra reach because of crop, and a respectable FPS if that matters.  You also save $500 from the 7D.  Paired with the 7D the 60D still feels like it can hold its own.  The only nuisance about the 60D is the different media, but SD cards are so cheap it really is just an issue of where you hold the cards over how many you have.

Conclusion will be written soon

Sample images taken with the Canon 60D.

  

Sedona – Canon 60D with 24 1.4 @ 1.4

Flamingos - Canon 60D with Canon 70-200 2.8IS L

Tiffany - Canon 60D with 24 1.4 @ 1.4

Misty - Canon 50 1.2L

Aglae - Canon 24-70 2.8L

Lee - Canon 24-70 2.8L

Ian (The Lolz) - Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro

I wish all my boxes came with cool little icons that actually do a good job of showing what the product does.

The Nissin Di866 isn’t a particularly new product, having been announced and released well over a year ago. So when I messaged B&H Photovideo about testing the Di866 I wasn’t looking to ooh and ah people about the tech specs of the flash, or mesmerize people with what newfangle technology the Di866 possessed, but really answer two simple questions:

1) How well does it work in real use situations?

2) How does it compare to Canon’s 580 EX II.

In the last 2 weeks the Di866 has been through a gauntlet of three weddings, macro usage, portrait usage, and more and here is what I came up with.

Not familiar with the Nissin Di866? Find out more at Nissin’s Di866 Website

Check out the Nissin Di866 Flickr Group for samples of photos taken with the Nissin Di866

Apologies ahead of time. The Nissin Di866 was stored in my bag for wedding use and have gotten a little dusty, and also my cat is shedding a wee bit. So pictures posted may not be 100% commercial clean. Hey a product that looks used looks more loved right?

The Nissin Di866 out of the box :

There’s no use going over all the features of the flash (check the link above if you would like to read up on that), but it’s always nice discussing how something new feels in our hand. Once you open the well design box, and take the Di866 out it looks like a pretty good flash. It’s well designed and doesn’t look too old like say a 550ex or a Sigma EF530DG, and compares well in design to the SB-900 or the 580ex II. Unfortunately the feel of the housing doesn’t match well to the composite materials of the 580 EX II, and it feels a little flimsier/lighter/cheaper to the touch.

Compares in size to the 580 (old 430 there for reference). You can see from the image the plastic is molded differently (smoother) and from touch it feels less durable

Something I was disheartened to see is the old screw style mounting mechanism for the hot shoe, while this isn’t a deal breaker of any sort I’ve been spoiled by the sliding switch mechanisms of the 580ex II, and even the SB-900. Almost to the point that I forgot which direction tightens and loosens on the old screw heads like this one.

Ah the old hotshoe screw mount. Met with a big giant resounding meh.

A feature that Nissin pitches is the use of a battery cartridge (Vivitar 285 users should be familiar with this) that doesn’t require you to match positive/negative terminals because all the batteries are suppose to face the same direction. How this really helps eluded me, as the cartridge itself looked more cumbersome and annoying that a door flap that lets you drop batteries and put some in. It’s really a moot point though, I never had to change the batteries in the field during use, and it was easy enough to replace the batteries to recharge them in the luxury of home.

It felt like I was loading a six shooter each time I had to replace the battery.

A feature of the flash I was really excited about was the sub flash up front. Since I shoot a lot of weddings with the stock bounce card (Nope, no Gary Fong or anything like that) it was exciting to see the possible results from the sub flash up front. The review will further cover it later, but my initial response and final response was a resounding “That’s a neat trick”, so take that as you may.

Lastly the screen and interface itself. Now here is something I wish Canon would jump on. The LCD in the back is cool. I wish the Nissin Di866 screen would refresh faster (it reminds me of viewing jpgs on a 286 computer in 1993, but a little faster) but outside of that the interface is way too cool. The menu is simple to navigate, and it makes sense. There’s really not much too it, and you really don’t need instructions to just jump in and use it.

Unlike the 580 EX II the Nissin flash head doesn’t require an unlock button press to tilt/pivot/rotate its head. While this may be an issue of you held the flash sideways and had a heavier modifier on it, it really didn’t affect me any during field use. Pretty much during the whole time using it the Di866 was as quick to alter and configure as the 580EX II in the field.
Overall the Di866 is a pretty good flash. The build quality and lack of a new type shoe are areas that could be improved, along with the refresh of the lcd, but outside of that the flash feels nice and seems well built. Compared to the 580 EX II you don’t immediately get any feelings that it lacks much unless you are looking for things like weather tightness (the 580EX II looks better protected)

The conclusion of the review will say a little more about how the Di866 compares to the 580EX II, now it’s time for real world reviews.

The review will talk about the Nissin Di866 for Portraiture, for Macro shooting, and lastly some heavy testing on the wedding front. I’m still actually shooting some test shots with it so those following components will be up soon.

The Nissin Di866 for Portraiture

Here are a few samples portraits taken with the Nissin Di866:

Lighting - Norman ML600R camera left with Gridbox, Nissin Di866 Camera right as kicker running 1/2 power. Test was to see how quick it refreshed (which it did admirably, no issues during the 160 shots we took that night).

Lighting - Norman ML600R camera left with Gridbox, Nissin Di866 Camera right as kicker running 1/2 power. Test was to see how quick it refreshed (which it did admirably, no issues during the 160 shots we took that night).

Lighting - Nissin Di866 with 20 degree grid on camera right at 1/4 power with CP-e4 battery pack. Nikon SB-24 on camera left with a 10 degree grid. This test was to see how it performed with a CP-e4 battery pack outside on wireless. Once again it didn't miss a beat.

 

Lighting - Nissin Di866 with 20 degree grid on camera right at 1/4 power with CP-e4 battery pack. Nikon SB-24 on camera left with a 10 degree grid. This test was to see how it performed with a CP-e4 battery pack outside on wireless. Once again it didn't miss a beat.

The Nissin Di866 for Macro Close Ups

The fun of being a photographer is you randomly end up with parts that you think you may use one day. In this case I have a lot of random videographer mounts that allow you to put the hotshoe on the side of the camera. Long story short I jury rigged one of those mounts and created a contraption to attach the Nissin Di866 too. On the Nissin itself I carved a soft-box out of some black matte board so that that it was position just to the left side of my Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro. Shooting at 1/8th power, it was time to go explore the world at f11~16, iso 100~200, with the Nissin Di866.

There really isn’t anything special to say about the Nissin here. Paired with a off camera cord it flashed perfectly every time, and worked like a charm. I never really had to change the flash power, so there was no worries about control handling, but if one had too the settings are as simple as pressing left and right on the multi-controller.

Here are some samples pretty much straight out of camera (minus some cropping).

Some type of flower - Canon 5D mark II with 100 2.8L IS Macro

Some type of bug on some type of plant - Canon 5D Mark II with 100 2.8L IS Macro

Seeds – Canon 5D Mark II with 100 2.8L IS Macro

Elly looks up - Canon 5D Mark II with 100 2.8L IS Macro

 

The flash put out clear, consistent light. The zoom head is a little loud and can potentially scare some insects or things sensitive to sound. This was important because if the flash goes to stand bye, it seems to reset the zoom factor to zero. I can’t say this with 100% accuracy but I do remember hearing it zoom a bit.

The Nissin Di866 for heavy duty shooting, a.k.a. Weddings

Having a lot of wow features on paper is one thing, but a true test to any photography device is use in heavy shooting, fast pace, stressful environments. Weddings are well in the top 3 of the most equipment trying situations a professional photographer can place themselves into every year. Your flash head is firing hundreds, or possible over a thousand shots in less than 8 hours. You are constantly jerking the flash head in various different positions. The motor from your flash head is zooming in and out constantly, and lastly the hot shoe is constantly being hit while you suspend the camera around you. Most flashes survive the first day, but you can imagine after 30~40 weddings in a year the effects start showing.

Obviously I couldn’t put the Nissin Di866 through 30~40 weddings. What I did do though is put it through 4 weddings. This gave me enough feel for the flash to test results from flash, ease of use, any possible issues, and come up with a commercial conclusion about the flash.

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Thank you and credits :

Thanks to Aglae and Reagen Michelle for Modeling – and to Tiffany Bayona and Ian Smith for assisting at said shoots
Thanks to Jamie Howell for allowing me to 2nd shoot at three weddings and test out the Nissin Di866
Thanks to B&H Photovideo for loaning me the Di866.

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Shot on a Canon 5D Mark II with an 70-200 2.8L IS (ver 1)

I love portrait photography. There’s something about working with another person, having a great dialog with them, and taking memorable photographs that make me a happy camper. I tend to be extremely modest about my work, but can confidently say that portraiture is a strong point in the repertoire.

So it’s with great enthusiasm to write this blog about tips and techniques to getting a better portrait. Straight and simple. This blog post will be updated pretty much most of this week, and probably will be very long by the end of it. There’s just that much to write, and in general just be excited about.

Portraiture can be intimidating. It takes a while to be comfortable with one work, to develop a style, and consistently deliver a strong photograph. Now take into the equation that there is a face on the other end of the camera, a photographer may begin to worry about their subjects expectations also. I have seen this plenty of time, and watched 20 years experienced landscape photographers crumble with worry when a person ask for simple portraits.

So what gets you over this hump? The answer is simple, and universal. Know your tools.

The most immediate tool in a photographers possession is his camera. Camera in it’s simplest form here. A device that records the image as seen and composed by the photographer. One does not need a $10,000 camera to take a great portrait, and if one doesn’t know how to use said $10,000 camera their image appears just that much more worst. What’s most important though is to ask if that camera is able to consistently produce the same results one wants. Does the camera have the manual control and latitude of change that allows the photographer to precisely dial in camera settings to achieve sought after results? More importantly does the photographer understand what settings do what to achieve the look and feel they want?

I won’t go through every nuance of Camera settings here, just what I believe are most important for portraits. A consistently good portrait photographer will be very familiar with aperture, focal length, white balance, exposure, depth of field, and focusing.

Note : Some of these are really basic level stuff, please feel free to skip any of this and scroll down if you are more interested in my personal techniques. Also if you are interested in further details concerning a certain subject, please feel free to email me.

Aperture

A low aperture now only gives photographers that wonderful shallow depth of field (blurry background), but also allows the photographer the luxury of shooting in normally difficult situations (street lights at 11:00pm in this example) Image shot with a Canon 5D and a Canon 50 1.4

A portrait photographer should be familiar with aperture because it’s one of the main factors that create the magic of a great portrait. Remember that the main focus of a portrait is the person(s) being shown. Aperture is one of several key ingredients to help isolate your subject from their surroundings. Have a lens that has a faster aperture also allows a photographer to photograph in situations where there is less light, this creates more opportunity for the photographer to get his photo. Lastly there’s a general rule that if you stop down 2~3 stops from the fully open aperture of your lens you will get the sharpest and best results of that lens. For example if you have a lens that starts at an aperture of 2.8, if you go down two stops to F5.6 you will get the optimum results from your lens. This is one of the reasons that it is suggested one purchases the fastest lens they can, so that if a photographer does stop down for optimum results he still can get a low aperture to maximize depth of field. Suggestions for portrait lenses will be listed below.

Focal Length

A focal length of 85mm shot at f2.0 helps minimize any exaggerations of the subjects features, along with supply a pleasant blur of the background creating a sense of scenery yet helps the background avoid dominating the viewers attention.

Shot on a Canon 5D Mark II with an 85 1.2L II

Focal length is a major factor in the outcome of a portrait. Immediately I’m going to mention a general rule about portraiture. The typical focal lengths that deliver a strong portrait start at about 80mm (50mm on a crop DSLR) and up to about 200mm (140mm on a crop). The reason why those numbers are thrown out is due to perspective distortion and compression. If a photographer tries to shoot a portrait up close with a wide angle lens (24mm in this example) proportions tend to be exaggerated outwards. Noses look bigger, foreheads get wider, and limbs start looking like the person is related to Gumby. On the other end of the equation working with distances of 300mm or more, a photographer doesn’t have any issues with perspective distortion, he just loses any ability to communicate to his subject on a personal level as he is standing almost 30 feet or more away. At a focal length of 80mm to 200mm, the subjects features begin to pleasantly compress and look more appealing. Because the subjects features are compressing don’t confuse that with losing dimensionality, as this is created more by lighting which will be covered later.

Along with perspective, focal length is also another factor in depth of field. A longer focal length creates more separation from the subject and his foreground and background. It’s so strong that using a long focal length lens with a fast aperture can almost render the background obsolete into a mass of abstract color, something that can make a portrait pop!

With the knowledge above, note that you can take a strong portrait with a wide lens and super long lens. Just like life, it’s easier to break rules if you know what they are and why they exist. Also most importantly if you are ever caught in a situation where you have to revert to your most basic of photography instincts, it’s great to know a general area to begin in. Sometimes you never know what someone may ask you to shoot, and being mentally prepared is awesome. I’ll repeat this mantra later, but wanted to introduce it early.

In my own experience I tend to use a focal range of 24~50mm for full body portraits, and zoom from 85~200mm for anything that is stomach/chest/shoulder up. I have found 35mm (particularly the 35 1.4L) a great focal range to get stunning full body portraits with, as shown with this example.

It avoids too much distortion but allows a pleasantly large point of view. If I get close to the subject though there is exaggerated distortion so I tend to avoid human subjects closer than 3 feet to the lens.

White Balance

Light has a temperature measured in Kelvin. The temperature doesn’t correspond to how physically hot (boiling water, etc) the light is but instead to the color quality of the light.
I can continue on a long little diddy about white balance, but here’s an article at Cambridge in Color that explains it.

Here’s the trick I wanted to tell people though. Humans have a lot of red/yellow (warm tones) in our skin tone. It makes us look more alive and natural (even in pale people). That’s why there’s the nice gold side of a reflector. It gives warmth to a person. So in practice you can add a little warmth to an image by increasing your white balance by a couple of hundred kelvins up.

So lets say you are shooting someone with a studio strobe rated at 5500 degrees Kelvin. Try setting your white balance manually (if you can, some cameras only offer preset white balance) to about 5800 to add some warmth to the skin tone. This is a great quick thing that can make your images glow as soon as you see them on the LCD. Yes you can do this in post easily, but what if your subject wants to see an image, showing them one that looks great off the bat can really help.

Depth of Field

Depth of Field (DOF) is what I consider the KEY factor in a successful portrait. The majority purpose of a Portrait is to isolate your subject, and draw attention to that subject. Yes they maybe placed in a background, but for all intents and purposes the background is just a suggestion and a small part of the whole image. With that in mind, DOF allows us photographers to control how much of the background and foreground is shown, and up close even if parts of your subject are hidden!

Along with other aspects like composition, and technique, a shallow depth of field is a main stay in my personal style of portrait shooting. I like to give a suggestion of a location, but not the fine details of it. I see it like normal life where our surroundings are actually a blur to us, because of our pace for one reason, but also because we are used to our location it becomes second nature. I commonly remind people that while we walk in the woods we don’t have time to concentrate on every branch and we easily start blurring our surroundings and getting lost in the idea of the forest. And that many of the best looking photos of woods have a single focal point, or a shallow depth of field. I use this same idea to control point of view in portraiture.

Depth of field is the child of three variables in camera control; Lens Aperture, subject distance from lens, and focal length of lens.
One does not need a fast aperture lens (Keyword : Expensive!) to achieve a high level of depth of field control. Most lenses will fall down to f22-32 for a very deep depth of field, but specialized (prime) or expensive lens tend to be the ones that offer a shallower depth of field at a given focal length that most people prefer for portraits. Yet because subject distance and focal length is also a factor, one can actually get a pretty nice blurred background with a cheap $200 70-300 lens, compared to a wide angle 24mm lens that cost $900.

to be continued soon

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Help support me and this blog by purchasing your photography products at B&H photo video.

What I want to be candid about though is yes I have the potential to be compensated by B&H. And I wanted to tell people that you may see links directly to B&H now during my reviews or discussions concerning equipment. Like most people on the web I love photography as a passion, and as a full time student now it’s been more difficult to get newer equipment in comparison to before. So B&H not only supplies me a chance to earn money towards new equipment but even a loaner program that I can use in the future. So it’s pretty exciting.

I’m hoping that this would be an opportunity to make this blog self sufficient along with supplying more reviews for new equipment, and also photography technique. Photography is a huge passion, and honestly guys the feedback I’ve gotten has been amazing and very supportive. Thank you!

Even if you visit this site you are contributing, so thank you and looking forward to writing more.

I’m currently in discussions with B&H to try out a very popular new lens, fingers crossed that it goes through and I can get the reviews up for people.

Have some stuff to buy from B&H and just want a generic referral link? Here you go

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**Update** I was given an erroneous link that is now corrected. Thanks all who have purchased via my referral link

Also donations are always accepted

Buy local also!

Along with purchasing online, I highly suggest supporting your local camera stores. These guys like us need to eat, and making friends with the people at your local store can save you a huge headache later. I make a lot of local purchases from Showcase in Atlanta. Once again being candid, showcase sometimes can be difficult to work with….but really if you get to know Ron, Bob, Kelly, Danny, you’ll find they are really great people willing to bend backwards for you. Find a store, buy a book, buy something small, or buy a camera (they are all the same price no matter where you get them when they are new) and support both your local and online economy.

Canon T2i Body Only – B&H Photovideo
Canon T2i with 18-55 3.5~5.6 EF-S Kit Lens – B&H Photovideo
B&H Photovideo (General Referral Link)

The new Canon T2I, fresh out of from the store this morning

(No use flooding this blog post with a bunch of crazy photos – see more photos along with commentary on them at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/trentchau/sets/72157623389534149/)

When the T2i was rumored a short while ago I was pretty meh about it (All my Canon rumors come from www.canonrumors.com). As the day progressed though, more concrete information came out, and when it was announced that full 1080p manual video was available I just had to have the camera. Quickly putting the spare T1i up on market, I’ve been salivating at the idea of the T2i coming in.

Read more of the tech specs, changes, and information regarding the T2i (550D) at Dpreview.com.

This morning,Showcase in Atlanta got my camera (I buy most all my camera bodies from them, to support local market/ hey camera bodies all cost the same no matter where you get them) and of course I was there within the hour to pick it up. It’s always pretty exciting to have new equipment in your hand.

On the 1 hour road trip back home it dawns on me, why not do a whole blog/video/picture post reviewing the t2i. Setup a couple of shoots, do a couple of shoots for school, and also do a video test and comparison to a 5D Mark II. Thus this was born.

Soon this page will be updated with my experiences with the T2i, along with samples of photographs and videos taken with it. The camera will be ran through a gamut of situations including a whole spectrum of Canon professional lenses along with comparison to my Canon 5D mark II. Note that I said comparison, and not competing. You’re obviously going to get a lot more for the price difference between the two.

Oh before I go to far, I want to thank the following 2 groups for helping me with any topics that may be placed up here. I’ve sent out request to them concerning any issues or curiosities they have about the T2i. If you haven’t had the chance to see or join these two groups, I highly implore you too, they are absolutely wonderful.

Flickr Canon DSLR Group – http://www.flickr.com/groups/canondslr/discuss/72157623389604359/

Photography on the Net – http://photography-on-the.net/forum/

Ergonomics

There’s not much to say other than the T2i feels like a easier to grip rebel T1i. The buttons are bigger for easier access, the screen is bigger which is nice. There’s a nice ridge on the back right now that makes holding that area with your thumb easier. Oh live view has exposure lock now, and pressing the AF button down a little is autofocus.

I was asked if there was live view in the auto modes now, and there is. The AF during live-view is still clunky but does seem to respond a little faster. Overall the ergonomics were impressive. As someone who uses a gripped camera pretty much all the time, the t2i was easy to carry and not uncomfortable the whole day today.

Video is still that funky SLR video feel that started with the 5D Mark II. Instead of set, the video record button is a little higher which is either bad or good depending on the individual. With less weight the camera seemed a little more susceptible to shake compared to the 5D Mark II. Overall, it’s so so out of the box, but once you put it in a custom bracket the camera should be great ergonomics wise.

Basic Shooting and comparison to the 5D Mark II

After a short 30 minutes the battery was fully charged and it was time to break it in. I decided to do a simple comparison test. I mounted the T2i with a Canon 50 1.2L, and my 5D Mark II with a 85 1.2L II. This would allow roughly the same composition from both cameras without me moving from my spot. I called Kayleigh up for some last second modeling, and much to my happiness she obliged.

Here are some following samples of Studio and Available light photos Taken of Kayleigh, and also the 5d Mark II comparison shot.

Click the t2i link above for more – click the image for full size.

Comparison Images between a t2i and 5d Mark II.

Images shot with the same settings (ISO, AP, Picture Style, Shutter). Processed in Lightroom to add watermark. JPG files used (Raw not currently available for Lightroom)

Canon t2i with 50 1.2L

Canon 5d Mark II with 85 1.2L II

 

Canon T2i

Canon 5D Mark II

 

Update : I realize the Auto Lighting Optimizer was on for the Rebel, and this could of been an issue with the jpgs placed up. Michael was quick to say that the Rebel photos were a little flat, and I agree with him. I can’t convert the raws right now in Lightroom, but will try in Canon’s software later tonight to see if the results differ.

Here’s a cute little video of Kayleigh after the shoot, shot with a T2i – Kayleigh! How cute a hello (Video)

T2i and figure work

After Kayleigh left, I did a quick test shoot with a figure model in Athens named Clara. To keep this thread PG, I am just posting a link to the set. It will have photos from both the T2i and 5D Mark II in it.

Figure work with the Canon T2i (with some comparison 5D Mark II files)

Macro Video Snippet

Here’s a little snippet of a video shot with the 100 2.8L IS and full manual on the camera. Yeah the focus was a little off, my bad

Sesame Oil, Water, Trance Music…oh yeah

Day 2

The day started a little late, and somethings aren’t going to go as planned shooting wise, but all negatives aside it’s a beautiful day here in Georgia. I realized some mistakes were made yesterday starting with Auto Lighting Optimizer being turned on in the T2i. Since I couldn’t process raw files from the camera yet without going through steps I didn’t want too, I placed up images that were not a consistent comparison between both cameras. This morning the new version of Canon’s Digital Photo Professional was installed so I can process the raw files, along with turning off ATO in the camera itself. Since portraits may not be done today, I’m going to concentrate more on video and macro today with the camera, and also high iso shooting.

Strolling around Athens

No doubt the Canon T2i will be used by mainly people first foraging into digital SLR photography. I wanted to emulate the feel of walking around a popular location and taking photographs using mostly automated features. Fellow photographer Michael and I walked around Downtown Athens, GA on an absolutely stunning day today, and I shot several shots with the T2i. The camera worked like a charm, and the ergonomics behind it made complete sense to me. It wasn’t difficult navigating for any buttons and was very easy to change anything I needed to fit the given scene. Using a mixture of the 16-35 2.8L, 24-70 2.8L, and 70-200 2.8L IS I was very happy with the results from the T2i. Definitely will be a camera that allows both new and old DSLR users to get great results, and from an extremely low weight package.

Click on the image to see photos from my stroll around Athens

 

High Iso

I did a test on High Iso tonight for photography, and the T2i surprisingly isn’t too bad for a 18 megapixel camera. I personally dislike shooting high ISO, but you never know when you need to just get the shot and high ISO is the solution.

Here is a link to a single scene shot from iso 100 to 12800. No award winning Pulitzer type image, but you’ll get the idea. Iso 3200 isn’t that bad looking.

Canon T2i Iso Test

Interested in seeing the Raw files? Go here – Trentchau.com | Canon T2i Raw files and download any raw file from 3200 to 12800.

Here’s an image shot at ISO 3200 long exposure. Not perfectly clean, but pretty usable don’t you think?

Canon T2i at ISO 3200 / 24Second /F22 / Iso 100

Along with high iso photography, I also shot some high iso video. It’s pretty noisy honestly at iso 6400, but really if you are going to just shrink it and put it on the web it’s really good.

Check out this video at iso 6400, not to bad. If it was going to an Iphone or something, it would pretty much look perfect.

Athens Downtown at ISO 6400 – Video

Canon XSi compared with Canon T2i

I wanted to compare the image quality of the 12mp XSi to the 18mp T2i shot in a controlled and reproducible environment. Using Michaels XSi, we setup a quick studio setup with 2 backgrond lights, and a Norman ML600r as our key, and a reflector as our bounce. Both cameras were set to ISO 100, 1/200, F11 using a Canon 85 1.2L II. My studio neighbor Leah (who also makes a mad hot chocolate at the Expresso Royale Company) volunteered most awesomely to sit in and be the victim of our rather boring and quick test.

Here are the pictures, you decide. Personally I think the AF may have missed slightly on the XSi. It looks like it’s a little soft. Weird that at the same exact exposure the backgrounds are off color.

Canon T2i Sample Image

Canon XSi Sample Image

 

Day 3

Yet another late starting day. Spent most of the night editing and watching Braveheart (one of the best movies ever) and lo and behold it was 3am before I knew it.

Well today is the last day of this fun weekend with the T2i, and I’m pretty much looking forward to filling out all the gaps. Not much is planned today. Here’s the list of items I will be covering. Please email me at trent@trentchau.com for any last second request, as I’ll be out in the field without access to any forum updates for request.

• Macro shooting (photo and video) – I want to get some pretty neat macro photos and videos today
• Landscape photos – Some beautiful photos of the awesome Athens landscapes surrounding 316
• Birds in flight – I don’t know how well I’ll hit this one, since BIF(just learned this acronym) is not my forte, but if worst comes to worst I will buy a rotisserie chicken and toss it in a field to get the shot.
• Off Camera flash outside – I started this yesterday but couldn’t get to far before other stuff came up. Planning to walk around athens with possibly a person and shooting off camera flash with them. The light weight package of the T2i makes it an ideal camera long with the D70, Ep-1, and GF1 to take along as a tiny rocket.
• Stunning conclusion – All great storie…blog post should have a stunning ending! I’ll write up about my experiences with the T2i and how it may save your life.

As said before, it’s off the to races! Thank you so much everyone who has commented and contributed to the blog.

Landscapes

Rushing out the house at 2:45, I went to the outskirts of Athens to take some landscape photos. There wasn’t much time to take photos because of having to meet a new possible person to shoot with at about 3:30, I just ended up taking about 3 to 4 landscape shots with multiple exposures.

Concerning HDR. One of the new pitching points about the T2i is that you can select up to 5 stops up and 5 stops down now on the EV scale. Bad part is…if you do AEB, you’re limited to 2 stops up and 2 down for 3 images. Come on Canon, how about some more shots in a bracket now. Otherwise the camera worked really well. All images were shot with a Canon 16-35 2.8 at F16, Iso 100.

Verdict for landscape photography is that the camera is pretty good. At iso 100 you get lots of detail and crop room at 18 megapixels. With a 10-22 EF-S you can easily hit wide, while there are plenty of options for telephoto based landscape imagery. The camera produced great sharpness, and good values in colors out of the box. Post production only made it better.

Post production for black and white

Canon T2i Landscape - No sharpness post, color post done

 

Bird in Flight

A member of the Canon DSLR flickr group was very interested in the performance of the T2i on Ai Servo paired with the 70-200 2.8L IS taking pictures of Birds in flight. Well I gave it a try….and failed. After about 15 minutes of standing out in the cold I did come to the conclusion that it’s not the cameras AF system (which by the way is pretty snappy on AI Servo) that was fail…it was me. Massive respect to you guys who do this. This is totally not my thing. Of course there is examples of my 1 success, and of course failure.

among all the bird photos I have ever taken (which can be counted on 1 hand) I deem this a success

Yeah this is mostly what I got. In the future I'll say this piece is an abstract from my impressionist days.

 

Macro Photography

It’s pretty safe to assume that the T2i is going to be good for macro photography. Pretty much all cameras should be. You’re taking the most well designed, sharpest lens of the whole system and taking a photo with it. If the macro photo isn’t great, it’s probably not the camera but the photographer. Still though it’s always fun seeing a new camera do something that we are all used to seeing, as to confirm that it isn’t a red headed step child waiting to ruin your precious photos.

My macro setup was simple. Took a thin mint cookies (god bless the Girl scouts), topped it with whip cream, placed a strawberry on it, and than sprinkled it with sugar. I setup the 2 580ex II’s as my source of light, with one on a softbox and the other shooting through a glass underneath the subject. While this isn’t MICRO photography at it’s tiniest, it’s still great than 1:1 and does count as Macro/Micro.

Here are some macro photos

Hard to make a thin mint better, but I tried

Now with water!

 

I attempted another macro video – and kinda ended up with fail.

You be the judge – Strawberry Plop

I just booked a test shoot for tomorrow night though, so I’m going to extend this by a day and hopefully get some off camera flash style photographs and then call it quits. Conclusion will probably be placed up tonight after the macros I’ll just shoe horn in that last piece somehow.

Conclusion – Part 1

And so starts the end of my weekend with the T2i. It’s pretty darn hard trying to photograph so many different types of photography and make it at least passable. It was an absolutely awesome weekend both in just fooling with the camera, and also this absolutely amazing weather we’ve had all weekend. I hope that everyone was at least amused by this write up, and hopefully even learned something.

So how did the camera do?

I liked it! It gives you an incredibly huge amount of bang for the buck. The 18 megapixel sensor is just as good as the 7D’s in my opinion, and I’m saying this as a former owner of a 7D. Iso 100 files were clean, sharp, and great off camera. Post production only made them better. If you held a print from this camera, a 7d, a 5D Mark II at ISO 100 I doubt any client can really tell what camera it came from. The inclusion of full manual video was a massive surprise to me, and from the samples I’ve seen running on my computer the videos are off incredibly excellent quality. I’ll write up a little about video in just a little bit.

So here’s what I like about the Camera.

• Bang for the buck – Canon gives it’s users a lot for a little here. At only $799 for the body, you get a sensor that matches the quality of the 7D for most of the iso range, and at low iso matches the quality of the 5D Mark II.
• Incredibly powerful movie mode – Canon went all out here. With full manual movie mode at 1080p @30fps and 24fps, Canon has shown they are absolutely serious about movie mode on an SLR. Using 5 different lenses in movie mode brought me back to why it was amazing on the 5D Mark II. I see the T2i now as a 5D Mark II movie wise with a built in teleconverter. Very nice! Also huge thank you for the microphone slot Canon. Very nice inclusion there
• New LCD - The wide screen LCD didn’t require getting any used too, and immediately looked great. Like the t1i it seems a little warm to me on the screen, but outside of that fact it was sharp and pretty much accurate.
• Great ISO 100~3200 Performance - Mind you lots of cameras now are sporting high iso, but remember it was only 2 generations ago that ISO 1600 was the hard cap for the rebel series. Now pushing ISO 12800, with ISO 6400 usable in video, that’s a pretty big improvement for an introductory camera. I’m personally not a fan of high iso, but if you shot a killer must get shot at iso 3200 with this camera…its easily cleanable, fixable, and usuable to the extent of a big print. Just don’t shoot 3200 all day long, use the high iso’s with caution
• Great battery life - One recharge for the whole weekend (and it was only 20 minutes on the charger). I dumped at least 32 gigs of data using 1 8 gig card, and at the end of Sunday it showed half a bar left. This is with video, lots of live view, and a multitude of energy draining lenses like the 70-200 2.8IS L, and the 85 1.2L. Good battery life thumbs up from me.
• Ergonomics and Buttons – What I like about Canon and Nikon is each generation their layout and buttons do become better and easier to use. The T2i follows that pedigree and has larger buttons and a structure that makes sense.

With every good also comes bad, here are things I didn’t like about the T2i.

• AEB - Entry level cameras are an opportune time to promote experimentation with things like HDR. Canon still hasn’t implemented taking three frames in AEB yet, and you can only go up or down two stops when you do. I rarely use AEB, but this has been a consistent issue for a while, when competitors have already moved forward with options.
• Plug in battery charger - Seems like a small thing, but with all of our bags already pretty packed it was kinda annoying seeing that we have another extra item to worry about losing. Why didn’t Canon just make a flip out charger just boggles my mind. Oh well, hopefully this will be resolved soon. Talking about batteries…
• New battery system – Companies can so easily say they are improving the performance of their batteries that they have to change it, but it really feels like they are just doing this so you have to buy their extremely expensive batteries. When I sold the t1i it had 4 batteries and a grip that cost me less than $100….now I’m stuck with 1 battery for the t2i, and probably a bill of $60 just to get another one. This is pretty much a consistent complaint whenever a new battery system is out. Can wait to see how much the grip is also.
• Sync Port – The rebel series has never had a sync port, and Canon has no reason too now, but with the highly popular movement of Strobist (there I finally said it) and off camera lighting, it would be nice to see a redundancy option for us. This is wishful thinking though.

Right now those are my general good and bads about the camera. I’m really happy with how Canon placed it. The fine options that the 7D has like the AF system, and the commander unit for flash I think are reasonable things they left out of the Rebel to make the products differentiate. I’ve been asked by about 5 people about what they should purchase between all these cameras. The good news is they are all capable so you aren’t really losing too much when you buy one or the other. Here’s the kicker though guys. This whole test this weekend was pretty much done one really nice Canon glass. That should tell you something. If you can afford to get a T2i, and 2 L series lenses, or 1 7D with a kit lens….I assure you that your work and photography would love a lot better with the t2i. Invest in the glass if you can, bodies have a shorter life span and technology in camera bodies trickle down fast.

Movie Mode

This is where I think the T2i really shines. I can say without a doubt that the T2i will be a game changer because of the inclusion of manual movie mode. The fact that Canon included this in their entry level camera both shocked and surprised me. Guys, the T2i does some amazing video…and here’s why it’s going to be a game changer. It brings broadcast level 1080P video to the masses for a really cheap price. Yes there are flip devices, and also Iphone, but now we have a fully controllable way of taking video. I wrote on Flickr about the idea of indy photojournalist taking pretty much a t2i, 24 gigs of sd cards, a 50 1.4, a 18-300 lens, a cheap rode mic, a tripod, and for less than $1600 you can produce an incredible piece of video with it. With proper technique and also other videography skills, you can easily produce something that rivals what major studios put out. Oh an no insult to professional videographers, because they will be the ones picking up this camera like hot cakes. Videographers are not only smart, but they are extremely inventive people and I bet we will see them embracing video on the T2i like they did the 5D Mark II.

Everything about video on the t2i outside of it’s quality screams value, and it’s going to be a major influence on the industry. What I mean by that is in comparison to prices of CF cards, SD cards are super cheap. The EF-S mount on the Rebel lets videographers use pretty cheap lenses like the 18-55IS, 55-250IS, Sigma 30 1.4, and various other lenses and save money compared to what L series users have to spend. Yes the 7D can also, but that’s still $900 more than a T2i. So you could get 2 T2i’s, and the same amount of lenses for the price of 1 7d. 2 T2i’s would be perfect for any indy video house.

I’m pretty subjective here guys, do you agree with me?

Thanks everyone for reading this blog. I am extending it for one more day. The proper thanks you, acknowledgment, and finally end conclusion will be put up tomorrow. Til then guys, have a great night.

Here are the final two points I’m going to hit

• Fisheye Lens – At first I was going to dismiss this, because you really lose that fish eye feel on a crop camera. But I completely forgot how close you can focus with one of these babies, so that’s going to be covered tomorrow.
• Environmental photographs with off camera lighting – the totally long way to say “Strobist” but that’s the general idea. With how light the rebel series is, it’s a great camera to take along with other gear and walk around town. Hopefully I’ll walk around tomorrow night with a new model and try this out.

Day 4

So one last extra day talking about the T2i. Today I met with a new possible model for my Athens area classes by the name of Mary. I told her about testing out the T2i, and using a fisheye and outside strobist style shooting today and she was complete game for it. We also did a little French/Italian inspired black and white photo session to cap of the day. Here’s a few more samples guys, and then the last part of my conclusion about this great little camera.

Strobist (and a little fisheye action)

As a strobist style camera, the T2i really shines. It’s portable, light, and gives absolutely wonderful results. I’m a fan of Canon and Nikon for this because also there’s a huge amount of great lenses that can be used for a relatively good price for strobist style photography, along with very capable ettl and manual flash heads. I took the easy way out today and just brough the T2i today, mounted a 16-35 2.8L and a 15mm Fisheye, took a long ETTL cord and attached it to my 580ex II with a softbox. Put the Camera on AV mode, set the exposure down 2 stops, put the Flash exposure up 2, and shot away. Of course High Speed Sync was turned on just in case I broke the 1/250 sync barrier (which I did) but all and all the results came out great. I’m sure with the 18-55 IS kit lens with it’s four stops of power, and a SB-24 one could easily make the T2i (or pretty much any camera) a great little strobist camera. TTL is even better if you want to break the rolling shutter black out issue.

Concerning the Fisheye…the affect really isn’t as pronounced, but an 4 inch focus sure is nice. I’m sure there’s ways to use this is in the future.

Nonetheless here’s some sample images

Mary on the Curb

Naked boys and girls - fisheye time

A typical Athens street scene

 

Picture Style : Black and White

So here’s my last topic. Right before Mary and I went outside to shoot, we did a quick studio session. Nothing fancy, just one light, 1 reflector, and black and white in the picture style settings. These photos are shot as black and white using the Picture Style Monochrome setting on the camera. A little French/Italian fashion flair going, but nothing to crazy.

Some sample images (click on the link way above to see more)

Black and white with the T2i

 

Black and White 2 with the T2i

 

Conclusion (Part 2)

And so guys, this is my official conclusion about the T2i. What can I say? It’s a great camera. It’s definitely a Rebel. Has the same plastic feel, has the really light weight, and small size that has been the standard for over half a decade now. But the quality of the photographs that come out of the camera as always is top notch. It’s funny you hear people complain about generations of xxD series cameras, like how the 40D wasn’t great, the 50D was so so…but you never really hear people complaining about the Rebel series. Canon does always seem to put a lot of bang for the buck in these little guys, and really it shows with the T2i.
The only time I was disappointed in the camera was when I did something wrong picture wise. Otherwise it worked like a charm and kept on cranking along.

Personally I’m really happy to show everyone a massive amount of different type of photographic style done with the camera, because we all know the Rebel will end up doing the most diverse amount of photography among all the cameras. It matched well with the lenses (albeit some lenses are very front heavy on this camera). So without sounding like a broken record, please check above for the meat and potatoes about how I feel about this camera. From here I want to say thank you’s.

Thanks to the following

• People who have contributed by sending in request to me, you helped out a bunch
• Atlanta photography Guild – Even though only Julie actually talked in the post, there’s a good bit of traffic from you guys the last 4 days.
• Canon DSLR Flickr Group – Probably the biggest contributer outside of Photography on the Net. Thanks a bunch guys
• Photography on the Net – outside of The-digital-picture.com, this is easily one of the best resources on the web concerning Canon products. Thumbs up guys.
• Canon 550D Flickr Group – The rugrat of the groups. Lots of traffic from here, so thanks guys.
• My talent! – Kayleigh, Mary, Clara, Leah, anyone and everyone thank you so much for giving the time to be in this little project.
• You guys – Lots of great side emails, comments to this post, and just general awesomeness from the web made this a great little project to write.

Well guys, this ends the blog. Now to let the T2i rest a little. It’s earn it’s badge of “A great buy”. If this is the first massive blog post you’ve read from me, hopefully you’ll come again soon. I’m constantly trying out new bodies and lenses (whatever I can get, or afford) and writing a little about it. Maybe one day Canon will send me stuff to review

Please anyone feel free to send me any comments, critiques, corrections for this post.

Thanks all!

Two thumbs up from me!

 

Seemingly it has light rings out of the box

Along with the Canon 7D, Canon also released a bevy of lenses. The stand out lens among the batch was the new 100 2.8L IS Macro lens. The first lens to use Canon’s hybrid IS system (read more about that here) the 100 2.8L IS Macro promises 4 stops of stabilization as a normal lens, and up to 2 stops of stabilization as a 1:1 macro lens. Well enough about the marketing press material, lets get into the meat of it. This review will cover what you want to know. Is the lens good, does the IS work, and very importantly is it better and worth more than the incredible 100 2.8 Macro US? So without further ado.

Water drops on a green leaf | Canon 7D with 100 2.8L Macro IS (Shutter 1/320 | Iso 400)

The Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro

Physical Build :
When you first impression one gets from the Canon 100 2.8L IS macro is how surprisingly light it is. The lens is said to weight 623 grams, but when you pick it up it feels pretty much light as a feather. The build quality of the lens compares to other L lenses, which means it’s pretty much “Built well, feels nice, and very solid”. The lens hood fits very snugly on the lens, and is quite sturdy in itself. As expected the focus ring is well dampened and a joy to use, with full time manual focus being super easy on both the 5D Mark II and 7D with their large viewfinders. Like most of the new Canon lenses, all of the switches on the 100 2.8 IS are recessed so you don’t accidentally hit them during use. With the amount of fine focusing you will do with this lens, this is a blessing as you are more likely to hit any switches during that time. The lens also has a 3 part focus limiter on it, ranging for .3m~.5m, .5 to infinity, and full range. This really helps the versatility of the lens and will be discussed later. The lens unfortunately does not come with a tripod collar, though the spot for one is there. This tripod collar is A LOT better than the one located on the 100 2.8 Macro. The $150 to buy the tripod collar is not fun though.

Canon seems to be going a new direction with their lens design, and I like it! The 100 2.8L IS macro, 15-85 IS EF-S, new tilt shifts, and other lenses all look awesome and match well with the slight body style changes of Canon’s new SLRS. Definitely a thumbs up from me.

Verdict : 90% out of 100%.

tlanta Botanical Garden | Canon 7D with 100 2.8L Macro IS (Shutter 1/200 | Iso 400)

A

Real world Use:
As with most Canon L series lenses, the Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro delivers right out of the box. The auto focus is snappy in macro mode, and fairly quick when going from macro to normal focus. As mentioned above, you can set your limiter switch and make the focus work even faster in your favor. During real world use the Autofocus was extremely accurate, and upon reviewing the focus on a large lcd found the af hit exactly where I wanted too on my subject. While using MF to get your exact focus is what I recommend it’s very nice having fast focusing on a macro lens. From recollection, the focus speed of the 100 2.8L IS Macro is comparable or better than the 100 2.8 Macro. Fine tune focusing via the focus ring is a pleasure, and paired with live view on the newer Canon SLR’s makes Macro photography almost too easy.

Atlanta Botanical Garden with the 100 2.8L IS MacroAtlanta Botanical Garden - Canon 7D with 100 2.8L IS Macro (shutter speed 1/320 | iso 800)

 

Immediately upon receiving the lens 3 weeks ago, I brought the lens and 7d to the Atlanta Botanical garden. As soon as you take a photo with it the quality of the lens is apparent. Color and contrast was splendid (using a normal mode on the camera) and the bokeh is buttery and smooth. I wouldn’t say it’s much different than the 100 2.8 Macro (non IS), but it easily matched anything I got out of the older macro.

The IS system in the lens is what separates this lens from the old macro. 2 stops of 1:1 macro stabilization means you can hand hold roughly 1/25~1/40 shots and still achieve good sharpness. This is great news for wedding photographers who don’t have the time to fix a lighting solution for their detail shots but also work in sub par lighting conditions. In practice Canon’s claim of 2 stops in macro is pretty much accurate. I shot several macro’s at 1/40th~1/60th fully handheld without any support save my hands, and the photos were sharp to my liking.

Frog | Canon 7D with 100 2.8L Macro IS (Shutter 1/50 | Iso 800)

Atlanta Botanical Garden with the 100 2.8L IS MacroOdometer | Canon 7D with 100 2.8L Macro IS (Shutter 1/30 | Iso 1600)

 

Along with its macro ability, the Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro on paper is a perfect range for portraits and head shots. When Canon announced this lens I was salivating at the idea of not only a great new macro lens, but a lens that would be more portable and versatile than my 85 1.2L II. There is absolutely no doubt to how incredible the 85 1.2L II is for headshots, but it really is a one trick pony in the lens world and at a price point of $1800 quite a frightening to carry around just for casual photos. The 100 2.8 Macro (old) proved a great substitute (albiet 3 1/2 stops slower than the 85) for headshots, but I was longing the build quality performance of an L series lens, and the inclusion of Image Stabilization. The 100 2.8L IS Macro delivers on all counts. At 100mm the range has been great for portraits. The 2.8 speed is fast and while the huge aperature of the 85 1.2 does create some special blur that can’t be matched, the 100 2.8L IS Macro with it’s close focusing creates some stunning dof blur also. The IS system helps wonderfully also, and will be key to many special lighting effect shots in the future for many a portrait photographer.

Something I really enjoy about the 100 2.8L IS Macro as a portrait lens is how close you can get someone, mostly if they have a fascinating part of them you just want to capture (beautiful eyes, a pretty tattoo…etc.). Remember also that using the limiter switch also can make this lens a very fast portrait lens with image stabilization. Having used my 70-200 2.8 IS as a portrait lens before, the canon 100 2.8L IS Macro is easily up there in portrait quality in comparison. It does not match the 85 1.2L II in portrait quality (it’s not far off though), but for it’s versatilty and extreme portability the 100 2.8L IS Macro is excellent.

Lee | Canon 5D Mk II with 100 2.8L Macro IS (Shutter 1/250 | Iso 800 | F2.8)

Katie | Canon 5D Mk II with 100 2.8L Macro IS (Shutter 1/100 | Iso 800 | F5)

One has to been extremely nitpicky to find a negative when it comes to the performance of the 100 2.8L IS Macro. Even the lab MTF charts show that the lens quality matches some of the best Canon has ever released. The real world performance showed floored me with how excellent it was, and any photos that didn’t appeal to me was mostly my fault as the photographer. CA, Distortion, and so on was pretty much not seen or an issue in the 3 weeks of using it.

Verdict: 93% out of 100%

Value :
At $1049 the 100 2.8L IS Macro is actually quite a value for an L series lens. It’s more expensive than the value L series lenses (17-40, 70-200 f4 (non is and is), 135 f2) but also a lot cheaper than the high end primes and zooms glasses which start at $1200 and sky rocket in price. Many people on various photography forums were pleasantly surprised at the announced price of the lens, as the new L series tilt shifts that came out right before this lens were each over $1800. The street estimate was well into the $1200~$1400 for this lens, so it was quite nice seeing the $1049.

The strike that the 100 2.8L IS Macro has against it though is that it comes in the shadows of the high quality Canon 100 2.8 Macro USM. Priced at roughly $600 new ($450ish used) the Canon 100 2.8 Macro USM performs admirably at 60% of the price of the new L series lens. So does the included lens hood, IS system, and L series branding make the 100 2.8L IS Macro worth the price? Too me, yes. To others, probably not as much.

For someone looking to buy their first Macro lens, $1049 is a giant investment and they could buy the 100 2.8 USM with a Canon MR-14EX flash for pretty much the same cost, and get similar if not better results. Optically the 100 2.8L Macro IS does show some improvements over the standard USM macro, but not too much to justify a massive increase price. This can be applied to someone who currently has the 100 2.8 Macro USM and looking to upgrade to the new L. Will you have an improvement? Yes. But if you are doing your macros with a tripod, macro rail, shutter cable…you won’t really see much improvement from the upgrade. If you hand held your macro shots, you will see a vast improvement in your macro photos.

So why am I happy with it? Well the lens truely is versatile. Before I had the 100 2.8 USM macro, I had a 100 sigma macro that was great optically but dreadfully slow in auto focus. It really wasn’t that great of a portrait lens in practical use, though the pictures came out pretty nice. Next was the Canon 100 2.8 USM. The AF was faster, the quality was great, but it never felt right as a replacement lens for my 85 1.2L II when it came to portraits. I really just thought “Macro” when I saw it in my bag. Obviously this is just a mindset thing though, and probably now the 100 2.8 Macro USM would be a great portrait lens. The new Canon feels just right, and I’m happy to have it. With the new IS system hand held macro is a reality and absolutely fun. There were photos taken in locations that weren’t accessible to a tripod, and seeing the resulting photo was a joy because of the IS system. The portraits taken with already not only look great, but they are also great enough that clients would buy it. Within a few days of owning it the lens already paid for its difference in price. That makes this lens a great value to me, but this isn’t the case for everyone.

Verdict : 80% out of 100% (when you have such a great lens in the old 100 2.8 USM macro at only 60% of it’s price, it’s hard giving the new L anything higher than an 8 )

Conclusion
A great addition to the EF line, the Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro will deliver some of the best photos we will see for quite a while. The new IS system works as well as Canon claims, and 2 stops of 1:1 macro stabilization can mean getting a shot that didn’t come out correctly before. Paired with the better high iso performance, high megapixel count, great live view, and accurate autofocusing of new Canon camera bodies the 100 2.8L IS Macro delivers stunning results straight out of camera. Canon claims some pretty nice MTF readings, and from real world use those readings look to be accurate. The build quality lives up to the L designation, but the lens is also surprisingly very light and easy to work with, which can’t be said for some of the older and bulkier L series lenses (24-70 2.8L, 70-200
2.8IS, 85 1.2L II).

The Lens was a joy to use on both the new Canon 7D, and the Canon 5D mark II. For some assignments I even shot the lens on a Elan 7N with some Tri-X to stunning results.

If there was anything that doesn’t shine as bright it would be the value of the lens. Standing out on it’s own the 100 2.8L IS Macro is a great value for what it delivers. It’s an awesome macro lens, it has a great IS system, good build quality, and it’s priced between the standard 100 macro and the 180 3.5L Macro from Canon. Yet it cannot escape the shadow of the 100 2.8 USM macro which is priced so much less. One would have to justify the price difference themselves, but no matter what you choose between the two you will not be disappointed.

Final Verdict : 95%

Pros:

• Excellent performance. Sharp like all macros should be.
• Very well built. Smart design cues make it easy to work with, and also fool proof
• Stabilization system works as advertised and very well.
• Included lens hood helps optimize quality even more, and saves money (the 100 2.8 USm hood is $40)
• Fast Autofocus with limiter, with well dampened auto focus right for Full time manual focus
• Versatile focal length, great for macros that wont disturb bugs and animals, and also great portraits
• Location for tripod collar support is an upgrade from the old 100 2.8 Macro
• Lightweight for great portability and hand hold ability

Cons:

• Value in comparison to the 100 2.8 USM, it’s great but is it worth $400 more?
• Does not include tripod collar ($150 more to get that)
• 67mm filter thread is different from the old macro, and not common with other L series lenses

Comparing the Canon 5D Mark II to the Canon 7D – Initial Impressions

The New Canon 7D | Click for bigger image

I will admit this from the get go. I am a huge 5D Series fan. When the first one came out October 2005 I was one of the first to get one in Atlanta. When the Mark II was announced I ended up buying 2 and getting a spare battery within one month of it coming out (anyone who tried getting one around then knows what a feat that was). None the less, when it comes to the 5d series I’m a little biased. The reason this was brought up was because no matter the glaring faults, and there was plenty, that the 5D series had…the photos that came out of it was worth every penny. When the 7D was announced it wasn’t but a few minutes until post were up that said things like “The 7D just made my 5D Mark II obsolete” and “Why does Canon hate 5D users? They could of put these features in our camera also”, so thus why this impression is being written. I’ve used the 7D for a week now and feel it’s been an adequate amount of time to offer comparisons of the 5D Mark II to the 7D.

Image Quality –

Lee in Black and White - Canon 7D with 35 1.4L

Most everyone was surprised to hear a mixture of two things in the press announcement from Canon concerning the 7D. 18 mega-pixels, and a cropped sensor. The internet community had long ago decided that Higher Megapixel = more noise, and immediately the forums were abuzz about how Canon’s 7D image quality would immediately be sub-par. After using the Camera for a week I was very surprised by the image quality of the files. The images looked very nice! I ran the 7D through a gamut of Canon lenses (35 1.4L, 50 1.2L, 85 1.2L II, 16-35 2.8L, 70-200 2.8IS L, 100 2.8L IS Macro) and the resulting pictures were sharp, full of contrast, and had very nice saturation. On a stroll through the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with the 100 2.8L IS Macro attached it was a blast taking photos and seeing how crisp they look. Getting home it was even better to see the photos on the big screen, they where just as vibrant and detailed as on the back of the LCD. The 7D didn’t disappoint image quality wise. Now mind you I was running ISO 100-800, and this isn’t the high iso field that everyone seems to be pushing now. I am not a high iso shooter. Honestly I feel high ISO is more a cop out now for people who want to get the “Natural shot”….natural shot is more defined as “I don’t know how to use flash to get the photos I want” or even worse “I’m taking artistic snapshots of people and calling it NATURAL lighting (aka the Photo journalistic Wedding Photographers)”. Yes high ISO is useful, but if you are shooting high ISO all the time, than you should probably invest into a set of really nice prime lenses.

While the 7D was great image quality wise, when I threw those same lenses on the 5D Mark II, the pictures just had that much more umph to it. It might be my mind artificially justifying the price and sensor size difference between the two, but I think the main factor behind the image quality was the cleaner files you got out of the 5D Mark II because of its smoother pixels as a result of the DOF created by a full frame sensor. Since DOF is determined by aperture and focal distance, to get the same crop on the 7D compromised some of the image quality that the 5D was able to attain.

Canon 7D with 100 2.8L IS Macro | Click for larger

Verdict – 7D files are very nice, mostly for 18mp on a crop sensor, but 5D still has the upper hand. The 5D files seem smoother. This is subjective though, and the 7D was able to surprise me with some very nice low iso stuff. The quick High iso test I did with both showed the 5D Mark II with an upper hand.

Canon 7D with 100 2.8L IS Macro | Click to make large

Functionality –

The location of the new On/Off button is pretty convenient

The 7D encompasses some changes from the traditional design of the EOS bodies. Anyone familiar to the EOS line

will quickly noticed that the on/off switch has now been moved, and is similar to Rebel line albeit located to the left of the hot shoe instead of the right. Something not as glaring is the inclusion of a very nice indention for one to rest their right thumb on when holding the camera. It gives the camera a sense of robustness, and makes it quite pleasant to hold. I believe it was similar to the Mark III, but unfortunately I had sold mine almost 10 months ago and can’t attest to this 100%. The button functionality is similar to the 5D Mark II, while more streamlined. The inclusion of a switch to either live view or video recording is very nice. Unfortunately, not fault of Canon’s in this case, the set key by default does not start or stop video recording like it did on the 5D Mark II and I’ve already stumbled across that problem several times while recording with the camera.

Small things matter. The indention for the thumbs makes holding the camera very comfortable.

Verdict : If you’ve used the EOS line for a while, the 7D just made everything better and a bit more streamlined. Your Nikon friends will still complain about it not suiting them, things like that don’t’ change, but any long time EOS users will more than likely embrace the direction that Canon is going with the layout. Oh, the M-FN button is a little odd at first, but only because it’s new. It’s VERY useful. With the small changes that Canon has made with the inclusion of more buttons and streamlining the controls, the 7D is currently the most intuitive and friendly to use non Mark Series camera Canon makes. My only wish would be Canon changing from that Amber light to the awesome Blue light on the Mark and Elan 7n series for LCD Panel illumination.

Performance –

The 7D has some pretty bold figures. 8FPS, 14 bit pipeline, fast AF. It really looks to be a winner for sports shooters. From my 1 week impression of it, it just might be one of the next best thing since sliced bread for sports shooters. That’s the thing though. I AM NOT A SPORTS SHOOTER. The fastest thing I shoot is my almost 2 year old little one, and while she’s as fast as a missile sometimes, I’m not as much concentrating on taking a photo of her rather than trying to put cloths on her and make her decent. From what I’ve experience…the 7D is very fast. Even the shutter noise is fast. Where the 5D has a deliberate clunk of the mirror, the 7D sounds like a little snip. I tried out all the new focus modes, and they all seemed to work briskly and accurately. The camera worked well at night paired with a 35 1.4L. The spot AF is very neat and precise, and the focus groups were pretty neat.

Hello, is there cupcakes here? | Canon 7D with 35 1.4L

 

Everything about the camera felt fast, and I actually preferred using it over my 5D Mark II to capture photos of my daughter. The 7D felt just as fast as my Mark III from when I used it.

Verdict : Fast AF, Fast Performance, just in general fast…the 7D is nice. While I would still use the 5D Mark II for most of my professional and studio work, the 7D does have many great advantages. The snappy interface and feel of the 7D makes it a joy to use as a quick and easy camera that delivers excellent image quality.

7D Extras worth commenting on

The new AF System -

The New AF System menu - lots of options for precision autofocusing

Now this was cool. I’ve owned plenty of Canon SLR’s in the past, ranging from the rebel line all the way up to the Mark series. Pretty much all of them were pick up, fuss about, and start shooting. The 7D was the first camera I picked up since getting my first Digital SLR that had so many options it almost required to read the manual. Even from the get go the AF system seems just different. When you press the upper right hand button to engage AF point selection the feel is immediately different from any other camera Canon makes. You than use the new M-FN button to cycle through various focusing types. Talk about intimidating at first. When you spend some time with it, it’s actually pretty intuitive. Something neat about the new AF system is the ability to expand or contract your AF selection points “Area”. You can select an AF point, you can select an AF point and those around it, or you can even contract your af point so it’s more focused (within limits) to what’s inside the square. The amount of precision is pretty neat. Practical application wise I didn’t notice much difference but isn’t that what AF is about….it’s there to work so you don’t fuss about it.

Flash Commander Mode -
Ah Nikonians and their CLS. Such a great idea on paper, and in practical application the system starts failing because of line of site. Guess what? Canon has that now too! I tried the new Flash commander system and wow it’s cool, wow it’s fun, but wow it can be limited. It’s really awesome and actually works really well. You have all the functions of a st-e2 or 580ex commander unit with an interface to your back lcd. You can set up ratios, and groups, and all that good stuff. The only issue is that there is still the line of sight issue, and the joys of using it outdoor. I didn’t get to test this out as much as possible, but as someone who’s been using radio triggers for years now, maybe I’m a little spoiled. There is absolutely no doubt on how cool this feature is, and when I used the commander mode inside with two 580ex II’s, it worked 100% of the time. Talk about time saving for PJ, Corp, and Editorial shooters.

‘

Chris with commander mode on the 7D. 580EX II with umbrella camera left. Outside and worked well actually.

 

Diffraction Test

At 18 megapixels, the Canon 7D is packing a lot of pixels in a little real estate. Because of it’s denser pixel ratio the Canon 7D not only brought concerns about noise (as mentioned above) but diffraction in lenses when you stop down. If you are interested in reading the fine details about this subject please check this informative post that Howard Grill wrote – Diffraction in Digital Imaging. To keep it simple. When you are shooting with a lens, there’s a sweet spot that follows a bell curve when it comes to aperature. At your widest aperature, say f2.8 on a Canon 24-70 2.8L, you will have a usable picture, but it won’t be at it’s sharpest. As you stop down your lens about 2~3 stops (f8ish) you will hit the sweet spot of optimum sharpness, contrast, and all that boojangle that makes we photographers happy. Now after that in the F11,F16, F22 and more land…that’s where the bell curve falls and the image quality isn’t 100%. Well with the higher megapixel, theoretically that fall should be a lot worse.

My point of view…meh. 99% of where I will send my pictures (Clients, Web, Print) it doesn’t make a lick of difference. Yes there is a visible issue, but if it was that important to me more than likely the shot would of been done at f11.

But here’s a couple sample photos for you to really pixel peep over. Here are 5 paired images shot with a tripod. One shot at f11 immediately followed by a shot at f22. AV mode was just to automatically judge exposure. Center focus was selected.

(note : This test isn’t 100% successful. I should of locked it on MF after each shoot which didn’t happen. Also the subject moves since it was windy and outside. Lastly these are jpg’s out of camera (as I’m too lazy to process RAW for you guys right now) so there is some sharpness added to the files. Realizing this, any diffraction should even be more pronounced with post processing sharpness.)

All shots done at ISO 100 with a Canon 24-70 2.8L

Canon 7D at F11

Canon 7D at F22

Canon 7D at F11

Canon 7D at F22

Video mode -

The addition of Video to Digital SLR’s is old news now, and it’s pretty obvious it’s here to stay. From day one I have always loved the idea of video on our camera’s and Canon users have been blessed with the best execution of the video on Digital SLR’s as of now. The 7D’s video function works just as well as the 5D Mark II. From the sample video files I have shot, it has that same creamy beautiful feel that the 5D Mark II has. I tried the AF while the movie was recording, and while it wasn’t the fastest in the world it did work. Any serious videographer would probably forgo AF though and do Manual focusing during video recording. 1080p @ 24fps did have a nice cinema feel to it, and I didn’t experience much rolling shutter. 720p @ 60fps was very smooth…pretty awesome. Unlike the 5D Mark II, the onboard mic for the 7D is mono. There is an input for stereo audio in on the side. The on board mic with the AGC of the 5D Mark II and the 7D isn’t that bad though, so it kinda sucks having only mono on board.

The 7D will really change the photo journalistic world in my opinion.

Which camera over which

Here’s a popular question. “Which camera should I buy, the 7D or the 5D Mark II?”

Well the easiest answer is “Buy whatever you want”….but for those looking for a little buyer insight here you go.

If you are buying your first SLR…….ask yourself this question “Do you deserve it?”. If you don’t know what aperature and iso is, maybe buy a entry level camera for $600, a couple of good lessons and wait a year. A powerful camera doesn’t make you a better photographer. If you had to have one…I suggest picking up the 7D and a nice lens. The cheaper cost will let you pick up a good lens and a flash.

What if I’m upgrading from an Original 5D? – The 5D was such an amazing camera, and to this day it takes some of the best photos ever taken on Digital. If you are used to the slow medium format feel and work flow of the 5D, and that’s your MO with shooting I highly suggest the 5D Mark II over the 7D. The 5D Mark II is everything the 5D was but newer and snappier. Going back to a crop sensor, even with files as nice as they are from the 7d, is a very bitter pill to swallow. If you are looking for more FPS and don’t really see the need for the DOF benefits of full frame, the 7D is a great alternative.

What if I’m upgrading from a 40d or 50D? – ah now this is a hard choice. The natural progression would be the 7D. Analyze your shooting style though. If you are shooting mostly portraits, landscapes, slower paced items…the image quality benefits of the 5D Mark II will be a great addition to your photography. If you find yourself shooting high FPS, enjoying the crop factor of your lens, and are genuinely satisfied with the image quality coming from your crop body….stick with the 7D. The 7D is fast, it’s built great, and most importantly for the price of a 5D Mark II you can buy a 7D and have $1000 to spend on a lens. This is a great time to get a couple of primes like the 35 1.4L which is floating around $1000 as of this review. A 7D with a 35 1.4 is just plain awesome.

If I already shoot with a 5D Mark II, would a 7D be a good backup? – 100% yes. Mostly if you want the ability to cover the most possibilities with your equipment. The 7D isn’t the opposition to the 5D Mark II, it’s the compliment to the 5D Mark II. Where the 5D Mark II is a slow, methodical camera that produces amazing image quality, the 7d is it’s spunky little brother that works twice as fast and while the images aren’t exactly the same quality as it’s bigger brother, those images still look pretty damn good.

Here’s a list of Pros for each camera :

Canon 7D :

• 1080p @ 24fps video.
• $1000 less than the 5D Mark II.
• New AF system allows more precision
• 19 AF Points!
• 8FPS shooting means better chance of getting your shot during movement
• “Snappier” response. Feels fast.
• New buttons help ergonomics quite a bit
• 18 megapixel and 21 megapixel is pretty much the same.

Canon 5D Mark II

• Full frame! – Wide lenses are wide, and noise control is better. DOF is better on full frame because of DOF formula. (this is huge)
• ISO 50! in a world of high ISO, low iso is nice also. ISO 50 is 1 whole stop faster than iso 100, and this has helped a bunch when shooting with primes.
• Still one of the cheaper (MSRP wise) newer full frame cameras that can do Video.
• Video mode is absolutely beautiful
• High ISO noise performance better than 7D.

will elaborate more on this soon.

Sample images taken with the 7D

Geese on a river - Canon 7D with 35 1.4L

The APG Crew - Canon 7D with 16-35 2.8L (Ver 1)

Water Droplets - Canon 7D with 100 2.8L IS Macro

 

Despite the cliche saying “It’s not the camera (gear) that matters, it’s the photographer (brains/creativity)”, to me the answer is a surprising….maybe.

A camera like any other tool is driven by the capable hands that hold and use it.  There is absolutely no doubt how much the photographer’s inner creativity and technique drives the final outcome of their camera.  Yet when any skilled craftsman/artist picks up a tool, they can visualize their results with that tool.  An artist does not pick up a paintbrush and immediately see a marble sculpture, nor does a construction worker pick up a hammer and see plywood cut into perfect pieces.  There is a tool specifically for the job it entails.

In photography, those “Tools” show up immediately in three things.  Camera Bodies, Flashes, and Lenses.

We are going to talk a lot more about lenses.  Camera bodies are always updating, but in reality they tend to be just one flat surface that gathers a bunch of light, with a bunch of doohicky buttons on it that creates some magical electricity whirlpool that captures your photos.  Some cameras are faster, some cameras have bigger surfaces…but all cameras do the exact same thing, Capture light.  So the saying “It’s not the camera, it’s the photographer” is pretty much a dead ringer when it comes to Cameras.

Flashes.  They just put out light.  Once again, some put out more light, some put out less.   The whole concept of the flash is to put out light…so not much variable there.  The real variable is lenses.  This is why most people buy an SLR camera anyways, for the ability to change lenses when they need too.

Lenses have so many different purposes.  They offer otherworldly point of views, and also the ability to focus to the most minute of levels.  They allow the camera to pretty much see in the dark.  They can alter the perspective by changing the wavelength of light so that it hits the sensor of the camera differently at the flick of the wrist.  There is plenty of variable in lenses, so much that a photographer should be aware of how a lens can influence their end photographic results for the better.  Do you know why a prime is touted, what a 1:1 macro means, and why a 200mm is better at portraits than a 18mm traditionally?  Those are but a few questions that are related to lenses and why they are so important to what we do.

So to go back to the topic question.  “How much photography equipment do you need to be a great photographer?”.  The answer is a simple “As much as you want”.

One doesn’t have to own the lens, but just be aware of what the lens does.  Renting lenses online now is highly popular, and I highly suggest it to anyone who is interested in trying something new.  I’ve met many talented photographers, but the most talented photographers I have met knew exactly what a lens did.  They didn’t need it all the time, and many times they have given up on certain lenses for their cliche or boring results, but they knew from first hand experience what a lens did.

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This short blog was written in response to some inquiries made by individuals looking for their second SLR based purchase.  While there’s no obvious direct answer in this blog post, the goal was to more open the eyes and mind to anyone interested in furthering their SLR equipment purchasing decisions.

Personally I have had the pleasure of meeting amazing photographers who own only 2 lenses, and I have also met outstanding photographers who own 10.  In all circumstances those photographers who were consistently good knew technically how their lenses worked for them.