The DSLR Thread

[it_inspector]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

No No we will not do that. This topic has been discussed and to death all over the www with no clear census

I concur.

in my case, i stay from VS threads since i use all nikon/canon/sony with my heart gone to pentax but sadly no more pentax gear.


@SPARKled
@Torqueguru

Yes next logical step for D300 is D700 but when you see the chance to get 5D for almost half the price and on top a G adapter to use all your nikon G lenses, it isn`t a huge deal to go for 5D instead of D700. There is a D700x in works but still no confirmation.

I am not sure about INDIA but here in Australia, its not uncommon to see people jumping ships, i have seen and dealt with landscape photographers jumping from 5D mk2 to D700 and selling all of canon lenses to get nikon lenses. Selling lenses is easy enough. And with recent bank collapses, there are more bodies/lenses in the market and since nikon/canon/pentax jacked up the prices, even older pro lenses are selling for more than what they sold for originally. For example i had sb400 bought at $95, nikon jacked prices in feb09 and i sold it for $170.

About video capabilities, yes its awesome to get DOF with 35mm lenses but there are downfalls like Rolling shutters, Jelly effect with IS and plethora or issues, biggest issue being harder to change focus and very little manual controls (5D excels here) and not to mention external mic (solved in Pentax K7).

Videos in DSLR`s will be useful in next 12-24 months but that means more updated DSLR bodies with very little added benefits and real progress. Do you see the point i am trying to make???

Also for DOf and other benefits of 35mm lenses, DOF adapters are easy enough to make and can be had for as little as $100 and paired with $400 camera which when paired with any brand 50mm lens blows all of the videos made by DSLR`s.

[Torqueguru]

@ITinspector

I still do not understand why would anyone who wants to shoot landscape jump form a 5D mark 2 to a D700! If someone wants to shoot wildlife, street, wedding or sport does it, it makes sense. Whether in Australia, India or the US.

The downsides of DSLR video limits it to certain areas of videography, mainly short clips for montages. And yes technology will improve. my point was, professionals do use it and its only going to be used by more and more. And i do get what you are trying to say as well. you got to make the best of whats in store right?

Quoted - "Also for DOf and other benefits of 35mm lenses, DOF adapters are easy enough to make and can be had for as little as $100 and paired with $400 camera which when paired with any brand 50mm lens blows all of the videos made by DSLR`s."

Well, the quality of glass makes one hell of a difference in chromatic aberration and sharpness. And exposure control is much better in DSLRs. I am talking of higher end models, like 5D mk2 and D3s..

Could you please post a link to a mindblowing video(in terms of quality and not content, since any camera can give u awesome videos in the right hands) made by a 100$ DOF adapter? I am just curious to know, since I found them quite crappy, it could be my ignorance.

Regards,
TG.
_______

[it_inspector]

Originally Posted by Torqueguru

@ITinspector

I still do not understand why would anyone who wants to shoot landscape jump form a 5D mark 2 to a D700! If someone wants to shoot wildlife, street, wedding or sport does it, it makes sense. Whether in Australia, India or the US.

I really cannot comment from personal experience, all i can put forward is what i see pro`s doing at the moment. Personally i really don`t care for the market itself since Canon/Nikon hardly make any money of 1D series or Dx series in nikon`s case. All the money is made off consumer-prosumers rather than pros. And all the R&D(used to) goes in pro series while the features trickle down into prosumer category.

Originally Posted by Torqueguru

The downsides of DSLR video limits it to certain areas of videography, mainly short clips for montages. And yes technology will improve. my point was, professionals do use it and its only going to be used by more and more. And i do get what you are trying to say as well. you got to make the best of whats in store right?

Correct, as an extra feature/gimmick added to the DSLR its fantastic, where things go astray is when there is decent amount of money thrown at R&D which is good but purists who now have to pay $100 more for a DSLR who`s advantave is having better video mode than new imaging technology, get seriously annoyed and angry. Like i said above, all the R&D used to go into Pro series while features trickled down into prosumer category slowly. Now manufacturers are spending R&D money into prosumer categories too, which means slower progression for Pro series, means purists are going to be pissed off more.

Throw in the likes of Leica S2 and its becoming a dangerous turf.

Originally Posted by Torqueguru

Well, the quality of glass makes one hell of a difference in chromatic aberration and sharpness. And exposure control is much better in DSLRs. I am talking of higher end models, like 5D mk2 and D3s..

Could you please post a link to a mindblowing video(in terms of quality and not content, since any camera can give u awesome videos in the right hands) made by a 100$ DOF adapter? I am just curious to know, since I found them quite crappy, it could be my ignorance.

Yes glass does make quite a bit of difference, hence the reason why RED/SI/etc users use Nikon/Canon/Zeiss glass meant for DSLR`s.

Similarily if you want to use a 35mm DOF adapter, don`t get Letus or similar since all have different optics added to the adapter. Just get a set of extension tubes and cheapest uv filters off dealextreme. remove filters from the rings and use the rings as spacers. Throw in Canon focusing screen and you loose less than 1/2 stop of light.

Something like Canon HV10 or Sony SR12 are real great to use with these. Only issue, video is upside down but can be corredted in post processing easy enough.

And you said the right thing, its all about the photographer than the gear. Like i said before, i don`t shoot video, so i don`t have any samples to post.

I hope i explained my point without too much fog.

These topics are getting way too controversial and fanboi-ism is shining, lets choose a different topic.

Cheers

[Sha]

Originally Posted by it_inspector

Then why not buy here in Melbourne. I can let you know where and whom to buy it from. Since its nearly christmas time, prices have started to go down a bit but it makes haggling a bit harder.

Whats the current price going on in Australia for D7, whatever prices i have seen in the website is too much compare to indian rate.

[it_inspector]

Originally Posted by Sha

Whats the current price going on in Australia for D7, whatever prices i have seen in the website is too much compare to indian rate.

To be honest, i am not sure, but you can check out Vanbar and DCW, those 2 usually have decent prices.

Cheers

[navin]

Originally Posted by it_inspector

But have you looked into Canon G series, Micro 4-Thirds, Leica D-lux series, Ricoh G-R series. Whole point of these are to provide portability and are made DSLR sensors.

Canon G series (my son uses my old G2), Micro 4 thirds are really big compared to the S90. Ricoh is jsut no as available and Leica is way too expensive.

The S90 has a reasonably fast lens (F2.0 @ 28mm) & a 4x zoom only the Panny LX3/Leica DLUX4 compare to this. The Ricoh GRIII and Leica X1/M9 have no zoom and are either unavailable or very expensive that leaves the Sigma DP1.

Originally Posted by it_inspector

Nikon - Expensive, but more focussed on professionals with less prosumer features. NPS still requires at a minimum of 3 pro bodies and plethora of lenses.
Canon - Less expensive but more focussed on prosumer features but still enough for professionals.

many Nikon lenses and Canon lenses are now quite well matched in price/performance.

Originally Posted by it_inspector

Something like Canon HV10 or Sony SR12 are real great to use with these. Only issue, video is upside down but can be corredted in post processing easy enough.

My wife uses a Canon HF10 which is similar to the HV10. What is this upside down thing you are talking about.

[it_inspector]

Originally Posted by navin

Canon G series (my son uses my old G2), Micro 4 thirds are really big compared to the S90. Ricoh is jsut no as available and Leica is way too expensive.

The S90 has a reasonably fast lens (F2.0 @ 28mm) & a 4x zoom only the Panny LX3/Leica DLUX4 compare to this. The Ricoh GRIII and Leica X1/M9 have no zoom and are either unavailable or very expensive that leaves the Sigma DP1.

I was offering these as an alternative to big bulky DSLR, since your requirement was noise free images.

Originally Posted by navin

many Nikon lenses and Canon lenses are now quite well matched in price/performance.

Still awaiting for a canon alternative for Nikon 14-24mm G f2.8 (in performance terms) and still awaiting a f4 lineup from nikon to rival canon 70-200mm f4. There are quite big gaps which are not going to get filled anytime soon.

Originally Posted by navin

My wife uses a Canon HF10 which is similar to the HV10. What is this upside down thing you are talking about.

Its called DOF adapter.

Cheers

[Torqueguru]

@ITinspector
I see no fanboyism here at all! And absolutely no controversy, just hard discussions that are aimed at providing a meaningful, well formulated opinion, which can benefit all of us

Nikon has a 70-200 f 2.8 AFS VR. Its immaculately sharp and of course fast. I hope you took that into consideration when you were talking of Nikon not matching up to the awesome 70-200 f4 from canon.

These are from my 700-200 f2.8 AFS VR



By the way, I just gifted a canon HSF100 camcorder to my father. Maybe when I come to India, I will give one of those adapters a shot!

Regards,
TG.

[it_inspector]

Originally Posted by Torqueguru

@ITinspector
I see no fanboyism here at all! And absolutely no controversy, just hard discussions that are aimed at providing a meaningful, well formulated opinion, which can benefit all of us

Nikon has a 70-200 f 2.8 AFS VR. Its immaculately sharp and of course fast. I hope you took that into consideration when you were talking of Nikon not matching up to the awesome 70-200 f4 from canon.

I know about nikon 70-200mm f2.8, i got two

Canon has both 70-200mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f4,

And every single test proves that f4 is sharper than f2.8 and is lighter in weight too, almost half in weight.

Nikon doesn`t have an f4 availble YET. Infact nikon doesn`t have the f4 lineup at all to counter Canon f4 line.

Cheers

[Guna]

I have a 5D. I mostly shoot in RAW mode and used to use Raw conversion feature in the ZoomBrowser EX 5.5 for converting the photos to Jpegs.

Recently I upgarded from XP to Vista and re-installed the zoombrowser again. But I am not getting the Raw conversion option on this utility.
Does anybody know why this could be happening? Do I need to upgrade to to a more recent version?

Also are there better options for RAW conversion?

[Proxima]

Hey Torqueguru, how and where did you take that tiger shot? Its FABULOUS!

[proton]

Originally Posted by navin

Canon G series (my son uses my old G2), Micro 4 thirds are really big compared to the S90. Ricoh is jsut no as available and Leica is way too expensive.

The S90 has a reasonably fast lens (F2.0 @ 28mm) & a 4x zoom only the Panny LX3/Leica DLUX4 compare to this. The Ricoh GRIII and Leica X1/M9 have no zoom and are either unavailable or very expensive that leaves the Sigma DP1.

many Nikon lenses and Canon lenses are now quite well matched in price/performance.

My wife uses a Canon HF10 which is similar to the HV10. What is this upside down thing you are talking about.

So far the best solution for video with film look (shallow DOF) is the Lumix gh1. An equivalent result can only be got with a 10K+ USD rig Sony EX!+Letus DOF adaptor.

Philip Bloom Blog Archive Panasonic Lumix GH1 first impressions and first footage


Was panning for a Lumix gf1 or LX3 or Canon s90, till I read this:
LX3's pocketability and ZS3's image quality? [Page 1]: Panasonic Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

And pulled the trigger on the Lumix tz7 yesterday! The deal breaker on the LX3 was the reviewer’s opinion that manual adjustments on P&S are marketing gimmicks. Apparently, you never get to use ‘em. So s90 was also dropped from his shopping list, apart from also having serious CA error

Apparently, the 24-300 zoom performance on the tz7 cannot be equaled by even a DSLR zoom. We shall see.

This will replace my oly e300 + fujif11 as my street cam kit. My back will thank me for this.

PS Upside down pictures appear on the early DOF adaptors: you can jerry rig your own, if you can access a machine shop.

The Letus does a flip. It's all good.

[phamilyman]

TG - how on earth did you manage that shot
?

[it_inspector]

Originally Posted by proton

So far the best solution for video with film look (shallow DOF) is the Lumix gh1. An equivalent result can only be got with a 10K+ USD rig Sony EX!+Letus DOF adaptor.

Philip Bloom Blog Archive Panasonic Lumix GH1 first impressions and first footage


Was panning for a Lumix gf1 or LX3 or Canon s90, till I read this:
LX3's pocketability and ZS3's image quality? [Page 1]: Panasonic Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

And pulled the trigger on the Lumix tz7 yesterday! The deal breaker on the LX3 was the reviewer’s opinion that manual adjustments on P&S are marketing gimmicks. Apparently, you never get to use ‘em. So s90 was also dropped from his shopping list, apart from also having serious CA error

Apparently, the 24-300 zoom performance on the tz7 cannot be equaled by even a DSLR zoom. We shall see.

This will replace my oly e300 + fujif11 as my street cam kit. My back will thank me for this.

PS Upside down pictures appear on the early DOF adaptors: you can jerry rig your own, if you can access a machine shop.

The Letus does a flip. It's all good.

Actually same result can be had with 5D mk2 and that too with just the cost of the DOF adapter.

Sony EX system only offer one thing over the other systems and its more flexibility and control. Otherwise its output is compareable to the likes of HDR-SR12.

DOF adapters don`t require machining tools, its pretty easy to make if you know what you are doing. Adding a prism reduces amount of light, while post processing doesn`t.

Buying a letus beats the purpose, since we are looking for cheap alternative, for the price of letus adapter, one can get a second hand 5d mk2, unless you are using it with EX or HVR series.

Not the dpreview comparison again. Its 2 different cameras for 2 different segments, pleasecan we for once go apples against apples.

Also remember, bigger the zoom, more compromises need to happen. One of the reasons most of the cameras come with 3x zoom.

Its quite simple to correct or flip the image, its just the fact that adding another lens/prism/element means light loss doesn`t matter what the companies say.

Cheers

[Torqueguru]

Originally Posted by it_inspector

I know about nikon 70-200mm f2.8, i got two

Canon has both 70-200mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f4,

And every single test proves that f4 is sharper than f2.8 and is lighter in weight too, almost half in weight.

Nikon doesn`t have an f4 availble YET. Infact nikon doesn`t have the f4 lineup at all to counter Canon f4 line.

Cheers

Could you please post any links on any of these tests? I would love to check them out.

@Proxima
@phamilyman
That was at Vallejo, California. This pic made it to National Geographic.com actually. Thanks for your remark.

@guna
Adobe Lightroom.

Regards,
TG.