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Old 01-23-2007, 04:07 PM   #166
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Ok, 17-40 ordered. Will pick it up at the store next month when I'll be in Lausanne
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Old 01-23-2007, 04:15 PM   #167
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Originally Posted by TT
Ok, 17-40 ordered. Will pick it up at the store next month when I'll be in Lausanne
Awaiting pics ASAP
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Old 01-23-2007, 04:32 PM   #168
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Originally Posted by MartijnGizmo
If you plan on staying with a crop-camera you could also consider the EF-S 17-55/2.8. Havn't tried it myself, but it should be really good. Quit pricey though.
I actually replaced my kitlens with the 17-85 IS first, nice lens with a nice range, but didn't convince me on sharpness ... so sold it again and bought the 17-55 2.8 IS ... now that's an amazing lens.
Awesome DOF, IS and USM, works great for indoor events ... but I do agree it's a bit overpriced ... and there's no hood either, had to buy it seperately.

Next on the list is the 70-200 IS and after that I do consider the 10-22, used the latter once and it only heavily distorts on 10 to 12 mm, after that is takes really nice shots of cars ... and distortion can be fixed with DxO easily.

Still an expensive hobby ...

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Old 01-24-2007, 04:59 AM   #169
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Originally Posted by TT
Yes, I tested it at the store, seems fine, but quite expensice. For now the price of the 17-40 is really a good deal for what it offers, and well, in an year time or so I could sell it for a good price and upgrade to 2.8 if I really want to, or just wait some more and get the 24-70 2.8L to fill the gap between it and the 70-200
24-70 is quite a big zoom range, a friend of mine ( 3/4-pro with a D200) didn't recommend me to buy a lense with that much zoom range.. the 17-40 sound good!
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Old 01-24-2007, 07:46 AM   #170
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Originally Posted by stmoritzer
24-70 is quite a big zoom range, a friend of mine ( 3/4-pro with a D200) didn't recommend me to buy a lense with that much zoom range.. the 17-40 sound good!
Next advice: don't listen to that friend. The 24-70 is among the sharpest zoomlenses that Canon offers. Contrast, bokeh and AF-speed are excellent. So I really think he's wrong and should try one himself.

The 'safe' range for zoomlenses is around 3x zoom (70/24=2.9) but there are a lot of exceptions to that old rule-of-thumb.
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Old 01-24-2007, 07:48 AM   #171
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Originally Posted by stmoritzer
Originally Posted by TT
Yes, I tested it at the store, seems fine, but quite expensice. For now the price of the 17-40 is really a good deal for what it offers, and well, in an year time or so I could sell it for a good price and upgrade to 2.8 if I really want to, or just wait some more and get the 24-70 2.8L to fill the gap between it and the 70-200
24-70 is quite a big zoom range, a friend of mine ( 3/4-pro with a D200) didn't recommend me to buy a lense with that much zoom range.. the 17-40 sound good!
Most pro-photographers talk about a 3x zoom as the maximum to be able to have a pro-grade lens, so 24-70 still falls within these limits, and the 24-70 2.8 lens from Canon is still an L-lens, so it should be good.
Even the 24-105 IS should be rather good, it also costs around 1000 Euro, so it would better be good no ? But it doesn't have enough wide angle for photographing cars on an event.

Mega-zooms like the 18-125 or the 18-200 from Tamron or Sigma have a problem with decent sharpness, they are nice walk around lenses and don't require you to re-mortgage the house for, but I wouldn't buy them anymore ... great to start with, but after a while you encounter their flaws like poor AF speed, which is really annoying when taking panning shots on a circuit, only a good USM or HSM lens will be able to track a moving race car.

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Old 01-24-2007, 05:47 PM   #172
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Originally Posted by MartijnGizmo
Originally Posted by stmoritzer
24-70 is quite a big zoom range, a friend of mine ( 3/4-pro with a D200) didn't recommend me to buy a lense with that much zoom range.. the 17-40 sound good!
Next advice: don't listen to that friend. The 24-70 is among the sharpest zoomlenses that Canon offers. Contrast, bokeh and AF-speed are excellent. So I really think he's wrong and should try one himself.

The 'safe' range for zoomlenses is around 3x zoom (70/24=2.9) but there are a lot of exceptions to that old rule-of-thumb.
Yup, I confirm it's a hell of a good lense. I used it in several occasions, inside and outside (Geneva, the RS6/Quattroporte/JRX indepth, snowdring school) and it's just perfect IMO.
All alone it won't be any good for me, but to fill the gap I'll have between the 17-40 and the 70-200, it will be great. The 17-40 afterall will only be used for inside events and very crowded place.
Just not sure if I should try to slot a 580ex in before buying a third L :bah:
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Old 01-24-2007, 05:57 PM   #173
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Wow, you managed to live without an external flash so far? :shock: You could also consider the 430EX, much cheeper.
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Old 01-24-2007, 06:12 PM   #174
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Well, yes, first of all because I never liked flashes. Mostly because I started with a bridge camera probably, and the flash was totally useless like in any compact camera.

Then, well, weird, but a flash IMO draws more attention than a tripod... and I always have the tripod in my car.

Then well, I know in some cases, to kill some shadows, a flash is a must, but we come to point #2: I don't like to have to learn new stuff, and I know you need to practice quite a bit to really use a proper flash. plugging it in and just shooting won't work. I don't like to feel like a total noob againn, and most important, I have no time to practice lately.

Ah yes, also: to use a 580EX with the 18-55?! LOL, comon! And with a tele lense, not sure it would be any use

I know the 580 is not that cheap, but well, if I'll buy one, I want the best one if possible

We'll see. I am not really conviced I'll use it that much, but I'll probably end up buying it anyway one day... and hopefully its price would have dropped a bit by then
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Old 01-24-2007, 06:33 PM   #175
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Flash ugly?

This was done with just one flash:


And fill-flash with long lenses can be great when panning etc. A lot of info about off-camera flash can be found here: http://www.strobist.com

And about flashes and cars:
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Old 01-25-2007, 04:52 AM   #176
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Originally Posted by MartijnGizmo
Originally Posted by stmoritzer
24-70 is quite a big zoom range, a friend of mine ( 3/4-pro with a D200) didn't recommend me to buy a lense with that much zoom range.. the 17-40 sound good!
Next advice: don't listen to that friend. The 24-70 is among the sharpest zoomlenses that Canon offers. Contrast, bokeh and AF-speed are excellent. So I really think he's wrong and should try one himself.

The 'safe' range for zoomlenses is around 3x zoom (70/24=2.9) but there are a lot of exceptions to that old rule-of-thumb.
he's not a Canon man, so the comment was not specific about that lense but any comment about some lenses is welcome since atm I'm looking for a DSLR camera (the two options are D80 or EOS 400D and some proper lenses).
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Old 01-25-2007, 05:44 AM   #177
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Sure, I know you are right and I know you can do marvels once you know how to use a flash. I am just saying I don't have the patience and willness to learn to use it. I don't want to just plug it in and start shooting without first knowing some bases.

That's why indeed I am looking also for tutorials, both on the web or on paper because I fear the user manual won't go that deep into things.

Thanks for this link already, but I must say I simple HATE blogs, and as soon as I end up on a website structured as a blog, I just close the window and move away so I guess I need to find something else but there is really no urge because I think I will resist the temptation some more, unlike I did with the first then second L
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Old 01-25-2007, 12:28 PM   #178
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I'm also no blog-fan myself, but strobist.com is just great, I learned some of the best things from David Hobby.

Oh, and the day I stop learing something new about photography, is the day I'll find a new hobby.
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