I'm looking for a 50mm f1.4 USM

PM me details. I was planning to buy a new one but open to 2nd hand if in good condition and good price.

Well, looks like my run of bad luck with canon hasn't stopped yet.

Just this weekend, my 55-250IS bit the dust, the lens no longer would auto focus properly, rendering it manual only. Its going to be sent in today, but I was informed they "might" take as long as 2 weeks to fix it under warranty (only 2 months old)

So this means I'm left wihout a proper lens to shoot a track event next week....quite a bummer.
Hopefully I can get m uncle to send me his rarely used EF 75-300USM back from singapore this week......


The second problem (if it actually is one) is the performance of the canon 50mm f1.8 lens. It seems if I'm shooting at f1.8, the focus is a little off, where only the center part of the image is sharp, and there is a distint and significant drop off of sharpness as you go outward. Now, i'm aware that shooting at f1.8 yeilds a very fine DoF but just how fine is it? at 1m, my DoF shooting at f1.8 is barely 1cm front to back. (ie. focus at eyes, nose bridge is blur, or vice versa, have difficulty getting the whole face in focus)

Can't be that thin could it? how do you use say a F1.2 then?

The whole face is sharp and clear by the time it gets to F4.0. So any clues? Should I be sending in the 50mm as well (crap, i'd be only left with my kit lens)
(I might post some sample pics later)

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Aug 18 2008, 02:16 PM

The "kit" bag is not bad. Its quite versatile and quite capacious, I used to fit my D450 with Grip attached and 18-55mm, speedlite, 55-250mm, and 50mm f1.8, as well as my older Fuji "mini SLR" P&S.

I just bought another because I prefer a backpack (that also holds my notebook) that is not shouting that you are slinging a couple Ks worth of equipment.

I still keep the canon bag for occational use, as its easy to get to the camera and lenses (compared to a backpack).

depends on what type of bag you prefer to use. Its user preference after all.

Shooting in cold weather is one thing, shooting on top of kinabalu is another thing all together.


I never had problem shooting in the cold, even at -10 or less, battery life would suck a little but not a major issue. Condensation is not a problem when you have time to get the camera's internal air to dry up. Cold air has very little moisture, usually not enough to condense.

What we need to worry about is the humididy inside the camera and in that sense, SLRs would have more problems since they have a larger volume of air inside.

One tip is to keep the camera and lens in a dry box for a period of time for the air inside to dry up a bit (sans rear and camera caps), even better, keep a tupperware and some silica drying sacs in a fridge. This sort of "acclimatization" seems to work for my friend, never complained of "internal" fogging. Just make sure you don't open or change lenses when the body and lens is still cold. I've personally never tried that out myself as i never took up my DSLR to anywhere cold yet.

My 2 P&S never had any condensation problems before.

The problem of kinabalu, is whether you have time to equalize the humidity of the air inside the camera and lens before it gets too cold.

Moving from cold outdoor into a warm indoor is less of a problem (or vice versa ...cold hotel room to humid beach). Condensation happens on the outside of the camera/lens.

The worring part is getting condensation on the inside of the camera, where warm moist air inside the camera condenses when the camera body gets cold enough. When that happen, the moisture has no where to go. removing the lens only makes it worst. I wont recommend anyone from removing/changing lenses when there are differential temperatures....always wait till it equalize.

Its not all doom and gloom. Usually its not likely that your camera internals will have that much moisture to be a problem...so go ahead that shoot...and share...

My coldest shot was done at something like -28 with my old P&S HP digicam. Survived, but the 1600mAh batteries only lasted a few shots before the flash wont cycle fast enough.

Friend was shooting (and freezing), I was having all the fun.


ps. I do miss being silly in the snow with a 300hp turbo AWD.....

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Aug 20 2008, 08:13 PM

hehehe...

if you've gone through all that trouble to download the pic to check the exif data, you'd already know it was a simple HP 715 3mpix P&S. Its a simple camera but very robust. Its has a small lens/sensor so F2.0 isn't really an eye opener, especially on a compact . My Fuji for example is F2.8 to F3.1 from 28mm to 480mm

The 55-250IS is a decent lens, especially if you are talkign about value. With our crop sensors, 250-300mm is usually way more than enough to shoot.

However, on top of the slight light fall off on max tele and max apperture, I seem to have second guesses on the lens as well. I just had to return one because the autofocus went south on me. Lucky it was under warranty.

the 70-300 IS USM is another good lens, but then again its more than 2x the price of the 55-250IS. The USM drive will definately be more reliable than the one in the 55-250. So it depends on what your priorities are.

If you dont need IS, perhaps the other budget tele would be the EF 75-300 USM....(which you can also use on a full frame in the future). Its selling for about 850 new.

If you are going to use a tele to shoot in church, you might need to pay extra attention on the max apperture on tele. Stopping down to F5.6 on full tele will mean you will need to up your ISO to compensate as lighting in most churches can be insufficient...This is also where IS will help...as you can slow your exposure to compensate a bit, but that in itself is not wihout problems, since it wont freeze movements.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Aug 21 2008, 12:17 AM

Not always.

D80 and other intermediate shooters and up have autofocus drive motors on the body, so lenses for these don't have a built in autofocus motor, which makes them cheaper.

But if you have a D40/40x/60 that don't have the "screwdriver mount", you have to rely on the lens' built in autofocus motor like our EF/EFS. for these, the prices are similar if not more expensive due to lower availability or choice.

Its always the same. save on the body now, pay for the lens later. Alpha users hear hear?

---

Added on August 21, 2008, 9:16 amGear far beyond? no sweat man, you have to start somewhere.


Wide open often means max apperture. if you have the 18-55mm IS, max is f3.5. Smaller the number, the larger the aperture.

There is nothing wrong with shooting max aperture. Depending on the lens, you might sometimes have no choice and have to either loose some sharpness for going max apperture, than having to deal with blurly pictures. But yes, trading that is at last resort.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Aug 21 2008, 09:19 AM

oO... Flat pictures with lowlight? In addition to upping your F , also either focus to infiniti and/or up your ISO. Use a tripod perhaps (using self timer if you dont have a remote release).. Never tried it myslef, but I suppose that ought to work.

Looks like I'm not the only one then,


I have the same nagging thoughts about my 50mm f1.8 as well. Shots are sometimes inconsistant where AF is concerned ending up with a lot of soft pictures. Worst when you are shooting at f/1.8-2 and the short DoF makes things worst. My first 50mm f1.8 is more consistant when it comes to AF but I had to return it because Canon's shoddy QC left a piece of foreign matter in the lens assembly.

While slightly soft pictures isn't the end of the world since models are not very forgiving if you expose all thier pores...hahaha, but its still annoying as well.

What is worst is that I find I have to stop down to F3.5-4 to counter the poor consistancy of AF, but that negates the advantages of a fast f/1.8

---

Added on August 23, 2008, 8:47 amJust some shots from yesterday's Fullthrottle show in Ipoh.

What the heck, got a free pass, and its 5 mins from my house.







shot with 50mm f1.8 with no flash. In retrospect, I should have used the flash a bit more (even just at -3) to counter the shadows cast by ambient indoor light sources. The last picture was a prime example. Also the first picture is a little overexposed, any tips on how to shoot someoen wearing a white Tshirt in bright sun?

No PP as of yet, just cropping and resizing.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Aug 23 2008, 09:12 AM

Wut is wrong with that?

Now that we have live view, its only just some firmware upgrade to support video.....right?

Now...with the D90 coming out with video support, i'm sure they will include the functionality sooner or later. after all in all fairness, the 50D is probably launched earlier than it was meant to be to take some air out of Nikon. For the 50D, I don't think its a worth an upgrade for 40D users....400D and 450D users perhaps.

What ever it is, AF during Live view is still a painful experience.

I'm interested in how well the 18-200 will turn out.

I feel your pain. The small grip of the 450D doesn't help at all, which is why I decided to bite the bullet and get the BG-E5.

Has anyone tried a 3rd party grip then?
http://shashinki.com/shop/phottix-bp450d-b...bel-p-2093.html

After all its about 1/2 the price of the BG-E5

I'm looking at it and it looks similar to my BG-E5

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Aug 27 2008, 08:39 AM

Got...heheh....they ran a "promotion" of a purchase with purchase of a 450D with the kit and an option of the 55-250mm... Note i put qoutation marks, the price is no cheaper than you buy the lens on its own (but I got some freebies UV filter anyway....and additonal discount with my 50mm f1.8, battery grip and spare battery)

While I can see the attractiveness of the 18-200mm, for me its just that I don't have to carry 2 lenses. Right now I hardly use the 18-55mm unless i'm shooting indoors, usually the 50mm f1.8 and 55-250mm is sufficient....(which incidentally is still with Canon ICU after 10 days due to a focusing problem). 2k seems resonable for the lens and if any indication, IS just as good as the 55-250. Just too bad it doesn;t have USM or it would been a sure sell for me.


Well, dpreview has a (p)review up for the 18-200IS
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canon_18-200_3p5-5p6_is/

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Aug 27 2008, 01:43 PM

I wonder what sort of image quality you will get from something with that sort of focal range. 18-270mm is quite a lot.

So far I have good luck from their service centre.

Its just that I find thier product QC a little "off" especially those that are made in malaysia. I have had a 50mm f1.8 replaced with another that seem to have AF issues, and a 55-250mm which recently just had its AF unit replaced......

If you got questions, you can just call them

03 7844-6000

Could be optical. That sort of focal range could be indicative of an 18x zoom. With Nikon, Panasonic and the rest all pushing the boundaries of thier suerzooms, Canon seems to be sorely lagging behind. I wont be surprised if thier next superzoon does 18x.

Thats why its called a consumer. P&S

But for what its worth, the quality may not rival a FF with a L zoom, but it wont completely embarass itself either.

There was a question about panning shots on AI servo a few pages up....



Taken on Sunday.


Shot on 450D, EFS 55-250mm IS
TV mode, f29, 1/50, 160mm, EV -2/3, Sunny. White balance on AWB.

Handheld, AI Servo, IS accidentally turned off (works the same with IS on, but your hit rate is higher with IS on)

Whatever its worth, I don't really like AI Servo. Hit rate seems a little lower than if I were to use one-shot (I usually pre-focus). But AI Servo helps if you intend to use your camera like a machine gun to take continuous shots.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Sep 2 2008, 11:25 AM

I get what you mean.

But either I'm not using it correctly or AI Servo seems to be a hit or miss affair. Unless I'm using continuous shoothing, I would still go for One Shot. I guess its up to user preference. Besides, having to manually select the AF point is a bit of a hassle, especially if you dont want the subject to be the centre of the frame.

As for the narrow aperture. Not much choice. I using 1/50 on a sunny day. I would love to shoot at soemthing like f10 instead. Perhaps next time I can turn down the EV compensation to test.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Sep 2 2008, 12:18 PM