Posts Tagged ‘5d mark ii’
Travel photography packing
So the time has finally come. The house is packed up and my wife and I are almost ready to leave on our big adventure. If you don’t already know about it where have you been!?! If you do then you’ll no doubt know how excited we are and how we’ve spent the last 8 months preparing for this life changing moment.
One of those preparations has of course been my photography business and gearing up (quite literally) for our travels. Documentary photography, unless undertaken on your doorstep or nearby town, is something that you need to prepare well for. There are many methods, 2 cents worth of advice and all sorts of ideals you can work to. There’s loads of blogs already on this subject, some mentioned in my “Ultimate Online Guide to Photography“. I’m not here to give you advice this time, merely share my preparations.
So firstly the bag. Who would take a camera without a good quality camera bag? The emphasis here really is on quality. I made sure I got the best quality bag that i could trust. It needs to be relatively weather proof and very well padded for all that delicate equipment. I chose the Tamrac Adventure 9. It’s a full ruck-sack style bag with lots of compartments, very well organised and well thought out zips and fastenings to keep the weather out and the gear in. It’s very comfortable and I love it. It’s not cheap but well worth looking in to. I’d definitely recommend it to others.
As much as i trust my bag I have tested it’s weather-proofing abilities. I was stuck out in a torrential downpour with it once and while it did protect my gear the inside was noticeably damp when i got home. The gear was dry and would have survived longer I’m sure but I decided to investigate further weather proofing. I found a great solution in the Exped Dry Bags. These little fellas are fantastic. You just fold the top over 3 times and click the strap in. The 100% 
waterproof material does the job. I tested this by filling one with toilet paper and running it under the tap for over 4 minutes. Most likely the worst conditions they’ll ever face. The paper came out completely dry. I have a couple of extra small and one small Exped Dry Bag. I keep them inside my camera bag so i know my gear will always be dry and safe.
I’m not the kind of guy to travel light. Some photographers say just take the one lens, one camera. If you can’t create great work with just that then you’re no decent photographer. I don’t believe this at all. I say take what you feel comfortable carrying. Take what YOU want and what will make you happy. I have 3 lenses, one SLR, one High def video camera and my Manfrotto tripod. No doubt I wont take it all out every day but I’ve been working out at the gym especially for carrying this camera bag so I’m prepared to take my gear where-ever it needs carrying.
Gear wise, I bought my Canon 5D Mark II specifically for this trip. It’s weather proof house, very robust design and staggering beautiful quality is worth every penny. I’ll also be taking my new love, my Canon 24-105 F4 L IS, an amazingly good lens, also my wonderful little 50mm 1.8F and the rock solid all weather 70-200 F4 L. It’s not light to carry but I know it’ll be worth it.
Insurance is of course vitally important. I’ve gone with the very helpful Photoguard. They give the most coverage and understand the needs of travel photographers. Their price was very reasonable and I feel more secure now that I have that insurance. As a friend said, go with the premise that at some point your gear will be stolen. Be prepared for it. So when it does you can start sorting out what needs to be done instantly. Of course hopefully it wont happen but that will be a bonus!
Of course my trusty laptop will be coming with me. There’s space in my rucksack for that too. What would we do without our digital dark rooms these days eh?
If you’ve got any advice or techniques you’d like to share with me and others reading this blog then be sure to post now. It’s always good to share!
Photo of a very red moon at night!
After receiving a text from a friend commenting on how amazing and red the moon looked one night, I took it as a challenge to take a photo as a treat.
Getting the exposure right is definitely a job for manual mode. The light reading will be totally out even with spot metering. You’ll need to experiment to get the right amount of detail. Once you get it right the details of all those craters really shine! This exposure was 1/30 of a second at F5 and ISO 200. The low ISO ensures very little noise and the relative fast shutter speed means very little motion blur at full zoom, even if it is on a tripod which of course this shot was.
For improved stability I’d recommend using mirror lock up if your camera has that feature. This stops any movement of the mirror flipping up causing vibrations. Also if your lens has image stabiliation turn it off. IS works best when the lens is moving around in your hand. When the camera is on a tripod it’s best to turn it off.
With my 70-200 F4 L on full zoom it’s lucky I have a Canon 5D Mark II with 21 megapixels to increase the zoom enough without losing detail. The image above is pretty much full size. Still i’m pleased with the result for web use at least. Until I get myself this gorgeous Canon 800mm 5.6F lens!
As ever your thoughts and comments are welcome. If you’ve taken shots of the moon recently why not share them with us.
The 5D Mark II firmware update
My Canon 5D Mark II is one impressive camera! The ability to record full 1080p HD video through SLR spec lenses really opens up the uses too but it’s automatic aperture controls meant it’s full potential wasn’t being realised.
Thankfully today it was announced that the 5D Mark II will be getting a firmware upgrade from June 2nd 2009. With full manual controls of aperture, shutter speed and ISO in video mode. This means you can now set the depth of field to your choice, not the camera’s, allowing much greater creative use.
There were a few dodgy workarounds before. Twisting the lens so it’s not locked to the camera was one rather dangerous idea that i did try on occasion. Another was using Nikon lenses with an adapter.
Many people have thanked Canon for “Listening to the people” on this one. I think that’s a bit short sighted personally. Canon have no doubt been working on the software for the 5D Mark II for some time. Adding new features to a pro camera is what keeps it fresh and stops the need for expensive development of new products. No doubt Canon were always going to add this feature once the software had been fully tested.
I’m looking forward to seeing a whole lot more video from the 5D Mark II now. I for one will be shooting a lot more thats for sure!
Choosing a new lens
We photographers like our gadgets. We’re surrounded by them. Whether you’re film or digital one of the great perks of the job is buying lovely new equipment!
Now that I’m “full frame” I needed to upgrade my lenses. To get the most out of my 5D Mark II I wanted to put the best glass on it. if you’re a Canon user the best lenses you can buy are Canon’s L Series. They offer amazing quality, rock solid design and great reliabilty. Everyone agrees that L is the best series of lenses… but not everyone agrees which one you should have in your kit.
They are a serious purchase with a serious price tag so when I needed an L series wide zoom lens it wasn’t an easy choice.
The Contenders
The two main contenders are the 24-70 F2.8 L and the 24-105 F4 L.
Both amazing lenses, the 24-70 offering a wider aperture while the 24-105 has image stabilization.
Hot topic
There’s heated debates on which is best. Which covers the most needs, even which is the best in low light. Flickr is a hot-bed of Canon users with strong opinions. The group discussions are often filled with “which lens should i buy?” topics. I myself have posted a few as they’re a great place to get a good cross section of responses.
There’s great arguments for both. The 24-70 covers a shorter range with less elements and a faster aperture. But it’s weight is dramatically increased to incorporate this. Surprisingly so. The 24-105 weighs less, covers a wider range but has a max aperture of F4. Choices choices!
In the end I chose the 24-105 F4. It came down to a number of factors.
Weight
I will be on the road, possibly for months at a time. While I am willing to carry heavier lenses if the benefits are worth it. For me personally the 24-70 F2.8 doesn’t offer enough of an improvement to warrant the extra weight. I’ll be happier shooting with the 24-105. Happiness and harmony with your equipment should not be overlooked, especially on an expensive purchase!
Range
Another on-the-road factor here as the less I need to change lenses the better. The extra reach the 24-105 gives me is a great advantage. Possibly even helping me achieve more spur of the moment shots I would have otherwise missed while changing to my 70-200 F4 L.
Image Stabliaztion
Before trying this lens I thought IS was a bit of a gimick to help reduce camera shake. I had however overlooked one obvious advantage to this. If camera shake is reduced you can shoot at lower speeds. Lower speeds means more light. The lack of 2.8 aperture on the 24-105 is more than made up for by this feature. I also plan to shoot HD video with my 5D Mark II so the IS really comes in handy for smoothing out those hand held shots.
I’m very happy with my purchase. Frankly I would have been happy with either lens but the true test comes when you’re out in the field with your camera bag and limited options on what you can take. A happy photographer is a creative photographer!
I’ll post a full review in a month or two.
If you have any questions about these lenses or an opinion the lens you purchase do comment.
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Welcome to my journey
Welcome to my new blog all about Photography. I’d better explain why really.
I’ve had a passion for photography for many years now. In recent years I’ve taken it to new levels with my trusty Canon DSLR. In recent months my quality of work and devotion to photography has increased, so much so I have decided to go full time professional.
With my wife by my side we plan to travel extensively. Live cheaply, document what we see, get off the beaten track, experience new cultures and hopefully begin a whole new career doing something I’ve always loved.
I’ll post my thoughts, findings, great links I’ve found, reviews of equipment, progress reports, tips on photographic techniques and anything else that I think you might find interesting. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. I promise to respond to as many as I can.
Why not start by checking out some of my work at www.flickr.com/photos/mattprestonphotography.
So here I am. This is me. This is my journey. I hope you enjoy it.
Matt