Thanks for a great response. You answered all the questions very professionally. I think I'll get a short-zoom for daily uses in the range of 17-50 and a prime 85mm for those beautiful bokeh. I'm a sucker for wide angle shots.
Thank you very much. The picture of Yuu has buttery bokeh, very nice.
Hello MnV,
You got some really cool pics there at your blog, done with the 135mm F2.0L. Why not post them here? They are so nice, your Akita as well!
I think your choise of optics sounds good to me. For the wide angle zoom, the Canon EF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 iS USM, could be nice for you. Just make sure you don't change your mind in a few years, to upgrade to a full size chip. This one will not work for those cameras. But upgrading to a 7D would be perfect, since this lens is good enough for that camera too. Not cheap, but good enough to get "L" quality at 4.0 and higher. The 85mm will be perfect. Today I tried a few more with the 135mm F2.0L, the one you rented. Taken with the 5D, I think it is just so nice. I don't even want to think about how this would look with the 5DMK2 or even the EOS1MK3. Just look and see how nice. There is no location where you can actually see focus going into blur. It never hurts your eyes. Probably one of the best lenses ever made by Canon.
Photo info: ISO 100, 135mm F2.0L @ F3.5 and 1/320 sec.
I don't think I will upgrade to a FF simple because I know how clumsy I am. I can drop the 20D and destroy it with the lenses and be OK with it; but not too sure I like it if I drop a FF with an L lens on it.
Well, for that purpose, you better select a different camera. It would be a pitty to destroy this type of optics. But also remember, the 20D is a very nice camera (I ever had one) but with the 135mm the camera is the limit, the lens can handle any type of resolution right now, even the 7D super high center resolution. But even my 5D is only 12.8 Mp so there is much more than just resolution. But I know I will upgrade to a higher model, so anything I buy right now needs to be good enough to handle future 28 Mp. That is not far away, since the 7D pixel size and distance on a full size chip will be around 28-30 Mp. That's why I sold several lenses, they cannot do the job with this type of camera's. But I use my gear not only for hobby and dogs, so don't spend more than you need for your purpose.
I'm finally home, so I snapped a few of Toby in the house. I find it so hard to shoot indoors without a decent natural light source. Or the right lens. lol Toby laying in front of his fave place, the heat vent.
I think, this one is very nice, to bad the ear is missing, but that just happens… What I like here is the nice look in the eyes. The "out of focus" part is nice too, no hard switch from sharp to unsharp. The pic with the back pack was very nice too. So put up a few more. Try a little more telephoto for separating dog from background. That way you will get more background blur. Can you put the data so other can learn from your settings?
I picked up a Nikkor 35mm DX 1.8f The AFS seems a little bit noisy. Other than that the lens works great. While not dog related here are some test shots I took. These are at 1.8, at night, and outdoors/or in my car.
The night shots are just for reference. Overall I think the lens is quite nice. Off Topic, but I noticed when I upload photos from Picasa I loose a lot of color. When I go straight through to smugmug I do not. Any ideas?
Mostly I just lurk here, not having a dog of my own to post spam or tales of canine misadventure about. I did take some photos (and videos) at the dog beach in the local park here in Brooklyn. I mostly use a Panasonic LX3 and I totally have Full Frame envy of Nico's 5D MkII. Despite having some prior experience with film, I am still learning the ropes of digital. Anyway all the cool images of handsome critters inspired me to share a few of mine. I would appreciate comments/criticisms.
I can't tell you anything about these dogs except they seemed to be having a really good time:
Something about these two pictures I just love,and thought I would share with everyone. Not really taken with a fancy camera like everyone else, I used a Nikon Coolpix P80 on Macro mode.
Comments
Thank you very much. The picture of Yuu has buttery bokeh, very nice.
You got some really cool pics there at your blog, done with the 135mm F2.0L. Why not post them here? They are so nice, your Akita as well!
I think your choise of optics sounds good to me. For the wide angle zoom, the Canon EF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 iS USM, could be nice for you. Just make sure you don't change your mind in a few years, to upgrade to a full size chip. This one will not work for those cameras. But upgrading to a 7D would be perfect, since this lens is good enough for that camera too. Not cheap, but good enough to get "L" quality at 4.0 and higher. The 85mm will be perfect. Today I tried a few more with the 135mm F2.0L, the one you rented. Taken with the 5D, I think it is just so nice. I don't even want to think about how this would look with the 5DMK2 or even the EOS1MK3. Just look and see how nice. There is no location where you can actually see focus going into blur. It never hurts your eyes. Probably one of the best lenses ever made by Canon.
Photo info: ISO 100, 135mm F2.0L @ F3.5 and 1/320 sec.
Less expensive lenses might achieve the sharpness and saturation, but the richness of the 135mm f/2L is unbeatable.
It makes every picture looks like a scene from HD movies.
I did post the pictures here at this thread http://www.nihonken.org/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=4915&page=2#Item_11
LOL.
I don't think I will upgrade to a FF simple because I know how clumsy I am. I can drop the 20D and destroy it with the lenses and be OK with it; but not too sure I like it if I drop a FF with an L lens on it.
I'm finally home, so I snapped a few of Toby in the house. I find it so hard to shoot indoors without a decent natural light source.
Toby laying in front of his fave place, the heat vent.
The AFS seems a little bit noisy. Other than that the lens works great. While not dog related here are some test shots I took. These are at 1.8, at night, and outdoors/or in my car.
The night shots are just for reference. Overall I think the lens is quite nice. Off Topic, but I noticed when I upload photos from Picasa I loose a lot of color. When I go straight through to smugmug I do not. Any ideas?
I can't tell you anything about these dogs except they seemed to be having a really good time:
Exposure Time: 0.008s (1/125)
Aperture: f/5
ISO: 125
Focal Length: 12.8mm
Exposure Time: 0.0015s (1/640)
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 80
Focal Length: 12.8mm
Exposure Time: 0.0062s (1/160)
Aperture: f/5
ISO: 80
Focal Length: 9.3mm
Exposure Time: 0.0031s (1/320)
Aperture: f/5
ISO: 80
Focal Length: 12.8mm
Finally, a video:
I especially like the second one.