Ah Kodachrome.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Canon Cinema Caravan
I'm not sure why but I love this video. It always makes me want to go out and shoot.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thoughts On Full Frame - The 5D Mark 2
The last two weeks have been absolutely draining. On top of working 9-5 and taking photos for Mammoth Printshop, I shot and edited a wedding reception for a friend of mine, shot and edited a full wedding for another friend, shot and edited engagement photos, shot Rush Week at Auburn for FlipFlop Foto, and shot Bid Day as well as another full wedding for another friend that same day, and shot photographs for The War Eagle Reader at Auburn's Fan Day on Sunday.
I've been busy, and I've needed a little help from my friends.
Specifically, the Canon 5D Mark 2. I've been shooting with the 5D for two weeks, and I'm blown away. I don't think I'll ever be able to move back to cropped sensor cameras.
Shooting full frame gives you a wider angle of view, so when you're used to using a lens from a certain distance you'll have to move in a good bit closer to achieve the same composition. That also means your depth of field will be more shallow because you've moved closer to your subject.
I’ve run into some subtle vignetting when shooting wide open, but it hasn’t been enough to bother me. Actually, I rather like the effect. It’s a very subtle way of bringing the viewer’s eye towards the center of the image. And, if I don’t like it for a certain photo, I can easily take it into Lightroom or Photoshop and adjust accordingly.
This camera's high ISO/low noise performance is INCREDIBLE. Coming from the cropped sensor Rebel XT and 7D, the 5D is just a beast. A very clean, quiet, awesome beast. High ISO looks great, but the expanded low ISO setting of 50 is another awesome feature perfect for really bright sunny days and long, virtually noise free exposures.
(No noise reduction applied in post)
In addition to having great noise performance (even without in camera/post processing noise reduction), the sharpness straight out of camera is fantastic. I'm constantly being shocked to find that the images I've shot even from a distance are crisp, which I was not used to while shooting with the 7D, even when using the same lenses. I was very disappointed in the 7D's SOOC sharpness, but the 5D gives me a breath of fresh air. A lot of people will say that every camera's RAW file needs a certain amount of sharpening before its usable. This may be true, but its great having most of the work done for you before you even get into post.
(Taken at f/1.8)
The 5D's 3.9 frames per second shooting speed won't win any races. Compared to the 7D's 8fps its just downright slow. That being said, the 5D isn't geared towards sports/wildlife shooters. I was reading a few 5D Mark II user posts on http://dpreview.com/ and saw a great comment that compared the 5D Mk 2 to a truck, and the 7D to a sports car. The 5D is great for landscape and portrait work where resolution and dynamic range are crucial. The 7D is more geared towards sports photographers who need to be sure they get the shot in a short amount of time.
Something else that’s different with the 5d compared to the other cameras I’ve used in the past is the need for speed in the cards you use. Even shooting in the sRAW size it takes forever to write files to the CF card if I’m using a standard speed. The two 4 gig 30mb/s cards I have do the trick fine.
In that same vein, the file sizes are MASSIVE. I haven’t even used the full resolution RAW file yet because my computer would simply tell me to go screw myself. Thank goodness for the sRAW file sizes, effectively using 10 or 5 megapixels.
Something I really do miss from the 7D is the electronic level which is absent on the 5D. This made it easy to be 100% on your leveling in camera instead of finding later that it was slightly crooked, forcing you to sacrifice image area for straightening. Another thing I'm not a fan of is the on/off/scroll wheel on/off button placement. Its really awkward to have to shift your grip to turn the camera off, and the actual lever isn't really the easiest thing to move. I also don't understand why Canon makes turning off the back scroll wheel an option. Why would anyone want that feature disabled while shooting? When I first opened the box and started playing with the camera I thought I had a dud because the aperture wouldn't change when I moved the scroll wheel in Manual mode. There's got to be a reason, so if you know it, tell me.
Another thing I miss from the 7D is its AutoFocus. AF on the 5D is slow and has to search for objects in low light. The AF points (the few there are) are clustered in the center and would be better served scattered throughout the viewfinder.
Video on the 5D is everything I want and nothing I don't.
I've been busy, and I've needed a little help from my friends.
Specifically, the Canon 5D Mark 2. I've been shooting with the 5D for two weeks, and I'm blown away. I don't think I'll ever be able to move back to cropped sensor cameras.
Shooting full frame gives you a wider angle of view, so when you're used to using a lens from a certain distance you'll have to move in a good bit closer to achieve the same composition. That also means your depth of field will be more shallow because you've moved closer to your subject.
I’ve run into some subtle vignetting when shooting wide open, but it hasn’t been enough to bother me. Actually, I rather like the effect. It’s a very subtle way of bringing the viewer’s eye towards the center of the image. And, if I don’t like it for a certain photo, I can easily take it into Lightroom or Photoshop and adjust accordingly.
This camera's high ISO/low noise performance is INCREDIBLE. Coming from the cropped sensor Rebel XT and 7D, the 5D is just a beast. A very clean, quiet, awesome beast. High ISO looks great, but the expanded low ISO setting of 50 is another awesome feature perfect for really bright sunny days and long, virtually noise free exposures.
(No noise reduction applied in post)
In addition to having great noise performance (even without in camera/post processing noise reduction), the sharpness straight out of camera is fantastic. I'm constantly being shocked to find that the images I've shot even from a distance are crisp, which I was not used to while shooting with the 7D, even when using the same lenses. I was very disappointed in the 7D's SOOC sharpness, but the 5D gives me a breath of fresh air. A lot of people will say that every camera's RAW file needs a certain amount of sharpening before its usable. This may be true, but its great having most of the work done for you before you even get into post.
(Taken at f/1.8)
The 5D's 3.9 frames per second shooting speed won't win any races. Compared to the 7D's 8fps its just downright slow. That being said, the 5D isn't geared towards sports/wildlife shooters. I was reading a few 5D Mark II user posts on http://dpreview.com/ and saw a great comment that compared the 5D Mk 2 to a truck, and the 7D to a sports car. The 5D is great for landscape and portrait work where resolution and dynamic range are crucial. The 7D is more geared towards sports photographers who need to be sure they get the shot in a short amount of time.
Something else that’s different with the 5d compared to the other cameras I’ve used in the past is the need for speed in the cards you use. Even shooting in the sRAW size it takes forever to write files to the CF card if I’m using a standard speed. The two 4 gig 30mb/s cards I have do the trick fine.
In that same vein, the file sizes are MASSIVE. I haven’t even used the full resolution RAW file yet because my computer would simply tell me to go screw myself. Thank goodness for the sRAW file sizes, effectively using 10 or 5 megapixels.
Something I really do miss from the 7D is the electronic level which is absent on the 5D. This made it easy to be 100% on your leveling in camera instead of finding later that it was slightly crooked, forcing you to sacrifice image area for straightening. Another thing I'm not a fan of is the on/off/scroll wheel on/off button placement. Its really awkward to have to shift your grip to turn the camera off, and the actual lever isn't really the easiest thing to move. I also don't understand why Canon makes turning off the back scroll wheel an option. Why would anyone want that feature disabled while shooting? When I first opened the box and started playing with the camera I thought I had a dud because the aperture wouldn't change when I moved the scroll wheel in Manual mode. There's got to be a reason, so if you know it, tell me.
Another thing I miss from the 7D is its AutoFocus. AF on the 5D is slow and has to search for objects in low light. The AF points (the few there are) are clustered in the center and would be better served scattered throughout the viewfinder.
Video on the 5D is everything I want and nothing I don't.
Mammoth Shop Tour from Zac Henderson on Vimeo.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
BTS Video
So fstoppers.com had a behind the scenes video contest. I wanted to submit something, but I also wanted to wait on the 5Dmk2 to film it. As the deadline drew near for submissions, I realized that I was just making excuses. So, instead of sitting and doing nothing, I called Tiffany and we made a quick and dirty BTS video for the latest installment in the T-shirt Fashion series. Its nothing special, and I feel like I look super goofy, but I felt lazy not making it so here it is.
BTS Video from Zac Henderson on Vimeo.
Behind the scenes video for F/Stoppers.com
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