new on forum

[Groundworxs]

Hi everyone I am new on this forum. I have been looking in for a couple of weeks there is lots of great advise here.

I have been taking pics for 18 years now and I am finally going digital.
I have ordered :
Canon 10D, The V-grip, 550EX, Canon 70-200 2.8l, Tamron 19-35

My film equipment is:
A2, V-grip, 420Ez, Canon 70-210 f4, 35-80 4-5.6, Tamron 90 sp macro, sigma 20 1.8

looking forward to lots of fun in the near future.

[Belmondo]

Welcome!
With that much experience and the level of equipment you presently own, you should be able to hit the ground running. Let us see what you're doing when the new gear arrives.

[Groundworxs]

Thanks for the note Tom I will let you kow how it all turns out. What kind of equipment are you using? What do you like to shoot?
Cheers

[Belmondo]

Groundworxs:
My passion is trains, so I do a lot with longer lenses. I have a 10D (picking up a second 10D body later today or tomorrow), and I have the following lenses:
17-40L
24-70 f/2.8L
70-200 f/4L
100-400 f/4-5.6L
400 f/5.6L

I also have:
50mm f/1.4
100mm f/2.8 macro
28-135 IS
75-300 IS
I also have the Canon 1.4X and 2X extenders.

Note: I really don't use either of the IS lenses any more, but hate to sell them for pennies on the dollar since everything is new since July and lightly used. I'll probably take a stab at eBay one of these days or else just keep them as backups.

Of all the lenses, I use the 24-70 and the 100-400 the most. The wide angle zoom is most helpful up close, and the 100-400 zoom works really well at a distance where one most typically photographs trains.


Thanks for asking.

Tom

[Groundworxs]

You have good taste thats a great set up you have! I am looking at the canon 17-40 f4 how do you like it. I may starting a photojournalism course in May so a wide zoom is manditory. Do you have any pictures posted? You also have a great name same as mine.

Take good care
Tom

[Belmondo]

I consider it to be the best L lens for the money. Simple as that.

[defordphoto]

Welcome to the forum Groundworxs! Just wait till you get your new 10D. It will open a whole new world of photography for you. You will be amazed and you will become re-energized as a photographer.

[Groundworxs]

Thanks Tom I might pick on up before the course starts.

Take good care
Tom

[Groundworxs]

Thanks Jim for the welcome. I was already anxious to get the new gear, and now I just can't wait. I am at the mercy of the supplier. What gear do you have and what do you like to shoot?

Take good care
Tom

[defordphoto]

Let's see...

I have a 10D and a D60. I mainly shoot the 10D and my wife shoots the D60.

Lenses:
Canon 50 f1.8
Canon 28-80 USM
Canon 28-135 IS USM
Canon 70-200L f2.8 IS USM
Sigma 70-300
Canon 100-400L IS USM
Canon 1.4II TC
.25mm Tube Extender

We shoot mainly motorsports and Jet Sprints, but also shoot kids soccer, landscapes, flora, wildlife and pretty much anything else.

[Groundworxs]

Nice gear Jim! I have ordered a canon 70-200 2.8L how do you like your 70-200 and 100-400?
Take good care
Tom

[psk4363]

Hmmm Tom,

As your passion is trains, that must extend to robbin' 'em as well in order to fund all that delicious kit! LOL

Barry

[Belmondo]

psk4363 wrote:
Hmmm Tom,

As your passion is trains, that must extend to robbin' 'em as well in order to fund all that delicious kit! LOL

Barry

Actually, no. I sold them. I had accumulated a significant collection of model trains over almost forty years, and when I retired, I realized I was never going to do anything with them, and photography was my new 'calling.' So, I just dumped the whole lot and used the money to buy most of the equipment yu see on that list. Anyway, I'm just about done buying camera equipment for the time being. Now, I have to learn how to use it.

[mjordan]

Tom, I knew a guy that collected model trais as well. He had them all over his house and said that was only a small collection. When he retired he said his train sets was what was going to build them a big house in West Virginia (I think) and the rest would help with retirement. I wish I was taking pictures then (I'd sold my camera equipment to get into ham radio and computers) because he had some nice sets and a lot of them displayed real nice.

The other Tom: Welcome to the forum. I've been reading here for a couple of years now, starting back when I got my Rebel G, then the EOS 3 to the D30 and now the 10D. Lots of good information and good people.

I love my 10D. Even though the D30 did a good job, the 10D is even better at the action type photos I like taking (working dogs, agility, herding and sports like wind surfing, kite boarding, Dragon Boat racing, etc.). I'm not as lucky as a few of the others in here to have the 100-400 lens yet, but it's on my list. I do have the following though:

24-70 2.8L
70-200 2.8L IS
70-200 4.0L
28-105 USM
100-300 USM
85 1.8 USM

My wife took over my D30 as soon as I got the 10D, so between the two of us, we shoot thousands of pictures when we go to dog shows and other events.

You are going to love the camera. Good luck with it.

Mike

[Belmondo]

mjordan wrote: I do have the following though:

24-70 2.8L
70-200 2.8L IS
70-200 4.0L
28-105 USM
100-300 USM
85 1.8 USM



Mike:
I notice you have both the 4.0 and 2.8 IS versions of the 70-200 L. How did that come to happen? In your opinion, is the 2.8 IS sufficiently superior to justify the almost $1,000 price differential?

Because of budgetary constraints, I had to choose between the 2.8 IS and the 100-400, and opted for the latter because at the moment, it's a more useful focal range for the kinds of pictures I take. I have the 70-200 f/4.0L, and it does a fine job of everything I've asked of it so far, but I haven't really had to push it with any slower shutter speeds. (I did buy the tripod mounting ring for it, so I do have that extra bit of stability when necessary).

Anyway, I just found it curious that you had both versions, and thought I'd ask 'why.'

Tom. Please forgive the little 'sidebar discussion' in your thread. You'll see that happens a lot.

[Groundworxs]

Hi Mike Thanks for the welcome. I am glad to hear you are enjoying our 10d. You also have an impressive list of gear. I look forward to chatting with you in the future.

Take good care
Tom

[mjordan]

belmondo wrote:
mjordan wrote: I do have the following though:

70-200 2.8L IS
70-200 4.0L


Mike:
I notice you have both the 4.0 and 2.8 IS versions of the 70-200 L. How did that come to happen? In your opinion, is the 2.8 IS sufficiently superior to justify the almost $1,000 price differential?



Hi Tom,

I bought the 70-200 4.0L used last year from a friend. It was my first "L" glass and I wanted to give it a try. It's a great lens and really impressed me on the difference in the sharpness and clarity of my images as compared to the 28-105 (which is also a good lens for a non-L lens). I shoot a lot of action stuff, mostly having to do with dog agility and herding, but also other human related activities (I love doing wind surfers, kite boarders, Dragon Boat races, airshows, etc.). When it's good and sunny, the 4.0 works pretty well, even at ISO 100 and 200. But it wasn't very useful indoors at some of the events I shoot at, which is why I got the 85mm 1.8. But I need a zoom as the prime was too limiting. So I started saving up for the 2.8 lens. When I got the 10D last June, my wife took over my D30 and of course I had to leave the 28-105 on it. So I got the 24-70 2.8L. That is one sweat lens. But I still had my eye on the 70-200 or 100-400 lens. I really debated back and forth for several months on that (I blame Jim and his jet boat and car race pictures for making me even think about it ). I shoot a big dog show every fall (9 days of shooting this year) and it wasn't until the week before we left (end of Sept) that I went ahead and decided on getting the 70-200 2.8L IS. I almost didn't get the IS, because it doesn't help with stopping action, but I do take a lot of pictures where everyone is standing still and it would help there.

My plan was to sell the D30 and 70-200 4.0L after I got the 10D. But I hadn't a clue that my wife was waiting to pounce on my D30. So I'll let her use the slower lens on the D30 and I'll have it for when I need a backup camera (if I can pry the D30 out of her hands) or I'll use it on my EOS 3. Since most of my main shooting is done for the winter, I won't really benifit from the 100-400 until next spring. So I'll keep that on my list and save my money. Who knows, the price might come down, or they might have a faster version by then.

But that's how I ended up with both lenses. one advantage to having a wife that is using the D30 so much... she's already starting to see the advantages of having a faster lens than the 28-105 3.5 USM lens and the faster AF and bigger buffer of the 10D. I've let her use my 24-70 a couple of times as well as the 70-200 2.8 (I had to leave the 10D attached) and she could really tell the differences. So I need to figure out how to work this to my advantage. Maybe when the 3D comes out? ;D

Mike

[Belmondo]

mjordan wrote:But I hadn't a clue that my wife was waiting to pounce on my D30.


Boy, do we have different wives! Mine lets me go wherever and do whatever I want just as long as there's a major mall in the area to drop her off at. I don't think she's ever had a camera in her hand except once when she said, "What's this?"

:~( :~( :~( :~( :~(

You are blessed, young man.

Tom

[mjordan]

belmondo wrote:
mjordan wrote:But I hadn't a clue that my wife was waiting to pounce on my D30.


Boy, do we have different wives! Mine lets me go wherever and do whatever I want just as long as there's a major mall in the area to drop her off at. I don't think she's ever had a camera in her hand except once when she said, "What's this?"

:~( :~( :~( :~( :~(

You are blessed, young man.

Tom

LOL! I'd be blessed if she was Photoshop literit and knew how to deal with raw images and could keep her computer running. So besides the thousands of images I take that I have to deal with, she does a few thousand herself and I have to walk her through processing them and creating a web gallery and explaining things to her. I don't know if you would call me blessed or not. LOL!

Mike