Falkirk Bohemians - My Fair Lady

[alan_potter]

For the past three and a haf years I have been taking show photographs with my 350D (Rebel XT). Which is a nice camera, but I feel that I have gone about as far as I can go with it. So I had decided that "at some point" I would replace it with a 5D Mk II.

"At some point" was forced upon me when I realised that purchases at Jessops made through Quidco would receive 10% cashback... and so I spent what seems to me to be a lot of money on the aforementioned beast.

I bought the camera on the Sunday, and on the Monday evening was shooting the Falkirk Bohemians. So should I take the old 350D, or the new 5D Mk II?

Silly question really...

I found that the 24-105mm f/4.0 L was just not going to work on the full frame camera, so I used the 70-200mm f/4.0 L instead. No image stabilisation, but I don't think that that was a problem.

What I did notice was that the DOF at the long end of the zoom was pretty thin, and that noise now seems to be a thing of the past! Handling was a dream, too, and sRAW1 mode seemed to be a great compromise between the amount of space used on the memory card and numbers of pixels.

I am still slightly nauseous about how much money I paid for this camera, but I think I am really going to enjoy it...

Anyway, photographs...

1. Eliza visits Higgins' house to ask for lessons in "speaking proper"
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2688/4081793642_8cd8c240d7_o.jpg

2. The Rain In Spain Stays Mainly In The Plain
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2421/4081793478_c56d75b4d1_o.jpg

3. The Ascot Gavotte
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2571/4081793796_da693665be_o.jpg

4. Higgins' mother does not seem impressed when he suggests that a flower girl will visit her table
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2750/4081793904_dfff6c1f17_o.jpg

5. After the great ball where Eliza is such a success, she feels left out as everyone congratulates Higgins on his achievement (DOF was really good for this!)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3490/4081794060_4b7508de5c_o.jpg

6. Eliza is miserable as she tries to work out what will become of her
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2658/4081794158_25717800ca_o.jpg

7. Back in the "common" part of town, Eliza's father is celebrating his impending marriage
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3513/4081794324_2c6d65b776_o.jpg

8. One of the most famous lines of dialogue from a musical. "Eliza, where the devil are my slippers?"
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2794/4081794482_87db9928ab_o.jpg

The flickr set is http://www.flickr.com/photos/atp/sets/72157622625373351/ and more photographs will be added to http://www.stagepics.co.uk soon.

I think I am really going to like the 5dII; I feel that I did a competent job with this set but there are many advancements to come in future.

Comments and criticism welcome

regards,
/alan

[René Damkot]

Some nice shots in all galleries, but they really need to work on obscuring those microphones better....

[alan_potter]

Thank you... at least they've stopped using boom mikes; they were just too unpleasant! But I'd agree, they do seem awfully prominent. Maybe I should just stop shooting close-ups!

regards,
/alan

[DwightMcCann]

I look at the pictures before reading the text and thought, "Holy Crap, Alan's work has taken an amazing leap forward!" Then I saw it was only equipment ... ho hum! LOL. So, toughen up and start asking a few bucks for your images like the rest of us!

[MDJAK]

Nice shots, very nice.

Question: Why do you say 24-105 will not work on the 5DII? Unless I'm mistaken, that's not a crap -- err, I mean crop lens. It may not be long enough, but it'll work just fine.

mark

[johnstoy]

Very nice costumes... looks like a real good show... Your pics capture it well.

[alan_potter]

Why thank you! The new gear does make quite a difference - the only noise reduction I was using was the default in the beta of Lightroom 3!

Mark, you are quite correct - the 24-105mm is a lovely lens on the 5D, but it just wasn't long enough. Full frame is clearly going to make me completely re-think my lens selections.

And I do sell the pictures! This lot got me a bulk order that accounts for about 10% of the cost of the new camera, so I'm pretty happy about that :)

Thanks again, gentlemen

regards,
/alan

[divamum]

Really nice shots - oh, how I covet a 5d2 for capturing performances!

My only question: why on earth are they keeping the body-mics so visible?! It's just as easy to run them up through the wig, under a collar, or into a shirt.... :confused:

[Red Tie Photography]

Those look great! I am looking at getting a 5d2 real soon and i love to see these types of shots to confirm my decision, and its great that it is already starting to pay for itself!

[4g63]

very nice! like the last 2.