-= T2i / 550D users UNITE! (2) =-

RafaPolit wrote in post #12191219
Allan, once again, great images from your new lens! If this does not convince Itzmered she should save $600 and buy this version instead of the $50-500 I don't know what will!
Rafa.

Rafa you will be glad to know that I have decided I am going to buy this lens and use the $600 I am saving to pick up a few other things I want

Once again Allan you have wowed me with some excellent shots.

My husband just asked what I was doing and I told him to hush I was attending class I learn so much just reading through this thread everyday!

A couple of questions:
What metering mode does everyone usually shoot in? Is there one that is preferable to another and why?
I was reading the post about HTP do all of you use this also? I still feel like such a newbie

One more.......... and don't ask me how I did this. I have no idea!!

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AnnieBananie wrote in post #12191489
Keep practicing. It'll come.

I'm loving that lion shot. It literally made me LOL. Great timing.

Ouch, I'm looking for honesty, but geeez Annie To think, I tried to shoot a dam duck during nesting and she tried to kill me.....just for you Annie!!! It was blown out from the light so I deleted it, was trying to blur out the back ground and must of had sometthing set wrong because it was blown out bad, almost white.

Rafa to be honest with you I'd have to go back, I believe I was shooting only with
adjusting the aperture setting. I really wasn't sure on what to do, I've been focusing on indoor, close up and Glamour. So with a starting point of 1/125 F8+ 100-200 ISO and playing with lighting and with changing your lighting and aperture you can do some call stuff. Me being far from the subjuct, direct sun light, High ISO, HIgh F stop and shutter speed I focused more on subject matter/background than I did with camera settings.

Tomorrow I'm shooting at a SCCA race for one of my enployee's, just for fun. I'm sure I'm going to have the same issues. Not having a clue what I'm doing. Might shoot in Auto and play with shutter speed on a mono pod

Anyone one want some Canon equipment cheap No not you Annie

You mentioned focus, most of the time I focused on the subject, however for effect on some, focused before to create a different effect or try to

RafaPolit wrote in post #12191388
I changed both batteries on the grip and the camera is back to functioning properly, but there was NO indication of Low Battery EVER!!! Do your grips report the battery charge correctly or do you guys just change them every so often??? I'm really concerned, as this could lead to a more permanent camera failure, and I'm eagerly waiting for your own experiences. Please, PLEASE! answer? Thanks,

Rafa.

I use the Meike battery grip. The normal way it functions is that it will report a full charge up until it is nearly depleted. It will switch from full to 'partial' and I know that low with flashing red is soon to follow. The rate is not linear as it was with just the factory battery installed. It simply drops out to a 'Change Battery Pack' message and shuts off without a problem.

I hope you just experienced a odd bug and nothing serious. Let us know if you have any more issues with it. Also, I may have missed the discussion so which battery grip are you using? Is it the OEM Canon grip or an aftermarket one?

I went for a short walk in the beautiful spring sunshine today and got a couple of weak shots. I'm still struggling with getting the kind of shots I want with the 70-200 f2.5 IS. Oh well, practice will hopefully get me there. I leave tomorrow morning for a week long Caribbean cruise so hopefully I will get lots of good shots that I can post here.

Carmen

itzmered wrote in post #12191647
A couple of questions:
What metering mode does everyone usually shoot in? Is there one that is preferable to another and why?

It really depends on what you're shooting and what you want to emphasize in your photo. If the scene doesn't have a lot of contrast then evaluative will usually do a pretty good job. But any time you're dealing with backlighting or scenes with a lot of contrast in light you are usually better off using spot metering so you can meter the exact part of the scene you want to be properly exposed.

For example, all of the shots I posted today were spot metering. For shooting the kids I had to because there was just so much light in the sky and surroundings compared to the kids themselves that every shot would have underexposed the main subject due to all the ambient light. Same thing with the sunset pic, if I didn't tell it to specifically expose for the sun (or very near it) the camera would have wanted to leave the shutter open a long time to get the whole scene to light up and it would have been ruined.

So, that's the quick and dirty of it. For everyday stuff with uniform lighting you'll get by fine with evaluative. But once you start dealing with tricky lighting situations or want more control over specifically what to expose for, then spot metering is going to be better for you.

Hollywoodgt wrote in post #12191660
Ouch, I'm looking for honesty, but geeez Annie To think, I tried to shoot a dam duck during nesting and she tried to kill me.....just for you Annie!!! It was blown out from the light so I deleted it, was trying to blur out the back ground and must of had sometthing set wrong because it was blown out bad, almost white.

Rafa to be honest with you I'd have to go back, I believe I was shooting only with
adjusting the aperture setting. I really wasn't sure on what to do, I've been focusing on indoor, close up and Glamour. So with a starting point of 1/125 F8+ 100-200 ISO and playing with lighting and with changing your lighting and aperture you can do some call stuff. Me being far from the subjuct, direct sun light, High ISO, HIgh F stop and shutter speed I focused more on subject matter/background than I did with camera settings.

Anyone one want some Canon equipment cheap No not you Annie

You are too funny.

Okay.. this may or may not work for you, since light is different everywhere. Here in South Florida, the Sunshine State, our light is generally really harsh. Bright sun and deep shadows. My two standby settings that seem to work better than any others are ISO 100 at F/5.6 or ISO 400 at F/8. I generally will try my shots both ways if the subject permits, and then will decide which looks better when I get them on the computer. Most of the time, it's the ISO400 at F/8 that I like the best.

Go outside and practice on anything, just so you figure out which settings work the best for you and under which conditions. It's not a hard and fast rule, and sometimes they don't work at all, but it's a good start.

And don't feel bad. There have been plenty of times I've forgotten to change my settings. I think it's safe to say that at least most of us have done that.

itzmered wrote in post #12191647
My husband just asked what I was doing and I told him to hush I was attending class I learn so much just reading through this thread everyday!

A couple of questions:
What metering mode does everyone usually shoot in? Is there one that is preferable to another and why?
I was reading the post about HTP do all of you use this also? I still feel like such a newbie

I almost always have it set to Evaluative Metering. Sometimes you may need to set to Spot Metering if you have a backlight to contend with or something but otherwise I go Evaluative.

Sorry but what is 'HTP'?

itzmered wrote in post #12191647
My husband just asked what I was doing and I told him to hush I was attending class I learn so much just reading through this thread everyday!

A couple of questions:
What metering mode does everyone usually shoot in? Is there one that is preferable to another and why?
I was reading the post about HTP do all of you use this also? I still feel like such a newbie

marubozo wrote in post #12191691
It really depends on what you're shooting and what you want to emphasize in your photo. If the scene doesn't have a lot of contrast then evaluative will usually do a pretty good job. But any time you're dealing with backlighting or scenes with a lot of contrast in light you are usually better off using spot metering so you can meter the exact part of the scene you want to be properly exposed.

For example, all of the shots I posted today were spot metering. For shooting the kids I had to because there was just so much light in the sky and surroundings compared to the kids themselves that every shot would have underexposed the main subject due to all the ambient light. Same thing with the sunset pic, if I didn't tell it to specifically expose for the sun (or very near it) the camera would have wanted to leave the shutter open a long time to get the whole scene to light up and it would have been ruined.

So, that's the quick and dirty of it. For everyday stuff with uniform lighting you'll get by fine with evaluative. But once you start dealing with tricky lighting situations or want more control over specifically what to expose for, then spot metering is going to be better for you.

DS_Monsoon wrote in post #12191712
I almost always have it set to Evaluative Metering. Sometimes you may need to set to Spot Metering if you have a backlight to contend with or something but otherwise I go Evaluative.

Sorry but what is 'HTP'?

Maru is correct, in that a lot depends on what you are shooting. Because I generally shoot wildlife, I tend to use spot metering, especially given that most of the birds here are either black or white.

You might want to see if your local library carries any of Scott Kelby's books on Understanding Exposure. I've found them to be a huge help.

RafaPolit wrote in post #12191530
Thanks Allan, which grip are you using? which batteries? do you place two of them on the grip or only one at a time? Thanks again,
Rafa.

My grip was sold by "Eshopic" on amazon.ca. It was the closest replica to the canon version (no digital screen or anything, the rubber grip part is identically shaped to the canon one unlike some of the 3rd party ones).

I use two batteries at a time, they are not 'authentic' canon ones but they do report accurate levels if used without the grip in the camera as normal.

RafaPolit wrote in post #12191513
Oh, you have no idea! If you head to the POTN Lounge, you'll see several that make us look like turtles racing against an F1 .

For instance, you know that every 10.000 posts the thread is made anew and starts its (2) incarnation? (like ours is now?) Well, the Red Ring Tupperware Party, Unabridged thread its in its 18th!!!! version... so, they have posted only on that thread more than 170.000 posts

Rafa.

wow....that is amazing.

itzmered wrote in post #12191627
Rafa you will be glad to know that I have decided I am going to buy this lens and use the $600 I am saving to pick up a few other things I want ...

Congrats Itzmered! I'm sure you won't regret it. After all we have seen on the lens and the specific usage on our camera and its behavior, I'm confident you'll enjoy it!

itzmered wrote in post #12191647
...What metering mode does everyone usually shoot in? Is there one that is preferable to another and why?
I was reading the post about HTP do all of you use this also?...

I'll answer the second question first as to how I use HTP: I DON'T use Highlight Tone unless under dramatic harsh daylight. And even then, not always. I don't use it much at all, but it has its uses. Its NOT a good idea to always leave it one though.

As for metering, I agree with most about what conditions bring the camera to difficult levels of metering but apparently I have a different approach.

I use the camera EXCLUSIVELY on Evaluative Metering. I then evaluate the scene, and by now I more or less know what the camera is going to expose right and what not (Maru has pointed the clear examples where it probably won't) so I dial the amount of Compensation I'm expecting. So, if I'm shooting a harsh backlit subject, I'll dial +1.66 or +2EVs... and, if conditions are even more critical and the camera will get it wrong all the time, I just switch to manual. I find it easier from my style of shooting to turn the dial very fast to change exposure than aiming at my desired 'correctly exposed' spot, locking the exposure, then moving to my focal point, locking focus and then recompose to take the picture.

I just expose really fast and focus-and-recompose and shoot.

That's my approach at least. So, 100% of the time in Evaluative, 50% of the time I leave it alone, 20% of the time I use EVs over Evaluative, 30% of the time I shoot manual (with the meter in Evaluative!)

Rafa.

hi everyone more rooster shots...

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RafaPolit wrote in post #12191796
As for metering, I agree with most about what conditions bring the camera to difficult levels of metering but apparently I have a different approach.

I use the camera EXCLUSIVELY on Evaluative Metering. I then evaluate the scene, and by now I more or less now what the camera is going to expose right and what not (Maru has pointed the clear examples where it probably won't) so I dial the amount of Compensation I'm expecting. So, if I'm shooting a harsh backlit subject, I'll dial +1.66 or +2EVs... and, if conditions are even more critical and the camera will get it wrong all the time, I just switch to manual. I find it easier from my style of shooting to turn the dial very fast to change exposure than aiming at my desired 'correctly exposed' spot, locking the exposure, then moving to my focal point, locking focus and then taking the picture.

I just expose really fast and focus-and-recompose and shoot.

That's my approach at least. So, 100% of the time in Evaluative, 50% of the time I leave it alone, 20% of the time I use EVs over Evaluative, 30% of the time I shoot manual (with the meter in Evaluative!)

Rafa.

You bring up a good point. If you are spot metering and don't lock your exposure you can get yourself into a lot of trouble if you're frequently recomposing the shot because just moving slightly can mean a totally different exposure than you expected. So your method is a foolproof way to get what you expect.