GKPE: General Ramblings thread

weka2000 wrote:
Yeh I know. However I shoot my mouth off as much as I shoot off a 2gig CF card. I did over 200 Photos yesterday.

Just woken up, ah its nice not to be awake at 5am. Sunrises are for the birds wake me up when its all over

So not only do you talk to yourself, you do it alot.

so how many photos can you store on a 2gb card?

Hi

Thanks everyone for all the advice - I think I am just as confused now as everyone has a different favourite LOL

Weight, hadn't really thought about that before, but I guess if I am going to be lugging it around the place I will have to consider it more - I have no problem carrying my 75-300 IS USM lens around all day - but I think that is pretty light compared to any of the options that have been presented - ok, most are at around double the weight, but that should be fine I think .

Budget....... ah, yes, well, that is something I am making up as I go along I have a feeling the 100-400 might be out of reach budget wise, but will wait and see what Harveys have to say.

I know the f2.8 would be great for low light (and we certainly get a lot of that here in NZ at motorsports), but I guess at the moment I would just like a sharper lens, and I can still get that at F4? If I get the 70-200 I will get a 1.4 converter anyway so that is more cost. At some tracks I definitely use more of the 70-200 range, but I would hate to go over to Oran Park (Sydney), and find I needed a bit more range for the spectator areas over there!

So at the moment I am slightly leaning towards the Canon 70-200 in F4 plus the 1.4 teleconverter... feel free to jump in and tell me that is the wrong thing to do LOL

That would be a great combination.
Light and very sharp (but all the 70-200's are really).
Only catch is f5.6 when you put the 1.4 TC on.
But if you're over at Oran Park there's probably a good chance of sunshine

No matter what lens you get I would still get a 1.4 TC to give you more flexability.

Personally I'd get the Sigma 70-200 f2.8 to have the ability to use a 1.4 or 2 x TC and still keep autofocus.

TKRFAN wrote:
Hi

Thanks everyone for all the advice - I think I am just as confused now as everyone has a different favourite LOL

Weight, hadn't really thought about that before, but I guess if I am going to be lugging it around the place I will have to consider it more - I have no problem carrying my 75-300 IS USM lens around all day - but I think that is pretty light compared to any of the options that have been presented - ok, most are at around double the weight, but that should be fine I think .

Budget....... ah, yes, well, that is something I am making up as I go along I have a feeling the 100-400 might be out of reach budget wise, but will wait and see what Harveys have to say.

I know the f2.8 would be great for low light (and we certainly get a lot of that here in NZ at motorsports), but I guess at the moment I would just like a sharper lens, and I can still get that at F4? If I get the 70-200 I will get a 1.4 converter anyway so that is more cost. At some tracks I definitely use more of the 70-200 range, but I would hate to go over to Oran Park (Sydney), and find I needed a bit more range for the spectator areas over there!

So at the moment I am slightly leaning towards the Canon 70-200 in F4 plus the 1.4 teleconverter... feel free to jump in and tell me that is the wrong thing to do LOL

As a previous owner of a 75-300IS I can vouch for the huge improvement you will get with a 70-200 f/4 or f/2.8, in fact the 70-200 at 200mm cropped to the same coverage as 300mm is actually sharper than the 75-300 at 300mm

I thought about getting the 1.4TC for my 70-200, but really I don't miss the extra 100mm due to the sharpness I now have

I used my Sigma 70-200 + 1.4TC at Puke for the V8s this year and it was great! I probably could have got away without the TC in the spot I had. The thing I was most impressed with was the AF. It wasthe first time I had used the lens/TC combo to track fast moving objects in AI Servo mode. I think any of the canon or sigma 70-200 would be the same, although I have not heard how the f4 AF is with a TC on.

As for budget, I got the 70-200 off trademe (mint condition) and TC second hand from auckland camera for a total of $920. I can't justify the new prices on this stuff (wife, kids, mortgage etc), but I am still chuffed about the bargin price I got the 70-200 for ($700). If you can be patient these deals do come up on trademe from time to time, but you have got to be quick, and lucky.

Hi All

Thanks for that Fran

I have decided to be sensible with the budget (arrrrgh) so I think the F4 will have to be the lens for now

But another question (sorry).....

Do the Tamron teleconverters 1.4x still allow the autofocus features of the lens to function (I assume they don't, but am having trouble finding anything about it)?

Yeah, don't give up on the TradeMe thing, there are still bargins to be had, I got my 70-200 f/2.8 for $1300, it just has a bit of cosmentic wear on the barrel, looks well loved!

nzl-g3user wrote:
So not only do you talk to yourself, you do it alot.

so how many photos can you store on a 2gb card?

100 the raw files for the 5D are 12meg each

I have the Canon 70-200 F4 Sharp and light.
I had a play with Petes 70-200 F2.8 with my 2x TC quality mininmal loss against my Sigma 50-500 at same lengths.
Played with Scotts Sigma 70-200 personally found it a bit soft on Full frame. but on a 1.6 crop (which most of the lens tests are done) would be fine.

I would go for the Sigma 70-200 F2.8 EX you get the ability to add a 1,4 and 2.0 TC and still retain autofocus. Its a lot cheaper than the Canon 70-200 F2.8
Buy adding a 2xTC you will find out if you need something that will go to 400mm.

The bigma (sigma 50-500) cost me $1500 and its perfect on a 1.6 crop vignettes on Full Frame untill about F11.

There have been a lot of Canon 70-200 F4 for sale on trade me lately for around the $1100 mark.

TKRFAN wrote:
I have decided to be sensible with the budget (arrrrgh) so I think the F4 will have to be the lens for now

Hey, I am going to go against the grain on this one. When it comes to motorsport the longer then lens the better. That's why I would recommend the sigma 100-300 F4. The pics are sharper and despite 2 days of use at the super v8's I didn't lose focus. The only down side is the weight, but in saying that it still can be used hand held.

I do think that this lens with the 1.4 is a better combo than the 70-200 F2.8. One of the reasons is you don't have to add/remove the TC's to get that extra reach to 300, and with the 1.4x you get the same focal lenght as the 70-200 with the 2x.


Here are a couple of prices from auckland camera center.
Simga 100-300 F4 $2105.00
Simga 70-200 F2.8 + 1.4x $1769.00+$339.00=$2108

But we all know that the Canon 70-200 F4 is a great lens. Never used it myself but there are enought people around here that have and they rave about it.

Depends if you want to use it for anything else.....70-200 + TC is more flexable.

I used a 70-200 f4 for a few shots on the first GKPE we had. I remember being amazed by the sharpness, colour and contrast of the pics ( had an old canon 55-200 at the time). Of couse ducks and swans at western springs is a bit different to racing cars.

that's ture. But it's only a stop faster, which can be usefull in low light. And you only lose on the short end of about 30mm. Which since we all have feet we should be able to move to make that difference

Yeah but what about that Pukeko

I may have to use Tony's Sigmonster a bit... I think we may all have to!

Hopefully it gets another good use at this weekends D1NZ on Sunday, however don't know if I can get the day off work yet!

I'm definately buying a 1DMkIII, and in about 2 years when I'm completely debt free, I may consider a 300-800mm, for wildlife photography and other stuff. For now, the 120-300 is perfect, and I may buy the 2x converter within a few months, to try 600mm F5.6 to see how sharp she really is.. you never know, I may not need longer than 300mm 2.8.

400mm 2.8 is so heavy and expensive, may as well spend the same on a 300-800 with more use. The Sigma 500 4.5 doesnt seem to exist. Maybe Sigma stopped making it.

So my likely future in photography, (providing I stay free lance, or not employed by somewhere where I get free equipment),

1DMkIII
1x 580EX
1x Macro lens
Keep the 20D as the 2nd body

I think then, I could keep all the lens for approx 5-10 years, and bodies replace every 3 years, give away the 20D to family, it won't be worth too much, maybe $700. ANd buy a 1DSMkIV.

Oh, and I've decided I'll buy a Mini Cooper S, black or blue and have it signwritten with my details

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Wazza wrote:
Oh let's not forget the future.. House, wife, 7 kids... Better get the camera gear before it's a firm NO.

You've checked all of this with Kirst I take it?
Or have you yet to discover that Women plan decades everything in advance, and I mean everything.