Ive currently got a Canon SLR 350D and am looking to upgrade. Does anybody know what the industry standard is for kite pics atm? Was looking at getting a secondhand Canon EOS 1D Mark II? Do mags like KBM have rquirements like submitting pics in RAW format to ensure no tampering? Also can anyone recommend some good lenses?
my favourite lens is my efs 50-300mm image stabalized lens. great for the majority of kitesurfing photos and it didnt hurt the bank to much i think they are about 600-700 each. any photos ive had published has just been asked for in high res so L setting i guess. but ihavent done shots for kbm. which is sick! i loved some of the shots taken in this months mag killa kite loop great angle :) about middle section bottom left hand corner
Sweet. Are the images still sharp in the 300mm range? How far can it shoot to? Im in Whistler atm and have been having a crack at shooting snowboarding. I saw a dude attempting to kite on a frozen lake a month or so back. Looked pretty fun. Yeh ive got a KBM subscription. Cant wait to get stuck into all the issues ive missed
just to give you an idea dude this shot i remember he was frikin miles away and its at the full 300 range
average to dark lighting iso:400 Exp:1/500 f/5.6
still worked pretty well
he is right. the body really doesnt make that much difference to the shot its all about the glass i had a budget and im happy what i got cus i knew i couldnt spend any more. so you could keep the 350d and just spend your coin on a decent lens. i guess it depends where you intend on taking your shots but a 300mm should be enough
as a semi pro sports photographer and owner of the 350 and 1DMkII, there is a massive difference in the capability of the 1D over the 350 especially for sports specific photography. But for all its advantages the 1D is a photographers camera you have to tell it what to do, not just turn it on and press the shutter button. So be prepared for a learning curve if you decide on the 1DMkII
Sure a good lens does make a difference but the 350 does not have enough of the right AF sensors to take advantage of the wide aperture you are paying for on the f2.8 L series lenses. if you really want a hi end lens get the f4 versions they have all the same glass treatments and tough construction as the f2.8's, not to mention they are much lighter and smaller for the equivalent focal lengths.
deciding on which lens to use should be a creative choice, if you need to get closer you dont necessarily need to use a 12x or 400mm lens. get out there and get closer to the action! (unless its just too dangerous to get there)
the EF-S 50-300 is a great lens and a good starting point if you are going to stick with the EF-S compatible bodies
Personally when i am on the beach i'll pick up the kite over the camera every time.
The 40d model will work fine with the faster aperature lens of f2.8...But the 40d is still a cropped dslr (not a 35mm sensor) where as the mk has the 35mm sensor... Not vital if it’s cropped a little unless you also want to shoot landscape with a 15 to 35mm lens then you loose some of the width.
If you have the budget I'd recommend the 40d with the 70 to 200 mm f2.8 l lens ...you can then get the extender to further the zoom reach and only loose one focal stop. That’s priced around 3.8 to 4.5 k depending on how well you shop around for prices. . This is my lens/camera of choice , I have also the 300mm f4 lens which I haven’t had much use of yet, I haven’t bought the 2x extender yet so cant say with total conviction about image quality. But it will open the 200mm to a 400mm zoom.
Bit of tech info….
The faster the lens (larger aperture f2.8) the faster shutter speeds your able to use, because your letting in more light, which results ultimately in sharper action images.. your also able to use a lower iso (for less noise) and with the larger aperture you have more depth of field view options. Basically gives you more versatility be that from low light to different compositions.
If you own a money tree then look for the 300mm f2.8, around 6 to 8k for one of those suckers!
fps is most important. It allows you to get sequences and not have to be so on it with your timing.
so a minimum of a 40d (or even a 20d). anything more consumer then that and you aint getting a high enough fps for sequences.
a 70-200L (F2.8 IS, F4 IS, F2.8, F4 in preference)
a 24-70L
and a fisheye.
full frame (never shoot from 0-5m and pictures are usually framed on the rider) and physco f stops arent important. (at least on the wide lenses)
But to be brutally honest equally good shots as to what appear in kiteboarder could be taken with a 40c reject shop disposable by Muhammad ali on uppers.
www.photozone.de
Briliant site for deciding on lenses.
Yes, get as wide and apeture as you can.
Rememer that a crop sensor body will amplify you effective zoom of a lense. On full frame (ie, film or Canon 5d, Nikon D3 etc) a 400mm lens is a 400mm lense. on crop sensor ( Canon 40d Nikon d300) it's approx 600mm
Spend your money on lenses, not body.
There is more to a good lens than sharpness, remember Vignetting barrel distortion and Chromatic Abberation.
All zoom lenses suffer the worst of these at the highest focal length point and widest apeture, which sux, so check out that site to help decide
Buy a monopod for long zoom (godsend!)
Fast Memory card=high frames per second for longer, dont skimp if your serious about capturing sequences)
The camera body is a means to an end, if it shoots at 6 frames a second, has a decant sensor that wont suffer colour depth loss at higher iso and makes sense for you, then thats enough.
Only ever shoot in Raw. when you get that perfect shot but its over exposed by 2 stops and its in raw, you can pull it back in line easily. you'd be deleting it if it was JPEG, the colour depth (ie 14bit etc) of RAW will also blow JPEG clean off the water.
Shoot raw, edit, convert to TIFF, send to mag.
You'll probably need a good program to get the most from a raw. (and CS2 cant handl the raw out put from a Canon 40d, which sux too)
I shoot my work with a 40d, Canon L 70-200 f4 IS USM and L 100-400 F4.5-5.6 IS USM
from land and with the L 17-40 f4 USM from the water.
Next replacment purchase will the the 70 200 f2.8 then fixed focal 400mm.
James
All these sic nuts photography set ups and no pics, well i can't say much for the photos in the seabreeze selection
....
That's because we are all out there kiting!! These were taken about 2 days before I got my gear. No photos since.
I have some. I took these with a 400D, EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM (One ugly mother lens. slow. Noisey. Seems to do the job.):
....
Does have to be any photos for the information to make any sense. Do people have to post a picture to qualify for an opinion and is that opinion more believable if the person posts a picture?
hey rob, not sure if you went for that ebay deal or not, but if i was you I wouldnt go for the 1D unless you really know what you are doing with a camera.
ie using Av, Tv , Program and manual mode. If you dont - then that camera is going to be wasted on you.
Spend the money on some good L lenses - and go for a 40D. (sadly i just sold a brand new aussie one on ebay for 1200).
you get much more bang for buck with the lens.... at this level of camera.
Even if the lenses you get in the States you decide to change, you can sell them here in australia for more than you paid for them in the states.
as previously suggested- best to hire some lenses and see what you like.
some of the best surf photographers use the 350d and 4OD.
you can get good water cases for them here in aus.
they are smaller and lighter - and honestly - as i say unless you know how to use a camera like a pro - the 1D will be a waste.
