Welll the other night, I pre-ordered the Canon EOS-7D. I got it from NewEgg, and they listed the release date as 10/21. SWEET! Yesterday! So I figured maybe I’ll get it by Friday, and then I’ll have something to do most of the weekend. Wrong. Now it says 10/31. WTF!!! Not NewEgg’s prob, as they prolly had a ton of pre-orders, but dammit I want my camera!
And then yesterday, a few packages come for me. One from BH photo, which was my tripod. I took it out and did a quick look over and didn’t notice anything wrong. I get back to my apt (I have most packages shipped to my mom’s) I take it out again. It’s missing the tilt arm/lock. The pan arm is also broken. WTF! This is the second tripod I’ve bought that was missing the damn tilt arm. So now I gotta call them up when they open and hopefully get a new one and not have to pay for shipping.
I also got my 70-200 f/2.8L IS, 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS, and 580EX II flash. Tomorrow, my 2X teleconverter, 50mm f/1.4, eyepiece extender, and a couple of the filters should be here.
Any other suggestions on lenses without spending too too much money?
May I suggest a Brita filter, it will filter the minerals out of the water so when the camera gets wet it will be less likely to short the electronics. Just my $0.02
Reason #1 why B&H has more of my moneyz than any other place. A member on another photo forum I’m on pre-ordered from B&H and had his on 10/15 in his hands.
B&H > all*
I’ve never had to deal with B&H for broken stuff, but I have heard sometimes than can be a cocksucker to get to replace stuff and other times they are fine. All depends who you talk to and how nice you are I guess.
:thumbup Good gear to get! I’ve got each of those with the exception of the 50mm. I have a Canon 50mm f/1.8 that I rarely use, my 85 f/1.2L is a focal length I use more if I am in that range. I just ordered a Canon 35 f/1.4L thats coming tomorrow for an upcoming project and to use for general shooting with a shorter focal length and larger aperture.
I’ve been seeing the benefits of using primes over zooms lately and have been contemplating selling my 70-200 f/2.8L IS and 100-400L and replacing the 70-200 with a 200L (since I have an 85L and 135L) and picking up a 400 f/5.6L to replace the 100-400L…but maybe down the road I will do that.
I think you will really like the 70-200 when you do use it, its a great lens and performs awesome in low light. The 100-400L loves light, the more you give it the happier it is.
I would wait before ordering another lens until you see what focal length you use more or would use more, no sense in buying a lens you will never use. Do you have a 17-40 f/4L or 16-35 f/2.8L to use as a general purpose “walk around” lens? If not you could look into one of those as well.
For screw in, threaded filters I have had good luck with Heliopan, B+W, and Singh-Ray. The majority of my filters are Heliopan, the B+W and Singh-Ray filters I have are more specialty filters that I dont use all the time. A filter is only as good as the glass its made from, so don’t skimp.
The one filter that is a usable filter to have is a circular polarizer (CP). It will enhance greens and blues when rotated on the lens and be most usable when the filter is angled 90* to the sun. It also cuts glare and reflections from windows and body panels on vehicles nicely too. My main CP filters are Kasemann glass, which have sealed glass so the filter wont delaminate from moisture change and extreme temerature change. A filter may never delaminate but its nice to know its a better quality filter.
A UV or Protection filter is just a clear glass filter you can put on the lens that will keep the front element from getting contaminated or scrathced. Its not a bad idea to have, a $100 filter is easier and cheaper to replace than a front element on a $1K+ lens.
A Nuetral Density (ND) filter is something else you could look into if you want to increase your exposure time. I use a 3-stop ND filter for my moving water shots stacked on top of a CP filter to reduce glare and reflections on the water, and the ND filter allows less light to enter the lens so a longer shutter speed is needed than without it, the end result is blurred water with a properly exposed image. There are lots of other uses for ND filters too.
What made you go with a 7D instead of a 5DMarkII or a 1DMarkIII?
I called them up first thing when I woke up and they already emailed me my UPS shipping label to return it. I also re-ordered the same tripod so I have minimal downtime, since they threw in free 2-day shipping for me. So far, so good. I may cancel my order w/ NewEgg onn the 7D… I heard Ray’s Supply or some places of that nature has the 7D in stock and they’re local. Nick S. (AMD IS BEST) just picked up a &d from BH today when he was in NYC. I is jealous.
:thumbup Good gear to get! I’ve got each of those with the exception of the 50mm. I have a Canon 50mm f/1.8 that I rarely use, my 85 f/1.2L is a focal length I use more if I am in that range. I just ordered a Canon 35 f/1.4L thats coming tomorrow for an upcoming project and to use for general shooting with a shorter focal length and larger aperture.
I’ve been seeing the benefits of using primes over zooms lately and have been contemplating selling my 70-200 f/2.8L IS and 100-400L and replacing the 70-200 with a 200L (since I have an 85L and 135L) and picking up a 400 f/5.6L to replace the 100-400L…but maybe down the road I will do that.
I think you will really like the 70-200 when you do use it, its a great lens and performs awesome in low light. The 100-400L loves light, the more you give it the happier it is.
I would wait before ordering another lens until you see what focal length you use more or would use more, no sense in buying a lens you will never use. Do you have a 17-40 f/4L or 16-35 f/2.8L to use as a general purpose “walk around” lens? If not you could look into one of those as well.
I’m not huge on prime lenses because most of the shooting I do is at a race track, so I am constantly zooming in/out. Plus say something awesome happened but was out of the prime’s range, I don’t wanna risk losing a potentially amazing shot because I was putting a different lens on lol. I have a few non-L lenses as well: 28-135mm IS EF, 10-22 EF-S, 18-55 EF-S, and 70-300 IS EF (going to be selling that very soon though, since I have better lenses now with the same ranges). I was told I may want to look into the 24-105mm f/4L IS or the 24-70 f/2.8L.
For screw in, threaded filters I have had good luck with Heliopan, B+W, and Singh-Ray. The majority of my filters are Heliopan, the B+W and Singh-Ray filters I have are more specialty filters that I dont use all the time. A filter is only as good as the glass its made from, so don’t skimp.
The one filter that is a usable filter to have is a circular polarizer (CP). It will enhance greens and blues when rotated on the lens and be most usable when the filter is angled 90* to the sun. It also cuts glare and reflections from windows and body panels on vehicles nicely too. My main CP filters are Kasemann glass, which have sealed glass so the filter wont delaminate from moisture change and extreme temerature change. A filter may never delaminate but its nice to know its a better quality filter.
A UV or Protection filter is just a clear glass filter you can put on the lens that will keep the front element from getting contaminated or scrathced. Its not a bad idea to have, a $100 filter is easier and cheaper to replace than a front element on a $1K+ lens.
A Nuetral Density (ND) filter is something else you could look into if you want to increase your exposure time. I use a 3-stop ND filter for my moving water shots stacked on top of a CP filter to reduce glare and reflections on the water, and the ND filter allows less light to enter the lens so a longer shutter speed is needed than without it, the end result is blurred water with a properly exposed image. There are lots of other uses for ND filters too.
I ordered two Canon 77mm UV filters (I just use them for protection) and then a 77mm CP from BW. I have a cheaper SunPak CP filter on my 28-135, and so far so good now that I know how to use it properly.
What made you go with a 7D instead of a 5DMarkII or a 1DMarkIII?
I was going to get the 1Ds MarkIII, but I see they came out with the 1D Mark IV already (but that’s still a crop frame), so I figure the 1Ds Mark IV shouldn’t be too far behind. I want that mainly just because of the weather resistance (to an extent) since I will prolly end up shooting when there’s a drizzle out again. I got the 7D for now, because I still wanted a crop frame cam without going overboard (1D). The 7D will make a great backup cam as well.
Alright cool, they are taking care of you then. I’m sure somewhere local down there has them in stock too.
Gotcha. If you are planning on upgrading to a full frame sensor camera at some point going with L glass and trading off your EF-S lenses is a good idea being that they wont mount up right to your EF body.
I have a 24-70 f/2.8L now, for what I shoot I found it to be too narrow on a crop body but it seems to be good on my 5D. I’m still not 100% sold on its image quality, it sometimes seems soft. It was a tough choice between that and a 24-105 f/4L IS but having a larger aperture outweighed f/4 and IS for me. I wonder now if IQ is better with the 24-105, and having the extra length might be good too.
:thumbup
I hear you there, the weather sealing is nice even for dust in the air…wish I had it. I dont know if I’m sold on the 7D yet, I’m skeptical of how many pixels you can stuff into a sensor and still maintain good or better IQ and dynamic range. I want to see some pics with it when you or AMD do get it!
Got the new tripod today and it’s 100% fine, which is nice.
My 50mm f/1.4 came in as well and is pretty damn cool to shoot with. Also got my 16GB CF cards, eye-piece extender, and a couple other things.
I canceled my order w/ NewEgg on the camera, and re-ordered it w/ BH. Should be here middle of next week.
I also ordered a grip for it and the 24-70mm f/2.8L. I figured I could sacrifice the IS for the lower aperture like KillerBlackbird said.