kja

I hate you all - I'm kinda obsessing about this bag now, but I really really don't need it and with things so unstable, shouldn't cave LOL

Just got an email from Snapfish - 50% off all canvas ordered before 25 October. I've had several canvas done with them a few years ago and they still look great. promo code is is XCAN50AU10

Last time it was Bellatrix and her pretty Kelly Bags. Grrr Yep... I feel like asking Santa for Kelly Moore bag for christmas I may be selling mine. I love looking at it but I never use it

hehe, I'm pretty good about just one lens and one body, but man, I adore the feel of my 1DIII and miss it when I shoot with something else. It's just so damned sexy to hold! So saying, I almost always take the 40D when I travel just coz it is smaller and lighter. I need so many other things before I need this bag ... but it's a heck of a great idea for the Xmas list for my family since I can never think of anything

I love the one with the orange. Unfortunately, when they say "full size dslr" they don't really mean it - my full size 1DIII and my gripped 40D won't fit. Or it might but then only one other lens or a flash will, too. Be a good bag when I go really light, though

LOL we haven't had a camera bag thread in a while! These are pretty nice!! Good find I do not need a new camera bag. I do not need a new camera bag.

Looking good! I really like the angle of the bug on #3 - well done!

So the flip side of Kirislin's story is that mine has never failed and I haven't missed focus in crappy light - my 50 1.4 is a good 'un. I wouldn't be too scared of pretty much any lens because of horror stories - when people have something that works, they rarely go on and on about it. When people have a problem with something, they get out there and share the story. Every manufacturer will have glitches now and again but both Canon and Sigma (the Sigma 50 1.4 is also an excellent choice btw!!) put out solid lenses that should have few problems overall. @kirs - so glad Canon came to the party for the other guy's mistake and that you have a working lens!!

The second one is kapowie! Love them

It's not actually the weight of the lens - it's not heavy. It's the technique.

The biggest difference will be the bokeh produced. Some people (I'd say most) would never notice. Some people also have focus issues with the 1.8. I didn't, mine was a total gem that didn't miss even in crappy lighting. I moved to the 1.4 because I needed that extra bit of light. If you aren't missing it or if your 1.8 is doing what you need it to do, you probably don't need to move up the ladder. If your are happy with your 50 1.8, I'd buy a different focal length before I'd move to the 1.4 50...

OK, yes, the face is underexposed and this will print dark. Does your camera have anything other than auto mode? If so, worth learning how to use it so you can get a crisply focused and well exposed image to start with. A little flash would have helped this one, too. Auto mode is easily tricked and it can be hard to get what you want. There is probably a little play in the original file so you could go into Lightroom (or your program of choice) and lighten the face up a bit. Nothing you can do in post about the out of focus bit this time Big W and the like can do very nice prints -it really depends on luck as the biggest problem with these places is consistency. Sometimes the print will be great, others bad. On the upside, they will reprint if you aren't satisfied - but you have to give them a good file. You can't take in a very under or over exposed image and expect the print to be right. quick and dirty edit:

How does the image look if you print it somewhere else? It could be the printer. Please post an example so we can see if it looks too dark or not. As for a new camera, what are your priorities & budget?

It would be a rare dive that I don't get to get up close and personal with some sort of shark. Fluffy wasn't there today which was disappointing, but there was lots of other stuff out and about. Including the cuties on my photo of the day! This is one of the money where my mouth is - sometimes it doesn't have to be a great photo to still rock

Rent it first for a week. Shoot nothing but that lens in everything you want it to do. Best way to figure out if it suits

Sorry, it's true. A mediocre/bad image from any camera can look great (I know, I've been known to post crap that looks great on the web LOL) while an image from a high end camera that hasn't been shot or prepared properly will look crappy. The high res or original file is the only way to truly tell. The Canon G10 is a great camera btw

Not to dis on any particular shot but you really can't tell diddly squat about quality on web sized posted images - you need to see the originals/high res files to truly tell. I could post an image from a low end point & shoot, a mid range point & shoot, an entry level dslr, a mid range dslr and a high end dslr on the web and you wouldn't reliably be able to tell them apart at web size if I shot properly in the first place. It's the magic of posting to the web - you can often post an image that wouldn't be quite as fab in print LOL kinda like shooting video underwater - it always looks better than it really did on the dive itself Once you narrow cameras down, I'm sure those that have them could send you or link you to originals/high res and there are some review sites out there that have the high res versions to help - I think dpreview.com does? Really depends on how much effort you want to put in for finding that quality gem! Me? Ultra-compactness and image quality were my two biggies and that's why I chose the baby Canon. I was happy to trade off RAW, manual controls, control over my flash and a whole host of other things to keep the size & weight down. I love Bubba and it's never let me down! (oh, and it came in a really cool green colour )

If you're really fussing over "quality" then you need a compact that will shoot RAW. That is the only way to get the most of a file as if you're not shooting RAW, your camera has already ditched a whole lot of info. I personally import all of my RAWs as dngs, another lossless format. I can't say I know any photographers who default for photo work to png - other visual art work, yes. Photos, not really. But if you aren't going to control what your camera captures you're missing a big piece of the puzzle for "quality", frankly. jpg is an output format - it's what you share on the web and often what you send in for print. It is also the capture format for a huge number of cameras - including the highest end dslrs. yes, jpg has some downsides, but edit on a copy (most create a psd coz that's what layers like) and save as a new file - the loss of quality is so minute that you will not be able to discern the difference. And there are about a zillion articles from respected sites/photographers who have exhaustively tested the jpg save and resave thing and doing it once isn't going to destroy the file Your budget may not be realistic for what you are looking for - everything in photography is a compromise so you may need to make a list of your priorities then see what matches up most closely. good luck. Oh & btw - editing in Lightroom on any format? Non-destructive

The 135L 2.0 is a dreamy lens. But it's a biatch and a half to hand hold steady. You've gotta have that shutter way up. And you need to be comfortable knowing you're going to miss focus now and again. It's one lens everyone agrees on - absolutely fabulous, but a steep learning curve just to get the technique of holding the damned thing down LOL

Frodo's - the cheaper type just aren't as good, generally. Where you buy it makes no difference to the lens itself. Price is a big factor when I shop (though not the only one...)

You're asking too much for your budget and for a compact camera - you'll have to compromise on something I have a teensy Canon SD1200 IS that I bought for about $120. I adore it. If you head to my blog (click Me in my sig) you will see tons of shots with it as it is the camera that goes everywhere with me. Click here to go directly to September last year when I first got it - then Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec archives are full of images with this camera (I think I marked most of those that were with something different). That should give you an idea of what you can expect from one of these little beauties - there are several newer models out, too. There are no manual controls on this camera so it's purely point and shoot (though there are ways around this). The Canon G series rocks as does the Canon S90. The Lumix cameras are also very nice options.

Thanks, All This is a grey nurse shark. I use my Canon 40D body in a Subal housing with Inon strobes. This shot was with the Sigma 17-70 lens and the big Subal dome port. You can see what I shoot with when you are on my personal blog (the link Me in my sig) and then clicking the image itself :D

Meet my new buddy, Fluffy :D

The 450D is a great camera. As you get into it, add a nice fast lens (probably a zoom) and that will help with fast doggies. This body is more than capable of getting action shots, so don't worry about that part. And as long as you're shooting during the day, the kit lens will do the job. Understand that it DOES take practice and even when you're getting good, you'll toss out more than you keep btw - super nice friend

There are two main ones: 1.4 and 2.0 I just picked up the 1.4 kenko and really like it. Downside is that your 2.8 lens isn't a 2.8 anymore. You will need more light. Upside is that you get some more reach. They can also play havoc with AF so you need to do some research to see which ones will play nicely with your particular lens(es).