kja

The 450D is an excellent camera. If you're going to be shooting bands a lot - low, crappy light usually - you may want to save up for a better body that will handle higher ISO better. The 450D is OK at 800 but after that you're really going for the grunge look most of the time (which can work very nicely, but it is a bit limiting). You will also want the 50 1.8 at a minimum for a lens to shoot said band with. If you want something wider, head to the Sigma 30 1.4 - this is an outstanding lens. But if you are after a nice, getting started but can do a bit more body - the 450D is a good choice.

Awww, loved the little story with each one. Short but I really felt each one Cuties for sure!

PhotoRescue

Doug Perrine ROCKS - both as a photographer and as a person. A nicer guy you will not meet!

ROFL! Water totally came out my nose!

Woot woot! What fun! Looks like you are having a great time with it already I have just one thing that is probably selfish - I'd rather look at the image than click. Especially when I click and it's still tiny! I resize my own images for web as follows: 650 pixels on the longest side and file sizes are usually about 100kb give or take. I adjust the file size in Save for Web (photoshop) or export (lightroom) by decreasing the quality (usually to about 65% or so)

Coolio!

Is it working now?

Is the little tilty icon showing when you grab a corner? It looks like a little smile with arrows on either end kinda. If all else fails, hit clear on the crop toolbar and try again. IF that doesn't work, deselect the crop tool - choose another tool, then reselect the crop tool and try again. If that still doesn't work, close out of CS3 and restart it

Lightroom 3 Beta is out now and ready for you to download. It is totally free with no strings and you do not have to have a version of Lightroom now to make it work. This software will remain active until at least 30 April 2010 so you'll have plenty of time to fool with it to see what you like and if it's for you. Note that this is a BETA version so there could be quirks but I've used LR Betas early on and overall things worked very very well. By the time this is released for purchase some things inside will have changed and been tweaked, of course, that's why it goes through Beta mode, but I'm betting LR3 Beta is perfectly usable as is. Often there will be updates to the beta version as the designers tweak more things based on user feedback so a) give em your feedback and b) download any updates as they come down the pike as they will be free, too. no reason to wait now Download from here.

1DIV is 1.3 sensor. There will likely be a 1DsIV out which will be the full frame version. Stuff will drop, but how quickly remains to be seen. 1DIIs etc are still pretty high and the 1DIII has been out for a long time, the 1D series doesn't seem to drop too fast (though the drop from new to used is an instant 30% drop if you try to resell LOL).

$4999 USD end December Go the 7D imho

Canon just announced the new body -> 1DIV Canon product page Info on new AF I *love* that it automatically flips the focus point when you go from landscape to portrait. It's the little things in life that make me happy. From a hands on tester Can you imagine if this turns out to be true in the production models. Drool. C'mon Lotto :D

LOL you know, I find the "weight" of my 100-400L (3lbs) more than my 70-200L 2.8 IS (3.2 lbs without tripod collar & 3.5 lbs with tripod collar). It's just the overall size/distribution of weight I think. Both definitely give the ol' arms a workout! Oh, and if you're after speed shooting? Wait for Christmas coz Canon Santa has just announced the 1DIV body <happy dance> SWEET!!!

If you have the money, yes. Both of those lenses (well all three: the IS or the nonIS of the 70-200) are in a totally different league than the 18-200. Also consider the 70-200 f4 ... it's an awesomely sharp lens and if you don't need the extra light capabilities it's a great choice: cheaper & lighter, too. Before you rush out and plonk down the cash, you might want to keep practicing your technique. Part of this may be increasing your shutter speed - even if it was pretty high already - to give you a bit of an edge. Or adding a monopod or some other support. Practice practice practice. Oh and if you were shooting towards the wide end of your options, stop down. Trying to shoot high speed action at a wide aperture is often an exercise in frustration as the DOF is so narrow that you have to shoot a zillion frames to nail the focus exactly where you want it. Start stopped down some more and as you improve start practicing with wider apertures if you like. Both of the lenses you are considering take a little time to master, especially the 100-400 handheld. Technique no matter which of the three you are using will be super important for getting the best from the lens.

Love this thread!! I'm totally snowed under and as the request I got said "new photos" it's going to be awhile before I get anything on my Girls up.

Yeah, TCs will really slow down focus and stuff

Depends on who you believe on the ol' internet And how much you want to pixel peep. L lenses are excellent pieces of glass but they may not be perfect. In my humble experience a lot of the things that people mention like "softness in the corners" etc about any lens aren't noticeable unless you are really really going out of your way to look. Often primes will have the edge against zooms because they do one thing and do it in the best way possible. We're talking about good quality primes here, not POSs. Zooms have come a long way over even just the past few years. The L series and several of Canon's (and other brands) top quality non-L zooms are serious prime competitors while offering the flexibility of different focal ranges. There are plenty of very very good lenses that don't carry the L marking and companies are coming out with higher and higher quality all the time. As with all things camera, it really depends on what your needs are and what "issues" might niggle you. Someone who rarely shoots wide open on bright days might not give a fig that a lens has a bit of CA fringing - for someone like me, that's a deal breaker most of the time. Someone who doesn't need 2.8 on their 70-200 lens will find the much cheaper and lighter 70-200 f4 is a superb lens that meets their needs the majority of the time. Unfortunately for those looking at that magical 100-400 range, Canon's L is about the only serious contender. There are some that are pretty good in the range but there's still a good difference...for some, that difference might not matter, for others, it's worth it to drop the extra cash.

The 100-400 will perform admirably for action shots. Of course, to freeze action with any lens you need to have a fast shutter speed. I find that shooting my doglets romping I like to be at 1/640ish or I miss nailing more frames. Lots of light will mean you can keep the ISO down and your camera body is what dictates how high your ISO can go with acceptable results. Better bodies give you not only faster AF capabilities (and more accurate/wide spread/sensitive AF points) but better performance at higher ISOs so if you are doing a lot of shooting where these two factors are important it's a good investment to spring for a body that will give you the best chances for the results you want. The 100-400L is used for all sorts of sports and action by amateurs and pros alike, so it can definitely do the job.

I love the Pointer (?) in #7 post 2! Looks like heaps of fun Mine might get to the end of the dock but Dora would stop and just look at me like "what the hell would I want to jump off this for" and Tilly would no doubt simply fall off by being unco

Here's some fun I had with my 100-400L a while back -> Click Me.

Nope, centre weighted takes the centre of the frame (imagine a circle in the middle of your viewfinder). Of course you can point that at whatever you are wanting to expose for and lock it then recompose so it can act like spot. But the coverage is much larger in area than spot is. Think of spot as precision metering - it's using only a tiny, specific part of your frame. Surgical strike Then Centre uses a bit more. And evaluative uses the whole thing.

Just one thing on spot and partial from JSs point #2 "it's a method rarely used" is strange. I use spot all the time. Lots of shooters I know use it a lot, too. It totally depends on the scene, your style and what you are trying to achieve. Personally I almost never use evaluative as it doesn't often suit what I'm shooting. Play with them all when you are out so you can learn what each does for the types of shooting you do. It only takes a few minutes to run through them for a few frames, but getting to know each option will really help you in the long run!

Yes, the 100-400L is totally worth it. I love mine. It takes a little patience and practice at the long end hand holding but it's a great piece of glass!

Love the series - she's so animated!