rubiton

Probably true of all photographers. I can pick my photos if used in a publication even if I don't truly remember taking that image due to it being fairly old. Its the angle, timing etc. What was scary though was looking in a very very old equestrian magazine of mine and seeing some jumping photos identical to the way I take mine. Same angle same moment. Obviously must have seen that photographers work way way back in those magazines and then used the same techniques without even realising years later to take what I think is the right style for that sport.

I prefer the original (yes I know strict photography rule of thirds says things should be off centre for greater artistic look but I dont like way off centre personally - with horses you give them a tiny lead space but to most it looks centrally cropped). Apart from chopping the top of his head off however that comes with experience and practice (not chopping heads off).

wow pc havent noticed anything like that here. still plenty of 'unknowns' with big cameras turning up and snapping away at the events here.

Would check dp review and compare the 30D, 40D and 50D. Were you planning to upgrade or planning to wait a few more years say to the 60D etc I had a 10D that went in to be fixed and had to buy the 350D to fill in (that little camera did a fantstic job at some big events/races) as I was going to upgrade to a 30D. Due to having to get repairs and having the other camera I ended up waiting that little bit longer for the 40D and was very very happy I did.

Action photography - a few years the final horse event for the main part of the royal was a race between the clerks / red coats and the holden car doing a relay up and down the arena. Absolutely fantastic best event of hte whole show! Was fun to watch and photograph after a week of being very precise to get the right pose, right stride etc and this was just reel off the pics at a flat out gallop. OR the victory gallop at the Adelaide International Horse Trials - best bit of the whole competition those 3 or so laps just spinning and taking pics as they gallop by. And of course racing - parading up to the start and then the finish. Posed shots can come out so well but its all very technical and things have to be placed right or the ones where you have to get the right stride but again very techinical. Even jumping is techincal you have to get the right moment and this you have to know you cant just press the button and hope you get the right shot even with 6 or so frames per second.

Exactly Ripley & chezzyr- its amazing how some people out there wnat to buy the biggest and the most expensive thinking that the camera will do it all. For the stuff I do I need the 40D - I need the selection of photos at the end of the race or need it to be able to write 60 odd photos in a burst to the card. It also needs to be hardy enough to take out in less than perfet conditions. Yet the photos that others have put on here taken with the 350-450 series and recently the 1000D canons have been perfectly fine and probably just what they want to or close to. Its far better to start off with these cameras then build up lenses and then get the more expensive body if after learning what they (the settings) do you realise that you need the extra features. So many out there must buy mega expensive equipment then get overwhelmed and leave it in the cupboard. I'm amazed that hobby photographers would spend 2500 or so on a 100-400m L lens but have come across people who have - I only bought one just under 12 months back and that was after considering it for a long time and working out what it was exactly for and if tht would benefit me in the future (Royal Shows, jumping etc). I remember the time I bought my very first zoom lens for my film pentax camera and it was a nightmare to learn - getting films back and finding maybe 2 or 3 photos worked out of 24 or 36 frame film (this was back when most affordable lenses were manual focus). I did learn but it as only a few hundred dollars (equiv of maybe $800-$1000 now) but it was a massive purchase for me at the time when the photos I took were just a hobby.

Yes - and it was oly I think yesterday on tv they were saying 'watch out for scams if it looks too good to be tre it probably is'

Agreed - that is a very low price for that camera and insisting on payment via ban deposit when ebay sellers must accept paypal also doesnt exactly sit right either.

Hi Polomum. Thanks I use a 40D and prior to Oct last year it was still the 10D (I held out for the 40D instead of getting the 30D and glad I did mainly for the racing and the victory gallops at AIHT). For eventing & other equestrian I use the 100-400mm IS canon lens however for the cross country of the AIHT I was using the smaller lens I usually use for racing as the jumps are generally so close to the tape (at normal eventing you can drive a car out there and just park well out of the way and use a bigger lens). This lens is simply way too big for the races in Adelaide where again you can get close enough for the smaller lighter lenses. The smaller lens for racing is a 70-210mm normal black lens - apparently it is quite an old canon lens but was one of the better quality ones way back when it was 'current'. I picked it up at an auction for $100 and found that the 40D liked it better than the 90-300mm and was a lot quicker to focus. I am planning to get a similar current one (that does extend to 300mm) next year as its starting to collect a fair bit of dust inside the lens but considering I take them out in the heat, humidity, rain, dust, etc its not a huge surprise. It was with this lens that I took the magazine cover shot of Douro Valley. For the yearling sales I use a 24-85mm but don't go under 50mm or you get 'big head short leg' syndrome which is not a good look in horses. I was using the 10D as a second camera at big race meetings for the close up head shots and rug shots but at the Caulfield Guineas it had major problems turning off then on when I needed to take a picture later in the day so its going to be the ebay camera now and the 350D will now become the second camera. I thik it has electical problemsas back at the airport it was working again when there was no presure to take multiple shots. Have been interested in hearing about kiwigirls 1000D as haven't heard much about them but being canon would expect it to be good but have less extras than the 450D.

Are the birds generally on the ground or moving? Just that One shot focus is perfect for a subject that doesn't move too much such as a posed shot or a subject staying relatively still. AI Servo is ok for this but sometimes can 'range'. AI Servo is perfect if the subject is moving and is incredibly quick to pick up a moving object if something comes in from the left (srry can't tell you about the right here the racehorses come in fromthe left if you pick the wrong on and stay with a horse on the rails). Doing this AI Servo tends to only stuff up if the contrast is wrong or the subject is dark and backlit.

There is no need to sharpen every image for the web or anything else unless the image wasnt right to begin with. Sometimes if it is a tiny bit soft (which could just be that tiny bit of camera movement when you take the photo) its worth sharpening but the second photo in particular looks pretty damn sharp to me. I would take it on 1/1000 - higher shutter speeds freeze the image better and that includes any tiny movement when you press the button. Also hold your breath when taking photos too. In AI Servo mode the camera may well just use the centre focus point anyway (at least thats what I vauguely remember reading about the 40D) . And as Luke said you wont get the red square light up or the beeps in that mode. I don't think they are overexposed at all - are you judging from prints or your monitor? They look fine.

Kiwigirl - be interested to see what the 1000D is like as its only new and not many people have mentioned then compared to say the 450D.

How much was 'a tiny bit'.....? Did you let it dry and leave battery compartment open as well to dry (without battery). If all nice and dry try different battery - if same problem um not good . I did get the 10D a little wet but that was rain water and was wiped as soon as it was possible to get undercover. The 40D apparently has some sort of weather seal but still gets wiped and dried ifout in rain. Salt water would be worse though

This is the head thing & monopod I got http://www.qualitycamera.com.au/product_in...roducts_id=1340 http://www.qualitycamera.com.au/product_in...roducts_id=1211 It holds the 100-400mm plus camera plus leaning pole for me when my feet start to hurt NOt mega expensive and does the job.

Forget black and white dogs - do you know the worst subject? Wedding photos where the bride is pale very pale even after having a tan applied in a white wedding dress and then the groom has dark hair, dark skin and in a black suit. And its a sunny 32 degree day in summer. For getting a happy medium you have to judge whether you prefer using photoshop to bring up the blacks or if you have a background that can handle the whites being a little overexposed. Or as Luke suggests take the sun out of the equation and take the images with even (or as close as you can) in the shade which takes the glow out of the whites so you can adjust for the blacks. Mind you I find you can get away with exposing more for the blacks if you have something like green grass or dark green trees behind the subject. If you have something bright in the background the whites will dissolve into it and everything will be overexposed. Hopefully two images above - one is a white horse against a dark background (well dark clouds) and the other is against lighter background. The light horse and background makes the darker rider not quite as clear as the darker background as it all kind of glows a little.

Yes the quick release thingy is very good to have on the monopod and attach it to the lens if possible (the lens is usually heavier these days and if it has the ring you can switch between portrait and horizontal). The quick release thingy and 'ball head' is the same thing whatever its actual name is.

I would also up the speed to 1/1000th and the ISO up to 400. Plus trying F8 as the aperture and as has also been suggested not going quite to the 300m extreme of the lens. Even my huge 100-400mm can be slightly soft at the extreme zoom but this can also be because the very very slightest movement of your hands when taking the pic can affect the result. Also is the bird moving and do you have the focus set on AI Servo or One shot? This can make a HUGE difference (or equiv if its not a Canon camera). ONe last question - did you hold your breathe when you took the photo/s tha didnt work?

White - change your aperture to a F stop higher than using for normal pics Black - change your aperture to a F Stop lower than using for ormla pics and then use the highlight tool in photoshop or similar. For black dogs try to take the pics early morning or later afternoon in the full sunlight as it lights up the shadowy areas of hte dog better. If you dont take the pic manually and use auto settings I cannot help as you have to assume control or the caemra will make a best guess on the overall pic not the black or white extreme.

Is it for professional use? If for professional go 40D if its for personal use get the cheaper 400D. Both cameras will take fantastic photos but the 40d has more features that a professional would use for some situations (rain, dust, dark conditions) and is more hardy but that again is only of use if you are usig the camera for situations where you cannot control the weather etc.

The pictorial reports - the eventing was the $100 lens the dressage and SJ with the big heavy 100-400mm IS lens. Its mainly the extra zoom and IS that is needed. On when zoomed in while the IS combats movement to hold it still enough it needs the monopod attached to the lens. Is a bit weird though spinning in circles around a stick when doing the victory gallop pics - gets very dizzy. Only needed the 70-210 lens for the eventing as the big one would have been to heavy to lug around and waaay too close to get a pic. photo link

If only they didn't weigh about 2 tonne and need a monopod to use. However I was at an international horse event a few weeks back day 1 and 3 were with the very expensive and heavy big lens (with a filter). Day 2 was with a lens I bought for $100 at auction. Photo I have on the front cover of a national magazine at the moment was also taken with that $100 auction lens.

Its all about which camera feels right to you. Pick one up and feel how it is to hold of each type. Look at the buttons etc and perhaps check on www.dpreview.com about what features the cameras have and if that is something you need (don't let a salesperson talk you into needing say a low light feature as you may one day just decide to take a picture of the moon even though you never had thought of that before). In the past Nikons were a little bigger and canons a little smaller the pentaxs, etc a different size again. The 50D series were hardier but being a prosumer camera it has to be (for example I have a 40d and it goes out rain hail or shine to horse events and racing) whereas the 450D series is aimed at consumers and the camera itself is made from lighter materials - it isnt as hardy but then the average person isnt going to take an SLR out in the rain, dust, 40 degree heat, etc they will take photos on nice days outside or inside which any SLR camera can handle.

dog has learn if she sits very sit and waits for the CLICK she gets food. But then back with film if at a horse event and its getting late in the day and the camera goes click WHIRRRRR - its time to go!!! The DSLR has got her as it has no WHIRR so she will sit there until the magic word 'OK' then its OMG OMG OMG we can go YAY YAY YAY (she lasts til about 2pm then its 'are we going yet' are we going yet'). As for pics of her she wil sit and stay but she'd better be paid for it! (if you forget to pay she will be pretty much right under your feet til you do pay up).

For outdoor photography and lens protection does no one use a skylight filter? Does the same job (protecting the lens) as the UV filter but assists the image a little better if its a skylight filter. No way would I not have a filter on my 100-400mm lens and it performs just fine with a filter. Also there is NO problem in using an ISO higher than 400 - why do photography forums always get funny about ISO. On my 40D up to 800 ISO is fine AS LONG AS THE PHOTO IS CORRECTLY EXPOSED. Over that it starts to show just a little but then at that stage its taking photos in dark gloomy rain or night time. AS for cleaning them - last time I used the sunglass cleanrer spray. Worked a treat however wouldn't use it all that often (lets say have cleaned filters with it once since Feb).

I ALWAYS start off using 400 ISO and if need be increase if the conditions become dark rather than sunny. 400 ISO allows you to use settings such as 1/1000th of a second and F8 and there is no 'grainyness' from that setting. Today I had it on ISO 400 for sunny and 640 for overcast.