WORLD TRAVELER
On Sunday May 4 I fly to Frankfurt,
Germany and then on to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, arriving on Monday
evening May 5. On the 7th I continue on to the tiny desert town
of Nukus where I will attend the wedding of my younger daughter,
Alissa, to a young man--Azik--whom she meet while serving in the
Peace Corps several years ago. I will be back in the office on
May 13. I am bringing the 500 IS and two digital bodies as
well as a few other lenses. I am the official wedding
photographer <smile>
I will be unable to answer any e-mails
until my return so please be gentle. Lois will be here to
handle your mail orders. (Thanks to all who have been ordering
stuff lately; BAA mail order has been booming lately.)
WONDERFUL LETTER FROM CARL KLING
HIS COMMENTS ON THE CANON EOS 10D
Hi Artie,
First, I want to thank you
and Ellen for a great time and a most enjoyable experience
that I had at the recent Southwest Florida IPT. Everything
went well with the weather and the birds cooperative at all
sites we visited. The one thing that set this IPT apart from
the one I attended in Bosque in November 2001 was that then,
only one participant besides Ellen used a digital camera. On
this trip, more than half of the participants and both
instructors were shooting digital. All this greatly added to
my learning experience as I had made my entry into digital
with the purchase of the D-60 just this past December. It
really was fun and instructive having the instant feedback
that digital affords, not to mention greatly shortening the
learning curve.
The day after the end of
the tour Diane, Dennis, and I (The D-60 Club) went to
Corkscrew for a couple of hours to check it out. You were
right about not opting to take the group there during the tour
as it was quiet with little wildlife activity compared to what
we experienced at the second trip to Ding Darling. Diane and
Dennis worked mostly with macro subjects and got some nice
images. All three of us did capture a black crowned night
heron with a bream in its mouth. It all happened in an instant
and we reacted so quickly, so, alas, all three of us had less
than perfect sharpness. It was in deep shadow and we all had
to use flash. Perhaps the 10D would have made the difference
had I had it then.
I'm glad you mentioned the
new Canon EOS 10D during the tour, as I was not aware of it. I
was already familiar with the slow autofocus acquisition
capabilities of the D-60 for flight shooting, so knew I
that sooner or later I needed a faster autofocus body like the
1D or the Ds. I had not been home a week from the Florida trip
when I happened to walk into a local photo store to find out a
10D had been delivered and placed on display just a few hours
earlier at the 1500 dollar price. Needless to say, I snapped
it up right away, in spite of my not anticipating any photo
purchases so soon after busting my budget with the purchase of
the D-60, Canon 500 IS lens, 2x extender, and 16-35 zoom, all
in a three month period... When I went back to the store the
next morning they told me that there were 10 very unhappy
customers...
Anyway, to say I was
pleased with the purchase of 10D would be an understatement.
Your eagerly anticipated Bulletin report on the 10D was on the
money except for the orange cast which I haven't noticed.
Taking the Dauphin Island to Ft. Morgan ferry recently, I shot
flying gulls following the ferry with a 70-200 zoom and nearly
all my flight shots were sharply focused, compared to less
than 50 percent usually obtained under similar conditions with
the D-60. Furthermore, the focus tends to stay locked on the
bird in spite of changing backgrounds, as you state in the
report. The improved LCD screen and playback with the zooming
and scrolling features alone are delightful and make this
camera worth having besides the improved autofocus. Oddly, I
find that loading for playback of images is somewhat slower
than for the D-60, even with the same Delkin 640 Pro card.
This was the only negative issue I found so far.
(Note from Artie: I agree with
everything that Carl has said above; at times you must wait a
bit for the camera to write to the buffer with the 10D,
especially if you make 7 or 8 images in quick succession.
Similarly, at times, you need to wait for the buffer to clear
while trying to view a histogram. Don't fret, in both cases
the same is true, though to a lesser degree, with the Canon
EOS 1Ds, even with the extremely fast Delkin e-film Pro Cards
that I use. That is the price of large files...)
I had been considering the
purchase of the Canon 100-400 IS zoom for flight shooting with
the 10D but am concerned with your 10D report stating some
soft focus on the eyes on some of your images with this lens.
I may just stick with the 70-200/f2.8 (non IS) with 1.4x or 2x
extenders for now as it seems to do well with the converters.
I also have the 400/5.6 lens but it is best left with the film
bodies for handheld flight shooting. Were you using the center
AF point alone on the birds head? Was your IS on or off? If
on, what mode?
(Notes from Artie: The 70-200 with a TC
and the 1.6X multiplier is a great idea for flight
photography. You should also try my old "toy lens," the 400
f/5.6 for flight--I think that you will be amazed at how well
it performs with the 10D!)
With Warm Regards,
Carl
Osprey, Indian Lake
Estates, FL
Digital capture with
Canon EOS 10D, 100-400mm IS zoom lens at 180mm handheld
ISO 200. Evaluative
Metering +1/2 stop: 1/350 sec. at f/5.6
Image copyright 2003
Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
Compare the sharpness of
this image made with the 10 D and the 1-4 IS zoom lens with that
of the image below. I always add light when photographing the
shaded underside of a soaring raptor. How much depends on many
factors including sun in or out and the tonality of the bird's
underparts.
A note from Ellen Anon: I
know that you routinely add light when photographing the underside
of birds in flight. Another approach would be to expose for the
highlights (or add a little less light than usual) and then open up
the shadows and/or midtones in curves or levels. This is just
another example of digital giving you options that may be even more
effective than some of your tried and true approaches.
A
BASIC AF/TC QUESTION
Dan Ruscitto wrote and I replied:
Hi Artie,
DR: In
the 4/23 bulletin you wrote the Canon 10D only auto focuses only to
f5.6. Does that mean it will not auto focus @2.8 or 4,
AM: No.
The opposite. It will AF with an effective aperture of f/5.6 or
wider, so it will AF at f/4 or f/2.8. Do note that I am talking
about the effective maximum aperture of the lens, which is
determined by noting the maximum aperture of the lens itself and
then going to a smaller aperture for each stop of light that is lost
due to the use of teleconverters. The aperture that you choose when
working in AV has no affect on whether or not you get autofocus.
For example, if you are using an f/5.6 lens (without a
teleconverter) and set the aperture to f/11 you will have AF as the
effective aperture is still f/5.6 or less. Note also that the Canon
pro bodies, the EOS 3, 1v, 1D, and 1Ds all focus to an effective
aperture of f/8.)
DR: But
will it auto-focus @ 5.6, 8, 11 etc?
AM. It
will at f/5.6 but not at the smaller apertures that you mention.
Remember, AF needs light and contrast to function. When you steal
enough light, it will stop working. And remember: the
higher the f/number the smaller
the opening...
DR: What
effect does a multiplier have, or is it strictly a function
of actual aperture?
AM: To figure the effective aperture
you need to take into account the light lost to the TCs. So a 1.4X
TC (one stop lost) on an f/5.6 lens is an effective f/8 (no AF), but
on an f/4 lens, the effective aperture will be f/5.6 lens (yes AF).
A 2X TC (two stops lost) on an f/2.8
lens is effective f/5.6 (yes AF), but on any slower lens, no AF. Hope
that that helps.
Osprey, Indian Lake Estates, FL
Digital capture with Canon EOS 1D and Canon
100-400mm IS zoom lens
ISO 250. Evaluative Metering = 1/1000 sec. at
f/5.6
Image copyright 2003 Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART
It seems that images of birds in
flight made with the 1D or the 1Ds and the 1-4 IS zoom are sharper
than those made by the 10D with the same lens. Note however that
images of flying birds made with the 10D and the 500mm IS are--for
the most part--tack sharp. Explanation? None from here...
.....
Tricolored Heron, Fort DeSoto Park, St. Petersburg, FL
Digital capture with Canon EOS 1Ds, 500mm
f/4 L IS lens, and 1.4X II TC.
ISO 200. Evaluative Metering -1/3
stop: 1/2500 sec. at f/15.6
Image copyright 2003 Arthur Morris/BIRDS
AS ART
Fort DeSoto is a wonderful spot. This image was
made yesterday, on April 29, 2003. I may schedule an IPT there next
March...
