Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => The Coffee Corner => Topic started by: Jonathan Wienke on January 08, 2015, 03:19:36 pm
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I dropped out of the photography scene several years ago while in the US Army, due to a variety of reasons.
Anyway, after several moves and career changes, I've decided to dig my gear out of storage (a 1Ds and 1D-II), blow the dust off the lenses, and start shooting again. The old NP-E3 batteries (and most of my NiMH AA batteries) seem to be completely dead beyond recovery, and the i1 needs recalibration, but most everything else seems to have survived storage fairly well.
So now I'm trying to get caught up with 7 years' advancement in technology, and reformulate some kind of creative vision after having done pretty much zero shooting for 7 years. Preferably something that hasn't already been done to death.
I've been poking around a bit, and see a few familiar faces and a lot of new ones. I'm hoping to find a bit of inspiration as I try to get my feet wet again.
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Welcome back. I have two sons, and daughter in law in the military. Thank you for your service I know the sacrifices you must have made. Hope you get right back into the groove and become part of the forum again. We are close to launching the NEW LuLa and hope you like the changes and find even more good information.
Kevin Raber
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Is it really 7 years Jonathan?
I thought of you and a couple of others from those early days a month or so ago and now you're back!
Welcome!
Bob.
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Welcome back, Jonathan! I am one of the many who has missed you often over the past seven years. When reading many threads, I often remark to myself that Jonathan would quickly set these guys straight!
And let me add my thanks to you for your military career. And I hope your health issues are a thing of the distant past.
-Eric M.
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Welcome back! Though I can't believe it's been seven years.
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Welcome back, Jonathan!
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Welcome back. I, too, am shocked that it has been that long :)
Happy shooting.
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Welcome back. I had wondered what had become of you. Glad to see you back.
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Thank you all. It seems like a lifetime ago. My health issues are not completely resolved; I doubt I'll run marathons or the like, but I'm leading a fairly normal life. I'll probably mostly lurk for a while, as I'm not caught up on the changes in technology over the last 7 years. But some things are the same regardless.
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Welcome back, Jonathan!
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Hi Jonathan, it's good to have you back.
Cheers,
Bart
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Welcome back, Jonathan. But it hasn't been seven years. I'll have been on LuLa for six years next month and I remember commenting on some of your stuff.
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Welcome back, Jonathan. I often wondered what had happened to you. Your 1Ds will seem so dated now. A 36 megapixel Nikon D810 should help get you going again, with an amazing 3.74 stops better DR than the 1Ds, and over 2 stops better SNR at 18% grey, at base ISO. Wow! ;D
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Welcome back, Jonathan. But it hasn't been seven years. I'll have been on LuLa for six years next month and I remember commenting on some of your stuff.
Yes and no. I was on briefly Dec 2009-Jan 2010, but prior to that the last time I was on regularly was mid 2008.
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A 36 megapixel Nikon D810 should help get you going again, with an amazing 3.74 stops better DR than the 1Ds, and over 2 stops better SNR at 18% grey, at base ISO. Wow! ;D
Given that I'm not doing this professionally, I'll just have to suffer along with what I have. Switching systems and re-buying glass would be cost-prohibitive. ;D
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Given that I'm not doing this professionally, I'll just have to suffer along with what I have. Switching systems and re-buying glass would be cost-prohibitive. ;D
I guess if you're going to specialize in abstract photography, Jonathan, then a 1Ds will be quite sufficient. ;)
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Maybe I will just do abstract butt selfies. With a deluxe carbon fiber geared head gyro stabilized Belfie Stick. ::)
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Hi again,
Jonathan you always had a solid technical background. I was surprised when you took off to the military - our military was lucky to have you. Welcome back. One of my goals this year is to come up with a central valley portfolio.
Hugh
El Portal, Yosemite
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I'll probably mostly lurk for a while, as I'm not caught up on the changes in technology over the last 7 years. But some things are the same regardless.
Welcome back. You've a lot of reading to do! I think you'll find it exciting.
Jeremy
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Welcome back
So now I'm trying to get caught up with 7 years' advancement in technology,
Actually not a lot has really changed. The curve of improvements had already started to level off by 2007. People still obsess about numbers and start fights about which kit is best, but there's not a huge amount to get excited about if you have a sense of history.
There are still people who regard the original 1Ds as a 'classic' and have an affection for it's characteristics despite is unfashionably low mp count now. I still go back to my 1Dii files and find them excellent.
For me the highlights of the last 7 years are roughly;
- Lightroom has raised the bar for RAW conversion significantly. Go back and run your old raws through it and you may be pleasantly surprised how much more you can get out of them.
- Self cleaning DSLR sensors. This really is the one great thing that has arrived for most digital cameras.
- Really capable compacts like the Sony RX100 arrived a few years back.
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Welcome backActually not a lot has really changed. The curve of improvements had already started to level off by 2007. People still obsess about numbers and start fights about which kit is best, but there's not a huge amount to get excited about if you have a sense of history.
There are still people who regard the original 1Ds as a 'classic' and have an affection for it's characteristics despite is unfashionably low mp count now. I still go back to my 1Dii files and find them excellent.
For me the highlights of the last 7 years are roughly;
- Lightroom has raised the bar for RAW conversion significantly. Go back and run your old raws through it and you may be pleasantly surprised how much more you can get out of them.
- Self cleaning DSLR sensors. This really is the one great thing that has arrived for most digital cameras.
- Really capable compacts like the Sony RX100 arrived a few years back.
Don't know anything about the Sony but I'll echo Rhossyd's comments about Lightroom & self cleaning sensors and add the refinement of Live View to his list.
Have fun.
graeme
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Nice to see you back!
Best regards
Erik
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Luckily for you, Jonathan , you live in a Canon ecosystem, where not much has changed since you left the field. As matter of fact, I think Canon learned of your army tour and decided to slow down its R&D to a crawl, awaiting your return. ;)
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Luckily for you, Jonathan , you live in a Canon ecosystem, where not much has changed since you left the field. As matter of fact, I think Canon learned of your army tour and decided to slow down its R&D to a crawl, awaiting your return. ;)
So I'm only 2 generations behind the state of the art now? Sweet!
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Let's face it: what's in your head is what matters -- not the state of the art in camera manufacture.
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Let's face it: what's in your head is what matters -- not the state of the art in camera manufacture.
Absolutely.
Back in film days I once suddenly realized that of the half dozen cameras I owned and used regularly at that time, not one had been manufactured within the previous 25 years.
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Let's face it: what's in your head is what matters -- not the state of the art in camera manufacture.
I think that there are two ways of looking at that.
The development of digital cameras has extended what may be achieved, encouraging ideas to take shape in your head that would have been dismissed a decade ago. The increase in low light level capability and the control of noise are two areas in particular that allow a greater vision if you like, so we can be thankful for progress.
On the other hand I get the distinct impression that manufacturers are now running up against the law of diminishing returns with ever greater investment resulting in smaller gains. The reduction in camera sales also means that there is less to invest anyway, so I think we are now on a plateau rather than a rapidly ascending slope of improvement. This will mean that the pressure to constantly update will hopefully ease off.
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Welcome back Sir!
Cheers,
Bernard
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Thank you all.
I have no plans to upgrade my cameras anytime soon. I'm well aware of their technical limitations, but I don't feel like those limits are so onerous that they are keeping me from doing what I want artistically. If I started making some money shooting I might get another body just for reliability purposes--the cameras I have are ~10 years old and have considerable use. But for now they seem to work fine, so I will continue to use them until they die.
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Crikey! They might never die. I've never owned a camera that has died, in my 50 years of photography. ;)
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Crikey! They might never die. I've never owned a camera that has died, in my 50 years of photography. ;)
I actually managed to kill a couple of cameras back in film days (out of a couple dozen), but it wasn't easy! ;)
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They might never die.
A camera with 21,000+ exposures over 3 years; making exposures every ~15 ~20 seconds for focus stacks, for 45 minutes, without touching the camera body: result - over-heating; result - some kind-of short circuit that drains battery charge within 7 or 8 hours.
Since then I simply take the battery out of the camera when not in use. That has been less inconvenient than I would have supposed, but for multi-day hikes I will need more batteries.
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A camera with 21,000+ exposures over 3 years; making exposures every ~15 ~20 seconds for focus stacks, for 45 minutes
That would be considered pretty light usage for one of the Canon EOS1Dxx series cameras that Jonathan owns.
These are designed to take really serious professional punishment, high frame rates, sustained all day use etc etc. Ever seen a professional sports photographer in action ?
I know one pro that wore out a EOS1Ds shutter in just over three years, the shutter count was over 600k frames when it failed. Ironically because it was used in a blimp it looked outwardly mint.
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It seemed pretty light usage to me ;-(
Are you talking about a 1D series camera ?
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No.
Pretty pointless comment then.
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Any Canon camera should be able to handle 21000 exposures without dying.
My 1D-II currently has 66,329 exposures on the odometer and is going strong. But I can't seem to find any utility that will read the odometer of the 1Ds. Apparently it's too old. I used to have one, so I know it's possible, but I can't find it any more. Anyone have any ideas?
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Any Canon camera should be able to handle 21000 exposures without dying.
My 1D-II currently has 66,329 exposures on the odometer and is going strong. But I can't seem to find any utility that will read the odometer of the 1Ds. Apparently it's too old. I used to have one, so I know it's possible, but I can't find it any more. Anyone have any ideas?
This may help? http://www.camerashuttercount.com/
Cheers,
Bernard
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Do you mean to say that Ray (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=96735.msg791678#msg791678) has only ever owned "Canon EOS1Dxx series cameras" ?
Pay attention, this thread is discussing Jonathan's welcome return, what changes have happened in the last seven years and whether Jonathan's Canon 1 series cameras will still cut the mustard.
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Pay attention, this thread is discussing Jonathan's welcome return, what changes have happened in the last seven years and whether Jonathan's Canon 1 series cameras will still cut the mustard.
I doubt that this will happen. Isaac's intention to be in the thread is to act like a bull in a china shop.
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Pay attention, this thread is discussing Jonathan's welcome return, what changes have happened in the last seven years and whether Jonathan's Canon 1 series cameras will still cut the mustard.
As you know, Ray in his inimitable way chose to make more general comments to which I chose to reply.
What a storm! What a teacup!
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I saw a fesw post from you Jonathan and dug around until I found this thread. Welcome back!
Cameras can die long before their wearout life. I had a shutter go on a 1DS2 at ~10,000 and a button fall off on a 1Ds3 at only a few thousand. I don't know how long parts will be around for the 1ds but as you say, just keep it until it dies ...
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This may help? http://www.camerashuttercount.com/
That did the trick! 64,280 exposures on the 1Ds. Thank you.
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This may help? http://www.camerashuttercount.com/
This won't necessarily indicate the correct number of shutter actuations for a given body. Only a Canon service centre has the software to interrogate the camera to discover this.
What this sort of software does is give the shutter count derived from the EXIF data, not the true body count.
One curiosity with some of the Canon 1 series cameras is that the EXIF shot count is transferred between cameras when you load a set of custom camera settings. So beware when buying these cameras secondhand and don't trust any proffered shutter count unless it's been confirmed by Canon themselves.
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I only have 1 1Ds body, so I havent copied settings from camera to camera as you describe.
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That did the trick! 64,280 exposures on the 1Ds. Thank you.
But only about 64,275 of them worth displaying? ;)
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Nope.