37 replies to this topic

[Dogbytes]

Well, this is what it’s come to!

 

I’ve never owned a Canon before (other than an original APS Ixus in the late ‘90s). I’ve also never owned an APSC camera before and I’m not particularly convinced about either of them…

 

On the plus side, it was very cheap and it came complete with a battery grip, that 50/1.8 STM and I do still rather like DSLRs. Oh it came with a Compact Flash card too. Compact Flash! How the f*ck I’m going to transfer that to my iPad, I have no idea. It came with a CF card reader, so it shouldn’t be that difficult. 
 

It’ll be an experience…

 

[g4aaw pete]

Well, this is what it’s come to!

 

I’ve never owned a Canon before (other than an original APS Ixus in the late ‘90s). I’ve also never owned an APSC camera before and I’m not particularly convinced about either of them…

 

On the plus side, it was very cheap and it came complete with a battery grip, that 50/1.8 STM and I do still rather like DSLRs. Oh it came with a Compact Flash card too. Compact Flash! How the f*ck I’m going to transfer that to my iPad, I have no idea. It came with a CF card reader, so it shouldn’t be that difficult. 
 

It’ll be an experience…

 

 

Sharp intake of breath here!

I'll speak to the site owner & see if you can stay.

 

Is there a usb port on it for transfer?

When I accidentally use the CF card in the D800 ( because I've left the SD card in the PC ), I connect camera to PC via USB.

It's rather slow, but saves me having to look for my CF card reader.

 

I've got a few CF cards, but they're all 8Gb.

You'd think bigger CF cards would be quite cheap - but no.

[Merco_61]

It is a nice old camera, even if you have to take more care to nail the exposure than with a D300s as there is less DR and slightly more noise in the shadows. 
 

Nice that you got the STM version of the 50/1.8 with it. It is a really nice standard prime.  
 

If you have an iPad with Lightning, there are CF readers that connect directly to the Lightning port, or you can use the Camera connection kit from Apple to connect any card reader. If you have an USB- C port, things can get trickier as some card readers use more power than the iPad can supply.

[Dogbytes]

I got a CF card reader with it, that has USB-A and USB-C on it - so when I eventually replace my iPad I’ll be able to use that. In the meantime I’ll have to do as Peter suggested and get a USB-Lightning adaptor or a CF-Lightning reader.

 

I can plug the camera directly into my compute BUT ( ) my newest Mac is a 2011 iMac that a mate of mine rescued from a skip. It works okay for some things and did, in fact, recognise the camera and import two pics but the Photos app crashes after about a minute for reasons I don’t understand. It’s something it started doing fairly recently and it’s probably the ancient OS struggling with modern protocols or something. I can’t run anything newer on this machine. Besides a I do most stuff on my iPad.

 

I do have a MacBook dating back to 2007, with a tens of thousands of pics on it in the old Apple Aperture app. Don’t imagine I’ll ever see those again!

 

I’ll get it figured out.

 

Yes, I believe the 50/1.8 STM is s decent lens and should be quite a nice short tele on the cropped sensor. The camera is in really nice condition and was very cheap for what it is. Hopefully I can take some decent pics with it. I’d have preferred another Nikon (of course!) but it was a case of doing what i could with the available cash.

[Ron]

I use the Apple lightning to SD card adapter with my iPad and it works great. I've never seen a lightning to CF card reader... but then, I've never looked for one either. I'm sure they're out there.

 

Looks like a pretty nice camera tho. Fortunately, if you use AF most of the time, you won't have to remember to turn the focusing ring the other way from what you're used to.

 

--Ron

[Dogbytes]

I ordered a USB-A to Lightning Adaptor. Should be here today, fingers crossed.

 

I have to say, I’m not inspired by it! Its ergonomics are dire - wrong way round focusing would be the least of its problems!

 

Normally I’d spend a few hours just playing with a new camera - getting used to where the controls are, where things are in the menu, getting metering, AF and drives set how I want them, etc. I didn’t even take this one out of the bag.

 

I did spend an hour watching YouTube vids from people who reckon it’s the bet APSC camera ever made, and these were vids made in the last year or two! I can only assume they’ve washed up on a desert island with one since 2009! But hey, it does at least demonstrate the fact that it can be liked and I’m feeling slightly more positive about it. 

[Merco_61]

The ergonomics aren’t that bad, once you train your right hand to handle the shutter with your middle finger instead of your index finger. At least, that is what works for me. This grip, with only two fingers on the body normally and not only when using the front wheel, explains the, to a nikonuser, strange shape of the grip of the body.

 

There must be a reason that Canon shooters who specialize on wildlife so often still use the 7D and 7D II.

 

I had an EOS 40D for a couple of years, just to be able to use the MP-E 65 mm and the TS-E 17 mm.

[Dogbytes]

I took it out on the dog walk this morning, shot 70 or 80 pics and I’m now feeling a lot better about it. For a 2009 camera, it’s AF doesn’t seem bad at all - it’s no D850 but you wouldn’t expect that for £200 including a lens. It’s nice enough to handle and the menu system seems reasonably well organised.

 

Hopefully the USB adaptor will turn up today and I can have a look at the pics this evening.

 

Cheers Peter, I’ll try it using my middle finger for the shutter button and see how I get on. 

[Dogbytes]

The USB adaptor arrived today, so I’m in business. Hers one from this morning. Theres an OOC jpg and the same with a light edit in Snapseed.

 

In one of the vids I watched last night, the guy commented that the sensor was soft which was, I thought, a strange thing to say but on the basis of this morning, I’d have to agree. More testing might modify my opinion on this. Certainly the lens is not made for use wide open - the CA is pretty bad, I’ll put an example up later. 
 

However, when it all comes together, it can produce a decent result. It needs care though. It’s not a camera with which you can concentrate on composition and timing and let it get on with the technical stuff.

 

 

 

 

[Merco_61]

Is the softness there when shooting both raw and jpg?

I don't use Snapseed, so I don't know how it handles raw files, if they need to be converted to .DNG or not.

 

If it is a .jpeg thing, read pages 66-70 in the manual. Canons don't work like Nikons.

 

The anti-alias, or low-pass filter is quite aggressive in the 7D.

 

If the softness is there in raw, not all .cr2 files are equal.

If Snapseed tries to apply a curve originally made for the 50D or one of the three-digit cameras, it won't compensate for this lower contrast. Canon did put this heavier AA filter in all pro and semi-pro bodies until they removed the AA filters completely when the pixel density got high enough that the rear element of the lens works as a low-pass filter. It is there to make it easier to edit extensively in post and make certain that there is absolutely no moiré.

[Ron]

I donno... I kinda like the first one. Except for the sky which looks a bit blown out to me.

 

I also notice the softness, although I suppose you could work that to your advantage with a little practice. I had Snapseed on a previous Android tablet and never could get the hang of it. But that was several (make that many!!) moons ago. I've sure it's much better these days.

 

Glad the dongle worked. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

 

--Ron

[Dogbytes]

Thanks Peter, I’ll look further into it. It’s a learning curve, this Canon stuff! I only tried jpg unto now as I’m more interested in getting used to it before I worry too much about image quality - it’s already way better than my phone! I’ll shoot some RAW today out of interest. I shoot mainly jpg as most of my shots are snaps whilst I’m doing something else, I never get to go out just to take pics. Hence, if I can get the camera set up with a few custom presets like ‘high speed action’, ‘low light’, etc. then I can concentrate on the image and not the camera. 
Snapseed will process RAW files but I’m afraid I have no idea how it does it. I do not have your technical knowledge in that regard (I suspect that very few do!). 
 

Cheers Ron, more work will be forthcoming! Yesterday morning I spent most of the walk with the camera set for 2/3 stop under exposure because I suspected (rightly) that it would be very prone to clipping highlights. This particular shot had no exposure compensation on it. As it happens, the sky didn’t blow out, the only bit that did was Tinka’s shoulder. The sky was just a bit bright but characterless.  

There are days when I like muted colours, or monochrome and there are others when I want over-the-top levels of warmth and saturation - yesterday was the latter. I wanted that barley good and golden!

 

I’ve used Snapseed since the very beginning, when it was in its original format. I liked it then but it’s better now. It suits how I work - which tends to be very quickly! I also have Affinity Photo on my iPad. That is extremely comprehensive but the most unintuitive software I’ve ever used. I gave up on it eventually. 

[Dogbytes]

So, mostly RAW and f4 this morning. But of an eye opener, to be honest (no pun intended!).

Original is converted but not edited. The other one is a slightly tweaked crop. Not much to complain about there!

 

Had to post this from my phone as my iPad was struggling with it. I’ll have a proper look at it later…

[La Bikina]

Dogbytes In theory, your canon 7D win the D3 in score, not joke

 

 

https://pxlmag.com/d...-7D-vs-Nikon-D3

 

 

If you want, we can compare

 

My Nikon Nikkor-H Auto 85mm f/1.8 adapted AI with Nikon's original kit with Nikon D3
https://radojuva.com...njoy-this-lens/

 

Vs your Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM with Canon 7D

Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM Review

[Ron]

I’ve used Snapseed since the very beginning, when it was in its original format. I liked it then but it’s better now. It suits how I work - which tends to be very quickly! I also have Affinity Photo on my iPad. That is extremely comprehensive but the most unintuitive software I’ve ever used. I gave up on it eventually. 

 

The last time the Affinity suite was on sale I went full tilt bozo and bought everything.... for everything. I got the Mac version, the iPad version and the Windows version of all their apps. I really need a good replacement for Microsoft Publisher which is one reason why I decided to spurge. Occasionally, I get it out and play with it... but damn, it's a pain in the butt to use. It's like they decided to reinvent everything on all their apps, and my muscle memory just doesn't work that way. 

 

I actually had better luck... tho, we're talking tiny teeny bits of luck here, using Apple Pages for the desktop publishing projects I'm working on. That's really saying something! I won't even comment on Photo and Designer except to say, I'm sure they work great once you get the hang of them.

 

--Ron

[Dogbytes]

I actually had better luck... tho, we're talking tiny teeny bits of luck here, using Apple Pages for the desktop publishing projects I'm working on. That's really saying something! I won't even comment on Photo and Designer except to say, I'm sure they work great once you get the hang of them.

 

--Ron

Yeah, I have the Mac version of Affinity too but my iPad is 12 years old now and is beginning to be a bit temperamental. The Photos app crashes all the time and I can’t figure out why. I found the desktop Affinity marginally easier to use but not so much that I’d actually want to spend much time doing so.

 

I like Apple’s productivity suite. I Pages, Numbers and Keynote quite a lot on the iPad but I don’t need much more than basic stuff. I find the much more intuitive than the MS equivalents. 

Dogbytes In theory, your canon 7D win the D3 in score, not joke

 

 

https://pxlmag.com/d...-7D-vs-Nikon-D3

 

 

If you want, we can compare

 

 

we should definitely compare

 

The Canon 7D is nice enough but it’s never going to be my favourite. It must have been good back in 2009 though. That 50mm STM lens is a different thing, though, it is way batter than any AF Nikkor. The only 50mm l liked better was my old Leitz M Summicron. 
 

I’d still rather have a D3 though.

[La Bikina]

So John, we have a D3 Vs 7D duel challenge in hands !

Peter S prepare yourself, the cameras challenge to be the judge.....10 steps and shot ......

We need to create a post named VS or anything like this.

Pete brings the popcorn

Ron takes a seat and enjoy.

[Ron]

I can definitely take a seat. Yeah, I can do that.

 

--Ron

Yeah, I have the Mac version of Affinity too but my iPad is 12 years old now and is beginning to be a bit temperamental. The Photos app crashes all the time and I can’t figure out why. I found the desktop Affinity marginally easier to use but not so much that I’d actually want to spend much time doing so.

 

I like Apple’s productivity suite. I Pages, Numbers and Keynote quite a lot on the iPad but I don’t need much more than basic stuff. I find the much more intuitive than the MS equivalents. 

 

My iPad is just a basic ninth generation model. Nothing fancy... but it works for what I need so I'm happy. However, the Affinity stuff is, for me at least, even crapper on the iPad than it is on the Mac. Again, I'm sure it's great software, but you (meaning I) would have to expend a lot more time than I really want to, to get it integrated into my workflow. 

 

I'm also surprised at how good Apple's work suite is. I haven't really used Numbers yet but I have used Pages and Keynote and they seem to be pretty good apps. However, they both have their own quirks that you need to be aware of going in. Particularly Pages. I do like the pre-made stuff that is provided which can be a big time saver. Unfortunately, you still have to dig around to find some basic things like line spacing, etc. But, Apple, doesn't sell Pages as being a Pagemaker killer or even a Microsoft Publisher killer. However, if I were a student, it would likely be more than enough to get me through school.

 

--Ron

[Dogbytes]

 

My iPad is just a basic ninth generation model. Nothing fancy... but it works for what I need so I'm happy. 

Im still on the basic 5th generation one. I look at 9th generation iPads with awe and wonder!

 

i will have to replace it this year as it is thought that the 5th generation won’t be able to update to the next generation iPadOS, when it comes out in the autumn. Also it can’t process my Canon’s RAW files in Snapseed - I have to  open and edit them in Photos first, then Snapseed will edit them. My phone, which is an SE3, has a much newer processor and that will process the files in Snapseed no problem. 
 

Other than that it works just fine. It’s a bit slow but ideal for emails and word processing. 

[Ron]

Im still on the basic 5th generation one. I look at 9th generation iPads with awe and wonder!

 

i will have to replace it this year as it is thought that the 5th generation won’t be able to update to the next generation iPadOS, when it comes out in the autumn. Also it can’t process my Canon’s RAW files in Snapseed - I have to  open and edit them in Photos first, then Snapseed will edit them. My phone, which is an SE3, has a much newer processor and that will process the files in Snapseed no problem. 
 

Other than that it works just fine. It’s a bit slow but ideal for emails and word processing. 

I don't use photos either, which sometimes causes iPadOS to throw a fit. In fact some apps, particularly Apple stuff, just won't default to anything but Photos when you want to add a picture file to something. I made a folder, creatively called "pictures," which houses all my pics. I then get around Apple's nannying (apparently NOT a real word) by using the option to add a file. Apparently, they haven't found a way to fix that so it doesn't screen out photos.... yet. Photoshop and Lightroom don't seem to mind where the photo comes from.

 

I can't imagine what's going on between Apple and Canon to make you open a RAW file in Photos first.

 

My phone is a first generation iPhone SE. Lousy camera, no longer supported, but somehow... still works. I did have to replace the battery a year or two ago. Apple Store did it for about $50US. Came out looking like a new phone. I almost bought an SE 3 but didn't and it's probably past time to upgrade. My phone is still getting security updates but nothing else. Unfortunately, I HATE those huge phones they're selling now.

 

I can recommend the Ninth Generation iPad. It's a pretty nice machine. They're selling relatively cheaply now that the Tenth Generation is out. Just be sure to get the 256GB model. I run Photoshop and Lightroom on it as well as the full Affinity suite and some other graphic apps. But I try not to run too much stuff at the same time. I guess I'm still a single tasking guy living in a multifinder ... uh, multitasking world.

 

--Ron