Hello! New Member aboard

CtPhotoGirl · May 2, 2005

Hi Everyone, As I introduce myself, My name is Sarah I am a photographer from CT. My husband and I started our photography business 3 years ago. We started with basic Sony Cameras, the 707 and upgraded to the 717 then the 828. We had all sony gear. Used to it... Been there dont that with it!
So.. we came across a great guy who uses Canon's. I was very intrested and Dwayne was always like.. Hmm Give me a REASON why I should be intrested.
So as he saw our friends photographs and asked him to join our "team" to photograph events, he got more and more intrested in teh Canon.
This past weekend we put our Sony 828 camera up for sale on Ebay, and that one sold within days , then we thought "we'll if we going to do then we should do it, and we put up our second 828 camera, we will see if that sells in the next couple of days. We purchased Three Canon digital Rebels XT.
One for me One for Him and a Backup/Studio Camera.
I was hestiant on getting the 20D, and for the money, We felt the XT's we were better of to go. So, Here I stand, with Three XT's and weddings starting. We need to Get used to the new cameras fast. As our fourth wedding of the year is on Saturday. We Love the fact that you can take many photographs without much of delay and also that you can take RAW/JPegs together without a problem, Sony's you had atleast a 30sec delay per RAW image, theres NO way we could capture the ceremony in RAW.

We will be doing a LOT of test shooting this week, and I am sure with each wedding we have this year we will get better and better with knowing the camera. I personally Can't wait till I can get going!

Well, back to work, as I work Full Time elsewhere than the Studio.
I can't wait to post and here feedback!
Thanks
Sarah

Steve Cavigliano · May 2, 2005

Welcome aboard CT :-)
Glad you decided to join in on the fun

Good luck to you on your conversion. If it went as well as mine, you guys are in for a treat. My camera background is similar to yours. First the 707, then the 717 and finally the 828. Loved those Sonys and really had a ball using them

I too, was frustrated with the time it took to write a RAW burst (with the 828) and the noise at higher ISOs (I shoot indoor sports quite a bit). So a few months ago (Nov 2004) I took the plunge with the 20D. 10,000 + images later, and I'm still stunned. Not that I instantly became a better photographer, but this camera (and the DR's to a lesser extent) can do anything I ask of it and do it well. Not only that, but it's almost as much fun to use as those swivel lensed Sonys :lol

Please post some of the wedding results you get with your DR's. I'd also be very interested in hearing your thoughts on how it went/is going and any issues you uncover. I'm looking to try some wedding shoots with the 20D and 580EX and I'm always looking for ideas

:

Welcome to Dgrin and looking forward to more posts from you

Steve

CtPhotoGirl · May 2, 2005

No Kidding, Im glad we aren't the only ones switching from Sony to Canon. My husband's biggest thing was the "swivel" lens! It was GREAT! especially since we are "shorter" and tryin gto reach up high to get a "great shot" I can't wait till we do use the ISO range because like you said the Sony's ISO isn't that great at all, for being wedding photographers, you may know that some church's don't like Flash photography so, to compensate to get a "ok" photo in the" dark" we had to change the ISO, which ended up meaning a Grainy really noisey photograph, which being a "perfectionist" wasn't Pleaseing to me at all!!!!
I have to get used to posting here, adding photos and all that But it seems pretty easy, Ive taking some photos of my daughter today so Ill try to post them up alittle later.
We also took a dig and bought a lens, atfirst the the 75-300 lens but then I told my husband he better exchange it and get the IS lens. So we did.
What do you guys think of this lens? What lens's do you guys use? How do you know before you try? Alot of the times you cant "Try before you buy!" so spending the money and then not liking it stinks!

Thanks again!
Sarah

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Glad you decided to join in on the fun

Good luck to you on your conversion. If it went as well as mine, you guys are in for a treat. My camera background is similar to yours. First the 707, then the 717 and finally the 828. Loved those Sonys and really had a ball using them

I too, was frustrated with the time it took to write a RAW burst (with the 828) and the noise at higher ISOs (I shoot indoor sports quite a bit). So a few months ago (Nov 2004) I took the plunge with the 20D. 10,000 + images later, and I'm still stunned. Not that I instantly became a better photographer, but this camera (and the DR's to a lesser extent) can do anything I ask of it and do it well. Not only that, but it's almost as much fun to use as those swivel lensed Sonys :lol

Please post some of the wedding results you get with your DR's. I'd also be very interested in hearing your thoughts on how it went/is going and any issues you uncover. I'm looking to try some wedding shoots with the 20D and 580EX and I'm always looking for ideas :

Welcome to Dgrin and looking forward to more posts from you

Steve

Steve Cavigliano · May 2, 2005

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

We also took a dig and bought a lens, atfirst the the 75-300 lens but then I told my husband he better exchange it and get the IS lens. So we did.
What do you guys think of this lens? What lens's do you guys use? How do you know before you try? Alot of the times you cant "Try before you buy!" so spending the money and then not liking it stinks!

Thanks again!
Sarah

Sarah,
As far as lens choices go, there are lots of resources available so you don't have to "try before you buy"

There are a couple "Lens Test" sites and a few user feeback sites. Try here , or this one and here's some user feedback

Also, you can ask questions in the Gear Forum here. Many of us shoot with Canons and someone is bound to have, or had, just about any lens you may be thinking of purchasing.

FWIW, for indoor no flash shots (like a church), a nice fast zoom helps a lot. Something in the 24-70mm range @ F2.8, Either the Canon L version, or even the Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 XR will work just fine. Also, a 70-200mm F2.8 comes in handy, inside and outdoors. There are 3 versions to consider. The Canon IS version at around $1700, the non-IS Canon @ $1100 and the Sigma for around $700.

As I wrote, there is a treasure trove of info available. Please let us know how we can assist you :-)

Steve

binghott · May 2, 2005

welcome sarah!

i have both the tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 and the canon 70-200mm f/2.8 that steve mentioned, they are excellent and a perfect combo. the 28-75 barely ever comes off my camera.

-barry

CtPhotoGirl · May 3, 2005

binghott wrote:

welcome sarah!

i have both the tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 and the canon 70-200mm f/2.8 that steve mentioned, they are excellent and a perfect combo. the 28-75 barely ever comes off my camera.

-barry

Ill have to look at the 28-75mm Do u have a website or photos that you ve taken?

CtPhotoGirl · May 3, 2005

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

Ill have to look at the 28-75mm Do u have a website or photos that you ve taken?

Wow I guess that is your baby! Thats the lens in your photo..
wow.. maybe some day!

USAIR · May 3, 2005

Sarah
Welcome to Dgrin

I did the same as you 707 to 717 to 828 and now 20d
And I love the 20d

Good luck on your weddings
And take a look at my web site most photos are with the 717 and 828

Have fun
Fred

CtPhotoGirl · May 3, 2005

USAIR wrote:

Welcome to Dgrin
I did the same as you 707 to 717 to 828 and now 20d
And I love the 20d

Good luck on your weddings
And take a look at my web site most photos are with the 717 and 828

Have fun
Fred

Ill definatly take a look at your site...:)
What equipment do you have with youe 20d?
While Im typing I dont think I added my website..

its

www.snapshotsunlimited.com

take a peak:)

Sarah

leebase · May 3, 2005

Welcome to the Canon DSLR club. My trip was from Nikon Coolpix 990 to Digital Rebel to Canon 20D.

I too shoot weddings. Here's mine from last weekend: http://leebase.smugmug.com/gallery/511206

Next of course, comes your lens choices. I see you bought an IS lens. Personally -- I favor fast lenses (f2.8 or faster) over IS. Both would be best, but those lenses are really expensive.

My set is:

Canon 50mm f1.8
Canon 85mm f1.8
Tamron 17-35 f2.8/4
Tamron 28-75 f2.8
Sigma 70-200 f2.8

I love all my lenses. If the Sigma 18-50 f2.8 had been available before I bought my Tamron 28-75 -- I might have bought it instead of both of those lenses. But maybe not. I do love my Tamron's.

Lee

binghott · May 3, 2005

my website binghott.com has some pictures with my tamron 28-75mm, "the blue scene" gallery is shot only with that lens. here's another picture taken with that lens:

i really love this lens

, possibly more than my 70-200 f/2.8
btw, my tamron 28-75 cost me like $375 which is an awesome price for the quality of the lens.

CtPhotoGirl · May 3, 2005

Great job on that wedding. Do you do all black and white? or are all those converted to b/w?

Im all new to these lenese and all the terminolgy, Fast lens, what do you mean?

Do you.. or any of you guys use Filters for your Canons? If so Which ones do you prefer? Anyone like the "Star" filter? Or the soft focus lens?

leebase wrote:

Welcome to the Canon DSLR club. My trip was from Nikon Coolpix 990 to Digital Rebel to Canon 20D.

I too shoot weddings. Here's mine from last weekend: http://leebase.smugmug.com/gallery/511206

Next of course, comes your lens choices. I see you bought an IS lens. Personally -- I favor fast lenses (f2.8 or faster) over IS. Both would be best, but those lenses are really expensive.

My set is:

Canon 50mm f1.8
Canon 85mm f1.8
Tamron 17-35 f2.8/4
Tamron 28-75 f2.8
Sigma 70-200 f2.8

I love all my lenses. If the Sigma 18-50 f2.8 had been available before I bought my Tamron 28-75 -- I might have bought it instead of both of those lenses. But maybe not. I do love my Tamron's.

Lee

CtPhotoGirl · May 3, 2005

That is great coloring and great focus. the 28-75.. only 375? what do u believe this captures more than the IS lens we bought? How close are you standing to your object?

binghott wrote:

my website binghott.com has some pictures with my tamron 28-75mm, "the blue scene" gallery is shot only with that lens. here's another picture taken with that lens:

i really love this lens, possibly more than my 70-200 f/2.8
btw, my tamron 28-75 cost me like $375 which is an awesome price for the quality of the lens.

Sam · May 3, 2005

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

Great job on that wedding. Do you do all black and white? or are all those converted to b/w?

Im all new to these lenese and all the terminolgy, Fast lens, what do you mean?

Do you.. or any of you guys use Filters for your Canons? If so Which ones do you prefer? Anyone like the "Star" filter? Or the soft focus lens?

A couple of comments. I think your gona find that going from a fixed lens camera to to a DSLR there will be a steep learning curve. This may frustrate you a little to start with but it WILL be well worth it! You have gone from the wadding pool into the ocean.

I would recomend practicing the heck out of your new camers to get real comfortible with them. I'm not real sure but you may find a bigger issue with camera shake with the DSLR's than the Sony's. That means you need to keep the shutter speeds up. A fast lens ( This is a lens with a wider aperature 1.8, 2.0, 2.8) many lenses seem to be in the 3.5 to 5.6 range and will vary by focal length. The more expensive zoom lenses read "L" lenses will have a constant aperature throughtout the zoom range. A wider aperature will let in more light and allow you to use a faster shutter speed while giving you a good exposure.

One lens I can recomend you get right away would be the 50mm 1.8 it retails for less that $90.00 and is a very sharp lens, with good low light performance. Cheap build, great optics.

I really hope many of the others here with way more knowledge will jump in and give you some tips.

Now your website: I can see you spent a lot of time and have been very thorough with all your info and options. From a CA stand point, and unless I am reading your pricing information wrong, your prices look way low! But definitly a good family value.

:

Good luck, and I think you will find this place a good source of information.

Sam

CtPhotoGirl · May 4, 2005

Thank you I appreciate all of your help. and I Definatly agree that we are now into the ocean with learning all different types of things that we can make happen with the camera, Not only is the Camera the best tool but again the person behind it definatly can make or break the photograph. I have noticed a complete difference with taking a photograph with the Sony compared taking a photograph with the Canon, the photo is just completey different. We also have a studio so practicing with the Canon with "controlled" lighting we difently have to work on. We had a shoot yesterday and the photos were little overexposed but we definatly had USEable images when taken in RAW format and using RAW essentials shoots i think its called to make them look good. Most important the mom was happy:) Ill definatly look into that 50mm lens. I have heard many people talk about it..
Do you recommend having a MACRO lens? a lens were we can get really close and take an unbelievable photo? Do you think a Macro lens is needed?

Thank you for your comment on our website, we do have to do a upgrade to show more photographs. We have created our company so the Bride can Choose. Its all Ala Cart. Everyone seems to love it that way, We started way lower, but with time, and experience we will definatly have to go up, BUT.. on a nother hand, we want the couple to come back to us when they have children, Not Many people we have spoke to See their photographer who they had photograph their wedding for take their family photos becasue they were just to high priced for a family. We would rather have repeat customers then just.. once.... does that make sense? We started in 2002 with 1 wedding, in 2003 we had 7 and in 2004 we ended with 42. This year we have about 33 booked.. so far. So wedding season is definatly in the prime We have had weddings already this year, but this weekend will mark our First for the "complete" wedding season.

Thank you again Sam.

Sam wrote:

A couple of comments. I think your gona find that going from a fixed lens camera to to a DSLR there will be a steep learning curve. This may frustrate you a little to start with but it WILL be well worth it! You have gone from the wadding pool into the ocean.

I would recomend practicing the heck out of your new camers to get real comfortible with them. I'm not real sure but you may find a bigger issue with camera shake with the DSLR's than the Sony's. That means you need to keep the shutter speeds up. A fast lens ( This is a lens with a wider aperature 1.8, 2.0, 2.8) many lenses seem to be in the 3.5 to 5.6 range and will vary by focal length. The more expensive zoom lenses read "L" lenses will have a constant aperature throughtout the zoom range. A wider aperature will let in more light and allow you to use a faster shutter speed while giving you a good exposure.

One lens I can recomend you get right away would be the 50mm 1.8 it retails for less that $90.00 and is a very sharp lens, with good low light performance. Cheap build, great optics.

I really hope many of the others here with way more knowledge will jump in and give you some tips.

Now your website: I can see you spent a lot of time and have been very thorough with all your info and options. From a CA stand point, and unless I am reading your pricing information wrong, your prices look way low! But definitly a good family value. :

Good luck, and I think you will find this place a good source of information.

Sam

Sam · May 4, 2005

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

Thank you I appreciate all of your help. and I Definatly agree that we are now into the ocean with learning all different types of things that we can make happen with the camera, Not only is the Camera the best tool but again the person behind it definatly can make or break the photograph. I have noticed a complete difference with taking a photograph with the Sony compared taking a photograph with the Canon, the photo is just completey different. We also have a studio so practicing with the Canon with "controlled" lighting we difently have to work on. We had a shoot yesterday and the photos were little overexposed but we definatly had USEable images when taken in RAW format and using RAW essentials shoots i think its called to make them look good.

Raw has many advantages, but there is a down side. Post processing will take much longer. One (for me) big advantage is being able to set the white balance after the shot has been taken.

Most important the mom was happy:) Ill definatly look into that 50mm lens. I have heard many people talk about it..
Do you recommend having a MACRO lens? a lens were we can get really close and take an unbelievable photo? Do you think a Macro lens is needed?

If you want an 8X10 of a nose hair you will need a macro, but as far as portraits and weddings, I can't see a use for a macro.

Thank you for your comment on our website, we do have to do a upgrade to show more photographs. We have created our company so the Bride can Choose. Its all Ala Cart. Everyone seems to love it that way, We started way lower, but with time, and experience we will definatly have to go up, BUT.. on a nother hand, we want the couple to come back to us when they have children, Not Many people we have spoke to See their photographer who they had photograph their wedding for take their family photos becasue they were just to high priced for a family. We would rather have repeat customers then just.. once.... does that make sense?

My comment with regard to what seems a very low price was not made to be critical in any way. Your basic portrait package in an awsome deal! You will never have to worry about anyone under cutting your prices, and if both you and your customers are happy thats all that matters.

We started in 2002 with 1 wedding, in 2003 we had 7 and in 2004 we ended with 42. This year we have about 33 booked.. so far. So wedding season is definatly in the prime We have had weddings already this year, but this weekend will mark our First for the "complete" wedding season.

Thank you again Sam.

Disclaimer: I am not a profesional, never shot (and never will) a wedding. Double check everything I say. (I do).

Sam

USAIR · May 5, 2005

Sarah

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

Ill definatly take a look at your site...:)
What equipment do you have with youe 20d?
While Im typing I dont think I added my website..

its

www.snapshotsunlimited.com

take a peak:)

Sarah

Checked out your site very nice

All your photos on your site done with Sonys ?

So far I have the 24-70 f/2.8L,70-200 IS f/2.8L,50mm f/1.4 and a lensbaby.

Looking forward to seeing more of your photos

Thanks
Fred

CtPhotoGirl · May 5, 2005

Sam wrote:

Disclaimer: I am not a profesional, never shot (and never will) a wedding. Double check everything I say. (I do).

Sam

thank you same for your comments... I cant wait till buiness picks up....:) its going very welll though!

CtPhotoGirl · May 5, 2005

USAIR wrote:

Checked out your site very nice
All your photos on your site done with Sonys ?

So far I have the 24-70 f/2.8L,70-200 IS f/2.8L,50mm f/1.4 and a lensbaby.

Looking forward to seeing more of your photos

Thanks
Fred

Yes every photo is done with the Sony's.. Except for the new image on the "top of every page.. the photo of the little girl.. on the left.. that was just taken with the Canon. Today actually:) Thats our daughter

How do you like the lensbaby!??? do you love it?? i ve only seen SOME images taken with it and the ones i have i love!

USAIR · May 5, 2005

Sarah

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

Yes every photo is done with the Sony's.. Except for the new image on the "top of every page.. the photo of the little girl.. on the left.. that was just taken with the Canon. Today actually:) Thats our daughter

How do you like the lensbaby!??? do you love it?? i ve only seen SOME images taken with it and the ones i have i love!

Very nice web site love your photos

Yes love the Lensbaby fun lens
These were taken with the lensbaby

Thanks
Fred

leebase · May 6, 2005

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

Great job on that wedding.

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

Do you do all black and white? or are all those converted to b/w?

I shot the wedding in RAW....processed to color....then to b&w.

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

Im all new to these lenese and all the terminolgy, Fast lens, what do you mean?

Fast lenses have aperatures of f2.8 or faster. The wider the aperature, the faster the shutter speed allowed for a given light level. Since so many churches don't allow flash, you are really in a pickle if you don't have fast lenses.

Also, wider aperatures let you get narrow DOF for those dreamy portraits. And finally, fast lenses also tend to be the best quality -- and the most expensive.

CtPhotoGirl wrote:

Do you.. or any of you guys use Filters for your Canons? If so Which ones do you prefer? Anyone like the "Star" filter? Or the soft focus lens?

I don't use filters for special effects -- as I prefer to do those on the computer. But I do use a circular polarizer when shooting outdoors with bright light to help blue up the sky and make all the colors more saturated...and to reduce the contrast difference between sky and ground.

Lee

Hello! New Member aboard

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