Headed out today with the intention of shooting some comparative shots with regards to my continuing 70-200mm f/2.8L IS sharpness issue. Today, comparisons between a 40D body and a Rebel XTi body. I tried to shoot images that were as close to identical as possible.

 
This image was made with the 40D, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS zoomed to 200mm. I’m shooting at ISO800, 1/1250 sec @ f/8, handheld.

This image was made with the XTi, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS zoomed to 200mm. Again, I’m shooting at ISO800, 1/1250 sec @ f/8, handheld. 

If you look closely, you might just barely tell a difference. At any rate, it’s not significant. Since I’ve previously tried two identical lenses on a single body, again shooting images as close to identical as possible, I’ve pretty much reached the conclusion that the "issue" is more with me and my expectations than with the lens/camera.

More of this morning’s pictures are up on my flickr photo stream.

We ventured over to Wilde Lake today for some shooting — twice, actually. I’m still having focus issues, mostly with the 70-200mm lens, and I wanted to run some tests. And, it was a lovely day and we didn’t want to be cooped up in the house for all of it.

The tests were pretty inconclusive — and fairly unscientific. For our first trip over, I shot with my 70-200 on my 40D body, and the second trip, I used Donna’s lens on my 40D body. The results pretty much indicated that, as long as things aren’t terribly far away, focus is really good. The picture of the Black Crowned Night Heron (above, left) was taken with Donna’s lens and my 2X converted. I was, maybe, 20 feet from the bird. Even though the original was pretty grossly under-exposed, the shot cleaned up quite nicely. And, it’s super sharp.

Distant subjects, like these two shots of a Great Blue Heron in flight, are a different story. The one on the left was taken this morning, with my lens. The one on the right, was this afternoon with Donna’s lens, and both had the 2X converter involved.

My next test will be to see if maybe the problem is in the body. I’ll try one of the lenses on an XTi body and/or Donna’s 40D. Or, maybe it’s just me…

See more pictures on my Flickr stream.

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Okay, here’s the "more later" I promised.

This photograph was made in what might be considered an unusual manner. But, I’ve stumbled on to something that really seems to work well — using a telephoto zoom in conjunction with an extension tube to allow it to focus super-close. In this case, the lens is my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, and the extension tube is a Promaster 36mm tube.

Working with this combination is a little touchy. Unlike a normal macro lens, which is usually a fixed focal length (prime) lens, a multi-step focusing technique is required. First, you sorta frame and really-rough-focus by moving the camera in relation to the subject. Then, you rough-focus with the zoom ring. Finally, you fine focus with the focus ring (or autofocus). If your subject hasn’t moved on you, then you’re ready for setting the exposure and tripping the shutter.

This procedure wouldn’t be to hateful on a tripod with focusing rails. However, when shooting at the Flights of Fancy butterfly live exhibit at Brookside Gardens, tripods aren’t allowed. So, this was done hand-held. I made 307 exposures this way over a two-and-one-half hour period, of which I "finished" 34. You can see those images at the new Orchard Studios gallery pages. You’ll find them in the featured galleries section for a limited time, along with pictures from our recent trip to western Montana.

It is very, very, very good!

I took this photograph today using the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS that I’ve been off-and-on complaining about. We were at the annual Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy event, and I was experimenting. More on that in a later posting, but I was so taken with this image that I wanted to get it up on the site right away!

For this shot, the camera’s set at ISO800, and the exposure is f/8 at 1/160. The pop-up flash is on, fired through a Gary Fong Puffer. The lens is zoomed all the way to 200mm, and, since Brookside doesn’t allow tripods in the butterfly house, I’m handheld. There is nothing to complain about here. Sure, I maybe should have been at f/11 or so to gain a little more depth of field, but frankly, I’ll take this kind of performance any day.

I’ve mentioned here and there (mostly on Flickr) that I’ve been having some intermittent focusing issues which were most noticeable when using the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens. I thought perhaps there was a lens issue of some sort, or user error, or both.

However, someone else has mentioned having similar problems with their 40D and a different lens. This, just after they had gotten the camera back from Canon — supposedly for a cleaning. In this case, the mirror appeared to have some sort of filmy haze on it.

The focusing sensors are in the prism, so, it seems reasonable that a dirty mirror or focusing screen could account for soft focus issues. As soon as I get home, I’m checking that mirror and screen!

 
We trundled back down to the southern end of Assateague today to take more pictures at the wildlife refuge. Yesterday, I had been frustrated by all of my images appearing fuzzy on the LCD display on the 40D. I had been shooting RAW only, which has a JPEG thumbnail embedded for preview purposes. However, it seems that the in-camera settings are not applied to this thumbnail image, so, no sharpening (or anything else, for that matter). Today, I shot RAW+JPEG, and the difference was must gratifying — images on the LCD display were nice and crisp!

It was an overcast day, so I also decided that we should shoot with flash, if for no other reason than to get a little catch-light in the eyes. We set up for high-speed-sync, which allows our flash units to sync with the camera shutter at higher than the standard 1/250th of a second. I set my camera to shutter priority automation, the ISO to 800 and the shutter speed to 1/1000th. I let the camera and flash figure out the rest. Most of the results were either outstanding or correctable to outstanding. The lighting looks natural, motion is frozen, focus is sharp (when the autofocus wasn’t fooled by something). It all makes me look as if I know what I’m doing.

All of the images I’ve posted today are from the JPEG versions, not the RAW files. I’ve done very, very little to them — just a little minor exposure adjustment and cropping.

Really, when all the technology works well, as it did today, it frees me up to make photographs, which is what’s important. I can concentrate on what I’m looking at, and let the camera do the math — under my control, of course. This is when I really enjoy photography!

Pictures from today have been added to my flickr set from our long weekend visit to Assateague.

This video shows a really simple — and cheap — method of reducing camera shake:

$1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera - Lose The Tripod - The most amazing home videos are here

This idea is, by no means, a new thing. This video just shows how to put it together very succinctly. Theoretically, a longer bolt, with the string attached to the “head” end, should increase stability even more. And, it should also work for video cameras.

We spent most of yesterday at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. We were supposed to spend the whole day, but some miscommunications caused us to have to leave earlier then we had planned. There was still time to get some good pictures, though, and we’ll be going back for a full day of fun and frivolity in a couple of weeks.

Watching the people at the renfest is one of my favorite things, especially when I can catch folks out of “character,” such as this young lady removing ye olde contact lenses. People in garb pushing strollers and yacking on cell phones are other favorites.

Of course, it can’t be a good day at the Renaissance Festival without catching at least one performance by Shakespeare’s Scum or The Rogues, and photographing at least one set of heaving bosoms.

Yo, Will, here ya go!, buddy! This one’s for you!

As always, more pictures can be found on my flickr stream, here… and there will be more in a couple of weeks, when we go back.

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While we were away, dpreview.com got a preliminary review posted for the new Canon 40D. Included are some tasty sample pictures taken with a “beta” version of the camera. One word: Wow!

Fast on the heels of Canon’s announcement of two new ante-upping DSLR models, Nikon cries, “Me, too!”

Nikon’s web site this morning carries press releases for a new D300 as well as a new model D3. The specs on the D300 are skimpy in the press release, and those given don’t look particularly earth-shattering, especially at an estimated selling price that’s $500 more than the Canon 40D. With the exception of the Multi-CAM 3500DX auto focus module, which sports up to 51 auto focus points, and the full-VGA-resolution 3″ display, most of the other features appear to be very similar in concept to items that Canon users have enjoyed for at least two years now!

The more interesting development is the D3. It’s Nikon’s first DLSR camera that doesn’t use a CCD image sensor. Instead, Nikon appears to have “seen the light,” so to speak, and moved to a CMOS sensor. The model is aimed more at the Canon 1D MkIII, rather than at the newest 1Ds MkIII. However, in another Nikon first, it does sport a 12.1MP full-frame sensor — something Nikon executives previously vowed would never happen. Nikon also claim high ISO performance up to ISO 25,600 in its extended range (read “really noisy”) mode. “Normal” ISO range is 200-6400. Street pricing is expected to be similar to that of the 1D MkIII — again, about $500 higher.

Nikon advocates will claim that these new models will put Nikon quantum leaps ahead of Canon in performance, but I see things a little differently. These cameras employ vastly different technology from previous models, and Nikon is diving into relatively unknown territory. There will be bugs. There will be issues. It will take time for Nikon to “master” CMOS technology, which Canon have been using since the inception of their DSLR program seven-plus years ago (not counting the previous Kodak/Canon hybrid models).

[UPDATE] Nikon have updated their web site with more in-depth product information. There are some interesting features, but Nikon continue to force customers to pay extra for a full, non-crippled version of their RAW processing software.

I will admit that the auto focus system looks impressive, especially since it is implied that focusing can be achieved while in live view!