Notes from the Field

Something has been missing from my camera bag since I switch from Nikon to Canon. When I shot Nikon, I had two go to lenses in my bag, the 24-70mm f/2.8 and the 80-200mm f/2.8. When I sold the Nikon kit and moved to Canon, I made sure to buy the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8, but I thought that I needed to get a longer zoom for my action work and didn’t buy the Canon 70-200 f/2.8, instead I opted for the Canon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6.

I did this for two reasons. The first was because I was shooting a lot of action photography at the time and wanted to get closer to the subject, but many times fences, security guards or guard rails kept me from getting closer to the action, so I went for the 100-400 to help me get those tight shots.

I have since moved away from being a sport and action shooter, to more of a studio and portrait photographer and the necessity for the 100-400 has gone away. So far away, that it is no longer in my everyday camera bag and only comes out when I got out for the sporadic action shoot, and it may soon find its way on the used lens market.

The second reason that I didn’t buy the Canon 70-200 is because I really didn’t understand and appreciate lens optics at that time. While many photographers use the lens as a middle ground piece of glass that fits between their wide angle lenses and their super telephoto lenses, many more know the true power of a 70-200, its amazing qualities as a portrait lens.

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When it choosing lighting tools for a photo shoot, I am as schizophrenic as they come. One minute I am using large modifiers with my White Lightnings, then the next I am using umbrellas with my Canon Speedlites.

The reason I choose one light or another sometimes comes down to basic issues, portability and the modifiers I can use with the different lights.

If I know I am going to have to hike a mile in the forest, I take my Speedlites, regardless of how I want the light to look, because I am not going to carry more gear that can fit into two small shoulder bags. I will use the light modifiers that I can fit on my Speedlites, but there is usually a compromise that I have to make when using the smaller lights. The modifiers that are available for Speedlites are usually not as good as the modifiers available for larger studio heads or monoblocs.

If I want a big, beautiful light source, I fire up the White Lightnings, because all of my large modifiers work with those lights, and I can’t really use my small Speedlites to fill a super large umbrella or beauty dish like I can with my White Lightning monoblocs, plus attaching some of my large modifiers to the small Speedlites is either not possible or practical.

If you have already reach this conclusion, let me put it out there; this is not the way to light. While I am not unhappy with the light I create, I am bothered by the fact that I have to sometimes settle or work around issues of size versus modifiers.

Beauty by Chloe, light by the Apollo Softbox and Triflash.

Before I get into my review of Syl Arena’s The Speedliter’s Handbook, I must preface this review by reminding you, my fellow readers (all 12 of you), about my long standing friendship with Syl Arena. As you have read from previous posts on this blog, Syl and I are good friends, fellow photographers, and true Canonistas.

I have known about Syl’s endeavor from the most beginning of stages, having assisted on a few shoots that appear in the book. Syl and I have spent many times on the phone and in person talking about light, photography, and the pros and cons of the Canon system.

This might make you think that this review is bias, because of this personal relationship. And while I wish for nothing more than Syl to be successful, and this book to be a best seller, you must also understand that we have also had serious disagreements on all sorts of topics. While there is always respect, there are also times when we just don’t see eye to eye. If anyone is going to point out shortcomings about this book, I assure you, it will be me.

I can also say, from experience, that there are very few people who have worked as hard as Syl to create a book on photography. Everything in this Handbook is pretty much from scratch and designed for the purpose of the book. We would talk on a regular basis, and I was always be taken back, even doubting, the amount of work and information that Syl was putting into this. I must admit, at times, I never thought the book would be finished because of the daunting task that Syl had undertaken. I am so happy that those doubts were proven wrong.

So like all reviews I do about products, I like to get to the conclusion before I get into the details. This one is pretty simple. If you own a Canon camera and own, or are thinking about purchasing a Canon flash, this book is an absolute must buy. Period, end of review, go buy the book.

It is that good.
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One of the first pieces of advice I give to new photographers is that they should plan on adding a prime camera lens to their camera bag as soon as possible. As I blogged about last year, prime glass is just fantastic and for the most part affordable.

Both Canon and Nikon offer a range of primes, at different price points, to fit into most shooters budgets. One of my favorite Canon prime lenses is the 85mm f/1.8, which is not only tack sharp, but affordable, at an average price of $380.

But like all things in life, there is always something newer, faster and of course, more expensive. This is perfectly personified in the Canon 85mm f/1.2 prime lens, which costs around $1900. Talk about sticker shock.

Since purchasing my 85mm f/1.8 a few years ago, I have always wondered how much better the f/1.2 version could be. Amazing wedding and DSLR video shooters rave about this lens, talking in almost mythical tone about the lens’ sharpness and low light functionality.

With all of these reports, I had to find out for myself. So I took the entire week off of work from the mother ship, during the Thanksgiving holiday, and rented the mighty Canon 85mm f/1.2. (Cue the angelic music).
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Let’s skip the funny and witty introduction paragraph; at least I hope my intros are funny and witty. The Canon 7D is the best camera I have ever bought. There, I said it, now go read another blog about using your iPhone’s camera to document the growth of moss in the forest or something. Sorry I thought I get through it without being witty.

I have owned, and used, many cameras, both Canon and Nikon, digital and film. But this camera seems to have its act together more than any other. Not since the Nikon F100 have a run across a camera that has such great features at a reasonable price point.

When I switched from Nikon to Canon a few years ago, I had some buyer’s remorse. While I love the features of the 1D Mark II, I never really liked the ergonomics of the Canon compared to my past Nikons. My next Canon purchase was the 5D Mark II, a camera which I have fallen in love with and taken many, at least I think so, great frames. But once again, not a big fan of the location of the buttons and the camera never felt right in my hand. I was also discovering the Nikon CLS system with my daytime job’s Nikons and found that my Canons were lacking.

But in the Canon 7D I have found solutions to my wishes for my next Canon body.

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