A new baby!

No, not a real baby.

I decided that with the amount of shows I have scheduled to shoot, and the fact that I am totally loving it, I should invest in a better low light / high ISO camera. So I do have a new baby... the Canon 5D Mark II

I must say, while the 7D is an awesome camera, nothing compares to shooting with a full frame sensor. It shows that it is older technology compared to the 7D: less focus points, less sensitive focus points, slower FPS, monochrome focusing only,.... but the image quality is just sublime. I actually texted my friend Didier during the show (he went full frame about 8-9 months ago with a 1D IV) asking him if it was an awesome LCD or is full frame really that sweet. All he answered was : "welcome to a new level of photography".

I had the chance to try out the camera on the first day I bought it. Shooting the HHQC (Hip Hop Quebec) show at Club Soda, part of the Francofolies music festival. A series of Quebec hip hop artists all taking the stage for one night. It was pretty awesome. I'm not a huge fan of hip hop, but the music was really catchy, and the fans were totally loving it.

My gallery for the show is about 100 images.

Black Rapid RS-5 camera strap

Images are provided by Black Rapid (www.blackrapid.com)

Some would think that a camera strap isn't too important. The manufacturer includes one with the camera and that should be good enough, right? And for some people, it is. When I started using a Canon 7D with a grip and had a 70-200 f/2.8 IS mounted when shooting multi hour events or walking the streets for hours on end, I would start to get neck and back pain. So I started looking into getting a new camera strap.

Thats when I came upon Black Rapid straps. They don't go around your neck, you wear them slung accross your chest with the camera hanging near your waist. When you need to shoot, the camera is near your hand, so its one quick motion to bring it up to your eye. Looked cool, alot of people like them. I was hesistant, as they range in prices from $40 to over $120.

Friend of mine was heading to our fave camera store at lunch time one day to buy a grip and battery for his D700. I tagged along and actually came out of the store with a new Black Rapid RS-5 strap. Its the one that has the flap that comes down to store memory cards, cell phone, battery, credit cards,... They didnt have the standard RS-4 in stock, just the RS-5, RS-7, Doubler and the RS-W1 for woman.

Here is an image of the flap compartment from the RS-5. This part of the strap goes over your shoulder:


I got home and tried it on, adjusted it (took me a while to find the right lenght and such) and I was not convinced. It just seemed awkward having this cross body strap to carry around my camera. I attached my 70-200. It held fine, but I was still thinking of this odd setup was worth $80.

I was going out with Reneau (same friend who I went to the camera shop with) to shoot some power / speed boat races that Sunday. Nothing too complicated, one of the sponsors wanted shots of the boat that had his name on it, and everywhere else there was a sign with his name. No prob. He got us VIP access (so we were at the water's edge) and also pit access.

--Side bar--it was the first time I ever had to sign a death waiver for a photoshoot. The pits are like organized chaos with teams putting their boats in the water and some taking them out with the help of 4 cranes. The boats would be going over your head...check out the shots a few blog posts below.

All that to say that I used the RS-5 for race day. I figured that if I didn't like it, I'd bring it back. I had with me my Lowepro Classified (shoulder bag) that I usually have, slung accross one side of my chest and the RS-5 going the other way. The bag had my 10-22 and 28-75 while my 70-200 was on the camera. I also had a monopod. We worked from 11am to about 5pm.

And here an image with a 70-200 attached. Notice how it handgs upside down


I got home, I had no neck pain, no backpain. The strap was comfortable, the swing motion to bring the camera up was easy to get used to. I was hesitant at first of having the camera hang there, but towards the end of the day, I was just letting it drop to the side. Once you find that sweet spot for the lenght of the strap, no more adjusting is needed. My strap goes a bit lower than what most people do as I had issues with holding the camera in portrait mode when the strap was shorter.

The other issue I had was with the tripod quick release plate. See, the Black Rapid strap screws into the tripod socket of your camera or your grip. But when using a monopod, I need to screw the mounting plate in that same hole. While the mounting plate has a D ring to fasten the it to the camera, no way am I connecting the R-strap to that D ring as I'm 99% sure its not a solid piece of metal and would not hold the weight of the 7D, grip and 70-200 for very long. I however saw a press release from Black Rapid on September 13th about a new FastenR-T1 Tripod Solution. Looks like a solution is around the corner. Seems that it will replace the D ring that comes with the mounting plate with a Black Rapid super solid D ring

To get around that, I had the RS-5 connected to the camera and I kept the mounting plate on the mount of my 70-200. When I used the monopod, I'd just quickly release the carabiner at the end of the strap, attached the monopod to the quick release that is on the lens, and voila!

I ran out of memory and was happy to have quick access to the cards in the strap flap. I found out that when your cell phone rings, it will be loud as its really close to your ear. I took note to adjust the volume nex time.

While I dont have an iPhone, it apparently does fit in the cell phone pouch, but nice and tight, not much room to spare.


Overall, I'm happy with the strap, its staying for sure. And turns out Reneau picked up a Black Rapid as well. I'll try and get some images of me wearing it up soon :)

Got to love great customer service

You wonder why you pay extra for name brand things? Sometimes, the generic or house brand works just as fine, but I have found that as a general rule for photography equipment, buying the name brand is worth it.

While I own a third party lens (Tamron) which I have enjoyed, I have always stuck to name brand accessories for stuff like my memory cards (Sandisk), tripods / monopods (Manfrotto), camera bags (Lowepro) and so on.

I have had 4 Lowepro bags and never had any issues with them. Great quality, fit what I was looking for at the time. I recently lost a strap for my Lowepro Primus backpack, the little strap that holds the tripod in place. I have been using a velcro thing in its place which kind of does the job.

So I decide to email Lowepro to see how much a replacement strap would be and where I could purchase one from. I get a next day email asking me for my full name, address and phone number so that they may ship me a new strap. Next day, I get a confirmation that they have sent the strap Express Post.

I wasn't fishing for a freebie, I lost it and was prepared to pay for a new one. But yeah, that is what customer service is about. Seems that customer service is the thing of the past, mainly due to big box stores like Best Buy and Futureshop taking consumers for a ride, but its great to see some companies, like Lowepro, not only make great products, but back it up with great service.

Just thought I would share, as we often don't read about good stories, we only hear the bad.

New gear!

It is known in the photography world that between the camera body and the lenses, the lenses are the more important components. Even to the point of buying a cheaper body if this will allow you to buy better lenses.

But once in a while, you find yourself lagging behind in technology. At the rate that the big boys (Canon and Nikon) pump out new bodies, within a few years, you are behind the curb. I bought my Canon XSI in summer 2008 while it was the newest of the Canon Rebel line and out at the same time as the Canon 40D, their top "pro-sumer" body. From 2008 to spring 2010, Canon upped their Rebel line not just once with the T1i, but a second time with the T2i. Adding in higher ISO, movie modes and so on. They have upped their 40D to a 50D, they came out with the uber awesome full frame 5D MkII and also started with a new top of the line crop sensor camera, the 7D.

I bought the camera not knowing much. It met my needs at the time...it was a dSLR, it fit the 2 Canon lenses I had found in my mom's camera bag, and it was the cheapest. But now that I'm getting into photography and understanding light and how your camera records it, I was in need of an upgrade. The main drivers were higher ISO performance, more weather resistant body and faster shooting speeds.

Cost of a new body ranged from $600 for a used 40D all the way up to $3200 for the 5D MkII, with the others falling in order from the T1i (900), 50D (1200), 5D (1500) and then the 7D (1800).

Decisions, decisions. I work hard for my money, so when I decide to spend it, I want to make sure I am spending in on what is best for me. Here is a bit of my decision thought process:

The flagship model for Canon is the 1D series. But this comes with a price tag of over $5000. Not in my budget and actually not in my current needs. The top of what I can get would be the 5D MkII. However, this would be a full frame camera and my XSI is a crop sensor camera. In changing sensor types, my beloved 10-22mm wide angle lens would no longer work as it can only be mounted on a crop sensor camera (it has the EF-S designation). So not only would I be dishing out $3000 on a new camera, I would need to either replace this lens with the full frame equivalent, the 16-35 which is approx $1500, or not have a wide angle lens. So I'll have to wait longer for the switch to full frame.

I decided to stick with crop sensor cameras and my choices were now the T1i, 50D or 7D.

The debate between the 50D and the T1i is the same I first had in 2008 when chosing between the 40D and the XSI. Back then, I went with the XSI and after 6 months I wished I had the 40D. Not that the Rebel isn't a good camera, as I've loved having it, when you handle a higher end camera, you can easily tell why they are the "entry level" line. The Rebel camera is plastic, small, shoots slower and has some important functions in the menu instead of easily accessible buttons. The xxD line is magnesium body, bigger and shoots usually twice as fast (6.3 fps vs 3.4 fps). Without going into more details, I decided to not repeat the past and go with a higher end line of cameras.

So that left me to decide between the 50D and the 7D. What are the differences? The 7D is fully weather sealed, it shoots 8 fps and has a new autofocussing system (first Canon camera with it), dual processors, a 100% magnification view finder.... basically a bunch of improvements. The 50D is a great camera and I wouldn't hesitate buying it, but its already a little over a year old and will be replaced by the 60D in a few months.

So while I normally go for the cheaper alternative, I decided to go with the new tech and pay more money.

I've had the camera for a few weeks and I must say, it is flippin' awesome. Just for the ease of access of the menu and its button layout alone. The high ISO (I've shot up to 6400) is great, although still not as nice as the 5D MkII. I've done some concert shots at 2000 ISO using a 50mm 1.8 and had great results. I'll have a chance to try the 8 fps along with the new auto focusing system when I actually get to shoot a Montreal Impact soccer game on March 12th. The reviews called this camera the best crop sensor camera out there and say that its made for sports and fast action. I guess we'll see.

Where to go from here? I should be good for 3-4 years with this camera, maybe more. My next step up is full frame. But before getting there, I'll start the journey of getting better lenses so that when I am ready for the switch, I'll have all the lenses to go with the new body. Maybe by that time, the 5D MkIV will be out. I'm also going to be looking at strobes and all the gear that goes with them.

Here are some low light photos from a concert. You can view the full set on my flickr.


These were mostly shot at ISO 2000-3200, f/1.8 - f/2.8 and with a shutter of around 1/30 - 1/80.