Canon EOS-1D MARK-IV

[cap70]

Zurb, you have in your hands one of the best cameras EVER, bro(the 5d Mark II). I doubt if you even need all that much camera! lol
I have the same camera and you are 100% right when you say that people will need to kill you to take it from you. I so wish I had something like that when I shot for stock agencies 15 year ago, I would be rich by now! lol

Did you try the video yet? Man, you have no idea of the powerful machine you have in your hands. You have a FULL FRAME 36mm x 24mm HD camera with enough details to make a _QUALITY_ movie. That could be edited, "improved" if needed(like many raw footage), and go to screen and compete with the best movies out there. There's people out there buying this camera ONLY for it's video capabilities. Canon re-invented things with this camera, it's been talked about in every single movie forum, studio, you name it.
I work with movie editing and you have no idea on how many times I had to work with video from this camera.

The Canon 1D Mark IV will be awesome, but you have a camera now to hold you for many years until you feel the need to upgrade. The wonderful thing about the Canon EOS system is that the lenses will always stays with you. I had an Canon EOS Elan film camera a decade ago. I still own a couple of Canon lenses I had since then. They still work on my Digital cameras today as they worked 10 years ago. That's the EOS system, baby!!

[Mandragora]

Originally Posted by CharlesSong

5D be all I need

second that

Originally Posted by insomniac

Hi IL, I will take a shot at answering this but I am not too familar with the 28-135 having never used one. To start the 24-105 is an awesome walk around lens. It is the primary lens I always pack for travel. If I was restricted to one lense the 24-105 would be my pick. The only other zoom lens from Canon that can rival this lens is the 24-70mm. It is one stop faster but has a much shorter zoom. Some may argue the 24-70 is a bit sharper but the two lenses are pretty close in my opinion. I don't think you can go wrong with either. From the reviews of the 28-135mm it appears to be a very good consumer level walk around lense. At 5.6 it is a bit slow and requires a lot of light. It is suppose to be sharp in the center but very soft on the edges. The lens also has a strong vignetting and barrel distortion problem at 28mm. It is probably a very good all around lens but I would think the 24-105mm is in a totally different class.

Now to get to the heart of your question. If you solely want a lens to take pics of your statues I wouldn't really consider either. The 24-105mm can do the job but there is really no point in spending that much money when a cheaper lense can do as well or better. If you are using a cropped camera I would suggest the 50mm f1.4. The lense is around $400 and is super sharp and quick. With the 1.6 crop it is essentially a portrait lense. It has a very short minimal focal distance so you can get fairly close to the statues. It was the lense I always used when I was using my 30D. Once I upgraded to full frame it was too wide so I purchased the 85mm f1.8 but the problem with that lens is the minimum focal distance was too great. It could take good pics of the full statues but had problems getting in close. I have been considering the 100mm f2.8 macro but I haven't been totally convinced that is the way to go yet. Still struggling to decide. Hope this helps...

Thanks insomniac & Upitnik, I will be upgrading to a full body camera after the Holiday season is over, but I did place an order for a 100mm macro lens. But it's going to have to wait for usage until I get myself the full body camera because I'm going to go with the L series with all my new lenses that I will be buying from here on out.
Upitnik was say that the L series lens wouldn't work as good on a crop body, but I had already placed the order by this time. The good thing is 5D body is not running for $1699 anymore since the 7D body as come out. I was pricing them yesterday and they are now running for $1299, plus maybe able to catch a better deal on Black Friday sales.

With the other pointers that Upitnik as giving me, I'm going to start shooting all my photos in RAW to see, if I can get better quality than I have been getting. Also was schooled in the actual lens I have been shooting with is by no means a macro lens, just has the marco lens dail.

Thanks guys and wish me luck all this information will be put into good use.

[PowerPee]

If I may add to this...

When the 28-135mm came out years ago it was the first 'walk around' lens of Canon that incorporated IS (Image Stabilizer) which garnered lots of praises from the consumers. Yes that's a nice walk around lens back then. I have to to agree with Insomniac that the current best walk around lens of Canon is no doubt the 24-105 and fitted with the Mark 2, it's a heck of a machine.

Now with regards to lenses for PhoTOYgraphy, in my humble opinion nothing beats a macro lens. If you browse through my stream all of my toy shots (around 99%) were taken with a macro lens. The good thing with this is you can really show the details of your statues, busts, etc. On the other hand because of the magnification you will be able to see the flaws as well. =D

I'm an advocate of macro lens when it comes to taking pictures of toys. I've seen people use an UWA lens and they are also good.

If you are going to use a 50mm lens, then you can go the extra mile and add extension tubes or close up filters to convert/modify your 50mm into an almost macro type of lens.

With regards to shooting RAW, the simplest explanation I can think of is this:

RAW is like buying a new car that you have yet to modify. By doing so you give yourself the freedom to choose the right accessories and do the proper tweaks to make your car fast and stylish.

JPEG is like buying a souped up car. Most of the modifications are there. You can still add but there is a limit to what you can modify, unlike RAW where you have full control.

I always shoot RAW whenever I do events and sometimes in taking toy shots. If you have mastered a certain technique of taking pictures of toys, then even shooting in JPEG will give you excellent results =D

Hope this helps =D

[Upitnik]

To be clear, the 24-105L image quality is very good on a crop body but just O.K. on a full frame not the other way around but usefulness is a different story.

Cheers

[cap70]

Originally Posted by IronLungs31

Thanks insomniac & Upitnik, I will be upgrading to The good thing is 5D body is not running for $1699 anymore since the 7D body as come out. I was pricing them yesterday and they are now running for $1299, plus maybe able to catch a better deal on Black Friday sales.

You are prob talking about the EOS 50d, which is a MUCH more inferior camera than the 5D mark II. It is priced at around $1050 these days, while the 5D mark II(the one Zurb and I have) costs $2700. If you want to go full frame then you will need the 5d mII. Both 7d and 50d have APS size sensors.

[Mandragora]

Originally Posted by cap70

You are prob talking about the EOS 50d, which is a MUCH more inferior camera than the 5D mark II. It is priced at around $1050 these days, while the 5D mark II(the one Zurb and I have) costs $2700. If you want to go full frame then you will need the 5d mII. Both 7d and 50d have APS size sensors.

i think he means the original 5D, not the Mark II

[cap70]

Originally Posted by Mandragora

i think he means the original 5D, not the Mark II

Ahh, ok. Yup, in that case, he can find some great deals out there.

[PowerPee]

Originally Posted by Upitnik

To be clear, the 24-105L image quality is very good on a crop body but just O.K. on a full frame not the other way around but usefulness is a different story.

Cheers

Hmm my friend has a different view on this. His 24-105 is ok on his 30D but IQ went up when we attached to his Mark II... care to share your theory on your personal findings or maybe this is a case to case basis?

Geez guys now this was the help I've been looking for. Once again I going to have to do more home work, to make sure that I get myself the MII 5D camera. All I here is how much you guys love this camera. But, I sure that the 7D was running for 1899 at bestbuy and I will look on calumet website as well.

Anymore info please pass it my way.