Accesorizing ones order?

berickf said:

Extension tubes? You never really told me what you think of these,
but I think that I need to get the 1.4x now... maybe you have never
used them before, but if you have, is this one of those things that
you "stick to canon" with, or does the competition do an adequate
job? If there is any recognizable difference in the image quality
produced by an extender... well, I'd rather go for the best. So,
since I have never read anyone standing up for any third party
variety, more then a passing "why not?" at least. So right now I'm
leaning towards Canon.

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Do you mean extension tubes (for macros mainly) or teleconverters? I suspect you mean teleconverters since extension tubes are described by their length.

The only thing I know about teleconverters are in these forums. One thing I recall reading : Canon's teleconverters will only work with some of their lenses, and it does pass the new f/stop to the camera. Kenko doesn't, so it does allow the camera to AF under good light (but may not do it well) even when the camera doesn't normally do it.

berickf said:

And, any advice on if a warranty is practical since I'll be moving
to Kenya in a year and a half? I don't know if I could even make
use of it from Africa if I experienced a problem? I don't suppose
you have ever experienced a warranty while in a third world
counrty, or know someone who has?

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How about insurance instead? Might be more useful in case you encounter another snatch in Nairobi and someone else bought it from the police before you.

Lenny L said:

Do you mean extension tubes (for macros mainly) or teleconverters?
I suspect you mean teleconverters since extension tubes are
described by their length.

The only thing I know about teleconverters are in these forums. One
thing I recall reading : Canon's teleconverters will only work with
some of their lenses, and it does pass the new f/stop to the
camera. Kenko doesn't, so it does allow the camera to AF under good
light (but may not do it well) even when the camera doesn't
normally do it.

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You're quite right, I was tired. I meant extender... woops. I also read the few posts that I could find in this forum relevant to telextenders and it didn't help a whole lot. Many people will drop in passing that they use them with this or that lens, but rarely reccomend a brand, or the upside or downside to any particular brand. The only thing that I have heard once in a while is that the canon extenders are sharper in the corners. I was intending on only getting them for fast telephoto lenses that review well in conjunction with extenders. So I intend to get the 1.4x to go along with my 70-200 f/2.8 IS which is said to work well with this extender (but not the 2x). Then when I get the 300mm f/2.8 IS next year, I intend to get the 2x, because the 300mm reviews well working with either. Of course these are two lenses that are compatiple with the canon extenders, and I'm really not sure why someone would want to throw an extender on a lens not supported by the canon extenders, because usually that would just turn your smaller focal range lense into a slower version of a longer focal length lens that there is already a lens for anyways. All the longer focal length lenses are compatible, and that is where you'd need the extra reach. Besides that, I'll I have read is that the cropped cameras require f/2.8 max in order to take the 2x extender with the canon extenders, where as the fullframe bodies have more tolarance for working at greater stops, so with a fullframe an f/4 witll work with a 2x... but at the risk of losing a lot of light. I think that I understand all the principles. I'm just not sure how third brand extenders "stack up" to the competition... haha, bad joke.

Lenny L said:

How about insurance instead? Might be more useful in case you
encounter another snatch in Nairobi and someone else bought it from
the police before you.

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You liked my laptop story I see. Yes, insurance is a must, and reliable insurance can even be purchased in Nairobi. So that is a given. I'm just curious to know all my options for reliable support overseas.

berickf said:

I have a few quick questions about tripods to help me work through
the many different tripod legs that are available form Gitzo and
other accessories. I'm six feet (182 cm) tall, how tall should the
tripod be to use it comfortably for general outdoor use?

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Well, I am 186 cm tall. There is no simple answer to your question;

I usually don't raise the central column when shooting outdoors; I have yet to image an outdoor situation where you wait for some minutes, eye to the viewfinder, a finger on the shutter and the other on the tripod control, hunting for a certain shot. I'm sure it's possible, but I never used that. Indoors, I try to use a chair when shooting for a long time (stock, products). Most people who shoot standing use monopods.

berickf said:

When they
talk about "max load" is that just the camera and lens, or does
that include the ballhead as well?

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Heh, I don't know

berickf said:

Would you recommend a PCL-1
Precision Panning Base for "stitching" panoramas, as an alternative
to the 3D head (just something I saw in my searching around)?

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I have no experience with that product. Research it, and weight the price/benefit ratio according to your usage.

berickf said:

When
a tripod is rated for a certain weight, yet is a really light
tripod itself, is there a point where the weight that it is rated
for is actually not really appropriate because the tripod is so
light and will not carry its "rated" weight adequately? Like a
ratio rule, tripod weight:real maximum weight, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5 etc?
Some of those hiking tripods weigh 3.1 lbs and are rated for 17.6
lbs is this 1:5.7 ratio really practical, or in a stiff breaze
would that tripod be all over the place? If it was too light, how
would you "anchor it down" as you suggested in an earlier post?

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I feel that serious brand tripods are rated correctly. However, when shooting with a light one, you might want to "anchor" or weight it down; some have a hook to which one can attach a weight... or just tie it to something. I specially use that if it's REALLY windy or when shooting climbers... it keeps the tripod perpendicular to the rock face nicely.

berickf said:

Extension tubes? You never really told me what you think of these,

Click to expand...

I don't have direct experiece with them. I've read tests saying that you get better results upsampling in photoshop. Since I have no practical experiece, I can not say.

berickf said:

And, any advice on if a warranty is practical since I'll be moving
to Kenya in a year and a half? I don't know if I could even make
use of it from Africa if I experienced a problem? I don't suppose
you have ever experienced a warranty while in a third world
counrty, or know someone who has?

Click to expand...

I'd say that would be a serious problem. You might find that they don't honour international warranty - happened to me here, in Romania a few times, not only with photo tools. Probably the best bet would to mail for repair - but I guess that depends from a country to another.

berickf said:

Thanks so much devnull for all your assistance. I'm almost done!
Sorry I'm so particular... just trying to "invest" my money wisely,
hehe

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No worries. However, don't take my words as 100% true statements. Research for yourself and your predicted usage. Your experience will probably be different.

Good luck!

d/n

devnull said:

Well, I am 186 cm tall. There is no simple answer to your question;
I usually don't raise the central column when shooting outdoors; I
have yet to image an outdoor situation where you wait for some
minutes, eye to the viewfinder, a finger on the shutter and the
other on the tripod control, hunting for a certain shot. I'm sure
it's possible, but I never used that. Indoors, I try to use a chair
when shooting for a long time (stock, products). Most people who
shoot standing use monopods.

Click to expand...

OK, I don't think that hunching over a little would bother me too much. Let me rephrase my question. Is there a height where you would consider the tripod to be "too short" for your 186cm height?

devnull said:

I feel that serious brand tripods are rated correctly. However,
when shooting with a light one, you might want to "anchor" or
weight it down; some have a hook to which one can attach a
weight... or just tie it to something. I specially use that if it's
REALLY windy or when shooting climbers... it keeps the tripod
perpendicular to the rock face nicely.

Click to expand...

What do they call the anchor hook? Or how would I be able to find out which legs come equipped with this?

devnull said:

Extension tubes

I don't have direct experiece with them. I've read tests saying
that you get better results upsampling in photoshop. Since I have
no practical experiece, I can not say.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I was up late last night, I meant Extenders. In particular for now the 1.4x. Do you have any experience with this?

devnull said:

I'd say that would be a serious problem. You might find that they
don't honour international warranty - happened to me here, in
Romania a few times, not only with photo tools. Probably the best
bet would to mail for repair - but I guess that depends from a
country to another.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I worry about. If they refuse to honour my warranty from Kenya then why'd I get it in the first place. At this time I'm leaning towards just insuring my gear so that it can be replaced if anything serious happens, and hope that if I take careful care of my gear no "warranty" situation will arise?

devnull said:

No worries. However, don't take my words as 100% true statements.
Research for yourself and your predicted usage. Your experience
will probably be different.

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You know I do a lot of extra curricular reading on this stuff, but I value yours and others input to point me in the right direction sometimes!

devnull said:

Good luck

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thanks