Photo
Canon 5D Mark II
Now I get why people want full frame:
- Image quality, especially in low light – this camera shoots great even at ISO 6400
- Wide angle: I used to think I needed more telephoto, but I’ve learned that what I more often need is a wider angle. APS-C bodies have a 1.6X crop factor, making a 50mm lens behave like a 75mm. Now my 28-135 is actually a 28-135 and I can take pictures indoors and get everything.
Lenses:
- 28-135: this is my walk-around lens
- 70-200 f4 L:about the cheapest L glass Canon makes, and served me well for soccer pictures when my kids played. There are several versions of the 70-200 – the 2.8 versions are much heavier and not really hand-holdable, whereas the f4 lenses are.
- 1.4x extender – when you really need some range – this adapter costs you 1 f-stop exposure.
Speedlights: I now have 2, a 580 ex II and a 430 ex II. Here’s my simple “studio” lighting setup:
- 580 on the 5d, with a Gary Fong Lightsphere diffuser aimed up – master flash
- 430 on a tripod on about a 45 degree angle to the subject, aimed into a bounce umbrella. The 430 is a slave on the B channel.
You can experiment but I usually do about a 2:1 ratio in favor the the angled light, and just use the 580 on the camera to fill in a bit, and erase shadows behind the subject.
I highly recommend the Speedliter’s Handbook by Syl Arena to learn about lighting in general, and working with speedlights in particular.
I occasionally take video with this camera. It is popular with pros and semi-pros and there’s all kinds of video rigging you can get to go around the camera – adding monitors, follow-focus knobs and gears, etc. It does take absolutely beautiful video. But for amateur purposes, it’s not that practical since it doesn’t continuously auto-focus while you shoot.
Panasonic DMC-ZS3
Current camera from Panasonic is the DMC-ZS10
This is a great everyday camera. The image quality is really good for a camera of this size. It has a decent wide angle, plenty of telephoto, takes good videos too, and fits in a pocket (as long as it’s a decent size pocket). The newer ZS10 now has GPS and full manual control.
I am considering upgrading to the Canon S100, for better low-light quality and smaller size (giving up the telephoto).
Video
The Canon Vixia HV30 was one of the last HDV format cameras made. It records onto mini-DV tapes. At the time I got it, image quality for camera that wrote to a chip (SD, CF) just wasn’t as good as HDV tape. The HV30 has really nice video quality for it’s class.
Now, chip cameras have caught up and surpassed, and the idea that I have to live capture my videos before I can edit or upload them seems quite archaic.