That's how I have it set up. * swapped with the stupid AF-On button (which I dislike). Then, it's * to AF on the grip also. What bums me out, is that when I review an image for sharpness, I zoom in using + and then press * to zoom out. But of course * and AF-On are swapped in ALL functions so I don't zoom out, but end up exiting the review screen. And on the grip there is NO zoom out. Not essential, but annoying. AF-On was never neccessary and is less well placed for my hands than *.
tonyhart wrote:
That's how I have it set up. * swapped with the stupid AF-On button (which I dislike). Then, it's * to AF on the grip also. What bums me out, is that when I review an image for sharpness, I zoom in using + and then press * to zoom out. But of course * and AF-On are swapped in ALL functions so I don't zoom out, but end up exiting the review screen. And on the grip there is NO zoom out. Not essential, but annoying. AF-On was never neccessary and is less well placed for my hands than *.
The play button can bring you back to reviewing screen if you do not want to exist reviewing after zooming in for sharpness check and you can continue to review the next shot
I keep hearing the images are not as good as can be, except with very good len's, how good do they mean? and also several reviews have stated considerable Noise after 1600 ISO, does anyone have experience with that issue.
Kalifornia wrote:
I keep hearing the images are not as good as can be, except with very good len's, how good do they mean? and also several reviews have stated considerable Noise after 1600 ISO, does anyone have experience with that issue.
Thanks Kal
These were taken last night. 50D + Zuiko 24/2.8. All noise reduction features off.
UCSB wrote:
They do allow you to switch the * and AF ON buttons ... this would allow you to use AF ON on the grip. But, I agree the grip should have all three buttons.
Agreed. The WFT-E3a has an AF-On button, and makes a great (albeit expensive) vertical grip if you need/can afford this accessory. Odd that Canon didn't add this to the BG-E2 when they had the chance (wih the 'N' model).
I just made the transition to the 50D from a 20D and while I have not done any direct side-by-side comparison I've been favorably impressed by the new acquisition. The resolution of the 20D still meets most of my needs, but I've been wanting a 2nd body / back-up and the bigger screen, improved feed back, micro-adjust and other user interface feature make it worth the price of the upgrade for me ($1,089 at B&H with the instant rebate).
I have AF lock set to * on the 20D so the AF-ON button was new to me. What I do on the 20D is lock AF with the * button, recompose, then half-press shutter to lock AE. I shoot with two flashes with Canon ETTL wireless most of the time. I don't use FEL, I just try to let Evaluate metering sort things out by locking ambient AE (in Av mode) with half-press of the shutter after recomposing, then fully press to fire pre-flash for the Evaluative metering process. I found with evaluative its better to just let the camera take its best baseline guess with flash at FEC=0, evaluate the results in the histogram / over-exposure warning, then correct from that baseline with +/- FEC.
After perusing the manual I have set Set AF-On via CF.n to option 3 which seems to do the same thing. With the "zero baseline" approach I use I find the 50D does a better job on flash exposure at FEC=0 than the 20D, but more systematic testing is required to confirm that objectively. FWIW, I've discovered the active AF point doesn't show in the playback after the function of the AF-ON button is changed via CF.n
I may switch the AF-ON and * buttons because I keep hitting * by mistake and getting a FEL burst I don't want. I don't use a grip so the button issue there is not a problem. Can the * button, if not swapped be reconfigured for other uses or turned off? I can't find a CF.n yet to do that.
I dont think it can be reassigned to anything else, however it is a good idea to move the AF on to that * since the * is like you said more readily pushed.
On the 20D I found it easier to lock AF with *, recompose, half press the shutter and pre-flash and then let evaluative sort out the exposure: in part because the 20D lacks spot metering.
After I switched the AF-ON and * buttons, and found it equally convenient to lock AF with *, then move the center point over the the white towel I use as an exposure target for portraits (and other situations where practical) and pre-flash and FEL on it prior to recomposing for the shot. At FEC=0 FEL renders the towel gray, as would be expected for any meter, and about +1-2/3 stops FEC is needed to render it correctly, 1/3 stop below clipping; about the same as my 20D workflow.
So it looks like I'll be adapting my composition / metering workflow to the new (to me) two-button interface of camera. That's pretty much been the case with every camera I've owned, adapting to the camera rather than fretting that it can't do things the way I'm accustomed to doing them.
It the process of doing this I noticed another undocumented feature. When FEC is adjusted on the flash it locks out the camera FEC control, which is a good thing
On the 20D there was no indication when FEC was dialed into the flash and it was possible to dial different amounts on camera and flash. For example you might reach +2 on the camera and need more, switch to flash and dial in 2-1/3. But when the flash FEC was set to 0 again the +2 set on the camera would kick back in, which if not noticed will drive you nuts trying to figure out why exposure wasn't correct, followed by one of those DOH! moments
I see that on the 50D when FEC is set on the flash and the FEC button is pressed on the camera the FEC symbol will flash in the top LCD and viewfinder as warning and the amount of FEC dialed into the flash (a 580ex) is shown. If you adjust the FEC on the flash while holding down the FEC button on the camera the bar indicator on the camera will change in real time to reflect the setting on the flash. That inter-lock is a nice enhancement which prevents errors if switching back and forth between FEC on camera vs flash. This might have been added previously on the 30D or 40D but I skipped those two.
BennyR wrote:
What, has every one forgotten about their 50D now that you have the 5D Mark II? Me too.
These past few weeks I've been off work and finally got a chance to shoot extensively with my 3 month old 50D. Damn it's good. I've read so much bitch 'n whine these past months I expected it to be a total turd. It's a frickin' fine upgrade over my 40D although my 5D still has it whipped in terms of ultimate IQ, especially noise control above ISO 800.
I have a couple bird photos I took this morning with my 100-400 L lens and 2x TC (canon), manually focused because I had to, iso 1600 and f14 for a whopping 800mm of optics, I was pretty pleased with the results.
I totally agree, I upgraded from a 40D as well and I am delighted with the image quality improvements as well as the feature function improvements of my new 50D. I was prepared for an incremental improvement after reading all of the bashers, professional complainers, and whiners on the forums before I upgraded. My experience has been all upside surprise. The 50D has demonstrated better image quality over my old 40D.
A very salient set of clarifications re; resolution and lens apperature, and how it relates to the 50D.
I bought a 50D last week and its a fantastic, amazing camera. Glad I didn't make the jump to Nikon, my 17-40L has never generated such sharp images. I doubt I could get equivalent performance with a D90 unless I spend big $ and got the 12-24.
Gochugogi wrote:
These past few weeks I've been off work and finally got a chance to shoot extensively with my 3 month old 50D. Damn it's good. I've read so much bitch 'n whine these past months I expected it to be a total turd. It's a frickin' fine upgrade over my 40D although my 5D still has it whipped in terms of ultimate IQ, especially noise control above ISO 800.
Amen! I sold my 3 Canon bodies, 20D, 5D and 1DsMKII and bought the 50D and 1DsMKIII. The 50D is awesome and a great backup to my sMK3.
Yeah at first all I heard was whinning and crying but after researching users on FM, I cannot be happier.
Dan
