If you have a 7D and don't mind the crop factor, may I suggest two options.
First, you keep the 7D, and pickup some Zeiss glass. You should be happy with your overall increase in quality (yes it's that noticeable). Then later on when either the 5DII is replaced, or you really just outgrow the 1.6 crop, you pick yourself up a 5DII (or replacement).
That or, if you really want small and light w/the ability to switch lenses, get yourself a NEX5 with adapter, get yourself some M lenses and shoot with that. My fiance just picked up a NEX5 and I really think it's a good little camera for it's size. This way you can build up your lens collection first, then invest in bodies later.
To be honest though, aside from the fact that "I have a camera slung around my neck 24/7" the 5DII ZE combo really isn't that bad. When I plan an outing and take my 5DII it's not heavy. It just gets heavy when I'm out doing regular things like grocery shopping and eating at restaurants. That's the time the M9 shines for me size wise.. So really the 5DII ZE combo isn't that big (and I usually have at least two lenses, one on camera and one in a lowepro bag attached to my belt).
Edward, a single ZE lens with the 7D or 5DII, is not hard to travel with. I have spent time travelling to different locations, and in the streets, I would carry the 5DII and ZE 35 or 50 only. Keeping it simple and lighter , is what I prefer, as I like to shoot in a more dynamic fashion. Seriously the 7D and one or two ZE lenses would be excellent, and your lenses will stay with you as may upgrade to the 5DII. If you prefer AF, then Canon L series would be the pick, such as the 35L would be great starter.
So while having the 7D, the only initial investment would be one or two lenses, which can be sold later, as you evolve into the system you would prefer.
Hey Luka, how's this for large format, 368.5 megapixel shot with 75mm Summicron at f/11 I think. 30 frames. used ND1.8 and B+W Linear polariser.
Incidentally this dormant volcano, Mt Taranaki, has developed a 'knob' much like Mt St Helens did before it erupted. There is a large (by NZ standards) city called New Plymouth situated at the base of the volcano, luckily not on the side with the knob, but who knows...
A couple of non-pano/mosaic shots. The first is Dawson Falls, 18mm ZM Distagon with ND1.8 (camera and filter got VERY wet), second is my girlfriend disappointed that we arrived too late to go on a penguin tour in Dunedin, 75mm APO-Summicron probably f/2.8? Who knows
It handles it very poorly, taking up all 8GB of RAM and another 8GB paging file on the disk drive. It also puts about 150GB into my scratch space on my 10,000RPM drive. Doesn't use much in terms of processor capability (I have a quad core) but it took about 30 mins to stitch and every time I'd move the image or make the slightest change it would redraw the image tile by tile taking about 30s.
I ended up periodically saving the image, clearing all the caches and temp folders, rebooting and then doing the next change.
Didn't do much editing though, only some colour tweaks in LAB and the top right hand frame didn't stitch so I used content-aware fill, you can see where it duplicated the central top part of the sky, but it works ok.
I call this one the bog of eternal stench I can't imagine what would have happened if I had fallen in. I had to wait 30 mins for the rain to stop so I could take this shot.
10 vertical frames with 35mm ZM C-Biogon. Yes the colour is real
thrice wrote:
It handles it very poorly, taking up all 8GB of RAM and another 8GB paging file on the disk drive. It also puts about 150GB into my scratch space on my 10,000RPM drive. Doesn't use much in terms of processor capability (I have a quad core) but it took about 30 mins to stitch and every time I'd move the image or make the slightest change it would redraw the image tile by tile taking about 30s.
I ended up periodically saving the image, clearing all the caches and temp folders, rebooting and then doing the next change.
Didn't do much editing though, only some colour tweaks in LAB and the top right hand frame didn't stitch so I used content-aware fill, you can see where it duplicated the central top part of the sky, but it works ok....Show more →
Very impressive pano. Looks like your computer can make use a SSD for paging and scratch space :-)
Nice work thrice. I really don't have the attention span to stitch together 3 shots to make a panorama, let alone 30!!
So I'm really impressed with what you've done, not just stitching wise, but the shots look great as well.
I picked up a 28 CV (at a good price) to see how I like the 28mm FL on an M9. I must say, aside from not being able to view the entire 28mm frame line without a bit of effort, it's a good fit on a rangefinder. The images I'm getting so far are "charming" and that's fine as anything more serious and it would just be my 5DII and ZE.
So I have a 28 in one pocket, a 50 on camera, and a 90 in the other pocket.. Now I just need to find a place to put my car keys and iPhone... Think I'll have to start wearing cargo pants.
h00ligan wrote:
Luka, I am shocked to see you may be new, seriously. You must have a gift.
Thanks Edward. I started seriously with photography in February this year. I had been using the 7D for video for a couple of months and got the idea to try to take some stills in order to get to know my lenses. I quickly realized that I preferred photography to video. While it is true that it's a relatively new hobby I'm also pretty serious about it - I have been photographing like a maniac for months now spending a lot of time on it. I nearly came to a dead end with the 7D as I was doing a lot of wildlife "action" photography and the process was so fast and automated that it almost killed my interest in photography. The 7D paired with a 70-200/II @ 8 fps is a machine. Fantastic performance if you go by numbers but it almost removes the photographer from the creative process.
What saved my interest was Zeiss glass and a 5DII. I started shooting landscapes at a much slower pace and thinking about composition, light etc.
Luka aren't all the zeiss mf? I can do that for some but not all. Have you a recommendation for af lenses..or am I wrong and some zeiss af?
Yes, all Zeiss lenses are MF. I can't really recommend any AF lenses outright. I've had a bunch of L primes - and still have a couple and they were very nice indeed. However every time I use them I feel disappointed with the results and can't help thinking how much better the shots would have looked had I used Zeiss glass.
But ok, L AF primes that I especially liked: 24L II, 85L, 135L
As for zooms, I have two 16-35/2.8L II and 70-200L f/2.8 IS II. The UWA zoom a nice rendering, but the resolution is crap and uneven. The 70-200/II is awesome but ridiculously big and heavy. Good if you go on a safari but not something you want to lug around on a regular basis.
---
charles.K wrote:
I have no experience with the Summarit. There is an excellent reveiw done by Guy at GetDPI comparing the 90 Summarit, on here:
Luka, I would recommend the 90 Elmarit over the Summarit. Nicer lens. You could also look for a 75 Lux, if you want to try a Mandler-era Leica lens, rather than the newer APO stuff. The 75 Lux has a rendering style similar to the 50/1 Noctilux. I did a comparison thread on l-camera-forum once upon a time, when I had borrowed the Noctilux of a friend, and the two lenses tended to have the same strengths and weaknesses, and a very similar rendering style. I own the 75 Lux myself, although recently I find myself only using the 28 Cron/50 Lux ASPH/90 Cron ASPH trio, so it sits idle. Very nice for portraits and short tele work though.
adamdewilde wrote:
So I have a 28 in one pocket, a 50 on camera, and a 90 in the other pocket.. Now I just need to find a place to put my car keys and iPhone... Think I'll have to start wearing cargo pants.
Carsten, the problem with the 90 Elmarit is that it's no longer in production and I prefer to buy new. The 90 Cron ASPH is too big for me plus I can't say that I'm too thrilled about the rendering style. The 75 Lux would be interesting but again, not in production and too big and heavy. I like what I've seen from the 75 Cron. It looks like I'm going to end up with a kit of five lenses (one too many for my liking) and I want to keep the kit compact.
I need an UWA lens and the candidates are the (Zeiss) 18/4, 21/2.8 and 21/4.5. The 18/4 is appealing because of the wider angle but with the disadvantage of being rather bulky. The 21/2.8 has the advantage of f/2.8 but is close in FL to my 25/2.8. The 21/4.5 is appealing because of its ultra compact size but the disadvantage is that it's slow, has a very serious red/cyan coloring on the M9 (this is the only lens Zeiss advises against using on the M9) and again is close to the 25/2.8.
Then I need a tele lens. At 90mm, I have the 90 cron and the 90 summarit and I'm not too crazy about the samples I've seen. At 75 the cron looks really nice but is almost as difficult to find as the 50 lux asph. I'd like the tele to be a Leica lens, just for change. Otherwise I would have just gotten the Zeiss 85/2..
When I get time I'm going to take my 5DII, a 16-35 lens @ 18 mm, take it on a walk and see how I like the FL and then do the same thing with a 70-200 @ 75mm and see if I can live with such a short tele.
Luka...seriously impressive. I bought my dl4(returned quickly) very late last year..I dedicate about 6 hours a day to photography...learning, comparing, shooting, post. Clearly I'm not allocating that time properly.
I do not have the natural talent you do. I had assumed you had been shooting 15 years. That depresses me and makes me hopeful, lol.
Whatever it is, keep up the great work. There's a good chance I am going to ditch the x1 and get the 24 canon prime or zeiss. I also really think that when you dislike your natural surroundings, it hurts motivation. I don't see anything around me that I enjoy visually, compared to when I lived in NYC for 6 years..and that shows in my bland attempts. The desert has been done to death..sunrise and a cactus is trite.,,and I don't fancy a walk through to try and capture rattlesnakes, scorpions, and the like.
The downside of ditching the x1 is that I don't get to continue to participate in wonderful threads such as this. Maybe I'll get an inexpensive (cough) leica lens and mate it to the gf1.
Thrice - very very very impressive shots.
I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my questions.
denoir wrote:
I nearly came to a dead end with the 7D as I was doing a lot of wildlife "action" photography and the process was so fast and automated that it almost killed my interest in photography. The 7D paired with a 70-200/II @ 8 fps is a machine. Fantastic performance if you go by numbers but it almost removes the photographer from the creative process.
you really should give manual focus wildlife photography a try then, maybe take the camera off burst mode even. it's a very different experience, more patience, planning, and timing, much more enjoyable experience once you get the hang of it. currently zeiss doesn't make any long manual focus telephotos though, so you would have to break your only buy new policy (as i note you must have for that rokkor 58/1.2).
denoir wrote:
Yes, all Zeiss lenses are MF.
you can actually buy contax N autofocus zeiss lenses and have them converted to eos mount with autofocus. i imagine it is quite expensive though and the look is probably a different zeiss look then the current Z* look.
, is what I prefer, as I like to shoot in a more dynamic fashion. Seriously the 7D and one or two ZE lenses would be excellent, and your lenses will stay with you as may upgrade to the 5DII. If you prefer AF, then Canon L series would be the pick, such as the 35L would be great starter. 
shot with 75mm Summicron at f/11 I think. 30 frames. used ND1.8 and B+W Linear polariser.