entry level camera and lens?

[Noah Kadner]

This is the rundown- it’s pretty amazing:

https://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/550D

Caveat- you could potentially harm your camera as it’s unofficial software- though no one reportedly ever has…

Noah

Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Canon 7D.

[Sohrab Sandhu]

I agree that Magic lantern is a great addition to T2i. But what really pisses me off is that every time you format the card you have to put ML files on it again, and to top it all making the card bootable on a mac is another pain in the neck.

Or is their another way of doing it?

2.66 GHz 8-core, ATI Radeon HD 4870,
FCS 3, AJA Kona Lhi

“The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six months, or six years down the road. But he has faith that it will happen.” — Carl Ally

[Roger Martin]

I have my D5100 set up for continuous focus.
I only push the AF-On (converted AE-L/AF-L) button before I start the video and when changing scenes.
More often I will move the single focus spot. Especially when my subject move to the side of something I want to include.

[Noah Kadner]

Yeah well it’s not perfect…

Noah

Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Canon 7D.

[Sohrab Sandhu]

I recently bought t3i having used t2i for quite some time now. Here is the list of differences that i found out.

Firstly, you have the articulating screen which makes lifes so much easier in different shooting situations.

Secondly, you get better audio control with t3i.

Also T3i feels a little more rugged than t2i though 60D is more heavy duty than both these cameras.

Overall, i am pretty happy with t3i as a crop sensor camera. Buy a 17-55 2.8 and you should be set for pretty much anything. Though lenses wish list is never ending for a camera guy.

2.66 GHz 8-core, ATI Radeon HD 4870,
FCS 3, AJA Kona Lhi

“The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six months, or six years down the road. But he has faith that it will happen.” — Carl Ally

[Matt Campbell]

Noah and Sohrab, thanks for both of those things. Seeing as I just wanting to step into this, I think I’ll leave the ML stuff for the pro’s. I’m sure i’ll ef something up. I’m really digging the t3i’s specs and for what I want, I think this will meet those goals. However, I’ll prob need to hold the 17-55mm for a while as thats more expensive than the camera. But the cheaper 55mm prime seems to be worth it.

thx too all for your assistance.

OS 10.6.3, Mac Pro 2 x 2.66 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 16 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card

[Noah Kadner]

As an aside- I have the T3i for video and it rocks. It will rock even more I’d guess if/when the ML firmware gets released for it. But as an out of the box solution for video shooting, very sweet on its own. And the articulating screen, as I already noted above is really critical, which is why I didn’t go for the the T2i.

Noah

Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Canon 7D.

[Matt Campbell]

Micah, with all the other things that popped up in this thread I forgot about one thing. Will the 50mm lens give the ability to keep focus with scenes like a subject riding a bike through the frame starting about 20-30 ft. away and come across screen, getting closer to the camera, say 5-10 ft.? I’m looking for a lens that would be able to keep focus like this, if its possible, without having to follow focus.

I see situations like this all the time, but am not sure how the operators keep focus. Is it the lens or skill with follow focus? DOF after about 40 ft. get blurry, which is nice. But from that 10-30ft range away from the lens, things look, for the most part, crisp.

Any thoughts?

OS 10.6.3, Mac Pro 2 x 2.66 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 16 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card

[Micah Mcdowell]

With pretty much any lens on a large-sensor camera, you’ll have to practice your follow focus skills

Of course, the more you stop down the iris, the wider your field of focus, regardless of which lens you use. Depth of field is more a function of aperture size and focal length than particular lens design. The 50mm prime with the aperture set to f/5.6 will give the same focus characteristics as the 18-55mm zoom set at the 50mm position at f/5.6. That’s if my math and understanding is correct, of course… hopefully that all makes sense.

[Matt Campbell]

I think I got it. so with the 50mm 1.8, if I stop down the f stop, I gain a wider focal plane. cool. Was just curious how they get those nice wide shots where the subject is clean and backgrounds are nicely blurred. I’ll play around with it. Thanks.

OS 10.6.3, Mac Pro 2 x 2.66 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 16 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card