Best Camera for Cruising

[s/v Jedi]

I'm happy to read about cruisers using decent DSLR camera's :-)

For years I was disappointed about my photo's. The subject always appeared as something very small & far away. Also, the color was just not there.

This all changed when I bought a Canon EOS 7D. I think the 7D is a better option than the 5D on a boat. The 7D has a 1.6x crop sensor meaning that you get an extra 1.6x zoom on every lens compared to the full sensor of the 5D. This means that the "must have lens" EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM becomes a 112-320mm lens. This brings your subjects significantly closer.

The 7D has better auto-focus and metering and most expect the 5D Mk.3 to have the same or comparable AF and metering as the 7D.

An important aspect is weather proofing. Both 7D and 5D are weather resistant but only when they have a L-type lens mounted. I keep all the gear in a Pelican case for extra protection. I have these lenses:

- Tokina 12-24mm f4.0 wide angle
- Canon EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM standard zoom
- Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM tele zoom
- Canon EF 100mm f2.8L IS USM Macro

I use all these a lot but the 17-55 should be the first to buy, followed by the 70-200 and last 12-24 (or even wider like 11-16).

Here's some recent photo's I made with this camera:





ciao!
Nick.

[captainKJ]

- Canon EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM standard zoom
very good lens but if you want to save a little money the tamron 17-55 will do nicely,,,, that was my first lens, then I upgraded to 35,55,85 L series lenses,,, for about 300 dollars the tamron is a very good deal

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by captainKJ

- Canon EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM standard zoom very good lens but if you want to save a little money the tamron 17-55 will do nicely

For on a boat (not so much for saving money though...), instead of the 17-55 I would also look very hard at the 24-105mm f4.0L IS USM. The reasons: it's L-glass so weather sealing (= dust/salt sealing), very nice focal zoom range and also works on a 5D full frame sensor camera.

However, the photo of the lighthouse above was shot with the 17-55 and I don't think the 24-105 can match the sharpness nor the depth detail of the sky. It would come very close though.

ciao!
Nick.

[LostAtSea2011]

Check this website out. http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm

[hoppy]

You can't beat a decent quality dSLR and pro lenses.

Canon 5DII & 15mm fisheye


Canon 5DII & 35L


Canon 5DII & 35L


Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L


Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L

Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L


Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L


Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L


But if you don’t know how to best use them, then they are a waste

[captainKJ]

sigma has a 70-200mm 2.8 that i use in the field. it is a fantastic lens,,less that half the price of the canon and close to the L series in sharpness,,,

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 II EX DG APO Macro HSM AF Lens 579-101 B&H

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Telephoto Zoom Lens 2751B002

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD Lens for Can AF016C700 B&H

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by LostAtSea2011

Check this website out. Recommended Cameras

Then check out this site The Original Ken Rockwell Facts | Time to Think

[Chipg]

Originally Posted by hoppy

You can't beat a decent quality dSLR and pro lenses.

Canon 5DII & 15mm fisheye


Canon 5DII & 35L


Canon 5DII & 35L


Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L


Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L

Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L


Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L


Canon 1D3 & 300 f2.8L


But if you don’t know how to best use them, then they are a waste

Totally agree! If the OP hadn't said he wants to be under $1k I would have told him to buy a 5d mkii, in my opinion for my style it is the best cam there is and without a doubt perfect for a boat with no crop factor for wide shots. Second runner up would be the 7d but at $1700 it's still over his $1k budget.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by hoppy

You can't beat a decent quality dSLR and pro lenses.

Now we're talking :-) Look how that 5D performs with wide glass ... and I love it how the tele lens gets mounted on the crop sensor of the 1D3. I also love all the photo's posted here.. let's keep that up a bit;

This is the 7D at 12mm wide angle (equals 19mm on full sensor like 5D) using the Tokina 12-24mm:


Here's the 70-200mm again on the 7D; I still think this combo is very hard to beat and I would not worry too much about the cost of this lens as it will be one of your favorites:


The 17-55mm on the 7D; it's a shame I couldn't get lower to the water for this shot:


Now, I want to show some shots with the 100mm Macro; most people think macro lenses are only for small things but this lens is also perfect for portrait etc. It is a very sharp 100mm prime lens with image stabilization and a nice 2.8 constant aperture. Before people ask... yes, this is a HDR from 3 bracketed shots:


And here's the small stuff that this macro lens can do; I use a ring flash mounted on the end of the lens for this shot; red leaf cutter ant:


Some extra tips: I love Smugmug for posting my photo's on-line. You can post full resolution without advertisements or any limits. Click one of the images above to get to my Smugmug site.

Also, I wouldn't know how to deal with all the photo's without Adobe Lightroom. I also use Photoshop and Photomatix Pro but Lightroom is what makes things manageable.

ciao!
Nick.

[Chipg]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

This is the 7D at 12mm wide angle (equals 19mm on full sensor like 5D) using the Tokina 12-24mm

- it's a shame I couldn't get lower to the water for

Pssst, hey Nick, you got your numbers mixed up, a 12mm lens on a full frame cam like a 5d is the actual 12mm you see, on the 7d it has a 1.6x crop factor so your seeing a 19mm lens, remember on a 7d it's 1.6x greater (telephoto or less wide), a 100mm lens on a 5d will be the true 100mm, on a 7d it'll be 160mm.

Like your shots! I made a recommendation earlier in this thread for the OP to buy a gh2 because it's prob the best cam in his price range (under $1k that takes both good images and awesome video) but one of the features it has is the flip up/around LCD so you can put it really low to the ground and look straight down in the viewfinder to frame your shot so your not laying on the ground or shooting blind, this really allows unique point of view angles that's great for nature and wildlife.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Chipg

Pssst, hey Nick, you got your numbers mixed up, a 12mm lens on a full frame cam like a 5d is the actual 12mm you see, on the 7d it has a 1.6x crop factor so your seeing a 19mm lens, remember on a 7d it's 1.6x greater (telephoto or less wide), a 100mm lens on a 5d will be the true 100mm, on a 7d it'll be 160mm.

If a 5D wants to make the same photo as a 7D with 100mm then yes, the 5D needs a 160mm lens. So, if a 5D wants to make the same photo as a 7D with 12mm lens, then the 5D needs a 19mm lens!! See, I had it right

BTW, the captures done with fish-eyes can be "straightened" rather easily with software like Lightroom. This converts a fish-eye into an ultra-wide lens if you want.

Like your shots! I made a recommendation earlier in this thread for the OP to buy a gh2 because it's prob the best cam in his price range (under $1k that takes both good images and awesome video) but one of the features it has is the flip up/around LCD so you can put it really low to the ground and look straight down in the viewfinder to frame your shot so your not laying on the ground or shooting blind, this really allows unique point of view angles that's great for nature and wildlife.

Thank you, I love the hobby

For saving money, I would recommend the new Canon 60D. It also has the flip up/around LCD and the same sensor as the 7D. The price of the body is one thing... the glass is a multiple of that and thus the biggest problem for staying under $1k. Point is that good cameras cost serious money and that's without counting accessories like flash, tripods with nice heads, software etc.

Okay, photo's This is from a Canon A710 IS point and shoot; it shows my wife Josie using the 7D with 100mm f2.8L lens:


Compare the colors of the previous photo with this one which Josie shot a minute later with the 7D and 100mm:


I'll end with another wide angle @ 12mm (equals 19mm on 35mm sensor); this is a HDR again of a tree along the Rio Chagres which can be seen behind it. I would love to go there again with a 5D with the 17-40mm f4.0L and compare results. The 5D should outperform this capture which is just an awesome thought :-)


ciao!
Nick.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Now we're talking :-) Look how that 5D performs with wide glass ... and I love it how the tele lens gets mounted on the crop sensor of the 1D3.

For what I normally shoot, I found that the FF and resolution of the 5D2 was more useful than the 1.3x crop of the 1D3. So I traded in my 1D3 for a 1Ds3

1Ds3 & 135L


I also traded in my 300 f2.8 L for the 200 f2.0L


Coming back to a bit more "real world" photography. After buying my boat and realising I don't want to cart all my gear down to Greece on every trip, I decided to pick up a compact and bought a Leica D-LUX5. Pretty impressive image quality, plenty of manual controls and the lens goes for f2. Admittedly I could have saved money and get the Panasonic LX5 which is pretty much the same camera, but the red badge won me over

Leica D-LUX5


If you are looking for a good quality compact camera with full manual controls, then I highly recommend the Leica D-LUX5/Panasonic LX5 twins

[nautical62]

I'll second the Canon Rebel series. I have 2.

Consider your lens choice as much as the camera itself. Often the lens that comes with a package may not be the lens best suited to your needs, so I prefer to buy bodies and lenses separately. Tamron makes some that are not as good as the Canon L-series, but very good lenses for the price. If you like to shoot underway, consider an image stabilizing lens.

If you are considering a DSLR with a full frame sensor, realize that it will change the effective focal length of the lenses you use and not all lenses work well with full frame sensors.

What ever you system you get, for sailing, get a polarizing filter.

Point and shoots AKA rangefinders have come a long ways and are a great value for what they do, but in my book they still don't compare to an SLR. I rarely use my point and shoot.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by hoppy

1Ds3 & 135L

Very good hoppy... your prime glass rules :-)

If you are looking for a good quality compact camera with full manual controls, then I highly recommend the Leica D-LUX5/Panasonic LX5 twins

Well, I think 90% of the sales of these camera's is to people who already have one or more DSLR's.

If I would have a $1k budget.. I would buy a Canon Powershot D10 for snorkeling and a Powershot S95 or similar for the rest. This would leave me with just enough $ for some good books about photography.

Here is the 70-200mm in action again exactly 14 hours ago. This is the mother of all crops because 200mm really isn't enough for the moon, not even on a 1.6x crop sensor. It's by the grace of the big pixel-count that I get something at all; I used a Manfrotto tripod for this shot and manual mode on the camera:


ciao!
Nick.

[gqv1125]

this is a great camera... if you get water in electronics put them in a bag of rice for a couple of days, presto changeo all better.. suprisingly even works on the memory cards.