A Slow Boat from China

It took almost a month, but the adapter to mount the Canon FD lenses to the T2i arrived today, and I was tickled about to death trying out the big zooms.
Today I just played with the Tokina 28-200mm f3.5 and there's a view of the result below.

The greenscreening was done within Sony Vegas, I would have used CompositeLab but it would have taken a while to render even though the results would likely have been much cleaner.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll be trying out the Canon 100-200 zoom and we'll get a first hand comparison of the two zooms.

More T2i Stuff

Earlier on I posted some of the T2i videos I've been making for YouTube, and since I don't have anything clever to put up right now, I'll just post a few more.

Here's a few more "T2i for Regular Schmoes" videos.











More to follow

The Ebay Double Edge

I'm a cheapskate, no two ways about it, I make Jack Benny look like a major philanthropist.

And I like to buy stuff on the cheap, so naturally I turn to Ebay for deals. If you are a careful shopper there's some great deals in fact.

But a lot of stuff comes from the mystical land of the east and it can take a while to get here.

Back on June 30 I ordered an adapter for some dirt cheap Canon FD lenses I scored so I could mount them on the T2i and now, half a month later I'm still waiting on delivery.

Mind you I'm not complaining (ok, just a little) because the price for shipping was certainly right; free. But it's weird how some items can arrive from Hong Kong in something like 4 days and others can take up to a month.

Sort of like my posting schedule here.

As soon as the adapter arrives I'll have some tests of the telephoto lenses I bought, but until then the lenses are just sitting there staring at me with those big unblinking, long range glass eyes.

Canon T2i; the Ongoing Series

Ever since I got my T2i, I've been amazed at the clarity and controllability of the camera.
Although it's quite a bit different than operating a camcorder, as you learn the ins and outs of all the manual controls on the thing you appreciate what's been going on with filmmakers for the last century or so.

In an effort to help fellow novices with this terrific camera, I've begun an ongoing series of semi-tutorials, more of a journey of discovery, that I've called "Canon T2i for Regular Schmoes"

There's a lot of technical information out there that's as vast as it is complex, and for someone like me that doesn't know an f-stop from a truck stop, there has to be some means of finding the information that the casual hobbyist or filmmaker wanting to get the best images possible can understand and use.

So here are the first six, not necessarily the best info on the net about the T2i, but I hope it's some of the more entertaining.














You can follow my exploits on YouTube by clicking here.

Oh Look, a Movie!

What's the point of being a movie maker if you don't make movies?

For the most recent Statesboro Film Festival, I entered this little tidbit, it's my take on the great TV classic; Captain Video.

It won "Best Editing" and came in 2nd overall in the "People's Choice" categories.



It was a fun day of shooting in front of the greenscreen, and I had help from a friend in the UK that shot his own footage and sent it to me.

Is Glory of Soviet Technology, No?

The DSLR revolution has brought things to the filmmaker's table that no one would have even conceived a decade ago.

Once the shock of having a camera with amazing capabilities like the T2i has worn off a bit, I started searching for accessory lenses that would add some improved appearance to my movies.

The first thing everyone says a filmmaker needs; a 50mm prime lens for that really cool DOF.

Canon makes a pretty nice one for around $100 and it seems to do the job well, but there are rumblings amongst users (see reviews at Amazon.com) that the plastic mount can become stuck to the camera and Canon's response is generally; "Wow, that stinks, wish we could do something but we can't".
That's not an indictment on Canon, just a warning to look elsewhere for a more robust lens.

And I found it.

Cheap too.

A quick visit to Ebay's Cameras & Photo section turned up two nice primes from the former Soviet Union.
The first is the MC Zenitar 50mm M42 and the other is the Helios 44-M2 58mm M42.

M42 refers to the type of mounting system the lenses use and will require an adapter to mount on your modern DSLR, but those are available all over ebay for around $15.

Here's a look at both:




The lenses may be heavy as lead but they give up some beautiful images.
Personally I like the retro feel of the things, and will probably be adding several more Zenit, Helios, and Jupiter lenses as I go.

Here's the first test I've done with both lenses. Sadly it's a failed experiment since I didn't have the Zenitar 50mm in perfect focus.