damn you get your images sharp with that lens...
I tried again today... on 1/1000th....
not as sharp as this...

I guess its because of the 5D / 400D then

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I like the exposure - maybe a 1/3 stop under, and it really brings out detail and colour. Dunno if you did that intentionally or the meter just rocks, but still.

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I usually let the camera meter do it's job that way it wants to unless I need to dial in some over / under exposure. But in post production, I'm often tweeking to boost the saturation. A slight under exposure in an RGB colour space does wonders for colour saturation. I used to dial in a 1/3 stop under exposure in my old slide days too. I got great colours back then too. I guess old habits die hard. I'm also an avid Aperture Priority fan too. I think it terms of iris f stop first and then the shutter speed is a by product of what's left, iso and light levels.

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Gareth.

Science is what we Dream of
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Erm, you should be getting as good results with your 400D as I'm getting with my 5D. What seems to be the problem?
Is it camera shake (I tend to shoot at a minimum of 1/1000th sec)? Often I need an Iso of 400 to make that shutter speed. Is it that the lens isn't focussing on target correctly? Focussing at 200mm @f2.8 needs to be very precise because of the very narrow depth of field. It's also possible that the lens is back or front focussing too. I had to drop mine off to Sigma for an AF calibration because mine looked soft, until I noticed that my lens was focussing about 2 inches in front the target. It's fine now and spot on, but sometimes I double focus, just to make sure.

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Gareth.

Science is what we Dream of
Technology is what we are stuck with.

Check my Gallery out: [link]

Heh, I'm the same way. My camera hasn't been changed from Av for over a month. With accurate metering and compensation algorithms, there's no need to fiddle with full manual exposures much anymore. Especially with multispot + af-linked-spot metering (I'm still giddy about that). To be fair though, when I shoot film I shoot Velvia, and there's not a whole lot I could do to ruin the colour and saturation - that stuff is amazing.

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I so miss AF linked metering. It's great that the 5D has a spot meter, but even my old 300D had an AF linked Partial meter. When I bought my 5D, I nearly opted for a S/H 1Ds so that I could have an AF linked multi spot. But the 5D was a better camera for my needs. So I bought a Pentax Spot meter V, which ironically, I've hardly used!
I haven't tried the newer versions of Velvia much. I used tons of the old Velvia 50 though. I ran a single roll of Velvia 100 when it first came out and i wasn't that impressed with it. I've heared that Fuji have re-released a 50 version, but I don't know what that is like.

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Gareth.

Science is what we Dream of
Technology is what we are stuck with.

Check my Gallery out: [link]

That was a good choice. Cash aside, I'd get the 1Ds Mark II over the 5D, but not the 1Ds. It took a step down in many ways from the 1D, as far as I'm concerned.

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The 5D has it's advantages too, like it's low light capability is the best that there is. It's also a lot smaller and more convinient, a 1D size can be a bit big for some circumstances. The 5D can "grow" with the nifty battery pack (big -ed) and it looks very "1D-ish" with it (according to Canon's white paper, that was deliberate). Also my grip-less 5D fits into my Manfrotto L bracket, where as a 1D can't and I'd have to get a custom one made.
A 1D with a 70-200mm LIS screems of a press hack, but an 85mm f1.8 on a 5D looks like "some guy with a camera". Having a spot meter is a good thing, but no AF linked spot or multi spot is a bit lame. 3 fps is a tad pedestrian, but it's lag isn't far off a 1D and it's viewfinder black out time is pretty fast too. It's all swings and roundabouts. I'm still on the look out for a S/H 20D, the 1.6x crop is usefull for birding.

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Gareth.

Science is what we Dream of
Technology is what we are stuck with.

Check my Gallery out: [link]

Aye. I've been considering picking up a 5D as a backup/second body, both because I need one and just like full frame. And everything else you said. Some really wide high-res shots would be awesome.

And it keeps me out of EF-S and APS-C territory, as much as I love the 20D. It'd be a great backup body, if the crop wasn't there. I promised myself that once I made the switch to full-frame digital, I wasn't going back.

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AVDENTES FORTVNA IVVAT
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