Today is rather a bittersweet day for me . . .
First, it is my oldest son’s (David) Birthday – and this is cause for a great celebration – he made it to 28! Not that I had any serious doubts about this, but his humor and cynicism and opinions are very clearly stated at almost every opportunity and leave me wondering sometimes. Okay, maybe a lot! He really is a good kid and incredibly intelligent (he gets this from me!), it’s just the cynicism part (he gets that from his Dad!) . . .this is the good part of the day. Happy Birthday David !
Ah . . h . . h, the bad part of the day – I had to ship my Canon 5D off to New Jersey today, to Mack Camera and Video Repair. After testing it throughout the entire range of ISO’s, apertures and metering modes, with 3 different Canon L series lenses, as well as in the auto focus and manual focus positions; the images are fuzzy and not sharp. And yes, the entire test was shot on a tripod! I was not about to let my human-ness interfere with clarity!
I did the same test with a Canon 10D and a rental body (same camera – Canon 5D) with the same three Canon L series lenses. While the quality of the image produced by the Canon 10D was inferior, it was still tack-on sharp. And the difference in the rental 5D and the one I am submitting for focus problems was “night and day” – almost no comparison: the rental body produce crystal clear imagery.
I have also noticed that the focus points slip – not on every image though. If I use one focus point to lock in the focus, then recompose the image, the focus point slips (NO, I am not in AI SERVO mode) – when the slippage occurs, it always seems to be to the back or rear – it has never slipped to the front, whether I am doing table top or portrait work. Again, this portion of the problem doesn’t always happen, but the lack of clarity and sharpness seems to be on 95% of the images.
Talk about panic! It is like having your baby ripped out of your arms! And for me? Not having a camera to shoot with for client sessions is deadly! Not having a camera I can count on is just as bad!
What does this teach us?
1) Always purchase a warranty with your equipment! (Fortunately, I had purchased one at the same time I purchased the camera)
2) Always have a back up!
Today’s photo just seems to sum it all up – caught between a rock and a hard spot! – because I can’t afford to purchase a new camera right now.
TODAY’S IMAGE
caught between a rock and a hard spot
camera type: Canon EOS 10D
lens type: Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3, 77mm
exposure: 1/250s @ f/7.1
ISO: ISO 1600
post-production: Lightroom 2.0
location: Santa Barbara, CA – Tucker’s Grove