Beginner Numerous beginner questions

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Hey guys, first message here, and going to make it a jam packed one!!!

I have numerous questions

1. Are relatively cheapo SD cards ok, what disadvantages could they bring?

2. In what circumstance would it be beneficial to own a flash gun, and why do they vary so much in price?

3. Is IS or USM more beneficial for a telephoto used for shooting motorsport?

4. How much of an effect would a 1.6x converter have on an 18-200 sigma OS lens.

Thanks very much, and would appreciate any and all help!

Thanks you!
 
It would help give advice if you said what camera body you use?

1. More likely to fail and slower read and write speeds. IMO SD cards are so cheap now it is not worth buying cheap cards. Sandisk are well respected.

2. There are many uses for a flashgun - indoor photography, low light situations and as a fill in flash to illuminate faces evenly when shooting outdoors. Others will add other uses. Cost varies due to two facts. Firstly the brand name e.g Canon and Nikon will be dearer because of who they are. Secondly the more expensive flashes tend to have more power and can illuminate greater distances. Others will again add further reasons.

3. As i suspect you would use panning I personally would turn IS off. If you use a tripod then i would definitely not use IS (unless you have one of the very good lenses which have two different IS settings).

4. It would convert the lens to the equivalent of a 29-320 lens. If you are using a cropped body then the focal length is already increased (probably by a factor of 1.6 depending on body). So on a cropped body the 1.6 converter would give you 46-512. Image quality would suffer a little although if you used a matched Sigma converter it should not be too bad.
 
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Thanks very much. I'm currently using a 450D, although I plan to upgrade to a 7D relatively soon! I think the 8fps will be very helpful, especially for motorsport photography.
 
#3
USM means the lens will focus faster - Very important for some subjects.
IS for motor sport will help when shooting around the paddock in very low light and when paning - if you have an IS panning mode on the lens (mode 2?)
It is not normally used when shooting racing.
 
Have to second Val's comments in regards to cheap SDs the quality just isn't there I used to use own brand cards from a certain retailer and they were rubbish, had a propensity for falling appear or worse getting stuck in cameras if your going to go to 7D doesn't that take CF anyway? so that would be a good reason to buy to many more SD cards too

Flashguns there are some really good third party ones but generally only the OEM flash guns will feature full functionality linked with metering at least that's my limited experience plus again I find they recycle faster (eg ready for next use) also you have a lot more flexibility in how you use the flash where are in built is pretty static and not easy to redirect or modify

Cannot really answer the last two sorry
 
4. How much of an effect would a 1.6x converter have on an 18-200 sigma OS lens.
A 1.6x converter? I've never heard of that. Canon and Sigma make 1.4x converters, and I think Kenko might make a 1.5x, but I've never heard of a 1.6x. If that's not a typo, it suggests to me that it's a no-name brand and the quality will be poor.

Also, it's worth noting that Sigma teleconverters aren't compatible with the Sigma 18-200mm lens. That's a strong hint that, if you can find a third-party converter which will fit, the quality will be poor.

But anyway, *if* you have a 1.6x converter and *if* it does fit your lens, the effects will be:
* the lens will be 28-320mm f/5.6-9
* you won't be able to autofocus
* the image quality will take a huge hit.
 
Hey guys, first message here, and going to make it a jam packed one!!!

I have numerous questions

1. Are relatively cheapo SD cards ok, what disadvantages could they bring?

Cheap cards are often fine, but quality brands like Sandisk or Lexar are not expensive. Not worth the risk really.

2. In what circumstance would it be beneficial to own a flash gun, and why do they vary so much in price?

Photography needs light, and when there isn't much natural light, that's when you need flash. There are other uses too.

Canon and Nikon guns cost more because they have more features (like master control of remote guns, high speed sync etc), they're quality built, and then there's a bit on top for the brand.

3. Is IS or USM more beneficial for a telephoto used for shooting motorsport?

Image stabilisation combats camera-shake, so you can hand-hold longer shutter speeds without blur. IS cannot reduce subject movement though. USM stands for ultrasonic motor, usually faster and quieter than micro-motor AF drive.

4. How much of an effect would a 1.6x converter have on an 18-200 sigma OS lens.

Thanks very much, and would appreciate any and all help!

Thanks you!

You can't get a 1.6x tele-converter, they're usually 1.4x or 2x. In a word, don't bother with an 18-200 zoom. Not sure you could get a telecon to fit that lens, and even if it did, you'd lose auto-focus and image quality would be poor. No free lunch.

Edit: crossed post with Stewart :)
 
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Having owned a 7D I speak from experience.

Firstly they do take CF not SD cards.

Second Kenko do a 1.4 converter which I believe is compatible with all makes of EF and EF-S lenses (suggest you check). I own one of these and it works fine with all my EF lenses including my Tamron. Using a 1.4 converter you lose one stop at the wide end so an F4 lens becomes an F5.6 lens. Your Sigma lens would only focus at shorter focal lengths e.g 18 (not much use really) but not at longer lengths e.g 200. Manual focus of course works at all focal lengths.

I use the Kenko on my Tamron 70-300VC and although there is some slight loss of image quality the pictures are by no means poor.
 
Having owned a 7D I speak from experience.

Firstly they do take CF not SD cards.

Second Kenko do a 1.4 converter which I believe is compatible with all makes of EF and EF-S lenses (suggest you check). I own one of these and it works fine with all my EF lenses including my Tamron. Using a 1.4 converter you lose one stop at the wide end so an F4 lens becomes an F5.6 lens. Your Sigma lens would only focus at shorter focal lengths e.g 18 (not much use really) but not at longer lengths e.g 200. Manual focus of course works at all focal lengths.

I use the Kenko on my Tamron 70-300VC and although there is some slight loss of image quality the pictures are by no means poor.

Kenko 1.4x will fit a lot of lenses that other telecons won't, but not Canon EF-S - the rear of the lens protrudes too far. It may or may not fit other brands of 18-200. Either way, the image quality you get depends almost entirely on the sharpness of the mother lens, rather than the telecon. All it does is enlarge the centre portion of the image, so if that's very sharp to start with then the result may be acceptable. Unfortunately, all 18-200 zooms are weak at the long end.

Live-view AF works at any aperture, though maybe not very well.
 
As has been stated, there isn't a 1.6x converter. Are you mixing this up with the 1.6x crop factor you will get with that camera?
 
Fully agree with HoppyUK the image quality does depend entirely on the sharpness of the mother lens. If that is poor then the IQ of photos with the converter will be even worse. Never tried my Kenko on EF-S lenses only my EF lenses (most of which are L series) so I will bow to his superior knowledge.

From my experience Liveview AF was slow on the 7D without a converter attached. I cannot see it being any better with one.
 
An other point to the cheapo SD cards (all cards), the read /write speed will be slower and if you are taking lots of shots on continuous shooting (Motorsport) once you have filled the buffer in the camera the write speed of the card will slow the number of shots you can take. Look for Class 10 cards with higher Mb/s speed.
 
Sorry for not having been back recently. Thanks so much for all your contributions. It was a typo, I meant 1.4 :)

Was what RichardTaylor saying mean that when taking panning shots of motorsport, I shouldn't be using the stabilisation on my 18-200 Sigma?
 
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