Canon 7D Gear and Settings (Help needed)

[moybaku]

I am a beginner in DSLR world and have no idea what I am doing. Before I had Sony HX1 and had good (satisfactory to my eye) shoots. I now have the fallowing gear in my backpack:
Canon 7D
Canon EF-S 18-135mm IS
Canon EF 28-135mm USM IS f/3.5-5.6
Canon EF 70-300mm USM IS f/4.0-5.6
Sigma 10-20mm EX DC HSM f/4.0-5.6
B+W 77mm XS-Pro Kaesemann CPL MRNC
Tiffen 67mm UV
Zeikos 58mm UV, CPL, FLD
set of step down rings
Canon Replica Remote RS80-N3
Canon Replica Remote TC80-N3
Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod
Manfrotto 808RC4 3-way head
Manfrotto 496RC2 ball head
Manfrotto 680B monopod
Komputer Bay 16GB 600x
KingDisk 32GB 600x
Canon LP-E6 spare
Lens Pen
Rocket Blaster (Large)

Having all this equipment and shooting with green box or CA is very dissatisfactory to me, for if any of you can suggest first on the gear I got (which to keep and which to get rid of) and second where should I start. So far I understood that f29 would close the light passage to a minimum and f5.6 is wide open. Now I don't know when is it appropriate to use what... I also figured that the basic setting of pop out flash give to much light with Sigma so I had to adjust it to a -1.75 or -2. I like the Sigma lens but I think I am not using it correctly. Also my 77mm CPL was said to be the best on the market today but again I don't get that look of PRO though I got lucky once and was able to shoot through car windshield crisp clear as if no glass was present. The list of my confusion keeps going on and on so if you can help me get this figured out one bite at a time it would be a world of help!!! Thanking you in advance, Gev.

 

[nathfromslg]

should have started slowly! it would have been better for you,having too much of a thing makes you wonder,WTH am I doing!

practise buddy!


I didnt have the paitience to read what you wrote in the last para!

 

[EIngerson]

#1, and most important, read the manual front to back.

#2, learn exposure

#3, come back and ask questions.

This is not me trying to sound arrogant. I'm telling you how to START getting the most out of your camera and photography.

 

[bunny99123]

I will take any and all items not wanted... I will email you my UPS shipper number, so you don't even have to pay freight..lol Start by learning your camera. Learned that the hard way. Learn the basic photography techniques. I thought I knew a lot last year at this time. My bubble got busted...now I Know very little Learn one thing at a time, until it all clicks. Still learning. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[moybaku]

#1, and most important, read the manual front to back.

#2, learn exposure

#3, come back and ask questions.

This is not me trying to sound arrogant. I'm telling you how to START getting the most out of your camera and photography.

Eric I read the manual at first but it provides to much info and I didn't know where to start. I'll start grinding on exposure and will let you know how it goes. Thanks for the advice!
P.S. your pics look great, are they all natural or some are post-edited

 

[TCampbell]

WOW... that's a lot of gear for someone just starting out. Leave _most_ of it at home. It's not that it's bad gear... actually a lot of that is great gear, but too much gear will just be confusing.

Oh, and your CPL _is_ probably about the best on the market. (B+W brand are one of the "gold standards" for filters.)

But there's a difference between owning nice gear and knowing how to use it. One can't just go buy a Steinway grand piano and expect to play like a concert pianist. You have to learn to use the gear.

About your lenses...

Canon makes EOS lenses in "EF" and "EF-S" types (as well as a few specialty types such as MP-E and TS-E). A handful of Canon's pro bodies use "full frame" sensors. These cameras (the 6D, 5D, and 1D series bodies) have sensors which are the same size as a 35mm film negative (about 36mm x 24mm). The vast majority of DSLR cameras use APS-C size sensors which are a bit smaller. The "EF-S" lenses (the "-S" stands for "short back-focus") are designed specifically for the APS-C sensor cameras such as your 7D. The EF lenses will work with _any_ EOS camera... regardless of the sensor size.

But due to the difference in sensor sizes, an image taken with an APS-C camera will appear to be zoomed in a bit more than an image taken with a full-frame camera when using the same lens & focal length.

The EF-S 18-135mm lens is considered the "kit" lens for a 7D. It's a great "walking around" lens with a nice range of focal lengths to shoot moderately wide angle to moderate telephoto lengths. It's a nice lens. The EF 28-135mm lens is a nice walking around lens for a full-frame camera (e.g. someone with a 6D might use that lens). When YOU might prefer that lens over the 18-135 is when you're trying to do faster focusing. The 28-135mm has a USM focusing motor. The 18-135mm does not. The USM motor is both quieter and faster. The 28-135mm lens is technically a slightly nicer lens except that it can't go down the 18mm focal length. BTW, on YOUR camera (the 7D) a "normal" focal length will be just about 30mm (this is the focal length that can "see" roughly the same area you can see with your eye as long you look forward and do not look around with your eye or move your head.) 28mm is close enough to 30mm that you wont really notice the difference. 18mm will seem to be a bit of a wide angle (not an extreme wide angle ... just a mild wide angle.)

Wider angles tend to be preferred ANY TIME you feel you need to "look around" to take in a scene. In other words, if you're standing at a gorgeous vista overlooking beautiful landscape and your eyes are moving around to take in the scene, then you probably want to reach for a wide-angle lens to photograph it. It'd be no fun trying to view the the Grand Canyon by looking at it through a drinking straw -- and that's the effect you get when you use a long telephoto lens.

To get out of automatic mode (the green box) you'll need to learn the fundamentals of "exposure". There are a couple of books that are GREAT for this. "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson is one of the more recommended books. There are a few others that are extremely popular. I'd suggest you pick up a book (they're written for beginners so they do explain things in a way that allows you to learn the terminology) and follow it.

 

[gconnoyer]

not that I'm making an argument for shooting in a certain mode...but go to the link below. Read through it with your camera sitting next to you.
Exposure Lessons, in order « Stop Shooting Auto!

Grab your body, and a lens, and learn your camera first. When you feel like your gear is holding you back, and not you, then you can start worrying about all of that.

 

[moybaku]

Thanks for all the info! The reading is done, now it's time to practice

 

[moybaku]

I got some shoots yesterday but could not upload them here so I opened a Flickr Flickr: moybaku79's Photostream hope it works. I fallowed the advice from lessons offered by Greg (Thank you!) and got these results. Please be as critique/advisory as you can.
Thank you, Gev.