After too many years of hauling too much heavy equipment around in pursuit of this thing called photography, I’ve decided to lighten the load.

I’ve sold off my 400mm f:2.8 and 300mm f:2.8 lenses along with the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III. Why? Because the new Canon 5D Mark II has the same 21.1 mp sensor as the MK III and is lighter and uses a later-model processing chip that, in my opinion, produces better images.

I can get 400mm out of my 70-200mm f:2.8 zoom with a 2x tele-extender and 300mm with a 1.4x extender.  With the extended ISO range of the 5D MKII I can make up for the loss of f-stop sensitivity and also save my shoulders and damaged rotator cuffs by no carrying such a heavy lens.

I still use the 1D MKIII for high-speed sports photography but more and more of my work is close in photography of music and other events and I no longer need the long, fast glass.

Sold my favorite sports lens this week: The Canon 400mm f/2.8 telephoto. No, I’m not switching camera brands and I didn’t do it for the money. I simply had to accept the fact that at 61, old age and old injuries have caught up with me and I can’t lug 30 or more pounds of camera equipment around any more.

I bought the lens in 2007, primarily to shoot high school football. As soon as I started using it, I started having problems with my right shoulder. After a game, my right arm would be numb. Doctors first diagnosed tendonitis, then said it could be a pinched nerve. An MRI found town rotator cuff muscles.  A surgeon wanted to cut but that meant six-to-eight weeks of down time, which I can’t afford. We tried cortizone shots instead.

The arm improved over the summer but I wasn’t using the 400mm lens to shoot softball, track, soccer and baseball. When football season arrived last fall, I tried the lens again and the arm got worse. The docs delivered the bad news: Lighten the load or face loss of use of the arm.

A spill on my motorcycle over the weekend sent me crashing to the ground on that same right shoulder and I woke up Monday morning with enough stiffness to limit my movement. So I made the decision to go through my camera equipment and look for places where I could take out some of the bulk. The 400mm was the first to go.

An ad on Sportsshooter.com brought a buyer within 30 minutes. UPS took the lens later in the day and my PayPal account is decidedly healthier.

Over the next few weeks, I will be looking at other ways to reduce the load of the equipment I carry on a particular assignment. Fewer bodies, smaller lenses, a carbon fiber tripod, etc. — anything that can help.

Old age can be a bitch.

Professional photographers who shoot with Canon and Nikon gear have longed enjoyed special privileges through both camera makers’ “professional services.” As a member of both Canon Professional Services (CPS) and Nikon Professional Services (CPS) I’ve enjoyed fast turnaround on repairs, loaner equipment, services at special events and other perks.

Admission into the programs wasn’t easy. You have to prove your made your living with their brands of cameras by providing tear sheets, serial numbers and other information. Up until recently, membership in both programs was free.

Canon, however, changed its CPS program this year and now has three levels of membership: Basic (still free but with limited services), Gold ($100 a year with better services) and Premier ($500 a year with more services).  To qualify, you have to have what Canon considers an acceptable number of their “pro” cameras and lenses.

It wasn’t hard for me to switch over. I own a bunch of Canon equipment and, fortunately, most of it is up to date.  But shooters who depend on older camera bodies (like the original EOS 1D MK I) or older lenses can’t qualify for the new program, even if they made their living with Canon equipment.

This changes of the rules of who qualifies as a “pro.” It no longer means making a living with your equipment. It simply means affording the latest and greatest equipment and whether or not you make your living with that equipment is secondary.

Floyd, Virginia’s Friday Night Jamboree from Doug Thompson on Vimeo.

A short video from last Friday night’s Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Virginia.  Filmed entirely on Canon’s 5D Mark II digital SLR that combines a 21.1 megapixel sensor for still photography with high definition video. (Click here for a full size HD version)

Both the video and sound were captured with the 5DII and edited on Final Cut Pro with no color correction or enhancement to the video from the camera.  Sound was recorded via a Sony wireless video transmitter attached to a Shure microphone on stage. The receiver mounted on the hot shoe of the 5DII fed the sound directly into the camera. No supplemental lighting was used for the shoot.

It’s obvious after looking at this that I’m going to have to use my reading glasses to focus through the LCD on the rear of the camera. Or I may opt for for an external monitor.

These clips are part of an ongoing project to update the orginal Jamboree documentary we shot in standard definition video in 2002, using a Canon XL1s camcorder.

My Canon 5D Mark II arrived three days before Christmas and I haven’t had as much time as I would like to put it through its paces. Shot some test video to try and learn the camera’s capabilities and shortcomings.  For someone used to shooting video with a standard videocam this will take some getting used to.

First impressions:

• Focus is a bit tricky with the camera’s live view function.  The quick focus feature is not all that quick, no compared to the focus on EOS pro bodies while shooting stills. I hadn’t played with Live View all that much on my 1D MKIII or 1Ds Mark III so this is a learning curve.
• Low light capability is incredible. In low light, the detail blows away my Sony V1U HDV camcorder, which shoots 1080p at 24, 25 and 30p.
• The H.264 Quicktime files produced by the 5DII will require some equipment upgrades on the editing in. My trusty Power Mac G5, duel 2.7ghz may need replacing even with 8gb of memory and 10TB of raid storage. I have to convert the footage to Apple’s Pro-Res 4.22 to edit the footage in Final Cut Pro.
• I was able to capture good quality sound using a wireless mike setup (Sony UWP-V6).

I’m hoping to spend most of today editing some of the video and will post some when I’m done.

As I await arrival of my Canon 5D MKII camera, I am discovering more and more of what others are doing with this incredible tool that mixes high definition stills and video.

Check out this offering from Engaging Films, a collaboration of filmmakers and photographers from Los Angeles and Miami. The short film, set to premiere on Christmas Day, was shot in 48 hours using the 5D MK II.

In a few days, I hope to have some video of my own to post from this amazing camera.

I’m waiting, with much anticipation, the arrival of a new Canon 5D Mark II — a 21.1 megapixel still/video hybrid that photographer Vincent Laforet calls a “game changer.” It is, as the video above, shot by SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill, clearly proves.

If you haven’t seen Laforet’s stunning short film, Reverie, you owe it to yourself to do so. The video, shot entirely in 1080p high definition video on a preduction 5D MKII is incredible.  The fact that Vincent had never attempted a video project before makes it even more of an accomplishment.

I’ve been shooting video for a number of years now.  Amy and I produced a 30-minute documentary (above) on Floyd’s famous Friday Night Jamboree in 2003. It was shot in standard definition DV with two Canon XL1s cameras and you can tell the difference between it and the high quality of HD.

Homecoming from Doug Thompson on Vimeo.

The video above was shot with a Sony Z1U HD videocam that shoots in 1080i. We’ve since upgraded to a Sony V1U that shoots 24p in 1080 and we’re working on a number of other projects, including a high-definition update to the Jamboree film.  Adding the Canon 5D MKII to our arsenal seems a logical step because it allows me to use all my existing Canon lenses and adds a lowlight capability previously available only on videocams costing $100,000 or more.  The 5D MKII has an extendable ISO capability of 25,600. Images show in incredibly low light are low in noise and feature extreme detail.

Jeff Snyder at Adorama was kind enough to put me on a high-priority waiting list for the new camera and an email yesterday said the camera is on its way. With luck I’ll have it next week.

User reports will be posted as soon as I have it in hand and put it through its paces.

Martha Spencer, a musician with the White Top Mountain Band of Grayson County, Virginia. Photographed at FloydFest in July 2006 with a Canon EOS-1D and a 70-200mm f2.8 zoom.

I get a lot of questions from photography enthusiasts about the equipment I use for most photo assignments.

As a pro shooter my cameras are the tools of my trade and the tools depend on the job at hand. I shot with Nikons for most of my professional career, starting with my first Nikon F single-lens-reflex in 1965 through the D2H digital that I used until I switched to Canon in 2004.

Now my primary camera bodies are the Canon EOS-1D Mark III and the EOS-1Ds Mark III. The 1Ds at 21.7 megapixels, is one of the highest resolution DSLRs on the market and produces stunning photographs. I also have a 1D Mark II and 1Ds Mark II as backups along with a 40D.

For most non-sports shooting assignments I use two camera bodies with a 28-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f2.8 zooms.  For football, baseball, track and soccer, the primary action lens if a 400mm f2.8 (on a monopod) with the 70-200mm as backup.  I also use the 28-70 for crowd and closeup work.  For basketball and volleyball I like 300mm f2.8 for primary action work and the 28-70 for close in shots.  Two good prime lenses for basketball and volleyball are the 135mm f2.0 and 85mm f1.2.

The 85 and 135 are also good lenses for shooting music events and portraits. I often use the 70-200 for music shots at the Friday Night Jamboree and FloydFest.

Other lenses in my camera bag include a 17-35mm f2.8 zoom, a 100-400 zoom plus 1.4x and 2x tele-extenders.

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Memo to Nikon users: Get out your checkbooks, up the credit limit on your Visa cards or tap the home equity line of credit. On Dec. 19, Nikon ships the new king of the hill in the digital single-lens-reflex megapixel wars.

The Nikon D3x is a 24.3 megapixel monster with a monster price tag: $7,999.99.

But that’s the same street price that Canon has normally charged with its megapixel king: The 21.9 megapixel EOS-1Ds Mark III.

Since I shoot with Canon and mortgaged my soul earlier for the 1Ds MKIII, I don’t have to rush out and buy the new Nikon but you can bet a lot of people will.

Which begs the question: How many megapixels are enough? At what point does the detail delivered by the megapixel giants become more than the eye can see?

My previous high-megapixel top dog in the camera bag was a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II which — at 16.7 megapixels — delivered tack sharp enlargements up to poster size: 36 by 24 inches. I shoot high school sports and other photojournalism assignments with a Canon 1D Mark III: A high-speed 10 megapixel camera that delivers more than enough detail for newspaper resolution.

I started shooting digital for journalism work in 1999 when Nikon released the 2.7 megapixel D1.  I shot dozens of assignments until replacing it with a 4.1 megapixel D2H in 2003. Problems with the D2H led me to change from Nikons (which I had used since 1965) to Canon in 2004 when I bought the 8 megapixel 1D Mark II and 16.7 megapixel 1Ds.

Canon replaced the Mark IIs with the 10 megapixel 1D and 21.9 megapixel 1Ds late last year but some shooters reported problems with the autofocus on the 1D and a number of shooters switched back to Nikon because the new D3 offered 12 megapixels, a better autofocusing system and incredibly high ISO capability (up to 25000).  Canon upped the ante recently with the $2,700 5D MKII which offers 21.9 megapixels, the same high ISO range as the D3 and high-definition video.

The digital age means a shorter lifespan for camera bodies. In the film days, a professional SLR body from Canon or Nikon had a market life cycle of 10 years. The digital bodies have a shelf life of about two-and-a-half years.

I’ll stick with Canon. I have a tidy sum invested in camera bodies and lenses and haven’t had any of the autofocus issues with either of my MK IIIs. But then I’m old-school and focus most of my shots manually anyway.

The cost of professional photo equipment has reached the point that when I drive to cover a sports event at Floyd County High School, I’m hauling camera equipment that cost more than twice the sticker price on my Jeep Wrangler.