Only 15 months passed from the first time I putted my greedy hands on a professional digital photo camera.

But, people likes my work (and I do too) and in this period I had the pleasure to work with many many important artists like Ismael Ivo and Carolyne Carlson.

That’s why 4 months ago I decided to invest my money (3500 €) and buy an accessorized Canon EOS 5D Mark II, and after using a Canon EOS 40D for one year I can say it’s the best camera I used in my life, and I’m so happy to have it.

However, the world of Stage photography is hard.
Low light, people always moving, and often you can’t be near to the stage.
Sometimes you can’t even be with the spectators of the show but you have to be in the back with technicians.

That’s why I recently decided to invest other 2500 € to buy:

• Canon EF 70-200mm 1:2.8 L IS USM
• Extender EF2X II

But, because my technical knowledge of photography is zero (and I don’t want/need to learn too much) it took me some days to decide.
I want to put here my thoughts about what I learned from other people and the informations I found interesting for who, like me is, undecided.

My previous situation

So, let’s begin saying that my previous telephoto lenses was a cheap-but-nice Sigma 70-300 F4-5.6 APO DG.
And it did his dirty work for the 200 € I paid it.

It’s flaws are a noisy and imprecise AF system (but it’s not too slow in low-light situations) and the bad luminosity (working costantly at 5.6 is really hard for me and obly me to use 5000-6400 ISO to shoot at 1/80).

My doubts

So I said to myself: “You have to do a big job in october, why waiting 6 months to buy a professional lenses when you can buy it now and use it while you’re waiting?”

But my doubts warsened soon because I found no 70-300 in the L series family to help me, and the only 300mm alternative for me was to buy a prime Canon 300mm 2.8L lens or a 28-300 3.5-5.6L lens.

The first was too risky for me cause I really need to frame my subjects using the zoom.
While the second is really heavy (1,8 Kg) and also I don’t like the pull-push system of zooming that I know cause I used it in the 17-85 with my previous Canon EOS 40D.
In the long time It makes the lenses weaker and if it falls you’re going to trash it away.
That for me is a huge investment and I hope I’ll use this lenses for at least 6 years.

So my only choice was the 70-200 2.8L, and I had to choose just between the version with Image Stabilizer and without it (1500 € or 2000 €).
I’ll explain my choice in the end.

Testing time

First of all I started to do some tests to see what I was losing from 200 to 300 mm, and I saw it wasn’t so much like I thought.
That are two couple of pictures (100 ISO and 6400 ISO) done at 300 and 200 mm.

A test in outside daylight was useless for me so I did the 6400 ISO shoots also trying  to recreate the situation of low light in wich I work using a very fast shutter speed.
Both of the pictures where taken at 5.6 aperture size, this is important for the second part of this “guide”.

After that test I tried to crop the picture with photoshop obtaining, from a 200mm shooted picture, the same “zoom” (of course with a different angle of perspective) of a 300mm shoot.
Because of the rules of the lenses from 200 to 300mm you have a doubled zoom, the result is a half-size picture (in megapixels), so the resize goes from 21 to 10,6 megapixels (6516×3744 to 4100×2700~) .

It’s interesting that even with high ISO and half size of the picture, I can get a decent quality of the subject even shooting with a 200mm lens.
Even I have to admit that the difference is viewable, (also for the vignette effect that in the crop is removed)

So I thought:
“if I do the same thing with the L series lenses I’m going to buy, the extra quality of the lenses will allow me cleaner and better crops”

But I NEVER use crops in stage photography like Silvia Lelli, my master teached me… so I don’t want to start now.
So this was not enough for me and that’s why I started to study about lens extenders.

The EF 2X II extender double the lenses zoom, so a 70-200mm becomes a 140-400mm.
The back-side effects are:

• AF speed reduced by 4 times
• 2 steps less of aperture

So… the Canon 70-200 2.8L haves the faster autofocus speed in the world of telephoto lenses, and even reduced by a quarter it will be faster than my old Sigma 200 €  lens.

About the aperture, that (should) be the Canon f-steps:

f/#     1.0     1.1     1.2     1.4     1.6     1.8     2     2.2     2.5     2.8     3.2     3.5     4     4.5     5.0     5.6     6.3     7.1     8     9     10     11     13     14     16     18     20     22
(they could be aproximated by 1/8 depending on the lenses)

So the extender will make my 2,8 aperture a 5,6 aperture from 140 to 400mm.
And that is enough for me because I work every day with a Canon 24-105 4L.
It’s also like my cheap Sigma lenses but with an even bigger zoom and a different level of quality in the lenses.

Of course, I’m not buying a luminous lens to put a stupid filter on it that will make me use it at 5,6 … but that’s for me a way to surpass my doubts about the fact I’m loosing some zoom.

So after looking at the extenders-lenses compatibility table I passed trough.

Time to choose

So, the only thing that I’m missing now is to choose between:

• 70-200mm f/2.8L USM
• 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

In the end I decided to order the second (and much more expensive) even if my teacher said me that, if she could go back, she would have bought the cheaper (not IS) one.

The man that made me change idea is that guy from the-digital-picture.com that says in this article:
“Many people question the additional cost of the IS version of the 70-200 f/2.8. My advice – unless you are only shooting fast action or in bright lighting conditions, go for the IS version. “

My doubts are about the fact that, of course, ” Image Stabilization will not stop subject motion”.
But the point is that the lens is so heavy and I DON’T work with a tripod, never.
So after some hours of shooting my hands will be really tired after using the 2,5 Kilograms camera+lenses couple.
And a stabilizer could at least reduce the vibrations of my hands.

That’s why I choosed, in the end, to order a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM + Extender EF2X II.

I’ll post a complete review with tests and pictures when I’ll have it in my hands !!!

Mille gocce di pioggia si
scontrano coi miei sogni dando
un ritmo ai miei pensieri.

La notte ed il giorno
si inseguono all’infinito
come il mio desiderio
e la sua attesa, dolce.

Mi sveglio confuso,
ed eccitato,
cercando di ricordare ciò
che avevo allontanato a fatica,

per concedermi una tregua.

Così il lavoro ricomincia,
mi insegue minaccioso come
in una di quelle foto mosse,
in cui si perde il dettaglio.

E mi ritrovo a cercare col
mio obiettivo ballerini volanti
che danzano frenetici …

… al ritmo dei miei sogni
come mille gocce di pioggia.

E sono felice.

There is nothing to explain because it was so simple, however I want to post an explanation of what I just did with my bluetooth cellphone and my brand new Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

I had this idea many time ago, while I was studying photography, but I never had the time to test it.

So:

• this works with all Canon EOS cameras but will work also with Nikon (or other brands) using the right software you can find your camera box
• install “EOS Utility” (for Canon EOS cameras) or whatever software you use
• configure the software and the keys you want to use to change shutter speed, aperture and to shoot the pictures.
• connect your bluetooth cellphone to the computer. Both Mac OSX and Windows have native softwares to do that.
• on the bluetooth cellphone, activate the “desktop” function
• with the “desktop” function you can use your cellphone like a mouse/keyboard, so now you can shoot pictures and setup your EOS camera from your cellphone using the keys you configured earlier

This is very useful to do professional portraits because you can put your camera on a tripod, a notebook near/behind the person you’re shooting at, and take pictures with just a cellphone in your hands (seeing the result of the pictures in realtime on the notebook’s bigger screen).
I also find this so important to make the person feel comfortable talking with a person and not with a telephoto lens.

The next step is to do the same thing with anything that haves a browser, like an iPhone using wireless (radio) connection.
That can be done at a distance of 140 meters according to this folk.
Of course, unless you’re connection works, you can also be in the other side of the world because it’s an over-ip way to control the camera.

Another way is to spent $2.49 and use this software by Apple to use the camera directly (via usb cable) from your iPhone.

Enjoy ;)

One of my favourite groups of my childhood is Marilyn Manson.
I listened at his songs for years.

I was strange in that period.
An apprehended brooding hunk.
But even if I wasn’t a bad guy people always respected me for the aura of mystery glowing around me.

I remember myself wrapped up in huge and spiky leather jackets, but listening both sad, romantic, violent and corny songs.
Fragile and nervy, but also pure and sure to be special, in a certain way.

So much things changed in these years, but I’ll never forget.

Today I feel again like this song he did 10 years ago.
So I publish it.

To remember that,
as he could say,
that sometimes everyone haves the need to love, and hate.

Marilyn Manson – In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death

We have no future
heaven wasn’t made for me
we burn ourselves to hell
as fast as it can be
and I wish that I could be a king
then I’d know that I am not alone

Maggots put on shirts
Sell each others shit
sometimes I feel so worthless
sometimes I feel discarded
I wish that I was good enough
then I’d know that I am not alone

Death is policeman
Death is the priest
Death is the stereo
Death is a TV
Death is the Tarot
Death is an angel and
Death is our God
killing us all

she puts the seeds in me
plant this dying tree
she’s a burning string
and I’m just the ashes

she put the seeds in me
plant this dying tree
she’s a burning string
and I’m just the ashes

Some days ago a friend looked at me saying: “I see you still depressed…”
I answered: “I never been more happy in my fuckin life!”

After huge periods of stress and sacrifice I arrived to my “point zero“.
Debts and taxes are going to be paid soon, and what comes after is just the funny part of the job.

Also, I’m taking back confidence with my spaces…
I re-organized completely my office trashing old school stuff,
I cut the grass in my garden (and I discovered it’s a really nice hobby),
and I arranged a mobile station from where to work during the day.

Also, I found myself too thoughtful and abstract in this period, in a fussing way.
Today I spent some minutes playing with my cat and putting my hands inside mountains of cutted grass regaining my connection with nature.

Also this new office in my garden is beautiful, I just needed some fresh and clean air and some sun on my face.
Someone asked me: “shouldn’t this distract you?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want. I just inverted my life-cycle pal!”

In the last 25 years I did all my best to avoid anything to influence me, from old cultures to commonplaces.
That made me ingenious and creative, with no prejudices, and that’s really important for my work also …
… because I always think of different ways to get things done, and I often find ones that other people don”t think of.

Now I feel ready to face my city from this strategic position, and to take what I need from it.
I’m going also to have a real office adjacent to my house in a year or less.

- Sei triste, vuoi qualcosa?
- No, non sono triste.
Non voglio niente. Tantomeno essere triste.
“E’ una promessa che le ho fatto, tanto tempo fa.” Penso tra me e me.

E così un pò assonnato prendo la mia pesante valigia, faccio quelle interminabili scale che le ho guardato fare tante volte, ed esco.
Trascinandomi verso la metrò vedo per l’ultima volta una Parigi grigia, che suggerisce la Milano in cui sarò tra 5 ore.

Mi sento solo, eppure, entrando in metrò ho visto un cane buttato in un angolo che era molto più solo e malandato di me, ma era meno triste. La cosa non mi rende felice, ma mi consola.

Osservo la città dai vetri appannati di un treno che puzza di addio.
Il sole sorge sull’orizzonte francese di una Parigi sciatta, periferica, piena di vecchi condomini tutti uguali dove spicca un concerto telivisivo ed arrogante di paraboliche tutte uguali.

Silenzioso osservo alcune delle foto mosse che le ho fatto in questi giorni, cercando di rappresentare il modo ossessivo in cui l’ho inseguita per cercare utopisticamente di capire.

Cercare di capire… per poi scoprire ciò che era scontato, che non c’è niente da capire.
Che sono arrivato al primo giro di boa di questa vita squallida dove ogni valore per cui ho combattuto mi resta addosso.
Appeso al petto come una medaglia.
Come una croce bianca al centro di un cimitero desolato.
E mi sento vecchio, come uno di quei vecchi militari che non cambiano mai.

Mi aguro di trovare anche questa volta la forza di celebrare questo funerale, mentre guardando le facce assonnate di miei compagni di viaggio occasionali ripenso a quello che sto lasciando, ed a cosa vado in contro.
Eppure questa volta sono consapevole e responsabile delle mie azioni, delle mie scelte.
Tanto sono cambiato e tanto cambierò, in quest’anno passato all’insegna dell’amore verso me stesso e di odio verso tutti gli altri, che non è l’odio che provavo da giovane ma “un egoismo antico e sano che fa bene a sè stessi ed all’umanità”.

L’aereo decolla, volo sempre più sù. Non guardo nemmeno più fuori dal finestrino, perchè sono stanco di sognare ad occhi aperti, perchè ho capito che ottenere le cose non è che il primo passo di un’interminabile sequenza di azioni da perpetuare per tenersele.
E sono stanco di lottare inutilmente, come un pesce fuori dalla sua bacinella che sta soffocando.
E’ arrivato il momento di imparare a respirare fuori dall’acqua.

Poi mi addormento, ma non sogno.
Mi ritrovo a Milano, a correre, come sempre, ad arrabbiarmi con le persone intorno a me, che camminano anzichè correre come faccio io.
Ma ovunque vado è sempre più probabile per me incontrare persone che conosco e che si ricordano di me.
E così, dopo aver rubato un sorriso, un panino ed un bichiere d’acqua…
- grazie mille, scusa ma sono di corsa
- come sempre eh? beh è bello ritrovarsi a Milano, quando ripassi chiamami quando vuoi

E ricomincia la giostra, ma con la voglia di andare avanti.
Due metrò, due autobus, un tram.
Una corsa, e la mia corsa mi porta a teatro, proprio quando si apre il sipario.
Rischio di svenire perchè il mio corpo ha bisogno di tanto ossigeno e non posso respirare forte, perchè c’è troppo silenzio.

Metto al collo la mia macchina fotografica, e mi sento subito più leggero.

Tutto si ferma, rallenta… mi rilasso.
Tutto ciò che c’era intorno a me sparisce, e vedo solo il palco.
So cosa devo fare, e so che lo so fare bene.

Resto nascosto ed in attesa come un serpente pronto a catturare la sua preda, minuti interminabili con l’occhio puntato nell’obiettivo.
Sempre pronto a catturare l’inaspettato, perchè è la cosa più bella, ma consapevole che le foto più belle sono quelle che non ho registrato in nessun posto se non nella mia mente, perchè non le ho scattate.

Quando finisco non saluto nessuno, un altro bus, un tram, due metro, un treno, e sono a Venezia.
A casa, dopo una settimana e 1500 kilometri.

Per la strada conosco una cinese già conosciuta a Parigi, ed a Milano una ragazza già conosciuta a Venezia.
A volte la fantasia gioca strani scherzi.

Mi distendo sul letto, e ci resto per le 14 ore successive.