Brian

Well, this is a new thread. So I didn't realize that it was $3200. To me, that's still really high for what it is. $2432 (or around the $2500 mark) seems to be the new normal. Welcome to 2020. As far as the specs, it's fine. If you can afford it, buy it.

What video card? $2660?!!?! Holy Shit! COVID has really screwed with pricing. I wouldn't expect prices to drop that much. Companies are trying to recoup major losses to keep stock-holders happy. Now is not the time to be buying a computer, but high-prices are probably here to stay, unfortunately. People bitch that Macs are so expensive!

Well, taking still photos of acrylic paintings won't cost you much in terms of camera, you can do it even with a used body. The more important factor with product photography is actually a lighting system and background / backdrop that works for you. Now of course, good glass is still good glass, but you shouldn't have to fork out major $$$$ to get the results that you are looking for. I'm assuming something better than what a iPhone could take. The tricky part is video. That complicates things. Not only for stills, but for whatever video that you are trying to accomplish. Need more info on this. Plus, don't forget, editing video can be taxing on a computer when you edit, so we will need to keep things in perspective. Also, before I start rambling on, what kind of budget are we working with?

Oh, before I forget, this is what a Macro can do during a wedding: Susan Stripling Ring Shots Lots of those shots are at f/11 using a Macro lens. ISO probably starting around 4000 or so. SS is high enough to prevent shake, I'd start at 1/250th.

You were smart by getting a second 6D. Just remember to sync the Date and Time between ALL your bodies. This makes culling a bit easier. Plus, all of your extra batteries and stuff can be used in the rented body, so that's peace of mind. But I'm repeating myself. Sorry. I've been in all sorts of areas as a computer tech for my day job. I have shot Weddings in the same places you have. I get it. Well, never a school gym, (I have, for an event...not a wedding,) but have in a VFW hall with a drop ceiling with a leaky roof and wood paneling. Complete with accordion walls, which suck up light like nobody's business, bowling trophies in a glass cabinet built into the wall from the tournament in 1962, and huge orange water stains in the drop ceiling tiles due to said leaky roof. In reality, those places are tougher to shoot in, but on the flip side, fancy venues aren't always easy either. Bigger budgets sometimes mean bigger headaches, and dealing with bigger egos. For your situation, I'd still say a 5D MK3 or Mark IV is still in your future. I don't think you can buy a 5D MK3 new anymore, at least online from my small searches, but you could get lucky. In your case, I'd still opt for a 5D Mark 3 and a Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT Flash. That should cost the same as a single 5D Mark IV. Now while it pains me to recommend a $500 flash, having upgraded to a SB-910 and later a SB-5000 (the Nikon equivalent,) I can say yes, there is a difference between them and the models below them. For me, the Jury's still out for something like a Profoto A1/A1X flash and I'm not in the mood to spend $1100 either. Let me know how your wedding goes. Since the world has gone insane these days, and I have a Wedding to shoot at the end of the month, I'd like to hear about your experience. Especially with possibly wearing a mask due to COVID fears.

Daniel: "Yeah, but you knew karate..." Mr. Miyagi: "Someone always know more." -- The Karate Kid (1984) I also started back in the film days and developing B&W Film. Nothing like D-76 Developer to wake your ass up in the morning. Better than Coffee. LOL! Hell, I've been shooting with a SLR / DSLR since the Spring of 1986 and I'm still learning after all this time!! Cool beans!! You are right, that was easy! Phew!! If the Wedding is this Saturday, you have run out of time for rentals. Well, maybe if you paid extra for a rush delivery. That said, jumping into a 5D Mark 3 or Mark 4 cold during something like a wedding is going to be tough and I wouldn't recommend it. Just getting multiple bodies synced up together (including the date / time!!!! DO NOT FORGET THIS!!) Maybe you can borrow someone's 6D for a backup. Image-quality you should be fine and you will be used to the focusing system. The 5D3 and 5D4 are a big upgrade in terms of the focusing system and it will probably take a least a full weekend if not a month for the camera to feel like "Home." Yeah, that's the mistake people make with a Macro lens. Even though it could be used as a Portrait Lens, it has two drawbacks. One, the lens will automatically stop down when you get closer to your subject, so f/2.8 isn't always an option if you want Bokeh and stand too close. Granted, the lens is supposed to do this because you will find that it's easiest to learn using f/8 and the magic usually happens between f/11 - f/16, depending on what you are shooting. Two, it's a Macro Lens. It's meant for manual focusing so the Auto Focus will be slower than say a 24-70 lens. Again, it's supposed to be that way. Also, Macro lenses are extremely sharp by design, which doesn't always flatter a person's skin/face; in fact, a Portrait taken with a Macro lens might be "Too Sharp" or "Sterile" looking. Of course, if that's the look you want, say a cliche B&W photo of a really old guy with crazy hair and deep wrinkles and you want to really enhance those things, then a Macro will probably do the best job. Unfortunately, I think Canon stopped making the Canon - EF 100mm f/2 USM, portrait lens or at the very least, B&H stopped carrying it. Which is too bad, since I recommend that lens over the Canon 85mm 1.8, which is notorious for creating Purple Chromatic Aberration. Large scale or small scale, don't kid yourself...this shit adds up quickly. A camera body here, a flash there, more memory cards here, a new camera bag to hold everything.... Umm...Yeah. I've spent LOTS of money on this shit. *Sigh* Even though you have a 45 year old 70-210 lens that works well, it may not perform that well on a new body like a 5DMK4. So keep it in the back of your mind that a 70-200 f/2.8L IS Version III Lens could be in your immediate future. As sensors get upgraded with more megapixels, the older lenses just don't hold up in the Image Quality Dept. Of course, I hope I'm wrong, but the good news is that lens is on sale for $1800. Yes, keep the 6D as a Backup to the 5DMK3 or 5DMK4. That's what I would do. My D700 is my backup that sits in my bag.

Now that I've recommended a Canon 5D Mark IV, keep in mind you will have to budget for accessories, such as larger cards and batteries too. I do not recommend using a SD card and a CF Card with a Canon 5D Mark III at the same time. It slows writing to the CF card to a crawl. I'm not sure if they have fixed this with the Mark IV, but I'm thinking this rule still applies. The reason is, Canon likes to cut corners to save money. For them to use a certain technology, they have to pay royalties, and the standard SD slot probably doesn't have any and is public domain. The downside is if you use the SD card and CF card together in a 5D Mark III, the CF writing speed cuts down to the slower SD Card's writing speed. So if you are ever in a high-paced situation, please only use a CF card in a Canon 5D Mark III.

Shoot professionally in my book means you are above the skills of a amateur, or enthusiast, charge people money for your services, and produce consistent work over and over again. While ANYONE can produce a photo worthy of a cover of a magazine, or whatever...it's the Professional that can do it again and again. It's the Professional who can shoot in any lighting situation and deliver the final product to the client. No excuses. No "I specialize in 'Natural Light..." Bullshit. That just means you are terrified of learning how to use a flash and what correct modifier to use. Anyway, this will get me ranting and way off topic. Bottom Line, you are shooting Professionally since you are charging people money for your services. At the very minimum, that's what I would call a Professional. Anyway... Is this the version I or version II of this lens? How is your copy? Are you one of the few lucky ones that has a sharp version? Because if you do, great. The rest of the folks who used to own this lens can't trust it during a gig like a Wedding. So if you think it's off by a little bit, it's not you...it's the stupid lens. In fact, I know of a Photography Store in North New Jersey who would make their customers take home the lens for a weekend before buying. Why? 4 out of 5 lenses were complete crap and they got tired of refunds. The newer version, the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L VERSION II Lens fixed all the issues and is a find piece of glass. I just mention this because if you do buy used, don't every buy a used Version I of the Canon 24-70. There is probably a good reason that someone dumped that stupid lens. I'm a bit more than mildly nervous for you. LOL!! The problems is the 30D is a crop body, and there are limits to what you do, especially during a Wedding Reception, you just can't get wide enough. Trust me, I've been in this situation. Fortunately, you have a 6D. But your backup will be used by your daughter, not the best thing to have, especially if you are trying to have a consistent look to the photographs. It's always better to have the same sensor side with both a Primary and Secondary shooter. Keeps things consistent, which makes Post easier. Is this the Macro Lens? Or the Portrait lens? If Macro, Ring Shots and other special details. You will be at f/11 A LOT with the ring shots shooting a Macro Lens. So you will either need a High ISO camera or have a flash handy. Susan Stripling is well known for her Macro Ring Shots and she is always at f/11 or so with a ISO of 4000-6400. This is a drawback to your 5D Mark I, you can't go that high...but technology has greatly improved in 15 years. Portrait Lens version, it's the next step up from the 85mm focal length. Mostly portraits. Head and Shoulders shots, product photography, etc. Senior Portraits would also work. 85mm 1.4 or 1.2 will give you a "Dreamy 3/4 Bride Shot" while 100 or 105mm should give you a nicely compressed portrait that is sharp. Groom and Best Man standing together...100mm will work really well. OK. Here is my recommendation for your situation. You seem to be the type of person who uses their gear until it dies. So you will have more of a up-front cost than others who replace their bodies every 2-3 years. Since Weddings are in the mix, you are looking at a Canon 5D Mark IV body. At the very least, a used Canon Mark III body that's rated "EX" (or higher) shape. This is why I'm recommending a 5D Mark IV or Mark III. The Canon 6D, like the Nikon D600/D610 is known as a "Bridge" Camera. It's meant to give you a taste of the features of a higher-end body, while still being affordable to the masses. Unfortunately, your other body was a 5D Mark I, so the 6D seems like a huge upgrade to you. Just wait until you hold a 5D Mark IV or Mark III, there IS a difference. Trust me, my wallet has screamed in pain since I also shoot Weddings. I switched over to a Nikon D4s (from a D700) a few years ago and picking up any other body now feels like I'm holding a toy. Granted, my D850 isn't bad, but there is just something about my D4s, it's like a fighter jet. It just wants to shoot.

The Canon 5D Mark I or the "original" 5D was released in 2005. So yeah, I'm sure something internally has failed on the camera's motherboard; specifically, something is wrong with the power supply rails on the motherboard. It could be a bad chip or bad capacitor. Hard to say and Canon will need to take a look at it. Even if you purchased it in say, 2007, it could have sat in a warehouse for a few years or so. It's now 2020 and I'd say your 5D has had a very good run...and we are talking 15 years technology-wise! Even if it was a 5D Mark II, which was released in 2008, it's still a bit long in the tooth by today's standards. The bottom line is, it's not worth fixing and nothing lasts forever. So now we have established it's time for a new body and since you currently have two Canon bodies, that gives me an idea of what you should shop for. The two things I need to know is: Budget Lenses that you currently own. Also, are you shooting professionally or not? What do you shoot typically? What kind of light are you typically shooting in / times of day?

Remember, 24GB is the most that "Gamers" need when it comes to RAM. There really isn't a huge difference between 16GB and 24GB when it comes to video games and performance. That's why it's not 32GB. Of course, this could change next month. If you do get that laptop that I recommended, I would just go ahead and get 24GB. In reality, there isn't too much of a difference between 24GB and 32GB...except if you really bump up in MP on your camera. 16MP or less, 24GB is fine. 20MP Cameras should also be fine with 24GB-32GB. It's when you get to 45MP or above should you really be thinking around 64GB (or more.)

Who knows? I'm sure there will be another model to replace this model in a few months. That's the nature of laptops. You really can't "Future Proof" a laptop. Other than spending $1000 more than what you are comfortable with. Which is insane. That being said, the biggest obstacle when it comes to a laptop longetivity isn't the lack of HD or RAM or CPU power...it's the stupid batteries. Lithium-Ion batteries only last a certain amount of time and then die. Just like your Smart Phone only seems to last about two years or so, laptops also follow this pattern. Yes, even if you leave them plugged in all the time. The reason is due to the amount of charging cycles the batteries are rated for. Each time you plug in a device, whether it's for 5 min or 5 hours, that's "1 charging cycle." So if the battery is rated for 500 charging cycles, and hits around that number, battery performance starts to wain. That's why your phone battery lasts all day when you first get it, and a year later the maximum battery capacity is 80%, even though your phone says "100%." How laptops work is that it's always feeding off the battery, the AC power is just recharging the power being used. So unless you physically remove the battery from the laptop, there will always be wear-and-tear on the battery, it's just from normal use. Now I'm sure you are thinking, "...but I can just remove the battery! Problem solved!" Well, yes and no. Most new laptops today are practically sealed units. You can't remove the battery nor can you replace it. Why? It gets you back into the market sooner rather than later. Manufacturers don't make money if you keep your laptop for 8 years. They want you buying a new one every 18-24 months. Here is the dirty secret with High Megapixel cameras...you just don't have to worry about the laptop/computer, but the whole ecosystem. Memory Cards, Larger Hard Drives, Faster Computers, Better Lensex...my D850 cost me so much money!! Like spending $7000+ just to support it. I had to buy two new lenses, larger XQD cards, a 12TB HD and replace my iMac. Then I found out that 32GB wasn't "enough." I had to max it out to 64GB!! In reality, I probably shouldn't have bought the D850, but I was looking for a smaller camera than my D4s. Looking back, I should have picked up a Nikon Z6 and 24-70 f/2.8 S lens. Oh well.

COVID19 has screwed EVERYTHING UP, since everything comes from China. Not just the brands, but the individual components themselves that make up everything. When it come to laptops, i really like the Asus Republic of Gamers Line. In fact, Damien owns one of these laptops, and if I were to buy one today, this is what I would buy. (It's a new release, and isn't available yet, but I would look for that model on your side of the world.)

Yeah, it's much better to get a computer that comes with Windows 10 rather than trying to upgrade an older computer. If it runs Vista / Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10 will install. That said, things like drivers that are specific to your computer, like video card drivers and such, may not be available. In which case your life will become a bit difficult when it comes to dealing with your older computer. Windows 10 is so much better than Windows 8/8.1. It's what Windows 8 should have been.

By the way... Whatever you do, if you plan on staying with CS5, DO NOT UPGRADE TO CATALINA!! I don't care how much your Mac bugs you about it. CS5, CS6 and all the way up to PS CC 2017 are not Catalina compatible. At all. There are no work-arounds, no check-boxes or lists, Mac OS Catalina and the yet-to-be-released-MacOS-this-fall...called Big Sur, will ONLY work with Photoshop CC 2019 & PS CC 2020, and I'm not 100% sure about PS CC 2019 with the new OS at this point either. In reality going forward, if you purchase a new Mac in the near-future, you WILL have to upgrade to PS CC 2020. No ifs-ands-or-buts about it. Combine this with the new Processor with new Macs called ARM, I'm pretty sure CS5 won't even attempt to install. Intel CPU chips and Macs will be a thing of the past.

Yes, I do! For those who can't afford a fancy G-Drive, these WD Black Gaming Drives are very good as well. All you have to do is just reformat it to work on your Mac and that is built into the MacOS. I can help you out with that, it takes like 5 min to do. Just remember, when it comes to Backblaze, unless you have the really expensive plan, if you delete a file off the HD that is synced with BackBlaze, within 30 days that file will also be deleted from the Cloud Storage. So don't think for a moment that you can delete things off your HD and have them stored on BackBlaze's Cloud Storage. It will, but for only 30 days after the file was deleted locally.

Try the instructions found on this Web page. The CS5 crashing with Mojave is a common problem. https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/open-apps-mojave-photoshop-3684425/ Whatever you do, don’t uninstall / re-install it. Adobe will say it’s no longer supported and you will be forced to upgrade to PS CC.

The other thing that I see that is alarming is your external hard drive. The MacOS treats all hard drives the same. You NEVER want to go above 75% Full on any drive when it comes to a Mac, internal or external. You are really in the red zone with that drive. Time to cull and delete stuff or buy another external drive and move stuff to it.

I run CleanMyMac weekly and have been for the last 10 years. I don’t care what Apple says, it’s fine. Especially if you leave it at the default settings. macpaw.com.

Phew!! Windows 8.1...have you thought about upgrading to Windows 10? Windows 8/8.1 is such a PITA to work with.

Yeah, that number really sucks. Even though it's IPS, it's not a high-quality IPS screen. You really want to be at 90% or higher. Well, Damien has worked on screens that were 70% and from what I remember he said, something like, "...as long as you don't really need your colors to be accurate, say you do Macro Flower Photography, and just edit globally, you could get away with it. As long as you take things with a grain of salt." (or something along those lines.) Of course, from my POV, I want at the very least 85% but you really-really-really want 90% or better. Yep. When it comes to Adobe's current products, if you want the best experience, you need dedicated graphics memory Not really. I do not like that 256GB main boot drive. At all. Way too small and you'll be in here within the next 6 months wondering why your PS is complaining about the scratch disk and why is your brand new laptop so slow. Bottom Line: At least 500GB, preferably 1TB for the main boot drive. In reality, all three that you linked to, I'd pass on for Photoshop work. They are so close, but just miss the mark, and for the money you have to fork out in OZ, it's just not worth it. God...I hate laptops. The good news is, if you wait 3 weeks, there should be another round of models to choose from. OK, I'm exaggerating...4 weeks. PS: Kudos to you for checking the fine print!! You just saved yourself a ton of money and hassle.

Yeah, the 32GB kit will give you 40GB, which is fine for most. I just have my iMac maxed out to 64GB because I shoot with a Nikon D850. Those 100MB Raw files really make my computer work bit harder. When I shoot with my other cameras, 40GB was more than enough. Hopefully stuff will get in stock. COVID19 has really screwed up the supply chain since everything is made in China.

I will warn you, once you start shooting with Pro-Grade L glass, it will be hard to purchase 3rd party lenses. I’m not a fan of Tamron Lenses or even Sigma really. But that’s a whole other topic. For your case, I’d say the Canon 24-105 f/4 L II Lens will be a good fit. I’ve seen whole Creative Live Classes on product/food photography shot with a Canon 24-105 L. Let me know what you think of your new lens. Edit: Yes, lighting will be very important and there is a BIG difference between a $2000 Prophoto Light and a $200 AlienBee. Give it a go with your speed light and 24-105 and let me know of the results. I have a sneaky suspicion that the lens will be the CHEAPEST part of this whole situation.

Yeah, just buy the 14-24. If that’s the look you are after, the 14-24 will be your next purchase. Remember, the D3 is from 2007...the D500 has the same focusing system as the D5, Big difference. In fact, if you ever shot with a D5 or even D4s, your D4 would drop out of favor. Have fun with your new 14-24.

So what focal range are you mostly at?

Oh, if you are looking for Dog Photos taken with the 14-24, just do a simple Google Image Search. You will see what I'm talking about with big noses and the distortion.