Posts tagged with Equipment
21 February 2006 - The Canon 30D is finally hereThis is a bit of a let down to be honest. The new 30D looks nothing like the leaked photo I found a while back. There are a couple of new features, most notably the bigger LCD screen, spot metering and a much bigger buffer but I don’t see any point in upgrading from my 20D. I was looking forward to seeing the ADAMS MODE button but alas, it’s probably not going to see the light of day for some time yet.
The really good news is that it’s the same price as the 20D which should force the price of existing 20D bodies down. Look for discounts at your favourite online retailer. If you see it at a bargain price, buy it! (via and every other photography news site)
On a related note, I weighed my Canon 20D and Sigma 18-200 lens. It’s a monster 1.25kg (or almost 3lbs)! No wonder I hurt my back last year. Carrying that amount of weight around one’s neck is a sure fire way of getting to know your physiotherapist better!
Welcome members of Dropzone.com! I hope you’ll look around and enjoy the photos!
19 January 2006 - Leaked Canon 30D PhotoWow! I thought the 20D would do me for a couple of years, but after seeing this photo of the upcoming Canon 30D I want one! Looks like it’ll do everything but make the coffee for you! (via)
Later… Looks like the real Canon 30D is out. I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to buy it as it appears to be only a minor upgrade. More here!
13 October 2005 - Why DSLRs trump DigicamsOr to put it more clearly, why entry level digital SLRs are better than their similarly priced competition in the bridge camera range.
As usual, Paul writes very well on a topic that will probably have many people juggling with choices this Christmas: buy a DSLR or an SLR look-a-like digital camera.
I have to say, I think I have the best of both worlds, in my Panasonic FZ5 I have a small camera that fits neatly into one hand, can be sneaked into concerts, is light enough that I can bring it everywhere and is perfect for taking photos for web publication. My Canon 20D is a bigger beast but nonetheless is never at home but rarely goes into a pub or anywhere dangerous! (Well, almost never!)
Go read his article if you’re contemplating a purchase.
11 October 2005 - Canon EOS 20D Lens AdviceDarren lists the lenses he uses on his Canon 20D. I’m very tempted by the 50mm f/1.8 as it has got some great reviews and is relatively cheap. Unfortunately with the 1.6 multiplier of the reduced size sensor in the 20D you’re left with the coverage of an equivalent 80mm lens. Maybe I should lock my lens at 50mm and shoot with that for a day to get the feel for that size.
What lenses do I own? Nothing outstanding, yet. Only consumer grade lenses so far:
- Canon 18-55 kit lens. Perfectly usable, lovely and light.
- Canon 75-300mm IS. Hell of a zoom at a good price. Tends to hunt when zoomed in, but manual focus fixes that.
- Sigma 18-200mm. Great general purpose zoom lens. I miss the image stabilizer of the 75-300mm especially as it’s quite slow at f3.5-f6.3.
* Slow here means that the lens doesn’t let in much light when zoomed fully, which in turn means that you need to take a longer exposure, resulting in shaky photos. The only way to alleviate this is by using a tripod, or increasing the ISO sensitivity of the sensor, but that causes noise.
Here’s a simple rule: always be sure that the exposure time is is 1/zoom seconds.
ie. If you have zoomed to 200mm then your exposure time should be at least 1/200 sec.