Whee! (Canon EOS 20D)
Tired: Nikon 5005 · Wired: Canon EOS 20D
(Click for more… And please forgive me…)
Actually, that’s not completely accurate. The Nikon 5005 would simply be outmoded, although I will definitely be hanging on to it. I’m supposed to be getting some film processing equipment soon, so I may use it to play with B&W, even though the lens is kinda crap.
But, yeah. It finally got here… Yay! Now to get a better understanding of it. Last night when I took the photos which were mentioned in the post titled New Camera I made a number of mistakes, least of which was specifying the image’s size as 640×480 instead of the actual 640×427. Whoops… I also left the ISO waaaaaay too high (1600) which with the low light in the kitchen all conspires for a nicely (and unnecessarily) noisy image. I may try to re-shoot it again tonight. If anything, I could use the practice. I must say, the 5Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro lens seems really nice thus far. My only complaint about it is my not realizing how narrow (comparitively) a 50mm macro lens is, and it made taking this photo of the Bell’s Wheat Two, Sparkling Ale, and Wheat Six a bit tight. It seems like it’ll be *great* for real macro work, though. And I can always use the 17-85 for these kinds of photos.
I only briefly played with the Canon EF-S 17-85MM f4-5.6 IS USM zoom lens last night, but it too seems pretty great.
Oh, one other thing… I have to strongly recommend picking up a remote shutter release. I’ve wanted one for a few years, but they were prohibitively expensive for lots of Nikon gear. It seems that on the EOS series of cameras Canon just uses a simple three pin interface. One is ground, the other is a half-press of the shutter, and the other is a full press. If one could get the connector themselves it would be trivial to make a shutter release, but I instead grabbed an ADIDT M1 off of eBay. It was only for US$14.25 shipped (as opposed to ~US$50 for the Canon RS-80N3). The cable doesn’t lock into the connector the way the Canon one does, and it does feel a bit cheap, but it also works.
Oh, one last thing? B&H seems to be a pretty good place to order camera stuff from. The order went smoothly, I had no problem changing the order when I needed to, and everything shipped promptly. My only complaint was that everything shipped in a giant box which barely fit in my car. It was packed quite well, though.
There was also an interesting bit of fraud check which B&H pulled when I called to change my order. I was transfered to someone who’s job it was to “confirm my order” who went over everything with me, then asked me some questions about data available in various public resources to see if I was who I said I was, if the phone number on my order matched the one on ‘record’, etc. It was interesting, and clearly understandable seeing that cameras are one of the items most commonly ordered with stolen credit cards.
Anyway, yeah. Can you tell I’m bored here today? I’m the only person at work from my group, and the only person within 100′ of my current location. That should make taking a decent lunch all right, though. I think I’ll run over to Camera Mart Inc. and look into picking up a grey card so that I can get the white balance dead on when I’m in someplace weird. I want one of Digital Gray Cards because they are plastic and the whole slab of plastic is appropriately colored, but I don’t have time to wait for it right now.
Yep, I’ll stop babbling about cameras now.
if you go pan on the Nikon, i recommend going with very very fast film, 1600, 3200 ISO… Something that will show lots of grain. And have your prints done with a white border. It makes the photos look really unique.
Either that, or IR film… That’s always fun. :D
And I’ve seen B&H around for years. I’m sure they wouldn’t still be around if they screwed people. So… good on ya! :D
Ooh, yeah… That’s a good idea. I always wanted to play with IR. I figure I can just shoot whatever, develop it in my laundry room, then scan the negatives. Also, I’m kinda lucky, but the way my laundry room is designed, it will completely black out as soon as I put a thin light barrier along the bottom of the door. :)
Yeah, B&H? Good results from the people there. They were slightly higher than buydig.com who is supposedly also good, but I got everything I asked for when I expected it. < shrug >
Also, even though I’m returning the camera to them, Adorama delivered everything on time. Their customer service is a bit less, but I’d still shop there.
I forgot to mention that when I pulled out the 5005 I found a roll of film in there. No idea what it is, but it’s just C-41, so I’ll probably drop it off at Costco this weekend for processing / scanning to PhotoCD. I’m hoping it is more lingering Alaska photos from 1996, but we’ll see… It may be circa 1997 or 1998.
if you need darkroom equipment, i’ve got a bunch.. two timers, four 8×10 darkroom lights, various filters for them for different photo stocks, etc.
I’m just gonna ebay it all probably, but friends get first dibs. ;)
Thanks. :) I’m not sure exactly what I’m getting, but I do know that it is at least an enlarger, tanks (with motorized thing for it), and a timer.
I like B&H. Their actual store in NYC is sure something.
What kind of printer did you get? I was looking at a dye-sub one recently.
It’s a Canon PiXMA iP6600D, but I got it only to increase the rebate amount. I’m willing to sell it for a reasonable price if you are interested. It’s brand new, and I have no plans to do anything but remove the UPC symbol.
The Canon 20D is nice. I had been looking through reviews and that and the Nikon 70D seem to win out for that price range, Both are about 80% the same as far as what you’ll get and both are a great bang for the buck. What the other 20% boils down to is if you already have existing lenses, how you’ll be using it (The canon is much better with low light and “action” shots), and the canon has a heavier feel which some people like to the light, plastic feel of the Nikon. I think I am personally going with the Nikon but either way, they are awesome cams. Have fun with it :)