JediDefender.com Forums
Community => Watto's Junk Yard => Topic started by: Rob on March 17, 2006, 10:49 AM
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I'm headed to New Zealand, and I need a new digital camera before I go. I've been looking to buy a semi-professional DSLR for several months and this has sort of kicked me into action...
So I'm most likely buying a Digital Rebel XT tomorrow. I'm very excited about it. I've reasearched the camera pretty extensively and almost everything I've read has been practically glowing, but I was looking for opinions from people who own one.
Does anyone here have one? If so, do you have any problems with it? Anyone have a different brand that they feel very strongly about?
Thanks in advance.
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Not many photography enthusiasts around here I see?
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Rob,
The "Good" camera of ours is a Canon Digital Rebel. It is about 2 years old, and it is currently in St. Louis so I can't tell you the model.
It was WORTH it. We had a digital Elf prior to that and it took way too long to process the image, so by the time our daughter was done being CUTE the camera was finally ready to take the pic.
We got the digital rebel because of the fast processing and awesome photos it makes (with the right person behind the shutter).
It has a semi-auto focus and the telephoto lense is fairly powerful, but very clear.
We put a 1GB card in it for the January Disney Trip and were able to make it 2 days before we had to unload the images. The battery lasts pretty good too.
Call me if you want more details.
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I read a lot of positives on the XT and was going back and forth on it or sticking with the Sony 828. Its an excellent prosumer for sure. I'd buy it.
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I'd love to upgrade to a camera like the Digital Rebel. I've got Canon's S1 IS which has treated me fairly well, but without a macro feature on it, it's pretty useless when it comes to action figure closeups.
Unfortunately, I'm just not ready to commit the money to a camera like that yet. DPReview.com (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos350d/) seems to have a lot of good things to say about it, if that helps.
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Okay, so I pulled the trigger on this one today... here's my new question.
The girl told me that this SanDisk "ultra II" Compact Flash card was better than the regular old Compact Flash card. She implied that it was special for DSLR's and that it was the only way to go. It's about $30.00 more for this one gig card than the other one gig card. I bought it with the intention that I'd research it before I opened it.
So does anyone know if there's 'really' a difference - my impression is that it reads and writes faster than the regular type - but if there isn't realy a difference I could get two gigs for a little more than I paid for one.
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Screw that, unless you're shooting in raw mode it's a waste.
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I might be shooting in RAW mode in the future - what would be beneficial about the fancier compact flash in that situation?
I'm now considering keeping the better card, today's ad has them for $30.00 less with instant and mail-in rebates. Infact, I'm thinking about grabbing one more of them because if I shoot exclusively at 8 megapixels I can only put about 250 on a 1 Gig Card.
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I found that an enormous amount of patience was required with RAW mode because of the file sizes. I don't think a faster flash card is going to overcome the huge files either writing to the card in the camera or reading from the card on the PC. At least it wouldn't make the task go from laborious to breezy, I'd think.
I guess if cost has been levelled by sales now it's all moot anyway.
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Cool. I ended up doing it this way.
1 Digital Rebel XT
1 One Gig Compact Flash Ultra II card
1 Compact Flash reader
1 Extra Digital Rebel XT Battery
1 Four year service plan.
I normally don't buy the service plans, but on something like this I figured I'd better...
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1 Four year service plan.
I normally don't buy the service plans, but on something like this I figured I'd better...
This may seem like a stupid question, but does the plan only cover repairs? I'm actually concerned about theft, because your going to be in another country and tourists are an easy target for taking such things.
It would be nice to have a way to replace it if it's stolen, without having to spring for a new one.
Kevin
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The plan is only for if it breaks or parts go bad or anything occurs do to normal wear and tear. I'm going to call State Farm today, but I'm 95% sure that if it's stolen or I lose it I can get it replaced through my regular insurance, minus the deducatble. The irony of course is that if I drop it and break it, State Farm won't replace it - but if I drop it off the side of a mountain and can't find it at the bottom, they'll replace it as lost.
As for being in another country and crime - it's always possible, but New Zealand isn't the den of crime that some of the bigger cities that I've been through in Europe are. I'm pretty good about keeping my bag wrapped around an arm or a leg at all times and such. In the end, I'm a pretty experienecd traveller and always do my best to not look like a tourist... I'm 10 times more worried that I'll drop it than I am about theft.
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Sorry I didn't see this topic sooner, but I went through the same exercise last fall before my wedding. I bought the Rebel XT after comparing all the various alternatives.
Ultra IIs have a faster write speed, which makes them worth the extra cash (Your shot to shot time goes down the faster your card is). I bought a 1 and a 2GB Sandisk Ultra II.
However...the most important part of your purchase (and the part you've failed to mention) is your lens.
Rebel XT is a great camera, but like any camera....it's only as good as the lens you've got on it. So....what did you get?
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Josh, did you ever resolve the dust issues you were concerned about and if so, how?
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Rebel XT is a great camera, but like any camera....it's only as good as the lens you've got on it. So....what did you get?
For now I've got the 18-55 Canon lens that came with the kit. While it's not top-of-the-line it's not horrible either. I've also got a slightly nicer one (27-80 or something like that...) that we got when we bought our Elan 7e a few years ago. It may or may not be L-series, I've got to get it out and check.
Given the already large cost of what I've bought this week, I decided that a better lens would have to wait until later in the year. I'd like to get something around 200mm (or 300mm if I'm feeling crazy) and I'd like to get a nice wide-angle lens. I'd probably be looking into L-series lenses when that day comes (I'm a Canon whore).
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Josh, did you ever resolve the dust issues you were concerned about and if so, how?
Can you remind me which issues they were?
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Basic digital camera issue with a D-SLR - dust accumulating on the lense/mirror inside the camera. I think one company, Pentax perhaps, had included a vibration system to clear the dust. That's about all there was to it.
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Ahhhh. You know, I think I read about that and how I got over my fear was by going down to the local Kits cameras. I don't purchase equipment there, but they do know a lot about cameras, so I try to buy my accessories, film and prints from them.
They said that if the CCD gets dusty (which could happen if you change lenses in a dirty enviornment, or don't keep your lenses protected)...they do have ways to clean it, and it is expensive.
I pretty much leave my lens on there all the time now anyway. I bought the Canon 17-85 Image Stabilzer lens, which does pretty much all the types of shots I want to do. I barely use my long lens anymore, and I'm going to sell the short one I had.
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Yeah, that was it, the CCD getting dusty. A universally suitable lens would eliminate the problem. It remains a concern for me because I often need to switch to a pure macro lens for work, but can use something more flexible most of the time. And I'm almost always in a dusty environment to change the lens, so it is an issue still for me.
But you did answer the question, thanks.
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Rob,
Hello, I just saw this thread - thus the delay.
I purchased my Canon Digital Rebel XT (black) almost a year ago and based on my experience you have made a good call on your choice on a camera body. I too have the Ultra II flash card - primarily for rapid shots similar to what Josh detailed in his post.
Here are some excellent reference sites for you to spend hours away from JediFefender (joke).
350D Camera Forum (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1031)
350D Lens Forum (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1029)
Online photography guide (http://www.photo.net/learn/)
Also, here is a slideshow of some of the shots (http://community.webshots.com/slideshow?ID=478671456&key=gBwmtW) that I took with the 350D.
After much research, I chose the Sigma 70-300 APO DG as a supplemental lens to the 18-55 kit lens. Performance and price point were factors in my decision and for $175-$200 you can't beat this lens. Try sigma4less.com.
DBK
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After much research, I chose the Sigma 70-300
I've got a Tamron 70-300 that I don't use very often, but it is about as close as I get to telephoto.
Also, here is a slideshow of some of the shots that I took with the 350D.
Your monkey pictures are excellent. ;D
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Thanks for the compliment Josh. The 17-85 IS is highly touted and was a lens I was seriously considering. Too pricey for me at the time and I really wanted the extra length.
All my shots accept the first two were using that telephoto. Earth Wind and Fire was at night about 75-100 yards away.
Too ad to what Brent mentioned about dust. I did get dust in my camera and freaked out and tried cleaning the inside with a tissue :o. It made an absolute mess inside - tissue particles stuck to the square foam area by the mirror.
Canon was very good about it and I sent the camera in and had it back in a week cleaned (CMOS) as well.
DBK
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Thanks for the tips DBK, I'll start there later in the year when I start shopping lenses.
Josh, have you ever had any problems with your Tamron lens? The (film) Rebel that I used through college had a Tamron 28:80 on it and it was decent, but never spectacular, and then one day stopped working.
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Canon was very good about it and I sent the camera in and had it back in a week cleaned (CMOS) as well.
DBK
How much was it to do the cleaning?
Josh, have you ever had any problems with your Tamron lens
Twice, it wasn't recognized by my XT and I have to reboot, but other than that...no, it works great. I primarily used it on my Elan IIE film camera, and don't use it much with the XT anyway.
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JoshEEE,
FREE!!!
They even replaced that foam square by the mirror, as my local photo store had to special order it and they were going to charge me to clean everything out.
I wrote a professional letter and I just paid for shipping to the CA repair center - Canon covered the costs to ship the camera back to me.
DBK
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I just thought I'd share this with the group... Canon has some rebate offers going on now through sometime in July.
Here's the PDF...
http://consumer.usa.canon.com/app/pdf/Promotions/CIWC_040106_ClaimForm.pdf
I'm going into Best Buy today with my receipt to ask them to return the items on it and let me repurchase them so I'll be within the valid dates - the Rebel XT is getting back $100.00