alan_bryant1

<blockquote> <p>More recently I have noticed that there seem to be a number of point-and-shoot or "bridge" cameras that are claimed to be waterproof to 3 fathoms or some such.<br />Do any of you have experience with these as a much cheaper alternative to regular dSLRs?</p> </blockquote> <p>I've had a Canon PowerShot D10 for 5 or 6 years now. It's shock-resistant and waterproof. I've used it underwater many times, in fresh water and occasionally salt water. I've used it in rain and snow. I've dropped it five feet onto a concrete sidewalk. I haven't managed to damage it yet.</p> <p>The image quality is typical for a P&S, which is pretty good in bright light, not as good in dimmer light. But perfectly fine for many purposes. The current model is the D30, which has several new features, and is waterproof to 82 feet - sufficient for snorkeling and some recreational scuba. At $300 it's much much less expensive than an underwater DSLR.</p> <p>There's also the Nikon 1 AW1, which I haven't used, but it appears to be a good camera and probably has better image quality than the PowerShot D30.</p>

<p>I've used a micro SD card with an adapter in several Canon cameras and I've never had problems.</p>

<p>I believe it's doing "dark frame subtraction"; essentially after a 300 second exposure it's taking another 300 second exposure with the shutter closed, and using that to find the bad pixels to remove them from the image. </p> <p>It's a pretty common surprise for people who take long exposures. Another link,</p> <p>http://www.photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00Ce9S</p> <p>I would just turn off the custom function. Modern software has gotten quite good at noise reduction.</p>

<p>Even Canon's own sample image shows the difference is quite subtle -</p> <p>https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/explore/product-showcases/cameras-and-lenses/high-resolution-eos-5ds-vs-5dsr</p> <p>The 5Ds R gets a tiny bit more detail. It also runs a bit more risk of moire patterns.</p>

<p>To increase the working distance, use a longer lens or a shorter extension tube. A zoom lens can be handy; in effect the zoom ring becomes the focus ring and the focus ring can be used to fine tune the focus.</p> <p>There's probably a way to calculate, at least roughly, the effect of a degree of extension on a particular focal length, but I don't know the formula.</p> <p>Bob Atkins has a website with some tables of working distances; it's mostly older lenses but gives a general idea. </p> <p>http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/closeup.htm</p>

<p>I've used Kenko tubes with a 70-200/2.8 IS, and the IS worked quite well.</p>

<p>I shoot a 5D3 with a CF card and an SD card installed; I send RAW to the CF and JPEG to the SD. It works fine for me but I don't do a lot of fast shooting; normally I keep the camera in quiet mode which limits it to 3 fps.</p> <p>You may find rumors on the internet that using both CF+SD will throttle the speed of the CF card down to the SD card speed. I did tests with a very slow SD card and was unable to replicate the problem. I don't believe it happens.</p> <p>Card speed probably won't make much difference for you unless you shoot sports, or if you're using something like Magic Lantern to shoot RAW video.</p> <p>Shooting RAW+JPEG reduces the buffer size to much smaller than just shooting RAW or just shooting JPEG. This doesn't affect me much so I shoot RAW+JPEG anyway, but it's something to be aware of. On the occasions when I know I'll need a long continuous burst, I switch to RAW-to-CF only, and can get 20+ shots at 6 fps with a fast CF card. I've done that when shooting building implosions.</p>

<p>I rented the Tamron 24-70/2.8 VC for several days, mainly using it for video on a 5D3. It worked very well. Personally my main complaint was the zoom ring on Tamrons turns the opposite direction from the Canon standard, which means every time I started to zoom I began moving the wrong direction. I expect if you shot with one all the time you'd soon get used to that.</p>

<p>When I got my 5D mk III, I quickly discovered two lenses (the 70-200/2.8 IS mk I and Sigma 150/2.8 macro) needed huge compensations. As I recall the 70-200 is about -16 and the Sigma maxed out at -20. Oddly my other lenses were fine. All of them had been used for years on a 5D mk I and they all focused properly on it.</p> <p>I don't really understand how that can happen, but apparently it does. I wouldn't worry about it unless you have other problems.</p>

<p>The old Canon 100-300 f/5.6 L lens is reported to be very sharp and is available for less than $300.</p>

<p>According to Wikipedia, the release dates for the last 4 flagship Canon Speedlights were,</p> <p>550 EX - September 1998<br> 580 EX - Late 2004<br> 580 EX II - Early 2008<br> 600 EX-RT - March 2012</p> <p>With a four-to-five year delay between major announcements, it wouldn't be a surprise if a new Speedlight came out in 2016 or 2017.</p>

<p>Canon hasn't ever put a flash on a full frame digital camera. It's impossible to say if that will change, but personally I don't expect it to. If it does change it will probably be the 6D mark II.</p> <p>There are little flashes (like the Speedlight 90EX) that are reasonably priced and do essentially what a popup flash does.</p> <p>I would expect you'd gain some quality in lower light situations; most people report a stop or so. For example, if you consider the quality you get at ISO 3200 on the 7D, you'd probably get similar results with ISO 6400 on a 5D mk III.</p>

<p>I didn't know there ever was a USM version of the 18-55, but it turns out there were *two*. Here's their entries in the Canon Museum.</p> <p>http://www.canon.com/c-museum/en/product/ef381.html</p> <p>http://www.canon.com/c-museum/en/product/ef385.html</p> <p>The first USM version was introduced in 2004, the second in 2005. Both predate the addition of an image stabilizer to that lens, which occurred in 2007.</p> <p>The website you reference and/or the Canon museum would be best for figuring out exactly which version you have.</p>

<p>I made the same transition a few years ago.</p> <blockquote> <p>ISO change: When I press the ISO button, I like to change my ISO using the Quick Dial control (on back), not Main Dial on top. Any way to switch them?</p> </blockquote> <p>For me this was the most annoying change they made, and the most inexplicable - the three buttons + two dials control exactly the same functions, but they rearranged them. I tried to configure it like the 5DmkI but didn't find a way to. In any case I soon figured out Auto ISO and now use that most of the time. It pretty much automates the constant ISO tweaking I used to do.</p>

<p>Another place where you might want lower ISOs: When you're shooting in daylight, want a narrow depth of field (maybe f/2.8), and are using a fill flash (so shutter can't go lower than 1/250 or so).</p> <p>ISO 100 + f/2.8 + 1/250 is EV 11, which is much dimmer than full daylight. To shoot at, say, EV 15, you'd need to use ISO 6.</p>