Canon D60: rounding out kit thoughts?

<p>Greetings all, been a while since I posted last.... <br>

Recently picked up a mint Canon D60 (yes the early DSLR pre-x0D), with only 1000 actuations on it. <br>

I bought it at a steal of a price ($199) and mated it with the EF lenses I have for my Eos 10s (film) that I got back in 2001. <br>

Looking to make sure I am covered in my kit for any eventuality. <br>

Currently, the lens collection I have includes: <br>

Sigma 28prime. <br>

Canon Mk II 50/1.8. <br>

Canon 35-80<br>

Canon 75-300 III/USM (non-IS)<br>

I also bought the Battery Grip for the D60 ($50). <br>

My Speedlite 540EZ won't work with the D60, so I will be looking for some alternative E-TTL flash. <strong>Suggestions welcome.</strong> <br>

<strong>Tripod</strong>: I think its a Slik. Haven't used it in a while... <br>

<strong>Budget:</strong> SMALL. As you can see I am doing everything on a budget.<br>

Yes I am about 8 years behind the curve. Life gets in the way. I am still learning to do more than Point and Shoot (I do have a Canon A560 for that task). The film way is an expensive way to learn so I went the DSLR route so I can figure out all the bells and whistles and what it takes to get a good picture with this type of camera. I don't want to be an Ansel Adams, just a competent amateur. When I reach that point, I'll invest in a better camera and better glass. Until then... </p>

<p> </p>

<p><strong><em>"Looking to make sure I am covered in my kit for any eventuality:"</em></strong><br /><br />What you do not have is any wide angle for the DSLR. Noting that <strong><em>the D609 is NOT an EF-S mount: </em></strong>you are limited to other brand wide angle. zooms. There are very few (affordable) wide Primes.<br /><br />Neither of your zooms are very fast: so you will not be shooting indoor or nighttime sport either - but if you can get close enough the 50F/1.8 will be useful. If you want longer, the EF135F2/8SF is a smart "sleeper" telephoto lens in the Canon range.</p>

<p>Another way of getting a realtively inexpensive and reasonably fast telephoto is the EF100F/2.8Macro, and it is a macro lens, too.</p>

<p>On the subject of Macro - to do it cheap - get a set of rings for your 50mm.</p>

<p>On the matter of Flash - well you just have to get a newer model: also I an not sure the EZ will NOT work wioth a D60 - I think it should in manual mode - but I haven't checked that and my memory is vague on older Canon Flash compatabilities<br /><br /><br />WW</p>

<p>Rings for the 50mm? Flash rings? Not sure what you mean? </p>

<p>William is talking about the extensiontube.<br>

With an extensiontube on your lens, you can focus closer on your subject than normal.<br>

You can find an explanation here:</p>

<p>http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/closeup2.htm</p>

 

<p>Hello Dan, welcome to the EOS forum.</p>

<p>Any of the Canon (EX models) speedlites should work. Some are not in production, and like the D60, may not be up to snuff, as the newer ones are, but they will still be very functional.</p>

<p>Some older models are, 220ex, 380ex, 420ex, 550ex, 430ex, and the 580ex.</p>

<p>Macro- rings? I think William is referring to screw in magnification filters, ie. 52mm for your 50mm.</p>

<p>If you need wide angle, there are many choices available. A wide angle for crop cameras should be wider than 20mm.</p>

 

<p>Yes, the 540EZ will work fine in manual mode. And before spending big bucks on an E-TTL capable flash check to see how you get along with guide numbers for direct flash (the 540EZ does this well) and chimping for bounce flash. After a very little bit of practice you will find that you can make a rough estimate of the required manual exposure and fine tune it with another shot or two by chimping and looking at the histogram. I use a 540EZ on my 5D as my main portable flash unit. If I'm shooting fill flash outdoors I'll use my Sekonic L-358 flash meter. But otherwise when indoors I generally just take a test shot and fine tune by chimping. It's easy and fast and more accurate than E-TTL (and cheap)!<br>

Chuck Norcutt</p>

 

<p>Consider a standard zoom lens (starting with a focal lenth of 17 or 18 mm). With a D60 you will be limited to EF Canon lenses and third party lenses. Options such as the Tamron 17-50 f2.8, Sigma 18-50 f2.8, and and Sigma 17-70 are very good but not cheap. You may find used third party (Sigma/Tamron) 17-35mm lenses that are reasonably good optically, and since they where designed for full frame cameras, should not be too expenses on the used market. Perhaps if you can pick up a Canon EFS 18-55IS and modify the mount (with a hacksaw, as per instructions which can be found on line), that may work OK for a reasonable price. I have owned a D60 since 2001 and it is capable if taking good images. Hi ISO perfomance, AF speed (not accuracy), and consistant ETTL flash exposure are not it's strong points.</p>

<p>I was meaning Extention Tubes for macro work, thank you Marcel, a common phrase is a "set of rings", as they often come in sets of two, three or four</p>

<p>Thank you, Chuck for confirming manual Flash.</p>

<p>WW </p>

<p>Just bought a Speedlite 380ex to take care of flash duties. </p>