New User's Guide to EOS 10D

[bobatkins]

<a href="http://www.photo.net/canon/10D/new_user.html">

http://www.photo.net/canon/10D/new_user.html</a>

[v_s]

Thank you Bob. Realy nice essey.

 

As a P&S user that "upgraded" to 10D I have a few comments :

 

1) Main diference from P&S : by some miracle, Canon PS 100

managed to handle low light situations , shaky hands and moving

subjects much better. Still do not know why: F should be biger,

body is small. Auto Focus is also much "smarter" or dumber.

 

So my first HUGE disapointemnt is : most images simply not in focus ... After some test I understadn that this is MY FAULT.

 

I tried diferent modes, includng "sport" ( that should gain fastest

shater speed I suppose). Still, you'd better hold

camera REALY STILL and make sure you subject is not moving too

fast if there is not enough light ( and even if there are enough

- or shater 1/60 will be too slow or AF will not lock properly

enough).

 

If you are REALy carifull you can get a good images, in focus.

 

My tiny Canon PS 100 ( first model ) manage to get good , RAZOR

sharp focus 90% of the time : I shoot from hand, not looking into

view finder as well : another disapointment in 10D ( they coould

get image and show it on screen, it is technicaly posable !)

 

As a faster camera with faster lens I expected 10D to be

"better". But may be I wask too much :-)

 

So... some "magic" of Digital P&S is gone and 10D is a real life :

if shater is slow and hands are shaky, then forget about focus. Dah..

 

 

 

2) Weight .... yeah..... BTW : Canon S50 seems tobe a "small" brother

to 10D : same DIGIC ship, same "contorl" ring and LCD. Same modes:-)

5Mb. SMALLLLLLL. Well, sensor is not that good probbaly , but still

Samples look cool.

I am realy considering if I should trade 10D for that camera.

 

I came back from half day walk and ... my back is broken by 10D :-)

You also need bag, sticking camera and walet in jeans pocket and go will not work any more :-(

 

 

3) High Profile : Big Camera atract BIG atantion. This is good and This is realy bad if you let say trevel in Madrid ( soooo many geeepsy there,my god !) If you can aford that , what is in your walet ? ;-) - probably bigest MINUS for 10D. Probably some stickers

can help make sure it looks like cheap SLR body :-) Espesily

if cheap lense is used, gee...

 

4) There are some small things :

 

These things are realy small, not importnat at all.

 

as I said , you can not see image on screen before you shoot, SUX.

I belive tehcnicaly it IS posable to do. Very nice if you use

tripod for example.

 

Canon software is SOOOOO slow. My guess that new "ugly" UI is

the price. Older version from PS 100 is much faster. Should "downgraed" I guess or use 3d party utilites ( for RAW still

stuck with Canon).

 

Question to Canon : I am s/w engeneer, why not hire me ? I can

write a better "Broser FX" for you. Will not sux THAAAAT much

( Actulay many people can do that :-) there are tons of much

faster image browsers ( even build in Explorer will out perferm:-)

 

Hint to Canon : just disable this funky XP UI emulation ( I use w2k). It sems that Just redraw of this crap take all my memopry and CPU ( and I use goooood machine). I will not mind if UI will looks standard and borwing, I mind only speed. ( or make it work faster,

if you can)

 

Another "sux" about Browser is ( may be I should RTFM) if you double click on image then selection is stuck and next image will open 2 ( or more)

images. Have to click again or remove selection. Was not this way before. Why was changes ? for what ? Dbl-click should not select !

 

The only fast and not frsutrating way to see images in new Canon sofwtare is ....

to run a Build In Slide show !!!! That the only one I found so far.

 

 

 

What I liked about this camera is

 

1) If image IS in focus , then COLOR is good right out of the card.

Low noise and image look "more alive". It softer and less harsh

then "crisp" over sharende PS100 ( I will post a picture that

comaper).

 

It gets some ..... "artistic" feel. Look more profesionoal. I

do not know.

 

And this "deapth of field" blurs... yeah....

 

Skin looks realy good and smooth.

 

PS 100 "enhance" pimles ( and you HAVE to remove then in Photoshop

or else) but 10D , while not hinding, make them looks like in real

life, less frsutrating :-) ( if you shoot girls it is importnat )

 

of course image is biger and it is better too, espesilay if you crop.

 

 

2) Batary life is good so far.

 

3) Looks impresive. Like a pro ( plus too)

 

4) More options, more butons to press : fun for a male , kids and dogs.

 

:-)

 

My only advice to people like myslef : start form tripod ( no remote triger !!!! SUUUUX ( frogot to mention) and static objects. ;-)

[steve_strawn]

Fantastic, Bob. And you got away without saying RTFM once! You didn't mention what we should do if our wallets are full of $1's and $5's.

 

I've seen the debate raging across the web (particularly dpreview) on this camera, and it's sort of amusing. The thing is very quick and focusses accurately just about every time. I shot a small wedding with it last weekend and of about 500 shots, maybe 5 weren't in tack-sharp focus that couldn't be attributed to user error. There were also a couple metering goofs, but that was because of some arcane reason folks take possibly the most photographed event of their lives and wear colors that camera meters hate (mostly black and white). The next wedding I shoot everyone is wearing 18% grey, no exceptions.

 

The color is better than the D30 or D60, but I'm thinking that folks just don't like accurate color.

 

Unlike my recently sold D30, I never had to wait for the camera to do anything. It was always just ready to shoot. I like it.

[jonathan_macdonald]

Hi guys,

 

I'm thinking of going digital with the 10D...having just read Bob Atkins' user guide, I just discovered that the camera won't work with my flash. What flash would you guys recommend buying? My main use for the camera will be Motorsport Photography...which will probably include some very dark roads where a fast shutter speed and good flash will be needed!

[canon man]

550EX buddy the 550 EX. the 420 EX will work but will not give you any manula controls or override. In order to use meter assisted flash photogrpahy you will have to have ETTL so the cameras meter can measure the light reflected fro mthe subject via the preflash as opposed ATTL and TTL which measure light reflected off the film plane which by some odd quirk of destiny the 10D does not have.

[jonathan_macdonald]

Thanks for the quick response! I currently use a 380EX with my film camera. Am I right in saying that this won't work with the 10D?

[jonathan_macdonald]

I think that was a stupid question...the answer is no!! With regards to lenses, what lens would you recommend? I've been looking around and the Canon 75-300MM F4-5.6 USM lens caught my attention. With taking photographs at Motorsport events I need a good zoom on the camera but my budget is fairly limited! Any recommendations?

[johnlund]

Jonathan - A direct answer to your 380EX question is in Bob's article, linked at the top of this thread. See the paragraph about flash.

[adam_hemphill]

And I always thought PC stood for Protor-Compur. . . Silly me. ; ]

[bobatkins]

Adam, yes, if you mean Pro<b><u>n</u></b>tor-Compur you're possibly right. I've seen them called FC (fall-off connectors) and PC (push-on connectors), presumably because though you push them on, they fall off - but I guess historically Prontor-Compur is more likely to be correct! I'll add a note to the article. Thanks

[adam_hemphill]

Yep, that would be a typo. : ]

[larry_lambert1]

Polarity-Central? Personal-Cuckold? People-Comeup with lots of things?