george_gilbert

A recent review on the Canon 300D has a side-by-side comparison chart listing the features of the 300D and the 10D. Just go down the list a check the camera features you need.

 

Go to

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos300d/

Cristy:

 

"Wildlife" is a pretty broad topic. If you're doing songbirds, a 400 mm with a teleconverter will work. I suggest that a good how to nature book such as John Shaw's Nature Photography would give you the best advice. The Shaw book has 24 pages of advice on lenses and teleconverters with pictutes that will illustrate what the different lenses will do.

One of the most scenic spots neaar SF is Point Lobos State Park. It's just south of Carmel. The rocky shoreline is exceedingly picturesque. Plenty of birds and even sea otters. There is a limit on cars which is quickly reached early in the day on week-ends.

I found an "authorized Canon repair shop" that gave a $125 repair fee for the lens. I shipped it to them, and it was returned two weeks later in fine shape. The final bill was $125.

I have both the 28-135 IS and the 28-70 f2.8 L lenses and I don't use them for the same purposes. Last week I was hiking in Canyonlands (8-10 mile day hikes, and the only lens I used was the 28-135 IS lens because weight was a problem (95 degrees and you have to carry all your gear and water). The 20-135 IS lens is versatle (and moderately cheap). Other situations call for the contrast and resolution that the 20-70 L lens offers.

I'm in southyern Utah today. I just left the North Rim of the Grand Canyon this morning, and drove through Zion. I noticed that both campgrounds were full so you might want to try making reservations. Most National Parks have a web site with links to camping and access to a reservation system. There is still some snow (banks) along the north rim that will melt soon. Bryce canyon will be cooler than the other parks you listed.

 

BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management. Just do a google search on Bureau of Land Management.Their camp sites tend to be far from the beaten path and really more usefull for hunters, etc.

 

An economy car is fine. For that trip in June make sure that the car has air conditioning.

 

Monument Valley... There is a 17 mile loop that does't require a Navaho guide, and an extension (either 1/2 or a full day that requires a guide. Guides are lined up at the Park headquarters. They are available and will round up groups to fill their jeeps. A full dat trip is usually $60. I don't know if the price is negotiable. Monument Valley is on the Reservation and administered by the Navaho. I don't remember seeing any camping area.

 

Your schedule. I really don't think you can see much of any of these Parks in just 10 days. At Bryce, Zion, and on the South Rim, busses are the only transportatiion, and while they are convienent and free, they are not fast. The drive from Moab through the Islands in the Sky (Canyonlands) will take a minimum of 1/2 day without pausing for photography. Arches can be done in a half day only at breakneck speed. You really should take time for the 2 hour hike to the Delicate Arch, and to stroll through at theast the Windows, or Park Avenue. It's 6 hours from Moab to Monument Valley Without stopping at Natural Bridges, or the Valley of the Gods. Monument Valley to Bryce Canyon is a half day, and Bryce to the South Rim has to be a five hour drive. and then to LV is another several hours. My drift is that you've listed seven destinations and a couple of days travel.

I don't know where you're starting from but is travel to your initial destination included in the 10 days?

A few days ago I asked about carrying an SLR on a 2 day white water

raft trip. Several replys indicated that some had had favorable

experience carrying an SLR in water-tight cases. I decided to try the

ammo case. I picked up a used ammo box at the "Surplus " outlet

($6.40 with tax). The box was dry after one hour submerged in water

in a in a bucket. I found a re-upolstery shop that sold foam

piecemeal. One-inch foam to line the box was $7.53 with tax. Total

$13.93. Heck - I might even paint it white so it will stay cooler.

There's room for an SLR, a couple of small lenses, film, and probably

a dry pair of skivies. I could change the foam to 1/2 inch as the 1

inch is probably overkill and does subtract some room.

Thanks for the various suggestions. I'm leaning towards using disposable cameras for any on-the-water opportunities, and carying an SLR in an ammo can for the scenics/landscapes, and people shots.

 

G. Gilbert

I've been talked into a combined hiking/4X4 Safari trip in

Canyonlands Nat. Park later this summer that will include two days

exiting the park via raft through the Cataract Canyon of the Colorado

River. I'll have my SLR (with a complete package of lenses) for the

4X4/hiking portion of the trip, but I'm not inclined to taking this

gear on a raft. I just don't know if a raft (described as a J-rig)

is compatable with SLR photography. I'd still like to have

photographs of the raft trip, so I think my options might include 1)

disposable cameras (cheap, but limited to a wide angle lens, limited

to C-41 (no slides), 2) pick up a cheap P/S camera on E-Bay (will

this be O.K. for E-6 film?), or 3) look for an old Canon 650 with

cheap kit lens. I'd do the EOS 650 option if I had any reasonable

assurance that I'd return with an undamaged camera. Can any

experienced rafters provide guidance?

 

Thanks,

 

G. Gilbert

Isn't it interesting that everybody sees these great National Parks in the West through different eyes? I spend several weeks every year in the American Soutwest, and hope to continue the practice until I've photographed every mountain, stream, and golden aspen in the area.

 

I've driven through D.V. and frankly, think there are better places to visit. I'm surprised that so many think Bryce Canyon is only worth a day. I used to think that too, but then I learned to get out of the car and take to the hiking trails below the rim. Zion is O.K., but the miles of trails in Canyonlands (and Arches) seems to me to offer more. Day hikes in the Needles area in Canyonlands are some of my fondest memories, and photos taken there are more unique (i.e. fewer "tripod holes").

 

My advice on an 8 day vacation is that this is just enough time for a scouting mission. Make loose plans and don't be afraid to change those plans when you see somthing that's interesting.

I had a similar problem with my EOS-1n several weeks ago. I don't know if your EOS 50 is assembled like the 1n is, but my problem was with the row of contacts inside the back lid (when you close the lid, these contacts mate to a row of gold plates just to the right of the film take-up spool). All I had to do was clean the contacts, and voila... everything worked.

Last year I had a lens repaired, I think the place was Midwest Camera Repair. Their web site had a menu offering a free repair estimate, and the lens repair was exactly as the estimate. I'd guess that many reputable repair services offer the same service. Try a google search for Midwest Camera Repair, or even "authorized Canon repair" and see if you can't find a number of estimates.

You could also stop at Shark Valley on the North side of the Park on US 41. Early morning sun is best there and I believe it opens a 8 AM (could be 8:30). Last month the birds were out within 300 yards of the visitors center. Don't speed on US 41.

 

Driving time from Ft. Meyers to the Royal Palm entrance has to be at least 4 hours.

I have to admit I'm a klutz so this is a service to my fellow klutz

(or klutzae). I was packing up my camera gear for a 6 day photo

workshop (with a two week vacation) and I noticed that the command

dial on my 6 year old EOS-1n was not functioning. Normally, the

command dial on the back cover controls the camera aperture when in

the manual mode. I went through the normal checks, changing lenses,

cleaning the lens-to-camera contacts, et.al. with no success. The

manual trouble-shooting tips(of course) contained no help.

 

In the belief that I had a dying camera on my hands, I considered the

alternates-

- Buying a replacement camera. Not attractive. Its to late to buy

from the low cost mail-order houses, and the local shops are

expensive and have a limited stock.

- Renting a replacement. The local rate for a rental EOS-1n is

$120/week. I guess this might be less expensive than buying a

replacement locally.

 

I continued to play with the camera and I noticed the camera back has

a row of contacts that are open when the back is open and make

contact with the camera body when the back is closed (just to the

right of the film take-up reel). A simple cleaning with a soft cloth

solved the problem. I don't think I've seen any other notice of this

problem.

The solution may be a fabric like gore-tex.... In that case, how about putting the larger crystals in a Gore-tex bag. Gore-tex is the air-permeable material used in expensive "breathing" rain gear. Dry the kitty-liter in an oven for several hours, and bag the ddried material in Gore-tex. Put the dried bags in sealed containers with your photo gear, and periodically re-dry the silica in an oven. I wouldn't put the Gore-tex bag in the oven. I have to emphasize that this is all theory...not backed by experimental validation.

Darn good question. Before I retired, I used to be a chemist, and I've been wondering why packagers place those little-bitty packs of silica gel in those packages. The capacity of a small packet of the gel to absorb water is very limited. I think I recall that anhydrous silica gel will absorb about 10% of its weight in water. For any open package free to mix with humid air, this is a darned little amount of water. For the silica to be effective, it must be used in a sealed environment. The capacity of silica for water to absorb water is quite limited.

 

I can remember many years ago you could buy pie-plate sized containers of silica gel that contained a cobaltous indicator. These gel crystals were blue when dry, and I believe red when saturated with water.. When you needed to redry the crystals, you placed the entire tray in an oven and heated the tray until the crystal indicator returned to blue. These crystals were several mm in diameter, and didn't seem to be very dusty. My guess is that the kitty litter silica is quite dusty, and might not even contain a high percentage of silica. What does the label say? Dust may be more detrimental to photographic material than small amounts of atmospheric water.

 

If the kitty litter material is dusty and contains only a small percentage of silica, I'd look for a different material. Better yet, I'd rethink your need for a drying material. Why do you feel the need?

Sometimes it becomes an issue of convenience. Bear in mind that it becomes difficult to use a lens hood with the larger step-up rings. I have individual polarizers for all of my lenses as a convenience since most of my photography is outdoor nature oriented. Changing both the lens and the filter is too much bother. But I have only one "Moose" polarizer with a couple of step-up rings because I don't use it that often.

Karl:

 

I really enjoyed browsing your web site. I understand your need for film in some of your remote destinations. And on shorter trips, digital will still be useful. This last fall, I was out of civilized contact for 6 days. I took a digital with 2 batteries and a 20 GB portable hard drive. Didn't exhaust either one.

 

I'd also like to point out that one of George Lepp's reasons for going digital is the increasing inconvience of traveling with film.

I don't think the battery life, or the image storage difficulty should be a problem. Most of the metal/lithium batteries will shoot several hundred images, and image storage in a portable hard drive is simple and convenient (beats carrying a lap-top).

 

Some of the best nature/wildlife photographers in the business have announced their conversion to digital. Check Michael Reichmann at www.luminous-landscape.com or George Lepp at www.leppphoto.com

 

To me, the biggest problem is the cost of the 10+ megapixle cameras and the cost of digital projectors. And I still like slides.

One of the earliest reports on the 1Ds performance has just been posted at http://www.luminous-landscape.com/

Canon has a great web site called the Canon Museum at www.canon.com/canon-museum. According to that history, the s-mount (screw mount) 35 mm f/1,8 was introduced in May, 1957 and had a filter size of 40 mm. The other specs are also listed.

 

I wish all manufacturers had sites as comprehensive as this one.