markklotz

Well said Mike, I agree!

"which is almost twice the frame rate of the D2X"

 

True. Good point!

If you were concerned about image resolution, would it not have made more sense to shoot the event with your Nikon D2x? It's 12mps whereas the Canon EOS 1D MkII is only 8mps. perhaps you could have just wrapped the Nikon in plastic to protect it from stray paintballs. I'm sure the Canon images will come out great, but I personally would have gone for the higher resolution Nikon.

<blockquote>"Of course as a freelance photographer, you could have brought a 1D Mk11 in the first place and it all would be a moot point"</blockquote>

 

Yes, of course. And maybe I could find a money tree somewhere too. Here in Canada (I don't know what country you are in) you can't write off 100% of your equipment in the first year. You can only write off about 20% per year over 5 years. As my business grows I purchase the equipment that I need and can get by with, without going overboard with unnecessary expenses.

 

<blockquote>"Spot meters can be handy, but truthfully I think it's easy enough to get by without one. I never miss spot metering on my 10D or R-D1."</blockquote>

 

I think you are under rating the usefulness of the spot meter somewhat, but I guess it depends on the type of photography you do. Most Nikon cameras have spot metering, whereas Canon has mostly limited it to top of the line models (until the 30D). I also can get by without it, but when I've got limited time and little room for error, it is a useful tool indeed. My point is though, it should have already been on the 20D.

<blockquote>"hardly used Canon lenses and bodies"</blockquote>

 

Afraid not Andrew. I'm a freelance photographer and my equipment gets used a lot. Thus said, I'm not interested in the name on my camera, I'm interested in how it will perform as a working tool for me. As I stated earlier, the 20D has been an excellent camera, but it lacks spot metering. It bugs me, that now spot metering is included in the new 30D. It would be irrational (in a business sense) for me to buy the 30D just because of that feature, when it should have been there in the first place.

It's not what's wrong with the 30D, it's what was missing on 20D that should have been there in the first place. That's what upsets me. Spot metering! I could care less about the bigger LCD screen on the D30. I needed spot metering on the 20D. Canon left that out. Why? It's a pretty simple thing, and I shouldn't have to fork out another $2000.00 to have it. Some weather proofing would be nice too. Nikon is starting to look interesting to me.

I've had a similar experience with my 20D, and also at a critical moment. I was shooting some graduation ceremonies, when suddenly my Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L wouldn't auto focus at all. My first reaction was to check to see if I'd accidentally hit the manual/auto focus switch, but it hadn't changed. I popped the lens off and put it back on, but still nothing. I switched to manual focus, but the 20D would still not fire. No error warning either, and when I tried to shut the camera off, it would not power off. I had to pop the battery out and replace it (twice) to get it working again. After that, it worked fine, and the problem didn't re-occur. I was using the 420EX flash, but I've never had a problem with that flash before, so I don't think it was part of the problem.