john_bacon_shone

Ron

Jan is right and Ian is wrong

4GB CF cards work fine on a Rebel XT. I am using a Sandisk Ultra II without problems after

formatting in the camera.

John

How useful the DO is depends on how important having a lightweight and capable zoom is to

you. If weight does not matter or price is critical, then there are better choices, but this is a

useful option, in my experience.

John

In addition to the small improvement in picture quality and smaller physical size, one

difference that is very important to me is speed. It drove me crazy waiting for the 300D to

turn on or wake up, whereas the XT is almost instant. The XT also writes much faster to

compact flash, so you are much less likely to be waiting for photos to be written. These

speed changes alone are enough to make the upgrade worthwhile, in my view.

John

I would not take the comparisons with the 28/1.8 MTF curves seriously, because they are

comparing MTF wide open at 1.4 with MTF wide open at 1.8.

The Sigma site in Japan states that the Canon mount will be released on June 25th, so

hopefully there should be some real life experience about this lens soon - there are lot of us

waiting hopefully!

John

We finally have a release date for this lens (at least for Canon mount)

The link below (after google translation) yields a price of 55,000 yen and a release date of

June 25th.

http://www.sigma-photo.co.jp/news/30_14_dg_n.htm

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sigma-photo.co.jp%2Fnews%

2F30_14_dg_n.htm&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%

2Flanguage_tools

I shoot raw, and have not yet found the 350D optically inferior in any situation. The optical

improvement is not that large, but the speed makes an enormous difference to me - no

more waiting for the camera to wake up, hallelujah!

John

I believe there is an 8GB Sandisk Ultra II CF card available

John

There are 2 Sigma 18-50 DC lenses

The good one is 18-50/2.8 and is much better than the kit lens - check out http://

www.pbase.com/fstopjojo. I have one and love it, although it needed to be rechipped to

fix a focus assist problem.

The cheap one is only about US$100 and is not much better than the kit lens, I believe.

John

This is not really comparing like with like

The Sigma is a macro, the Canon is not.

So if you want a macro, the choice is clear ;)

Are you just asking which is optically superior?

John

For speed, the best resource is Rob Galbraith's database which shows the combinations of

card and camera - the Ultra II works well with many cameras

John

The Sigma 18-50/2.8 is good, light and reasonable in price (US$400). It is very sharp

wide-open out to the edges at 50, sharp in the centre wide-open at 18 with mild

vignetting. The only real argument against it is that is a DC lens so will not work on a 1.3

multiplier lens, let alone FF. I am very happy with it as a replacement for the kit lens.

Check out the tests at http://www.pbase.com/fstopjojo

John

I've also got both the 35/2 and 50/1.8 - I find the 35/2 to be excellent for indoor portraits

which are not just closeups (for those I still prefer the 50). However, I am also hoping that

Sigma's forthcoming 30/1.4 DC may be even better and can replace the Canon 35/2 for

low light situations.

John

In addition to the much improved startup time, the 350D also writes 3x faster to the CF

card, which improves the camera significantly for me

John

I do not find the 35/3.0 slow focusing compared to my 50/1.8 II and it is better built and a

more useful focal length for me on a 1.6 multiplier camera. I find it a great lens for

indoors, but then I also often use a Sigma 18-50/2.8 zoom and really like having the

zoom and the primes. A lot depends on your shooting style - zoom is great for outdoors,

primes for indoors in my experience.

John

I bought a 350D as an upgrade from a 300D. So far, I am very happy. The focus is faster

and more reliable, the writing to CF card is much faster, and startup is almost instant (vs 3

seconds on the 300D).

So far, the only issues seem to be size (I like it, but some people find it too small to fit in

their hands) and the controls.

I do agree that, for example, changing ISO is a step back from the 300D, as it requires too

many operations and also the ISO is not displayed in the viewfinder.

In short, the pictures are very good and the few remaining issues can easily be evaluated

by you if you try out one for a few minutes.

Best

John

If you can wait a while, Sigma has promised a 30/1.4, which may well provide you with

another good option.

I have the 20/1.8, 35/2, 50/1.8 II and 85/1.8 and like them all very much and I think they

are all good value for money, but will probably replace the 35/2 with the new Sigma if it is

good and a reasonable price (which I expect).

I also have a 28-135IS, which I rarely use and intend to sell and a Sigma 18-50/2.8, which

I like a lot and is good value for money for a walk around zoom, I think.

John

The DG upgrades *may* be more significant than some people claim - some of the earlier

upgrades involved changing the number of lens elements - check out the 50 and 105

Macro and 17-35 on the Sigma site for yourself to compare the DG and non-DG versions.

John