pto189

>>"Digital cameras and flashes are not good to buy them used especially from professionals."

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Except you buy them from Bob Atkins.

I don't think he was using the 550EX heavily based on his work. If he does, he wouldn't sell the 550EX. Just keep in mind from now on that do not buy floor sample TVs or monitors becasue one year in the stores equals six year at home. Digital cameras and flashes are not good to buy them used especially from professionals. If you're still worried about your 550EX, there is a way to keep yourself calm.

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Pray.

Hi Eric, I admit that I bought a lot of junkies in the past. I did take pictures since 1970 especially after 1979 in New Jersey. After reading your message,I have checked my little library and counted a total of 519 Kodak bags of film and pictures. They're all junkies compared with your pictures though. =)

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I sold all of my cameras after buying the DRebel a year ago in a yard sale from 25 cents to $5. Now I only have Minolta XT Si, Pentax Superzoom for my wife, and 20D with some average lenses: 17-40 4L, Tamron 28-75, 50 1.8, 100 Macro, and 70-200 4/L with TC 1.4 II. I won't buy any more glasses at least in a year except the coming Tamron 11-18 and possibly a used EOS-3 for film.

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I'm a little disappointed when trying many different lenses with 20D. They aren't as sharp as the pictures I usually see in a DVD movie on my HDTV.

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I really want to learn so I can take a great picture as you can. By the way, would you show me how to post a picture here. I'm not good at using HTML thingy.

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Thank you again Eric.

Carlos, I totally agree that we don't want to buy a good camera with consumer lenses, just as buying the Denon AVR-5805 with a pair of Kenwood speakers. Moreover, glasses retain their values but digital bodies depreciate quickly over a few years. Camera is just a tool, and so are glasses. Again, this is all about personal taste. Pictures are like sounds. It's a matter of of preference to choose between B&W and Polk Audio. Go out buy one and stick with it.

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Danny, You have made your excellent choice at the right time utelizing the advantage of triple rebate. From October 1st 2004 to January 31th 2005, 10D had no way to compare with DRebel. My suggest to you was based on my experience and feeling when owning the DRebel last year. Canon 17-40 f4/L is an excellent lense yet not fast enough in low light. If you sell your Tamron, you'll miss it. I read every messages you posted here. With your DRebel, I would suggest the following combination:

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Canon lenses: 17-40 f4/L, 50 1.8 or 1.4, 70-200 f4/L. Keep your Tamron for indoor or one lens shooting. You cannot sell it for more than $250 cash back. Well, you could sell it for a Canon TC 1.4X though.

Carlos, It's your choice to buy a DRebel to match with the Canon 70-200 f2.8/L IS. You absolutely have a good point of investing money in the lenses but not the bodies. Regardless the recent triple rebate, why do you want to save $200 to buy the DRebel instead of 10D? A good set of 2.8L lenses such as 16-32, 24-70, and 70-200 IS will cost you $4,100 plus filters. Is it worth to save $200 not to buy the 10D? You don't care about the look. Many people do. Would you buy a Porch unpainted?

Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM is no doubt a very good lens. I used the lens in a year and sold it with my Drebel because the buyer wanted it with the camera. I had bought the lens before Tamron introduced their 28-75 2.8 XR Di. Now I think the Tamron has better value than the Canon. The canon had wider zoom range though. you'll be happy with it.

I don't know about the Tamron 28-300. I bought the Canon 70-300 IS and returned it. If you don't like the Tamron, you should consider the Canon 70-200 f4/L. You may think that you need IS. Well, IS feature costs you between $200-$500. You cannot have sharpness, IS, and reasonable price in the same lens.

I agree with B.J. reagarding Ritz's reputation and reliability in both price and services. Ritz are good for people who don't know how to deal with online stores. If you know exactly what you want, buy from B&H. If you need honest advices, try 17th Photo. There're only two perfect five star online stores in the United states. I don't mean Adorama, Digi Photo, or other stores are not good. They're just not perfect five star stores.

Don't ask people what brand you should buy, but ask them the difference between two certain lenses. Considering all lenses have little difference in sharpness, lets compare their prices:

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Canon 24-70 f2.8/L: $1150

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Sigma 24-70 f2.8: $390

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Tamron 24-85 f2.8: $360

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If you don't mind spending money and carrying a heavy lens, buy Canon. If you don't want to spend 3 times of money but don't mind carrying a heavy lens, buy Sigma. If you want small, light, and 1/3 of the price, buy Tamron.

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Now take a look at the next four lenses:

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Canon 16-35 f2.8/L: $1300

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Canon 17-40 f4.0L: $675

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Sigma: 17-55 f2.8: $499

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Tamron 17-35 f2.8: $465

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At this zoom range, you have another choice, 17-40 f4.0/L. Many people choose this lens becasue you can crank up ISO on 20D to make up one stop, and $200 difference is worth to have better built structure with a Canon lens.

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Therefore, the comaprison is relatively simple. I don't think that buying Canon lenses only is the best decision except you have money or you make money from your camera and gear. I love Canon lenses especially L series. They are just almost perfect including perfectly high price. Sigma lenses are better built than Tamron in general yet suffer from compatibility in the past. You might need to send them in to rechip once a while. They are just as bulky as Canon L lenses. Tamron lenses all have plastic bodies thus small and light. They're more reliable than sigma but look a little "cheap".

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I don't think using third party lenses on Canon body will void the warranty. It's just not logical because there is no power coming from the lens to damage the circuits in the camera. However, I would stick only with Sigma and Tamron besides Canon.

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People say Canon EFS 17-85 IS is over priced. It's 17-85, a good zoom range. It has IS, a useful feather. It's EF-S, so shorter thus lighter. I don't think $500 is overpriced, or at least it's not way overpriced. I don't know. I didn't buy EF-S lenses becasue I cannot use them on other bodies. The whole point of buying SLR or DSLR is using interchangeable lenses.

Danny, you only have three choices: $700 for 17-40 f4/L; $1400 for 16-35 f2.8/L; $300-$500 for Tamron or Sigma 2.8. Since you're using DRebel, you should stick with Tamron and wait for Tamron 11-18, then you will do the comparison between Tamron and Sigma. I faced the dilemma last year, and Bob was right when not suggesting 17-40 f4/L to DRebel owners. I agree the bottom line is picture. However, you will feel pretty bad when spending a whole bundle of money for lenses on DRebel. The Nikon guys will laught at you. DRebel is very good everywhere but the body. Why do you need metal lenses on a plastic body? Last year my Drebel jumped from my lap to the floor of the bus on the way to Grand Canyon. It had scratches all over places. Good thing is I sold it after I came back to NJ.

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I'm a beginner in DSLR especailly in digital, but take my advice. Keep your 28-75 and wait for 11-18. When choosing to buy Tamron or Sigma, don't plan to sell them since you'll loose more money than selling a Canon lens. I bought both 17-40 and 28-75 becasue I can't stand with the size of Canon 2.8s. They are huge and heavy. They're for professional, not for us.

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I spent a lot of time recently in local camera stores to try different lenses. Sigma lenses are better built than Tamron but as heavy as Canon. The focus is slow. More importantly, the compatibility could be an issue. Tamron lenses are lighter and smaller. I don't know much about the optic but I don't think you will notice becasue you don't have the other lense to compare every time you take a picture.

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I'll keep my 17-40 and 28-75. and I'd buy the 11-18 in 2-3 months unless it has a bad report.

First, I appreciate for all of your advices especially Jim who has given me many valuables lessons in photograpy.

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Second, to Damian, I happened to know this site when using search engine to find a good wall papaer to my desktop back to 1998. Since then, I got additive to this site. I always have one or two cameras. However, camera to me is merely a "machine" to record unforgetable moments of my family life. I had different camera from Canon A1 to Minolta XTsi. When Advanced Photo System was introduced, I had Canon ELPH 490Z, 370Z, and two Minolta that I don't remember the model numbers. Then came digital when I bought Casio QV100, then QC200, QV700, and Fuji MX700. However, I have never thought that I would spend more than $150 for a lens and would spend more than two lenses for one camera. To me, The $300 Tamron lens was a joke.

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Last year, I decided to buy the DRebel and a set of lenses that Bob suggested in his report. I told people here that was my brother's camera becasue I didn't want people to laught at me when I said I didn't know what a stop is. In our language, we don't use the term stop. We use ISO, Aperture, and shutter speed. So I bought the DRebel with 18-55, 50 1.8, 24-84 and 70-200 f/4L from 17th Street. I quickly realized that the build-in flash is pretty bad when shooting indoor. At one time I regretted that I didn't go with Nikon system because most of my friemds did. Moreover, most of people said the external flash 420EX would help much. Therefore I bought the 550EX from 17th Street and a tripod Slik 300DX from B&H. Again, I didn't like the camera-lens-flash combination becasue camera is too small and light when using with 70-200 and 550EX. Then I heard about the 20d and triple rebate before Canon released the offers from my friend in hongkong. I decided to sell the Drebel, 24-85, and 550EX on Amazon and sold all of them just two days before the announcement. Thanks God!

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I then ordered 20d and 17-40 from B&H in October or a little later. I later also bought from Amazon the 580EX. I loved it but soon found out here that Dell was offering with $100 less. I returned the 580EX to Amazon and get another one from Dell. Then Bob post a review about Tamron 28-75. I always don;t like the fact that I have to carry a whole bag of camera and lenses especially on my mother in law funeral two months ago. So I bought the Tamron for two reason: It's 2.8 and much cheaper than the Canon 24-70. Tamron's optical is very good as Bob reported. More importantly, it's 2.8 as Jim said both 17-40 and 70-200 are pretty dark or slow for in door.

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I always love macro work. Sp I bought the Canon 100mm macro last month also from B&H. Now I'm having problem becasue I need a better tripod than the one I'm using.

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Since using DRebel, I have never been happy with the pictures from 300D or 20D because they're softer than I expected with the money I put in. Now people are telling me that I need Photoshop to make the pictures shapper. Geez.. another $299. worse than that, people are telling me film is alway better than digital. Why didn't people tell me before I put $5000 down for these stuffs. Now I have to fight with my wife for a Canon EOS-3 so I can use all the lenses I have.

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The journey of discovering pgotography seems endless and costly.

I'm waiting for the Tamron 11-18. I wouldn't buy any wide angle lens before seeing report on this lens. It's coming soon.

The post below showed that people are going back to film. Should I

buy a Canon EOS-3 and set my 20D aside? If so, do you suggest a new

one or to buy used on eBay? I saw a decent one with battery grip

selling for under $500. What do you think?

I accept Mark and Paul's viewpoints. I have bought warranty from Best Buy and Circuit City when they offered me good deals such as cell phones. In the case of Canon 20D, since I bought it fron B&H, I have no chance to buy Best Buy warranty.

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Lets stop discussion here and move on. This is a good site. I love it. Please make this site better by sending contructive advices and opinions. Chinese say, "Educated people are different yet cooperative."

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Thank you.

Please quit smoking, and you'll be happier.

I was smoking since I was 18. I quit it last year when I was 51. Thirty three years with one brand of cirgarette, but now I'm a non smoker. ^_^

I never want to discuss about warranty if people don't give people irresponsible and biased advices. A warranty has its value as long as it doesn't cost ridiculously. What is the point of buying 3 year warranty for a $1400 camera for $300-$500? People are unhappy about Mack warranty because they expect too much for a $70 warranty. I cannot believe Mack sell their warranties but refuse all the claims. Just be careful when buying Mack warranties becasue many dealers sell them way overpriced. I have seen a camera store was selling a Mack $49 warranty for $450! Check Broadway Photo and you will know what I mean.

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I buy warranty becasue I'm tired of dealing with repair cost. I bought a TV in September 1998 for $2000. It stopped working last year October. I called a local TV store to estimate. They claimed that the flyback transformer was bad, and charged $650 if I decided to let them repair. A 6-year 50" Tv is worth no more than $200 today needs $650 to repair. I paid $120 for estimating fee, bought the transformer for $59, replaced it, and it's still not working! My Treadmill broke down November last year. I called Sears, the well known store for service after sale. The guy estimated $750 cost for repair. He claimed that motor and contrller board are bad. Again I paid $105 for his trip, called manufacturer for instruction. I then tested the motor. It's still good. The controller was bad. I bought the board for $110. Opened 4 screws and replaced the defective one.

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I was pointless when using my laptop as an example? I have been teaching math my whole life. This is the first time someone told me that I was pointless. Great! =) All big chain stores have their own wanrranty policies. They're mostly very expensive. Circuit City has been excellent to repair their warranties. I didn't buy for my new Mishubishi HDTV becasue they charged $500 in 3 years for $1500 TV.

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I bought Mack simply because they offer reasonable price. One can ignore all warranty offers as long as he can pay for the repair cost.

The fact that electronic components is either defective on the first day or in a long time is not true. I started learning DSLR only less than a year. However, my long time hobby has been building electronic projects. My sony digital camcoder sensor broke after 16 months. My SUV M430 trip computer died after 28 months.

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When criticizing people, please think twice and use polite words.

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Please!

We should consider the following points:

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1. Do you need to buy warranty for your camera and lenses? As one

mentioned here a couple of times, if your credit card company has

the second year warranty policy, then you may not need addition

warranty.

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2. You always think buying warranty waste of money until your camera

is not working. My niece spilled entire glass of orange juice on my

brand new $1,750 laptop three days after I had bought it. I didn't

buy the warranty that covers accidents. Toshiba was running a

promotion the warranty for only $99, but I passed it. I paid $790 to

fix my laptop.

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3. There are many excellent wanrranties on the market. They are very

expensive ranging form $300 - $500 for Canon 20D in three years.

Mack offers $69 for Canon 20D in 3 years and $19 for Canon 100 f/2.8

mocro for 7 years.

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3. If Mack is bad as many people said, I think they wouldn't be able

to keep selling their warranties worldwide. Here is their policy and

fine prints.

"Mack Warranty Service:

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What is Covered?

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Your Mack Camera Extended Warranty covers manufacturer defects that

can result in the loss of operation to your equipment. The Mack

Camera Extended Warranty will cover parts and labor for the life of

the Extended Warranty plan at no additional charge to you, truly

making this Extended Warranty a smart investment for your equipment.

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Exception

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Please remember, this warranty does not cover equipment which has

been misused, tampered with, modified or damaged as a result of

accident, liquid, grit, impact or lack of proper care as indicated

in the manual of operations. Accessories are not covered under the

terms of the warranty.

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4. I don't work for Mack. =)

Peter is absolutely right. The advantages of Canon L lenses are fast and quite focus, all time manual focus, and well built. My feeling is so good looking at the Canon 17-40 f4/L. It just looks ... very nice. Optically, the pictures from Canon 17-40 f4/L, Tamron 28-75 F2.8, and Canon 50 1.8 II using Canon 20d are mostly the same in sharpness. They're all soft actually.

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I bought Tamron 28-75, and will buy Tamron 11-18 in the future. I will not sell my Canon 17-40 not becasue it's sharper than the Tamron but because as mentioned above, it looks much nicer than the Tamron. And that's it.

You can buy camera and gear right here at Photo.net Unified Auctions and Classifieds.

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You also can buy used equipments safely at Amazon as long as you don't deal with the sellers outside Amazon. If buying from Amazon, you have a certain time period satisfaction guarantee. The seller must have an account with Amazon and can only collect the money if no complaint was filed. You will find scams everywhere, and Amazon is not an exception. However, they are easy to identify. After you send them an email, they will suggest you to buy from them directly. The payment method will be either money orders, bank wire, or through Western Union. More importantly, the price is ridiculously low.

Ben, thank you for your more valuable advices. I like your works a lot. Hopefully, I can shoot some pictures that are half as great as yours in a few years. I think it's impossible, but I'm allowed to dream it, right? =)

Amazon if you know how to deal with them. Otherwise, stick with B&H, Adorama, 17th Street, and KEH. They're all 100% reliable.

Canon will not overcharge you. Please pick up your phone and call now. =)

Sanjay, if you can safely hold the camera vertically, you can hold it up side down.

Ben, I took your advice and will go out to shoot using 50mm 1.8 II. Thank you.

Jim, you always show up with your thoughful advices when people need help. Thanks again.

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Michele, I'm a mathematician; Math people don't lie. :)

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I wish I'm a pro though I'm not. I've found that managing environmental light is all about photography, and it's difficult! I hope you can teach me some of your experiences about lanscape shooting. I like your work.