mtwhite

I have a similar question about this formula. The maximum focusing

distance one gets from this is the distance from the subject to the

film/sensor plane, is that right?

<p>This past summer, I got my first non-cheapie-plastic tripod, a

Manfrotto 055CL with a 352RC ballhead. It's worked wonderfully up

until temperatures started dropping below zero here. The metal ball in

the head shrinks in the cold, and the clamp can't lock down hard

enough. My camera just flops over if I let go of it.

<p>I'm looking for an inexpensive (CAN$200 hard maximum budget)

replacement head to fit the 055CL that works well in temperatures as

low as -30C. I'd prefer a ballhead, but anything that works well in

the cold would be alright. I haven't hit the weight limit of the 352RC

yet, so anything that can handle nearly the same weight is fine.

<p>I have a few wide and normal Pentax M42 primes which I've never

been able to use on my film EOS bodies due to mirror clearance

problems. I'm about to get a Rebel XT, which has a smaller mirror

(supposedly the same mirror size as the 20D). Does anyone else use

wide/normal M42 primes on either DSLR?

<p>I'm particularly interested in super takumar 50/1.4 and 35/3.5

success stories. They're amazing on my spotmatic, and I'd love to use

them digitally.

I'm trying to find out if a <A href="http://www.jettec.com/">Jet

Tec</a> refill kit and their chip resetter is worthwhile, or if it's

going to cause more trouble than it's worth. I found very little

information on their products that's not from their own website,

mostly just opinions from Usenet, which I don't really trust. Thoughts?

Luis, thanks for the welcome.

My day job is telephone tech support for a large US ISP. My other job is in-person tech support for family and friends. My hobbies include video games and screwing around with computers. Frankly, I'm happy to have at least one hobby that has very little to do with computers. :)

I love playing with computers, but man cannot live by bread alone, y'know?

Thanks to you both, now I've got this figured out. Once I knew the right places to apply pressure, it folded very easily and smoothly. It doesn't come across well in that picture, but this has obviously been babied by its' previous owner.

All that's left is to actually go out and try some shots. I think I'll stick to landscapes at infinity until I can properly judge distance in feet.

I just picked up a Beier Beirax 6x9 folder cheaply in good working

order. Lens is clear and free of scratches, shutter speeds and

apertures are accurate and working properly, the bellows is

light-tight, and the lens seems to be aligned properly. I've figured

out almost everything about it, but I just can't figure out how to

fold the lens in. When I bought it, it was unfolded and sitting on a

shelf.

Google searches turn up very little on this model. Does anyone know

how to fold it in?

If it's anything like the 300D's battery grip/battery door

arrangement, there's a little spring-loaded rod that holds the

battery door in place, rather like the spring-loaded rods on watch

straps. It's then clipped onto the part of the grip that slides into

the battery compartment. I could be wrong, though. I've never seen

the 20D's grip in person. Does the 20D's manual have any instructions

on it?

1) EF 28/2.8. Reasonably wide, reasonably fast, very light, very

small, very sharp. My only gripe is the autofocus motor; it sounds

like a wasp on a caffeine high.

2) A Yashica Minister III that's twice as old as I am. No batteries

needed for the (still accurate) selenium meter, a sharp 45/2.8 lens,

and full manual control. It does have a small light leak that I

really must fix one of these days.

<p>I've been using some old Pentax screwmount lenses on my Rebel 2000

with good results for about a year. The metering on the body is

accurate. I've always shot with available light, and I have basically

no experience with flash.

<p>This morning I picked up a 420EX flash, printed out the Photonotes

"Flash Photography with EOS Cameras" guide, and read it

cover-to-cover a few times. I think I've got a handle on the basics,

but it (very sensibly) assumes that the shooter is using EF lenses.

<p>Aside from defaulting to the 50mm zoom position, are there any

changes I can expect in the P, T, A, or M modes when using manual

lenses?

I've bought a few new lenses recently (75-300 cheapie zoom, 28/2.8

prime) from a store I trust not to repack old stock and both came

with the same circle-and-square symbols. At a guess, I'd say Canon's

decided to save some money and use one assembly line for all their

new rear lens caps.

<p>(Direct from the introduction section, written in 1981 by Ansel

Adams, of the 11th paperback printing of <i>The Negative</i>:)

<p>"I eagerly await new concepts and processes. I believe that the

electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will

have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics,

and the artist and functional practitioner will again strive to

comprehend and control them."

<p>I'll be getting a Rebel XT in a month, and I plan on using nothing

but primes for it as well. I am most definitely a non-pro. My line of

reasoning is that (1) I'm addicted to available-light shooting, (2)

I'm nowhere near being able to afford constant f2.8 zooms, and (3)

I'm not making a living on this, so I don't have to give a flying

f*** if I miss a shot due to having the wrong focal length on at the

time.

<p>I'm also surprised that more amateurs don't opt for primes.

Razor-sharp fast apertures at relatively low cost? What's not to

like?

<p>There might also be some "metric megabyte" marketing nonsense at

work. It's true that there's always some space reserved for

filesystem overhead, but the "megabytes" and "gigabytes" listed on

storage devices' packages are often in powers of 1000 (and not 1024

as they rightly should be). Expect to lose at least around 2.4% off

the claimed capacity for whatever storage device you're using, plus

whatever the filesystem overhead is.

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. Now I don't go anywhere

without at least my little Nikon EM and a 50mm series E. Small,

sharp, quiet, fast, and most importantly, cheap to replace if

something goes wrong.

Nice camera, isn't it? Very sharp lens. I got one myself on, uh, some

random auction site. Also, the film speed dial actually goes past

400. It's unmarked, but just turn the dial past 400 to equal the

distance between 200 and 400 to get 800. I love the fact that it

doesn't even need batteries for the meter. Gotta love those selenium

cells.

<p>Here's my two cents; a view from the front lines, as it were.

<p>I work in a small camera store. Not really a pro lab, as there are

maybe five pros working in a 200km radius, but we try to stock as

much esoteric stuff as we can. I suppose if one were to categorize

us, we'd be a "prosumer" kind of store; we don't carry F6's or EOS

1V's, but we do carry stuff like F80's and 20D's, a decent selection

of Manfrotto and Lowepro gear, Portra and Tmax in 35mm and 120, etc.

You get the picture.

<p>I can't speak for other stores, but where I work the days of

gouging unwary customers were gone a decades ago. We try to keep

up-to-date on prices, matching any retail competitor's prices no

matter if they're local or on the other side of the country. It's

actually a standing order from the owner/manager to check Vistek and

Henrys (we're in Canada, and they're our main competition) before any

sale, even if the customer doesn't ask, just in case their prices

dropped that day. We may lose a few bucks we'd have gotten by staying

quiet, but it's a boost to the store's reputation. A reputation for

honesty goes a long way in the retail game.

<p>I know not all stores are run the same. There's still some store

owners stuck in the "jack prices up 40% and let the plebes suffer!"

mindset of years back. All I can say is that we're not all bad.

<p>And all too often, I <i>am</i> that knowledgable, friendly guy at

the counter that spends an hour talking with someone, only to have

them go and order the subject of the conversation online. It does

hurt, and I dread the day when ordinary people get their camera info

from advertising-driven crap like "PC Photo" instead of the

<i>non-commissioned</i> salesman who actually handles and uses all

this gear on a daily basis.

<p>If that Sunpak digital slave handle is the same one I sell at my

workplace, any old flash should work fine. Some digital cameras have

different numbers of preflashes before the main flash. There's a

selector on the back of the handle, numbered 1 to 5, to match which

of the camera's flashes will trigger the slave flash. Every camera is

different, so you'd just have to do a few seconds of trial-and-error

to see which one is right for your camera. Most Canon cameras should

properly take into account the extra light from the flash as well, so

you shouldn't have to do anything extra. Just clip it on, turn it on,

and blast away. I've tried it with the A75 and A95 myself on quiet

nights in the store, and it works nicely. I think it should be set to

"3" for the Powershots, but I'm not 100% on this.

<p>Also, since there's no electrical connection between camera and

flash, the hotshoe voltage of the flash doesn't matter one bit. You

can safely use pretty much anything. It's a nifty gadget that doesn't

cost too much. The main drawback is its' physical strength. I'd be

nervous to put anything heavier than a Vivitar 283/285 on it.

The Pentax Optio S50 makes a good travel camera, if you don't mind

the lack of aperture and shutter speed manual controls. Uses AA

batteries, has a reasonably fast startup time, and when turned off

the lens barrel folds completely flat into the body. Very easy to

slip into a shirt pocket. You're basically limited to ISO100 if you

don't want too much noise, but that's par for the course for a

compact digital.

<p>I don't have that model of Rebel, but I use several screwmount

lenses on my Rebel 2000 just fine. The lenses will focus at infinity

properly, and the light meter will work fine, but you'll have to use

it in either aperture-priority or full manual mode. Just make sure to

stop down before you meter the light!

<p>Also, I have problems using wide and normal lenses on my adaptor.

The body's mirror can't clear the back element of the lens. I've

heard others say that this isn't a problem for them, so it might vary

depending on who made the adaptor. YMMV.

<p>Would it be possible to have this be a user's choice? Perhaps

something like "Allow unsolicited photo ratings? (Yes/No)" in with

the other account preferences? Making it an option for individuals to

decide would take care of both situations nicely. Those worried about

being harassed can be protected, and those looking for public

comments and ratings would still have that feedback.

<p>Of course, this would trigger a debate is whether it should

default to on or off. :)

<p>I believe that Fuji's E500/E510/E550 (4MP/5MP/6MP respectively)

line of digicams have 28mm-equivalent wide angle lenses, and they go

to about 90mm or so at the long end. They run on a pair of AA's and

have full manual control if you want it, but they use the more

expensive XD cards. As for physical size, I find them fairly small

and pocketable but that's a totally subjective opinion.

<p>As for image quality, they're just about the same as any other P&S

digicam: Pretty good, but noisy above ISO100. Pretty much standard

for the price range. The E550 is slightly better with its Super CCD,

but not as much better as Fuji's marketing people want you to

believe. I've found it to be about on par with the Canon A95's

sensor.

That silver ring on the back of the lens looks eerily like a Canon EF

mount. Looks like someone modified the lens, either permanently or

with a screw-on ring, to fit Canon EOS bodies. Is it removable?

<p>I have a 714B. I find it works well with my 35mm Rebel and 300

gram 135mm/3.5 Takumar. I don't know the weight of the Canon

135mm/2.8 offhand, so I don't know if it would work for you.

<p>The ball head has a tendency to creep with my heavier non-collared

lenses unless I really lock it down hard. Also, I would strongly

advise against using it vertically hands-off without a secure anchor

of some kind. The light weight definitely has it's tradeoffs.

<p>Still, overall build quality is good, and it folds up nice and

small. I needed something for horizontal landscapes with a 28mm/2.8

while biking, so it was nearly ideal for my own needs. Just my two

cents.