kevin_harper

From a photo point of view Damian, I'd rather be one of Uncle Sam's!

Yeah I suppose its possible but it won't make a difference to the astronomical sums you have to pay for photo gear here. Just to illustrate the point...........in Dublin where I'm from, the best price for a 300d kit is 1199 Euro - thats about $1474! Even with a rebate you're still paying crazy money relative to the rest of the world - the US especially. A small amount of this is due to slightly higher taxes than the US (we're not all tax and spend liberals!) but most of it is just greed in my opinion. The only option is to buy online from inside the EU (no taxes, duties). There are good deals to be had, but these are grey market goods so Canon Ireland won't repair them. You get a 2 year warantee from the retailer though, which is pretty good I suppose, but it comes with the hassle and expense of shipping it halfway across Europe if something goes wrong. You don't know how lucky you Americans are!

Sorry Bob and Darren. I did look at the rebate form but obviously not quite close enough.

Hi all. I was reading on Bob Atkin's site about the rebates offered

in the US, and was wondering if there was any risk in buying from

say, B+H, having it shipped to Europe and claiming the rebate from

here? Has anyone done this before? I've done the math and with the

rebates plus the strength of the Euro vs the Dollar I could make a

pretty good saving on some gear. (Even taking into account import

duties etc) Advice appreciated.

With a budget of 1500 euro it would be silly not to go for a DSLR. E859 will get her the 300d with ef-s 18-55mm, and E435 the Sigma 135-400mm. (From technikdiekt.de in Germany). This still leaves around E200 to kill. (Another lens perhaps? Canon 50mm Macro?) Spending that kind of money on a digicam is a waste of money IMHO. However, if you feel a digicam is the way to go, check out the Panasonic DMC-FZ20. Leica constant aperture f2.8 35-420mm equivalent lens, Image Stabilization, 5MP.(E611 from the same site)

I have the 50/1.8 Yakim.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Rob, the reason I ask is because in a local auction catalogue I've seen an EF fit 28-55mm lens going quite cheap, and on my (extremely) limited budget cheapo lenses are the only way to go I'm afraid. It states its a Canon EF lens, but I'd never heard of an EF mount 28-55mm before. Looked at the current (and past) lens lineups from canon sigma and tamron, but no joy there either. Just wondered if anyone could shed some light on this particular (seemingly non-existant) lens.

Hi all, I was wondering if there is an ef fit lens covering this

focal range? I believe there was an fd lens with this range, but

looking at the current canon lens lineup there isn't a suitable

candidate. Any third party offerings that anyone can tell me of?

Thanks as always to those who respond.

Hmm........Crappy 17-40?! I must confess that I've only used a friend of mine's (who's a pro BTW) for a couple of weekends, and have been hugely impressed by its performance in comparison to my newly aquired EF-S 18-55mm (along with 300d of course, thats all my budget stretches to at the mo!) and the EF 20-35 that I had for my film set up. (The 300d kit cost only 35 euro more than the body only, so I reckoned the 18-55 was worth a go for that reason only) Anyway, there have been no real reviews of the 17-85 IS yet, so how can anyone tell how its gonna perform? It would be extremely surprising however if it outperformed L glass in the same price range.

Bad choice IMHO, but horses for courses eh?

The firmware hack could have got you everything the 10d offers (except metal body and continuos shooting of course)

IMHO you would probably have been better waiting for the 300d replacement due early next year (Very surprising to see it before PMA)( or buying a 20d now).More than likely it will be a "dumbed down" 20d (same sensor+ AF array, plasic body, pentamirror) but way better continuous shooting performance than the 300d. Lets face it, it has to be to compete with the Nikon D70 as an entry level DSLR. Will be a far better camera than the 10d.

Hi all. I'm about to make the jump from film to digital and will soon

order a 300d and i965 printer, both are within my budget right now.

I was going to order some Canon photo paper pro in (6x4) and (8x11)

sizes, but I've noticed that its considerably more expensive than

Kodak Ultima Picture Paper. Does anyone have experience using these

papers (or other brands) on the i965 or other Canon Bubblejet

printer? How did the results compare? Do you think the Canon inks

are more likely to perform better with canon paper? Thanks in

advance to those who respond.

Yeah, thats gonna probably happen. I was gonna wait till after photokina to place the order anyway, just to see what happens. (Not that I expect Canon will release the 200D or whatever it will be called until PMA 2005) I would love to wait for it but I need a DSLR now! Could wait till next spring, but I have itchy shutter fingers. I'm sure the 300d replacement will be a dumbed down 20d, plastic body (hopefully black this time), pentamirror, reduced continuous shootng rate (3-3.5 fps I reckon to see off the nikon D70), smaller buffer, and the same 8MP sensor as the 20D. And all for less than $1000. Sounds like a magnificent camera, but I can't wait that long.

 

P.S

 

I've read some posts here that some people think that the replacement for the 300d may still stay with the 6.3MP sensor. I'm afraid not guys.......why would canon do that? It will be analogous to the 10d/300d situation as stated above.

I am about to buy a 300d as prices are now a little more reasonable,

but I'm anxious about the loss of all of the functions, Flash

Exposure Compensation, Choice of AF mode etc. I know there is a

firmware hack available and that installing this will void the

cameras warranty. My question is this: Say something went wrong with

the camera after the hack was installed, and it needed to be sent to

canon for repair. Would canon be able to tell it was hacked if I

reinstalled the original firmware? Thanks in advance to those who

respond.

Have any of you tried Technikdirect.de ? The are pretty competitive on all cameras, lenses etc.

Just to point out that using lenses on a DSLR which has a crop factor of 1.6 does NOT give you any extra telephoto effect over and above the stated focal length of the lens used. Your 300 f/4 still has a maximum reach of 300mm but it will give you the equivalent FIELD OF VIEW of A 480mm lens.

Like greg said.....the production of digital technology whether digital imaging, computer processors, or anything else for that matter becomes more efficient and cost effective as time goes on. Yields go up, prices go down. Looking back across the timeline for DSLR's and the huge reduction in prices that have occured as manufacturing processes have improved, what makes you think that 1.6X bodies will persist into the longterm? Nothing indicates that they will be around for anything else but the short to medium term, and EF-S lenses will become very expensive paperweights.

They certainly are greg, but I for one will not be taking the EF-S bait when i soon go digital.

I see I was beaten to it by Greg.................

Go for the 300d, it is very attractively priced right now, but I'd avoid EF-S lenses like the plaugue, with the possible exception of the kit lens. The introduction of higher end EF-S lenses probably does indicate that the 1.6X crop factor is gonna be around for a while, but they are useless on a 1.3X or full frame body. Eventually (How long nobody knows) such cameras (full frame) will become the norm (and affordable). This is inevitable. Given proper care lenses should last for many, many years, and when the inevitable happens who wants to be lumbered with obsolete lenses that you paid an arm and a leg for?

You can spend $500-$600 on a canon or sigma fisheye, but how much are you gonna use this lens? Not very often, even in your own opinion. If you want a fisheye, go for the zenitar 16mm. You lose autofocus et al, but you will have $350 to spend on whatever else you want..........IMHO.

While the f4L probly wont do for indoor sports, (unless its well lit0 it still seems like the best option given that its MUCH cheaper than its big bro, and also much smaller and lighter, (which should makr the no photog "ball and chain" some what more comfortable. Spend the rest of the money ~$500 on something else. The 3 lenses you have already will be perfectly complimented by the f4L. Sounds like a GREAT setup to me.

Hi all, the expected rush of almost new 10d's and 300d's have hit the

local classifieds! No fewer than 21 10d's and 9 300d's (not bad eh?

all from a town of less than 20,000 people!) Maybe its time to go

digital.......

Its strange that canon don't offer an IS version of this lens don't

you think? Given its one stop disadvantage over the 70-200mm 2.8L

IS, it would benefit from IS way more than its more expensive

sibling. And for a a couple of hundred bucks extra I'm sure it would

sell thousands more for canon. An all round win-win situation.