andrew_carlson

I personally buy 2G Sandisk Ultra II's at costco for ~$40 and am satisfied with the price/performance. Bear in mind I'm averaging 1000 shots at college hockey games & minor league hockey games. If a card went corrupt and I lost 1/2 a game I would be rather irritated & expect the vendor to cough up a refund.

 

I experienced the corruption feature of transcend 2G cards when I invited a new photographer to an event. He had shot his daughter's basketball game in the AM and came to shoot some kids with Santa. He found out that all shots from the AM were gone.

 

He made a beeline to costco & bought 2 of the Ultra II cards. Its your choice, but choose wisely...

Personally I think you need to sue Sir Isaac Newton. Ultimately it's his fault.

In a nutshell - linux. Only linux has the drivers capable of accessing the camera without going through canon. I know that's not the answer you want, but w/o the drivers written by canon you're only other choice is a CF card.

 

If your fear is thinking that you'll bend the pins in the CF bay by adding/removing the CF card often, consider this. You'd have to be trying pretty hard to bend them. I'm not saying it can't be done, but complete ignorance of action, like trying to put the CF card in while the camera is in a box you can't see in would be a good example.

 

I haven't hooked my camera up to either my windows, linux, or mac box since I got it. I can't even find the cable anymore! CF card reader is far faster than the usb 1.1 on camera anyway.

I would think you have an equal or increased chance of theft from someone you know and trust rather than an isolated street incident.

 

As someone else said before - just get insured, *if* something happens get a police report and make a claim. I think I pay $40 a year specifically for my camera gear. If I drop it, its covered. Theft, fire, etc. I can live with that.

The problem with wireless USB adapters is two fold. Wireless network and bluetooth adapters require software to enable network identification and authentication. Imagine being in a public place with dozens of wireless networks, you obviously want to be on the right one so you get your pictures. You also want security so no one can 'steal' your pictures.

 

The USB adapter on most digital cameras isn't a live connection that just automatically 'writes' data out every time a picture is taken. Again, software is needed to be told to do that. The wireless adapter canon makes is $1000 and only works with 20D, 5D, and 1D? (possibly 30D but I don't know). That tells me that firmware is written to support the necessary features of wireless networking like where to store files, login, WEP/WPA security, etc.

 

It's not a bad idea to try a wireless usb adapter but getting it to mate up with the on camera usb port will be challenging, encouraging it to log in and authenticate to the network when you don't have a prompt or input anywhere on camera well good luck. Stick with the shoot & flip method - least expensive, most effective.

Guess, I'll be different.

 

After reading up on it for a while on how to and such, what to avoid and all that. I started looking around locally for some stuff like a blower or brush. Few stores had anything in stock that I liked and I felt too impatient for an internet order.

 

As it turned out I have a small hobby-sized air compressor for use with air brushes. I used that to blow out or clean off my sensor and I'm thrilled with the results. Also I didn't have to shell out more $$$ for another product. Some of that stuff looks good but too expensive. The air compressor offered steady, controllable air pressure that was constant and not limited to short puffs from a bulb blower. I'd recommend a hobby sized air compressor, but don't go buy one for the task. They can get pricey - I got mine off of ebay for $65 or so for actual airbrushing/painting. Its nice to use it for something else too.

 

I figure if during post processing I see 'spots' from dust I'll clean off the sensor, otherwise if I'm not seeing them then no one else is. I'll correct in PS as necessary.

Find a good store with both, hold each one up, push the buttons, check out the menus. The one you feel most comfortable with, be it a 20D, 30D, D200, whatever, is going to suit you better. A lot of people will also tell you with the 50 f/1.8 you already have a decent piece of glass. Most canon glass will be fine on a DSLR, FD glass with an adapter would work even but might be tough to focus.

For most consumers a DSLR might be a bit too much. Someone, I think canon just released an APS-C sensor siz point and shoot. For general snapshots like kids, soccer games, etc. That might be another option.

This made me stop and think for a moment. An 85 + 135mm primes instead of the 70-200 f/2.8. Then I looked up the prices. For a cheap 85mm prime f/1.8 bh has it for under $400. The 135 is about $900. I'm rounding up for shipping & handling and such. So overal about $1100. About the same cost wise as for a 70-200 f/2.8L

 

What made me stop is this, I got the 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens for sports. I've noticed that on my 20D most of my shots are really right around 85 and 135mm. The next grouping is right at the 200mm and 70mm. I could almost say that its a fair trade the one or both lenses. Yet to have something a little lower than 70mm and a little above 135mm is nice also. I wouldn't want 4 lenses crowding together in my bag. Toss in a 35mm, 50mm, and a nice telephoto at 300 or more and you're carrying a lot. Plus, you mentioned being able to quickly catch a shot of the kid. Does that include changing lenses? Will they wait for you to move to the longer/shorter lens?

 

Then there is cost. I've seen a fair number of people say the 85mm f/ 1.8 is a good lens. I would probably one the f/1.2 though and at $2000 its not realistic. The 135mm I've not heard much about. The 70-200 f/2.8 or any of them really, get a lot of positive comments here and elsewhere. As far as resale value - I feel confident that I could get what I paid for for my 70-200 if I had to. Could I get that for an 85mm? Or a 135mm? I don't know.

I like the idea of a circular sensor in that I can choose the crop in post processing. However, as a commercial venture, releasing anything new in competition with the old has its disadvantages. It usually takes a long time for consumers to become comfortable with any new technology. Even or especially when it interferres with existing technology.

 

I like the VCR analogy best but we're experiencing this in many fields. Prior to the 1980s we didn't have the luxury of VCRs and watching what we wanted to watch when we wanted to watch it. It took over a decade for the VCR to fully convert US homes to a feeling of control or power over their TV. Gradually they learned to program them and record their favorite shows. Now, with digital capabilities, some products like Tivo have launched to impressive heights. Yet digital VCRs have yet to take hold. Tivo is easy to use, tivo owners get mad when you threaten it. Digital vcrs are complex to use, expensive, etc. Yet when you try to convert someone from their trusty old VCR to either a Tivo or a digital VCR, they really fight it.

 

Looking at 35mm, its a standard thats grown up over many decades around the world. Many pro film enthusiasts are fighting the conversion. Just like many MF and LF enthusiasts fought the influx of 35mm. To me it is ironic that many people, comfortable with what they use be it medium format, large format, tivo, or a 1/2" magnetic tape VCR, feel threatened by the onset of new technology. If the old is working for you just fine, you can acquire what you need to use that tech, then nobody is forcing you to change.

 

Releasing a circular sensor would have some difficulties like 1.3x and 1.6x digital SLRs have had. I can imagine that 35mm had a difficult period of acceptance as well. That was long before my time. Hey, what ever happened to 110mm? :o)

I think the scam part has been addressed, those places are really more into getting your money and not delivering anything for it.

 

Regarding the price drop, if you look historically, The 300D kit was $999 brand new and didn't really drop until the 20D was released. You could get a 300D body for $899 but without a lens it was kinda useless. Even when the 20D was released, 300Ds were still going for $650-$800. So no real price drop from the manufacturer. The canon rebate, buy more stuff and we'll give you a small discount, made it seem to be cheaper and encourages people to spend more money. The 20D started at $1499 new and currently goes for what $1199? Whats weird is you can't just find the body, most places kit them up with lenses, cheap memory cards, etc. The 30D will probably start at what $1499? Maybe $1399? There really isn't much in the way of a price drop on these things unless you wait a really long time, past when something is "EOL" or end of lifed. The 20D has experienced a price drop of say $300, but then bhphoto didn't seem to have just the body, lots of kits with multiple lenses, cheap memory, etc. Since the 5D was released in September, you'd probably have to wait until NEXT February for any significant price drop.

The theory is that older studio lights carried high voltage, like 250-400v. Most analog camera's could handle this and again, theory is that some required it. Digital cameras use about 6v on the PC sync. Well the difference between 6v and 400v is quite amazing. Even Novatron's website discusses this and claims any units made after something like 2000 are safe.

 

For concerned users there is the Wein safe sync and other remotes to control the studio strobes. The idea is to put an inexpensive filter or regulator in place, or use a remote. I chose to do it when I bought an older novatron kit off Ebay. The price was right, but the manufacture date was early '90s.

 

To me, a $20 or $30 piece that might save me from extensive repairs is worth it. On the one hand, if the possibility exists that my body could be damaged, wein has a guarantee. On the other hand, if its not possible, $20 or even $40 for a little piece of mind isn't really hurting me. If it were $200 I'd reconsider it.

 

What I found out bouncing from camera store to camera store in in Colorado was that many store clerks didn't have a clue as to what a wein safe sync was. I could have been talking greek to them.

I've tried some lowlight stuff with mine, such as 1/15 and so on. IS really doesn't have anything to do with exposure, so to me it can't really give you more stops, thats creative marketing on their part.

 

What it can do is help stabilize the platform while shooting in less than optimal conditions. If you can expose properly then IS is overkill. However there are times when you want a shot such as twilight and early morning where you need those longer shutter speeds. It can help there if you don't use a tripod but its limited, 30 second shutter speeds won't improve handheld with IS.

 

I got mine mainly for sports but love the results so much I use it for practically everything. I leave IS on also and handhold a lot more than I probably should. With sports I'm moving around a lot, and can't perch or brace my body a lot of the time. I can see the IS impact there as the first shot is usually due to my movement, subsequent shots really clear up and look good. Without it, I'd probably end up tossing 25% more shots due to movement. That's not scientific, just my perceptions after using it for a year and a half.

storage and filesize should never be a concern IMO. I've built a RAID for myself at home and work in the storage industry. Serious storage is beyond the means of small business when entry level units are $15000 US.

 

While you can build your own RAID systems, these cost about $1200 and you don't need as much techno-geek know how.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/103-3477443-9235037?%5Fencoding=UTF8&me=AIYLCHGBMHMT0

 

Infrant tech put me out of business before I could start a business...oh well. I store all my important data on raid 5. It has its short comings but beats wasting a couple of CDs or DVDs every time I wanna shoot something. I'm happy. With 1TB (terabyte) of space you've plenty of image space to store those pictures for a few years. Many will panic and state those short comings for whatever reasons, but I'm happy and have survived a disk failure and controller failure with no loss or corruption. Life is good. (I'm not using hardware raid, but dedicated software raid in a nas - hardware raid makes no difference when its a dedicated box but puts limitations. I know - I tried both)

 

As for image quality/clarity at any print size I find that subjective. What one finds acceptable another will bitch and whine that it isn't good enough. To each his own. It's a subjective opinion and can't be changed from without.

 

Sounds like you have two bodies you're happy with and probably won't need to upgrade for several years, possibly 5 depending. I wouldn't upgrade just to upgrade, make it worth it. Significant features/improvements that qualify upgrading.

I'm not so sure there are hordes of buyers waiting to jump ship and migrate to another manufacturer. Most likely I would expect to find that the DSLR market is approaching saturation and new sales starting to slump. So manufacturers make small refinements to improve or increase sales, mostly upgrade type sales. It's difficult financially and emotionally for one to jump to another with any investment in glass. Plus the controls and ergonomics are very different.

 

Its similar to the auto industry where every year Ford, Dodge, and Chevy sell the same old truck but to make it stand out they add a new "front end" its just a cheap plastic grill that looks slightly different to mark it an 06 instead of an 05, it has no physical impact on the vehicle. People are buying cars now in the US every 3 years almost, and some because of the grill - we aren't that smart look at the president he's well, make your own judgement. That I've owned my car for over 5 surpises many people.

 

I'll say the same of my 20D, the next time I upgrade will be to a full-frame body like a 1D. It'll have to have between 12 and 16MP, 6-8 fps, EF-S isn't important, nor is 1.6x FOV crop factor. (I'm surprised people think that's an advantage even in sports - it isn't but sports shooters do shoot more than just sports) I don't need a 30D as it offers too few new features. The 5D is too slow for sports (almost, I could get away with 4 fps but don't want to) Canon is settling in their market a little sure.

Eric, I think you're right the 30D isn't an upgrade product. I've owned my 20D for 18months I guess and haven't once considered upgrading. The 5D while it piqued my interest isn't fast enough where it counts.

 

Most likely this is canon's answer to the gadget types that constantly want the latest and greatest techno-gizmo to add to their collection. Look at all the posts for the last two months and how many new questions regarding the latest technology. A lot of prosumers want to upgrade because it gives them something to do and something to complain about when they aren't happy. Then there are the pros that are still using five or ten year old bodies and just as happy today as they were the day they got that body.

 

A lot of cliche's run through my mind like "A fool and his money are soon parted."

 

The problems with developing technology like a DSLR and marketing that same technology are similar to any other tech field. The marketing side knows that if they produce product XYX with certain features then they can sell say 100,000 of them at $1500, then another 100,000 at $1100, and 50,000 at $899. So they know they can make close to $300M off of product XYZ. Any way they can cut cost in R&D of that product adds to the profit. Reusing chips, sensors, technology from one product line does exactly that. (Now these are not realistic numbers, I'm making them up to prove a point and someone with a marketing background could be far more accurate than me.) The point is product XYZ is an asset with a fairly predictable income. Knowing that income makes the stock holders happy, maintaining that income they need to re-design or improve that product and re-release it so it becomes another asset. Product lifecycles are huge in technology right now, understanding them, and pressing as much out of them as is possible. The 10D->20D->30D is just extending product lifecycle out from say 3 years to 8-10 years by subsequent upgrades with a fairly predictable income. I wouldn't be surprised if its the last EOS xxD we see and another direction takes place as this lifecycle is pretty well milked. Then new directions from the 5D will occur for 7-8 years and so on.

 

Look at companies Gillette and Shick as examples. Every few years or so they develop a new razor handle for shaving. They don't do much really, a new handle that is slightly more ergonomic, attaches to the safety blades a little differently so they aren't compatible with their own systems, and a huge marketing campaign telling you you need to upgrade to the latest for a softer smoother shave like the handle has anything to do with that. Every 6 months new cartridges are announced. I find it ironic that all they really do is add another blade to the cartridge and charge out the wazoo for those blades. Both perform adequately but charging over $10 for 4 razor cartridges that only last a couple of shaves is outrageous. Yet every day people buy them and boast of getting dozens of shaves from each to justify the expense. I'm seriously considering moving to a straight razor, they last longer and give a better shave. I can't use safety razors for more than 3-4 shaves it irritates too much, it'd cost me $15 a month to shave regularly, something Gillette or Shick can take to their stockholders as a happy, constant income, I'm an asset to them. A good straight razor and kit is about $25 but has a huge learning curve - watch out for the jugular.

 

 

If I can sell you one of product XYZ good, if I can sell you two, better, if I can sell you one of product XYZ every 18 months I've got you hooked an a constant income. Its almost like a services model where you pay $20 a month for service. Only we're paying $1400 every 18 months. Nobody says you have to upgrade, it isn't required of anyone but you know that people will because, by golly, the neighbors bought one we can't be seen with our old one now. Or better yet our old version isn't shiny and new anymore. Canon is role-playing a game called keeping up with the joneses. We, the faithful consumer are also role-playing with Canon, Nikon, and others, to have the best tech and make our peers and neighbors jealous of our shiny new EOS xxD mk19 camera.

 

I keep remembering it isn't the equipment that makes a good photographer. Good photographers make use of the equipment. I also wonder what Ansel Adams would think or say. He'd probably have nothing to do with any of it. The remote flash would be nice instead of having to buy a 550 or 580ex but it isn't that big of a deal, I bought a couple of strobes off ebay and a wein and am happy. Problem solved.

I bet they put in 999's when they don't know their retail price yet.

with the 300D the rebel embeds the jpgs in the raw file I believe. I also recall a .thm file which had exif and small jpg thumbnails but its been so long since I've looked at 300D files I could be mistaken.

I get the concept but I don't let this get in the way of anything. What's the point of buying something only to worry about it constantly? There are good habits such as cleaning and maintenance, then there is excessive worrying. It'll only give you gray hair and ulcers.

 

I got my camera gear insured more than my car so I don't have to worry about it. If it breaks, drops, stolen, fire, etc - I get a new one.

That's interesting for a battery life, I'm still using my original BP-511 from 2.5 years ago and it works great. I do have a second battery also.

 

I originally sold my 300D and upgraded to the 20D but for now see no reason to upgrade again, no to the 5D or any replacement. I'm happy with what I have as it works fine for me. I don't expect to replace my 20D for a few more years.

Nice shot! You could also just use the ice for white balance too. Good placement around the rink helps to catch the action.

I gotta go with Bob on this one. A lens is a tool in your tool box to accomplish something, not just something to have. Buying the wrong thing could mean your $1000 isn't earning interest, but depreciating and gathering dust.

 

I look at all glass like this. If I want to capture something what is the best way to capture it? Sports requires either reach or speed in glass or both. Outdoor, sunny sporting events I can use an f/4 lens. Indoor and nightime sports I need at least a f/2.8 or larger aperture. Most sports I'll need some reach at the 200mm or more. Hockey you can shoot with the 70-200 but soccer, football, and baseball need more reach in the 300-500mm focal length.

 

Nature shots want something crystal clear and VERY wide angle. If you're shooting on a 300D, 350D, or 20D body you'll want something at the 10mm range just to get wide angle field of view.

 

Snapshots - you're covered with the kit lens. Lenses are tools to achieve, not just weigh down the kit. Personally I'd spend a little money on classes and education. Make the most of the body first before making it more complex. Then look at lenses as tools. A 10-22mm can give you wide angle, a 17-40mm is similar to the 18-55mm, the 24-70mm adds a little reach beyond the 18-55mm, 50 and 100mm primes have less elements, macro's can make that flower & bee fill the frame. 70-200 gives great reach on the 20D and other 1.6x bodies, I use it for almost everything I can including hockey, racing, models, everything. I bought it because it solved the sports problem for me, not because I wanted another lens.

I'd stick with the 70-200L f/2.8 non-IS. IS isn't as important at 200mm as it is beyond 200mm. Some think IS is worth its weight in gold (or glass) but it's only as useful as far as you understand it.

Just a thought here, the laptop works for some people and some situations. But when you're carring everything on your back for 10 days or more 'cause you're hiking the <insert name> trail here - its a little impractical. While that's an extreme, some trips just don't warrant a laptop.

 

I went to ride the Cumbres & Toltec NG RR a couple of years back and brought my laptop along like a good little office geek. I wished I hadn't. Too much weight to bear along with lenses, camera, food, clothes for one night. Sometimes ya wanna pack light. If that's not the case and you have one then yeah a laptop is fine. I wouldn't go race out to buy one for the purpose though.

 

What I'm hoping isn't to start a opinion war, but your question revolves around workflow and hopefully this will reveal that workflow is as unique and individual as how you comb your hair or do other tasks. What's a good idea for some doesn't work for others. If you have the laptop already then sure use it. But if you're climbing everest or doing something where packing light is key then you'll regret it pretty early on. That's why I bought the image tank, to do away with the laptop. I hated having the thing with me for two days on that train as it added 14lbs or more and was too big and bulky. I stopped reviewing photos on it within 6 hours too as it was overkill.

I think most of the suggestions are dead on, I haven't heard of any books covering post processing though. There are so many ways to handle post processing that it can be kinda scary or intimidating. I shoot raw+jpg(small) on 512MB cards. I have a portable hard drive known as a digital wallet. You won't find them at big box stores but online like image tank, epson makes one, etc. Battery operated for a few hours. I can fill up a CF card, push copy, put a new card in, format it, and keep shooting. When the 2nd card is full, swap 'em, copy to the drive, and format the one in camera. Some people worry pretty heavily on corrupt files, corrupt images, etc. While those worries can be valid In 2 and a half years I've never had one corrupt image or file.

 

I copy those images to my PC and just review them using Capture one from Phase one. I'm not a big fan of computer automated tasks like it automatically copying files somewhere and opening an app. What if I don't want to open the app? What if I wanna do something different? I also use Imatch photo for ogranization and bulk editing. They cost about the same as Adobe Elements . In capture one I have a very wide range of white balance control, exposure compensation, contrast compensation, and more. Its a phenominal tool. Imatch can do some pretty amazing things too, I use it for creating web sized pictures with borders, watermarks, mass-renaming all files, etc.

 

Regarding backups, I have a server that automatically sync's various folders on the PC to itself once a week. It is enough for me, but for the very nervous, double DVD or CD media backups aren't unheard of. I'd say get an external USB or Firewire drive to store copies and work your own workflow out. What works for me may not make sense to you and vice versa.