bob11664879529

UPS just delivered my new K100D. I saw the 1.02 firmware on pentax website and

mine had 1.00 so decided to update it.

 

Following the instructions in readme file accompanying the 1.02 image file, I

used the AC adapter (with batteries removed), holding menu button and turned

on camera, with 1.02 file at root of SD card. The LCD said loading... and I

selected Yes and hit OK. The marching ant finished phase 1 in about 20 seconds

and went on to phase 2. All seems well to this point but behold, the LCD

became blank! I didn't know what to do but remembered the instructions say "do

not turn off power under any circumstances until you see completed displayed

on screen". So I let the camera sit that way for hours but eventually had to

turn the switch off and on. Now I have a camera with toasted firmware. It

boots up, focuses, meters and snaps pictures but does not save to card, nor

displays the picture on LCD. The menu, info, Fn buttons no longer function.

LCD display no longer shows anything whatever button I hit. If I hold the menu

and turn it on, it no longer shows f/w version. I tried "blind operation",

i.e. with f/w card in, holding menu and turn it on, hit "up" 4 way rocker once

and OK once, hoping it would load f/w again but it didn't.

 

Before sending it to Colorado service center, I am wondering, is there

anything I can try? I have only played with it for an hour or so and haven't

taken a single serious picture with this new outfit yet!

 

Thanks

Except dell is an authorized dealer, no other useful info can be found at sigma site.

Hi,

 

I recently ordered a Sigma EX 10-20mm for Canon from dell.com and it just

arrived. I know EX's has 1 yr Intl + 3 yr USA warranty but the box has only

the 1 yr warranty card. Nowhere does it mention the 3 yr USA warranty. The

product page at Dell.com does not mention any warranty. A call to dell, as

usual, gets no sensible answer. But dell is listed on sigmaphoto.com as

authorized dealer so I guess it is not grey market but I am unconfortable

about it. Any one has bought an EX lens that comes with paperwork for the

extended 3 yr USA warranty? Thanks.

 

Bob

Jason and Kin, can you let us know when you got the non-oem batteries? I would like to buy a few but I know for non-oem the quality really depends on the particular manufacturer. Thanks.

Quirk 1.

When powered off, lens does not return to infinity. it is a pain for

me with 50mm/2.5 every time I have to switch to manual focus and turn

to its min lenghth and store it. Minolta original 5/7/9000 was the

same but their 2nd generation i series and on retract lens as you

turned it off.

 

Quirk 2.

Why are they using the cryptic CF01 0/1 instead of Rewind Fast/Quiet?

or just RW F/Q would be much more helpful so you don't need to put a

sticker on the back of the camera or carry a cheatsheet? it should be

fairly easy to implement.

I'd say it is quite normal for these lame rebate houses to take a few weeks to show status on the web. It is too soon to worry about it.

 

I am send off mine today - that's the biggest rebate check I have even had - $560. Cannot do the prequalification because I have > 5 items but I certainly will keep copy for all the paperwork.

How did you shoot the wheel? Any cropping? Used PL? The sky seems very uneven.

JC, when the limits are reached and I further turn the ring, only the ring turns with a little resistance. the focus scale does not turn beyond the infinity and the closest distance. not sure how far it would turn. seems it can turn for ever but never tried to turn it a full turn lest I break it.

Yes, that's a really a smart move by canon. SLR users seldom, if ever, switch brand once hooked onto one. It is painful and needs a great reason to do so. I am right in this big pain of swithing from minolta to canon. so far I got the xt kit, 300/4 IS, 70-200/4, 1.4x, 50/2.5, plus a tokina and a tamron. will get a film body and flashes and I am sure canon can count on me in the years to come.

 

minolta disappointed me so much in the recent years and I wanted to switch for years. I admit the triple rebate triggered it and prevented me from considering nikon.

 

For the rebate one thing I am not sure is that if I get two 580ex, do I get $20 on each? Form says they must be different products..

Got this new lens a couple weeks ago. Its manual focus ring has

something that I am not sure of. When the swith is in AF position,

the manual focus ring turns freely w/o doing anything in focusing -

yeah that's right. But in MF position, I can turn the ring past the

limits at both ends. There is a little resistance but w/o much force

I can it past infinity and closest distance. Is that normal?

from the pictures of various ebay sellers it seems all those nikon-canon adapters are from the same source so I think if Andy and Larry are happy with the quality they are all OK.

NK guy, very nice job. One suggestion: if you can make the table width 85% instead 100% when 5 cameras are compared, people can print the hardcopy w/o cutoff on the right hand side - I had to get the source code and change the width, save to a local htm and print.

I want to try a few special lenses of Nikon mount on 350D and noticed

there are such adapters on ebay by sellers from Hongkong/UK such as:

 

<a href='http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-Lens-to-Canon-EOS-Mount-Adapter-

Ring_W0QQitemZ7576987964QQcategoryZ30059QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem'>

this ebay adapter </a>

 

From the picture I can see these are quite rough and crude, not like

precision machined. Anyone has used such a thing? difficult to

mount/unmount? looseness/wobble? etc?

 

Thanks

I know having multicoating on UV and other general filters greatly

reduce ghost. How about CPL?

 

I think there are two reasons to have coating on filters:

 

1. minimizing the reduction in light passthrough the lens. W/o

coating you lose about 8% of the light.

 

2. Reducing ghosting and stray light. This mainly is the light that

goes through the first surface, reflected from the second surface,

reflect off the first again and finally goes through the 2nd surface

into the lens.

 

I think (1) is not as a serious issue as (2). For (2), due to the

special optical structure, I figure there is very little, if any,

effect from 2 - that part of light gets cut off by the polarizing

element on the way from 2nd surface back to 1st.

 

I think there must a reason why HOYA's top line super hmc pro1 cpl

has no coating on the front, while this line's UV and even lower line

UV's have hmc on both side.

 

I really doubt money spent on MC on a CPL worth it - especially for

larger sizes it quite a bit money.

Yes, I know AF still works. What I was asking is does IS (image stablizer) still work?

Thanks to all those who helped me compare 300/4 and 400/5.6. I am

about to order the 300 and 1.4 tonight but need to ask another

question: Does IS still work with 1.4 between the lens and body? How

well?

 

Bo C

Thanks so much for the inputs. This forum is wonderful!

I am most likely to get the 300IS. Got to try Canon IS.

Thanks for all your inputs.

 

I am leaning toware 300 IS. Two specific question about this lens;

 

1. Does its IS work when on monopod? I heard IS does not work with tripod. I mean, monopod would allow me one or two stops slow speed and IS allows 2-3 stops slower. If I have IS on top of monopod, do I have combined 3-4 stops slower speed to shoot?

 

2. Does it have a focus limit switch? being able to focus close, without focus limit it could be a curse.

 

thanks again

Searched the forum but didn't find what I am exactly looking for.

 

I nearly completed switching from Minolta to Canon.

So far got XT body (yet to find a film body to replace the 8000i and

9xi), tokina 12-24, tamron 28-75, Canon 50 2.5 macro and canon 70-

200/4. Still looking into longer end. Choices are Canon 300/4 IS and

400/5.6. Being Minolta user I have no experience of IS at all. I do

have a bogen 3021 but most of the time I carry a monopod. 3021 is way

too big and heavy so most of time it sits in the garage.

 

I haven't used any 300/4 with Minolta but have used Sigma 400/5.6 apo

macro and tokina 400/5.6 at-x (off the topic - Sigma got better

reviews but my tests show no difference from tokina so I kept tokina

since it is smaller and fits my backpack). I used the 300 or 400 for

animals and some sports etc. Wonder how different are a 300 from a

400. How better does the IS on 300 make (I am sure I will carry the

monopod all the time)? I may get the 1.4 TC II as well.

 

I have heard people complaining no IS on the 400, and people

complaining 300 IS not as sharp. Considering I have 70-200, is the

300 worth the additional 100mm?

 

thanks for your thoughts in advance.

Thanks for all.

 

I think I have figured it out about the ring - though I am out of luck sharing the ring.

 

the 70-200/4L uses ring A(W). This same ring is for 300/4L non-IS and 400/5.6L but the newer 300/4L IS uses ring B(W)

 

see pictures here (300/4L IS):

 

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-EF-300mm-f-4-L-IS-USM-f4-EOS-Telephoto-Lens-NEW_W0QQitemZ7560904863QQcategoryZ106844QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem">Ring B on 300/4L IS</a>

Hi,

 

I recently bought the 70-200/4L. I feel it will be better balanced on

the tripod (with 350 body) if a tripod ring is used. I plan to buy a

longer lens with the 300/4L IS being the candidate. It seems that the

ring that comes with 300/4 is A(W) and it appears the same thing for

70-200/4 but not sure. Canon support did not give me a sure answer on

this. Anyone happen to own both lenses and know if the 300/4 ring can

be used on 70-200/4?

 

Also from photodo it appears the new 300/4 IS scores not as good as

the old non-IS version in terms of MTF. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks

Thanks Bob for the comments on Tokina. I will probably get the Tokina since it is usable >18 mm or so for film. But I wouldn't use a pol on wide angle as for landscape the sky is darkened different at different locations. BTW, the 70-200/4 has an odd ball 67mm filter size if I recall correctly - I am researching on a canon 70-200

I think I got the answer from Yakim's first link:

Sigma 10-20: "In fact, the image circle was so small, that there was no focal length where this lens could be used on a film body without serious vignetting. Digital users wanting to have a multi-purpose wide-angle lens that could be used on a film body in a pinch should look elsewhere."

 

Thanks.

No. This way I would have to carry two set of lenses when I want to shoot both digital and film.

Hi,

 

I am long time Minolta user but have waited too long for a good

Minolta DSLR (don't like 7D) so finally decided to jump the ship to

Canon. In choosing the wide zoom, the sigma and tokina are the

finalists. Canon 10-22 is out because it is EF-S, won't mount onto a

film camera. Tokina 12-24 has got rave reviews and it is said up to

17mm it can be used on 35mm film. The Sigma is relative new and there

are few (generally good) reviews . Does any owners of it have tried

it on a full frame 35mm? Up to what focal length does vingnetting go

away and the corners are reasonally good and useful? I plan to use it

for wide angle for both APS-C size DSLR and film SLR.

 

Thanks.

 

Bo