craighagan

<p>First off, it sounds like you may well have a corrupt card. I'd recommend<br>

that you first pull off whatever you can get, then replace the card.<br>

I'd use your linux box for this work.</p>

<p>Step 1 is to save a working image of the card for processing. DD the card to one or more files (or whatever you can get), this will give you something to work with. You may need to play games with the dd command (noerrors, seek, skip, etc)<br>

to get all of the data.</p>

<p>Next, dig up a copy of magicrescue http://www.student.dtu.dk/~s042078/magicrescue/ and run it<br>

against those dd'ed files. It should be able to pull out your jpegs.</p>

<p>After this, try using linux to zero, partition, and format the card:</p>

<p>zero: dd if=/dev/zero of=/path/do/raw/card<br>

to mess with the partition table on the card: fdisk /path/to/raw/card<br>

format: mkfs.vfat / mkdosfs /path/to/first card partiton (or you can just hit the entire device, not sure what windows will like)</p>

<p> </p>

<p>One trick that you can try with manual exposure (I'm assuming you're leaving the flash in full auto-ettl2 mode) is to meter for the background, and let the flash handle the foreground. In the case of the picture of your son, you could have either left the exposure settings the same as the shot with the sky properly exposed, or you could have moved left/right to get a clear view of the sky and metered (or just chimp). You then can adjust EV *or* FEC (flash exposure compensation) depending upon how things are looking. If you do choose to shoot in a less manual mode, try Tv/Av, (or "night portrait" for full auto fill flash)<br>

What is hard on a bright day is using the built-in flash on a camera to light up either a large area or a subject which is far away from you -- that is when a shoe flash (or bigger) can really improve things.</p>

<p> </p>

I'd seriously consider an 18-200 mm lens, and extra flash cards. You may well want to look into

what lens/camera rental opportunities you'll have for going on safari. If you can rent the big

guns, that saves you both the cost of buying them and lugging them with you for the entire trip.

The 40d is definitely tougher than the XTi. I've taken an XT out in -10F weather snowshoeing in NH and beach-backpacked it several times on the Washington coast. I've also taken it on the Milford track including being poured on (par for that trail). I only upgraded to a 40d recently and it had nothing to do with environmental concerns nor camera faults. The 40d *is* tougher and better sealed than the XTi, so I wouldn't worry about things too much unless you do something obviously bad, e.g. dunk the camera in water.

 

Do pay attention to salt spray and try not to it much in the camera, wipe it off as quickly as possible. You may well want to try a rain cover for your camera and/or keep it in a waterproof holster/case save when you're using it (this is what I normally do when I hike). I'd strongly suggest a filters in front of your lens both for protection and for improving the sky/cloud contrasts via a circular polarizer. You will definately need to take extra lens cloths as you'll blow through them very quickly. You should also carry at least one extra battery with you. If it is cold, keep them warm in your shirt or an interior pants pocket.

 

As for the 30d, the 40d *should* have marginally better sealing than the 30d, but neither are weatherproof (otoh, the XTi surprised me and it has less sealing than either).

 

My answer: take both, then toss in your k1000 while at it :-)

I've got two interfit 150II's and use the interfit IR transmitter off of both my 40d and (for yucks) my G7. Cheap to get and it works fine, no cords. I'd hazard that nearly any IR xmitter would work since it is just a cheapo flash with a filter.

If you are looking for a beginner light, the Alien bees have been highly recommended by many folks. My budget

didn't allow for them, so I bought one of the interfit kits (two 150W/s strobes, a softbox and an umbrella +

stands). So far

they've done me well.

picture styles is marketed as being like different types of film. I think that there is a lot to that - I can quickly change from a velvia like effect for landscapes to a more neutral configuration for portraiture.

 

For nature, I've had good experience with the autumn hues; I tend

to boost saturation because i like that (other people don't).

 

For portraits, I usually use the default portrait setting, I am now

trying out the snapshot portrait style that canon has posted.

 

Something to consider: you can also make up your own style, too.

 

But, your question was about "better looking" pictures. Only you can determine that. Mess around with them. One trick is to take a raw shot

and play with the various styles in DPP and see what you like.

Despite the risks, I tend to err on the larger side of cards, currently I'm using 8GB cards and may consider going larger at some point.

 

I have also lost data on cards. One thing I've learned: if you believe that the data on the cards is important, then hold onto the card after it becomes corrupted as you may find a better recovery tool. For me, this happenned several years after I had a card totally crap out on me, I managed to find a rather good recovery tool, magicrescue (linux/unix util folks) which was able to pull back most of the jpegs from the card despite it being having been completely unreadable/unrecoverable from windows.

So, to be fair, I use a sigma 18-200 DC OS as a walkaround do everything "ok" lens on my 40D. It works. If the person wants

such a lens, rather than dissing them, point them to what

they could use.

 

IMHO in terms of actual differences between systems it is a much harder question.

 

*today* you'll find a certain set of differences in terms of AF quality, auto iso behavior, control layout, noise reduction behavior, and maximum presented iso speed. With the exception of control layout which is somewhat stable within a camera system, everything else can change in a heartbeat leaving you with whichever lenses you have purchsed. The best bet: look at the lenses you're interested, look at what is available both from canon/nikon and from third parties for each lens mount. Then make the call. IMHO, when in doubt

get less camera and more lens. (that 18-200 lens: bought after several other lenses which are all optically superior, but not as handy for walking around)

two comments:

 

1) you've a pretty good set of starter lenses (really), with the possible already mentioned addition of the 50 f/1.8.

 

2) you mentioned a fear of camera shake; work on trying to either use a tripod or keeping the shutter speed above 1/<focal length>, and vary your iso to help maintain that

 

3) you mentioned using your flash, but that using it washes everything out. This suggests that you need to master your flash -- the on camera flash ain't great, but it isn't *that*bad*, plus the flash metering works the same way as a hotshoe flash, so learning how to "tame" it will help.

 

of note for your flash:

 

in the "auto" zone, only night portrait (person with a star in the background) considers the flash to be "fill" light rather than primary illumination, which means that the camera will try to meter to expose everything and then use the light of the flash to bring out the foreground.

 

in the creative zone, "P" assumes (like in auto mode) that the flash is the primary illumination and really lets things have it. unlike in auto, you can use flash exposure compensation to reduce the flash duration. Tv/Av assume that flash is fill light and metering works like in night portrait (meter w/o assuming flash, let it fill in the foreground). I believe M works the same way and that ADEP works like P.

 

We'll leave flash sync/etc for another time -- the above should be enough to get you to start being able to tame the beastie.

I also have a 400D. My minimum dslr kit is 400D + a sigma 18-200DC OS lens, often with a circular polarizer. If I feel up to more weight, i then toss in a 10-22mm lens. Beyond that, I'll toss in my flash. Still willing to take weight? I start looking at either replacing the 18-200 with a 17-55 + a 70-300 or taking one of the other two lenses as an extra. If i think I'm going to mostly be shooting "long" then I might carry just my 70-300 + keep a 2x teleconverter handy.

 

I've found that the two lenses (wide range and wide angle) usually

covers what I want to shoot. For carrying I'll usually just take a small shoulder holster for the camera and store the extra lens/etc in my pack. I also have a rain cover for my camera. I've found, though, that the 400d does pretty well in rain even without a cover, just don't be too insane with it. I would recommend either a spare dry-bag or some extra 1 gallon ziplocks to keep on you in case it rains. it is always handy to toss your extra electronics into something which will definately stay dry.

 

Two extras that I've really liked are the IR remote, very handy for long exposures (no touchie the camera), and for getting pictures of oneself. I also like the gorillapods, very slick little buggers.

 

And one wish.. REI apparently has trekking poles with cork tops that unscrew to become monopods. I borrowed one once and now have an aching hole in my wallet...

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the one big advantage

in body IS (or combined in body/in lens) has: it can translate along the axis of the lens (rotationally). That extra angle of motion may well be worth something.

I think that we're going to see a lot of back and forth between the various camera manufacturers for at least the next decade as sensor technology undergoews dramatic improvements. I would also expect to see many more changes as computational power in cameras increases allowing better algorithms to be used for important features such as metering, flash/exposure control, etc. I also wouldn't be surprised to see cameras start doing things that are impossible with film, e.g. varying the iso speed within an exposure so that shadows and highlights can be handled more accurately. I'm very much looking forwards to the camera of tomorrow. But... the camera I have today does a pretty dang good job of making pictures.