alfred_maragh

Agree with Jean Claude, it does appear to be separation of glass elements in a group. I had a similar problem with a cheap Canon 50mm 1.8 EF. While trying to remove heavy soil from the front element, I accidently spilled too much alcohol (95% ethanol) on the element and it seeped into the lens barrel, resulting in separation of a group of elements. The lens looked similar to yours when held up against the light. It appears as if the elements are held togather by some high transmittance abhesive which was dissolved by the alcohol. Due to the low cost, there was never any consideration about repair. Maybe you can check if the lens is worth repairing from a Canon service facility.

Good luck.

Julian,

Thanks for the link. My ignorance was based on the fact that I have never invested in an L lens and it seems that this feature appears only on such lenses.

Your best bet is to take the flash with you when purchasing the camera. The better photo equipment dealers usually have demo versions of the camera in store and may allow you to test your flash with it. The truth is that there is an increased incidence of incompatibility between newer SLR's (incl dSLRs) and after market accessories. My friend's new EOS Elan 7 does not work with my Sigma lenses or my Vivitar 730AFC (eos dedicated) flash.

I think it makes sense though to just purchase a good Canon dedicated flash for one quarter the price of the 10D body if you intend to get the 10D.

Thanks for all your kind responses. By the way, I have never heard or read about the "AF stop" button on an EOS system (I happen to own seven bodies collected over the last ten years, most bought brand new). I guess the best response came from Shaun. I figure the focus lock would work as he described. I will let you all know how it worked out when I get the new Rebel D later this month.

Thanks again.

I agree with Nick. Focal length is an intrinsic property of a lens regardless of the body on which it is mounted. One of the most misleading things regarding info on digital cameras is this "focal length multiplier". The focal length of your lens does not truly increases when it is mounted on a dSLR. What happens is that the dSLR crops the image as its sensor size is smaller than the 35mm frame. So, a "1.6X multiplier" is really a reduction to two-thirds of a 35mm frame. The same effect is achieved if one takes a picture on 35mm and chop the sides to look identical to that of a dSLR (non-full frame) capture. Maybe the manufacturers should say "frame reduction factor compared to 35mm" instead of "focal length multiplier".

I have oredered the new Rebel Digital and while it is on the way I

have downloaded the user manual from the Canon EOS wedsite and have

thoroughly gone through it. I have seen on this forum where persons

have expressed disappointment with the absence of one shot AF in the

creative zone and that only AI (artificial intelligence) Focus is

offered. Page 63 of the downloaded manual does say that 'focus lock'

is possible. This where one can focus on a point on a subject then

recompose the shot before shooting. With the Elan II, when this is

done in AI Focus mode, the camera does refocus after recomposing is

done. This seem to occur most often when the active focusing point

superimposes a point on the subject which in front or behind the

original point of focus (prior to recomposing). Does this happen

with the Digital Rebel? Is the focus lock temporary such that the

camera refocuses if one delays shooting after recomposing? If the

focus lock does work, in what situations does the camera detect

movement and refocuses?

I forgot to mention that combining the Canon life size converter and the Sigma 50mm f2.8 which give an overall mag of 2:1, the focussing distance is reduced to about 1.5 inches fron the lens front element. It is almost impossible to use the ringlite at this distance. Regarding your second body, the elan 7 is an excellent choice both for a serious amateur and a low end pro. I have been purchasing the Elan series from their inception and have been quite pleased with the price and performance. From my experience, shooting with two bodies can be quite awkward. While one is being used the other gets banged around hanging from my shoulder. You could get a holster-type pouch to keep the second body thus protection it and allowing you to retrieve it quickly. There was a time I carried three bodie, one with colour film, one with B/W film and the other with colour tranparencies. It was a nightmare. These days I will shoot just colour trans and scan them. One get colour prints, and can get B/W by Photoshop conversions as well as a trannie for projecting.

Of course, a digital camera will be quite versatile in a similar sense. Hope this helps

I recently boufgt a low priced macro outfit for my eos system, consisting of a Sigma 50mm 2.8 1:1 macro lens and a vivitar 6000AF macro ring light. The packaged cost about $340 from B&H. I get excellent pics with this. The flash is TTL which helps a lot as it can be difficult to do calculations in the field.

The minimum focusing disatnce is about 3 inches for 1:1 mag. I happen to have the Canon life size converter and when attached to the Sigma lens I get 2:1 mag.

You may want to consider a similar package. A tripod is also critical.