straightarm

Some posters have suggested Canon L lenses. The 28-135 is L standard optically, just doesn't have a metal barrel. The IS function is very handy.

If you can't afford this combination, go for the EOS3 and the 28-105, just make sure you get the f3.5-4.5 version and not the new cheap version.

The only slightly negative point about these combinations is that the longest focal length is not that long for animal photography. At a later stage you might want to consider a longer lens, either prime or zoom that will take you up to 300 or 400mm.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

To Kyle and C Terry

Please have the courtesy to read the question properly.

Your suggestions completely ignore

i) what the poster can afford now.

THE UK price of a new 300IS and 1.4 converter is £1,500; he can afford £550.

ii) He wants the flexibilty of a zoom.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

Both Nikon and Canon make excellent cameras and lenses, but I feel Canon are ahead. I've found Canons very easy to use and give excellent results.

If AF speed is an issue, then IMO nothing is faster than Canon's USM lenses

The Canon 28-135 IS is an excellent lens, the disadvantage is that the Nikon lens goes wider to 24mm. Whether that difference is significant is something only you can decide.

You have mentioned a battery pack. I would recommend a separate dedicated flash ahead of a battery pack. The built in flashes are pretty poor. They are weak, and to close to the lens to give good results. Their only real use is for fill-in flash outdoors.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

Given your price constraint I'd recommend the following

Tokina 80-400. Make sure you get the newer version that has a tripod mount on the lens.

Sigma 135-400

Sigma 170-500

possibly Sigma 50-500 if you can find one in your price range.

I've used the Sigma 135-400 and the optical quality is good. It just doesn't feel as good as a Canon lens. AF's not as fast as a Canon USM lens, but very little is.

Possibly you can offset part of the cost by part exchanging the Canon 75-300.

As you have an EOS5 , which is an old design, you will not have any lens compatabilty problems, but if you were to subsequently buy a new body, EOS30, 33, 3 etc or EOS Digital, you might have lens compatability problems that would require the lens to be rechipped.

Simon

In black and white everyone's a hero

When people talk of a stop more exposure or a stop more powerful, they are talking of a factor of 2

Eg going from an exposure of 1/1000 sec to 1/500 is one stop

Apertures are slightly more complicated, numerically a factor of 1.4 is 1 stop. So any aperture of F4 passes twice as much light as F5.6

On the ISO film speed scale, a doubling of speed eg ISO 100 to 200 is also referred to as 1 stop faster.

To go back to your example, the half stop difference means that the 550EX is 40% more powerful, at full power than the 420EX at full power. However, the 420 is pretty powerful flash itself.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

About 10 years ago I bought an EOS 5 and two Tokina lenses; a 20-35 and a 80-200 ATX.

Neither was compatable with my EOS 3. I ended up part exchanging the 20-35 for a Canon 20-35 and having the 80-200 ATX rechipped.

In the UK a Sigma rechipping cost me GBP5.00 (USD 7.50), The Tokina GBP150.00 (USD 200!) but the Tokina is such a good lens it was worth it.

Can't comment on Tamron as I don't own one.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

I think you'll receive a German one. Don't know if you'll receive one in another language. When the flash arrives, why not contact Canon and explain the situation and see if they'll exchange the German one for an English one.

The manual is quite large, approx 100 pages so it would be impractical to produce a multilingual one.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

I had the EOS 5 for about 9 years and like your Elan 7, it had the sports, potrait modes etc. I found that I didn't use them as they didn't give me enough control.

If you're experienced enough, trust your own experience and set the camera to do what you want.

Another thing is RTFM!

read the flipping manual!

There are just so many features that are not obvious for just looking at the camera.

Also, because the camera is battery dependent, always carry a spare.

Simon

In black and white everyone's a hero!

The original psoter is correct

When the filter is smaller than the lens it's a step down ring.

When the filter is larger than the lens it's a step up ring.

The convention is lens to filter, not filter to lens.

Simon

In black and white everyone's a hero!

IMO you can't beat Fuji themselves.

www.fujilab.co.uk

I've found the best value is to buy my Provia from Park Cameras

www.parkcameras.com

and buy the prepaid fuji mailers at the same time at £3 per film.

Simon

In black and whire, everyone's a hero!

As one of the other posters has replied, the setting of Auto Bracketing (AEB) is achieved on the top plate not via the custom functions. See manual page 77.

However CF9 controls Auto Bracketing . see manual page 114. There are 4 options

setting 0; standard exposure, under exposure and finally over exposure. Then AEB is cancelled.

setting 1; standard exposure, under exposure and finally over exposure. No cancellation

setting 2; under exposure, standard exposure and finally over exposure. Then AEB is cancelled.

setting 3; under exposure, standard exposure and finally over exposure. No cancellation.

Hope this helps.

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

Simon

My advice is to buy a 50mm f1.8. Optically its performance is superb.

There are two versions of this lens; mark 1 and mark 2. The mark 1 is only availible second hand, but is regarded as the better version as it has a distance scale and is considered to be a more robust lens.

Use the $200 you'll save for other lenses or a flash.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

but I did have it's little brother, the 135-400. The image quality was generally very good. It wasn't that good wide open, but stopping down slightly vastly improves things.

The problem was that it didn't focus as quickly as a Canon USM lens, ( but what can?) and it just didn't feel as well made as a Canon.

It really comes down to the Canon focusing speed and build quality versus the extra flexibilty and longer focal length of the Sigma.

If 300mm is the longest you need go for the Canon. If you need a longer lens go for the Sigma.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

if you can aford it.

I've found that this is an absolutely superb lens, great for wildlife work.

Simon

In black and white everyone's a hero

Tokina make some execllent lenses, especially their ATX range.

Cosina, Vivitar and if youcan hold of them, Phoenix, make EOS fit lenses.

The absolute cheapest way to get a fisheye lens in to buy a fish eye convertor that screws in the filter mount of your lens.

Try www,speedgraphic.co.uk and look in the catalogue in the teleconverter section

Simon

in black and white everyone's a hero!

But as one of the other posters has commented, the A2E design is 10 years old.

One other thing to remember about the A2E is that the ECF doesn't work when the camera is held vertically. When I had my EOS5, the european version of the A2E, I found ythis very infuriating.

Simon

In black and white everyone's a hero!

Hoya HMC skylight filters on all my lenses. A good compromise between cost and quality.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

Having seen the film recently,

I thought he used 2 camera and lens combinations. One was the wideangle either 17-35 or 20-35, the other 28-70 or 28-80

Simon

In black and white everyone's a hero!

and start again from scratch, calibrating in several different lighting conditions.

When it's set uop properly ECF is brilliant and coupled with USM lenses it's unbeatable. It's as though you just think about focussing and it happens, quickly and quietly.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

My advice is to get the most recent design, the elan 7e.

I had an EOS5 (aka A2e) and now have a EOS3.

The more recent the design, the faster the AF. The A2e has the ECF feature, but it only works when the camera is held horizontally.

The other point is that the A2e reputedly has a design flaw with the command dial. The dial is recessed into the top plate, and dust is funnelled into the camera body, where it causes problems with the electrical contacts.

The elan 7e has a non recessed dial and the top plate is slightly sloping so dut does not get into the body.

Also Canon has a reputation for not supporting older cameras.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

As long as you mark objectively and and consistently, then you should keep rating and commenting on posted images.

IMO the objective of posting images is to subject them to peer review, not to give you a nice warm feeling. If the person whose images have been reviewed can't take valid criticism, then they need to grow up or not post images for comment.

I personally don't like the originality mark ,as I think there are very few "original" images and that technique and composition are more important than originality.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

Manfrotto make a lens support, no 293

certainly speed graphic in England sell them

http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/pdfiles/p22-23.pdf

I'm sure you'll find one in the USA

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!

IMO this is a fantastic lens. It's very sharp and it focusses very quickly. I had a Sigma 135-400 previously, which was sharp enough, but did not focus particularly quickly and was quite nosiy. The Canon just feel a much higher quality lens. The IS means that I can use it without a monopod.

I use it mostly for sports photography, in particular for motor sports. I have no problem with the push - pull control for zooming.

The 70-200 and 2x extender is not a route I'd take as I some times what a lens longer than 400mm, so I use the 100-400 with a 1.4x extender. On an EOS 3 you keep AF, albeit just the central focussing point.

15 - 20 years ago, before AF became so prevalent, having a one touch zoom was consdidered desirable as people wanted to zoom and focus without having to move for one ring to another. I believe that this makes the lens designer's job more difficult.

With the advent of AF, the need for one touch designs is less, as many people will never use manual focussing and only need to use the zoom control.

Simon

In black and white everyone's hero!

either the Canon 20-35 USM, which is the lens I use, or the Tokina ATX 20-35 f2.8.

I've seen UK review that rate the Canon as being very sharp and the ATX Tokina sharper still.

IMO focussing speed on a wide angle is not important.

Simon

In black and white, everyone's a hero!