t_n1

I had that 'dream team' on the 20D. It was a terrible combination. The 17-40 became my primary lens but it was super limited. The AF was also odd with it too. Crop cameras AF oddly when using super zooms as general purpose lens.

 

The dream team has been great on my 5D.

I think the XTi is a great little camera for $700.

 

1. There is definitely a difference between 6MP and 10MP. I have printed 16x20/24" prints from my 10D and XTi. There is hardly any difference between 6MP and 8MP.

 

2. AF is identical between 400D and 30D.

 

3. The XTi only goes up to iso 1600, unless you can find a firmware hack for it as well. At iso 1600 I see no difference between XTi and 20D (same sensor as 30D) in 16x20/24" prints.

 

Canon rep said no expected update to 30D and 5D in 2007. When asked about 1DsIII, he repeated that there was no expected update to 30D and 5D.

The 135mm suggestion is too long for indoor studio, at least on the 30D.

Ditto Jim. The 70-200 is too long for indoor studio on the 30D. The 85mm doesn't solve that problem either. I think the 17-55mm IS works well for indoor studio with natural light. And ignore those who say that you don't need IS. You're shooting stationary objects with natural light indoors. Of course IS will help.

 

I personally think the Tamron 17-50mm is just as sharp as the canon 17-55mm 2.8 at anything other than wide open. But it lacks IS.

 

Since outdoor shooting is second priority, I would hold off on the 70-200 for now.

After using 1D II, I really don't think 10fps over 8.5fps is that big of a deal. Neither is 10 MP versus 8MP. The only thing the III has over IIn, in my opinion, is low noise at high iso. Do you shoot high iso often? If so, then the III is worth it. If not, then I wouldn't drool over the III.

Get over it.

XTi!

Option 2.

Might be more relevant in the photo.net feedback forum...

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/forum?topic_id=1562

I've personally found that full frame wide angle lenses, such as the 17-40mm or 16-35mm, always behave oddly on crop cameras such as the 20D/30D. The corners are always a bit distorted from the extreme curvature and the autofocus was a bit unreliable. Using those lenses on my 5D showed no problems though.

 

Using 17-55mm EFS lens or Tamron's 17-50 2.8 lens on my crop cameras don't show the same problems. AF is accurate and corners are acceptable.

For photojournalism and studio work as the original poster indicated, tilt shift lenses would be meaningless. You can get either the 30D or 5D, as long as you get the right lenses for it.

Not many people shoot wider than 16mm on a full frame camera (equivalent to 10mm on 1.6x crop camera). Unless you're actually shooting anything wider, Jim is right.

IMHO it's not worth the upgrade from XT to 30D.

So so sensitive...

I upgraded from 20D to 5D. What a big difference. I upgraded from a 10D to 20D before (that was a waste).

 

If you're shooting theater, I would highly recommend 5D over your current XT (350D) because of the superior high iso performance as well as auto focus performance. People raved about 20D, but I seriously thought its AF performance was lacking. I can't imagine the XT being any better than the 20D in that regard.

But he specifically asked for PC recommendations. Who knows what his other requirements are that may need to be used on a PC platform? I was the network manager at my University. Macs and PCs both caused equal problems. We had both computer labs set up throughout the campus simply because different students/faculty needed different platforms due to specific software requirements.

 

Unless he wants to buy CS3, there is no reason for him to move to Macs at this point in time. Nor did he even ask about it.

 

Like you, I am sharing about life experiences that dilute this thread and the OP's question.

Why do all Mac users try to convert everyone? Jeez if someone asked for Mac tips, I wouldn't tell them to get a PC.

 

I left a message on your identical post in the other thread.

Anyway, I agree mostly with Joe's assessment/tips. I personally do not think you need 4M cache in your processor chips, so any of the chips lower than E6600 will be suffice, but make sure it's still Core 2 Duo. It makes a small difference in benchmark tests, but for photoshop uses, you will not be doing benchmark tasks. I agree the assessment about getting as much RAM as you can.

 

Regarding video card, any standard PCI express x16 card will work as long as it does NOT share memory from the system. A lot of cards will use a portion of the system's RAM for video. This takes away resources from the system and can slow down the graphics as well. It's best to find a video card that has dedicated memory on the video card itself.

 

But if you decide to play video games or work on 3D modeling, then you will need a higher end card. For 2D photographic purposes, just follow what I said in the previous paragraph.

 

For practical reasons, I do not think you need 10K RPM hard drive. Many tests, as well as my own practical experience, have shown that the 16 MB cache SATA 3.0g/s hard drives are just as fast at the 10K RPM drives. And it's cheaper too. So my recommendation? Get SATA 3.0 g/s hard drives with 16 MB cache 7200 RPM.

I use a 5D. Iso 50 has supposedly finer grain, compromising dynamic range just slightly. Honestly though at iso 100, grain is virtually non-existent. I think iso 50 was implemented for shooting with slower shutter speeds, ie shooting water, waterfalls, etc.

Ditto Jim.

 

I used the 50mm 1.4 all the time on my 10D/20D with the 1.6 crop sensors. The minute I moved to the 5D, I replaced the 50mm with the 85mm. But I do agree that the 85mm's minimum focusing distance is terrible.

There's a simpler method. If you have winRar, just right click on the downloaded file from Canon, and open with winrar.

 

Then extract all the contents out. The initial setup program is the only one that checks for previously installed programs. Go into one of the directories where you can find the setup program. It will install with no problems.

Since you did ask which lens of the three, and not any other lens, I'd go for 85mm 1.8. I personally think kids move around way too much, so shooting anything wider than 1.8 will most likely fall outside the depth of field.

 

Secondly I like the intimate perspective that comes with stepping closer with shorter focal lengths. This is especially true when it comes to kids. They look great at close distances/perspectives. The 135mm, while it's a great lens, gives too much distance from the photographer and the subject, especially when photographing children.

 

People may say that kids would be awkward if you're too close. I find this to be true only during the first hour. After that, the kids get used to you, depending on how friendly you are.

If you're using ACR, its worth it to get Lightroom. If you're using another RAW software, then the favor toward lightroom isn't that great, depending which software you're currently using.

You need to give us more info than just brands. If all specs are equal, I'd go for Lenovo. Even with identical components, benchmark tests always show Toshiba lagging a little bit in terms of speed. Nobody really knows why. Then again it's highly unlikely that you'll be using your machine at benchmarking conditions.

<p><i>If you're going to use PS2 a lot, remember that Photoshop runs slower on newest Intel Core 2 Duo than previous G5 processors. It's because Adobe didn't adjust PS2 for new Duo processors. They admit that. They also said that they're not going to do anything before relising PS3.</i></p>

<p>That's only if he is operating on the Mac OSX.</p>

<p>The responses to your question did not read your original post. AMD's hold their own very well in regards to desktops. But you asked about laptops. AMD has been terrible regarding power consumption and speed when it comes to their mobile line processors. I am an AMD fan, but nothing touches the intel mobile chips.</p>

<p>You need at least a 5400 RPM for your boot drive. Anything slower will crawl. You can go for a faster drive as your boot drive, but your battery life will drop considerably if you ever plan to use it away from an outlet. And try to aim for a laptop that has SATA.</p>

<p>Regarding external drives, I haven't used the 800 gig drives yet, but again aim for something that has firewire 800. You will notice the speed improvement over firewire 400 and usb 2.0. Needless to say, your laptop must support firewire 800 (1394b).</p>

<p>I've spent way too much time building desktops and laptops instead of shooting. Oh well.</p>