Canon EOS 350D Body

This is the cheapest low-end Canon SLR body which I purchased with a bundle including the BG-E3 battery grip, EF-S18-55 f3.5-5.6 II kit lens and EF55-200 f/4.5-5.6 II USM lens. I’m relatively happy with the camera after 6,000 shots which is about a 24-roll of film equivalent each day, something I clearly couldn’t afford with a conventional (non-digital) camera.

The kit lenses went out pretty much straight away. Their crafting quality was so bad I almost thought about going back to the Sony F828 point-and-shoot which is an excellent camera with 28-200mm equivalent zoom range in the built-in lens.

EF70-200 f/2.8L IS

This was the first separate lens I bought, a huge investment but definitely a worthwhile one. It’s a good telephoto lens (but you don’t need me to tell you that) and having a fast f/2.8 aperture with IS is just a killer combination for walkabouts. I’m quite comfortable walking around with just this lens in the countryside.. Here’s some recent results with it in Oxfordshire:

Photos taken on EF70-200 f/2.8L IS Lens
(click on the photos for larger view)

EF17-40 f/4L

This was the second lens I bought trying to balance the need for wide angle against my newly acquired 70-200 piece of glass. I know a lot of people praise this lens, but I am personally disappointed. Don’t get me wrong–The lens is fine, but I regret buying it because if I had the choice now, I’d buy the EF16-25 f/2.8 instead.. It was half the price which was the key reason, but it lacks the speed I need to work in darker conditions. This is the lens I use most infrequently. I will stress my photography is not that much about landscapes so the use for a wide angle is a bit more limited in portrait etc, which I prefer the 50mm prime for.

EF24-105 f/4L IS

This is the second lens I have some second thoughts on. I decided to go with this rather than the more popular EF24-70 f/2.8L for three reasons: It had a longer focal range; It was cheaper; Most importantly however, it had IS. I worked out that with IS, assuming non-moving subjects, this lens would beat the 24-70 f/2.8 in speed terms. I’m unsure as to whether I’d prefer the 24-70 but it would be nice to have some more control over depth of field at the narrow end. I can’t say however that I am disappointed with it, as it is an excellent carry-around lens.

Photos taken on EF24-105 f/4L IS Lens
(click on the photo for larger view)

EF50 f/1.4 USM

This is my first prime lens with a very fast f/1.4 aperture giving very advantageous shooting conditions in darker situations. It’s a brilliant indoor lens and very sharp. This is probably the one I most keep on my camera. It’s certainly made me a prime fan so I’ll looking at 35mm, 85mm, 135mm and maybe even long telephotos (although price becomes prohibitive on very long lenses).

Photo taken on EF50 f/1.4 Lens
(click on the photo for larger view)

Accessories

I have also purchased an EF12 extension tube which allows me to bring the focus a bit closer for macro-like photography. This is useful but no replacement to a macro lens. I also have an EF2x II extender which attached to the 70-200 lens to double the focal length. This is nice, but it has resulted in softer photos. I’m not sure if this is simply due to the time of day I’ve used it (lacking some light), the fact I’ve hand-held those shots (even with IS) or design but it’s not ideal. I think the EF1.4x extender will be on my list soon as it faster performance for the lens but gets that little bit closer. I also have the Speedlite 580EX flash.

Looking forward

I have been resisting the urge to buy more photography equipment although a new high quality tripod will no doubt be on my list relatively soon along with a second Speedlite or a transmitter which allows me to take mine off the camera and try some interesting effects.

In the long run, I look forward to higher resolutions like that offered by the Canon EOS 1Ds MkII at 16.7 megapixels, however that camera is way overpriced (at least for my hobby) and doesn’t have enough other improvements which would make me consider it. However another camera, the EOS 1D MkIII has just been released in the UK which does 10 frames per second (as opposed to 4 fps for 1Ds MkII) and costs about £3,000 (or $4,500 which is about £2,400) with new dual DIGIC III processors with images of 10.1 MP. It also has a crop factor of 1.3x which is probably a bonus for someone like me who prefers telephoto (EOS 400D with 1.6x is better from this isolated point of view of course). It’s unlikely I will go near this camera with a £3,000 price tag however for quite some time. Some friends have switched from the 350D to the 400D but aside from some aesthetic changes around the screen, it’s only slightly better at 10 MP which isn’t enough for me to justify a new one. Similarly, I feel the benefits of a 20-30D aren’t great enough.. and whilst the 5D boasts full frame 12.8 MP it’s too close to the price tag of the 1D MkIII so that’s out.

My next lens will probably be a 135mm f/2.0 prime which may even work with my extenders so could prove very useful. Longer telephotos interest me but it will probably be some years before I could consider the expenditure they would require.

As I was told to expect, the lens is very heavy due to the construction, but it’s one of the best lenses available. I was torn between waiting for the 70-200 f/4L IS which has 4-stop IS (as opposed to 3-stop on this lens) but the extra light compensates for it slightly, and availability of the other lens is still unsure although it is due our soon. It may well be an economical alternative if anyone else is considering this type of lens if the pricing I’ve seen is correct. The weight makes it difficult to use as a general carry-around lens, but it’s an excellent wildlife, portrait and nature lens. I may consider a DO (Diffractive Optics) lens in the long run as a general carry-around lens to solve this problem.
I experimented a bit to try and work out how useful the 2.8 vs 4.0 aperture was going to be and so far I’ve had mixed results.. The control over the bokeh offered by the lens is a feature I wanted, which is already making me consider my next shorter lens.. something with a f/1.2 or similar aperture.

In terms of the next lens, I have considered the following:

EF 24-105 f/4L IS – Very nice general purpose lens for walking around with as it extends nicely into framing shots from further away.

EF-24-70 f/2.8L – Recommended by many over the 24-105 even without IS. Fast lens that would complement my 70-200mm well (albeit some overlap would be good).

EF 17-40 f/4L – Dedicated wide angle lens. Considered as an amateur alternative to the faster and more expensive 16-35 f/2.8L which would be better to achieve control over the depth-of-field.

MP-E65 f/2.8 macro – Dedicated macro lens with zoom factor. This is probably ideal as a macro option but limited otherwise, and expensive.

Interestingly, in the primes, the EF 35 f/1.4L, EF 24 f/1.4L IS or EF 50 f/1.8 II which one of the cheapest Canon lenses may have some potential for isolating the subject. I suspect for the next zoom the 24-105L f/4L IS will be most tempting due to the IS and more general purpose use, although having used a f/2.8 lens it will feel bad going with a slower lens.

Incidentally I purchased my 70-200 from Calumet on Wardour Street in London W1. The staff member who assisted me was very friendly and was perfectly happy for me to try the lens on my camera without question. He was also very open about his own views (he’s a Nikon person as he has about every lens he can get for them, but he viewed Canon IS as one of the best). I would highly recommend Calumet to anyone who wants to buy something more than a point-and-shoot.. They appear to have quite a bit in stock too – www.calumetphoto.co.uk

I was tempted by the new Sony DSLR-A100 or first in the “alpha” series since Sony acquired Minolta’s camera business. The interface is from Minolta it seems and the support for Sony Memory Stick Duo is a converter with the Compact Flash card. One of the reasons I am a Sony fan is the Memory Stick and the fact it works on my laptop (although admittedly so does SD now). Sony is also very good at explaining the compatibility of all of their products whilst Canon is a bit more “professional” about it in that you need to find the information for yourself. A really nice feature I would have wanted, and present on the DSLR-A100 is anti-shake compensation (SuperSteadyShot in Sony branding) since it’s on the mounting of the CCD sensor rather than the lens which means every lens becomes an image stabilising one. In cost terms, this would make the Sony solution far cheaper than Canon IS lenses, something that may yet make me consider Sony in the future. Certainly if they begin supporting Memory Stick Pro directly in cameras with full size sensors, I would be very tempted.

In the end, my reason for going Canon was two-fold. Firstly, my investment in EF lenses would still pay back if I upgraded to a better camera. In the meantime I’ll have to take advantage of the 1.6x magnificantion factor EF lenses give me against a smaller megapixel rating. Secondly, I’ve heard a lot of good things about Canon cameras from friends who use them.

A few disappointements with then Canon 350D:

The menu interface on the Canon is a bit counter-intuitive such as switching between black & white and colour for example. I am getting used to it and I can work with it but it could be better I feel.

The hand-grip on the 350D is totally appauling as it’s just hard plastic. I can’t believe Canon released an SLR like that. The only consolation is that the battery grip attachment (BG-E3) has a far better grip.

My Sony flash gun won’t work with the Canon–This didn’t surprise me hugely, and certainly not something I would blame on Canon, but it’s an irritation, particularly as it was a fairly nice flash gun. I would have hoped that the basic features would still work.

The 18-55mm EF-S and 55-200mm EF USM lenses both have a rotating front which makes it impossible to have a ‘perfect’ lens hood
It would be useful to have a mirror lock-up facility that allowed the LCD screen to show the photo without needing to look through the viewfinder. Similarly, having this ability in the software which is installed on a computer attached to the camera would be most useful.

After some time…

I’ve found that having started using my new camera more of my images have been blurred. I suspect it’s a combination of re-learning the settings, and perhaps getting used to less automated compensation that the Sony point-and-shoots may offer (and I ought to add I still intend to buy a tiny Sony pocket camera in the not too distant future). This is improving though and I’m told it’s not infrequent an experience for new cameras.

I was also very pleasantly surprised to find the EOS 350D has an orientation sensor that logs an EXIF setting. It’s a shame Windows Explorer’s own built-in lossless (I haven’t checked that it is yet) rotation function from Microsoft Picture Viewer doesn’t keep all EXIF settings as it’s quite efficient otherwise.

If there’s one site that I need to plug is www.dpreview.com as that proved very useful in my decision.