• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Some basic Canon EOS 10D questions (1 Viewer)

Leif

Well-known member
I am considering going digital, and the choice is a Nikon D70 or a Canon EOS 10D. The Canon 300D is out of the frame for various reasons. The Canon 10D appeals due to good price, good build, and Canon lenses being much cheaper than Nikon. Even though I have some Nikon lenses, the price difference is such that a swap is feasible. Also Canon also seem to have a technological lead over Nikon.

However I do a lot of macro work with flash. Can the Canon flash (both built-in and external) cope with fill flash for objects at about 6-12" from the lens or does it over-expose?

Secondly, to use RAW files on the D70, the user must pay ~£100 for Nikon Capture. Thus the true cost of the Nikon D70 is body + software. Do Canon supply the software to manipulate RAW files, or is this an extra cost?

Lastly, I would use a Nikon 28mm lens on the Canon 10D in stop down mode (the optics are so good I don't want to sell it). A Novoflex adaptor will allow the lens to be mounted on the Canon body. Although metering will not work, will the TTL flash work with this lens?

Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
http://www.dpreview.com/

Do a search on the above site and you'll find this has been asked there many times. Zoombrowser supports RAW and comes with 10D although you'd be better off getting a good image management system such as IMatch which does a lot more besides for about £30.
 
Leif said:
I am considering going digital, and the choice is a Nikon D70 or a Canon EOS 10D. The Canon 300D is out of the frame for various reasons. The Canon 10D appeals due to good price, good build, and Canon lenses being much cheaper than Nikon. Even though I have some Nikon lenses, the price difference is such that a swap is feasible. Also Canon also seem to have a technological lead over Nikon.

However I do a lot of macro work with flash. Can the Canon flash (both built-in and external) cope with fill flash for objects at about 6-12" from the lens or does it over-expose?

Secondly, to use RAW files on the D70, the user must pay ~£100 for Nikon Capture. Thus the true cost of the Nikon D70 is body + software. Do Canon supply the software to manipulate RAW files, or is this an extra cost?

Lastly, I would use a Nikon 28mm lens on the Canon 10D in stop down mode (the optics are so good I don't want to sell it). A Novoflex adaptor will allow the lens to be mounted on the Canon body. Although metering will not work, will the TTL flash work with this lens?

Thanks in advance.

Firstly, I'm curious: why rule out the 300d? Warehouse Express are selling it with the 18-55mm lens and a case and a 256M Compact Flash for £499 at present.

Secondly, I REALLY recommend shooting and manipulating RAW images. And the best way to do this is to get "C1 LE": $99 + VAT online order. Will work for Nikon as well as Canon. I could not believe how the quality of my shots improved (i.e. from abysmal to mediocre ;) ) when I got C1 SE (slightly more expensive version). See http://www.phaseone.com .

Canon do supply free software to read RAW images but that is pretty much all the software can do. PhaseOne blows this away. The best way to post-process is to do all your manipulation on the RAW image before losing information by converting it to JPG or whatever.
 
Last edited:
redshift said:
Firstly, I'm curious: why rule out the 300d? Warehouse Express are selling it with the 18-55mm lens and a case and a 256M Compact Flash for £499 at present.

Secondly, I REALLY recommend shooting and manipulating RAW images. And the best way to do this is to get "C1 LE": $99 + VAT online order. Will work for Nikon as well as Canon. I could not believe how the quality of my shots improved (i.e. from abysmal to mediocre ;) ) when I got C1 SE (slightly more expensive version). See http://www.phaseone.com .

Canon do supply free software to read RAW images but that is pretty much all the software can do. PhaseOne blows this away. The best way to post-process is to do all your manipulation on the RAW image before losing information by converting it to JPG or whatever.

Gashead: Thanks.

Redshift: Yes I will use RAW rather than JPEG.

The reason I am not considering the 300D is because it offers nothing over the D70 apart from price, and lacks several features such as spot metering and rear curtain sync. I also know that Nikon flash works well. In addition the 300D is more fiddly to use than the D70. The D70 is like the F80 that I own and which has an excellent very easy to use design. I also have several Nikon lenses so don't want to change brand unless there is a compelling reason.

In any case, it seems to me that the digital SLR market is still very immature, and the market will change a lot in a few years time.
 
Hi Leif

Photoshop CS has a Canon RAW converter built in, it has a lot of flexibility and helps in my workflow and therefore I no longer use the Canon supplied software.

I use a Sigma 105 macro with my 10D but do not use the on board flash; I only use it for snap shots. I would prefer a dedicated arrangement on macro flash lighting but haven’t decided which way to go yet.
 
10d is an excellent choice and although superseded by the 20d, it's still a very good camera. Fill flash with the built flash isn't really an option at 6 to 12 inches. The 550 and 580 are very sophisticated units - the manuals are twice as thick as the one that comes with the camera. They are great for macro work especially off camera. I would recommend getting the remote transmitter as the off-shoe cable has caused a few 10d issues.

As for software - can't beat C1. It's a fantastic piece of software.
 
kit-monster said:
I would recommend getting the remote transmitter as the off-shoe cable has caused a few 10d issues.

As I am looking to go this route can you tell me what the issues were?
 
Merop said:
As I am looking to go this route can you tell me what the issues were?

The 10d is 100% compatible with the off-shoe cord according to Canon. But it has been known to cause Err 99 which is basically a catch all error code. I have two friends who use 10d's. One had to go back to Canon after repeated Err 99 with off shoe cord, the other has contacts with in Canon who had heard it was a bit of an unofficial problem. I also have another friend who has a 10d and uses his 550 with off shoe all the time and never had a problem! The remote unit is 60 quid more expensive than the cable but offers a huge amount of functionality and convience for placing flash / flashes where ever you want.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 19 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top