New to Canon DSLR ( EOS 400D UK) Which Lens (1 Viewer)

Keith Reeder said:

Of course, this whole scheme might go flying out the window depending on what Canon introduce in the next big show...

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Yeah, whats this about a new mount. Hope it doesn't mean we're all going to end up with very expensive ornaments.

paul goode said:

Yeah, whats this about a new mount. Hope it doesn't mean we're all going to end up with very expensive ornaments.

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Sometimes I say to myself: "Do you really really really want to spend all that money just for your ambitious and egotistic hobby? Is it really really really worth spending all that money for a small object you can easily damage, lose or get stolen? What happens if you get tired of your hobby, or just can't go out enough, or your shots are not good enough to justify this huge expense?"

Well, basically this is how I daily try to keep my bank balance healthy ... but the worst thing is that I KNOW the answer to these questions .... help meeeeeeeeeeeeeee |})|

Yeah, I hear ya, Mark.

I see the 600mm option as a "once in a while" thing, in the knowledge that it will involve a compromise - but based on the success of users on POTN using that set up - and their unbridled enthusiasm for it - I feel that it's a compromise I can live with.

I anticipate making most use of it at 420mm, to be honest.

But it's just one of those lenses, isnt it?



I'm in no mad rush though, and if PMA introduces some new toys, I'll consider them - like the (Warning! Rumour Alert!!) 500mm f/5.6 L USM IS which a lot of people are fantasising over!



Aye Paul, this "new mount" rumour: anything's possible I guess, but I can't see Canon unilaterally abandoning at a stroke, the largest sector of their DSLR customer base just yet.

This thread is quite interesting and made me reflect on my own situation. Here in the Algarve I never get to try anything before I buy and rely totally on web sales (I would not buy in Portugal even if I could find what I wanted since the "mark up" and IVA at 21% adds about 30% to U.K. prices) and internet research. I have bought a Swarovski 'scope, Leica Ultravid bins, Sony Vaio laptop (the list is endless) without ever having used any of them. And, in response to one poster above, yes I even bought a Land Rover Defender 90 without ever having a test drive. It just boils down to being very acute at looking at product specifications and reviews on the net. In fact I'd go as far as to say that you learn much more about the product from the net than you would trawling around shops for "hands on" assessment (although of course both approaches would be preferable if you had the opportunity).

So, when terminal disillusionment with digiscoping set in last year I began to look at DSLR photography. I went for Canon because I had always used Canon film cameras and the Coolpix 4500 experience had rather put me off Nikon build and optical quality (not saying that Nikon DSLR's are no good, just stating what swayed my state of mind). It was meeting a visiting birder armed with a 30D and 100-400 lens which really got me excited and began a long period of net research (including this forum). I decided that if I was going to do it I was going to do it properly and eventually settled on the 500mm f4 L IS prime lens with 1.4 TC MkII. Everything I read pointed to this being THE lens for birding and although the 600 would clearly give more reach the 500 was at the human limit for hand-held shots. I bought it from http://www.waltersphotovideo.co.uk/ for whom I have the highest regard, although I have also bought a lot of stuff from WE in the past. I am, needless to say, delighted with the lens and was producing shots I had only ever dreamed about from day one.

I am still using it on a 400D (which others will dismiss as a toy camera, but which gives excellent results) and although I have been dithering about a 1D Mark IIn I have decided to wait and see what the next few months bring along (praying for 1D Mk III) when I will again be making another "blind" purchase.

There is of course a heavy price to pay for living in this "third world" neck of the woods; DHL fully insured express shipping of the lens cost me about £250 - but I ordered it over the phone at 1pm one day and had it in my hands at 10.45 the next day without ever leaving the comfort of my workstation!!

Mark, I actually don't think we diagree that much (and my reply certainly meant to be any kind of "attack"). Having bought a coulpe of "bad" lenses in the past, I just wanted to make the point that in my opinion the real testing of equipment is the "field testing" over a longer period of time and under different conditions (to which I'm sure you agree). Years ago when I changes from Nikon to Canon I bought a Tokina 400/5.6 AT-X, based on three facts: it was less than half the price of the Canon 400/5.6, the lens felt really good (light and easy to hand hold, yet build like a tank, and with surprisingly fast AF), and the sales clerk claimed that it was an "extrodinarily" good tele lens (I later learned that she claimed that more or less any equipment she tried to sell was "extrodinarily" good!). This was in the winter, and I was still living in northern Europe, so when the first couple of films turned out to be pretty soft, I wrote it down to the conditions. A year after I had to realize that the lens was a dog in terms of IQ. During that time I had managed to get less than one roll of film that I would call "keepers" today - even though I spent most of the late spring at some of the best migration sites in NE-Europe and more than two weeks in Egypt around midsummer (where conditions for tele photography is pretty optimal). The most important lesson I learned is that it is important to listen to other useres opinions (and not just the sales clerk). Since the original OP of this tread admitted to being new to dSLRs I though I wanted to make that point.
I definitly agree that you can learn a lot by testing the equipment in the store, especially regarding the camera, the biggest difference between many of the cameras today is really the "Feeling" of the thing. I personally bought the 350D because I couldn't justify that the better feeling of the 30D was worth twice the price. But yes, the 350D quickly ended up feeling too small and plasticky, so I added the battery-grip B

Thomas

mw_aurora said:

I think you are taking my words a little too literally. For example, I certainly can't get 100% to grips with a new car in a 30 minute or 1 hour test drive but I do get a feel for whether I will like it.
This is what I am saying about getting to try it first - you can touch and feel the stuff and generally get face to face advice - not learn how to use it to perfection though! As soon as I held the 350D and 20D I knew I wanted the 20D (although I was intending to buy the 350D), same with the 100-400 and 400/5.6, as soon as I held them I knew which I wanted.
So, when did I say getting advice and reading reviews on the internet was a bad thing? My remark about bar-codes is that trying to pick between 2 equally good lenses based on sharpness is only going to give you a headache! It will often come down to handling - which you can't test on the internet...
For what its worth, I have bought all of my camera gear in the past 2 years online but always managed to try the major purchases before hand, mainly with friends and acquaintance's kit rather than shops...however, I am now several thousand miles from most friends and family so that will prove difficult in future...luckily one of the Hunts stores is only an hour or so away

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paul goode said:

Yeah, whats this about a new mount. Hope it doesn't mean we're all going to end up with very expensive ornaments.

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Done a bit more digging, Paul.

While I accept unreservedly that this is just as much idle speculation as any other rumour, I get the sense that if there is a new mounting the offing, it'll be in addition to the three(!) existing options.

Medium Format Canon, anyone?