Moving systems....

specialman

specialman

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Pat MacInnes
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With my D2X away at the repair shop I was 'forced' the use an ungripped 20D today - it was like having my right hand replaced with a wet cloth... rubbish.

It's amazing what you get used and what you miss when forced into a situation like this - being able to select AF points at will; 11 AF points instead of 9; 1/3rd stop ISO increments; good battery life; bigger, more comfortable body; rubberised grip; clear viewfinder display; easy to use function buttons on the top plate, and so on and so on...

Used it with the awesome 17-40 f/4, which I love to bits from my Canon days, but on a 1.6x crop body it's just not versatile enough - used one on a 5D mk2 the other day and was astounded at what you can do with it. Also, had the 100mm f/2.8 macro to play with today, another great 'L' lens. However, I had to use the godawful 550EX (this one has a broken flip-down diffuser) where you have to press that SET/SEL button every time you want to make an flash adjustment. And I also had the displeasure to be equipped with a 28-90 that was just gash and nearly went in the lake...

This ain't a Canon bashing thread, more a thread about how much things have moved on and how much a pro-spec body like the D2X spoils you in a way. Canon was good to me while I used its kit over the year. It just shows how not investing in new gear year-on-year leaves you feeling ill-equipped some time down the road.

Can't begin to think about how all those D3/s/x and 1D users feel with all that performance at their fingertips... it's deffo the next step for me I think after I get some more glass :)
 
I know the feeling dude, at first it was strange going back to my 20D, when my 1D was in for repair, but having said that I got my favourite ever picture that weekend with the 20D and have it on my wall at 16"x24" so the older kit still gets the job done.
 
Funnily I had a look at a D3000 bought by one of the Signals girls in Lash about a month ago and while it was definitely not for me, I reckon it was good enough that if I'd been forced to, I could have done a decent 'in-camp' shoot with it... It felt suitably solid and well-made - the menu was totally usable and it took me a few seconds to figure it all out without recourse to the manual...

Whereas playing with a Sun photographer's 'budget' Canons last week (he refuses to buy the top-end equipment, most of his work being 'doorstep and 'pap'-style photography), was a horrible experience. He got me to do the 'warry-portrait' shot that the Sun uses for all it's writers and toggers in theatre and it took me a few goes to get it right... But not impossibly so...just a practice-thing, I think... I did like the appearance of Canon's unprocessed-JPEGs, I must say...

I reckon newer budget Nikons are more usable to those used to Pro-Nikons than budget Canons are to Pro-Canon users... just my take on it...
 
Had another shocker yesterday. Had to use a 30D kit on a shoot and although used to really like my 30D when i had one, this had an intermittent shutter release problem; basically it was a lottery as to whether the shutter fired when you pressed the button. Total frustrating when you're trying to get action and when framing up, the lag between pressing and the shutter going off meant that the point of focus was shifting, not good when you're on a shallow DoF. Plus, the 28-135 IS that came with it had been dropped at some point so it was mis-focussing (a pain at the long end) and had this skewed DoF that appeared not quite straight with the film plane.

The other killer was using a 580EX mk2 off-camera; the stand-by mode kept kicking in so it wouldn't fire and the only instruction manual there was with it was the Italian/Dutch/german version... a nightmare!! :)

That said, I had the pleasure of the great 100mm f/.8 macro again –*a wonderful portrait and medium telephoto lens – and I was pleasantly surprised with the results from the EF-S 10-22mm wide-angle.

Oh, and it hammered it down all day so wasn't great for shooting :(

Got the repair bill back for the D2X - £300!! :eek:

Got a 20D and 100mm macro to shoot with today in the studio and the day off on Monday so hopefully Tuesday's shoot will be back to normal with the kit I know :)
 
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