Which lens?

Yeah I ordered my 300D from Hong Kong and it came FedEx, which got hit by taxes. I ended up paying £110 in import costs. I think couriers have a much higher hit rate for tax than the Royal Mail (and Parcelforce).
 
Well I now have the joy of the wait you lot had. In saying that ordered on backorder ofm 7day shop at start of july so whats another 5-10 days :eek:
 
How long did it take to get a dispatch message from them? Mines is stil pending.
 
Got my order processed message on the 4th August. Got the despatch message on the 6th. However, unlike Marcel, I wasn't able to get the tracking number to work in Parcelforce's website.

Really happy with the lens. Been playing about today. Didn't realise it came with it's own storage bag thing (only other lens I've bought is the Canon 50mm f/1.8). It's ace.
 
when did you place your order?? I got order process mail last night but it seems to be an automated thing. I'll not worry too much then should expect a dispatched message tomorrow :D
 
[craaaaaigdavid]
Ordered on the Thuuuursay
Got the confirm on the saaaaame day
Dispatch mail arrived on the Saturday

Lens arrived on the Wednesday, not Sunday, Monday or Tuesday
[/craaaaaigdavid]
 
BTW the web tracing only works if you're posh like Marcel and pay for the Speedline jobbie delivery. Normal Parcel Farce don't do it.
 
Very excited bunny now my Order has been dispatched today :D

wonder how long it'l take and if I can last that long :D
 
Yup what I'm expecting might have to be off work sick start of next week :D
 
I'm so excited and I just cant hide it.

Lens arrived this morning just had call from Wife. Only 8 more hours till I get home to have a play with it. :)

Pretty Quick though.
 
Watch you don't suddenly start to feel a little light headed, dizzy and nauseus. You may have to go home early poorly. :p

Quick service isn't it?
This was my first time ordering from abroad (well HK anyway), and I don't think I could be more impressed with the speed and efficiency (and price). Its certainly put me at ease about ordering from abroad again.

Looking forward to some shots McMav.
 
This is a great lens, it just needs to be held very steady at the 300mm length unless you are using a fast shutter. Well pleased with mine!
 
Handholding it is something I need to learn. I've had most of my handheld 300mm shots very blurry (and deleted) as a result of my inability to keep it steady.

I need to learn the relationship with shutter speeds, focal lengths and how far I can push the handheld in relation to those two.
 
Marcel said:
Handholding it is something I need to learn. I've had most of my handheld 300mm shots very blurry (and deleted) as a result of my inability to keep it steady.

I need to learn the relationship with shutter speeds, focal lengths and how far I can push the handheld in relation to those two.
Click to expand...

The good news is there's an easy formula for this. The MINIMUM safe shutter speed for hand holding with any lens equates to it's focal length. With a 50mm lens the minimum safe speed is 1/50th. or the nearest higher marked equivalent - 1/60th. With a 300mm lens, you'd be pushing your luck at 1/250th, so would ideally be using 1/500th. All this of course is forcing larger apertures or ISOs on you too, which is why IS is such a boon.

As for hand holding technique, your right hand should be gripping the camera firmly, such that if you took your left hand away you'd still have a firm grip. Your left hand should be cupped under and supporting the lens. Your elbows should be pulled down on to your chest to stabilise your hands, and the camera should be pulled tightly against your face and forehead. If you can wrap the neck strap around your right hand you can further tighten the whole thing into your face. (Forget it if you have that crap, wide Canon strap)

Your feet should be spaced comfortably apart for balance. Leaning against trees, walls.... anything which aids support helps a lot. Generally speaking, think.... 'I'm a tripod' ;)

All this good work is undone if you have a last minute panicky stab at the shutter button. Breath out like a marksman as you gently and smoothly SQUEEZE the shutter button to take the shot.

It's a good point you raised, and if you think the above sounds OTT anyone who processes film will tell you more shots are spoiled by camera shake than any other single thing. All this when modern cameras have never made picture taking so easy, but this basic technique still needs to be mastered.
 
... and use multi-shot feature to take half a dozen in the vain hope that one of them was ok....
 
Marcel said:
Watch you don't suddenly start to feel a little light headed, dizzy and nauseus. You may have to go home early poorly. :p

Quick service isn't it?
This was my first time ordering from abroad (well HK anyway), and I don't think I could be more impressed with the speed and efficiency (and price). Its certainly put me at ease about ordering from abroad again.

Looking forward to some shots McMav.
Click to expand...


Well I am not feeling well now as it is chucking it down :( Looks like it will be play inside with some macro :eek:

Service was amazing place order at 5pm Wednesday, lens arrives this morning first post and no Duty :D.

As for ordering from abroad I've used cd-wow (based in hong Kong) but this is clearly the most expensive thing I've bought. Might get flashgun from him next if he is still the cheapest price. Cant fault him.


PS. Everyone pray for some dry spells this evening for me :)
 
Macro is fun, trying to focus on something whilst maintaining that 95cm distance! LOL

A word of warning, the macro switch will only switch on after you've passed 200mm and only switch off once the focus ring is back past the macro section. It'll make more sense when you play with it. Just don't force it as it feels like the switch has gotten stuck.

:)
 
Aye think I might RTFM on this one :)
 
McMav said:
Aye think I might RTFM on this one :)
Click to expand...

Just don't forget to turn past page one, which IIRC is the chinese version ;)
English is on page 2 I think.

Sammy is right, I didn't RTM and I thought it was broke. If you're not at 200mm, the macro switch moves a tiny bit, but not all the way, which made me think "Uh oh, it's broke"

You can switch out of macro at any time, as long as the focusing ring is in the right place.

So I think it's focusing ring and focal length to get into macro, and just the focusing ring to come out of macro.

I usually just zoom to 200mm, flip it back into MF, whip the little triangle on the focus ring, past the line, then flip it out of macro, then abck to AF. It becomes second nature after a couple of tries.

It's like taking the lens hood off, I always put it in MF then hold the focusing ring to take it off, then twist the focus so it's all the way in, then put the hood on reversed.
I keep forgetting to put it back in AF when Ive put the hood on, and I'm there pressing my AE lock button, wondering why it isn't focusing then, duh, it hits me, I'm still in MF.
 
Well got it in and out of macro fine. Didnt get much time to play with it coz Jnr wanted to play cars :eek:

Though what I did notice was how poor my hand holding is atm. Enough shake to almost convince myself I had parkinsons always thought it was ok. Obv not as severe on Kit lens. So gonna work on that and get a tripod & monopod aswell.

Was wraped well felt like it was my birthday :)
 
McMav said:
Though what I did notice was how poor my hand holding is atm. Enough shake to almost convince myself I had parkinsons always thought it was ok. Obv not as severe on Kit lens.
Click to expand...

Thats one of the first things I noticed too. I need to start looking at my stature etc.
 
Na look at all the Red L's he has :p

Same amount as me cept you got extra RS-60E3L :)
 
My 70-300 Arrived today :D

Very impressed with the service, i only ordered it on Monday night and it was then despatched lated on Tuesday!!
I had a wierd gut feeling that it might arrive today so i can go out and make use of it :D

As mentioned above, lens seems excellent, AF is noisier than Kit Lens, but that really isnt going to bother me in the slightest.
Will post my feelings on it after a long day out :>

-Rich
 
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