Noob Bearing Questions

[AliasMoze]

Manual Focus - I went to Fry's and picked up a 10D to feel the weight and see what it looked like through the viewfinder. One thing I noticed is the lack of focus controls, I mean on the lens and in the viewfinder. Please keep in mind that I've shot my whole life with an all-manual film SLR camera and am learning what the new fangled units do. Am I missing something, or is it easy to manually focus using the 10D (or 300D for that matter)?

Lower ASA - The specs on the 10D say that it goes down to, I think, 100. Is it possible to go lower, to say 50 ASA, or does the 10D shoot the equivalent in a higher speed (is the image that crisp)?

Flashes - Again, I'm just getting into newer equipment, so bear with me. I like the idea of remote flashes, but can someone explain to me how this works, starting with say two or three off-camera flashes. Does this REQUIRE a master flash in the hotshoe? And can anyone recommend some flash models or sets?

Finally, the infamous 10D vs. 300D. Honestly, buying a 10D is too much of an investment for me, and I will likely buy a 300D. Is there a genuine, substantial reason not to buy one, meaning, are there features missing that would cripple my ability to control my shots? I really just need a good metering system and control over aperture, shutter speed, and focus, and if those things are also automatic, then great.

Thanks for your time.

[lightandlife]

Most pros would choose 10D, not 300D.
Any amaeurs with some money would choose 10D as well.

Lower ASA: No.

Others will provide more answers.

[JABACo]

Take this reply with grain of salt because I am an amatuer at best with all of photography. However, price wise, Canon just introduce the 6.3 megapixel Digital Rebel for about $500.00-600.00 less than the 10D.

Bradley

[CyberDyneSystems]

AliasMoze wrote:
Manual ...One thing I noticed is the lack of focus controls, I mean on the lens and in the viewfinder...

I have yet to see a lens that does not have a manual focus ring built in,. but perhaps the lens on that demo didn't have one??? All my lenses have manual focus rings.

I'm not sure what you mean by manual focus "in the viewfinder"


Lower ASA - The specs on the 10D say that it goes down to, I think, 100. Is it possible to go lower, to say 50 ASA, or does the 10D shoot the equivalent in a higher speed (is the image that crisp)?

Its that crisp! ISO 100 looks phenomanal :)

Flashes - Again, I'm just getting into newer equipment, so bear with me. I like the idea of remote flashes, but can someone explain to me how this works, starting with say two or three off-camera flashes. Does this REQUIRE a master flash in the hotshoe? And can anyone recommend some flash models or sets?

I can't recomend any sets myself but there are wired systems that use the camera's "PC link" socket (for large scale studio flash systems)

And you can buy multiple canon flashes 550EX and 420EX which will function as wireless slaves via IR. You must use either a 550EX or the dedicated IR unit (it's number escapes) to trigger the off camera flashes wirelessly. The 550ex can trigger other flashes without the 550ex itsef firing (ie put the 550ex in your hotshoe and use it only as a trigger for the other flashes)

Finally, the infamous 10D vs. 300D. Honestly, buying a 10D is too much of an investment for me, and I will likely buy a 300D. Is there a genuine, substantial reason not to buy one, meaning, are there features missing that would cripple my ability to control my shots? I really just need a good metering system and control over aperture, shutter speed, and focus, and if those things are also automatic, then great.

Based solely on what little information I know about how you shoot given you post,. I really think you want the 10D. There are many manual and control functions that the 10D has that are not present in the 300D.

[daveh]

AliasMoze wrote:
Manual Focus - I went to Fry's and picked up a 10D to feel the weight and see what it looked like through the viewfinder. One thing I noticed is the lack of focus controls, I mean on the lens and in the viewfinder.

There are no manual focus aids by default in EOS cameras. Some higher-end cameras do have interchangeable screens so you can add them but not the 10D or 300D. The higher end lenses have "full time manual focusing." With some of the lower end lenses you have to set a switch before they will allow manual focus.

I could recommend LOTs of flashes :) Start with Canon's own and Alien Bees but there are many others. If you could get more specific, someone can make more specific reconditions.

[barnold999]

daveh wrote:
There are no manual focus aids by default in EOS cameras. Some higher-end cameras do have interchangeable screens so you can add them but not the 10D or 300D. The higher end lenses have "full time manual focusing." With some of the lower end lenses you have to set a switch before they will allow manual focus.


GOSH! I wanted to sound smart and say that, but, even in the lower end cameras some sort of focusing aid would be nice, in darklights, AF is so impossible...and trying to do MF without any assist on moving objects is also a total pain!

Anyways, I dont really have anyhting to add, just that, heh.

[PPi-]

I recently had chance to quickly try Nikon D100 myself. I found it very confusing that it didn't have any aids for manual focus. I mean, in my current film body has that small splitted micro raster pattern that you can use for manual focusing (well, it's all it does have - the manual focus..).

Well, I wondered it a moment and carefully asked how hard is it to do manual focusing. I got a reply that you never need a manual focus - the AF is all you will need. Hmm. I don't know, maybe he's right. And hope the same goes for 10D.

I don't know if other screens for EOS cameras would do the trick, but as the screen in 10D isn't replaceable it doesn't help much. Oh well, I just would like to photograph, that's all.

[disorganised]

AliasMoze wrote:
One thing I noticed is the lack of focus controls, I mean on the lens and in the viewfinder.

Shoot me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing you mean no focus ring on the lens? On some of the cheaper Canon consumer lenses, the focus ring is not marked and is the lenshood mount, and can only be operated if the lens is set to manual. The more expensive Canon lenses have a focus ring as well as a zoom ring.

Hope this helps

[robertwgross]

[quote]CyberDyneSystems wrote:
...
And you can buy multiple canon flashes 550EX and 420EX which will function as wireless slaves via IR. You must use either a 550EX or the dedicated IR unit (it's number escapes) to trigger the off camera flashes wirelessly. The 550ex can trigger other flashes without the 550ex itsef firing (ie put the 550ex in your hotshoe and use it only as a trigger for the other flashes)
[quote]

To do Canon E-TTL flash, you have a few major choices:
(1) stick with the simple internal flash, but it is not bright
(2) stick the 550EX or 420EX unit on the hot shoe, or stick one out on a flash bracket connected by the correct off-camera cable
(3) if you use the 550EX on the hot shoe, then use a remote 420EX or another 550EX as a slave, and they couple by wireless IR
(4) stick the ST-E2 wireless transmitter on the hot shoe, and then use any combination of 550EX or 420EX units remotely and coupled by wireless IR

If you notice, you can sort of start with (1) and only work your way up to (4) if your shooting situation requires it and if your budget allows it. I need to keep in these battery-powered flash implementations since I have to shoot in places where there is no AC power, so studio lights are not my thing.

---Bob Gross---

[AliasMoze]

Thanks, everybody.

Daveh, yes, manual focus aid is what I'm talking about. I'm a bit vexed that these lenses don't have focus aids, since my lowest end Nikon FG's starter lens has it. Oh well, I guess not having it is something you just get used to. But the little boy in me still likes lining up the two halves and KNOWING that the focus is razor sharp.

Thanks to all the replies about flashes. My interest is in having the flash equivalent of studio lights, say three of them (all off-camera). One would have to be a key, then a fill and backlight, or however I wanted to use them. Is Canon the way to go, or are there other brands that works well with the EOS line?

On the 10D vs. 300D front, I'm still waiting to hear some reasons why not to by the 300D, other than the vague idea that it's "amateur". Is something crippled in the camera? Something important?

[daveh]

AliasMoze wrote:
But the little boy in me still likes lining up the two halves and KNOWING that the focus is razor sharp.

Me too but I gave up on Canon making a manual focus (FD-mount) Digital SLR ;) I'm slowly getting used to this new-fangled autofocus thing.

AliasMoze wrote:
My interest is in having the flash equivalent of studio lights, say three of them (all off-camera).

Well the Alien Bees I mentioned are studio flashes. There are other brands as well but the nice thing about studio flashes is that just about everything plays with everything else. You don't need "Canon-compatible" or "Nikon-compatible" studio flashes. That means you don't get to play with Canon's proprietary E-TTL system but you do get have fun with a flashmeter and that really works as well or better for studio use in my opinion.

[Webster]

I'm a bit vexed that these lenses don't have focus aids, since my lowest end Nikon FG's starter lens has it. Oh well, I guess not having it is something you just get used to. But the little boy in me still likes lining up the two halves and KNOWING that the focus is razor sharp.


I cannot speak for any others, but I've been shooting EOS cameras for several years, and I just get more annoyed at the lack of a manual focus aid as time goes by. It's not like a different placement of some control. This is something that makes it impossible to get accurate focus manually, and I'll never get used to that. Canon acknowleges that the autofocus can not always to the job, so the failure to allow the proper use of manual focus is twice annoying.

[Andy_T]

Hi,

I took a look at the Canon 300V recently as it's supposed to be the analogue version of the 300D (and the 300D is not yet available).

One feature I think might be rather helpful from what I read about the focussing discussions here is that the camera has 7 LED's in the viewfinder in the places of the focus points and illuminates the focus point it has selected.

According to the discussion, many times the 10D selects a different focus point than the user would (unless he's aware of that and pays attention to it) and the result is a 'badly focused' picture.

Regards,
Andy

[daveh]

Are there EOS models that don't light up the focus point?

[Webster]

One feature I think might be rather helpful from what I read about the focussing discussions here is that the camera has 7 LED's in the viewfinder in the places of the focus points and illuminates the focus point it has selected.


If you're using manual focus because autofocus isn't handling the job, those viewfinder lights are no help at all. If they could tell what's in focus, they could just go ahead and set the focus.

[AliasMoze]

Thanks, everyone, for the discussion so far. After careful consideration, including the advice given here, I decided on the 300D, because I couldn't find a feature or lack-of that seemed crippling to me. I also picked up a 550ex speedlight for starters.

On the focus thing, I guess the digital equivalent of manual focus is prefocus. Just locking in the focus and reframing if necessary. This is good enough for me, as long as ACCURACY is not impossible with the camera.

I'll have the camera on Friday, so one can guess how I'll spend the weekend. Thanks again. This forum is great!