dtrayers
10th of November 2003 (Mon), 21:55
Just some followup observations on having used my 300D for several weeks now...
After I had the camera for about 10 days or so I had shot a cityscape night scene (of Charlotte, NC, really nice city!) from my hotel room window. I noticed a little red dot in one corner of the picture. I thought it was the reflection of the smoke detector light, but on closer inspection it turned out to be a hot pixel. The exposure was 10 seconds at ISO 100. Deadpixeltest.exe showed one hot pixel above level 60 at ISO 100 and 5 seconds. That was too much for me, so when I got home I went back to National Camera and they exchanged it for me. I purposely had not filled out the registration card, just in case. I brought my laptop with me and they let me test the replacement camera there in the store. Many things I'll buy mail order, but there is something to be said for being able walk into a store for immediate customer service. I can't say enough good things about National Camera.
Anyway, the replacement had two hot pixels, but they were only visible (above a threshold of 60) at ISO200 and 30 seconds. I figured I would quit while I was ahead.
I find that I'm shooting a lot more in RAW format than I did with the G3. I dunno if it's me or the camera, but I'm getting better results with RAW and the 300D than I did with the G3. "Better" isn't the right word, maybe "easier". I find it less effort to "dial in" a 300D RAW image then it was with the G3. I think it's me.
One result of working with RAW and the 300D is the much larger file size. I do need to get a larger CF card (I have two 256 cards now). Fortunately, I haven't been in any extended shooting situations yet, so I've been able to download the cards to the laptop, but that will change soon. I also need to offload images to CD-R more often. The larger files eat up the HD space 3 times as fast. Also, my laptop is USB1.1, and though I use a faster PCMCIA adapter, it's still pretty slow to download a full card, and will be worse if I get a larger card. I've ordered Delkin's new PC-Cardbus adapter from Amazon.com. It should be here in a few days. I'll give a report when I get it.
I had a sort of a windfall with a side job, so with the proceeds I gave myself an early Christmas present and purchased a Canon 70-200 f/4 L. What a nice lens! I can see why one is cautioned to not buy "L" lenses; I can see how they could be addictive. Since I have a lighter weight tripod and also use a monopod, I did get the ring mount, but the black version. The nice thing about the ring mount is that I can easily change from landscape to portrait orientation.
I did do some testing with the internal flash and the longer lens and I can report that there is not a trace of lens shadow with the 70-200 f/4 "L" at the closest focus distance and at 70mm. I think it's because of the higher placement of the flash and the cropping factor.
One challenge I didn't really anticipate is how to carry all this stuff around. My G3, with a 420EX, small binoculars, and some accessories, fit nicely in a Tamrac Velocity 7. Now, just the 300D with my 24-85 and the flash will fit. No room for the 70-200 and the 18-55 kit lens or the binocs. I was lucky to come upon a Lowepro Mini-Trekker on clearance at a local computer store. They were remodeling and had a lot of stuff on sale, mostly junk, but the backpack was nice. I wasn't sure if I would like the backpack, but it works pretty well. I still use the Velocity 7 for short hikes at lunch or with the kids.
If you frequent dpreview.com's forums at all you can't avoid hearing about FEC and the 300D. I did a little subjective testing and for me, I've found that using DownloaderPro or 10DRemote to add +2/3 compensation to the flash really balances out the picture. I really haven't noticed any blown highlights.
I believe that the playback of the images it much slower than the G3. I'm sure that this is due to the larger file size and also because of the RAW mode, but you would think Canon should have anticipated that and improved the internal file handling for speed.
I've been able to make some panoramas quite easliy using the focus points. You just have to note what's under the right focus point, shoot, then pan so the left is over it, shoot, and continue. It gives just the right overlap, and you can use the rest of the focus points to make sure the camera is level.
I didn't realize how much more control I have over depth of field with the 300D then I did with the G3. I was getting pretty good at isolating the subject of G3 images in PS7 and blurring the background. It's a lot more convincing using the lens aperture!
I'm also pretty impressed with the ability to lock and hold focus. I typically use just the center focus point, and I've been able to track geese in flight.
Up to this point I've only cleaned the CMOS sensor with a bulb blower. If I do the sky test, I can see the dust, but really only at f/16 or greater. Most of my shooting is in P mode or Av mode at f/5.6-f/11. I can barely see the dust at those apertures, and that's only on the sky test. Get any detail in the image and I can't see it at all. Maybe someday I'll do the spatula thing, but for now the bulb blower works fine.
I did some extended shooting in the cold last weekend. It was about 25 deg F (-4 C). I didn't try to keep the camera warm and it was in the cold for about two hours. There were no issues and the images looked fine. I did place the camera and lenses in a plastic zipper bag before coming inside and allowed the them to warm in the bag. This prevented condensation.
I could go on but I'm really rambling now. Let me know if you want more details.
After I had the camera for about 10 days or so I had shot a cityscape night scene (of Charlotte, NC, really nice city!) from my hotel room window. I noticed a little red dot in one corner of the picture. I thought it was the reflection of the smoke detector light, but on closer inspection it turned out to be a hot pixel. The exposure was 10 seconds at ISO 100. Deadpixeltest.exe showed one hot pixel above level 60 at ISO 100 and 5 seconds. That was too much for me, so when I got home I went back to National Camera and they exchanged it for me. I purposely had not filled out the registration card, just in case. I brought my laptop with me and they let me test the replacement camera there in the store. Many things I'll buy mail order, but there is something to be said for being able walk into a store for immediate customer service. I can't say enough good things about National Camera.
Anyway, the replacement had two hot pixels, but they were only visible (above a threshold of 60) at ISO200 and 30 seconds. I figured I would quit while I was ahead.
I find that I'm shooting a lot more in RAW format than I did with the G3. I dunno if it's me or the camera, but I'm getting better results with RAW and the 300D than I did with the G3. "Better" isn't the right word, maybe "easier". I find it less effort to "dial in" a 300D RAW image then it was with the G3. I think it's me.
One result of working with RAW and the 300D is the much larger file size. I do need to get a larger CF card (I have two 256 cards now). Fortunately, I haven't been in any extended shooting situations yet, so I've been able to download the cards to the laptop, but that will change soon. I also need to offload images to CD-R more often. The larger files eat up the HD space 3 times as fast. Also, my laptop is USB1.1, and though I use a faster PCMCIA adapter, it's still pretty slow to download a full card, and will be worse if I get a larger card. I've ordered Delkin's new PC-Cardbus adapter from Amazon.com. It should be here in a few days. I'll give a report when I get it.
I had a sort of a windfall with a side job, so with the proceeds I gave myself an early Christmas present and purchased a Canon 70-200 f/4 L. What a nice lens! I can see why one is cautioned to not buy "L" lenses; I can see how they could be addictive. Since I have a lighter weight tripod and also use a monopod, I did get the ring mount, but the black version. The nice thing about the ring mount is that I can easily change from landscape to portrait orientation.
I did do some testing with the internal flash and the longer lens and I can report that there is not a trace of lens shadow with the 70-200 f/4 "L" at the closest focus distance and at 70mm. I think it's because of the higher placement of the flash and the cropping factor.
One challenge I didn't really anticipate is how to carry all this stuff around. My G3, with a 420EX, small binoculars, and some accessories, fit nicely in a Tamrac Velocity 7. Now, just the 300D with my 24-85 and the flash will fit. No room for the 70-200 and the 18-55 kit lens or the binocs. I was lucky to come upon a Lowepro Mini-Trekker on clearance at a local computer store. They were remodeling and had a lot of stuff on sale, mostly junk, but the backpack was nice. I wasn't sure if I would like the backpack, but it works pretty well. I still use the Velocity 7 for short hikes at lunch or with the kids.
If you frequent dpreview.com's forums at all you can't avoid hearing about FEC and the 300D. I did a little subjective testing and for me, I've found that using DownloaderPro or 10DRemote to add +2/3 compensation to the flash really balances out the picture. I really haven't noticed any blown highlights.
I believe that the playback of the images it much slower than the G3. I'm sure that this is due to the larger file size and also because of the RAW mode, but you would think Canon should have anticipated that and improved the internal file handling for speed.
I've been able to make some panoramas quite easliy using the focus points. You just have to note what's under the right focus point, shoot, then pan so the left is over it, shoot, and continue. It gives just the right overlap, and you can use the rest of the focus points to make sure the camera is level.
I didn't realize how much more control I have over depth of field with the 300D then I did with the G3. I was getting pretty good at isolating the subject of G3 images in PS7 and blurring the background. It's a lot more convincing using the lens aperture!
I'm also pretty impressed with the ability to lock and hold focus. I typically use just the center focus point, and I've been able to track geese in flight.
Up to this point I've only cleaned the CMOS sensor with a bulb blower. If I do the sky test, I can see the dust, but really only at f/16 or greater. Most of my shooting is in P mode or Av mode at f/5.6-f/11. I can barely see the dust at those apertures, and that's only on the sky test. Get any detail in the image and I can't see it at all. Maybe someday I'll do the spatula thing, but for now the bulb blower works fine.
I did some extended shooting in the cold last weekend. It was about 25 deg F (-4 C). I didn't try to keep the camera warm and it was in the cold for about two hours. There were no issues and the images looked fine. I did place the camera and lenses in a plastic zipper bag before coming inside and allowed the them to warm in the bag. This prevented condensation.
I could go on but I'm really rambling now. Let me know if you want more details.