300D LENSE KIT & MOUNT ?'s

[FotoPhreak]

Was hoping some of you might be able to answer one or both of the following specific questions ...

1. How 'bad' is the kit lense that comes with the 300D?

I guess what I am really asking, as well as being interested to find out how it performs, is whether the additional money it costs should be saved and used to help purchase an L-series (which will be bought anyway)?

2. What is the mount like on the 300D? How does it compare to the 10D?

If it is plastic like the 300D's body, is it an issue when using L-series lenses? If so, how much of an issue (i.e. one so big that its worth getting the 10D because of it)?

Thanks.

[ohenry]

The 18-55 EF/S lens that comes with the kit is not a "bad" lens. It's also not an L lens, which is why you can get it for 100 bucks. If you're looking for critical detail, it will probably dissatisfy you. If you're looking for a good image under general photography conditions, it will behave favorably for you. If your ultimate goal is to purchase an L lens in that range, then buy the L lens. What lens do you plan on using while you "save up" for the L lens?

The lens mount on the Rebel is metal and capable of handling the entire line of EOS lenses. Bear in mind that the Rebel is considerably lighter overall than the other SLR's and it may be a balance issue with the bigger fast telephoto lenses.

[FotoPhreak]

ohenry wrote:
The 18-55 EF/S lens that comes with the kit is not a "bad" lens. It's also not an L lens, which is why you can get it for 100 bucks. If you're looking for critical detail, it will probably dissatisfy you. If you're looking for a good image under general photography conditions, it will behave favorably for you. If your ultimate goal is to purchase an L lens in that range, then buy the L lens. What lens do you plan on using while you "save up" for the L lens?

The lens mount on the Rebel is metal and capable of handling the entire line of EOS lenses. Bear in mind that the Rebel is considerably lighter overall than the other SLR's and it may be a balance issue with the bigger fast telephoto lenses.




I would like (not quite sure whether the bank account agrees but hey, isn't that always the case!?!) to buy a 16-35 2.8L USM or 17-35 2.8L USM, a 50mm prime of some description, and/or maybe a 24-70 2.8L USM.

Your other point about weight is another very important question I mean't to ask ...

How does the light-weightedness of the 300D affect taking photos with heavier lenses (i.e. does it tilt the tripod ...)?

Does purchasing the battery extension help this much, or if going to use higher end lenses should I be thinking more towards the 10D?

[agit-prop]

The images I saw taken with the kit lens had *a lot* of CA and were pretty soft as well.

[robertwgross]

FotoPhreak wrote:
How does the light-weightedness of the 300D affect taking photos with heavier lenses (i.e. does it tilt the tripod ...)?


Most of the time with a general/short lens, the lens is mounted on the camera body, and the camera body is mounted onto the tripod head.

If you change to a slightly longer lens, then this all stays the same. However, when you get to a very long and heavy lens, obviously it is going to either cause the tripod head to slip or else cause the whole tripod to tip. For this reason, on most of the long/heavy lenses, a collar is included, and this allows the lens to screw onto the tripod head instead of the camera body. All that is necessary is that the collar be approximately near the center of mass of the entire lens/body combination. The lens manufacturer doesn't know which camera body will be attached, or what it weighs. Therefore, they have to guess about what a likely body will weigh, and then they know where to set the collar. Most of the time, the camera body will be a professional type, or maybe semi-professional, and those weigh from two to four pounds. If you introduce the Digital Rebel body, you are tinkering with this balance issue. Maybe the lens collar position is adjustable. Maybe it is not. Maybe your tripod head is very strong and tight. Maybe it is not. YMMV.

My tripod top has a quick release plate, and I keep the quick release mounts on: (1) my digital camera, (2) my film camera, and (3) my long/heavy lens.

---Bob Gross---

[Belmondo]

robertwgross wrote:

My tripod top has a quick release plate, and I keep the quick release mounts on: (1) my digital camera, (2) my film camera, and (3) my long/heavy lens.

---Bob Gross---


Bob:
I was rushing a shot a couple days ago, and the 10D body with BG-ED3 was mounted on the tripod. I didn't have a quick release plate mounted on the 400 f/5.6L lens, and I was in a hurry, so I mounted it supported only by the body. I was concerned, even though it was only on long enough for a single shot, but it just impressed me as being a lot of weight to be hanging off the lens mount on the camera body. I also noticed that the whole setup was much less stable than when the tripod is mounted to the lens (i.e. a lot of lens shake even though I have a very stable tripod). I've since bought several more quick release plates and leave them on the longer lenses full time now.

Ka-ching, ka-ching. The cash register just never gets a chance to cool off.

Tom

[Andy_T]

FReak,

if you buy the - cool looking - BG ED for the DRebel, the balance should be ok.

But one question remains...


... once (whenever that may be) all the questions on your multiple FAQ's have been answered, will we finally have the chance to see one of your pictures ???

Regards,
Andy

[FotoPhreak]

andythaler wrote:
FReak,

if you buy the - cool looking - BG ED for the DRebel, the balance should be ok.

But one question remains...


... once (whenever that may be) all the questions on your multiple FAQ's have been answered, will we finally have the chance to see one of your pictures ???

Regards,
Andy

Andy & others, thanks for your replies.

Andy - As soon as I actually purchase my 10D or 300D I most certainly will be posting some of my pics so I can really start on the learning path to photography heaven.

As I've said awhile ago, I am only just a beginner compared to you all, a keen one at that, but actually purchasing the camera is the hard part ... once thats behind me, taking photographs certainly won't be a problem!

[iwatkins]

Please do not take this wrong way and that includes current 300D owners:

If you are looking at L glass already, then, IMHO, you should be looking at a 10D as a minimum for your body.

Reason I say this is that you may well find that the slight lack of functionality that the 300D provides may hold you back in the medium to long term.

OK, you could start with the 300D and then switch to a 10D later on (or whatever is about then) but I can't help thinking it would be easier to do now.

All really depends on how far you want to get into photography....



Cheers

Ian

[defordphoto]

I agree Ian.

We see so many posts here from people paranoid about the Rebel. If you're paranoid about it, break out another credit card and just get the 10D and be done with it.

I have found in my life that if I was paranoid about a product like a lot of these people seem to be that I -- more often than not -- was highly disappointed when I just settled the lower-priced, lower-featured product.

Get the 10D and get some decent glass and go shoot some photos rather than settling for the Rebel (and it IS a fine camera) and kicking yourself everytime you wished it had user selectable AI Servo, a function wheel, or any of the other myriad of features that it's missing.

[DonCoon]

Unless you have a problem selling things on Ebay, definitely get the kit lens.

Seven Canon 18-55s have been sold on Ebay between November 20 and December 1. They averaged $152 with the latest bringing the highest price --- $167.50.

A 50% to 67.5% profit ain't too bad :)

[Waterstar]

Hmmmmmm?? Who is buying the Canon 18-55s at such inflated prices, for AFAIK they only fit the 300D?

[arthurb]

Waterstar wrote:
Hmmmmmm?? Who is buying the Canon 18-55s at such inflated prices, for AFAIK they only fit the 300D?

I assume it is the folks who made the mistake of not buying it with the camera in the first place. :-)

I almost did that since I already had the 28-80 usm I am glad I didn't make that mistake, since for the extra $100 the kit lens is fairly good.

[Wickedfn4u]

arthurb wrote:
Waterstar wrote:
Hmmmmmm?? Who is buying the Canon 18-55s at such inflated prices, for AFAIK they only fit the 300D?

I assume it is the folks who made the mistake of not buying it with the camera in the first place. :-)

I almost did that since I already had the 28-80 usm I am glad I didn't make that mistake, since for the extra $100 the kit lens is fairly good.

I did make that mistake thinking I would just use the 28-135 IS and the 75-300IS and be happy. Well I started looking for a 16-35 ish lens and found that I missed the boat and the 100 price. Lucky I found a guy on ebay that bought the kit but already had a 16-35L and did not need this. He sold it on ebay with a buy it now of 100 + 10 for shipping so I did not eat it to bad. I have not taken any yet with it but it sure is nice to have the extra view.

[theoldmoose]

I agree with Ian. I bought the Digital Rebel with the kit lens, and also got a used EF 70-200 F4 (non-L, non-USM, for $120) at the same time. This gives me a nice, basic DSLR with a wide range of views, to let me get away from the limitations of P&S digicams, and my old film-based OM SLR.

I'm not the least bit interested in throwing down thousands of dollars on "L" glass, since I don't plan on showing exhibition landscapes or doing pro sports photography. The one thing I did 'splurge' on was the 550EX flash (but I got it at a good price from B&H, as an 'import'), because I wanted the flexibility that that flash brings to the party.

I'm not disappointed in my 300D purchase, as I carried an OM-10 around for two decades with an assortment of 3rd party primes and mid-tele zoom. The two things that annoyed me about the OM-10 was the lack of a manual shutter speed dial (solved with a $25 adapter), and the lack of TTL flash metering (if I wanted to extend the life of my OM system and get those features, I could get an OM2 body used these days for a song, and I might still do that, if I thought I'd ever shoot film again). Both of those features are covered for me with the 300D, using the EX-series flashes.

The thing I'm disappointed in, was that I bought heavily into the digicam thing last year, getting a 4 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 4500 with all the trimmings. After using it some, the most annoying aspects were (not necessarily in order), electric zoom (ich!), outrageous depth of field (solved partially with a set of neutral density filters) slow startup times, long shutter lags, very noisy ISO 400 images (which made the slow lens all the worse for avilable light pictures), and (gasp! -- Nikon, what were you thinking?) no TTL flash metering.

Anyone want a nice 4500 kit with bag and filters, with SB50DX flash and rollbar and KISS bracket? 8-)