What am I going to need in my stocking for my new d.Rebel?

[dnadalin]

Stayed in Seattle for Thanksgiving and wouldn't you know it, the huge red Cameras West sign was shining in my hotel window all night. That red light kept me up all night with visions of L glass and ISO's above 100 :-)
http://www.pbase.com/image/23909518

Next day I stumbled sleepily into Cameras West with my wife who offered no help in resisting the salesman (not that I wanted her to).

I left the store a new owner of a d.Rebel plus Kit lens.

My very first pictures: http://www.pbase.com/dnadalin/drebel

Still have my G3, though my wife is calling it hers now. I'm pretty sure I can make that sacrifice...



____________________________
DNadalin
http://www.pbase.com/dnadalin

[defordphoto]

Cool! Congrats!! What? No Pike's Market people pics? :) The ultimate best thing for any Canon owner to find in their stocking is L-glass galore! A nice 16-35L and/or 70-200L f2.8 IS would probably put a Santa-smile on your face the morning of the 25th.

[TomKa]

Maybe a 55-200 lens, I have the new version from Canon, small and lightweigt, but only f 5,6. There is also a new lens from Sigma. Next lens could be a super wide lens, right now there is only the Sigma 12-24, perhaps Canon will offer a new consumer wide angle consumer lens in spring. Or you can go for the excellent L-glas...

I have also the RC-1 and a nifty small MICROPOD "tripod" from Novoflex together with the 234RC tripod head from Bogen/Manfrotto.

With a EOS-M42 Adapter from rugift.com you can attach the whole range of M42 gear (without autofocus and automatic aperture), Worth a look is the Zenitar 16mm fisheye, you can correct these pictures with PanoTools (search for fisheye on http://www.razziphoto.com )

[RichardtheSane]

If you havn't already got them spare batteries and plenty of spare CF cards. Consider the battery grip too, makes the camera much nicer to hold.
An external flash would be handy and either the 55-200 or a 100-300 lens. I don't think would will benefit much from the 16mm zenitar lens because after correction you don't get much more FOV than the 18mm on your kit lens.
Enjoy your camera, it is a fine piece of equipment so no suprise your wife wasn't giving you help in resisting!

[GenEOS]

A 10D? Just kidding...

Vertical grip, extra batteries, and one can never have enough CF cards.

How about Photoshop CS?

Or if you really want a nice stocking stuffer...

16-35 f2.8 L, 70-200 f2.8 L IS, or a 100-400 f4.5-5.6 L

These will all fit in a moderatley sized stocking.

But the colors will clash with the Drebel.

:-)

[dtrayers]

Get a nice tripod with a ball head, in the $100 - $150 range. One that's easy enough and light enough that you'll take with you, but still of good quality. With it get the remote release RS60-E3.

You'll be amazed at the improvement in the quality of your pictures, and I find that the tripod slows me down just enough that I take more time studying the composition of the scene and think about things like DOF and exposure.

[CoolToolGuy]

dtrayers wrote:
Get a nice tripod with a ball head, in the $100 - $150 range.


Dave,

Just curious why you recommend a ball head. Not disagreeing, just curious.

[Belmondo]

Speaking only for myself:

Shot setup is MUCH quicker. With a conventional tripod, you have three different settings to mess with. With a ball head, you loosen one knob to frame your shot, tighten the knob and shoot. It's much faster.

[Canuck]

I have a few ideas:

1) Cash, cash, and more cash.

2) Seriously, you could go with a solid tripod with removeable head. There are ones made by Manfrotto and others. That would allow you to sawp between tripod and freehand.

3) If you look at a thread I started called Software, that could be of assistance.

4) You might want to look into a device for holding several thousand pics at a time, like what I have as well as Belmondo and Jesper. We have the Flashtrax drive. It comes in 30, 40 and 80 GB flavours. This is a rather expensive idea, but it has a 3.5" LCD screen on it. The other lower cost option that can be had for about $200-$300 is the Xs drive, or a CF to CDR/W drive. I'm one pic taking person, especially in the right circumstances. I'm currently in the IMG_1900s already. I know this isn't much, but figure I was away for 2 months and was going thru withdrawl.

That is all I can think of for now and please get the Sigma EX glass, or Caono L glass or other pro glass. I can't overemphasise that point. Th first time I used the Sigma EX lens mentioned below in RAW, it was a revelation that I a really no frills no one special could take pro quality pics. The 10D I have has a really nasty habit of showing the quality of glass you use. I can't speak for the 300D. Basically, cheap glass=cheap looking pics; expensive glass=stunning, pro quality pics. Just take my word for it. This is with very few exceptions. There are a few budget lenses out there that can hack it, I'm told, but can't verify it. That would take some asking around. I think the Canon 50mm F1.8 or F1.4 is one of them.