New to all of this...

[Johnnynf]

For many of you, these may be really dumb questions...but I am new to digital photography and would appreciate some unbiased and experienced help. I have been using Canon 35mm SLR's for awhile now, and am probably going to purchase the Digital Rebel (300D) in the near future. However, before I do, I have a few questions:

1. What is the image quality like? My big hesitation with digital photography in the past has been that the photo's that are produced are no where near the quality of a regular 35mm camera. To me, they just looked grainy and were not detailed at all. Of course...this was all back in the day when 2.0 MP was a lot. Now that Canon has come out with this 6.3 MP Digital SLR...can I rest assured that the images it produces will be as detailed and lifelike as those I get from my 35mm cameras?

2. What type of Compact Flash card should be used? I have heard that you should use at least 512 MB...but is this enough? I go on long vacations sometimes and would like to know that I have enough capacity to take all of my pictures. Also, what "speed" (for lack of a better term). I have also heard that you want to get a CF card that has a faster read time as to allow for faster picture taking...and not as much read time in between photos. Finally, I have read on an internet review that it is possible to use the IBM MicroDrive in this camera. Is this the case? If so, does anyone have experience using these devices? Will I be able to view the MicroDrive using a standard USB 2.0 card reader? What is the write speed like on the MicroDrive? Quicker or slower than a standard Compact Flash card?

Thanks in advance to anyone who wishes to reply!

[ssim]

Your quality on the 300D will be as good as any 35mm up to a certain point. It really depends on what size of prints you want to take these images to. I regularly print up to 8X10 from my 10D and in my opinion they are just as good as a 35mm film camera. If you want to see some of the quality of images taken with the 300D you can check out this link. You can't even begin to compare a 2.0 MP image with one from the 300D or 10D.

http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon/eos_300d

I have a 1GB IBM microdrive and it works just fine in my 10D. I have a Verbatim card reader and it functions just as well with that. I also have two 1GB Lexar 32X compact flash cards. This may seem like alot of storage but in shooting nothing but RAW format you can eat up one of these cards in no time. Speed wise between the Lexar and IBM the speed difference in neglible to me. I haven't done any specific testing though. The amount of storage that you need depends on the format that you shoot in. Keep in mind that RAW is lossless format so you can fix just about anything in Photoshop. If you want to shoot JPG you might get away with a 512 card but sooner or later you'll move to RAW and need the extra space. You can consider a digital wallet or laptop to empty your card onto. I take my laptop pretty much everywhere with me.

[Longwatcher]

For color images, the 300D should and my 10D does produce images that equal or exceed that taken by 35mm film cameras. For black and white, I still give the credit to film, but only in maximum resolution. Up to a 16"x24" print you will not notice any difference in a print, but beyond that B+W film should beat out the 10D.

As to CF cards, rule #1; get at least two of the largest cards you can afford to get two of.

You can get by with two 256MB CF, which in RAW is like shooting a 32-36 exposure roll of film as far a pace of shooting goes.

I have found though that it is helpful to have a 1+GB card as there are occasions when I don't want to have to change cards out. (like during 4th of July fireworks), but other then some once a year occasions for me, I don't need the larger card. So I would recommend a pair of 256MB cards as minimum and anything over 1GB as somewhat of overkill with the 10D/300D camera, but hey if you can afford it get the 4GB cards, you can never have enough storage 8)

As to speed of card faster is better up to around 20x, beyond that the camera is the limiting factor for camera write times, but faster is always better for computer download times.

I have a microdrive, but it is an older one, so have no comparison with newer ones, but mine microdrive is overall slower then my CF cards.

I recommend a card reader as the camera is slower then S$%# at downloading to the computer. I found it is faster to copy them to my picture pad and download at USB1.0 speed then hook up the camera.

I also recommend a portable storage device such as X-drive or picture pad as a supplement storage if you travel a lot.

Just my opinions,

[BearSummer]

Hi Johnnynf,

Thats more than a few questions....

1, Image quality - very good, the D30 would give most users of film cameras a run for their money up to a certain print size. The D60/10D with its 6Mpixel chips allow you to print to larger sizes whilst maintaining the pixel density. IMHO stick to at least 275 pixels per inch which dictates the maximum image size you can print without interpolation. If I remember correctly the raw image size is 3072*2048 so that means that your un-interpolated image size shouldnt exceed 11*7.4 inches, anything bigger is going to start hitting the resolution limits. You can rest assured that some work will be required to produce a digital image, sharpening, colour balance etc... just as turning a negative into a print requires work.

2, What type of compact flash, whatever you can afford, tho 512 and 1gb's are a good place to start. Is a 512 enough for what... a morning, day, week? If you shoot raw files (IMHO also a good idea) then you should get about 85 images on a 512 (someone who has a 512 and a 300D please supply a better estimate) the number of images will vary depending on the file size which depends on the iso setting and the image content. A 1gb should give you around 170 I think.

Read and write speeds... pass

It reads Type I and II CF cards so microdrives will be fine, just dont drop them. Ive used 1Gb microdrives with the D60 and they are fine. For microdrives I used a drive cradle and read it from the pcmcia slot.

Speed of drives vs cards, not something I ever worried about, use cards now as they appear to be more reliable (tho ive never had a problem with my microdrives so far)

Best Regards

BearSummer

[G3]

For many of you, these may be really dumb questions...but I am new to digital photography and would appreciate some unbiased and experienced help. I have been using Canon 35mm SLR's for awhile now, and am probably going to purchase the Digital Rebel (300D) in the near future. However, before I do, I have a few questions:

1. What is the image quality like? My big hesitation with digital photography in the past has been that the photo's that are produced are no where near the quality of a regular 35mm camera. To me, they just looked grainy and were not detailed at all. Of course...this was all back in the day when 2.0 MP was a lot. Now that Canon has come out with this 6.3 MP Digital SLR...can I rest assured that the images it produces will be as detailed and lifelike as those I get from my 35mm cameras?


2. What type of Compact Flash card should be used? I have heard that you should use at least 512 MB...but is this enough? I go on long vacations sometimes and would like to know that I have enough capacity to take all of my pictures. Also, what "speed" (for lack of a better term). I have also heard that you want to get a CF card that has a faster read time as to allow for faster picture taking...and not as much read time in between photos. Finally, I have read on an internet review that it is possible to use the IBM MicroDrive in this camera. Is this the case? If so, does anyone have experience using these devices? Will I be able to view the MicroDrive using a standard USB 2.0 card reader? What is the write speed like on the MicroDrive? Quicker or slower than a standard Compact Flash card?

Thanks in advance to anyone who wishes to reply!


These are not dumb questions.

First off, the image quality is going to depend on a lot of factors. The Digital Rebel has a 6.3 megapixel image sensor, so collecting sufficient image data is not a problem. The next thing is lens quality, just as in 35mm. The quality of the glass will affect the quality of the image. Next is what mode you save your images in. For maximum data and correction latitude, you will want to use RAW, then do minor corrections in RAW, save to TIFF and do your post processing in Photoshop (or whatever program you use). Next is the ISO setting you choose. This is the rough equivalent of film speed with 35mm. The higher the film speed in 35mm, the more grain in the picture (depending on exposure). When you set the ISO for the digital camera the same rules apply. You will get the equivalent of "grain" at high ISO settings, but it's called Digital Noise. The difference is that with film, the grain is pretty much consistent across the image. Digital noise is dependent on the exposure for that part of the image, usually being more pronounced in underexposed shadow areas.

You can get at least 35mm quality out of the Digital Rebel if you do your part. One of the advantages of digital is in the ease in correcting images on the PC after the image is shot. Another advantage is that you get to see you images right away with the preview (in conjuction with the in-camera Histogram) and discard any photos you don't like during the shoot and do them over, making corrections in exposure, composition, etc.

As far as CF cards, I use 3 512mb cards. That is usually plenty for a day's shooting. Using RAW mode (the absolute largest file format), I can usually get about 50 or 60 images on a card. That would equate to 300 or 400 in 35mm if you count the ones I discard on the spot. With the Digital Rebel, there is no real advantage to using the "fast write time" CF cards, because the camera is not designed to take advantage of that. You will not notice that much, though unless you are shooting a lot of high-speed burst sequences. You can use the MicroDrive cards (Type II CF) in the Digital Rebel. The advantage is that it is cheaper per megabyte. The disadvantage is that they are sensitive to shock and temperature. The write time is slower because it is a disk device (mechanical) and the Type I CF card is all electronic. Things happen faster at electronic speeds.

There is definitely a learning curve switching from film to digital. And, there are some things that are better suited to film, such as long timed exposures, "bulb" exposures, etc. So, I would not recommend selling the film cameras just yet.

[CyberDyneSystems]

2. What type of Compact Flash card should be used? I have heard that you should use at least 512 MB...but is this enough? I go on long vacations sometimes and would like to know that I have enough capacity to take all of my pictures. Also, what "speed" (for lack of a better term). I have also heard that you want to get a CF card that has a faster read time as to allow for faster picture taking...and not as much read time in between photos. Finally, I have read on an internet review that it is possible to use the IBM MicroDrive in this camera. Is this the case? If so, does anyone have experience using these devices? Will I be able to view the MicroDrive using a standard USB 2.0 card reader? What is the write speed like on the MicroDrive? Quicker or slower than a standard Compact Flash card?



For extended trips vacations or any intensive shooting,. forget about CF capacity,. it won't be enough... the trick is to get a pair of matched CF cards (512 is a good size) and an X-drive or similar device to offload images to in the feild. Price wise it is a no brainer,. CF cards cost about $230.00 per gigabyte,. a 30 gig X-drive costs about $200.00 or about $7.00 per gig


The faster cards are nice but the 10D 300D can not take ful advantage of the write speeds,. so your speed increase will be VERY minimal.. (like a 6 percent speed boost writing by switching to a 30X card! :( )

I do not recomend Microdrives anymore as the cost of CF cards of the same size is only slightly more and they are more reliable/less prone to damage.

[GenEOS]

I think you are going to find that the digital SLR's are highly capable machines for producing high quality prints. The D30 could (an still can) produce stunning 12x18's, straight from the camera. I have printed 13x19's from my D60 and would be hard pressed to tell the difference between it and a print from a slide. I think the thing you will first notice is the lack of film grain throughout the ISO range. Any larger than 13X19 will give you comperable results compared to film.

How much memory? Well, that's like asking how much beer to buy for a party? Is too much ever a bad thing? Base it on this. Shooting RAW you get about 65+/- per 512M. I personally like the 512M cards. For what I shoot I have 2G worth of various sized cards. I would highly suggest only shooting RAW. So calculate how much you shoot and buy what you can afford.

[Johnnynf]

Thanks to all of you who have posted so far. I think for now, I am just going to get one 512 MB CF card, and then buy another later. I won't have a chance to do much serious shooting until the summer anyway, so I will get another one then.

I have one other question though...and just remember, I am new to all of this. A couple of you spoke of something called an "X Drive". This sounds intriguing...but what exactly is it? Could someone send me a link to a website that gives information/prices on them? Thank you very much...again!

[ssim]

Xdrive is a small storage device that you can download your cards to. It is essentially a laptop hard drive that you can later download to your desktop.

Here is the link

http://www.xs-drive.com/

[Jim Larson]

Umm, first: You will take more digitals than you ever took with film (because you can. . .)

Second: Storage on vacation is an issue. Some use many CF cards. Some use portable storage devices. I use a single laptop and download CF cards nightly.

[samdring]

[quote=Johnnynf]2. What type of Compact Flash card should be used? I have heard that you should use at least 512 MB...but is this enough? I go on long vacations sometimes and would like to know that I have enough capacity to take all of my pictures. Also, what "speed" (for lack of a better term). I have also heard that you want to get a CF card that has a faster read time as to allow for faster picture taking...and not as much read time in between photos. Finally, I have read on an internet review that it is possible to use the IBM MicroDrive in this camera. Is this the case? If so, does anyone have experience using these devices? Will I be able to view the MicroDrive using a standard USB 2.0 card reader? What is the write speed like on the MicroDrive? Quicker or slower than a standard Compact Flash card?



the trick is to get a pair of matched CF cards (512 is a good size) of the same size quote]

Forever bowing to your superior knowledge BUT why do they need to be matched and of the same size? I have four (2 differing makes and 2 differing sizes)

[morenoar]

OK, now I know I am in trouble. I thought that with my 256Mb, and a 64Mb card I would do OK for my Japan trip. But now reading this thread, hmm my wife is going to KILL me for having to go out and buy more memory. I am wondering if I did the right thing by getting into photography.

[Canuck]

OK, now I know I am in trouble. I thought that with my 256Mb, and a 64Mb card I would do OK for my Japan trip. But now reading this thread, hmm my wife is going to KILL me for having to go out and buy more memory. I am wondering if I did the right thing by getting into photography.

This is only the beginning...
<<evil laugh>> :evil: :twisted: :evil: :twisted:

[morenoar]

Thanks Canuck realy needed to hear that. Hey, do we have a L-cholics 12 step program for all of us, YET. Someone want to share :roll: :lol:

[sjprg]

I cured my L glass desires with my 70-200 f/2.8, Now I'm a Sigma EX fan
Paul

[chris.bailey]

OK, now I know I am in trouble. I thought that with my 256Mb, and a 64Mb card I would do OK for my Japan trip. But now reading this thread, hmm my wife is going to KILL me for having to go out and buy more memory. I am wondering if I did the right thing by getting into photography.

Part of getting into photography is popping out for some milk and coming back with an L lense or a couple of memory cards.

[chris.bailey]

OK, now I know I am in trouble. I thought that with my 256Mb, and a 64Mb card I would do OK for my Japan trip. But now reading this thread, hmm my wife is going to KILL me for having to go out and buy more memory. I am wondering if I did the right thing by getting into photography.

Part of getting into photography is popping out for some milk and coming back with an L lense or a couple of memory cards.

[gsmx2]

OK, now I know I am in trouble. I thought that with my 256Mb, and a 64Mb card I would do OK for my Japan trip. But now reading this thread, hmm my wife is going to KILL me for having to go out and buy more memory. I am wondering if I did the right thing by getting into photography.

Getting into photography is the right thing....being a photographer with a spouse? That's a different question. :lol:

gsm x2

[morenoar]

:shock:

You PHOTOGRAPHERS (to be politically correct and not discremenate(I need to learn how to sepll) on genders) are BAD :twisted: very BAD :twisted:
I know divorce is in the horizon. Hmm. Wife, myself and my camera went out for a walk. Camera and I came back. Sure miss her NOT