Finally! ... my own 10D :)

[Rudi]

Yay! Canon Australia finally came through!

Got mine yesterday, and while I haven't shot off more than about 30 frames, the improvements over my D30 are immediately noticeable!

Better:

AF and body, feels better in my hands, ergonomics are better, the LCD brightness is fantastic, and nicely adjustable, nice orange backlight on the top LCD (finally!)

Worse:

Shooting in RAW is a pain right now, as all I have is the Canon software! Boy does it suck! :O Anyway, this is not a camera problem and I'll just have to bide my time until BreezeBrowser does 10D conversions...

A *very* nice upgrade from my D30... :D

[AGeoJO]

Hi Rudi,
Enjoy your new camera! Out of curiousity and for comparison purposes; how much did you pay for your 10D? Is that the going street price for it? Please include the approximate exchange rate between AU and US$. How about the availability of the 10D down under; is it in short supply or readily available?

Joshua

[hurry]

Congratulations, Rudi!

I also plan to buy a Canon 10D - if available in Europe, when price goes lower and weather becomes warmer and girl's clothes shorter.

Then it's phototime!

[Roger_Cavanagh]

Rudi wrote:
Shooting in RAW is a pain right now, as all I have is the Canon software! Boy does it suck! :O Anyway, this is not a camera problem and I'll just have to bide my time until BreezeBrowser does 10D conversions...

Time to start patching Camera Raw... Gotta be better than Canon suckware. :D

What about image quality, Rudi? Like to hear your views and see some pix.

I've heard the 10D is getting closer in the UK, but still a deafening silence from my dealer. :(

Regards,

[UK_Terry]

Roger_Cavanagh wrote:

I've heard the 10D is getting closer in the UK, but still a deafening silence from my dealer. :(




Mine is quiet as well, although he did originally say end of march beginning of April.
will start phoning 2nd week of april if i have not received by then.

[Rudi]

So many questions... :)

Joshua,

the body only (with one battery, charger, etc. etc.) cost me $3300 AUS (about $1945 US). I could have got one online (locally) for about $85 AUS ($50 US) cheaper, but I prefer to deal with my dealer if the difference is less than $100 AUS on such an expensive item.

It sounds like a steep price, but if I wanted to import from the US, the difference (after freight, customs charges and local taxes) would be about $200 AUS, not really worth it, as the local warranty is worth that much!

The first Canon shipment seems just about sold out, but another is already on its way, and should be in the customers' hands by early April. It seems that this camera will be much more readily available than the D60 ever was...


Roger,

the camera is absolutely awesome! I was going to keep my D30, but after playing with my 10D for the last couple of days, I will be selling it. I'd rather buy another 10D for backup, it's that much better! Here I am mainly talking about the feel of the camera, and ease of use. Shutter lag is so much better it's amazing, AF is great, the camera just *feels* better all around! Difficult to describe, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you get yours...

Image quality is great! I haven't done any extensive testing, but the metering seems more consistent, and the WB also. I don't want to say any more until I do more testing... but I *do* have to say that the 10D is superior to the D30.

I'm kinda sad that the D30 is getting beaten so comprehensively, since it was a sentimental favourite of mine, and the king of the hill for a long time - the ONLY affordable DSLR in the very beginning! To be fair, though, as inconsitent as the D30 is with exposures and WB, it still puts out some of the best images of any digital camera out there!... It's just that the 10D does the same (more consistently), and is so much easier and more fun to use (it you've ever picked up a 1D or 1V, you will know what I am talking about - not that the 10D is quite in the same league, but it definitely has a similar kind of "fun factor"! :) )

One area where the 10D beats the D30 by light-years is LONG EXPOSURES! Even cleaner than my friend's D60 (enough said!).

I will post some images when I do some more testing and have the time (I'm on a friend's computer at the moment).

[hurry]

Sounds like

D30/D60 ----> hell

10D -------------------------------------> heaven

:-)

[Roger_Cavanagh]

hurry wrote:
Sounds like

D30/D60 ----> hell

You'd expect the 10D to be better; after all, Canon have had a lot more practice building DSLR since they put out the D30, but the D30 still produces very good images,as Rudi has already said. Newcomers to DSLR's (like Per in Copenhagen who bought my D30) are going to get a good camera at a very good price now.

In the absence of a camera at the moment and having restructured www.rogercavanagh.com, I'm going back over some old pictures to see which ones I want to reload to my galleries. I'm still getting a kick of out just how good the quality is.

BTW, Terry, I hoping for sooner than mid-April. The story I heard was that Canon are having manuals printed locally (cheaper) and cameras could be with dealers by the end of March.

Regards,

[martcol]

Rudi wrote

"the camera is absolutely awesome!"

Wow, Rudi, that post has really got me going. I'm waiting for my 10D now having finally put a deposit down with my local dealer.

Anyway, I'm new to DSLRs and have posted several enquiries about lenses. What do you use (I like the stuff on your web site btw). I.m finding it harder to settle on a lens than on the camera. It is really tricky. What do you get best resluts from?

Thanks

Martin

[Rudi]

Martin,

Unfortunately, my web site is in urgent need of an update, and not all images on it were taken with the D30, or any of my new lenses... BUT:

Currently my lens line-up is:

EF 20mm f/2.8 USM
EF 28mm f/2.8
EF 28-70mm f/2.8 L USM
EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM
EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
EF 300mm f/4 L USM
EF 1.4x Extender II

...plus I've got some other odds and ends, such as the Kenko extension tube set, etc. I am currently thinking about buying the EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM, since I have made a commitment to the 1.6x "conversion", or crop factor, of the 10D for at least another couple of years. It also does not hurt that 16mm on full-frame (or film) will be a really wild perspective (and yes, I mean "wild", not wide"! :) ). I am holding off for a few weeks, just to see what the new EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens will be like. I'm leaning towards the 16-35, but who knows?

It has taken me some time to build up my outfit to what works for me, and what I like as far as image quality goes, etc., and since you're new to DSLR, I wouldn't expect you to buy into L lenses straight away, so here are some of my recommendations for a cheap lens line-up:

EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - this is a great lens for the D30/D60/10D! I would recommend it well before the EF 28-135mm IS USM that many people (including me) seem to get. The 28-135 IS is a great lens, but build quality is not that great, and the 24-85 is better optically.

EF 75-300mm f/3.5-5.6 USM - as much cr@p as this lens cops on the Internet, you'd think it would be no good, but personally, while clearly a consumer zoom, I have found no great problems with this lens. The photo "Who's the Pretty Boy", on my web site, was taken with the D30 and this lens, before I bought my first L lens. The lens is not perfect, but it is cheap, and better than no lens at all! :) I wouldn't recommend the IS version, as I think you pay too much for consumer quality IS, and the value for the buck that you get with the non-IS version disappears. If you're inclined to spend more money, and want the 300mm reach, I'd recommend the EF 1.4x Extender II with the following:

EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM - this is a lens I would recommend over the 75-300 USM, if you can make the effort and save a little longer. It is one of the sharpest zooms Canon make, and surprisingly cheap for the quality you get with this lens (build quality as well as image quality). I traded mine for the EF 70-200 f/2.8 L USM and, with the exception of f/2.8, the f/4 zoom can do anything the bigger zoom can do! In addition, it is smaller and lighter, so you're more likely to carry it around with you.

For the wide end I would choose from these three:

Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 - surprisingly good for the price. Better than some much more expensive Sigma wide-angle zooms!

EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - very nice zoom from Canon, not too expensive

EF 20mm f/2.8 USM - REALLY nice prime from Canon, and one that is currently in my line-up. I found that I was using my Tokina 19-35mm mostly at the widest setting, so I traded it in for this prime. It produces better quality images than the zoom (as it should), and is a pleasure to use.

[UK_Terry]

Roger_Cavanagh wrote:

BTW, Terry, I hoping for sooner than mid-April. The story I heard was that Canon are having manuals printed locally (cheaper) and cameras could be with dealers by the end of March.

Regards,


Hi Roger, i do hope you are right my fingers are itching.
although i am "Cyber using" after downloading the 10D Manual http://www.powershot.com/ciw/ppg/EOS10D.html

so at the moment i am learning all about it without it in my hands......sort of like dangling a very large carrot in front of a donkey.

i have my S45 but........although the S45 is good it is no substitute for the Big Boy.

[Rudi]

Rudi wrote:
Shooting in RAW is a pain right now, as all I have is the Canon software! Boy does it suck! :O Anyway, this is not a camera problem and I'll just have to bide my time until BreezeBrowser does 10D conversions...

Not a problem any more, as BreezeBrowser v. 2.6 fully supports the 10D! :D

http://www.breezesys.com/


For those of you who missed my other thread in "Share Photos", here's a test shot at ISO 1600 with the new 10D...

http://home.pacific.net.au/~rudiphoto/demo/CRW_0036_RT16.jpg