A few Q's on the 20D

I am planning on getting the 20D off of ebay, I am choosing this because of the 5 FPS. I shoot mountain biking and I was wondering about a cheap remote flash, How much are wireless adaptors or can i attach a cord thats like 5 ft. for a remote flash? and is this a good package for the price? http://cgi.ebay.com …1444&rd=1&ssPag​eName=WDVW
I was also wondering on battery life? How long and around how many shoots with and without a flash
And lastly should I get a bigger card then 1GB or should I get a portable drive?
Thank You

-Wes

My thoughts, Buy the camera body only from Adorama or B+H, then get a lense that fits your needs, both of the lenses are sub-par for the kinds of shots you want to do. In mountain biking Im gessing you can get fairly close to the action, so pick up a lense in the focal length you need and a fast apiture, Probably f2.8. The trypod, extra lense, memory and filters that come with that kit are not great quality, Do alot of reaserch befor you buy.

Camera body $1500
1gig sandisk ultra II CF card $100 or less
Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 $370
Fairly good trypod $100+
Camera bag $50+
You probably wont need a flash right away

Cheap remote flash....There are none.
Wireless is going to requite a ex transmitter or a 550ex flash, and a second off camera flash. If you do Buy a flash only the canon "EX" series work with this camera, Some 3rd party flashes have been releases recently that also work.

Off camera shoe cord is only 2 foot long and I think its the only one available.

If you buy that kit you will wind up replacing all the stuff with better stuff very Quickly as you realize it doesnt fit you needs.

Can't speak much about the remote flashes, other than you can get an ST-E2 for about $200 that will remotely trigger Speedlite flashes like the 420EX, 550EX or 580EX for example.

Battery life on the 20D is amazing. Without the flash I've taken over 1,000 shots without a recharge over a 2 week period. You can also add the BG-E2 grip which among other things adds a second battery.

On the 20D, 1Gb cards hold about 300 pictures if you shooot large/fine jpeg, or about 120 RAW. Sandisk Ultra II, Extreme III and Lexar 80x are the fastest cards on the 20D, with the Ultra II being the least expensive now I believe.

I'm not to excited about the bay package you sent, though. That cheapo Sandisk card he is throwing in is an absolute pig in the 20D and will bring it to it's knees. If it's the one I'm thinking, it's about 1/5th the speed of the Ultra II or Extreme III. The lens aren't so hot either. If you think you can get by with 75mm, you can get the 20D + Tamron 28-75mm + Sandisk Ultra II for under $1900. This lens blows away the kit lens, and gives you 20mm additional length on the zoom.

Watch out for those slow cards, was playing with a 300D in a shop, he loaded their default card they had lying around, some brand I had never heard of. I fulled the frame buffer quickly (as expected, and why I've ordered a 20D 8) ), went away a made a coffee (harvested the beans, milked the cow etc), came back and it had just debuffered. That may be a slight exageration, but it was painful to say the least, it seemed like a good 15 seconds till I could shoot again, if this happened to me in the field, something would risk suffering damage whislt I was losing good shots

I have an X'S-Drive II, I swear by the concept (I do find it a little slow, not sure if that is my 12x cards or the drive itself), on my G3 having a 512 for main shooting, and a 128 to keep me going when I clear the 512. Since then prices have halved, so I will be going for the same setup on my 20D with larger cards.

I would not go for that package on eBay, most of the stuff in there (except the 20D) is pure junk. I just bought my 20D package, which I put together myself, and it goes something like this. Prices are approximate:

Canon 20D body $1350
Tamron f/2.8 28-75mm $300
Canon f/1.8 50mm $75
Lowepro Stealth Reporter 300AW $100
SanDisk 2GB Ultra II CF card $170
Giottos Rocket Blower $10
2 high quality B+W filters for above lenses $75
2 extra high-capacity batteries for 20D $20
SanDisk USB 2.0 CF card reader $20
_______________
TOTAL: $2120

So I got quite a complete kit for a little over $2000, and let me tell you, that is a wonderful kit. It does leave me desiring of a wide angle lens and a nice zoom (I'm looking at Canon f/2.8L 70-200mm as my next lens right now), but it's great to cover the basics to start off with. I would not buy the eBay kit above, but rather put together your own kit like I have to perfectly suit your own needs. As someone mentioned above, make sure you do your research! It took me 2-3 weeks of research to finally put that kit above together and decide what was best for me.

Good luck, and if you have any questions, I'll be happy to help!

interesting package... let's look at the contents:


20d - great camera
18-55 ef-s - not bad
canon camera bag - small
tripod - cheap
cleaning kit - professional q-tips??
card reader - is that usb 1.1?
filter kits - hey, you get 2 'nuetral' density filters and a flash red velvet lined case!
sigma 70-300 dl - softy
sandisk 1gig card - woohoo 1019MB/sec on 20d (s l o w)
'titanium' wide angle - poop - it's like those things you put on the back of your motorhome so you can see the cars behind you
all of this from an ebay dealer in brooklyn...

oh wait... you can get 20% off an extended battery purchase or 3 more filters @ 30% off - wow!!!!


as others have said, go the bhphoto (or even adorama) route, you will be much happier and can get things that you will get much more use out of

OK, Do you think it is a good idea to get a 20D kit with just one lense or just customize the whole thing?

Buy from B&H. You won't be sorry......... Give up on the kits from ebay. B&H is safe, quick, and will support you should you have a problem.

I would definitely buy a body on ebay, but those kits are usually overpriced and awful to be blunt.

Either buy it on FM or look for some independent seller who bought one and realized he needed something faster or you know............... B&H is pretty good. I have dealt with better companies that are cheaper and very reliable, but if you want true piece of mind, use B&H. Other then that I would say buy mint used. You save $150 on a camera that hasn't even been broken in. Thats enough to get you a grip or some extra batteries, a 512 ultra II CF and a 50 1.8.

Try to buy a used one. I see 20Ds on FM regularly, mostly new. Most bought it to replace their old 1D and changed their mind.

I'll second that. I bought a used 20D (with 5 shutter activations) off this forum for $1450, and then sold the kit lens that came with it for $100 on eBay. So I got the 20D, practically brand new, for $1350. A fine deal if you ask me!

I am thinking of buying from ritz camera store, because theres one very close to me, they offer $50 back on media. And are Hitachi - 4 GB Microdrives and good? the camera w/ Canon 18-55mm AF Lens is $1600 is that a good lens? thats about the size I was going to buy anyway, and what are the cheapest, nicest camera backpacks/bags that are comfortable and hold a tripod? Thank You