Bushwalk Australia

I wouldn't want this to turn into a "mine is bigger than yours" debate, but I thought it might be interesting to find out what camera others use and why.

Some possible info you might include:

1) What Camera do you use?
2) Why did you buy it?
3) What do you like about it?
4) (update) at TasAdam's request - what gear do you carry?

I suppose I should go first:

1) I use an Olympus E330 Digital SLR.
2) I bought it because, at the time, it was rated as one of the best first time DSLR users cameras for Landscape photography.
3) I love the live screen view that allows one to frame photos via the screen or view finder at the user's discretion. I also like the multiple scene modes. I used these a lot early on until I worked out how to use other setting on the camera.
4) I carry the camera body, two lenses (14:45mm & 40:150mm), UV and Circular Polarising filters, cloths, cleaning fluid, IR remote control, spare batteries, & 3GB of memory - all in a Lowepro Slingshot, and tripod. I don't own a macro lens but I'm seriously in the market for one and I will upgrade the 14:54mm later this year.

I use a combination of Nikon d50 and d70 bodies. The D50 is a ripper of a camera, highly underrated.

I purchased into Nikon system because I wanted the best Actually to be honest I was sold on the k100d pentax but store didnt have stock. Bought the Nikon instead. In hindsight I really could not have made a better decision. Canon cameras weren't comfortable enough in my hand, pentax use aa batteries (eww) and the olympus kit lens tends to have a yellow/green colour cast in landscapes which turned me right off. Recently had a good play with the Olympus e410 when the Oly rep was in work. Its a corker of a camera body feature wise but I still saw a trend to yellows and greens in the test shots I took. And the 4/3 crop just seems too much. I like my big 1.5 crop sensor thanks

I'm slowly building up a nice collection of glass, only couple of lenses in mind at moment I think I would use. the 18-200mm VR would make weddings much less tedious swapping between bodies...and the Tamron 90mm Macro lens is getting some amazing reviews around the place. Macro isnt something I do a lot of but it is fun for a change.

In my mind there is a very clear and distinct quality difference in shots taken by DSLRs and compacts (this could and has been debated all day) however I am getting sick of the "I own a Canon 40d, Nikon d200/300, whatever expensive body you like, so I must be a pro attitude. A nicely framed interesting shot that is grainy and low res is still far better than a eleventeen megapixel RAW image of sod all

Other information I for one would be interested in is what gear people take them when doing walks - possibly different lists from day walks to "overnight or longer".

1)What Camera do you use? I use the Nikon D200.

2) Why did you buy it?
Long story. Have had a number of film SLR cameras and lenses, have done photo shoots and half a dozen weddings with film. When we went overseas in 2000 we bought a new Nikon F80 film SLR camera, but it never got a lot of use because it was around the time of the digital explosion.
We bought an Olympus C-750. A capable camera and the best feature of it was that it took AA batteries. However it died 3 times within a year so it was replaced under warranty - with the new C-770. A bigger screen, better movie mode, but crappy exclusive batteries that don't last well.
It wasn't too much longer that I realised I wasn't able to do enough photographically with this camera. I had pushed it to its limits so I decided I needed a DSLR. The D70 was the latest and greatest prosumer DSLR on the market at the time, and as I was well familiar with the Nikon layout, it was the natural choice for me.
Time moved on and I bought a D200 and handed the D70 on to my wife. That's the way it's been until this month - she now has a D200 as well, and I am going to sell the D70 and a lens or two.
Told you it was a long story.

3) What do you like about it? The D200 that is. Its solid construction - magnesium alloy body, its extra gaskets so it will take a bit of moisture (yes I have used it in drizzle without fear), 10.2Mp, 5 frames a second if I want it, batteries last well (and we have plenty), the feel of the camera in hand - really fits well. Positive controls, well laid out.

And to answer my own question.
When we did the Overland track in winter, between my wife and I, we had 2 camera bodies - D200 and D70, 2 tripods - full size Benro carbon fibre and smaller but solid macro tripod, 5 lenses - 18-200VR, 18-70, 50mm f1.4, 105 macro f2.8, and 12-24 wide angle (nice glass). As well, numerous batteries, mem cards, blower, lens cloth, hand towel (soft, for damp gear), home built remote control, can't think what else.
Now that list is going to change because I just got the new Nikon 24-70 f2.8 lens - possibly one of the best lenses ever made by Nikon (and better be, for the price!). Took the new lens out on its first day walk yesterday to Lady Lake - am surprised, pleasently, at how comfortable it is. I normally walk with camera strap around neck and one hand on camera to stop it flapping around. With the extra weight, I didn't even notice it.
My tripod lives strapped to the side of the pack for travelling distances, but on this walk yesterday it wasn't long before I found myself carrying it as well. I use it a lot.
Hopefully before long I will get time to sort some and post some examples.
The equipment list doesn't change much between day walks and overnight or longer.

taswaterfalls.com wrote:In my mind there is a very clear and distinct quality difference in shots taken by DSLRs and compacts (this could and has been debated all day) however I am getting sick of the "I own a Canon 40d, Nikon d200/300, whatever expensive body you like, so I must be a pro attitude. A nicely framed interesting shot that is grainy and low res is still far better than a eleventeen megapixel RAW image of sod all

Agree. This is not just for DSLR users. Jump in here regardless of what you carry. Good art is much more about the artist than the equipment and I'm very interested to know what you use.

I use a Sony DSC-S700 Cyber-shot and will never produce the results that others get and I must admit I dont always remember to take it with me but I am satisfied with the results I get and the additional memory stick I purchased plugs into the computer for easy download.
I bought it because I needed a new camera and it was on special

On walks i carry my d50. Its every bit as capable as any of the other cameras in the Nikon range but smaller and lighter...the only exception being the d40 but its useless with half my lens collection so I'm not interested in it... The D-Fitty is limited in a few ways obviously to its bigger brothers but absolutely none of them are features needed whilst hiking. I have used this camera all day in drizzly rain and it still goes strong

Lens wise I will carry the cheap, small, light and incredibly sharp 18-55mm lens. It weighs in at about 1/4 of any of its competitor lenses in the nikon range and still manages to take cracker photos. On top of this i have the 50 1.8 (once again 1.4 price of its competitor and without a doubt the sharpest lens Nikon make) and the Tokina 12-24. The 12-24 is the heaviest lens i carry...but damn if 12mm isn't a buttload of fun. Can get right up in the thick of things and still fit truckloads into frame
I used to carry the horrible Nikon 70-300g lens for telephoto. Its light and not that big so it wasn't a big deal. Since buying the 70-210mm though I have become aware of just how horrible the image quality is on the 70-300 so it gets left at home. The 70-210 is a touch heavier (being all metal) and therefor also stays home...but i rarely need tele on walks...probably only ever used once so I dont miss it.
My tripod is a Slik Sprint Pro. Light, sturdy (rated for more than enough with any of the lenses I throw on it) Its not rated to cater the kg's of the big telephoto lenses like the bigger and more impressively priced benros or manfrottos but for what I use it for its perfect. It has a very simple ball head that came with it. The tripod gets strapped to outside of pack and the rest of equipment either lives around my neck or in the top pocket of pack wrapped up in polar fleece. In the d50 strap i have a spudz cleaning cloth (I'm seriously in love with spuds...luckily we don't stock them at work or I would have a collection) and the nikon ML-L3 remote. Apart from this I carry a Neutral Density filter (in 52mm thread...cant afford a 77mm one for the 12-24 and the 52 fits both other lenses.) and CPL. All Lenses have a permanent Hoya Pro HMC UV filter in place for protection.

1) What Camera do you use?

Canon 400D with the basic lenses from the twin lens kit. For now anyway

2) Why did you buy it?

Because I had an Ixus V2 from way back when and then an Ixus 800IS. I liked the size of them both for walking. I loved it until a friend and I went taking photos of a waterfall and running water in a stream. My pictures were crap and using the exposure times simply produced white photos. I had been toying with the idea of a DSLR for a while and got an awesome price for the kit & interest free terms too. GG Harvey Norman!!

When the went on another shoot (Tasman Bridge) and now my friends photos turned out crap!!! So now he has an Olympus E510 DSLR.

I am so glad I took the plunge as I am having so much fun shooting in manual mode. The downfall is all the accessories and the want of a better lenses $$$$

3) What do you like about it?

Everything, especially manual mode. I love the creativity aspect the most.

4. What gear do you carry?

ATM both lenses, the camera and a tripod. I mainly do day walks so I have no extended walk alternative. I couldn't live without a tripod now, it is the only way to photograph in many situations.

Nik reading all of this Hi Tec Camera stuff I think it needs a seperate "Photographic " section as most of it goes over the avarge punters head

I've been thinking that perhaps a photography forum may be in order one day. Not sure if we've got enough topics for it yet, but perhaps creating the forum will inspire the topics.

Do you guys think it should be a top-level forum, or a subforum of the Gallery forum (in the same way as the techno-babble forum is a subforum of the Equipment forum)? I'm undecided, but perhaps leaning towards the subforum.

EDIT: PLEASE reply by PM to avoid hijacking the thread.

EDIT 2: (As I was reminded ) This has now been moved to the Gallery forum, which is the new home for photography topics. If there end up being enough others, I'll create a new Photography sub-forum.

I don't think it matters what actual camera you use - but rather what you take and how you take it that is important.

On a recent trip to the Western Arthur Range - i took three cameras - 2 still and a video camera. Of the 2 still cameras - one was on a cord around my neck and kept always (while walking) in my shirt top pocket (and because of this i tend to wear a shirt with a top pocket) - this was a small pentax wpi - which is waterproof and very light and compact. The other still camera - which i stored near the top of my pack was a canon digital SLR (350D) - and two lenses - the very lightweight 18-55 kit lens that came with the camera and a sigma 55-200 zoom (also pretty light). I originally bought this digital SLR because it is relatively lightweight and it has very good low light performance (not too much noise at 1600 ISO) - this was important for photography in canyons nearer to home in the Blue Mts. There i also use a larger standard zoom lens with a stabiliser built in.

No tripod anymore - if i took one i would have to leave out the video camera. Instead i use a high ISO for tele or low light shots.

Some photos from the W Arthurs trip have been posted on -

http://www.david-noble.net/Tasmania/Wes ... sMenu.html

If you look at the photos (which have been heavily jpeg'ed) - then it may be hard to tell which ones were taken with which camera. The little pentax was certainly very handy to pull out for grab shots and also took excellent macros.

Dave

DaveNoble wrote:Some photos from the W Arthurs trip have been posted on -

http://www.david-noble.net/Tasmania/Wes ... sMenu.html

I'm no photographer, but I love this series of photos, Dave! That 'Sunrise from Mt Columba' is just fanstastic, with Federation looking ominous in the background. Also, your series of the Beggary Bumps track is the best illustration of that part of the walk I've seen, I think.

A good record of the bushfire too.

1) Kodak Z650

2) I had a strict budget of $500, and it had the best combination of optical zoom (10x) and resolution (6.1MP) available at the time

3a) What I like:
It seems to be doing a good job (for its price) as a non-DSLR for someone who could not afford a DSLR but wanted more than a happy-snapper. F-stop, apperture, exposure and iso can all be set manually. There are plenty of automatic modes (14) to choose from that set the appropriate combination of settings for the situation. A few different timer modes allow self-portraits on solo walks and also help avoid camera shake for long exposures (with camera sitting on a log/rock/etc).

3b) What I don't like:
The relatively low resolution of the display makes it hard to make out the detail I'm used to seeing through the view-finder of my 35mm SLR (Canon Eos300 - tragically rarely sees light of day due to processing cost). Of course the extremely low resolution view finder on the Z650 is utterly useless in most situations. I've often wondered if DSLRs have an optical view finder like my Eos or are they also limited by the resolution of a digital display? Finally, my biggest gripe is the inability to manually focus. While I can make the manual adjustments for photography in low light, this is useless if the automatic focus cannot see. For a full-length version of my digital camera woes check out my blog entry: Digital Photography (Sob)

4) Just the camera and spare batteries.

DaveNoble wrote:I don't think it matters what actual camera you use - but rather what you take and how you take it that is important.

It's not what you use, its the way you use it. I couldn't agree more.

DaveNoble wrote:No tripod anymore - if i took one i would have to leave out the video camera. Instead i use a high ISO for tele or low light shots.

Hooray! After my post in the Photographing waterfalls - which way is best? discussion, I felt howled down for my non-tripod use. Now, Dave has made my day. I love his work and on-line photo-essays. As Son of a Beach has already said, check out Dave's Western Arthurs pics. Also compare his footwear with Dave's first Tassie walk in 1975.

tastrekker wrote:.....
The relatively low resolution of the display makes it hard to make out the detail I'm used to seeing through the view-finder of my 35mm SLR (Canon Eos300 - tragically rarely sees light of day due to processing cost).

Developing to CD only with no prints is cheap...Get it done at a kodak shop with a Digital Noritsu Lab and ask for high res scans. Turns your film SLR into effectively very nice Digital SLR If you come into my work (pm me for details...don't want to spam the forums) I will give you 10% discount on regular price. This goes for any forum member.

tastrekker wrote: I've often wondered if DSLRs have an optical view finder like my Eos or are they also limited by the resolution of a digital display?

Yes the SLR part of DSLR means Single Lens Reflex. The reflex in that refers to the Mirror which reflects your image into the prism and finally the viewfinder. So what you see in viewfinder is through the lens. Exactly the same as your Film SLR. Also your EOS lenses you have currently will work beautifully on the range of canon Digital SLRs too. 2nd hand eos350d cameras pop up for under $500 nowdays on some of the other forums i frequent.

tastrekker wrote: Finally, my biggest gripe is the inability to manually focus. While I can make the manual adjustments for photography in low light, this is useless if the automatic focus cannot see.

Manual Focus is just the flick of a small switch away with SLR, proper twist the lens style...not hold a button and click another while not holding your breath style

tastrekker wrote: For a full-length version of my digital camera woes check out my blog entry: Digital Photography (Sob)

4) Just the camera and spare batteries.

DaveNoble wrote:I don't think it matters what actual camera you use - but rather what you take and how you take it that is important.

It's not what you use, its the way you use it. I couldn't agree more.

DaveNoble wrote:No tripod anymore - if i took one i would have to leave out the video camera. Instead i use a high ISO for tele or low light shots.

Hooray! After my post in the Photographing waterfalls - which way is best? discussion, I felt howled down for my non-tripod use. Now, Dave has made my day. I love his work and on-line photo-essays. As Son of a Beach has already said, check out Dave's Western Arthurs pics. Also compare his footwear with Dave's first Tassie walk in 1975.

I couldnt do without my tripod if there is water involved. However I agree with dave that the HIGH iso capabilities of the Digital SLRS make it easier to leave at home. On the kodak cameras though I really wouldn't recommend using ISO above about 100....200max. The smaller sensor and lack of noise controll will end up with very noisy grainy shots. This can be software corrected but it does give you very soft shots as result.

Gday all,

1) What Camera do you use?
I use the Canon 400D with 18-55mm kit lense, will be looking at a lense upgrade in a while (either the sigma 10-20mm or the canon 17-45 f/4 L)

2) Why did you buy it?
Because I wanted to take the next step up to a DSLR from the all digital camera (Fuji s9500) for the increased quality and performance especially in low light conditions as most of my photography is in low light conditions.

4) What gear do you carry?
Ok for both day and extended walks I carry the following gear; camera body, lense, circular polariser filter with a 2gb CF card, only the 1 battery at the moment, all in the lowepro toploader zoom bag with a moister absorben gel sachet in the bottom.
My tripod is the manfrotto modo (a very good tripod for the money, light weight but stable and extends quite high), and I carry the following bits and pieces; lens cleaner liquid, blower + brush, lens tissue, hyperfocal chart (not that it can be used with the kit lense anyway!), and a remote shutter release. oh and a pretty blue floral shower cap as a rain cover for the camera bag (I always wear the camera on the chest strap).
The only thing I have started taking on some daywalks on rainy days when I walk up a river is a small umbrella (much easier at keeping the water of the lense and ending up with ruined photos!)

Michael.

Mickeymoo wrote:My tripod is the manfrotto modo (a very good tripod for the money, light weight but stable and extends quite high), .

Managed to talk the boss into getting a modo in stock at work. They are a cracker tripod. More than enough for any slr rig even with the smaller zooms. Unless you go sticking big aperture zooms on there it will do you for ages. Im very impressed. The Ballhead is a bit over-engineered perhaps...but im a geek...so i love it

So far I have been very impresses with it, although the head is probably not the best it still does a good job (I have been toying with the idea of making my own center colum with 1/2 in thread so as I can put a good head on it, then I'd have the best of both world and at just under 1kg it's not too heavy to take everywhere with me.

I havent actually looked but i would have thought that the head would be removable on the modo? It is on my slik...and even on some of the optex cheapies we have at work...

G'Day All,

I agree whole heartedly on the previous comments which come down to "it doesn't matter what type of camera you use it is the operator or the operator's ability (luck sometimes?) to be in position, frame and then take the photo" that is the most important. I have certainly seen photos on very basic camera (even disposables) that are better than I can get on a DSLR. However the ability to get consistantly good photos (leaving out the photogs ability to frame it nicely) the hardware does come into play.

1) What camera do I use?
My main camera is a Canon 1dMk2N. The only landscape lense I have at present is 17-40mm L F4. The 50mm 1.4 is also useful. The other lenses normally stay at home. If I could get a really wide lense for the camera I could but still investigating.

2) Why did you buy it?
My back up camera is a Canon 10D and I upgraded as the 10D was too slow for my non-landscape photography (motorsport). To me the Canon/Nikon/Pentax/.... debate is a bit like the Ford/Holden/... or any other debate that could be argued. Some people are ford people and some are holden, others even like Lada's...

3) What do you like about it?
It's fast and water resistant and lots of control over the shot. The bad is that it is big and heavy which isn't good for cold hands during winter....

4) What gear do you carry?
At least 70% of the stuff in my backpack is camera related - Lenses, Tripod (normally my cheapie as I am always wedging the legs between rocks mid stream to get a shot), filters, Compact Drive storage unit to download photos from memory cards if required, batteries and a dry bag to put everything in if it starts raining hard.

Thanks,
Steve.

Finally getting around to posting something on this.

1) What Camera do you use?

Canon Powershot A700. I'm a member of the compact P&S brigade, which probably won't excite too many here, as I know some of you guys have some really sophisticated gear (and know how to use it ).

2) Why did you buy it?

It was a replacement for my much loved Canon A70 which failed late last year, after about 4 years use (and abuse). I suspect that the CCD failed. As it's long out of warranty not sure if worth sending it back to Canon, as I had heard that they sometimes repaired (free) A70s with that problem outside warranty, due to a manufacturing fault. I might get around to trying that eventually as it would still be a good camera if restored to working order.

Anyway I wanted something similar to the A70 that would give as much manual control as possible, but with more megapixels, more compact and lighter, but still running on standard batteries eg AA. I also wanted optical zoom better than than usual 3x. The slightly smaller and lighter A700 is 6mp 6x optical with pretty much full manual control, and seemed to fit the bill even though it was already a superseded model when I found one. On sale for $260 it was a done deal.

3) What do you like about it?

I love taking photos when bushwalking and it's one of the reasons I go. However I don't rate myself as a photographer by any stretch of the imagination. That said, I do attempt to take good photos and have learned to manipulate the settings to improve the results (with varied success). I normally use a "bracketing" type of approach, so having full manual control over shutter speed, aperture, ISO etc is what I really like about this camera (and it's predecessor). I also like that it runs on two AA batteries and has excellent battery life. I had been using 2000mah NiMH rechargeables but more recently trialling lithiums, which seem to last forever, although I don't like the price of them. Love the 6x zoom as I like to attempt to photograph wildlife when the opportunity arises, and it also provides more versatility for different shots.

4) What gear do you carry?

Very little:

A a small weatherproof pouch that attaches to a belt or pack strap for quick access.

2gb and 250mb SD cards.

A tiny Ultrapod pocket tripod, which has a velco strap around one of the legs so you can mount it on a tree branch or other stable mounting point. It's quite handy, although I've found with the A700 that I can still get quite acceptable results in deep forest by bumping up the ISO and not bothering with the tripod. However it's good for those silky waterfall timed exposures.

A soft lens cloth for cleaning off water droplets, as I have a bad habit of taking photos when it's raining and windy, or too close to waterfalls.

Occasionally take 2 spare batteries.

All carried in a small dry bag when inside a pack.

I also have UV and circular polarising filters from the A70, but can't currently use them as I don't think the A700 has a conversion adpator. If I can eventually find one I'll carry those also.

Kind regards,
John W

johnw wrote:
I also have UV and circular polarising filters from the A70, but can't currently use them as I don't think the A700 has a conversion adpator. If I can eventually find one I'll carry those also.

Kind regards,
John W

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/58mm-Lens-Adapte ... p1638.m123

there's one. I would get decent hoya filters to replace the cheap rubbish that comes with it...but its a reasonable price for adaptor

taswaterfalls.com wrote:http://cgi.ebay.com.au/58mm-Lens-Adapter-Tube-UV-PL-Filter-For-CANON-A700_W0QQitemZ170207864753QQihZ007QQcategoryZ27432QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD7VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m123

there's one. I would get decent hoya filters to replace the cheap rubbish that comes with it...but its a reasonable price for adaptor

Aha! Thanks for that TWF . I hadn't got around to researching it. Have also discovered that Canon do a genuine adapter...but about 4 times the price (for a bit of plastic). I think one of the filters I have now is Hoya but no doubt they won't fit, so looks like I'm up for new ones.

Kind regards,
John W

My wife and I are both into photography.

Our main gear are a Canon 350D and a 30D, though my wife has a sack full of old Canon film gear. The lenses we use the most are a 24-105L IS, a 100-400L IS, an 18-55 and a 50/1.8. In the next few months I'll be getting a 17-40L and a Sigma 150/2.8 Macro.

We went with Canon DSLR's because my wife was running up development bills of several thousand dollars each year, so it made sense to go into digital when it came time to upgrade the old A1 gear, digital was a natural choice. We went Canon for many reasons, but in particular it was a brand we knew and trusted, and at the time their gear was the best around.

We have bought all our stuff from http://www.photobuff.com.au

When I hike, I carry all the gear listed, an el cheapo velbon tripod and a lowepro minitrekker, which I dislike. I also use tamrac bags.

While I'm not an absolute camera freak ,my stuff's not too bad to get some reasonable results.
My usual camera is a compact digital Canon 2SIS with 5 mgs's and 12# zoom. It has enough adjustment features to satisfy.

My other one is also a Canon__MVX100i video cam.
With 16# zoom it is quite effective also.

Cheers FF

We've just added to our gear: now we're sporting.... (italics is new stuff)

Bodies
Canon 30D x2 (1 is new)
350D

Lenses
Canon EFS 10-22
Canon EFS 18-55 (unused now)
Canon 17-40/4 L
Canon 24-105/4 L IS
Canon 100/2.8 Macro
Canon 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS
Canon 50/1.8 II

Also, misc. stuff
A couple of cheap tripods and a cheap monopod (needs to be replaced)
2 Chinese-made remote releases
430EX Speedlight
Folding Reflector Disk
2x Stormjackets

Bags
Lowepro Minitrekker AW II (Hate it!)
Tamrac Adventure 2
Tamrac Adventure 8 (the wife's bag)
Mountainsmith Odyssey (on it's way, my new bag, for all the new stuff, and for those marvellous Tassie conditions)

Camera shopping is fun.....

1) What Camera do you use?

Canon 20D, Canon lenses: 10-22mm, 24-105L, 70-200L (F4, nonIS), 50mm (F1.8, nifty fifty), 430EX Flash, Velbon Tripod.
Canon Powershot G6

2) Why did you buy it?

A few other I knew were using Canon gear, so I had the opportunity to get familiar with it and share gear while I was building up my own set of lenses etc. I also have big hands, so a larger camera is more comfortable for me.

3) What do you like about it?

Great colour, particularly from the L lenses (which are also sharp corner to corner). I use exposure compensation a lot and the thumb wheel on the back of the camera makes it very easy and fast. I don't think there's much between the brands these days. You get what you pay for, and there's some great gear out there!

4) (update) at TasAdam's request - what gear do you carry?

All of the above. I use a Lowepro slingshot for day walks and a Lowepro Nova to hang in front of me off the shoulder straps of my pack for longer walks. Keeps if handy.

I'm also one of the school of thought that the camera doesn't make the photographer. Of the shots I've sold (which is not a lot!), quite a few of them have come from point and shoot models. There are some advantages to using the good gear, but getting a great photo isn't one of them.

On the wishlist are a 5D MkII (if they ever get made!), 17-40L and 100mm Macro.

Man, I'm less and less enchanted with Canon. I just ordered a Refurb 10-22 from a place in the US, it got here- straight from the reseller who got it straight from Canon, sealed in the box, and it Error 99'd my camera right off the bat. I did everything with it- same thing. Tried it on three different bodies. GROWL! Cost me $50 to send it back, and the company I bought it from (who are supposed to be reputable) didn't save me a replacement one, and sold out of their stock. GROWL!

Of course, you could have bought 2x the lens I ordered for the price of the equivalent Noink....and I do love all those noise-free images.

Honestly though, if the cost of Nikon was lower, I'd have been pretty keen to get into them instead of Canon. BUT, when we first upgraded our old manual focus system, Nikon wasn't anywhere in the ballpark of Canon. Now, if I had more money (a LOT more) and had it all to do over again, I could go for a D3 or even a D300, though I still reckon a 5D has better image quality than the D300.

But lets all be honest with each other- what we really want, and would get with a lottery win, is a 1Ds Mk III. Oh baby, there aint nothing else like that short of a Hassy or Mamiya....... (drooling)

Yeah....something like that....except a lot more scary looking and probably just a touch more powerful.

I got refurb Nikon d80 from adorama in states....been using it for months with no dramas at all. Also got a lens or two from them. Ive been lucky though, wouldn't want to have to send anything back.

I work in camera store, in time I've been there (just over 12 months) Ive seen 5 canon lenses returned for repair and 1 Nikon lens bought in for repair. The canons were all showing some sort of error on the camera and mostly turned out to be faulty IS or AF units in lens. The Nikon had been dropped and the bayonet had snapped off. the Nikon actually still worked if you held the lens tightly against the body...AF and VR functioning fine. YMMV but that has surprised me. We don't sell canon DSLR gear as stock item, only sell Nikon, Pentax and grudgingly just got an Oly in last week due to their price. So its not like our customer base is more prevalently using canon either. Surprisingly yhe market is very heavy with Pentax gear due to the massive amounts of m50's sold by the store over the years and people wanting to reuse their old gear.

(There were enough posts about Macro photography here that were not specifically relevant to the original topic to earn their own separate topic, so I've split them off to a new 'Macro' topic).

DaveNoble wrote:I don't think it matters what actual camera you use - but rather what you take and how you take it that is important.
Dave

Absolutely correct. I still use 25 year-old Canon FD equipment. Sure digital has advantages but so does film gear. I bought my A-1 new in 1982 and I'm still using it. It has never let me down, not once, in more than 25 years . You can see my equipment list here: http://www.lexharris.net/equipment.htm. You can see some of my photos here: http://www.lexharris.net/gallery2/main.php.

Nice work Dave, some great shots there. This is going off thread here, but I'm curious how your film images were scanned. I started scanning my Kodachrome archive with a Nikon 5000ED and was very disappointed with the results. I ended up moving to an Imacon Flextight 646 and got heaps better results - it's astonishing how good some films like Kodachrome 25 really were.

As mentioned elsewhere in this thread there are some good specialised photo forums out there and they might be a more appropriate place for technical discussions about camera/photographic equipment e.g. http://photo.net/

Lex Harris