[prasadee]

Originally Posted by navin_bhp

Congrats!! You will love every shot you take with it. Get the lens coat for it too. I have it on mine and really like it.

Thanks Navin, What is the lens coat for? Protection or for camoflaging in the wild? I may sell it after using it for a few years, if I feel like upgrading to a newer lens that may be released in the future. I do not want to make any irreversible changes. Is the coat something that easily comes off?

[navin_bhp]

Originally Posted by prasadee

Thanks Navin, What is the lens coat for? Protection or for camoflaging in the wild? I may sell it after using it for a few years, if I feel like upgrading to a newer lens that may be released in the future. I do not want to make any irreversible changes. Is the coat something that easily comes off?

It does provide some camouflaging and protection to the lens barrel from scratches. It's just like a tight slip on cover and can be removed easily. I think its made of neoprene. There are 3 small 3M strips that you have to stick on the tripod ring and near by area's, but they can be removed easily without marks. I like the soft cushion it provides when hand holding the lens.

[rajb3125]

For those buying sandisk cf cards, I strongy suggest looking at lexar. I have had very bad experience with sandisk extreme pro cf cards. I have 4 corrupted 16gb cards on my desk and still waiting for sandisk RMA letter to arrive in email (they told me 2weeks ago I will get it soon).

If pro series cards are failing, god help others.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by rajb3125

For those buying sandisk cf cards, I strongy suggest looking at lexar. I have had very bad experience with sandisk extreme pro cf cards. I have 4 corrupted 16gb cards on my desk and still waiting for sandisk RMA letter to arrive in email (they told me 2weeks ago I will get it soon).

If pro series cards are failing, god help others.

Wow! That is a surprise. The last thing you need is a corrupted or failed memory card.

Lexar doesn't sell CF cards in India last when I checked on their website. You may get grey market cards though.

Regards,

[gd1418]

As a thumb rule, I, transfer all my pictures from the mem card to laptop & external HDD after completion of the shoot the same day and format the card. I use a 16GB extreme III CF.

Originally Posted by rajb3125

I have 4 corrupted 16gb cards on my desk

Originally Posted by R2D2

Wow! That is a surprise. The last thing you need is a corrupted or failed memory card.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by rajb3125

For those buying sandisk cf cards, I strongy suggest looking at lexar.......have 4 corrupted 16gb cards on my desk......

Some mismatch between your personality and sandisk I feel Majority of my friends are using sandisk of various GBs and never heard of any failure till date. As R2D2 mentioned, Lexar has SDHC cards seen at outlets, not the CF. Or it could also be a particular type of sandisk having issues.

I have used Lexar (class 10) and Sandisk (class 6) SDHC cards over the past 2 years, never found any difference between the two either in shooting or transferring.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by gd1418

As a thumb rule, I, transfer all my pictures from the mem card to laptop & external HDD after completion of the shoot the same day and format the card. I use a 16GB extreme III CF.

Ditto. I too transfer all the photos to my PC/Laptop. Also, when you format the card, make sure you dont use the quick format option. I do a full format OR a surface check on the card.

I haven't had issues with the card so far, but having had bad experiences with storage devices, mainly HDDs, I take no chances.

It is really disappointing to note that Sandisk's top of the line and expensive Extreme Pro can be unreliable.

Cheers!

[hiren.mistry]

Originally Posted by Ricci

Stills - If you want to shoot in low light, the D5100, it has the D7000/Pentax K5 sensor which is currently the best in terms of noise performance. Slightly faster shooting rate as well at 4fps. Also worth noting that D5100 lacks the AF motor limiting the list of compatible lenses , so you must use AF-S lenses which are more expensive, than AF-D lenses.

My current pick would be the Nikon.

Thanks for this Ricci, I am also in the same situation as throttleking and deciding between 550D and 5100D.
Read a lot on this forum that Nikon does not have a AF motor in the body, does this mean that Canon has it? Sorry if this sounds totally noobish, I am.

Also when we come to lenses, say how much would a 50-250mm lens cost for Canon and Nikon respectively?

Originally Posted by phamilyman

throttleking, look up both on DXOmark.com and you won't need to ask us either

Did try looking these up on dxomark. Can you explain how to read the scores? Should we just look at the overview section? The rest of the test is well and truly beyond my head.

Overview for Nikon 5100D
Overall Score 80
Portrait
(Color depth) 23.5 bits
Landscape
(Dynamic range) 13.6 Evs
Sports

Overview for Canon 550D
Overall Score 66
Portrait
(Color depth) 22.1 bits
Landscape
(Dynamic range) 11.5 Evs
Sports
(Low-Light ISO) 784 ISO

Regards
(Low-Light ISO) 1183 ISO

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by ajman28

I just came across the following in the tech specs of canon 1000d.

"Center AF point is cross-type sensitive to f/5.6 and larger apertures"

What does this mean?

that means you won't be able to use auto-focus if the lens aperture is less than f/5.6 - usually a problem with variable zoom lens (non canon) - which at higher focal length offer lesser aperture

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry

Read a lot on this forum that Nikon does not have a AF motor in the body, does this mean that Canon has it? Sorry if this sounds totally noobish, I am.

Also when we come to lenses, say how much would a 50-250mm lens cost for Canon and Nikon respectively?

In Canon, the AF motor is always in the lens and hence any body - any lens combo will auto-focus.
Whereas in Nikon, some lenses don't have AF and they depend on in-body AF motors. Hence the confusion.

The canon 55-250 IS costs around 11k. Donno about Nikon.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by alpha1

that means you won't be able to use auto-focus if the lens aperture is less than f/5.6 - usually a problem with variable zoom lens (non canon) - which at higher focal length offer lesser aperture

Well one should not worry too much about this the fact is all the entry Canon except 1D Series have this kind of focus ( And I think Nikon entry level as well)

Modern AF lens have wide open aperture normally and aperture closes when you click the button, In manual lenses also same technique is employed which is called stop down metering.
So focussing is done at widest possible aperture and then once focus is locked aperture blade closes down just before shutter opens.

So You have limitation on only following scenarios for which you necessarily need 1D series body.

1. Using a Lens with smaller aperture less then 5.6 ( more F number).
All modern lenses have larger aperture anyway so not an issue.

2. Using a lens like Canon 400 F5.6 with a 1.4X TC to get 560mm this will give you Av = 8 and for AF on this combo you need 1D series body.
Or using 2X TC on 70-200 F4 L lens to get 140-400 F8 lens .

However such scenarios are rare and people use Tele-convertors on fast lens and not slow lens.

[EP.]

Thank you guys for your support and suggestions. I will get my hands on a new Canon 600D and a Tamron 18-270mm VC PZD lens soon. I am told that the equipment has been couriered from Mumbai. I brought it from JJ Metha and sons, they have reasonable prices on almost everything they sell. Waiting restlessly now.

[lohithrao]

Zoomin has revised the prices for 550D it was 35+ couple of days back, now its shows 38,795. not sure if the prices have been hiked on other models?

[coolboy007]

I too have joined the DSLR gang now - bought a Canon EOS 550D with 18-55 IS lens through letsbuy for Rs 31650/- .

Ordered on 29th with a 2k off discount coupon, recieved it yesterday and really saved a lot compared to prices on other sites and shops here.

Clicked some pics and its really good - paisa vasool

Got a 4gb card and Canon bag free with it, there stock had finished and thanks to Letsbuy who procured the camera again on 9th may and promised to deliver on time. In US the 550D/T2i is more expensive than here, the Japan issue it seems, shortage of this cam.

[Ricci]

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry

Read a lot on this forum that Nikon does not have a AF motor in the body, does this mean that Canon has it? Sorry if this sounds totally noobish, I am.

Also when we come to lenses, say how much would a 50-250mm lens cost for Canon and Nikon respectively?

Nikon doesn't have a 55-250, there is a 55-200VR for about 12k and 55-300VR for 18.5k , both DX lenses for crop sensor SLRs. There is also 70-300VR for 25k , which works for DX and FX Nikons. EDIT : Ready list of MRPs from Nikon India, street prices are usually lower by 5-7%, sometimes more.
http://www.nikon.co.in/pagearticle.p...=90-bc33aa60a2

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry

Did try looking these up on dxomark. Can you explain how to read the scores? Should we just look at the overview section? The rest of the test is well and truly beyond my head.


Overview for Canon 550D
Overall Score 66
Portrait
(Color depth) 22.1 bits
Landscape
(Dynamic range) 11.5 Evs
Sports
(Low-Light ISO) 784 ISO

Low light ISO score talks about noise levels at high ISO values, noise is grainy specks which may be of different color than the expected color in the photo. Cameras and post-processing software can reduce noise ( this is noise reduction ) but the effectiveness is variable, and it can reduce the detail level in the image. In DXO scores, higher is better.

Dynamic range is the range of brightness that the sensor can detect, basically the range between the darkest blacks and brightest whites. It is crucial where a scene you are shooting has very bright and very dark areas, due to the DR limit, you either lose the brightest areas which appear pure white ( called washed out or clipped highlights, because the sensor can't show anything brighter ) , or you have to underexpose to retain the detail in bright areas, but then the dark areas get too dark and end up black with no detail. Again, higher dynamic range is better.

Color depth is the range of shades the sensor can display. It's in a way similar to LCD display specs, like 65k colors or 16M colors , which depends on the maximum definitive values or the bit-depth . 8 bits -> 256 , 16 bits -> 65536 or 65k, 24 bits -> 16 million , so theoretically with 24 bit depth, a pixel can display 16 million shades.

Color depth seems adequate and comparable on modern SLRs, but noise levels do vary a bit more, as does dynamic range , but real-world differences are small, unless you desire the perfectionist's levels such as viewing at 100% resolution, which is termed pixel-peeping. Much of the time these differences are irrelevant as JPEG compression eliminates much detail, which is why shooting in RAW and post-processing later is recommended.

Originally Posted by coolboy007

I too have joined the DSLR gang now - bought a Canon EOS 550D with 18-55 IS lens through letsbuy for Rs 31650/- .

That's quite a steal !