recommendations for Upgrade G1 -] D30

Hi folks,

I'm currently using a Canon PowerShot G1 - great camera but now I need more lens (tele, macro). I think I'll upgrade to the D30 and have some open points:

Price: I can get the D30 here in Switzerland brand new for 4000 Swiss francs, about 2'200 USD. About reading many forums and threads I think this is a good price, isn't it?

Lenses: Which lenses are a must, which one do you prefer? I need a 'snapshot and for all' lens like a 28-200 (the new Tamron, a Sigma, Canon itself?), a macro lens and a tele lens greater than 300mm.

Add ons: From my G1 I have a second BP-511 power pack, a 420EX and 1 GB Microdive, which I'll use also with a new D30. Do you have any further suggestions? What about the Battery Grip BG-ED3?
Any filters needed beound the normal UV on every lens?

All tips and tecommendations are really welcomed!

Thanx a lot
Mike

Are you sure you need > 300mm? As everyone else will point out, the small sensor in the D30 will crop 300mm to be equivalent to a 460mm lens. Likewise, 28-200mm would be equivalent to 44-320mm. :/
I haven't seen any 17-125mm around.

You don't need the battery grip, at least if you can tilt the camera without readjusting your grip on it.

It's fairly simple to keep extra batteries around and just quickly swap, and they are good enough for 400-500 pictures.

Mirar

Mike Elfner said:

Hi folks,

I'm currently using a Canon PowerShot G1 - great camera but now I
need more lens (tele, macro). I think I'll upgrade to the D30 and
have some open points:

Price: I can get the D30 here in Switzerland brand new for 4000
Swiss francs, about 2'200 USD. About reading many forums and
threads I think this is a good price, isn't it?

Lenses: Which lenses are a must, which one do you prefer? I need
a 'snapshot and for all' lens like a 28-200 (the new Tamron, a
Sigma, Canon itself?), a macro lens and a tele lens greater than
300mm.

Add ons: From my G1 I have a second BP-511 power pack, a 420EX
and 1 GB Microdive, which I'll use also with a new D30. Do you have
any further suggestions? What about the Battery Grip BG-ED3?
Any filters needed beound the normal UV on every lens?

All tips and tecommendations are really welcomed!

Thanx a lot
Mike

Click to expand...

Mike Elfner said:

Hi folks,

I'm currently using a Canon PowerShot G1 - great camera but now I
need more lens (tele, macro). I think I'll upgrade to the D30 and
have some open points:

Price: I can get the D30 here in Switzerland brand new for 4000
Swiss francs, about 2'200 USD. About reading many forums and
threads I think this is a good price, isn't it?

Lenses: Which lenses are a must, which one do you prefer? I need
a 'snapshot and for all' lens like a 28-200 (the new Tamron, a
Sigma, Canon itself?), a macro lens and a tele lens greater than
300mm.

Add ons: From my G1 I have a second BP-511 power pack, a 420EX
and 1 GB Microdive, which I'll use also with a new D30. Do you have
any further suggestions? What about the Battery Grip BG-ED3?
Any filters needed beound the normal UV on every lens?

All tips and tecommendations are really welcomed!

Thanx a lot
Mike

Click to expand...

Mike,

get the 28-135IS, the 100-400L IS and the BG-ED3.

Get the grip not just because of its second department but for a much better fit into your hands.
Forget about those 28-200, you wont be happy after a few weeks.

I say get the battery grip. It is worth the price. (179.00 at CDW.com).

I like the feel of the grip. It fits much better in my hands, but of course your mileage may differ. Also, having two batteries fully charged and ready to go in the camera is wonderful. I also have 2 extra charged and ready to go, just in case.

The $2200 USD price is good.

Other recommendations:

Microdrive!!! (Since you already have one, you'll be glad you have it.).

Filters - Can't help you there, I am looking myself.

Good Luck and welcome to the club!

Kevin
http://www.firestorm.com

Mike Elfner said:

Hi folks,

I'm currently using a Canon PowerShot G1 - great camera but now I
need more lens (tele, macro). I think I'll upgrade to the D30 and
have some open points:

Price: I can get the D30 here in Switzerland brand new for 4000
Swiss francs, about 2'200 USD. About reading many forums and
threads I think this is a good price, isn't it?

Lenses: Which lenses are a must, which one do you prefer? I need
a 'snapshot and for all' lens like a 28-200 (the new Tamron, a
Sigma, Canon itself?), a macro lens and a tele lens greater than
300mm.

Add ons: From my G1 I have a second BP-511 power pack, a 420EX
and 1 GB Microdive, which I'll use also with a new D30. Do you have
any further suggestions? What about the Battery Grip BG-ED3?
Any filters needed beound the normal UV on every lens?

All tips and tecommendations are really welcomed!

Thanx a lot
Mike

Click to expand...

Mike. I went through similar upgrade issues. I had a G1 for a few months but wanted more. My goal was to save my CF cards, and 420EX flash and sell the G1 and get the D30. I did this last month and I am very happy. Here is the only problems I face. I wanted to keep the cost of my new purchase at about 4500 dollars for camera and some started lenses but I have really gone past that by almost 2-fold. I also needed new camera bags and i was short sighted not realizing that I was going to add so many lenses so quickly. So now i have a surplus of bags. However, the bags are useful. Some are good for hiking and traveling where I do not need everything. So here is my lens collection. Two are ordered and expected this week.

1) 28-135 USM, IS. this lens causes great controversy on this forum. You can read other posts.
2) 20-35 mm USM
3) 50mm/1/8
4) 100-400mm USM, IS L series
5) 100mm Macro USM

I have purchased a hoya multicoated UV filter for each and I have one polarizer for the 28-135USM, and I had an old polarizer that will fit the macro lens. I think for outdoor sunny shots the polarizer is a very useful filter. I will probably get one for the 100-400 lens at some point.

I have two batteries and have not gotten the extra grip as of yet. I think there are debates as to how important this is. I have small hands so I am not sure if it will really help with the grip and one battery is sufficient for a whole day out on the hiking trails or wherever and I have the backup battery ready to go in case I need it. I think this is personal preference. Good luck. Mark

Mike Elfner said:

Hi folks,

I'm currently using a Canon PowerShot G1 - great camera but now I
need more lens (tele, macro). I think I'll upgrade to the D30 and
have some open points:

Price: I can get the D30 here in Switzerland brand new for 4000
Swiss francs, about 2'200 USD. About reading many forums and
threads I think this is a good price, isn't it?

Lenses: Which lenses are a must, which one do you prefer? I need
a 'snapshot and for all' lens like a 28-200 (the new Tamron, a
Sigma, Canon itself?), a macro lens and a tele lens greater than
300mm.

Add ons: From my G1 I have a second BP-511 power pack, a 420EX
and 1 GB Microdive, which I'll use also with a new D30. Do you have
any further suggestions? What about the Battery Grip BG-ED3?
Any filters needed beound the normal UV on every lens?

All tips and tecommendations are really welcomed!

Thanx a lot
Mike

Click to expand...

It would be helpful if you give a better idea of what you are trying to do with your photography and how much you are willing to spend. It is also not clear how much you know about SLR photography. There is more to SLR photography than just the zoom amount and focus distance. The more information you give, the better the advise can be.

The Canon 28-135IS F3.5-F5.6 is probably the most popular "general lens" that people seem to get with a D30. Many people would rather have a lower F-number (F2.8 is about as low as it gets for a zoom) to work better in lower light and to get more Depth of Field (DoF) control.

The super zooms (28-200 or 28-300 say) are going to be compromizes. You get a wide zoom range, but at lessor optical quality.

Many/most zooms have a "macro" feature, but some lenses are designed to focus very close like the Canon 100mm Macro. You can also get extension tubes, to adapt lenses for close focusing. The question becomes how serious are you about macro photography and what you mean by "macro photography."

Karl

Mike Elfner said:

Hi folks,

I'm currently using a Canon PowerShot G1 - great camera but now I
need more lens (tele, macro). I think I'll upgrade to the D30 and
have some open points:

Price: I can get the D30 here in Switzerland brand new for 4000
Swiss francs, about 2'200 USD. About reading many forums and
threads I think this is a good price, isn't it?

Lenses: Which lenses are a must, which one do you prefer? I need
a 'snapshot and for all' lens like a 28-200 (the new Tamron, a
Sigma, Canon itself?), a macro lens and a tele lens greater than
300mm.

Add ons: From my G1 I have a second BP-511 power pack, a 420EX
and 1 GB Microdive, which I'll use also with a new D30. Do you have
any further suggestions? What about the Battery Grip BG-ED3?
Any filters needed beound the normal UV on every lens?

All tips and tecommendations are really welcomed!

Thanx a lot
Mike

Click to expand...

I'm photographing since 20 years, started with heavy metal mechanical HAPO 24 (Porst, with Compur, Enna-Harponar), then Minolta XD-5, then Autofocus with Minolta 9000, Minolta 7xi and Minolta 800si.
Some weeks ago I switched to digital photography with Canon G1.

I think I know a little bit about composing picture and a little bit about lenses, shutters, f-stop and this stuff ...

I need objectives for different stages:

point and shoot / walking with my kids: I prefer one sinhle lens as i.e. the new Tamron AF 1:3,8-5,6/28-200 XR-IF Aspherical Macro (just got the TIPA award as the best objective 2001; see also http://www.photographie.de/07-08_01/titelthema.html ) natur photography / animal / macro:

wide angle (open, which one) and tele (open, which one), macro will be 100mm (1.1)

Hi Mike (Gruezi),
.
I have same equipment and same problems.
Please could you tell the link to the store where I can
get D30 for CHF 4000,-.
.
Serge,
[email protected]