Nathan Dandar
Leading Member
(just my thoughts on my current and past cameras and what I think of my decision to move to a digital SLR)
Actually, that should be Canon A50 P&S digital to Nikon N4004 film SLR to Sony F707 to Canon D30.
I started with the A50 just for the convenience of digital and loved it. I took thousands of pictures with it (most of those lost in a huge hard drive crash). After a while, I grabbed a Nikon N4004 that had been sitting back at my parents' house and began getting familiar with SLRs. Last summer, I traded in the A50 for a Sony F707 and LOVED it. I took many many photos with it and learned a lot while it was in my possession. I grew a bit tired of a few of its traits and, after picking up an old Nikon FE2 manual SLR and four more Nikkor lenses, realized how much I loved the SLR format.
When the new Canon 10D came out, I knew people would be dumping their 'old' D30s and D60s like mad in order to get the new Canon offering. I quickly sold off my F707 on Ebay and bought a Canon D30 for $750. I also bought a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens and Canon 28-135mm IS USM lens.
I have to tell you, there are a COUPLE negative points: Lack of IR mode in daylight with the use of an infrared filter (cool), no live preview on the LCD, no swivel body, twice the weight and size, no one-touch custom white balance, reduced battery life, has difficulting focusing in low light (lacking the F707's nice laser focus assist).. probably a couple other things.
Now, the positive points:
1. Twice the weight and size. It fits in your hand perfectly and feels very stable.
2. Lack of one-touch custom white balance. Not good in itself but it's nice that, to set custom white balance, you take a photo of a white object and then go through a menu function and select that as the white balance reference... so you can store multiple photos as white balance settings or store odd colored photos to get surreal color casts on demand.
3. VERY fast in comparison. Shutter lag is nearly nonexistant in comparison. Taking a string of photos in a row is quicker and the camera's buffer can hold more photos before having to stop and write to the card.
4. $89 for a 512MB compact flash card. 380 photos on the card at ISO 100 at the highest quality JPEG setting.
5. Lens dependent but most lenses stop down MUCH farther than f/8. My current 28-135mm IS lens stops down to f/22.
6. Histogram (I know it's on the F717. I had an F707)
7. Hot shoe (I know it's on the F717. I had an F707)
8. Flexibility up the wazoo. More white balance flexibility, flash exposure compensation (-+2EV), autofocus mode flexibility, multiple focus points, flash exposure lock, setting if the flash fires just as the shutter is fully open or just before the shutter closes, ISO 100 to 1600, control over saturation, sharpening, contrast etc etc etc.. on and on.
9. Noise.. or the lack of it. ISO 400 on the D30 seems to have about as much noise as ISO 100 on the F707. The photos are ridiculously clean at ISO 100 and 200. Even ISO 1600 is very useful. Even though the lens mounted on it right now operates at f/5.6 when at full telephoto, I can just set the camera to ISO 400 anyway to make up for it and still get a photo that looks as good as or better than the ones I got out of my F707
10. Ability to switch lenses.. something you forget about when you get used to P&S digicams. Such a NICE feature that I can't believe I lived without.
11. Lack of heavy in-camera sharpening. Most complain the D30/D60/10D images look softer than consumer digicams, straight out of the camera. In-camera sharpening is kept to a minimum, though. Run the photos through unsharp masking in Photoshop and the detail JUMPS out at you. Amazing. Loving the lack of JPEG artifacts introduced by massive in-camera sharpening that most consumer cams have.
12. I need to mention how fast this camera is, again.
The list could probably go on. I'm just finding that I'm LOVING this digital SLR thing. I was afraid I'd miss the F707 but haven't found that to be the case. Considering the fact that you can get a D30 for about $700, these days, and get a sharp, Image Stabilized, excellent lens like Canon's 28-135mm IS USM lens for ~$380 new, and get a 512MB CF card for $89, that brings the total to $1100-$1200 or so, depending on the deals you find. Not bad for a DSLR kit that's a tremendous joy to use. I know this is the Sony forum but I HIGHLY recommend at least trying out a friend's DSLR someday if you get the chance. I can tell it wouldn't be for everyone but I am giddy over it, yet.
(The F707/F717 is still an amazing camera)
Actually, that should be Canon A50 P&S digital to Nikon N4004 film SLR to Sony F707 to Canon D30.
I started with the A50 just for the convenience of digital and loved it. I took thousands of pictures with it (most of those lost in a huge hard drive crash). After a while, I grabbed a Nikon N4004 that had been sitting back at my parents' house and began getting familiar with SLRs. Last summer, I traded in the A50 for a Sony F707 and LOVED it. I took many many photos with it and learned a lot while it was in my possession. I grew a bit tired of a few of its traits and, after picking up an old Nikon FE2 manual SLR and four more Nikkor lenses, realized how much I loved the SLR format.
When the new Canon 10D came out, I knew people would be dumping their 'old' D30s and D60s like mad in order to get the new Canon offering. I quickly sold off my F707 on Ebay and bought a Canon D30 for $750. I also bought a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens and Canon 28-135mm IS USM lens.
I have to tell you, there are a COUPLE negative points: Lack of IR mode in daylight with the use of an infrared filter (cool), no live preview on the LCD, no swivel body, twice the weight and size, no one-touch custom white balance, reduced battery life, has difficulting focusing in low light (lacking the F707's nice laser focus assist).. probably a couple other things.
Now, the positive points:
1. Twice the weight and size. It fits in your hand perfectly and feels very stable.
2. Lack of one-touch custom white balance. Not good in itself but it's nice that, to set custom white balance, you take a photo of a white object and then go through a menu function and select that as the white balance reference... so you can store multiple photos as white balance settings or store odd colored photos to get surreal color casts on demand.
3. VERY fast in comparison. Shutter lag is nearly nonexistant in comparison. Taking a string of photos in a row is quicker and the camera's buffer can hold more photos before having to stop and write to the card.
4. $89 for a 512MB compact flash card. 380 photos on the card at ISO 100 at the highest quality JPEG setting.
5. Lens dependent but most lenses stop down MUCH farther than f/8. My current 28-135mm IS lens stops down to f/22.
6. Histogram (I know it's on the F717. I had an F707)
7. Hot shoe (I know it's on the F717. I had an F707)
8. Flexibility up the wazoo. More white balance flexibility, flash exposure compensation (-+2EV), autofocus mode flexibility, multiple focus points, flash exposure lock, setting if the flash fires just as the shutter is fully open or just before the shutter closes, ISO 100 to 1600, control over saturation, sharpening, contrast etc etc etc.. on and on.
9. Noise.. or the lack of it. ISO 400 on the D30 seems to have about as much noise as ISO 100 on the F707. The photos are ridiculously clean at ISO 100 and 200. Even ISO 1600 is very useful. Even though the lens mounted on it right now operates at f/5.6 when at full telephoto, I can just set the camera to ISO 400 anyway to make up for it and still get a photo that looks as good as or better than the ones I got out of my F707
10. Ability to switch lenses.. something you forget about when you get used to P&S digicams. Such a NICE feature that I can't believe I lived without.
11. Lack of heavy in-camera sharpening. Most complain the D30/D60/10D images look softer than consumer digicams, straight out of the camera. In-camera sharpening is kept to a minimum, though. Run the photos through unsharp masking in Photoshop and the detail JUMPS out at you. Amazing. Loving the lack of JPEG artifacts introduced by massive in-camera sharpening that most consumer cams have.
12. I need to mention how fast this camera is, again.
The list could probably go on. I'm just finding that I'm LOVING this digital SLR thing. I was afraid I'd miss the F707 but haven't found that to be the case. Considering the fact that you can get a D30 for about $700, these days, and get a sharp, Image Stabilized, excellent lens like Canon's 28-135mm IS USM lens for ~$380 new, and get a 512MB CF card for $89, that brings the total to $1100-$1200 or so, depending on the deals you find. Not bad for a DSLR kit that's a tremendous joy to use. I know this is the Sony forum but I HIGHLY recommend at least trying out a friend's DSLR someday if you get the chance. I can tell it wouldn't be for everyone but I am giddy over it, yet.
(The F707/F717 is still an amazing camera)
