300D - intial impressions

mikegt · Sep 14, 2003

Just bought the only one for sale in Thousand Oaks, California. Thank goodness for this forum. When I saw all the posts yesterday afternoon about the camera being at Best Buy, I called the T.O. store and they told me they had just received two, one for display, the other for sale. I got there in thirty minutes and bought the camera.

Compared with the 10D, the Rebel is a little smaller and significantly lighter. My film SLR is an old Pentax MX, famous for it's small size and light weight. The Rebel is definitely larger and heavier than the MX (even larger than film Rebels), but I think I can get used to it. The 10D, on the other hand, is just too heavy for me, it feels like taking pictures with a brick (should make a good weapon if you get mugged).

The zoom control on the 300D's standard lens doesn't feel as smooth as other lenses I've used; but it does work and a lens that zooms smoothly is really only important on a movie camera.

Unlike my old film SLR, the Rebel (and also the 10D) seem to lack any manual focus aids in the viewfinder like a split-image circle. For all I know, this may be a convention on SLRs that have auto-focus.

Flash pictures do seem to be coming out under-exposed. I need to check into this further.

The image quality is STUNNING. At least to me, my previous digital camera
was an old 2 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 800.

Mike G.

Peter Phan · Sep 14, 2003

mikegt said:
Unlike my old film SLR, the Rebel (and also the 10D) seem to lack
any manual focus aids in the viewfinder like a split-image circle.
For all I know, this may be a convention on SLRs that have
auto-focus.

There is a focus-confirmation indicator that appears in the lower right area of the viewfinder LCD when the lens is in approximate focus when manually focusing. (Look on page 13 of the manual.) This focus-confirmation indicator bases focus on the active or selected focus sensor. This indicator lights up to confirm focus when in autofocus, too. When manually focusing, I don't think the indicator is pin-point accurate. But it can be helpful if you must manually focus. As with a split-prism focus aid, it's always helpful to give the camera a contrast line or edge on which to focus.

mikegt · Sep 14, 2003

Peter:

Guess I'm just used to having that confidence one gets when the lines meet-up on an old-fashioned split-image focus screen. I'll have to learn to trust the electronic equivalent...

I just tested the camera's ability to focus in total darkness. It actually works, at least out to a range of 20 feet or so.

Mike G.

Peter Phan said:
mikegt said:

Unlike my old film SLR, the Rebel (and also the 10D) seem to lack
any manual focus aids in the viewfinder like a split-image circle.
For all I know, this may be a convention on SLRs that have
auto-focus.

Click to expand...

There is a focus-confirmation indicator that appears in the lower
right area of the viewfinder LCD when the lens is in approximate
focus when manually focusing. (Look on page 13 of the manual.)
This focus-confirmation indicator bases focus on the active or
selected focus sensor. This indicator lights up to confirm focus
when in autofocus, too. When manually focusing, I don't think the
indicator is pin-point accurate. But it can be helpful if you must
manually focus. As with a split-prism focus aid, it's always
helpful to give the camera a contrast line or edge on which to
focus.

Mark B. · Sep 14, 2003

mikegt said:
Flash pictures do seem to be coming out under-exposed. I need to
check into this further.

The built-in flash simply doesn't have enough power to be the primary light source. It's good for fill light. For flash as primary light, you should consider at least the Canon 420EX or a 3rd party unit like the Sigma EF-500 DG Super. The latter can do flash exposure compensation, which is important since the camera doesn't.

Mark

Ulysses · Sep 14, 2003

Confirmation on something: Does the Digital Rebel focus by using the contrast-detection method or does it use the phase-detection method, which most people find more effective? And if the latter, then does focusing on a contrasty edge make a real difference for cameras that use the phase-detection method?

Peter Phan said:
mikegt said:

Unlike my old film SLR, the Rebel (and also the 10D) seem to lack
any manual focus aids in the viewfinder like a split-image circle.
For all I know, this may be a convention on SLRs that have
auto-focus.

Click to expand...

There is a focus-confirmation indicator that appears in the lower
right area of the viewfinder LCD when the lens is in approximate
focus when manually focusing. (Look on page 13 of the manual.)
This focus-confirmation indicator bases focus on the active or
selected focus sensor. This indicator lights up to confirm focus
when in autofocus, too. When manually focusing, I don't think the
indicator is pin-point accurate. But it can be helpful if you must
manually focus. As with a split-prism focus aid, it's always
helpful to give the camera a contrast line or edge on which to
focus.

--

Ulysses

mikegt · Sep 14, 2003

Mark:

Actually, I've been getting better results since reading a suggestion in another thread. In the thread someone said that the camera is metering the flash exposure based upon the current focus point. In a few test shots since then I have been making sure that the red focus point light flashes on the spot I want correctly exposured - and it does seem to be working, the shots are coming out with better exposure.

I got to say I'm impressed with the technical capabilities of a modern D-SLR.

Mike G.

Mark B. said:
mikegt said:

Flash pictures do seem to be coming out under-exposed. I need to
check into this further.

Click to expand...

The built-in flash simply doesn't have enough power to be the
primary light source. It's good for fill light. For flash as
primary light, you should consider at least the Canon 420EX or a
3rd party unit like the Sigma EF-500 DG Super. The latter can do
flash exposure compensation, which is important since the camera
doesn't.

Mark

Diane B · Sep 14, 2003

mikegt said:
Actually, I've been getting better results since reading a
suggestion in another thread. In the thread someone said that the
camera is metering the flash exposure based upon the current focus
point. In a few test shots since then I have been making sure
that the red focus point light flashes on the spot I want correctly
exposured - and it does seem to be working, the shots are coming
out with better exposure.

I got to say I'm impressed with the technical capabilities of a
modern D-SLR.

Mike G.

Mark B. said:

mikegt said:

Flash pictures do seem to be coming out under-exposed. I need to
check into this further.

Click to expand...

The built-in flash simply doesn't have enough power to be the
primary light source. It's good for fill light. For flash as
primary light, you should consider at least the Canon 420EX or a
3rd party unit like the Sigma EF-500 DG Super. The latter can do
flash exposure compensation, which is important since the camera
doesn't.

Mark

Click to expand...

ETTL flash photography is fairly different from other flash shooting--and needs to be understood--and practiced.
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/
--
Diane B
http://www.pbase.com/picnic/galleries
B/W lover, but color is seducing me

Adam-T · Sep 14, 2003

Nice pointer but that is more appropriate for the irritating small area metering of the D30/D60/1D/1DS - the 10D and 300D meter from a far larger area making these cameras almost point and shoot with an EX flash whereas the rest rely heavily on FEL a lot of the time..

--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist

The No1 Dedicated 1D forum in the UK -------->

http://www.1dforum.co.uk/php/phpBB2/

mikegt · Sep 14, 2003

Diane:

Looks like a site with some good info on Canon flash photography -
thanks for the link.

Mike G.

Diane B said:
Diane B wrote:

ETTL flash photography is fairly different from other flash
shooting--and needs to be understood--and practiced.
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

Diane B · Sep 14, 2003

Adam-T said:
Nice pointer but that is more appropriate for the irritating small
area metering of the D30/D60/1D/1DS - the 10D and 300D meter from a
far larger area making these cameras almost point and shoot with an
EX flash whereas the rest rely heavily on FEL a lot of the time..

--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist

The No1 Dedicated 1D forum in the UK -------->

http://www.1dforum.co.uk/php/phpBB2/

Would it still not be helpful to understand how ETTL works?? I could be wrong, but if they don't understand it, then I think there will be continual frustration with the flash setup as opposed to a plain ol' thyristor. Could be wrong, but then I often am LOL.

Diane
--
Diane B
http://www.pbase.com/picnic/galleries
B/W lover, but color is seducing me

Adam-T · Sep 15, 2003

Diane B said:
Would it still not be helpful to understand how ETTL works??

Yes I agree, just that extensive and technical document might drive the 300D brigade paranoid about their flash setups, I was just saying that while it's essential reading for the D30/D60/1D/1DS/Film EOS Owner, it's less of a problem with the 10D / 300D

--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist

The No1 Dedicated 1D forum in the UK -------->

http://www.1dforum.co.uk/php/phpBB2/

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