All these tried and returned cameras talked about in various forums. When I pay $1000 I don't really want one that has been played with and used for two weeks and taken everywhere. I have even seen posts where the person buys all the models, tries them all to see what they like best, returns the others. I think they are reasonable in charging 15%, if they pass it on to the next customer as a used camera.
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First of all, let me say that I loved my Digital Rebel for the
first few days, until my memory came in and I really started trying
to shoot serious photos with it. Two commonly shot situations
really bothered me so much that I just couldn't stomach keeping the
camera.
1) I was shooting at a well lit cross country running meet at a
local church. Tons of kids running around, I thought it might be
an opportunity to take advantage of that crop factor with the
70-200IS. Big mistake. I couldn't get the AI servo AF to
activiate for most of the shots. In the end I just kept tapping
the shutter to get it so AF until I liked the composition. Half
the shots were out of focus. It looked obvious that the runner
behind the running I'm focusing on (as he/she runs towards me) is
in focus, but my subject is not. But I thought, shoot, this isn't
a 1D. I'm stretching it here.
2) I was shooting a 14 month old child trotting around. This is
the point at which I decided that if it doesn't sit still, and you
don't have those great manual focus skills, you can't photograph it
with the camera reliably. I could use my old Olympus C3030Z and
get in focus photos, because I just turn on continious focus.
Heres the real clincher.
3) I went to my local Best Buy to return the unit, 14 days after
purchase, and they said go to this other one (short drive away) and
they'd have a 10D and I can switch there (sounds good I think). Go
there and find that all the Best Buys in south Florida are out of
10Ds, out of Digital Rebels. I cannot get an exchange. Period.
Just... no. So then I have to prove that I'm not taking back the
camera because I don't like it, or they'll charge a 15% restocking
fee on this hunk of junk. Its not junk, but I don't just shoot
still lifes. (lives?)
The manager (or so he seemed) found out how to make it go in to
continious focus mode: hold down the shutter on something far,
point at something close, wait 10 seconds, and it goes continious.
Thats the secret of how to start AI servo, hold the shutter a long
time. Now, its 10s at 18mm, I couldn't get it under 30 at 55mm
(f/5.6 is likely the cause). The employee said that this is the
way it should be. It may not work like I want it to, it may not
work as advertised, but it does work, so I have to pay $150 for
them to take the camera back. Little note; the problem is no
different when using a 50/1.4.
He then told me to call corporate if I wasn't happy. So I did,
stood around on hold with them until they picked up, and they told
me they had to talk to Canon to get the specs. 20 minutes later
I'm on with the Canon guy that said he didn't know what the
appropriate lag time between One Shot AF and AI Servo should be,
they don't have the specs, but it shouldn't be 10 seconds. I tried
to get the "manager" so the Canon rep could say this to him.
Nowhere to be found.
I got someone else who talked to the Canon rep for a minute and
hung up. She asks "What did Jose[?] say we were calling Canon
for?" Corporate wanted to leave the decision up the Canon, I tell
her. She goes off, says she'll try to see if she can get another
Digital Rebel in the store by talking to a Regional Supervisor.
Heck, I can sell a new box on EBay. She dissapeared. The manager
guy comes back and says everything will be refunded and my credit
card will be credited. I was just shocked.
Sigh.
I don't know if this 3.5 hour ordeal was worth $150. Worst thing
was I did it first thing in the morning and was going to drop off
the camera and go back home to eat breakfast. I layed there
starved on the Best Buy floor on perpetual hold.
A few more notes: I know that the sports idiot mode gives AI Servo
AF, but no RAW capture, so the highlights are as good as gone. I
ordered a 10D from an online retailer with a bunch of good ratings
later today, hope to get it in by Friday. I hope I don't have to
deal with any AF issues on the 10D. And if I can post the photos I
will, so you's can see what I mean about the late focus.
Runners. I just couldn't convince the AI Servo to kick in. Center
AF point used, pointing at the left shoulder of the kid a bit left
of center.
Go here for a 50% downsampled version:
http://www.pbase.com/image/21602661/original
I don't mean to seem ungrateful, but it just wouldn't do what I
told it to, far too often.
