Matt... if you find the D30's AF so sub-par, I would suggest that
perhaps you have become too dependent as a photographer on that
particular little technological marvel, bla bla bla...
Enough with your high horse "I don't even NEED AF" garbage. You
will discover exactly what I am talking about in late February when
your own subpar D30 arrives.
thats just it... I am not as a photographer dependent upon AF, and
thus know when it needs to be tuned OFF... as a fellow EOS-3 owner,
I am surprised you arent ranting about the crappy low-light
perofrmance it exhibits! I do not for the simple reason that if it
(my -3) finds a subject difficult for whatever reason I know I can
focus the camera perfectly well on MANUAL! Are you really that
addicted to AF that you cannot effectively focus the lens yourself?
(and in fact whenever I shoot anything critical -- bla bla bla..
----- pointless personal history lesson here ----
bla bla bla ...
Whatever. The cameras I've owned, Rebel/A2/EOS1/EOS3 were all
faster than the D30. And cheaper.
ok fine, perhaps it isnt as fast as the -1 or -3, but there are
many shooters far more experienced than either of us who seem to
strongly disagree with your assessment wrt speed, and find it
compares favorably to the A2 (I wont even address the rebel). As
far as price goes, well of course all the bodies you named are
cheaper... they are all based on a basic technology that has been
around in one form or another for better than 150 years! remember
that film is far easier to record an image onto without any more
internal parts to the camera... a digicam in contrast needs the ccd
or cmos imager, all the various DSP's, CPU's, RAM chips, internal
programming, external interfaces, etc. -- the chips -- RAM in
particular -- drive the price way high... it isnt the stuff you can
just buy at compusa or radio shack and stick in your PC you know...
Is a built-in-meter a crutch?
nope... its a luxury that far too many people use as a crutch
(specifically wrt all these various preprogrammed exposure modes
that really make the camera amateurish -- portrait action etc...
this is an area where I feel canon shouldnt have bothered, and just
given us the basic P/Av/Tv/M/Dep/bulb... perhaps giving us a
separate FEL button instead -- and the only one of your comparisons
listed here that can be compared directly to the AF situation.
nope... motordrives fall under the category of necessity... most
35mm film bodies dont even offer the option of manual wind or
rewind today anyway, and the results they can produce wrt rapid
sequences can be ends unto themselves. You really cannot place AF
in the same league as the venerable motordrive.
ugh... now here you just seem to be being deliberately
ridiculous... without light there can be no photography, and
depending on the intended result flash can be invaluable...
AF is just another important tool in a complex system to better serve
the photographer.
yes it is a tool, but it is also a somewhat superfluous luxury that
should not impact so heavily on your opinion of the camera... there
are other things of far greater import.
But more importantly, I paid $3000 for my D30. So
why does it focus slower than a $250 Rebel 2000? (Don't hand me
that Kodak contract crap.) Canon should be ashamed.
as for the price, I refer you to my comments above.
why do you find the idea of that contract so unpalatable? Like you
(while I dont attribute such import to AF) I too find the lack of a
truly suitable AF module somewhat distressing, but if indeed Kodak
was able to bind Canon into such a deal, it would explain a great
many things... if your inference is that canon should be ashamed
of the D30, I beg to differ... if however, you mean that canon
should be ashamed for apparently letting Kodak effectively nuter
their digital SLR development, I have to agree wholeheartedly.
see? we can agree on something...
that said, you might not know how to get the most from the EOS
bodies -- things like setting the * button to activate AF --
I know where you're coming from with this. I have an EOS 3 and I
can't wait for you to try it on a D30. Oh it works and I guess
it's the fastest setup for a slow camera. But it's nowhere near as
quick as the EOS 3. You really can not assume the D30 is anything
like your other Canon cameras. The AF is so off the chart bad, it
will seem like another company made it.
are you saying that shutter lag is slower or the framerate? I
seriously doubt that shutter lag is any longer when AF is properly
configured (to the * button), and as for framerate, well, it could
be faster, but then that might hvae met with Kodaks disapproval
just like the AF.
if your comment above has to do with AF, we have already covered
that territory. Once again, I must say that it really doesnt
matter, AF should
never be considered the end-all-be-all feature
that you are making it out to be!
matter of fact, if you hate the D30 so much, you could always send
it to me... at least I know how to use it!
I think you can pretty much eat me William.
hmmm... about the idea that I would be better able to use it, or
that you really dont hate it that much to let me have it? ;P
sorry for that last bit... I get downright emotional when somebody
attacks my tools...
Your tools? Would that be the D30 you've never used? You seem to be
pretty attached to things you know so little about. Don't bother
wasting anymore of my time with your misguided speculations.
ahhh... you seem to be the misguided one here Matt... thinking that
AF is SO important that it should outweigh everthing else the
camera can do... feh!
