Photography

It appears to be very difficult to decide what lens could be optimal for one’s needs. There’s so much to choose from, so many different parameters and prices, but the price is not always a good indication for quality. You really have to search for lens tests, because the lens parameters alone only provide some basic data.

As I secretly wished that the Canon EOS 40D would already get an FF sensor, I planned to take the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS USM lens, what Sobotka lists at a price of €999. The lens got a recommendation in the 09/2006 issue of the German DigitalPHOTO magazine. As telephoto lens I wanted to take the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at a later time, and Sobotka lists it at handsome €1,649. That should have been enough for some time, as I plan to do landscape photography primarily, and 24mm is already a reasonable wide angle focal length. Whereas DSLR camera bodies might get renewed after some years, the lenses are usually intended to be kept for some generations. Therefore I’d rather buy good lenses in the first time and keep it for several years, and so I’d intend to keep them usable for a possible future FF sensor.

However, as the EOS 40D now has an APS-C sized sensor with a crop factor of 1.6, this means that the 24-105mm lens would correspond to a 38-168mm, and this is not in the wide angle range anymore. If I really want to insist on it, then I’d need a separate dedicated wide angle lens to cover the region between 24 and 38mm, what corresponds to a real focal length between 15 and 24mm. The Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM could do this at a high cost, corresponding to a 25-56mm on APS-C. But the 10/2006 issue of the German ColorFoto magazine gives no recommendation for using it on FF sensors. Maybe the 2nd edition of that lens is better, but it’s even more expensive (€1,649). Sigma’s 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM could be used on FF sensors (ColorFoto 08/2007), and on an APS-C sized sensor it’s a 19-38mm, but it doesn’t allow filters, and polar filters are essential tools for landscape photography. Anyway, that lens got a bad rating in ColorFoto 08/2007 for use on APS-C, but others say it’s quite useable there (DigitalPHOTO 05/2007). The Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM seems to be a little better choice, although ColorFoto 08/2007 doesn’t give a recommendation either. It corresponds to a 16-35mm and would even outrange the 24mm of the mentioned lens on FF sensors, but it also costs €759 and I don’t really want to buy two lenses at once, as everything becomes too expensive and impractical.

Of course, Nikon didn’t sleep and placed some serious competitive products on the market. First of all, they also have a full-frame DSLR now, the brand-new Nikon D3 with 12.1MP for €4,850. So, Canon isn’t the only provider of FF sensors anymore.

And they placed their Nikon D300 against Canon’s EOS 40D, just as it previously was with Nikon D200 vs. Canon EOS 30D. They equipped the D300 with interesting design parameters. Besides the MP count, it has a higher light sensitivity of up to ISO 6400, whereas Canon only provide up to ISO 3200. Canon also have a little higher crop factor of 1.6, whereas Nikon only have 1.5, what is better.

The Nikon’s viewfinder covers 100% of the lens view, whereas the Canon only covers 95%. But at least Canon have a magnification of 0.95, whereas Nikon only have 0.94, but I doubt this is of relevance.

A major difference is in their 3.0″ TFT-LCDs. The Nikon’s LCD has a resolution of 920,000 pixel, whereas the Canon only has 230,000 pixel.

The D300 has a shooting rate of 6 fps, and the EOS 40D has 6.5 fps, but if one equips the D300 with the optional battery grip, then it raises to 8 fps. And the Nikon manages a burst of 100 JPEG images, whereas the Canon can only do 75.

Nevertheless, the Canon system appears more friendly to me, and I already possessed some of their compact digicams, so the EOS 40D really will be it.

Finally! Canon announced the successor of the EOS 30D today: The Canon EOS 40D. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a full frame sensor, what I had wished secretly, but it seems that these haven’t reached a reasonable price range yet. So, it still crops the view with a factor of 1.6, but I’ll try to stick to the better EF lenses anyway rather than just using EF-S. Nevertheless, the main enhancements to the 30D are:

• 10 MP instead of 8 MP,
• 14-bit processing instead of 12-bit,
• DIGIC III processor instead of DIGIC II,
• Dust reduction by filter vibration instead of nothing,
• Interchangeable viewfinder screen instead of a fixed one,
• ISO sensitivity icon in the viewfinder instead of no indication,
• 3.0” TFT LCD instead of 2.5”,
• LCD Live View,
• Multiple exposures on mirror lock-up,
• 3 custom user modes instead of none,
• Continuous shooting with a rate of 6.5 fps instead of 5.0 fps, and a burst of 75 JPEG or 17 RAW images instead of 30 JPEG or 11 RAW images.

Wanna have! This one will be it. Expect it in my possession at the winter family days (vulgo Christmas) this year.

Update 08/21: Some Austrian vendors already list the EOS 40D at a price of €1,299. My vendor of choice will be Foto-Video Sobotka in Vienna, as I already bought my PowerShot A710 IS there and I got some vouchers for their shop. My first lens might be the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, what Sobotka lists at a price of €999.