A Brit coming to Boston for three days 28,29,30 Sept - Need to find somewhere that I can reserve and buy a 400d - also looking to get an EFS 10-22 and maybe an 17-85 USM IS - can anyone help with a reliable recommendation - thanks
I have the 30D the 5D and the 350d. I prefer the feel and handling and larger viewfinder of the 30D to the 350 in some situations. In some the small size and light weight of the 350 is great. The 5D is my favorite by far but on well done images where I have held the camera correctly and used a good shutter speed the 30D or 350D holds up very well. I don't prefer the larger file sizes of the 5D because of the extra strorage it eats up but I do prefer them for the image quality. So there you go. I don't have the XTi but the larger file size would not prompt me to change it would be what camera fits my needs as the larger file size, in my opinion, is not going to make that much of a difference in image quality.
There are many places in Boston to get a 400D, including chain stores like Ritz Camera and Best Buy and Circuit City. But very few will have the lenses you're looking for in the store.
But there are three or four great stores here that are convenient to the city that have lots of Canon lenses and gear in stock. Here they are in order of quality and convenience:
Calumet in Cambridge
-- phone number 1-617-576-2600
-- website www.calumetphoto.com
-- open on Sat, closed on Sun; easily accessible from downtown Boston. They're near a mall called the Cambridgeside Galleria, and within walking distance of the Museum of Science
-- very professional, knowledgeable staff, and lots of stuff in stock
Zeff Photo (in Belmont)
-- phone number 1-888-465-7290
-- http://www.zeffphoto.com/
-- open 7 days a week; they're a little bit farther from the city, and not very convenient to public transportation. If you have a rental car it's very easy. If not, the least expensive way would be to take the T (the Subway) to the Alewife stop (at the end of the red line) and take a taxi from there. Most of the staff is very knowledgeable, especially with digital stuff, and they have a good stock
EP Levine
-- 1-617-951-1499
-- http://www.cameras.com/
-- This is the granddaddy of camera stores in Boston. They have an unbelievable stock of stuff, but they cater more to studio, darkroom, and film (MF, LF) than to digital. Their place is huge. The problem with them is they're a bit of a nuisance to find (they're in an immense warehouse of a building down by the docks in South Boston), they're only open M-F, and I've found their service very slow and disorganized when trying to order things. I'd also think they're less likely to have what you're looking for in stock.
Hunt's Photo
-- 1-800-924-8682
-- http://www.huntsphotoandvideo.com/
-- They have 3 stores close to Boston -- in Boston (Kenmore Square), Cambridge (near Harvard Square), and their biggest one in Melrose. They cater more to the digital clientelle, and have a lot of lenses in stock. The Kenmore and Harvard Square stores are easy to get to on public transportation. For the Kenmore Square you can take the T (any of the green line trains except for the 'E' line). For the Harvard Square store you can take the red line to Harvard Square, then walk down JFK street and it will be off to the right across from Peet's Coffee.
By the way, if you're looking for ideas of places to take photos in Boston, look at my gallery -- I have a million Boston photos in there, and I'd be happy to tell you how to get to these places.
To me, image quality deals mainly with the sensor's ability to depict true-to-life images. True color, contrast, sharpness, etc. The less noise, the better. The clarity of the image. In sum, images suitable for publication in LIFE magazine, or at least the Chicago Tribune. These sorts of things. So to the extent that the original 300D can live up to these parameters, does the new 400D really improve one's prospects for overall image quality. Note that I am not interested in making prints above a 10 by 13 or so. I don't care about the startup time, battery life, frames per second, LCD size, self-cleaning mode, etc. (all those things are very nice, but do the justify abandoning the 300D and $800 for the new model)? To me, these things--the image quality factors--are what matters. I'd appreciate hearing anyone's thoughts on the 400D's prospects are for trumping the 300D's image quality.
I'd try Calumet first just because it's so close to downtown. If you're staying in Boston or Cambridge it will be the easiest, quickest, and cheapest to get to (other than the smaller Hunts stores in Harvard and Kenmore squares). If you give them a call or send an e-mail they'll definitely have the stuff in stock by the time you arrive. Their main site is in Chicago, but in my experience they get stuff from Chicago within a couple business days of the request.
Hello, and yes this is my first post. I recently purchased the 400d and I'm loving it to death. What would you recommend for a good first lens, or is the one I have good enough. What about a flash, do I really need one, how about a grip
You're using it with the sigma 18-50? That sounds like a nice combination.
Your next lens depends on budget and needs. You can go longer with a 70-200 or 70-300 range lens, wider with one of the 10-22 or 12-24 lenses, or go for a fast portrait lens like one of the 50mm, 85mm, or 100mm primes. Some people who like macro shooting will get a macro as their second lens. Just depends what you want to do next and how much you want to spend.
DrPablo wrote:
Just depends what you want to do next and how much you want to spend.
Ya, I would get everything if I had the money... I'm tossing up 3 things with the spare change I have: Speedlite 220ex or 430ex, the BG-E3, or a tripod. What's my best bet?
Well, for street photography, none of the three itesm sound very useful....For nature photography with a telephoto lens (or landscapes) a tripod is a clear need. Just depends on what you want to do. For use with some big lenses, especially on a tripod, the additional weight provided by the BG-E3 would help with balance, and if you do a lot of low-lightphotography and can't/won't use low lens or shallow DOF, the external flash is a necessity.
My inclination would be the tripod if you don't have one, and if your style of shooting doesn't preclude it. But in the absence of info on what youw ant to do, that's a stab in the dark.
I see a lot of people "complaining" that the XTi has 3fps instead of 5fps (like the 20/30D). I also see people commenting on the nice, quiet shutter sound of the XTi over the 20/30D.
These things are related, folks. The more fps, the faster the mirror needs to move and, likely, the more noise it's going to make. I'm on the quest for a quieter "next camera" for shooting at quiet events (weddings, baptisms, corporate functions).
I've also seen people who don't even have 350Ds saying that the sound of the 400D must be the same, yet others stating that the 400D is like nothing they've ever heard.
I agree that the shutter and slap on the 350D is good, but the mirror motor whine attracts attention. If Canon managed to build the 400D to be just like the 350D but without the whine - that's fabulous.
Better yet, programmable acoustics. Drive the motors only as fast as you need to for the user selected fps rate. Quiet at low fps, louder when it has no option. Same idea as hard disks that can be set for acoustic mode or performance mode. Now THAT would be ideal, I'll have my fingers crossed for the 40D.
Can anyone directly compare the 350 and 400 shutter release sounds (no mirror lockup). I've seen the preview at dpreview, but at least when I looked at it there only the 400D, not comparisons recorded in identical conditions.
