Rating: Summary: Excellent technology, one big disappointment Review: Since there are tons of rave reviews about the features of this camera, I won't bother you with the details. Instead, I will tell you about the one HUGE letdown of this camera and the likes (Rebel, 20D): the 1.6x focal length factor. This means my dear 28-105 lens is now a sorry 45-170. To recoup the loss I'd have to spend $700 on a 17-40 4.0 lens. This is a consequence of using a small CCD. Cameras like the 1D with full-size 35mm CCD sell for over $4,000. I cannot wait for that price to go down. I also cannot help to wonder whether the focal reading of the Speedlite flashes will be correct (I own a 540EZ and discovered with dismay that it doesn't work in these cameras).
I look at my A2 (still infatuated with it) and I wonder if I did the right thing. I think I will keep it around for a while, just in case...
Rating: Summary: Hasn't failed me yet Review: This is one of the four cameras, the only digital camera, I used to learn portrait photography. The class was on how to take portraits not how to use the camera. I wanted to graduate from the point and shoot but had to consider my budget because I wanted an SLR film camera also. I got the Canon Rebel Ti packed with two lenses. It made sense to me to purchase a Canon digital to interchange lenses. My original choice was the Canon Digital Rebel, however, in my WEB search, I found the EOS 10D for $750 with no catch. There were no required additional purchases scam when I called. This allowed me to spend the extra money I would have spent on the camera on accessories.
Since it's digital, I am not shy about trying out the features. When I first got the camera, some of the photos were dark or very light. After tinkering around and learning what the sensor-indicators means I don't get that anymore.
The 10D is more camera than I need that I'm sure I will have it for a long time.
Rating: Summary: Fast, Fun and Feels Good Review: I've used the Canon EOS 10D for 5 months now and I'm absolutely thrilled with it. The EOS cameras are extremely comfortable to hold and handle. In auto mode, the camera produces correctly exposed, sharp photos. Unlike my Canon Powershot, the camera takes the picture with very little delay after depressing the shutter button.
In the creative zones, you can set aperture priority to take, for example, selective focus shots, or use shutter speed priority and set a slow shutter speed to take some good blurring shots.
The auto focus is quick and accurate, though how much of that is the camera and how much is the lens I do not know. I never use the manual focus mode. The pop-up flash works great for lighting subject that are in shadows or back lit.
I now find it a bit frustrating to use my film camera; I'm addicted to viewing my shots on the spot.
I have a Canon EOS A2 film camera that I purchased in 1995. Since I'm familiar with the EOS system and have Canon system lenses, I chose the 10D over the similarly priced Nikon prosumer digital camera.
I like my Canon cameras so well that I bought the Canon digital Elf for my sister and the Canon Powershot A80 for my mother. Both have reportedly been excellent cameras.
With the 10D, I've used a Canon 50mm/compact macro, a Tamron 28-200mm and a Canon 15mm fisheye lens. Because of the difference in the way a film camera and this digital camera operate, you multiply the focal length of the lens by 1.6 to figure the effective focal length when used with a digital camera. So, for example, the 15mm fisheye lens is effectively a 24mm lens on the 10D.
I bought a 1 gig IMB microdrive storage card and that allows me to take 400 high res jpg or about 160 raw format files. If you shoot in auto mode, the camera will only capture in jpg format. If you shoot in manual mode, you can select jpg or raw format.
If shooting raw format, ensure you have a software program, such as Photoshop CS, that will open raw files. And know that not all developing and printing shops will accept raw format. But many of the image libraries will ONLY accept raw files (or a high resolution tif scanned from a slide).
With the raw format files, I've found that many of my shots require a bit of exposure adjustment, but this is simply a matter of moving a slider bar in Photoshop CS. When you first open a raw file, you get an adjustment window allowing you to play with exposure, tint, saturation, white balance and more. You can even simulate warmup filters and such. Very cool stuff!
I bought an extra battery to take along on trips. One battery typically lasts me for 2 days of shooting, as long as I don't do much reviewing of my shots through the camera monitor.
Unless you need the quality of the 1Ds immediately I would recommend getting the 10D because technology is moving so fast that the quality of the 1Ds will be available for the current price of the 10D in the near future.
Rating: Summary: Not happy with this camera; UPDATE: Happier with PhotoShop Review: I have owned a Canon TX and Canon 650 film cameras. I was always very happy with my Canon film cameras. I bought the 10d thinking that I was finally able to get a digital replacement for my old Canon film cameras.
I have now owned my 10d for over a year. The picture quality is only fair. It often selects ISO 100 and gives me fuzzy pictures. The white balance is extremely poor compared with the film cameras. The "full automatic" mode does a poor job of focus and white balance. The "creative" modes are similar to the film cameras but don't seem to work so very well. I am just having a terrible time trying to get the settings right to get good pictures! After a year of trying I am extremely frustrated with it.
Finally, the print pictures I get from it are _always_ too dark. It seems I need to post-process EVERY PICTURE in photoshop to get the gamut correct, or brighten/enhance/correct the photos to make them look right. Argh!
It's all probably user error, but I never had these problems with my old film cameras. If I could easily get PhotoCDs made I would go back to film immediately!
UPDATE: Okay, I bought PhotoShop CS for my Mac. I have taken some of my old 10d photos and run this sequence:
Auto Levels
Auto Brightness/Contrast
Saturation +30 (variable)
Unsharpen Mask (this one takes the most tweaking)
This has _really_ made a huge difference in the quality of the photos. I have done a lot more adjustment with some of the photos. Photoshop is _really_ amazing what it can do. The image have a _lot_ of info in them, I just have to learn to get it to pop out.
Rating: Summary: WOW!!! Review: This camera is everything I desired in a digital camera and so much more. While other kids played baseball and football I grew up with a Pentax MX strapped around my neck. Photography was and is my passion. This camera allows me the expression I always dreamed of. Combined with Adobe Photoshop, this is the best camera/darkroom setup I've ever worked with!
Rating: Summary: Mega happy Review: I've had my 10D for just over six months, taking mainly landscape/wildlife photos during that time. I moved up from a Minolta film SLR and chose the 10D in preference to Nikon due to my experiences with the Powershot S400 (compatability of menu systems, software etc) and in preference to the Digital Rebel due to build quality/feel and the slightly faster FPS and improved buffer (important to me when trying to photograph animals). I have a big trip to Alaska coming up where the camera will pay for itself with the savings in film/developing alone, never mind the instant feedback and convenience of not having to sort through 250 rolls of film when I get back.Overall experience with the 10D is very positive with minimal/no shutter lag, great autofocus speed, and the SLR type features often missing such as depth of field preview, mirror lock up etc. If I have any issue with the camera it is the boot up time which seems like an age compared to simply turning on a film camera but isn't too unreasonable compared to other digital SLRs (the brand new Nikon being one of the few exceptions-at a price, mind). Other reviewers here and on other sites have commented on the soft focussing. Never had an issue with it but I'm not shooting portraits of people but rather I'm normally using large depth of field. Picture quality has been consistently excellent. Without trying to mess around with the white balance etc I find the color to be spot on and exposure is consistently where I expect it to be. The additional exposure latitude of digital over slide film really helps on difficult to catch contrasty outdoor scenes and the 10D does a great job of making the most of it (comparing it to point and shoot digital images really brings out the differences). I've printed numerous prints at 13"x19" on a Canon i9100 inkjet at home that are outstanding and exceed the quality that pro lab printed slides/negatives have achieved. Unfortunately, I managed to get the dreaded "Error 99" message a few weeks ago. I use two new Canon lenses (28-135IS and 100-400IS) and a Sigma 12-24. Seeing other comments about non-Canon lenses causing the problem, I called Sigma who confirmed the 12-24 is software compliant and shouldn't be the issue. I called the Canon service hotline and after 20 seconds was actually speaking to a live body (amazing in this day and age). The technician ran through all the things that could be tried to fix it and confirmed that the camera needed to be sent in for repair. I mailed it on a Tuesday and received the camera back the following Wednesday (with the Memorial Day weekend in between) fully functioning, with a new shutter, updated software, and fully cleaned and running to factory specs. Outstanding service response and an experience to put a smile on my face. Highly recommended accessories to get for the 10D: 1) a second battery (good power usage but I take way more shots than I used to on film and it's not good to run out while in the middle of nowhere); 2) some form of cover for the LCD screen (hoodman peel-on/off work great and help protect it from scratches).
Rating: Summary: CANON 10D - FLAWLESS AND BUILT LIKE A TANK Review: Prior to my 10D purchase I used a Canon 10s 35mm along with the Canon 100-300 ultrasonic, Tamron 28-200, Sigma 50mm macro. I love my Canon 10s and so far Canon's 10 designation has been my lucky number. The 10D is a superb camera but beware when using independent lens makers. My Sigma macro had to be sent back to Sigma for an electronics "upgrade" when it produced the feared error 99. Also my Tamron 28-200 became useless with the 10D since the auto focus refused to work well. Tamron admits that its non "DI" lenses may not work on some digital SLRs. I recently purchased the Canon 35-135 IS and the Canon 17-40 "L" lens. When you mate these lenses along with the upgraded Sigma 50MM macro and the Canon 100-300 with the 10D the results are absolutely astounding! If you do buy a 10D and decide to buy a new lens I would stick with Canon and skip the compatibility worries altogether. It seems that even old Canon EF lenses work splendidly with the 10D. I own the 10D for almost a year and have used it under tough conditions and have taken many thousands of pictures and it has never failed me. The camera is always ready to take a picture when I need it and the results are truly remarkable. The camera has a solid professional(mostly metal body) feel and is fairly easy to learn to use. The battery seems to last forever unless you use the built in flash. I bought the Canon 540ez flash which works great and is quite powerful. In the final analysis the Canon 10D rates a perfect 10!
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