SLR-Camera Reviews

Canon's EOS-1D-Mark-II -Best Performer of the Decade..
Reviewer: Jim Wilson (fau@bellsouth.net) Boca Raton, Florida, USA, June 3rd, 2004/9pm

Canon's EOS-1D-Mark-II -Best Performer of the Decade.....

This mini-review will give some initial impressions with the first week of use and testing. I was one of the early users of the DCS-560 Canon/Kodak cameras, which was great camera for its time however at $25m a copy. Looking at this new Mark-II with its feature set, pixel count, image quality, speed, in camera processing parameters, 8+ fps.... the list goes on and on... what a performer. This digital camera has almost everything for a broad range of uses. With 8.2MP sensor and using LizardTech's PrintPro to up-size the image 250% produces huge images which would challenge the best medium format digital backs. The images are pure, clean, crisp, and accurate. If you're a RAW shooter the included software will give all the post imaging adjusting one can imagine. Many of my assignments have good or controlled lighting therefore I'm quite happy with in-camera processing. I go with +1 or +2 ticks on the sharpening, and +1 on the color so the skin tones are more towards tan. This heavy duty camera, literally heavy, is such a wonderful piece to work with, its worth the extra size and weight. When one combines this camera with Canon's line of "L" series lenses, this gives the user an incredible feeling of confidence when on assignment, whether taking pictures of products, food, science, fashion, engineering, construction, or action sports for NCAA events. This camera also re-defines quality low-light imaging. An ISO of 1600 produces images with very good results, and images at 3200 are surprisingly sharp, which until today was unheard of. ISOs of 50 through 1250 produce clean noise-free, or near-noise-free beautiful images.

As to image sizes, when shooting in JPEG mode, the user may change the JPEG compression settings from numeric values from 1-10, as with Photoshop when saving images. I set the JPEG value to 10 which produces file size of about 6 million bytes +/- 1 million bytes, depending on image detail and light level; low light, high ISO will result in higher image sizes. Therefor with a 2GB data card expect 330 image capacity. Using the FireWire interface, downloads average 5.5MB images at the rate of about 10 per minute.

As an opinion, in the future several items Canon could work on to improve this already beautiful masterpiece:

1. Use a full 24mmx36mm imager
2. Increase pixel dimensions to 3600x5400 pixels
3. Increase near-noiseless ISO's to 6400
4. Decrease camera weight and size
5. Change battery system to Lithium-Ion.
6. Provide an extra-bright 3" diagonal LDC display.
7. Oh why not, ...lets ask for 12 fps.

James L Wilson, Prof., Principles.of.Digital.Photography and.Post.Image.Processing Florida.Atlantic.University Boca.Raton.Campus Operating.Entity.BocaDigital.LLC. Quality.Digital.Imaging Post.Office.Box.520 Boca.Raton.Florida.USA.33429 Internet.E.Mail.Address For.Faculty.and.Students.mail.use: FAU@bellsouth.net For.Other.Business.mail.please.use: BocaDigital@bellsouth.net Desk.561.416.1110 SecureFax.561.892.2681

Comments: It is important to read the included documentation so that one can utilize (some of) the large feature-set. Its worth the effort since the features provided solve most of the photographer's needs.

Professor Jim Wilson, "Principles of Digital Photography"

I got this lens a couple years ago and use it extensively. It is well constructed and easy to use with any Canon EOS body, though it must be focused manually. This is the only tool I know of that enables easy *field* photography above 2x magnification. I have stalked the tiniest insects and peered into the hearts of flowers with this astounding lens, and my transparencies are crisp and clean every time. It comes with a tripod ring (same one as several other Canon lenses use, just in black), which greatly aids switching to a vertical format without having to reposition everything.

Buy the MR-14EX ring flash with this, as it is impossible to see *anything* in normal daylight conditions at 5x. Its focus lamps frequently help in obtaining sharp pictures, though even they can't provide enough light to help you much when the lens is stopped down. A focus rail is also helpful--I use the Velbon macro slider since it moves in two directions, not just one. Tripod use is essential, as 5x magnification only covers an area about 5mm by 7mm.

The biggest advantage to owning this lens is that I travel less to do photography--I spent several hours on my patio this winter photographing white flies, moss, spiders, and anything else that visited the potted plants there. Plunk down in a field and *stay there* a while, and you'll start to notice the small things around you.

This kit is worth well over 99$, it's very heavy duty and comes with a nice canon 58mm UV filter, which makes it an ideal companion for the digital rebel + EF-S lens (58mm also). The blower/brush of the cleaning kit is a piece of junk, throw it away or give it to your pet as a toy, the rest of the cleaning kit is fine and very useful.

This thing is very cool. You can do a bunch of different timer functions, and some combinations of them. You can set shutter length, interval between shots, time to first shot, and number of shots to take, plus you can just treat the thing as a remote release cable.

The display light is just fine for shooting at night, and there are not a lot of buttons, so you can learn to run the remote in the dark pretty fast.

My only gripe is the cable is not very long - 21 inches or something like that. Canon wants almost 1/2 the price of the TC80N3 for the extension cable. Most won't need anything longer, but it would be nice if it was.

The Leica M7 is truly one camera that is long overdue. Without a doubt, it is the finest - and most expensive - rangefinder camera currently in production. Much of what the Leica M7 offers is not revolutionary, but rather, a natural, evolutionary progression spanning nearly five decades since the introduction of the M3, Leica's first bayonet-mounted rangefinder camera. The shutter remains essentially the same as the one found on the M6, but it is far more accurate than its immediate predecessor; it is still a silk curtain shutter, but one that is now electronically controlled, guaranteeing accurate exposures every time. Surprisingly, it is now also quieter than the shutter for the Leica M6. Those familiar with Leicas, especially the M4 and M6, will find the M7 easy to use. However, you may have to carry additional batteries since this camera won't work without them, with the notable exception of two shutter speeds. Otherwise, I regret that this fine camera is truly too expensive for most photographers.

This is a great bag to have if you have several lens, a flash, and lots of odds and ends that need to be organized in one place along with your 35mm camera. It's large, well designed, and looks super. The Nova 5 is water resistant and has all sorts of extra compartments and zippers. There are places for filters and maybe a photo handbook. They test these bags in the field beforehand so you know you are getting a rugged quality product.I think the price is quite reasonable, and when I received mine I can honestly say it exceeded my expectations.

This camera is really marvelous, pretty light to lug around and superb performance. The following features are the ones which makes it a great buy for the price
- Eye Start (I love it, this feature is not there in Maxxum 4)
- 9 point autofocus, focus lock
- fully automatic mode, shutter-priority/aperture-priority and fully manual modes
- red-eye reduction, in-built pop-up flash
- convenient pre-set program modes (portrait,landscape,close-up,sports and night portrait)
- upto 9 multiple exposures

the film loading mechanism is smooth and easy, though it could have done with a warning message (rather than a blinking '0') when film is not loaded properly.

Has focus indicator, locks shutter when still focussing (can happen when using zoom telephoto lenses), has exposure range warnings, shutter speed warnings (if the recommended aperture or shutter speed is outside the range of your lens), the eye-sensor could have been better, but this drawback can be overcome with the exposure preview button, all in all I'm very satisfied with this camera.

Note: don't compare it with professional grade cameras like Nikon F 100... this camera does not have a color database like the pro-grades, so your exposure might be off by 1-2 stops when shooting extremely bright/dark subjects due to 'mid-tone'ing.

Not sure if you are ready for a full-blown SLR? This is the camera you need. From full auto mode, to completely manual, and everything in between. Easy to learn and use features that will give you every option you need to take professional looking photos. This kit is a best bet for anyone who loves to take pictures but is not satisfied with the results of the compact 35mm zooms.

This is the best digitally controlled 35mm SLR I have ever used. The price tag may be high, but the features you get in one package make it worthwhile. The auto focus lock button and auto exposure lock button are located where they should be. The auto focus selector (single, continuous, manual) allows full control in every situation. The metering system is extremely accurate, and the built in spot meter is a plus. The control dial rather than an arrow up/down configuration gives you much faster control. I recommend this camera for the professional, or students. The vast amount of digital control might be confusing for the beginner.