View Full Version : New camera - 350D - need hints and tips!
Finally the right camera came into my dad's shop. He has one of those Cash Converter style places where people pawn their goods for money and have the option to come and buy it back after 30 days. Well the owner of a rather nice Canon EOS 350D never came back so it's mine now for a mere £130! Just waiting for it to arrive in the post and I can play!!!
So has anyone used one? I used a 300D a while back and was impressed. How much are lenses etc? I take it it can't use the old EOS film lenses due to full frame shots etc? Any niggles etc I should be aware of?
You can use all EOS lenses, even film ones. You'll just get a factor 1.6 crop on the picture, which looks like zoomed in. If you have used a 300D before then this will be easy to use as with all Canon Cameras, the user interface are very similar in all models from A60, S1, S70 to a 30D, it's when it gets to a 5D and 1D where the removal of the dial replaced with buttons when it starts to get a little different (at least on the surface)
For Lenses price wise, check out www.bristolcameras.co.uk , their prices seems to be ok. If I were you, get a charger asap (or when that battery dies you can't use it again), then if you find the camera too small, get the vertical grip. After that, may be a 50mm, and a tripod.
But first you need to shoot loads !!!! :D
Tysonator
14-07-2007, 19:54
Finally the right camera came into my dad's shop. He has one of those Cash Converter style places where people pawn their goods for money and have the option to come and buy it back after 30 days. Well the owner of a rather nice Canon EOS 350D never came back so it's mine now for a mere £130! Just waiting for it to arrive in the post and I can play!!!
So has anyone used one? I used a 300D a while back and was impressed. How much are lenses etc? I take it it can't use the old EOS film lenses due to full frame shots etc? Any niggles etc I should be aware of?
The 350 is a lesser D400, though it still is a great camera, you will have lots of fun with it :cool:
Yup but I can't really afford a new one for the amount I use it for but at the price I got it for I snapped it up because it's just what I wanted. I wouldn't mind betting this restores my faith in digi photography. I was getting annoyed at things like battery life, shutter delays, shot to shot times and even things like startup times but it looks like they have all been addressed by the 350D and bettered by the 400D. The 400D must be a piece of KIT is all I can say but it's a but above my budget for now. I did get a play with the metal bodied EOS 10D when it came out because one of my old clients bought one, that was the boy to have and kind of set some benchmarks for what I expected, but again at around £1000 it was way out of my price range. Really looking forward to this and I think I'm going to be using and abusing it a lot more than I think. I'm a bit worried about this 8Mp malarky though. I only have USB 1.1 on my lappy, an old version of Photoshop and 512Mb RAM!
well looks like u got lens info sorted there...but i got another tip - which you may or may not need.
When I first got my 300D I took about 1,000 photos in the first month - but other than a folder on my PC didn't really have anywhere for them.
Setup a PhotoBlog and post a pic a day... www.pixelpost.org have a good bit of software, which I've just setup myself -
www.marksweb.co.uk/pixelpost
Good way to progress and also to both publish your photos and get people's views.
*edit*
Just noticed Raymond's got a rather nice photo gallery which uses some nice JavaScript...might be worth a look.
The 350 is a lesser D400, though it still is a great camera, you will have lots of fun with it :cool:
400D! Its not a Nikon :p Whilst its technically the model below the 400D optically they'll produce the same shots. If you shoot JPG you'll be fine but I'd advise you to upgrade that PC and start shooting RAW (http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/raw.htm). The main reason is that you can correct exposures with RAW. If a shot is slightly over-exposed you can drop it down and correct it.
Tysonator
16-07-2007, 22:06
400D! Its not a Nikon :p Whilst its technically the model below the 400D optically they'll produce the same shots. If you shoot JPG you'll be fine but I'd advise you to upgrade that PC and start shooting RAW (http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/raw.htm). The main reason is that you can correct exposures with RAW. If a shot is slightly over-exposed you can drop it down and correct it.
True RAW does offer alot more after shot tweaks in some photo software kit.
I have shot in jpeg and only had to tweak photo's a little.
What I really want to do is used Adobe Photoshop, though I do not know even were to start to work on a photo !
It is not user friendly from beginners to photoshop, I wish to learn to use it alot more.
my DSLR is the 400D canon, sorry I missed type the D !
Read this guide on curves (http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/curves/). Fnar! That'll help you get some quick results with PS.
400D! Its not a Nikon :p Whilst its technically the model below the 400D optically they'll produce the same shots. If you shoot JPG you'll be fine but I'd advise you to upgrade that PC and start shooting RAW (http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/raw.htm). The main reason is that you can correct exposures with RAW. If a shot is slightly over-exposed you can drop it down and correct it.
aye, how did i forget that....I love RAW...RAW pwnz them all. You can never fail shooting RAW, just make sure your camera is loaded with at least a gig.
I shot this (http://www.marksweb.co.uk/pixelpost/index.php?showimage=7) using RAW...and if you haven't read up on RAW yet then that shot was taken during the day - darkness added during processing :)
Tysonator
19-07-2007, 10:09
Does any one have any info on using Adobe Photoshop ?
is there some web site or downloadable notes ?
or any one in the chelmsford area who can sjow how to use it ?
many thanks
So the camera turned up day before yesterday, battery is fully charged luckily as the charger isn't here yet. Have had a quick play but not taken any photos yet. I'm seriously impressed with the speed of it all. You can just switch it on and start shooting. At 3fps at full resolution on jpg I managed to shoot off 39 frames before it slowed down!!! That's what I'm talking about!!! I can only imagine the 400D is a beast. The only gripe I have is the body is a bit small and it's a tad uncomfortable to use, oh and the custom white balance is a bit of a polava. Really pleased it has a bulb setting and the motor drive works well. The quality of everything is superb because I remember the 300D feeling a bit plasticy after using a 10D but it's not the case with the 350. Battery seems to last for ages actually, which I'm just not used to. Nice to see a sensor cleaning facility in there too, I didn't know the 350 had that.
Going to be using it for the holiday snaps next week which will be bright sunlight stuff so it'll be a nice start to compare it to my old Sony F515V which I loved back in the day.
To be honest, the 400D won't be much better. A 30D would be because its 5fps. 350D -> 30D would be noticeable upgrade. 350D to 400D wouldn't be something I recommend really. The 350D doesn't have a sensor cleaning function. What that does is move the mirror out the way so you can clean it.
Ah right, hence it prompts to turn the camera off.
Tempted to take a peek now ;)
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