There are non-Canon solutions (less expensive) to the wireless remote issue, neither of them relying on IR but instead being true RF devices. I'm in the midst of testing a couple of them right now. The first of the devices is one I made myself using a Polaroid Spectra RF remote with the Polaroid cable removed and a Canon NP3 cable in it's place:
http://www.tompfeiffer.com/remote.jpg I haven't yet done any distance tests with the device since I only finished it last night, but the transmitter has a small wire antenna wrapped around its' perimeter that can be straightened out for greater range. Polaroid rated the pair at 40 feet. I can say it worked fine out in the shop, but that's all at this point. There is someone else whose taken this same device and added a swivel antenna to it and sells them on eBay, but his asking price of nearly $200 is high (parts cost is ~$80): http://tinyurl.com/5y74b. He does have a nice replacement nameplate, though. The other device I came across recently originates from mainland China and is sold in various versions to work with several Canon and Nikon models: http://tinyurl.com/3mhnr. This is a pretty well made device, very compact and the range is advertised to be about 100 feet in the basic model (there is a higher powered transmitter available). This one showed up the same day as my 20D, and didn't work on my 20D (they've sent me a replacement, but it hasn't arrived yet). It works fine on my 10D though, and it's a very nice unit. At this point, I'm not sure being rechargeable is really necessary given the small amount of power required, my homemade device should last for months and months on a 9v battery and there's no charger to keep up with). As a side note, both of these units also provide both the half-press and full-press functionality of the camera shuttr button, so focusing can be done independent of shutter release. Neither of these is $20 like the IR remotes used on the Rebels and Elans, but they are also less sensitive to light, don't require line-of-sight, and have a much longer range. Anyways, that's all I have for now on this! Except I'll add I haven't experienced the lockup issue on my 20D. Tom P. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Choo Chi Yen > Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2004 4:39 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: EOS 20D from 300D > > Hi, > > Just got back on the list after too long of absence. Very > surprised this morning to see only 1 mail received since > yesterday, hmmm, is my mail server filtering stuff or the > traffic on the list has gone down from 100 mpd (mails per day) to 1? > > Anyway, one year and 11,000 shots after having had the > EOS 300D (Digital Rebel/KISS), I took a look at the EOS 20D > two weeks ago and just knew it is the right camera for me, so > no hessitation at all and bought it. The 300D gave many > good/great results over the year for family, travel, events, > and sports photos, but I sorely missed the control on > metering mode, AF mode, and of course FEC featured on my old > EOS 30 film camera. > > A scary glitch in the 20D firmware which caused the > camera to 'hang' was finally resolved yesterday, by upgrading > firmware from version 1.0.2 to 1.0.4. Other than that, the > 20D scores 98/100 on my chart - with two points kept for not > having support of wireless IR remote controller. > > Cheers, > BlueSky * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
