Kevin,
Thanks for summing up you reaction to a quick spin with the latest 16.7
Canon.
You took a quick turn at the point where you brought in the 'blad H1
and if you had an image comparison comment, I missed it. Does the 'blad
carry a 22mp back?
If you find a moment, I'd appreciate your impression of the relative
image performance between the two.
I'll never own either, just morbid curiosity.
Jack
--- Kevin Waterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I spent a few hours playing with the latest offering from Canon.
> On the front of it we put a 70-200mm f2.8 lens and went walking
> around Sydney.
> The camera is a 16.7 megapixel full frame shooting 4 fps. ISO from
> 100-1600 and
> custom settings will stretch it from ISO 50-3200.
>
> My first impression was, this is an ugly machine.
> Upon lifting this beast it is immediately obvious that it should not
> be used
> without a tripod. The combined weight of the lens + camera made this
> something
> you dont want to carry for too long or too far. If you are hiking, a
> monopod
> and/or neck strap are a must.
>
> I must admit I was a more than a little lost on the control
> interface. My first
> instinct was for my index finger to turn it on like an *istD but
> there is no
> switch there. 10 mins of tuition had me comfortable with the basics
> and away
> we went again.
>
> This machine takes SD or CF cards but the 'hatch' to access them is
> not something
> that would be easy in low/no light, although the camera does have a
> built in light
> for the task but I was unable to find it. My interest was the ability
> to plug the
> camera directly to a pc/laptop and have the files saved directly to
> the hard disk.
> This can be done via USB (1.1) or a wireless connection. Does it get
> any better than that?
>
> I was told the LCD screen was large and bright and this may be the
> case in the dark
> but it was daylight and it was difficult to see. Even when venturing
> into a low
> light situation it was not great, the *istD has it trumped in this
> area.
>
> File sizes when shooting in RAW are at about 13-15 megs, but of
> course you can reduce
> this with several jpg file qualities to choose from. The firmware
> also has an auto-rotate
> feature for images. This could be quite useful for folks like myself
> where every moment
> saved in front of the computer is money saved.
>
> What I was again looking for is the auto-focus mechanism. Fast.
> Several metering options
> are available with a gazillion variations, my primary interest was
> with the camera set
> to ISO 800 f2.8 and to whatever shutter speed manually set to 250.
> The focus was sharp and
> fast. In low light the performance was excellent, not once did I
> experience any hunting.
> It hit the mark 100% of the time.
>
> I really only have the Hasselblad H1 to compare this to and when it
> comes down to
> bang for bucks, this one really has everybody in second place. I
> guess with the only
> 16mp full frame 35mm sensor on the market they can charge what they
> like for them.
> The camera with 70-200mm f2.8 lens swings in at about AUD $15,000.00
> but compared to
> the Hasselblad at about AUD $40,000.00 it really offers alot of bang
> for you bucks.
> Even though the blad is a MF camera, this really does compete and
> will certainly be
> at the forefront of alot of photographers shopping lists. I can see
> journo's and
> wedding photographers looking for this en-masse.
>
> If pentax is considering joining the MF Digital market then I think
> they really need
> to be looking at starting their sensor size at least better than the
> oppositions 35mm
> offering. I am still holding in there with pentax to early in the new
> year.
>
> Kind regards
> Kevin
>
> --
> "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
>
> Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
>
>
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