Camera Labs

Hello!

We've started a new section in the Cameralabs forums for User Reviews. This is the place where you can tell us what you think of equipment you've bought.

Cameras, lenses, flashes, tripods, software, bags or even filters - we want to know what you think!

User reviews could be articles explaining how your came to your decision and how it's working out for you, or simply just short bullet points saying what you like or don't like about your purchase. The only condition is you've actually bought and used the gear.

Example images (or links to them) illustrating good or bad aspects of are also very welcome, as are updates letting us know how the kit's working out over time. If you could turn back the clock for instance, would you buy it again?

So tell us all what you think about your purchase and whether you'd recommend it to fellow Cameralabs readers!

Many of you have already kindly posted reviews of your equipment and we'll be moving these to this forum over time. If your report on a piece of equipment is deep within someone else's post, please feel free to copy and paste your comments in a new post in the reviews section. It makes them easier to find!

Thanks again and we all look forward to hearing what YOU think of your gear!

Gordon Laing, Editor
http://www.cameralabs.com

Very good!
but wouldn't it be better to put those user-reviews into the various manufacturers sections?

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hi Thomas, I felt the reviews were getting a bit lost amongst the various questions and discussions in the Manufacturer forums. There's some fantastic material you guys have written and I thought it was a shame others weren't finding it easily.

Your excellent review of the Nikkor fisheye for example had disappeared onto the 2nd page and wasn't being seen by many, but now it has pride of place in the User Reviews section!

As time goes on and we have more user reviews, then yes, they'll probably be sub-divided into manufacturer categories.

So the big question Thomas is this: will you be doing a D80 and 18-200mm review for us?!

Gordon

Oh, I'll not try to top a professional review like yours on the D80 and 18-200mm VR
But the real question is, whether you can subdivide a section like "User-Reviews" further along different manufacturers?

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

It will involve some moving around, but it should be possible!

I think we'd all still like to see a review from you of your favourite lens and body though Thomas!

Gordon

Wow, I've been looking for a chance to say what I REALY think about my E510 -- but I guess I'll wait to see if you catagorize this by manufacture, which sounds like a good idea.

Hi Brian, long term we may categorise this by manufacturer, but right now, it's all in one section under User Reviews, so please feel free and tell us what you think...

(obviously in a new post in that section though!)

I see that you have a monthly post of sales by camera maker by ranking in order of first to fifth but there are no actual numbers, is it possible to get that data, ie just how far out front are Canon and Nikon from the rest?

Hi River Rat, you've got me intrigued - where's this monthly listing?! I don't recall doing one!

Figures like these are also tricky because you have different regions, sales by volume, sales by revenue, sales by category - the list is endless and can be spun to favour almost anyone!

I was supposed to post my equipment in the Canon section but it just might be lost because of the rate the section gets used, so here it is......

What I think of the equipment I bought? SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOSIUS for an amateur, like myself (Is this word still being used?)

If I could turn back time, will I buy it again? The body (450D), YES at a 100% probability ; The lenses, YES but if I had the money, I would go for the extreme; like the 70-200 2.8L that every "rich" enthusiast talks about

What led me to buy this set of gear? cameralabs.com (of course, what should I say... So in case, over time, I think the gear sucks, I can always blame camera labs too... He he...

Will I recommend it to fellow Cameralabs readers? YES at a 100%, again...

So far, I am very satisfied with my gear. I enjoy going out and literally shooting everything that I see. I will be posting sample pictures once I go to that part of my "learning process"...

Well I went from a Fuji 7000 (with around 30k shots on it) to a Canon 30D. It came with a 17-85mm IS USM lense (which I have found excellent, except for a bit of CA under harsh contrasty light).

I then purchased a battery grip with extra genuine battery (over 1000 shots). Excellent for portraiture mode - which I use a lot in my passion. And a 580EX for fill flash when shooting PJ.

Other lenses (before a trip to NZ last year) were a 10-22mm WA (brilliant for buildings and wiiiiddde landscapes) and a 70-300mm IS as a general walkaround lense. Also purchased was a 50mm f/1.8 prime which is just so much fun!!! All three zooms cover 10-300mm and I think for the money are just wonderful for walkaround shooting.

Since then the L bug has hit. My first purchase was a 70-200mmL f/2.8 IS specifically for portraiture and low light use (as I have done a few portrait shoots with it as well as award nights at my daughter's school where I seem to have become the defacto school photographer...). It is exquisitely sharp even wide open, and the IS is just awesome.

Next purchase was a 50mm f/1.4 as it is sharper than the 1.8 wide open, as well as the USM is wickedly quick! Goes to show - the primes are fun!!!

Last purchase was a 24-70mmL f/2.8 again specifically for portraiture. I have found that this lense is not as easy to use as the others (less keepers), but that is just my lousy style that I have to better - not the lense. But the contrast, colours and sharpness across the image are what makes it really stand out compared to the 17-85mm. But since it weighs a bit more, I still use the 17-85mm as a general walkaround lense.

My next purchase will hopefully be a shoulder bag for the L and prime lenses (portrait shoots generally don't require a backpack like I have for my walkaround lenses), as well as an 85mm f/1.8 prime again for the fun of primes!!! Once you get the prime bug, it's hard to shake...

Not much of a review, but more of an insite into how a hobby can become a passion!

Hooroo,

Ken.

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COME TO THE DARK SIDE OF L : We have cookies!!!

Hi BuhayTsina, Hi Ken, welcome on-board!

If you'd like to expand on any of what you've posted we'd love to hear more about what you think of your gear in the User Reviews and Lens Gallery sections...

Just wondering if it might be time to take another look at this? If not divided by individual manufacturers, how about at least dividing into Cameras (maybe even DSLRs/Point-and-Shoots), Lenses, and Accessories... or something along those lines?

Just a thought - Mark

I'll take a look at how we may be able to implement it better - maybe having user reviews in each manufacturer section...

Hi everyone, i'm new at this website, I got my canon g11 a week ago, Gordon thank you for your advice of choosing this camera, my friend in new york did the favor to order it thru your website, and i'm very happy with the camera. As i'm a scuba instructor one of my passions is underwater photography specially macro life, therefore I bought the underwater housing from canon which is at a very decent price if not quite cheap. I have already try the camera and the housing and took some shots underwater and i'm very happy with the results even though i still need to play more with the white-balance and manual mode, soon i will post my link to show the results.