Camera Labs

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

Hi folks,

Perhaps it is finally time to get this thread back on topic! The camera has now arrived and I am delighted to say it feels even better "in hand" than I remembered. Somehow, a quick fondle in the street didn't do that aspect of the camera justice, nor did it highlight how much nicer the viewfinder is compared to my dear old 400D.

At the moment I am doing the boring stuff like battery charging and software installation etc. so more later when I actually get around to taking some photographs.

Oh, one glaring omission from Gordon's review. The strap that came with the 400D/XTi had a nice white stripe down each edge but the strap stripe on the 40D is red, just like the red stripe on Canon's "L" (L for luxury) lenses. Now I feel a complete photographer. Of course, others might suggest I'm a complete ...

Bob.

P.S. Do not post replies with your adjective of choice added. We need to stay on topic and anyway, if you can't think of something nice to say then say nought

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

I liked Gordon's review. The 6fps shooting demo was particularly impressive and puts my D80 to shame in this respect.

Hope you have fun Bob. Show us some pictures when you get a chance.

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My Flickr

Didn't take you long to change your signature ooopppsss off topic sorry (takes a slap on the wrist)

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Roy
EOS 350D, 40D + BG-E2N, EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 430 EX Speedlite




My Fotopic

Hi Folks,

Just to clarify this thread I created it so that 40D owners can jot down first impressions. I may for the future pull something together from my own experiences and post that in the User Reviews forum but after Gordon's 40D Review there isn't much to add!

Anyway, rather than stay in and read the manual I took the new baby out for a test drive this afternoon. Coming from the 400D/XTi I was unprepared for just how useful that top LCD display is together with the two control wheels. It is really quick to change ISO, shutter speed, f-number and shooting modes: something I rarely did with my 400D. Of course, this won't be news to EOS 30D or Nikon D80 owners.

Here are some early photos. Rather than provide 100% crops I have produced some thumbnails which you can click if you want to see the originals. Except for the "Lake" the originals have themselves been cropped but even so, be warned that the underlying files are between 3 and 7MB in size. The JPEGs were produced by Canon's DPP software from the RAW originals with no extra post-processing. All four shots were with my EF 24-105L IS USM lens.

The first two were shots 2 and 4 of a sequence of seven shots taken in high speed (6.5 fps) continuous shooting mode with AI Servo AF enabled. ISO 200 with Highlight Tone Priority enabled was used for all four shots: the EXIF data is intact if you need more. I am really pleased with the way the AF tracked Kestrel as he ran towards the camera. By the way, no matter how hard he flaps his ears he never quite manages to take off!


EDIT: The background hedgerow is full of hawthorn berries and quite rosy crab apples - it ain't noise!

The third shot is of my older dog Kari - well, I couldn't leave him out could I? I'll justify his inclusion by suggesting that the out of focus background gives an opportunity to examine any picture noise.



The last shot is of one of my local lakes. I haven't cropped this one as I thought it would give the pixel peepers the best opportunity to ply their trade. I stopped down to f/20 which, looking at the colour fringing on some of the twigs at the top left might have been a stop too far (sic).



Disappointingly, I have noticed that there are already a few dust spots. Once I got home I got my puffer out so hopefully...

I have no pretensions to being a good photographer so no flames about composition please. I simply offer these images to allow potential buyers of the 40D a little more information.

Bob.

P.S. I don't use my dog's names in any passwords.
P.P.S. They are Hamiltonstövare.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

In those first couple of photos, the grass is so high, I mistook your dog for a Basset Hound!

Maybe the dust is inevitable if you switch lens very often? What's your opinion on the anti-dust system for the Canon 40D?

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Nikon D90 + MB-D80 + SB-600 + AF-S VR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 + AF-S 35mm f/1.8 + AF 85mm f/1.8 | My photos on Flickr.

Hi Bob. Nice dogs! Verrry sharp "snout-hairs" (sorry, don't know what's the exact english term for this). And nice noise at ISO 200 in the tree left to Kari's head...

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

The disappointing aspect is that prior to taking my first photos all I did was put the lens straight on the camera. In my view the dust either came with my year old lens or it came with the camera!

It's far too early to comment on the anti-dust system. Gordon's test results were good and I can't add anything to that until I get the camera settled down. No system can be perfect, however. I always try to change lenses in a dust free environment and always keep the camera body pointing down if at all possible for the short length of time no lens is attached.

By the way, the full size images available from my previous post are copyright free so anyone is welcome to cut 100% crops if they are needed to illustrate something in a Camera Labs forum post.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

The English word is "whiskers". By the way, I've never mentioned before it but your English is so good it is usually impossible to tell that it isn't your native tongue.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Thanks Bob But I'm getting off-topic...
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B.t.w.: I'm getting on with the tele-zoom test-reports. You mentioned that you might be interested. First detailed test is the Tamron 200-500mm here, which can be bought with Canon-mount.
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Hope you really have maximum fun with your new gear!

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

Is it just me, or are those pictures quite noisy for iso 200 ? Bob, how much did you crop of the dog pictures ?

Sorry, I should have included that info for those who can't read the EXIF data. The original images were all 3888x2592. In order the first three downloadable pictures are 1668x2114, 1435x2506 and 2278x3115.

I think you have to be quite careful trying to decide about noise levels in the first two pictures when looking at them at 100%. The reason is that the background hedgerow is full of hawthorn berries and quite rosy crab apples - I'm going to add that info as an edit to the post right now.

The third image (Kari) and the Lake are much better indicators. To my eye at normal magnifications (rather than at 100%) they are already pretty good. Bear in mind that although I am using ISO 200 I have Highlight Tone Priority on which does introduce a little extra noise in the shadows according to the manual. I haven't done it yet but my guess is that if I run these images through Noise Ninja I will end up with a result which will be very difficult to better short of going full frame.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi Bob, nice shots and nice dogs too!

I would recommend NOT using Highlight Tone Priority though unless the subject is predominantly light and you need to record as much tonal detail as possible. As Canon states, there will be increased noise in shadow areas, although as you saw from my review, this wasn't apparent in my (mostly shadow-free) test shot. So I'd only really use it for winter landscapes, white outfits or predominantly light-coloured animals.

Try some more tests with it turned off to see what you think...

As for dust, remember it will become more defined at smaller apertures, like f16 and f22. Marks seen at these apertures may be virtually invisible at f8.

Have you tried appending the dust delete data by the way? For some reason DPP claimed the data wasn't present on my 40D images.

Glad you've got it now anyway though and I hope you'll be very happy!

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the suggestions. The dogs send appreciative licks for your kind words.

I used Highlight Tone Priority today because I was curious about it and I thought it might help pick up a little more texture in the clouds. I will certainly try some shots with and without it.

This also goes to my plans to customise the camera. As you know, you can create a custom Menu to allow quick access to items which are otherwise a little more deeply buried in the menu structure. Then there are the three custom positions (C1, C2 & C3) on the Mode Dial. I would like to set one of these up for astrophotography but have yet to decide exactly how I want to set up the other two.

The shot (not posted above) where I noticed the dust spots was taken at f/11. They were pretty faint but they were definitely there. The "Lake" shot was taken afterwards and at f/20 the dust seems to have gone so maybe the sensor shaking had done the trick although I can see a very small hair-like object. On reflection, one possibility is down to the packaging that my mail-order store used. The camera box was inside a bigger box and shredded paper was used as a shock absorber. It's hard to think of a more DSLR unfriendly solution as, despite my best effort, any static charge would have paper dust and fibres sticking first to me and then, possibly, to the camera.

The dust delete data function may be worth a try but when I have a little time I think I need to take some shots of that white card with a view to trying to spot and blow away the dust if any remains. My 24-105 stays on the camera most of the time so I think that is my best first strategy.

And yes, I am very happy indeed with the 40D. There is already talk of using some of my shots of the dogs on our Hamiltonstövare stand at the Crufts Discover Dogs area, where my two boys will probably make another appearance next year. If I'm good to them they may even allow me to come along as well.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi Bob, I'm really looking forward to hearing what you think of Live View, MF assist and the PC remote control...!