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General Climbing Discussion

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climbing photo tips 12-Feb-2004 At 12:10:54 PM (removed)

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On 10/02/2004 nmonteith wrote:
>I purchased over the xmas period a digital SLR - a Canon EOS 300D ...
I've played with my sister-in law's one of these - I have ulterior motives, I too have a bunch of Canon lenses.

As I alluded to somewhere else, this camera has one major drawback, and that is the "effective zoom" factor of 1.6. This is due to the fact that the CCD (the bit that captures the image) is not 35mm (i.e. film size), but rather 22mm (I think). What does this mean for me ? My 20-35mm lens which I use at its widest for climbing photos has instantly become a 32mm lens. Disappointing. Great if you dodn't have anything zoomy enough though.

Canon are aware of this and distribute a 18-55 (effective 28-88) lens with the camera, although this lens is NOT bakwardly compatible - it cannot be used on my EOS 100 body (nor any Canon SLR film bodies).

What's more disappointing though, is that the Canon 1D, the only Canon digital SLR WITH a 35mm CCD, still costs around $10K+. That's obscene. When are they going to get something out to the masses without us having to compromise on functionality (i.e. wide angles shots). Anyone know why the technology to increase a CCD from 22mm to 35mm causes a camera price to jump from $1800 to $12000 ?

Nikon's F1 digital equivalent (dunno exact model number) has a 35mm CCD for $6000-ish. Which is fine of you have Nikon lenses.

On a more positive note, the 300D offers some fantastic on board features - check the histogram to see which bits are under/over exposed etc. and I still sell my nanna to get one ...

PS: Neil, I couldn't figure out how to change the ISO on AV ...