Equipment reviews
I had intended to avoid writing about equipment on this site but it seemed a little hypocritical given that I read reviews on the web very regularly. I first posted these pages in April 2005 and within a couple of weeks they were getting almost as many hits as the home page. I’d welcome feedback from anyone who has managed to read this far.
Please don’t get your hopes up for any deeply technical tests. My comments are limited to what I use the equipment for and how well it works for me. I’ve no intention of justifying my expensive purchases (as even I realise its not possible), nor will I compare equipment against items I’ve never used.
| Equipment now sold | ||
| Canon EOS 1V | Canon EOS 3 | Ricoh GR1V |
| Contax T3 | Canon PowerShot S70 | |
| Canon EF 15mm f2.8 fisheye | Canon EF 20-35mm f3.5-4.5 | Canon EF 20mm f2.8 |
| Canon EFS 10-22mm | Canon EF 85mm f1.8 | |
On 19th June 2005 I went digital. Up to that day I was a determined film user and I had even bought two additional film SLRs on eBay during 2005. However the temptation to buy a digital SLR became irresistible and I decided to test the water by buying the diminutive Canon 350D on 18th June. On the 19th I took pictures at a Christening/ wedding anniversary party and the week after I listed most of my film gear for sale on eBay.
Why
the prompt about turn? The answer lies in the picture on the right. In a dimly
lit church I set the camera to ISO 1600 and tried to capture something of the
service using one of my least expensive lenses (the Canon 20-35). The results
straight out of the camera were outstanding - far better than I could have
achieved on film. There is noise but its far less pronounced than
film grain would have been and there's also much more detail in the image. All
this from a camera so compact and easy to carry. And the truth is that with film
I either wouldn't have bothered or would have had to use flash.
I'm now using a Canon EOS 5D , a 40D as well as my original EOS 350D. The image quality from all of them is better than anything I managed on film - including a brief liaison with a Bronica ETRS. I also have an IXUS compact for those places where an SLR is impractical/ stupid to carry or use.