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BoyNhisDog
The dangerous place where the winds meet




Joined: 05 Jan 2003
Posts: 1375
Location: Tucson

PostPosted: 7/6/2007, 7:43 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Davis2001R6 wrote:
Since my S3 has a range of 36-432mm, 36mm is not all that wide as I'm sure you know. I keep looking at the "fisheye" type stuff. with either a .22 wide angle adapter or .45, giving me about a 8mm or 16mm if I understand it right. Do you think I should try out the .22x adapter for landscapes or will that be overkill?

Along the same note, what about the 2.2 or 3x teleconverters that are available for it as well. I love the 12x zoom it has, but sure would be cool to play around with something bigger once in a while. I can't imagine what 900+mm would look like, good thing it has the IS.


I had the same problem with my old Canon G2. The wide end was equivalent to 36mm and it was not near wide enough. I have not heard any "glowing" reviews on the wide converters and understand that they introduce some undesirables into the image quality but that is not to say that you can't make it work. It depends on your acceptance. I saw one example where the image was not sharp at all and had some severe chromatic aberrations, like when you see a strong red or green outline around the edges of things. I don't know if that is true of every one of the converters though. If you can find one in town and talk them into putting it on in the store and taking some pictures, going back home and processing those images and deciding from that, you might be able to easily make your decision. I have done something similar when shopping for glass. Try a series of different kinds of shots.

Superwide will give one the incredible depth not to mention the obvious wide coverage that is important in tight canyons or in many other situations. The depth is important to me. In that "Red, White and Blue" shot out on the mesas that I put up in the 4th of July thread, I could reach out and touch the rock with the red lichen while the white clouds on blue were so far away. In fact I had climbed down and was precariously teetering on some of the stone with an elbow on a piece that thrust out from the top, for stability. Superwide gives the sky a more vaulting look and if you are fortunate to have clouds, it morphs into a deep field look.

I love photography, always have, and a superwide view seems to be perfect for the southwestern deserts. On the same journey but previous day I came across something that was a difficult subject and just wanted a simple journalistic type shot. The light was harsh but the subject was compelling. It needed more than just a shot of itself and some background for the setting seemed to help it some. Still it had to have close detail of the subject itself. I could not have done this without my superwide lens.



There are some point and shoot cameras that go as wide as 28mm, not many but a few. If you have a Canon Rebel series camera or the 20D or 30D, you really ought to look into the 10-20mm lens they make for it. It is a crackling piece of glass.
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Davis2001R6





Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 5591
Location: Italy

PostPosted: 7/6/2007, 10:44 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Thanks Glen, it looks like I will need to find a good Photo shop in town and see if thye carry any. I know the couple of Ritz I've been don't carry the stuff.
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BoyNhisDog
The dangerous place where the winds meet




Joined: 05 Jan 2003
Posts: 1375
Location: Tucson

PostPosted: 7/6/2007, 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Davis2001R6 wrote:
Thanks Glen, it looks like I will need to find a good Photo shop in town and see if thye carry any. I know the couple of Ritz I've been don't carry the stuff.


Good luck on finding what you are after Tim. All the camera shops in Tucson are gone now save a couple of very small shops with very little to offer and one with used equipment, much less that it started with. I was looking for a replacement holster pack for my camera since I have manged to abrade it half to death and wear out the zippers so I went to that used equipment shop. They were selling used tools and fishing equipment to supplement income and stay open. Sad really as they used to be a magnificent shop at a more prime location. I found the camera bag. They had several new that they must have gotten on some kind of deal.
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Matt Hoffman





Joined: 18 Feb 2004
Posts: 701
Location: Grantham, NH

PostPosted: 7/6/2007, 4:25 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Davis2001R6 wrote:
Thanks Glen, it looks like I will need to find a good Photo shop in town and see if thye carry any. I know the couple of Ritz I've been don't carry the stuff.


Tim, I recommend Color Mark in Phoenix. It's on the NE corner of 22nd St and McDowell. They are very accommodating there and will help you find whatever you are looking for, and their prices are reasonable.
Don't bother with Tempe Camera; if you don't look like a pro, they won't even give you the time of the day. The previous opinion is based off multiple "in a row" personal experiences.
Ritz is a good store; the Fiesta Mall location is great. Very friendly people. But they do cater to the average Joe. I have a hard time finding accessories there.
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Al_HikesAZ





Joined: 21 Jun 2005
Posts: 263
Location: Scottsdale, AZ

PostPosted: 7/6/2007, 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

ColorMark is a step above Ritz. Give them a try. Let them know the kind of environments in which you will be using the camera. The one thing I liked about Ritz was their replacement plan. You pay a premium but it can be worth it. I took a Nikon CoolPix back 3 times because of dust and they repaired it. Currently carrying a Pentax W20 on long backpacks because it is waterproof and is light, but it has its limits. I bought a Pentax K10d because it is the least expensive "weather-resistant", it has a post-shutter self-cleaning chip, and I had no investment in lenses. I think Tamron has just come out with an 18-250mm lens which would eliminate carrying an extra lens and changing lenses in dusty environments. So much is based on the lenses that you own now or will own in the future. Things you can't see show up when you download and look at them I'm thinking of getting a Hoya Circular Polarizer because of vignetting with the polarizer that I am currently misusing. I suspect that Nikon and Canon will come out with lower cost "weather resistant" models based on the K10d popularity. Canon & Nikon lenses are awesome and a great investment if you are going to continue in photography.
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Davis2001R6





Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 5591
Location: Italy

PostPosted: 7/7/2007, 9:56 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Sounds good, I will head down to Color Mark one day.
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stanton





Joined: 04 Jul 2007
Posts: 1
Location: Tempe

PostPosted: 7/8/2007, 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

1 - Canon, cant beat the Canon optics and great price for great quality.
2 - Panasonic - Lumix w/ Leica Lens - AWESOME optics, very noisy pictures though.


Those would be my two choices, I have owned both, and to this day remain with Canon. Although shooting with SLR camera's now.

Very Happy
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Sponge





Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 23
Location: Luke AFB

PostPosted: 7/8/2007, 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Just picked this up today online:

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=145&modelid=14919
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Matt Hoffman





Joined: 18 Feb 2004
Posts: 701
Location: Grantham, NH

PostPosted: 7/8/2007, 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Al_HikesAZ wrote:
ColorMark is a step above Ritz. Give them a try.

A BIG step for sure. But not in an intimidating way!

Al_HikesAZ wrote:
I'm thinking of getting a Hoya Circular Polarizer because of vignetting with the polarizer that I am currently misusing.

Do you use your polarizer on top of another filter, such as a skylight or UV filter? If so, almost any polarizer used on a wide enough lens will cause vignetting. I reccommend taking the UV filter off, or you could invest in a "thin" polarizer. These polarizers eliminate the threads that would be used to screw another filter on top of it. I've never put a filter on top of a polarizer, but there is a downside. You can't use a traditional lens cap on this type of polarizer. You must take the polarizer off every time you want to put the lens cap on.
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Davis2001R6





Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 5591
Location: Italy

PostPosted: 7/8/2007, 10:41 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Sponge wrote:
Just picked this up today online:

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=145&modelid=14919


Just keep it clean, I would even put it in a case. I know it fits in a pocket perfectly, but sand a stuff gets inside. I have the lens/gear something or other go on two different ones of the SD500's.

Awesome pictures though.
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Daryl





Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1168
Location: Everett, Washington

PostPosted: 7/9/2007, 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

I had the Canon teleconverter (1.7x I think?) for my Canon S1 (old version of your camera). It did reduce sharpness and you had to be more careful with lens flare, but it worked well.

Shot of the moon with the S1 (3mp camera) and Canon teleconverter.
http://www.pbase.com/darylf/image/42924685

The guy I sold my S1 to bought the Canon wide adapter for it and liked it. The canon wide adapter is not a fisheye. It will distort the image slightly, but in most cases it won't be too noticable. I think it brought it down to 24mm(?)

I'd say get them, and be sure to spend the $$$ and get the Canon ones made for your camera (B&H Photo on line has them). Your camera has settings to let it know one of them is on your camera and it corrects the focus for you (just remember to turn the setting off when you remove the lens!!) Avoid the ebay converters or general use ones as they won't be nearly as good. I know people that have bought them and were very disappointed. Good glass costs money.

Note, neither of these converters will affect min aperture (aka slow down the lens) as they are more a filter then a treu teleconverter, so no worries there. But they will negatively affect sharpness, CA (purple fringing in the photo) and vignetting (dark corners). The affects are fairly minimal on the Canon ones and if you are not looking for it you may not even notice. I suggest only using them when needed though (if you can take the same photo by taking a few steps forward or aft, that's a better option).
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RedRoxx44
Queen of the Walkabout




Joined: 15 Jan 2004
Posts: 1167

PostPosted: 7/9/2007, 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Initial review on the Olympus 770 SW which I got for a song. Went caving with it, will post pics later. Had it in a little neoprene pouch on a lanyard around my neck. It got wet, slimed with mud and grit. Had to take some pics twice to get focus to work. Pics look decent enough for a small flash. I ordered a silicon skin from Olympus for it today to save the LCD display.
Some of the caving was crawling in full wetsuits in a moving stream with about 8-10 inches of airspace in places so camera dangled in the water. So far I like it, but don't know how long it'll last.
Oh, and it got banged around too with some of the climbing.

Found the Canon 10-22mm lens online for under 500.00 I forget website--I think expresscamera.com
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FalconGTHO





Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 30
Location: West Valley

PostPosted: 8/4/2007, 10:45 pm    Post subject: Re: Digital Cameras Reply to topic Reply with quote

sacred_datura wrote:
On my last stay at Phantom Ranch I fell and smashed my camera on the Clear Creek Trail. I really need a new camera but I want to keep the price under $200. I've heard positive things about Sony and Canon. What would be your pick?


Late to the game here, but digi cams are one of the things I sell for a living. Kodak is the best under 300.
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sacred_datura





Joined: 18 Apr 2007
Posts: 138
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona

PostPosted: 11/18/2007, 7:28 pm    Post subject: Update Reply to topic Reply with quote

Thanks to all the great advice here I bought a Canon Powershot A430 from a friend of mine for $75. I haven't had the chance to use it except around the house but it seems like a good camera so far, especially for the price! Twisted Evil
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Davis2001R6





Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 5591
Location: Italy

PostPosted: 8/19/2009, 4:06 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Great camera for $100. 30mm lens is fairly wide for a point and shoot as well.

Dell Link
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