Gear notes for gallery: Picardie

   CAMERA USED FOR THIS GALLERY   

Canon EOS 10D Digital SLR

The Canon 10D is the successor of the D60. At first look, there are not many differences between them. They share the same sensor and many technical characteristics. But the 10D is in fact quite another camera. It definitely seems to ejoy a better conception and more sturdy construction. The images it produces are rather similar at 100 ISO, but show less noise at 400 ISO and above. Its white balance settings are totally different. It does not underexpose as much as the D60, which makes it a bit trickier to use. The new AF system is on par with the one of the EOS 30 / Elan 7E, except for the eye control. In my opinion, it is perfect, but was adapted to this camera in a hurry and not tested adequately. The result is the series of back or front focus problems some users had. I have to say I was one of these unfortunate users. My camera had to be serviced by Canon twice, for a total of more than 7 weeks. I am still not 100% sure it focuses well at all distances. This purchase and the problems I had afterwards nevertheless learned me something: NEVER buy a digital SLR (or a lens anyway) as soon as it is released! You will pay a lot for it, spend a long time finding it (as resellers will not have enough in stock) and will not be able to read user comments on problems.

   LENSES USED FOR THIS GALLERY   

Canon 17-40 f/4 L

After using my faithful 20mm Sigma lens for some time, I found that it had several little problems that I could not address: - it was not wide enough anymore on a digital SLR - its 82mm filter thread made a polarizer very expensive - it was not a zoom. I love this lens especially because it is quite sharp and has low distorsion, but there are cases where you really cannot "zoom with your feet" and a zoom turns really handy. So when Canon announced the new 17-40 L zoom, I was quite interested. The most difficult step was then to get it. Canon has recurring problems delivering enough lenses of a new model to the market. After a few months of use, I am quite happy of my purchase. This lens is sharp (though less than the fixed 20), USM works like a charm, its construction is great, flare control is excellent. I have finally been able to start using a polarizing filter on an ultra wide and to my suprise it does not vignette with it. I have discovered the joy of having a real all round lens for my digital camera. When I tried it on my film camera, it was a shock. 17mm is really WIDE. The only things I do not like is the curved horizons I get at 17mm (even in digital) and the lack of the nice star effect on lights, probably a side-effect of the speciall glass used by Canon in this lens.

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Canon 70-200 f/4L

This lens is the best of two worlds. It is almost as good as the 70-200 F/2.8L used by pros, but it is half its price and weights 700g instead of 1400. I was greatly pleased by the sharpness of the first photos I made with this lens. It is sharper than my Sigma 4/300 tele, which is surprising as fix-focals are generally better than zooms. The only problem I have with it is its focusing distance. 1.2m is a bit too far for me sometimes. 70cm would have been perfect. The Canon white L lenses are really a different world. If only Canon could make them ALSO in black!

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Canon 300 f/4 L IS

I purchased this lens to replace my good old Sigma 300mm f/4. My first impressions were good. The Canon L lenses finish is really impressive. It is a tad lighter than the Sigma, but feels a lot lighter as it is better balanced. It handles very well and shooting with it is a real joy. Image quality is good, but I expected the difference with the Sigma to be more visible. The Sigma x1.4 teleconverter works very well with this lens, better than with the Sigma tele itself! IS is both the strength and weakness of this lens. It works very well, enabling me to take photos at 1/125th of a second with my D60. But it is really power hungry and emptied both of my batteries within a few hours! Shooting with the sun in front causes the viewfinder to get very dark and gets you strange highlights in the out of focus areas of a picture. I still have to get used to this!

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Canon 50 f/1.4

This lens was only recently added to my backpack where it generally replaces the 28-135 USM IS. I purchased it secondhand and had to wait a while until I could find one at a reasonable price. I got it mostly to make portraits with the D60. While other lenses we have could have done the job, I wanted to have a very shallow depth of field, and a good AF. After the first weekend of tests, I was very pleased by the results. This lens has a clean bokeh, focusses well, even on the D60 in low light and is sharp, even at F/2.

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