Camera toys :)
Jan. 25th, 2006 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fleetfootmikeYesterday, on the train in to work, I finally got round to reading the copy of Amateur Photographer I picked up over the weekend.
My eye was caught by an advert for Digital Depot in which they were advertising a 'Kodak Gear' branded Canon EF mount 78-215mm zoom lens for a massive... £39.90. Bulk bought from the US, according to the ad.
Now, OK, there's no way a 40 quid lens is going to be that wonderful, but it's likely to be no worse than the typical 25-90mm kit lens that comes with the average Canon film SLR as standard, and probably not MUCH worse than the Canon 75-300mm, which go for £150 or so. What's to lose? A little research reveals that it's actually made by Tiffen, who largely do filters and stuff, and do have a lot of stuff rebranded as 'Kodak Gear'. You can (or could) buy the Tiffen-branded version on Amazon.
It arrived this morning, in one of the better versions of 'please allow 5-7 days for delivery' I've seen. Physically, it's a lot more positive-feeling than I expected for a plastic lens - certainly more so than the 18-55mm kit lens that ships with the EOS 300D and 350D. Comes with a decent bayonet-fit lens hood (that'll fit on backwards for storage), and they offer a UV filter for £7 on top. It works in all the ways it's meant to, as far as I can tell - camera recognises it, autofocus works. camera sets aperture properly, etc etc. I'll do some proper testing over the weekend in daylight, but there's nothing physically wrong with it - for £40 quid, it zooms, it focuses, it takes pictures.
The packaging may be a clue as to the reason for Digital Depot bulk buying: it's box/blister-packed in Kodak yellow, with the kind of loop at the top one sees on packaging designed to be put up on a rail along with the single shot cameras, film, etc. Which is hardly where most folks would expect to find a lens for an SLR. I guess the target market might have been to make a mass-market zoom for the very casual SLR users, which to my mind is a pretty small niche. I'm pretty sure as soon as most folks make the leap up to an SLR, they start being a bit more choosy about where they buy stuff.
Come what may, it's a lens with a range I don't have, and wasn't actually going to cover all that well with my longterm lens buying plans[1], so, what the heck...
Happy Mike
[1] Since you ask:
Bought:
On the list to buy:
My eye was caught by an advert for Digital Depot in which they were advertising a 'Kodak Gear' branded Canon EF mount 78-215mm zoom lens for a massive... £39.90. Bulk bought from the US, according to the ad.
Now, OK, there's no way a 40 quid lens is going to be that wonderful, but it's likely to be no worse than the typical 25-90mm kit lens that comes with the average Canon film SLR as standard, and probably not MUCH worse than the Canon 75-300mm, which go for £150 or so. What's to lose? A little research reveals that it's actually made by Tiffen, who largely do filters and stuff, and do have a lot of stuff rebranded as 'Kodak Gear'. You can (or could) buy the Tiffen-branded version on Amazon.
It arrived this morning, in one of the better versions of 'please allow 5-7 days for delivery' I've seen. Physically, it's a lot more positive-feeling than I expected for a plastic lens - certainly more so than the 18-55mm kit lens that ships with the EOS 300D and 350D. Comes with a decent bayonet-fit lens hood (that'll fit on backwards for storage), and they offer a UV filter for £7 on top. It works in all the ways it's meant to, as far as I can tell - camera recognises it, autofocus works. camera sets aperture properly, etc etc. I'll do some proper testing over the weekend in daylight, but there's nothing physically wrong with it - for £40 quid, it zooms, it focuses, it takes pictures.
The packaging may be a clue as to the reason for Digital Depot bulk buying: it's box/blister-packed in Kodak yellow, with the kind of loop at the top one sees on packaging designed to be put up on a rail along with the single shot cameras, film, etc. Which is hardly where most folks would expect to find a lens for an SLR. I guess the target market might have been to make a mass-market zoom for the very casual SLR users, which to my mind is a pretty small niche. I'm pretty sure as soon as most folks make the leap up to an SLR, they start being a bit more choosy about where they buy stuff.
Come what may, it's a lens with a range I don't have, and wasn't actually going to cover all that well with my longterm lens buying plans[1], so, what the heck...
Happy Mike
[1] Since you ask:
Bought:
- Canon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 zoom (EOS 300D kit lens) - wideangle work, does surprisngly decent closeups
- Canon 50mm f1.8 - stupidly good for the price portrait lens for gigs etc
- Kodak/Tiffen 78-215mm f4.5-5.6 zoom - latest purchase, general telephoto zoom
On the list to buy:
- Canon 100mm f2 - second gig/portrait lens
- Tamron 200-500mm f5.6-6.3 zoom - for cricket matches
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-26 07:25 am (UTC)But, with all the computers in the design and manufacturering process, I can see how an extra few millimeters could be real enough, and the packaging does suggest a sliaghtly naive target market. 80-200mm zoom seemed to be the commonplace back then, with 70-210mm from some sources. And it's still within the 3:1 zoom.
I have an ancient fixed-focal-length 400mm lens with an f6.3 aperture, uses the T2 mount system. The view is a trifle dark for manual focusing.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-26 08:31 am (UTC)Interestingly, according to various review sites, the accepted tolerance in quoted focal lengths is around +/- 5% - the Tamron 200-500mm I'm eyeing is actually (according to http://www.photo.net/equipment/tamron/) closer to 485mm at the long end, and their new 28-300mm super zoom is nearer 280mm.
I'll check its quoted focal lengths when I test it later today - the EXIF data on the Canon includes the focal length it was taken at.