fleetfootmike: (Default)
[personal profile] fleetfootmike
Yesterday, 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:

  • 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

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-26 07:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] antonia-tiger.livejournal.com
I find myself wondering why they quote such precise focal lengths. Has lens manufacturing reached the point where they can reliably hit the difference between 78mm and 80mm, or 215mm and 210mm? I haven't bought new hardware since the days when autofocus came in, and back then that label would have looked odd.

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)
From: [identity profile] fleetfootmike.livejournal.com
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.

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.

Profile

fleetfootmike: (Default)
fleetfootmike

April 2017

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags