A lot has happened in the little more than a year since I wrote this post about choosing a walk around lens. For one, I ended up spending the money I was accumulating for a lens on other hobbies. Secondly, I sort of got busy and distracted and dropped the daily photo blogging. My last photo was posted in October of 2006 (and July before that). In spite of this, I have learned a lot more about photography and equipment.

I am still searching for a good walk around lens, especially since my daughter recently broke the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II lens that came with my Rebel XT. Dropped from the previous list is everything except for the two L series lenses (the 24-70 and the 24-105). Added are the following: Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II, Canon 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM, Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM and the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM. It is highly unlikely that I will be buying from the end of the list (they are ordered ascending in price), but I am seriously considering the Tamron f/2.8 and the Canon f/4.

Also, while I really am in search of the perfect short to medium range zoom lens for my budget, I am also dying to get a 70-200mm zoom lens to take photos of my kids playing sports. My oldest son is currently playing T-ball and his first game is this Saturday. I need something fast, so the Sigma and Canon f/2.8’s are both on my short list.

In the meantime, I just recently purchased a Sigma EX 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM lens used off of Ebay. It is in excellent condition and feels great on my Rebel XT. I have been shooting around with it some this evening, but have not looked at the images on my PC yet. I will try to post one on the photo blog after I finish this post.

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Canon has followed suit with Nikon by announcing that it is exiting the film SLR business. Credit the rise in popularity of digital photography. I may have to pick up an Elan or something before prices on used bodies start skyrocketing.

UPDATE - See comments…the original story appears to have gone overboard.

Most people agree that the Canon EOS 350D Digital Rebel XT boasts excellent image quality, especially for its price point. However, the jury is still out on its small size. You either love it or you hate it. One of the criticisms that I share focuses not on the smallness of the grip, but on the hard (make that very hard) rubber that covers the grip handle.

The problem with the grip surface is that it is slippery. If Canon had just coated the handle with the softer faux leather rubber found on the XT’s cousins (the 20d and 30d), then I think there would be fewer complaints about size.

I have the Canon Battery Grip BG-E3. The weight, dimensions and nice rubber surface of the battery grip make the XT a lot easier to handle (especially with larger lenses). However, I still wish that Canon would upgrade the body’s grip material. If not, then I hope that an aftermarket accessory company comes up with a replacement grip handle. There is always egrips, but who wants something sticky on their camera?

I am in the market for a new walk around lens. Right now I have a prime 28mm lens and the 18-55mm kit lens that came with my Rebel XT. I like the size, weight and wide angle of the kit lens, but I want to reach a little further out on the other end. Below are the lenses that I am considering.

Obviously, there is a huge price difference between the top and the bottom. About the only way I could possibly swing the Canon “L” glass is to sell both of my current lenses, as well as my Konica manual and Konica Hexanon lenses. I do not use them very much at all, plus I also have a Minolta manual for times I want to go retro.

After much research my thoughts on each lens are as follows (please comment if you have any advice).

(more…)

Panasonic has introduced a digital SLR based on the Olympus Evolt E-330 (press release). There are a couple improvements over the Olympus, most notably a better lens with Panasonic’s image stabilization. I cannot decide if I like the retro looks or not. There is definitely no holding this camera with one hand (unless you have a very short lens).

According to a recent press release, Canon has surpassed the thirty million mark for EF lens production. I am glad that I bought my camera from a company with such a strong lineage. Thanks to Matt for highlighting this on his blog.

In spite of what the CNET editors say about the upcoming Olympus Evolt E-330, I do not see the value in having an LCD preview on a dSLR. If you are not going to look through the lens of your camera, then why spend $1,000 when you can pay half as much for an ultra-zoom digicam?

I just heard about this via a CNET alert.

Last week was a sad time in the camera world: Konica Minolta announced that it’s bowing out. By 2007, KM will be ending production of all of its digital and film cameras and photofinishing products. Konica Minolta will still be in business on the electronics side of digital photography and is working with Sony toward producing a Sony-branded digital SLR camera.

It is tough to compete with the big boys–Canon and Nikon–but at the same time I find this sort of strange. At the same time KM is leaving the market, Samsung is rebranding the Pentax *ist DS and Panasonic is collaborating with Olympus to put out a DSLR.

While Sony will take over the line (which will continue lens support for the KM mount), I cannot help but think that they will screw up what is a fine camera. First off it will have a Memory Stick slot instead of a CF slot. Second, it will have really beautiful buttons that are hard to press and not at all intuitive. Third, it will have a huge LCD screen that will suck the battery life right out of the camera.

Thanks to some Christmas refund money from some ill-fitting clothing, I was able to order a replacement for my lost remote and a new lens (Canon 28mm f/2.8). It took over a week for B&H Photo to process my order because of an address mix-up with my credit card. The package should get here sometime early next week and hopefully by then my server woes will be taken care of and I can post some photos taken with the new lens.

Last night around 9:00 PM I went out along the Biloxi Bay with my Canon Rebel XT and tripod. My goal was to shoot the Imperial Palace Casino from across the water. I took a few shots from the shoreline before moving down to a pier. I think I was in a hurry because of some cool clouds that were moving in. I failed to pocket my RC1 wireless remote. The consequence was that as I set up my tripod I dropped the remote.

Bounce, bounce, bounce…kerplunk. It fell into about three feet of murky water. I love that little remote as it offers some flexibility over a wired remote. However, my one criticism is that it lacks a lanyard loop.

For the rest of the evening I was limited to 30 second exposures and playing around with the ISO and other settings. I think I still got some nice shots, but I will not know for sure until I get a look at the RAW files. I still want to go down on the beach and shoot places like the still destroyed Treasure Bay Casino and some of the piers, but there is not enough light down there to shoot on Aperature Priority. Maybe I can get some sunset shots, though?