[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

100mm macro had blistering fast focus on the same 350D body.

In a normal state, yes. Try this with the same lens: Manual focus something it to it's minimum focusing distance. Switch to auto focus and try focusing something on normal distance. It'll fail or it'll hunt for a zone to lock focus.

The latter felt sharper too at the same f/2.8 aperture with pretty much no CA.

True again. I've mentioned the reason before..

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

100, 2.8 macro is designed more for flat field correction (copying picture etc in close distance).

Also from a purist point of view, this not an ideal portrait lens for the same reason.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

My car was in Eva mall. No place to park at or around brigade towers.

Good parking places must be kept secret :-)

1.2 will produce some fantastic natural light photos. I have the el cheapo 1.8 50mm and @ 800 ISO it takes pictures that naked eye can barely see. Forget the noise,etc. but I was very impressed that it actually took a photo with such detail.

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Is there a normal 100/2.8?

I guess he is talking about a hypothetical lens.

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Is it? I didn't feel much when tried with my camera body. That apart it's a lens for low light and essentially for stage photography.

After mounting it on the camera, pointed it towards the street and focused it. It took a while and some hunting before it got the subject. May be i expected too much out of it. But once started focusing on the indoor objects, focus speed was fine. Nevertheless, my only intention with that lens was to get a good bokeh pic. Didnt quite manage it.

Anyway, it was very nice of canon to open a shop like this, for just trying things out. The person there, mentioned that there is a canon's own service center on floor above that shop.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Samurai

The E-520 is the current flavour, E-510 is already old.
But you know what? Since I still use the E-500 in office, I really do wonder why all these Camera makers are bringing out new models every year. The E-500 (2005 release) is still so good, when I use it these days, I forget I have the E-3 too.

The Olympus E30 has tilt and swivel lcd screen . I have found that a godsend on the S3 IS. One doesn't really know what one is missing until they use this thing. No need to lie flat on the ground anymore, or wishing you were 8 feet tall! All else remaining same, i'd pick this one up without a doubt.

[thalavoy]

Pentax Km/K2000 is available in White now. Check this out in DPreview .

[wanderernomad]

Guys here in Dubai Sony A 200K(10mp) is being retailed for 2000AED, Cannon 450D (12mp) for 3545 AED and Nikon D60(10mp) with VR for 3000 AED and with an extra 70 mm lens for 3300 AED, same without VR is for 2599 AED. Which should I buy?
Ill take a judgement call from gurus and please no confusing details about each camera. It is for a friend and he is just a beginer and needs it for normal day to day photography and for few landscape shots of Himalayas.

[watashi75]

I have a question for the experts. How does the ISO setting in DSLRs affect the final outcome? Does it impact the RAW images as well or only JPEGs? And is the level of graininess same as in film cameras?

I do have a Canon EOS 450D. However I am not much into post-processing.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Guys here in Dubai Sony A 200K(10mp) is being retailed for 2000AED, Cannon 450D (12mp) for 3545 AED and Nikon D60(10mp) with VR for 3000 AED and with an extra 70 mm lens for 3300 AED, same without VR is for 2599 AED. Which should I buy?
Ill take a judgement call from gurus and please no confusing details about each camera. It is for a friend and he is just a beginer and needs it for normal day to day photography and for few landscape shots of Himalayas.

Your post is a little confusing. Are the Sony and Canon prices without lenses?? Or with lenses but not image stabilization? The D60 does not have VR in the body. So when you say `D60 with VR' do you mean you're getting it for 3000 with a VR lens? And for 3300 you get an additional lens wth VR?

[SkyWalker]

@watashi75 : this can be a long answer. Here's a short version...

ISO is part of the Exposure Triangle. The quality of your picture = quality of the exposure. (i am abstracting out the skill parts here)

Exposure triangle is
1. ISO = sensitivity to light
2. aperture
3. shutter speed

Assuming everything else remains the same, if you increase ISO, you are increasing the sensitivity to light. As a side effect, in digital cameras this causes noise. The noise will be there whether its RAW or JPEG. In case of JPEG, camera uses a compression so it becomes a bit more pronunced. In case of RAW - its mostly uncompressed, so post processing will give you better results.

[StarScream]

Originally Posted by watashi75

I have a question for the experts. How does the ISO setting in DSLRs affect the final outcome? Does it impact the RAW images as well or only JPEGs? And is the level of graininess same as in film cameras?

I do have a Canon EOS 450D. However I am not much into post-processing.

The higher the ISO the more the grain or noise in the image. It works very similar to film. Yes, the ISO settings affect both RAW and JPEG files. The difference being that with RAW files you may have more ability to tweak a high-iso image during post-processing since you're playing around with the full sensor image data.
If you're not much into post processing just shoot jpeg and try and pay around with settings on the camera to get the best image.

[SkyWalker]

@StarScream : i guess he means D60 comes with a VR kit lens. A200K has in body image stabilization.

@wandernomad: the best camera from the setup is 450D, and the cheapest is A200K. I guess thats obvious If your friend is a beginner, any of these cameras will be more than enough for him. You can even consider an utltrazoom like SX10 or a regular P&S like canon powershot and save some money - as i doubt if a beginner will use the DSLR functionality that well.

[watashi75]

Thanks SkyWalker and StarScream. The reason I am asking this question is because I have a f3.5-4.5 Tamron lens and with filters not much light reaches the sensors. Without a tripod sometimes it is difficult to take pictures without shake and so I use a higher ISO setting.

Now I understand the ISO setting concept in film cameras. But how is the sensitivity controlled in DSLRs? Is it by processing dim RAW images to make bright JPEGs or by actually amplifying the signals on the CCD sensors? Your answers seem to suggest the later.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by watashi75

Thanks SkyWalker and StarScream. The reason I am asking this question is because I have a f3.5-4.5 Tamron lens and with filters not much light reaches the sensors. Without a tripod sometimes it is difficult to take pictures without shake and so I use a higher ISO setting.

Now I understand the ISO setting concept in film cameras. But how is the sensitivity controlled in DSLRs? Is it by processing dim RAW images to make bright JPEGs or by actually amplifying the signals on the CCD sensors? Your answers seem to suggest the later.

In DSLRS ISO is controlled by adjusting the gain.
You turn up the gain.
In PP you can shoot raw and then increase the exposure slider by 1 stop, this will also give you similar results.
More gain, more noise.
Apart from ISO, high ambient temp also means more noise.
For example if you shoot ISO 1600 at freezing point you will get significantly lower noise than if you shoot at 30 degree C

[watashi75]

Thanks tsk1979! I got my answer here -

Film speed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apparently there are different techniques to determine the signal gain. Having said that, noise does not translate directly into resolution. So the effect of ISO on film and digital is not going to be the same. It is possible to use a high ISO setting in DSLRs and still get a decent image compared to film cameras.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by amitoj

The Olympus E30 has tilt and swivel lcd screen . I have found that a godsend on the S3 IS. One doesn't really know what one is missing until they use this thing. No need to lie flat on the ground anymore, or wishing you were 8 feet tall! All else remaining same, i'd pick this one up without a doubt.

what?? no opinions on the new E30??