[suman]

15:07 hours, 27th October 2008: Proceeding towards INA Market, approaching the BP pump before Yusuf Sarai. My Mobile rang –

Dada, where are you?
Approaching the BP pump
Hmmm, which car are you in?
Arctic Silver Fiesta – where are you?
Do you have a Blueline bus route no 5xx just behind you?
Yes....
OK, I’m just behind the bus. So how do we do this? So much traffic & it’s a narrow stretch, stopping will be difficult.....
No worries, I’ll jump in as soon as you slow down

BP pump on the left, to the driver –

Aap wapis chale jao, pounchke Madam ko bata dena

Quick stop, off the car, look behind the bus & can see the familiar BLACK Scorpio; slows down, quick halt, jump in, greetings exchanged & we’re on our way. The excitement builds up – finally I’m about to take the plunge!! A short comfortable ride later, we reach the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (near the Central Secretariat); there, I witnessed a first hand display of DGP (Dada Giri Personified in layman’s parlance, but more on that later) whereby a soft beep from the horn made the security guard jump up & open the gates, we drove into the complex in great style & parked under the trees. Then we smartly walked out of the complex & entered the CS Metro station for a 12 minute ride to our final destination.

Reached Chandni Chowk & meandered our way out of the station & through a maze of lanes.

What do we have here?
Delhi’s famous “Natraj Dahi Bhalla”.

At 4 in the afternoon, there was a queue; my Guide ordered two plates – what can I say apart from the fact that it was simply AWESOME. We crossed the road & headed off towards our final destination, passing many more landmarks on the way – Paranthewale galli, then Delhi’s oldest Gurdwara & then Delhi’s best Jilebi shop etc etc. Let me tell you, it was all Very very tempting – and my Guide was a little disappointed I guess since I didn’t display much interest in the paranthes & the jilebis. The fact was – after lunch & then the dahi bhalla, I would have had difficulty walking if I ate anything further! LOL.

A short distance away from the Jilebi shop & a right turn & a few steps further & a shop on the right – my Guide was greeted effusively, with a warmth that indicated years of familiarity & then we moved further inside the shop. And there was this gentleman with a smiling face who gave my Guide a hug – more friends I could see than just the Buyer-Seller relationship. The gentleman knew of our requirement already so he issued the instructions – the box arrived, was opened, my impatience was growing! 25 seconds later, there it was, unveiled & lying in all its glory!

Gentlemen, may I present my new love – the Canon EOS 450D, known in the US markets as The Rebel (XSI)

PROLOGUE: A few months ago........
Had been wanting to change my archaic P&S for a while, wanted to definitely get it done before I went on my Leh tip (planned for 2009). In fact, toyed with the idea of buying it before I went to Singapore to watch the F1. So, decided to pick the brains of the experts on the forum. Hadn’t decided on a DSLR so was toying with the idea of an Advanced P&S. The Fujifilm S100FS was touted to be the best P&S (20MP/cm2 as against its nearest rivals who had 36 MP/cm2), I added on a couple more to the list – Panasonic FZ28 & Olympus 570UZ.

And then the circles began! Spoke to another forum expert & he told me that I should go the Canon DSLR route & try picking it up in Singapore. Called up a few places before going to Singapore & found that they had some very good offers including a lot of freebies like tripod, second battery etc thrown in. When we were in Singapore, checked out the Panny FZ28, the Fuji 2000HD, the Olympus & hang on........the EOS 450D. Chickened out from buying there at the last minute because of the Warranty issue. So, a disppointing photography session at the F1 GP (with my old faithful A85!) & back to Delhi, still undecided. The Fuji S100FS was outpricing itself & moving into DSLR price territory – so off that went from my list despite the being the best of the P&S range. The FZ28 was not available here & I wasn’t interested in the earlier version. So, was it going to be a DSLR then? What were the options? Olympus E520 with Dual lens kit, Sony A200k, Canon EOS 1000D & 450D – the 1000D wasn’t contemplated because it had a non-IS kit lens, the Olympus vs Canon debate was effectively settled by discussions with the experts & the Sony never came up eventually.

Now that I was approaching the final stages, I decided to e-mail the GOD of the forum for his advice. A pleasant surprise, my phone rang a few moments later & he heard me out patiently & then gave his inputs. I felt a deep sense of relief after speaking to him – the die was cast, THE REBEL it would be! We thought it would be safer buying with a B&W so I decided to go with a dealer in GKI whom I knew from earlier. I also checked out the US prices but when I added on the cost of shipping (to my friend’s place for her to carry to India) & the cost of a case & the cost of a 4GB card & the depreciating value of the rupee, the difference was less than 5k with the GKI dealer. So, all was fixed, I called the dealer & told him that I was visiting his shop on Saturday or Monday.

On the way back from work on Friday, spoke to a camera wiz on the forum & he endorsed the decision to buy 450D. He also had some interesting inputs on grey market prices (he buys exclusively from the grey market), differences were substantial. But I still decided to pursue the “legit” route.

On Saturday, I was speaking to my dear neighbour (my fellow senior citizen forum member) and he mentioned that he was a Nikon user. Decided to pick his brains a bit. He had a few useful inputs for me as well. Came Sunday morning & the family zoomed off to the GK I M Block market. It had been ages since we had been there & it was a good ooportunity to kill two birds with one stone so to speak – my Camera & the rest of the family’s miscellaneous purchases.

First stop was the Camera shop but my contact was yet to arrive (late night parties before Diwali). So we decided to go back later & finish off the other wondow shopping that we had intended to do.

NOW, HERE’S WHERE FATE DECIDED TO PLAY A HAND!!!

I’d called my neighbour to ask him a few more things, he asked me to speak to a friend of his who was a Canon expert. So I called him up &, after giving his inputs, he asked me where I was planning to buy from. I told him. And he freaked – he said the GKI guys would rip me off & he told me to ask my neighbour to give the reference of the Camera guy at Chandni Chowk that they (and half of Delhi’s journalists) had been using for Donkey’s years. Grey market but thoroughly reliable. So I called back my neighbour, he was agreeable to take me all the way to CC the next day. He checked with the camera guy & sms-ed me back the prices. Difference of 10k. LOL. That was 25% of the “legit” price.

TO HELL WITH THE WARRANTY. If he knows the guy for Donkey’s years, what can go wrong? Unless I have rotten luck. Even then, can the repair cost be as high as 10k? Maybe, who knows?

Many frantic brainstorming sessions later (with wife, with Camera wiz, with neighbour & then, finally with GOD), the decision was taken – go with the grey. In case things didn’t look too good when we reached, I’d go with the B&W option (which was also available, 1.5k cheaper than GK I prices).

BACK TO THE PRESENT: So that’s how it came about folks, the Homecoming of the Rebel. After adding on a 4GB card & a carry case at further bargain prices, we meandered our way back to the Central Secretariat where we climbed into the BLACK Scorpio & started the long journey back to Gurgaon.

Throats were parched & limbs were tired so the Smirnoff & Bacardi bottles were opened, glasses clinked & we got on to the serious business of irrigating our throats. A few pics were clicked including by my Guide & neigbour who is one hell of a photographer as I have been finding out over the past week. He has sent me some awesome pics including one that had won him a prize at a Nikon contest. Well, a few snaps are now in order –

The man who made it possible

He deserved a drink!

So did I, LOL

Nice subject -

A Happy Guide!


About the Camera, what can I say. It is an amazing camera & obviously a HUGE improvement over the Powershot A85. Performance in low light conditions is simply unparalleled




For a newbie to the DSLR world (like me), the clarity of the pics is awesome


Missed a tripod (he didn't have the one I wanted in stock) on Diwali evening, could have got some amazing snaps. Oh, well, more as we go along.........

This thread would be incomplete without a Vote of thanks to –

The Megapixels per CM2 expert – Sharath (Samurai)
The Low Light expert & Safari Man – Tanveer (tsk1979)
The Red Carpet Safari Man – JK (JK Das)
The Camera Wiz – Nitin Gera (Trance nut)
The Friend of the Guide – Subhashish Sarkar (hope I’ve got the spelling correct) from the Scorpio forum
The GOD – Obviously Rudra!

And last but defintely not the least, the man who made the difference & without whom I wouldn’t have had the guts to buy in “grey” -

The Neighbour & Guide – Guru Dutt (Gd1418). Let me tell you – the best company that you can hope for on a trip like this. The man’s depth of knowledge about places, monuments, markets, eateries & trivia in general is simply amazing. Thanks a ton mate, I owe you one!cheers:

[kpzen]

Wooowww!! Brilliant write-up .
Congratulations and nice pics. Happy clicking.

The last pic isn't doing justice to the cam.Rest of the pics are fantastic. Just my opinion. Don't mind.

[speedzak]

First of all, amazing write up!
I was literally with both of you on this shopping trip it seems. Cinematic, suspense filled, thrilling, very realistic piece of a pen! (in this case, the keyboard). Keep it up, my friend!

Congratulations on your purchase. A very good choice as I can understand from your research and recommendations from the seniors in this department.
An amazing Diwali gift.

Wish you all the best with the rebel. May all the best photos come alive with him around your neck!

[jkdas]

Congrats! Was a nice writeup too.

How much did it cost?

What made you not opt for a Nikon? Just curious.

And the lens kit?

[suman]

Originally Posted by kpzen

The last pic isn't doing justice to the cam.Rest of the pics are fantastic. Just my opinion. Don't mind.

I agree with you completely. Was just an idle click - was aiming at a butterfly but the silly thing flew away, so I just took the flower instead!

Originally Posted by speedzak

Wish you all the best with the rebel. May all the best photos come alive with him around your neck!

Thanks mate, gotta click a few when you're in town later this month!

Originally Posted by jkdas

Congrats! Was a nice writeup too.

How much did it cost?

What made you not opt for a Nikon? Just curious.

And the lens kit?

Thanks JK, it comes with an 18-55 IS kit lens. 32.5k. Dunno about the Nikon, maybe the fact that it doesn't have live view was something that was on the back of my mind? Not that I intend using it much but even then........I think the price point that I picked up The Rebel was the deciding factor.

[maddy42]

Wow suman you do have a good knack for writing.

Well looking at the first pic looks like GD bhai has a nice opp for apun ka bollywood. With story writers like gogi also around we can make some nice role for him.

Congrats by the way and one request is to post pics of the camera too.

[speedzak]

Yep! I agree. Can we see the rebel here. Please!

And I'm amazed by this man called Guruji. He has this amazing taste for clicks and licks and anything surplus in these matters it seems!

[simply_sunny001]

Congrats on your wonderful purchase,450D is indeed a wonderful camera.

And the thread title almost got me into a fix,the rebel thing.but anyways turned out to be nice surprise.

Now i'm waiting for some wonderful pics from Leh.

One more trivial thing though,What happened to GD's mustache,they are not pointing upwards ?

or is it after certain number of drinks,that they start pointing up.

[suman]

Thanks Sandeep & Maddy!

Originally Posted by maddy42

Well looking at the first pic looks like GD bhai has a nice opp for apun ka bollywood. With story writers like gogi also around we can make some nice role for him.

Originally Posted by speedzak

And I'm amazed by this man called Guruji. He has this amazing taste for clicks and licks and anything surplus in these matters it seems!

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

One more trivial thing though,What happened to GD's mustache,they are not pointing upwards ?
or is it after certain number of drinks,that they start pointing up.

LOL, this is getting interesting - I'll leave these to GD to comment on as & when he finds his way to this thread

Originally Posted by maddy42

Congrats by the way and one request is to post pics of the camera too.

Originally Posted by speedzak

Yep! I agree. Can we see the rebel here. Please!

Hmmm, these don't do justice to The Rebel but nevertheless, here are a few till I take some better ones........

[abhinav.gupta88]

Amazing for once i thought
am i sure this ain't a yeti-blog.
Nice
and congrats

[Samurai]

Hey... I guessed the content of the thread when I saw rebel in the title and the section was shifting gears. Congratulations.

The research was long and thorough, from P&S to dSLR. I am glad you finally took the plunge. I think this is a first thread on dSLR buying experience.

Originally Posted by kpzen

The last pic isn't doing justice to the cam.Rest of the pics are fantastic. Just my opinion. Don't mind.

It takes time tame a new dSLR even if you are an expert on another dSLR. After using Olympus E-500 for two years, when I upgraded to Olympus E-3, it took few months before I started getting the results I want. Now suman needs few months before he starts getting the results, so let's not expect too much too fast.

[suman]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Congratulations.

The research was long and thorough, from P&S to dSLR. I am glad you finally took the plunge. I think this is a first thread on dSLR buying experience.

Thanks Samurai & you know what? A big THANK YOU for pointing me in the right direction about the MP/cm2 concept. Remember the link you posted from DP Review about "when Moore is less"? Effectively began to seal the argument

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

Amazing for once i thought
am i sure this ain't a yeti-blog.
Nice
and congrats

LOL, thanks

[phamilyman]

Ramkahani expert ho gaye ho. kya guide guide kar rakha tha - sirf naam/moustache hi kaafi hai

Waise if you write like that while appraising your juniors, unki toh gayi

Welcome to the Iceberg!32.5 ka breakup batao. I see a kenko in there too. Just one lens - start the iceberg now!

[gd1418]

What dadagiri? I'm as it is notorious, albeit wrongly, for driving a Scorpio with a Bull decal and terrorising people on the road. As you must have noted on that day Suman, I'm one of the most decent drivers on the road. Even on our way back in the night, I drove only with my fog lamps and only switched on the HIDs when a pesky 800 was not let me pass.

The dahi bhallas are to die for. I and scores of others have been eating these bhallas for donkeys years and I can vouch that the taste and the consistency hasn't changed a bit.

And in your last para you've already put me on a pedestal that is undeserved. I'm not a patch on what TSK does and marvel at his dexterity. Shubho is one hell of a photographer excelling in greytones and has that discerning eye for the unusual. He uses a 40D & a 400D and is now eyeing the 5D. I too am waiting for the dollar-rupee to stabilise and then maybe upgrade my D80 to D300 to enjoy its metering capabilities with older Nikkor lenses.

Originally Posted by suman

A short comfortable ride later, we reach the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (near the Central Secretariat); there, I witnessed a first hand display of DGP (Dada Giri Personified in layman’s parlance, but more on that later)

Delhi’s famous “Natraj Dahi Bhalla”.

At 4 in the afternoon, there was a queue; my Guide ordered two plates – what can I say apart from the fact that it was simply AWESOME. We crossed the road & headed off towards our final destination, passing many more landmarks on the way – Paranthewale galli, then Delhi’s oldest Gurdwara & then Delhi’s best Jilebi shop etc etc. Let me tell you, it was all Very very tempting – and my Guide was a little disappointed I guess since I didn’t display much interest in the paranthes & the jilebis. The fact was – after lunch & then the dahi bhalla, I would have had difficulty walking if I ate anything further! LOL.


Throats were parched & limbs were tired so the Smirnoff & Bacardi bottles were opened, glasses clinked & we got on to the serious business of irrigating our throats. A few pics were clicked including by my Guide & neigbour who is one hell of a photographer as I have been finding out over the past week. He has sent me some awesome pics including one that had won him a prize at a Nikon contest.

Missed a tripod (he didn't have the one I wanted in stock) on Diwali evening, could have got some amazing snaps. Oh, well, more as we go along.........

This thread would be incomplete without a Vote of thanks to –

The Megapixels per CM2 expert – Sharath (Samurai)
The Low Light expert & Safari Man – Tanveer (tsk1979)
The Red Carpet Safari Man – JK (JK Das)
The Camera Wiz – Nitin Gera (Trance nut)
The Friend of the Guide – Subhashish Sarkar (hope I’ve got the spelling correct) from the Scorpio forum
The GOD – Obviously Rudra!

And last but defintely not the least, the man who made the difference & without whom I wouldn’t have had the guts to buy in “grey” -

The Neighbour & Guide – Guru Dutt (Gd1418). Let me tell you – the best company that you can hope for on a trip like this. The man’s depth of knowledge about places, monuments, markets, eateries & trivia in general is simply amazing. Thanks a ton mate, I owe you one!cheers:

Oh thank you Maddy for rekindling that long died spark of acting. Rekhaji, where are you. Can we make a sequel to Utsav?

Originally Posted by maddy42

Wow suman you do have a good knack for writing.

Well looking at the first pic looks like GD bhai has a nice opp for apun ka bollywood. With story writers like gogi also around we can make some nice role for him.

Congrats by the way and one request is to post pics of the camera too.

Sunny, it was post 7 pm in the evening and the plants were parched. The twirlings start only after they are watered..

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

Congrats on your wonderful purchase,450D is indeed a wonderful camera.

And the thread title almost got me into a fix,the rebel thing.but anyways turned out to be nice surprise.

Now i'm waiting for some wonderful pics from Leh.

One more trivial thing though,What happened to GD's mustache,they are not pointing upwards ?

or is it after certain number of drinks,that they start pointing up.

[tsk1979]

Hey congrats suman!
Glad you finally took the plunge!
So when is that new 55-250Is lens coming