Cameras etc

I've being doing a bit of shopping lately. I have wanted a better lens for my Canon SLR for quite some time and had decided that Canon's 28-135mm zoom lens with Image Stabaliser looked ideal. Shame it was far too expensive. So I decided I would try and bid on some second hand 28-105mm lenses, didn't win the first ones but then I put a bid in on a second hand 28-135 IS and I actually won it! £161.

It does look a little large on my EOS 3000V. Not had any results back from it yet as I havn't used it much but I will post a few when I get some developed.
http://stevecoates.net/camera/camera.jpg
http://stevecoates.net/camera/zoom.jpg
http://stevecoates.net/camera/zoom2.jpg
(In the background is my nice Unicomp keyboard, with a few bits of spilled coffee)

I also got a film scanner, which is something I have wanted for quite a long time. Finally I can scan the slides that I took in 2007 :). Since I can't afford brand new things, I got a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual. This is quite old now, is very slow and has a SCSI connection, but it has so far produced some very good results. It came with an Adaptec AVA1505 ISA SCSI card which I attempted to use on my Windows 2000 PC with not much success, I did however, get it working immediately on my PowerBook. The seller did offer to send me his PCI Adaptec 2940 SCSI card which he no longer used. I now have this set up in my computer but it has a 68 pin connection so I now need to get a 50 pin centronics to 68 pin cable.

I was wondering what cameras and lenses everyone here has. I know JT mentioned that he had a digital SLR and that harrison was talking about them in one of my topics once. I would be quite tempted by a digital SLR and if I decide I need a new camera in the future it will probably be a DSLR rather than a compact camera.

And on the subject of buying things, to keep up with all these people who carry various kinds of portable computers with them, I got a mint condition boxed Apple Newton MessagePad 120. It is copming all the way from Spain and is the German model, but I should be able to manage fine with that.

Those Newton pads were quite nice at the time. I bit dated now though with a low resolution monochrome display. When did they stop making them. 1996 or something? Still... good enough for general PDA type stuff.

As for cameras, I have a few different ones.

My old Minolta Dynax 500si SLR is still going strong with a couple of lenses. Still takes great pictures, although film is now very much an additional expense that isn't really worth it and the resulting prints are never that great. Although directly scanning negatives at high resolution can still produce some nice results equal to about an 8MP SLR.

I've also got loads of other different film based cameras, but never use any of them any more. These range from very old classic box brownies, to manual SLRs and more compact cameras.

I also have a few digital cameras.

An old Nikon compact which doesn't seem to work at the moment.

A Canon Ixus 50 which is a great little 5MP camera to take with you where ever you go. Its very small and the casing is completely metal so it's strong.

My wife also has a Canon Ixus 70 which is near identical except for the higher pixel count.

Both take great pictures and I highly recommend the Canon Ixus range to anyone looking to buy a new compact digital camera.

I also have Digital SLR in the form of a Canon 10D DSLR with a couple of lenses. This is a great camera, but starting to get old compared to the latest models.

I'm currently thinking about buying a new Digital SLR and am unsure if it would be the new Nikon D90 or the Canon 50D. I do like Canon cameras so am leaning that way, but Nikon also create some great DSLRs.

The other alternative is the cheaper Sony Alpha range. They have been producing some great cameras with built in image stabilisation and reasonable priced lenses too. However the range of lenses and accessories doesn't match those from Canon and Nikon.

That's right, Steve, we do have a digital SLR - A canon 400D, although it's more her toy really. We're very pleased with it, although still getting to grips with it. My wife has a great eye for a shot, always managing to compose the picture really well, but is not so good with handling the setting and various modes. She gets a it confused by the different variables and the somewhat-confusing terminology. On the other hand I have a greater technical aptitude and can for the most part say what the settings do, but am way less arty than she. Also, despite knowing about changing various things doesn't alaways become applied into a good picture.

We don't have any acessories as yet, other than a couple of tripods we nabbed from her dad's garage. But first thing on the list is a zoom lens. The lens it came with is an 18-55 I believe - a pretty standard one bundled in with the camera 'kit'.

As for a compact we have a panasonic (ummm, *rummages*)... FX8 which is a fair few years old now but still perfectly up to the job. At 5MP it isn't too shoddy - although we were really tempted when we had a go with a friend's IXUS.

I thought I would post a few photos that I took with my new lens and scanned in with the film scanner. Only problem here is that the film I used is quite grainy 200 speed film (but no where near as grainy as the 1600 speed film I used last year for a failed attempt at taking photos of the Tinsley cooling towers falling down).

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7348/22fargate.jpg - Fargate in Sheffield
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1453/23supertram.jpg - A Supertram
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9418/bawtryroad.jpg - Bawtry Road (near where I live, in the snow)
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6632/06tanyardbox.jpg - A telephone box at out local shopping area.

I also though this one would be worth posting. Whilst it came out a bit rubbish, it is the 'Big Screen' in Rotherham town centre, with some message in the middle, and a bubble which highly resembles the 'Your computer might be at risk' one that you get in Windows XP :p
http://stevecoates.net/stuff/bigerror.jpg

Everyone looks so happy in all your pictures Steve! Is it really such a depressing place to live? ;)

They definitely do look a bit grainy. You could remove that using a dust and scratches filter in Photoshop or a similar application. Or something called ICE software which is designed specifically to remove scratches, dust and grain from scanned images.

I think the best image is the snowy one. It is quite hard to capture snow falling and to give the sense of it being cold, and I think you did both quite well with that picture.

Oops, I posted the Supertram link twice. The one of Bawtry road in the snow is this: http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9418/bawtryroad.jpg

I did some of the snow at about 2am, and unlike the ones that I posted in the Snow topic which came out very yellow, these came out quite white.

You make a good point about how happy everyone looks there harrison. Hadn't really noticed, but not many people are smiling.

I have some 100 speed slide film in now. I'm hoping that will produce even better results.