My photography background

I received a Canon A1 (plus FD 50mm f/1.8 lens) for my 21st birthday in 1982. I was hooked.

At that time, the technology used in the Canon A1 was almost miraculous. I remember being in awe just thinking what was happening inside the camera.

Over a number of years I added a 70-210mm f/4.0 zoom, a wide angle 28mm f/2.8, a 300mm f/4.0, a 1.4x extender, a 135mm f/2.0, a 500mm f/8.0 mirror lens, flashes, and other bits and pieces.

My last manual focus acquisition (for a safari trip to South Africa) was a Canon T90 - an absolutely remarkable camera.

For my 40th birthday I received a Sony digital point and shoot. This was one of the first digital cameras available, and also my first venture into digital photography. It was expensive and the technology was very basic.

However, I started to get hooked on the convenience of digital.

At the end of 2003, I moved from the UK to Thailand. I took very little with me (deliberately) and deciding what camera gear to take was something of a dilemma.

I took a small laptop, and I didn't want to mess around with negatives and film. I had no desire to use film and then get scans made to import into my computer. In the end I just decided to take the Sony point and shoot, and I left all my film SLR gear in the UK.

The Sony was fine for a while. I started to build other parts of this web site and being able to make my own jpg files was extremely convenient.

However, I soon started to miss having an SLR. The Sony was an autofocus camera but it wasn't possible to select an AF point. I couldn't control the focus or the exposure how I wanted, the long shutter lag started to annoy me, and after a while I started to notice that the image quality wasn't actually that good.

Up until then, digital SLRs had been very expensive but around 2003/2004 they started to drop in price.

I have always been a Canon user and I wanted to keep it that way. At the time, Canon made the 300D and the 10D. The 300D was the right price but it felt like a plastic toy coming from an A1 and T90.

On the other hand, the 10D felt good ... very good. It was more expensive than I wanted to pay but I knew that if I bought a 300D I would regret it later. I bought a 10D and a 17-40mm f/4.0L lens.

It was a great combination.

Again, though, after a while I became a little frustrated with some performance aspects of the 10D. Its buffer could fill quite easily, it was slow doing certain things, and the LCD wasn't great.

The 20D was announced weeks after I bought my 10D and it was too soon to upgrade. The 30D didn't seem to offer much over the 20D, but when I saw the 40D I knew it was time to upgrade.

The 10D was a great start but the 40D fixed all the problems the 10D had. Since then, I've gradually been adding lenses and accessories. The 7D looks to be a very nice camera and I think the extra pixel density will help my macro and telephoto shots of small subjects.

That will probably be my next camera body purchase, unless something better is announced in the meantime.

These pages are simply to write about my impressions of various gear, and to provide sample images where appropriate.

Lens Reviews

How useful are lens reviews?

When we make a purchase, we all want to ensure we are buying the best gear for our money. In most cases, different lenses will meet our personal requirements. Often we are not sure which one to go for, so we check forums and read user reviews.

I've been down this path and all it does is confuse me.

I've looked at sample images on pBase taken with the same lens. Some are brilliant, but some are awful.

I've read reviews. For a certain lens (not a cheap one), one reviewer described it as a complete waste of money - the most expensive paperweight he owns. Other reviewers described it as 'tack sharp' and an amazing lens.

Who is right?

A common theme with forum postings and user written reviews is that in most cases there are no image samples to support their claims.

For that reason, I have tried to pay more attention to actual sample images rather than MTF charts, technical specifications, or subjective views. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

By doing this, I hope it will make the lens buying decision a little easier.

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