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FC: Back from vacation; D30 camera minireview and photos
From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 20:40:45 -0500
Well, I'm back from vacation and there's been plenty of news being committed in the last 10 days or so. I'll send along some of the backlog in a minute.
First, a brief camera review. I was in Aruba for eight days, offline and loving it. I brought along an analog Canon EOS 5, a digital Nikon Coolpix 950, a digital Canon EOS D30, and an underwater Epoque ET-100 -- the camera gear took up more space in my luggage than clothes.
The D30 was spectacular, and I ended up using it for nearly all my shots. It's finally a digital camera that is almost affordable and handles as well as an analog SLR. I went analog only when I needed the higher quality for slides that might be turned into prints someday, or when I needed to use a wide angle lens. The D30, like many other SLR digitals, has a multiplier of about 1.6, so my 28 mm wideangle lens becomes a 45 mm normal lens.
Downsides: An unusual bug that meant the camera occasionally refused to recognize a 50 mm lens, a user interface that isn't as well thought-out as, say, the Nikon Coolpix line (especially the 990), a lack of ability to take more than three shots in quick succession when bracketing exposures, Windows software that didn't install properly the first time, and problems using my external EZ-series flash.
But those are minor, and can be worked around. The camera's external battery pack built into the vertical grip lasts for 300-400 shots with average LCD screen use and recharges in 90 minutes. One charge is enough to last a full day of heavy use. I wouldn't recommend getting the D30 without the IBM 340 MB microdrive, a perfect combination. An adapter allows you to insert the drive as a PCMCIA card, where it shows up as a normal hard drive.
Some D30 photos from Aruba: http://www.mccullagh.org/theme/aruba-highlights.html This one shows it off nicely: http://www.mccullagh.org/image/d30-1/red-parrot.html -Declan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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