4February2010
Battery Grip For Canon EOS 350d / 400d Digital Rebel XT / XTI – The Opteka BGRXT
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: reviews.
I had a chance to go out shooting with the Opteka BGRXT Battery grip on my Canon EOS 350d / Digital Rebel XT on Monday, and I have to say it was brilliant.
The grip gives you extra stability when shooting hand held – you’ve got much more to hang on to, and the extra shutter release and exposure controls make taking photographs in portrait orientation a breeze.
It is however noticeably heavier, and will take some time to get used to. My camera is now a little too big for my bag, so a new one could be on the cards. I know I won’t have the grip on full-time, but it’s so easy to take on and off this won’t be a problem.
So if you haven’t considered a grip for your dSLR, I strongly recommend that you think about trying one, it’s like having a different camera!
Buy an Opteka BGRXT grip from Amazon.co.uk
Buy an Opteka BGRXT grip from Amazon.com
Cheers, Rob.
22June2009
Macro Photos From The Canon EOS 350D / Rebel XT, Pentacon 50mm F1.8, Extension Tubes… And Flash
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: technique.
It’s that time of year when the opportunity to play around with Macro photography becomes irresistible. The flowers are in full, glorious, bloom, and I’ve got a new camera, the Canon 350d / Rebel XT to play with.
I switched to the Pentacon 50mm F1.8 lens that I got from the car boot last week-end, using my M42 lens mount adapter on the 350D, and a few extension tubes. The extension tubes allow you to focus really close, but the depth of field is minuscule, so camera shake doesn’t just lead to movement blur, but also the subject actually moves out of the zone of sharpness.
Instead of digging out my tripod, I decided to try something different, and activated the pop-up flash on my camera. Dialling in some exposure compensation to darken some of the shots, the results were alright for a first try with this lens combination. For really sharp shots I’ll have to set up my tripod and tighten up the aperture a bit.
All these photographs were shot in RAW, and processed in Adobe Camera RAW and Photoshop. Although still dipping my toes into the world of uncompressed files, I have to say that the flexibility of RAW is amazing, especially when it comes to white-balance. Just flicking through the White Balance options in Adobe Camera RAW gives the same photo some different looks, without adding the noise and artifacts that sometimes happens with .jpg.
Thanks, Rob.
25May2009
More Practice With The Canon EOS 350d, Digital Rebel XT
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: articles.
Progress continues with me trying to master the 350d / Rebel XT and my old M42 Lenses.
I’m getting more used to where the buttons are on the Canon, have discovered that the Pentacon / Soligor lenses need about a stop of (under) exposure compensation in Evaluative Metering Mode, and manual focusing can be damn difficult!
Anyway, here’s the extremes of focal length:
Spinaker Tower – Pentacon 29mm.
The wide-angle Pentacon is a challenge to focus when the main subject is a way away – so what I’ve been doing is stopping down, to say f8, then relying on the Hyper-Focal distance markings on the lens barrel to (hopefully) keep things sharp-ish. (Check out the full-size version). I’ve also added a lens hood to reduce flare.
Tower Viewing Platform, Soligor 90-230mm Zoom With 2x Teleconverter.
This one was taken at full zoom, with the huge lens resting on the barrier at the edge of the pier that juts out into Gosport Harbour. The photo was taken from the same vantage point as the photo taken with the 29mm Pentacon. The Soligor really throws you into the scene, exposing shapes and contexts that you wouldn’t otherwise notice. It also tends to flatten out perspective, and obviously needs to be well supported to avoid camera shake, especially when stopping down to sharpen up the shot. (Check out the full-size version, and look out for the chap having his picture taken!)
So, these lenses aren’t the sharpest in the world, and at the moment I’m just really “playing”, taking shots at full zoom, in light that isn’t the best, because at the moment all that matters is getting to know the kit.
Cheers, Rob.
1May2009
Old M42 Lenses On My New Canon 350d Rebel XT
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: articles.
OK, I have no idea whether these lenses will be any good, but I got a M42-Canon EF Mount Adapter through the post from eBay yesterday, and couldn’t resist taking some shots of the new with the old:
Soligor 90-200mm Zoom, f4.5, On Canon 350d Rebel XT
Soligor 90-230mm Zoom, f4.5, With 2x Tele Converter, On Canon 350d Rebel XT
Pentacon 28mm F2.8 On Canon 350d Rebel XT
Macro Extension Tubes On 28mm F2.8 Pentacon, On Canon 350d Rebel XT
Carl Zeis Jenna 50mm F2.8 On Canon 350d Rebel XT
So what’s the point of all this? Well, as you may know, every camera manufacturer has a different lens mount, and most have changed that mount over the years. In the past, the M42 screw-type lens mount was very popular, so there’s loads of cheap lenses available.
With a fairly cheap adapter (about £6) from eBay, these old M42 lenses will now fit my 350d Rebel XT – much cheaper than buying new lenses from Canon, Sigma, Tamron, etc.
The catch is that you can only use manual focus, and aperture priority or manual modes – so everything is a lot slower. I don’t know if any of these lenses will have any advantage over my Canon 28-80mm, but it’s going to be a lot of fun trying them out!
Cheers, Rob.
