Digital Photography Notes » Canon 30D

Portraits straight out of the camera

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:00:59 +0000

Here are some very nice portraits by TFarris Photography, with no postprocessing whatsoever, giving a good idea of the skin tones possible with the Canon 30D.

Related links:

» Forum post, and larger version of the portraits

» No postprocesing was done

» Tim's website

Equipment used: Canon 30D, Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM (for all but the last image) and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM (for the last image) lenses.

Best Price for the Canon EOS 30D Body

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:46:57 +0000

Realistically, the best prices for the Canon 30D fluctuate (currently around the $990 to $1400 price range in the United States) from day-to-day … and simply buying the Canon EOS 30D body based on the lowest available price does not guarantee that you'll get the best deal … for example:

What accessories will the merchant bundle with your purchase? Memory Cards? Camera Bag? A tripod? What other special deals for the Canon 30D are currently on offer? If no deals are currently available, prod further and ask whether any special promotions or rebates will be available soon or during upcoming holiday seasons.
What's the merchant's policy if you were to return the camera – will you have to pay a restocking fee? Costco, for instance, has a very generous return policy (but do make sure you confirm with them beforehand how long the 100% cash-back return period is)
Are there any other offers that can sweeten the deal, such as free shipping, no sales tax charged?

Do browse around for the cheapest prices but don't forget to clarify the package deal that you'll get from the merchant. Shoplinc.com, for example, displays the best Canon 30D prices (often the best three, but sometimes more) from its database, and also lists other configurations, such as Canon 30D plus a bundled kit lens (normally the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 or the EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM lenses).

Do not to deal with merchants that seemingly offer too-good-to-be-true, low prices; they often sell only gray market cameras which do not come with a warranty or they might charge you a bomb for a warranty. Some even quote a ridiculously low price for the camera body only, and then charge you extra for the power cords, charger, manual, etc … components that were already originally included in the box. Check user reviews of merchants at ResellerRatings.com, and avoid Camera City or Best Price Cameras, for instance.

Examples of merchants you can do good business with include:

Buydig.com (read a user review of Buydig here)
BestBuy.com (read a user review of BestBuy here)

Good luck with your purchase!

Should you buy the Canon 20D or the 30D?

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:11:43 +0000

It's quite often that this question is asked when evaluating which camera to buy, and is made especially difficult due to the almost $200 more you'd have to shell out for the 30D.

The following is a short list of feature and specifications improvements found in the Canon 30D digital SLR camera. Bear in mind though, for the most part, the 20D is equal to the 30D in the image quality department, so you'd have to ask yourself if the improvements in features available in the 30D justifies the price differential.

A larger and more usable LCD screen on the back of camera
A new metering option, spot metering is now available
A larger buffer size and the 5 fps option when shooting.
5 frames per second adjustable to 3 fps if needed
The ISO value can be displayed in the viewfinder
RGB histogram – great for evaluating if any color channel is blown
More available ISO stops (values)
Better file management – a new folder is created in-camera only after 9,999 pictures (the 20D creates one after every 99 images)
Improved body grip

You can read more at the following discussion threads: Link #1 | #2

You might like to quickly check out available deals and current prices for various body-only or other configurations:
Canon EOS 20D | Canon EOS 30D
… but bear in mind that the offers quoted are for new equipment only. You'll probably be able to find great deals for used equipment in the used market.

My personal recommendation would be to spend a bit more and get the Canon 30D for the improved features and specs.

Read Brian's experience on upgrading to the 30D from the 20D.

More Reasons to Upgrade to the 20D from the 30D

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:38:17 +0000

Brian, an ex-Canon 20D owner, talks about how the untimely "death" of his 20D led him to discover the benefits of the added features found in his new 30D, and gives some quick impressions comparing the 20D vs 30D.

This post continues from: Which should you buy – Canon 20D vs 30D?

What he liked on the 30D:

Bigger RAW buffers (has space to store 11 RAW image files compared to only 6 on the 20D)
No more irritating folders created in the memory card
The selected focusing point is shown in the histogram mode of image feedback – very handy
Playback mode remembers the picture you last viewed, so that if you exited and then hit the play button again, that picture is shown
Spot metering

The original thread is here.

Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 EX DC Portraits

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:32:49 +0000

I own this particular Sigma lens, and like it quite a bit, so it's a great feeling to see Ben shoot these amazing portraits of his daughter with this optic mounted on the Canon EOS 30D:

What's even more amazing is that these shots were not postprocessed in any way, except for minor white balance adjustments to the RAW file in the Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software prior to being output as JPG files.

More information:

Grab your coffee first, because it might take a while before the huge images finish loading. The second set of images are here.
Summarizing Ben's thoughts on the Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 lens:

Pretty good for indoor portraiture
According to the MTF chart for the Sigma 18-50 f/2.8, f5.6 is the peak sharpness of this lens across the entire focal range, and it's sufficient to keep her face in focus
Color and contrast is excellent with a slightly more yellow cast than Canon lenses
Autofocus speed is faster than the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and doesn't hunt in low light. AF performance is generally good even without any focus assist from the 580EX flash.
It's extremely cheap, currently going for about $400 in the US, especially when compared against the $1000 Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens
The Sigma is not as sharp in the corners vs the Canon 17-55mm or the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lenses
The 18mm end of the Sigma is good enough for group shots during birthday parties and events

Camera settings used:

Canon 30D in AV (aperture priority) mode
Center focus point selected
Spot metering enabled
Canon 580EX flash with difuser bounced to the ceiling
Flash exposure compensation set to +1 and locked to synchronize to 1/250 (that is, the shutter speed was set to 1/250 sec)

Enjoy more excellent Canon 30D photography at Ben's PBase gallery

In the end, Ben found that the Sigma didn't fare too well with outdoor group and landscape photography, exhibiting corner softness and high levels of chromatic aberration, so he returned it for the Canon 17-55mm.

Canon EOS 30D vs Canon Rebel XTi / 400D – More Considerations

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:27:19 +0000

Following on from my post about two guys who penned their thoughts on their 30D vs XTi experience, it does seem that this topic continues to be hotly discussed in the forums. Perfectly understandable, since the Rebel XTi comes in at a much lower price point compared to the 30D.

The Canon 400D (as the Rebel XTi is also known as) is a much newer camera, sporting some fancy features (can you say anti-dust sensor, 10 Megapixels) the 30D lacks, yet the EOS30D has some functionality and specifications (5 frames-per-second, 3.5% spot metering) that are in demand by certain photographers.

Allow me to link up to some interesting discussions on this topic:

In this thread about a Canon 5D user desiring the 1.6X crop factor's benefits (higher pixel density, note 5.7 µm on the XTi vs 6.4 µm on the 30D) for wildlife, several former Rebel XT / 350D users chimed in, saying that they found the images from the XTi to be less satisfactory than what they could get from their old Rebel XT, citing the 400D's tendency to underexpose images, with the propensity to produce soft (resulting from aggressive in-camera noise reduction), noisy images above ISO400. Returning their XTi and then purchasing the Canon 30D which produced highly-detailed and superior images (especially at higher ISO values all the way to ISO3200) was the best decision they could have made.
If your place a high importance on a camera's viewfinder, you will find the EOS 30D's larger pentaprism viewfinder to be superior to the smaller, dimmer pentamirror version found on the XTi.
The 5 fps (frames per second) feature is something many sports photographers might not be able to live without. If this describes you, then you'd have no choice but to purchase the EOS30D rather than the slower, 3 fps Rebel XTi.
The 30D has more control switches and dials, for example the rear wheel to quickly select among menu options, and a multi-controller that allows easy selection of any one of the 9 focus points.
See a chart showing a side-by-side comparison of the 30D vs XTi
Even though the XTi is much cheaper, this photographer bought the 30D because it is a better fit for his requirements for shooting low-light ice hockey photography.
You might take issue with the Rebel XTi's smaller and cramped grip area.
If you're a previous or current owner of the Canon EOS 10D and thinking of upgrading to the newer generation of EOS digital cameras, you'd probaby find yourself more at home with the rugged feel of the EOS 30D body and controls compared to the XTi.
The 30D has ISO3200 available, which is a nice, convenient feature to have when you need faster shutter speeds in low light situations. The XTi in comparison, goes only to ISO 1600.

Canon XTi Pros

In the Canon 400D's favour are these advantages:

Cheaper options for remote control are available for the Canon XTi
The 10MP resolution advantage of the XTi over the 30D is visible in 16 x 24 prints

Archive of comments from the old Canon 30D blog

janice p Says:

December 20th, 2006 at 1:57 pm

the 30D HAS spot metering…the 400D doesn't..
James Says:

April 8th, 2008 at 9:27 pm

Thanks so much.. this helped a lot!

Canon 30D vs the 400D / Rebel XTi

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:17:57 +0000

Two guys who went to Best Buy at Park Meadows mall with the intent to purchase the Canon Digital Rebel XTi / 400D as an upgrade from their 300D ended up deciding on the 30D instead.

Reasons given center around how the small-sized XTi grip cramped their hands, the fact that the 30D has a larger and better viewfinder, and most importantly how the five frames the 30D can fire off in a second is such a huge difference to the three frames the 400D manages in the same time.

Read the start of the discussions at 1 | 2

Click here for more EOS 30D vs XTi discussion.

Fantastic portraits taken in natural light

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:06:54 +0000

These portraits by Peter Roubos are simply stunning, all taken in available light.

» More images of Liz, the model, at Peter's site

» The setup: Ambient light, and a single reflector

» Gold reflectors work well with dark skin, or if you want a "sunset" effect with lighter skin; silver reflectors generally work better with fair skin

» Peter's websites: http://www.prettywhacked.nl | http://www.pbase.com/philos31

Equipment used: Canon 30D, Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens, photo reflector

Images from Historic Charleston, South Carolina

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:50:58 +0000

Here's a great selection of images by Greg Macklem, shot primarily with the Canon 17-40 lens. This looks like a place really worth visiting.

Links to:

Should I upgrade from the Canon 10D to the EOS 30D?

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:47:49 +0000

This is a pretty common question from current owners of the Canon 10D. The general consensus seems to be a big, resounding YES! after some 30D vs 10D factors are taken into consideration.

Darin Genereux says that the 30D has a better LCD screen that renders a more consistent image regardless of the viewing angle; the 10D kinda suffered in this regard
Unlike the 10D, the 30D stores all images in one folder. Speed of operation is faster with the 30D. The 30D is lighter but just as solid as the 10D. Big LCD and noise-free ISO 400 and 800 are huge plusses.
Jack replaced two 20D bodies with two 30D units and finds that the 30D outperforms the 20D – it probably can be concluded that the 30D outperforms the 10D too
Better AF and metering capabilities on the 30D
5 fps (frames-per-second), instant on (10D took 2-3 seconds), larger LCD and a larger memory buffer are compelling reasons
OK – this point is from me, and I want to say that first and foremost, I have never owned any Canon DSLRs but have seen many, many pictures on the Canon forums. Pictures taken with the 30D using flash are miles ahead of the 10D in terms of white balance and exposure. Most 10D images with flash have a sickening yellowish cast to them, and are overexposed more often than not. Not so with the 30D -the flash output is nicely balanced and the pictures have great colour and exposure. An important point if you do lots of event and wedding photography.

And then, there are 10D owners who decided not to upgrade because:

The 30D feels too small in comparison with the 10D
Improvement in image quality isn't significant enough for the type of photography that they do

So, have you decided to get a new 30D?

Archive of comments from the old Canon 30D blog

Steve M. Says:

June 16th, 2006 at 1:46 am

I just upgraded from a 10D to a 30D, and I'm happy with this admittedly expensive decision. Last week, I returned from a 10-day vacation to Hawaii where I took over 300 shots with my 10D. Picture quality was its usual excellent. However, the refusal of the computer to wake itself up at critical moments (like when the helicopter suddenly banked into a Maui canyon) was extremely frustrating, and the autofocus occasionally faked itself out and focused on the wrong subject in the frame. Hence the camera upgrade. The 30D re-awakens immediately, and the ability to quickly and easily select a focusing point is welcome to my old eyes.
Dale Says:

August 11th, 2006 at 9:27 am

I also upgraded to the 30, and still own my 10D's Sold my 20's and got the 30, it is as the others said better focus than the 20 or 10, better flash than the 10, 30 seems to feel not as solid as the 10 but none the less good in the hands. It also has for settings a more steeper approach to sharpening, images look better out of cam. Many features to consider on the upgrade, yet if you want to wait on the next model of the 30 it will be out soon.
Tom Says:

August 13th, 2006 at 2:07 am

I have the D30 and the 10D I have been thinking about the 30D. What info do you have about the next 30D? When do you think it will be announced? Thank you, Tom

Fabulous Portraits of Fabiola

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:41:05 +0000

Jose B summons the services of his Canon equipment to produce this stunning series of images.

Equipment: 30D + Canon 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8 and 24-105mm lenses + Canon 580EX flash.

Links:

See a larger version of the images, together with some notes on the shots and a link to the full gallery.
Jose also has some tips on his general shooting style and workflow, preferring to shoot in RAW + jpg, and processing the files via Bibble Pro 4.7. Shooting RAW gives him flexibility to later perform any corrections for colour casts.
Occasionally, the use of Fred Miranda's Velvia Vision Photoshop action might be warranted.
ExpoImaging ExpoDisc was utilized for white balancing

Olympus E-1 user shoots birds and flowers with the Canon 30D + Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM lens

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:34:03 +0000

Thierry shares some shots from a visit to the Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Equipment used was the Canon 30D, Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM lens and a teleconverter TC 1.4.

Visit the forum post to view a larger version of the images.

Thierry further remarks that he might keep the Canon 30D instead of the Olympus E-1 which he currently uses.

Archive of comments from the old Canon 30D blog

Feliks Says:

June 24th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

If you agree, some of the pictures are a bit soft. I mean for the bird image there is not enough of the feather detail.

Fantastic Wild Animal Park Pics with 30D + Canon 100-400

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:25:32 +0000

Brandon Berg shares with us a number of truly amazing handheld images taken in RAW at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Equipment was 30D + Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens.

Many of the images were shot at shutter speeds slower than the requisite minimum 1/400 sec at 400mm focal length (1/640 sec if the 1.6x crop factor of the CMOS sensor is taken into account), a testament to the capability of the image stablization feature of this lens.
See a larger version of these images.
Brandon remarks that this 100-400 lens performed very much better on his 30D than on the previous sample mounted on the Canon 350D camera.

How to reduce the intensity of fill-flash on the 30D

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:20:59 +0000

Alex and Justin share a method of reducing the strength of the flash when used as fill-in lighting without altering the overall exposure of the image.

On your Canon 30D:

Pop up the internal flash
Press the metering mode
Using the control dial, set the exposure compensation to reduce the intensity of the flash to the desired amount (negative in this instance) – refer to page 106 of the user guide.
Note that if you hadn't activated the metering mode first, setting the exposure compensation will affect the entire exposure rather than just the intensity of the flash

Where to download user guides, manuals and drivers for the Canon 30D

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:17:35 +0000

The http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ site is where you navigate through to download various PDF manuals and software utilities for your Canon product.

For the Canon 30D, a direct link is provided below:
http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ link

At the time of writing, manuals you can download by clicking the "Product / Software Manuals" link are:

EOS 30D Introduction Manual (PDF, 6.15 MB)
EOS DIGITAL Software Guide (PDF, 560 KB)
EOS Utility Instruction Manual Windows (PDF, 1.69 MB)
EOS Utility Instruction Manual Macintosh (PDF, 1.56 MB)
Digital Photo Professional Instruction Manual Windows (PDF, 11.4 MB)
Digital Photo Professional Instruction Manual Macintosh (PDF, 14.4 MB)
ZoomBrowser EX Instruction Manual Windows (PDF, 4.97 MB)
ImageBrowser Instruction Manual Macintosh (PDF, 4.60 MB)

Click the "Drivers / Software" link to access related drivers of software.

Alternatively, refer to this forum post for another method of navigating the site.

For the technically-inclined, there's a Canon 30D White Paper (PDF format) that you can download from Robgalbraith.com.

Official Canon 30D Image Samples from Canon Japan

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:11:00 +0000

Summarizing the image samples and related information:

Click the thumbnail to view at original size	Image Information (The JPEG images were converted from RAW using RAW Image Task)
Portrait 1	Lens: Canon EF-S 17-85 mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Zoom Tv (Shutter Speed): 1/125 sec Av (Aperture Value): f/6.3 ISO Speed: ISO100 White Balance: Daylight Picture Style: Portrait
Portrait 2	Lens: Canon EF 85mm f1.2 II USM Tv (Shutter Speed): 1/125 sec Av (Aperture Value): f/2.8 ISO Speed: ISO100 White Balance: Daylight Picture Style: Monochrome (Filter:Green)
Wedding	Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Tv (Shutter Speed): 1/250 sec Av (Aperture Value): f/2.8 ISO Speed: ISO100 White Balance: Daylight Picture Style: Neutral
Landscape	Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Tv (Shutter Speed): 1/1000 sec Av (Aperture Value): f/6.3 ISO Speed: ISO100 White Balance: AWB (Automatic White Balance) Picture Style: Landscape
Night Scene	Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Tv (Shutter Speed): 20 sec Av (Aperture Value): f/8 ISO Speed: ISO100 White Balance: Automatic White Balance (AWB) Picture Style: Landscape
Rally at ISO 800	Lens: Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM Tv (Shutter Speed): 1/8000 sec Av (Aperture Value): f/2.8 ISO Speed: ISO800 White Balance: Daylight Picture Style: Monochrome (Filter:Green)

This is the site where you can find 6 image samples:
http://web1.canon.jp/Imaging/eos30d/eos30d_sample-e.html

Darren compares the Canon 30D vs the D60

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:04:26 +0000

After 4 happy years of owning the Canon D60, Darren Rowley upgrades to the Canon 30D digital SLR. He posts some image samples comparing the output from both cameras at Dpreview.com, and writes up a nice review on the new camera vs the old.

Summarizing:

The Canon 30D is much lighter and faster then the D60.
No problems with low-light autofocus with the 30D. In similar lighting conditions, the D60 would have hunted or not acquire AF lock at all.
Comparison image samples were taken with the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens mounted on both cameras and zoomed out to 50mm:
- Comparisons were done at the following ISO series, with 100% crops posted: ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000 – Darren remarks that the ISO 1000 image from the 30D almost rivals the ISO 200 picture from the D60
- The 30D in Standard Picture Style mode rendered the colours of the scene more accurately than the D60. In Neutral mode, the colours from the 30D comes out similar to the D60's
- A series of images were then taken at with the following Picture Styles mode: Standard, Neutral, Landscape, Portrait, Faithful

Dealing with sensor dust on your Canon 30D camera

David Chin — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:58:14 +0000

A myriad of methods to deal with sensor dust is discussed at this dpreview.com thread.

Summarizing the various ways to get your sensor cleaned:

Read up this superb web page on the subject of sensor dust by JimH. He does caution that the use of "low-tech" cotton swabs, and any method that requires contact with the sensor, goes against Canon's recommendations. JimH also goes into further details on his experience with using cotton swabs.
Get Canon at Irvine to do it
Use the Giottos Rocket blower and Do-It-Yourself
Use Photographic Solutions SensorSwab Sensor Swabs

Digital Photography Notes » Canon 30D

Portraits straight out of the camera

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Archive of comments from the old Canon 30D blog

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Archive of comments from the old Canon 30D blog

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