Digital SLR Reviews Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Digital Slrs’

Nikon SB 600 Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

When used in combination with Nikon’s latest digital SLRs, the D70 or D2H, the SB-600 supports Advanced Wireless Lighting as a remote Speedlight that can be positioned as one of multiple remote flashes to significantly extend creative possibilities. To assist in such situations, the Speedlight SB-600 also has a readylight located beside the LCD on the rear panel that can be easily seen from a distance. The SB-600 can also emit an audible alert for further assistance. Easy-to-view LCD with 6 simple-to-understand backlit buttons Guide Number of 30/98 [ISO100,m/ft], 42/138 [ISO200,m/ft] (at 35mm zoom) Auto zoom of 24 to 85mm, extendable to 14mm with built-in wide-flash adapter Advanced Wireless Lighting available with D2H or D70 when used as a remote Auto FP High-Speed Sync (with D2H only); use with fast shutter speeds achieves effective blurring of out-of-focus background elements Flash Color Information – optimized white balance makes use of data from the Speedlight FV lock holds flash value, enabling recomposition prior to shooting Design consistent with those of next-generation D-SLRs, with a triangular design element on the top that complements the D-SLR motif Requires 4 AA Batteries (Alkaline or Rechargeable NiCad or NIMH) for use

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Amazing capabilities and power for the money!
The product description above, and all the other reviews below cover every detail of this flash’s capabilities, so I won’t repeat them.

I just wanted to come on here and add my statment that I simply love, love, love this easy to use yet powerful flash.

I have shot three weddings using this mounted to my camera, two on a D70s and the latest on my new D90. The brides all LOVED the photos.

The later two weddings I used the SB-600 for, I had the Sto-Fen Omnibounce mounted on the flash the whole time. I hardly ever take the Omnibounce off any more, it improves flash photos so much, and it makes fill flashing outdoors a breeze. Bride’s skin tones simply glow with the Omnibounce on the SB-600.

Yeah, I’d have loved to have had the cash to spring for the top-of-the-line, but I am glad I didn’t. The only possible reason I would ever upgrade from this was if I became a full-time pro and wanted the extra power just in case. I’d never use the multiple flash idea, I much prefer Novatron light sets for multi-light situations.

This SB-600 has done everything from snapshots of family around home, fill flash outdoors, to group get-togethers at church, to formal wedding photography with nary a hitch.

Unless you need a gamma-ray burst like the SB-800 and 900s put out, this SB-600 will satisfy you, I promise. (Y’all know I’m just kidding about the bigger flash putting out gamma-rays, right? GR’s will kill ya.)

4 Stars SB-600 Speedlight Flash
Good product; effective lighting of scenes under various difficult situations. It is a bit heavy for my Nikon D60, and I wish some prior recommendations had been published on this. It makes the camera top heavy, and difficult to carry from the shoulder strap without having to hold on to the camera.

1 Star Good Product Bad Business Practice
I just received this product last night. I ordered it using free shipping and received it within 3 workdays which was fantastic. The product is also great as are the images I’ve been able to produce with my D90.

The low score has nothing to do with the product itself but the fact that I received a USED or REFURBISHED product!

I have plenty of experience purchasing products online and electronics themselves and there are visible, obvious signs of use. The plastic wrapping is not quite pristine, the scuff marks, the miscellaneous prints on the glossy plastic parts and worse yet, strange miscellaneous gunk marks.

Nothing was sealed, there was physical folding damage to the manuals and scratches on the hot shoe. Obvious signs of use.

I normally get great service from Amazon directly, this was a severe disappointment. It may have only been used for a short while but with products like these and a set life span, it is unfair to charge me full price for something that is billed as new.

I will be returning it, hopefully for a full refund or NEW replacement.

5 Stars Changes the way I take photos
Having a bright light source off-camera instead of built in really changes the way you take photos. I use my SB-600 wirelessly in tandem with my D80 and it can improve nearly any situation.

I’d say one of the only downsides is the lack of control buttons, most of the options you have to hold down multiple buttons at once to access them.

The SB-600 itself syncs great, is reliable, and nice and bright. It rotates in 180 degrees in one direction and 90 degrees in another (do you need more?)

5 Stars Very happy
After reading the reviews for the sb-900 and how the over heat sensors were too sensitive on them I decided to go with the sb-600 for that reason. I will just have to be carefull not to burn out the flash.

Buy/More Info

Sony VG B30AM Vertical Grip for Sony Alpha Digital SLRs

Photographers exploring the possibilities of the (alpha) DSLR series will enjoy the creative flexibility added by the high-quality VG-B30AM Vertical Grip. It not only helps steady your hand with the camera in both vertical and horizontal positions, it also provides a stable platform for shooting portraits, still-life shots and other subjects requiring vertical format. For added convenience, the shutter button and other important controls are easy to use and located at your fingertips. It also holds two NP-FM500H InfoLITHIUM batteries (sold separately) for up to 1,500 shots, with automatic power switching to backup battery power for uninterrupted shooting.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Should have bought sooner
I take thousands of sports photos of my children and this piece of camera equipment I should have purchased months ago.

5 Stars The Judge
One of the best purchases I’ve made. Works great and looks professional with my Sony DSLR camera. Controls are at your finger tips and makes it easy on your hands and wrists for verticle shots. No reason to ever remove it from your camera because it does handle very nice with minimal additional weight. You can take pictures for an extended period with the extra battery storage (no more worry if you have enough battery left for weddings or sporting events). A must have for the person that takes a lot of pictures. Can’t say enough about this verticle grip. Buy one and make picture taking easier.

1 Star Vertical Grip
This item was advertised as for Sony Alpha Digital SLRs. When it arrived I found it did not fit my Sony Alpha A-100 camera. It cost me so far $13 in shipping to return the item. very dissapointed with this seller and with this transaction.

5 Stars Good Vertical Grip
This product functions exactly as designed and promoted. While the device does add weight to the camera (with the batteries), the exceptional design provides such good balance the additional “heft” is negated. The controls on the vertical grip are placed exactly where they should be to facility their quick and accurate manipulation, and perform flawlessly when utilized. I would most definitely recommend this vertical grip to anyone with a Sony A200 DSLR.

5 Stars Excellent accessory
The vertical grip improves the functionality of my camera, vertical shooting is much easier, and the added size and weight helps stabilize the camera. The Sony grip is well designed and well made.

Buy/More Info

Canon EF S 10 22mm f 3 5 4 5 USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLRs

This exciting new zoom lens provides ultra wide-angle coverage to the EOS 20D and Digital Rebel SLR Digital-camera systems. Equivalent to a 16-35mm zoom, it offers excellent performance and optics designed from the ground-up for digital SLR use. Three Aspherical lens elements, plus a Super-UD element, assure image quality. Its ring-type USM means fast and silent AF along with full-time manual focus. It focuses as close as 9.5 inches. Circular aperture design — natural highlights, even stopped down two stops Electronic diaphragm — manually-set apertures stay constant from f/4.5 thru f/22 EF-S lens mount — exclusively for EOS 20D and Digital Rebel bodies Focal length 10 – 22 mm / 35 mm FOV 16 – 35 mm equivalent Construction – 13 elements in 10 groups Diaphragm – 6 blades Maximum aperture F3.5 – F4.5 / Minmum aperture F22 – F27 Closest focus 0.24 m Max magnification 0.17x (at 22 mm) AF actuator USM with full-time manual focus Filter diameter – 77 mm (accepts 77mm optional filters) Unit Dimensions – 83.5 x 89.8 mm (diameter x length) / Weight – 385 g

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Blown away…
I read a lot of reviews about this lens before making a purchase of my own. The 2 things I liked the most about what I read were the claims that Canon appeared to be using “L” glass, or near-”L” glass in this lens, and of course the main feature of having an ultra-wide angle capability with a 1.6 APS-C camera like my EOS 50D. I can say now after some field testing that this lens gets a 5-out-of-5 stars on both of these accounts.

Crisp focus and tack sharp images seem to be trivial to achieve with this quiet USM AF lens. I found the best 50D lens micro adjustment on my camera to be +3, but also found +0 to be quite acceptable, using the LCD monitor/moire pattern tuning technique at both ends of the zoom range. What REALLY tooted my horn however was the new found capability to take shots that were simply not achieveable before with my 28mm lens. Whole rooms in the house became one-shot deals, as opposed to the cumbersome image stitching technique. Groups of people near by – no problem getting them all into 1 shot. Landscape challenges – a snap without having to back up and up some more, and still wind up stitching multiple images together. Of course, everything written about straight-line distortion at the 10mm end of the zoom is true, but not to an excess, and in my opinion is MORE than offset by the capability to simply “get the shot all at once”. An indoor 6 story atrium that previously took 6 stitched photo’s to capture – now easily captured in 1 shot.

Focus was achieveable at a tiny bit over 4″ from the front of the lens. No IS on this lens, which I missed while trying some low-light shots (I kept waiting for IS to kick in out of habit, since all my other lenses are blessed with this feature), but this is only a concern on extreme close-up’s, which is not generally what you’d use this lens for anyway.

The lens has an AF/MF switch of course, and is only usable on certain camera’s that are compatible with EF-S type lenses (there is tons of online info about that to be read elsewhere). The filter size is 77mm. There is a light hood available from Canon, which I don’t own yet, and I’ve read that it’s marginally beneficial for blocking light since it’s so small in order to accomodate wide angle zooming without getting in the way. I’ll still buy one and put it on for extra front-end lens protection at around $14. It’s easy to bump in to things and a lens hood makes a lot of sense for that reason alone. Anyone who’s ever bent the metal of a filter after lightly bumping in to something, and then struggled with filter removal, lens cap fitting, etc., will know just what I mean.

I took some test shots with the built-in flash, and the 10-22mm lens does block the lower 5-10% portion of the picture at wider angle zooms. I was able to compensate for this in most shots by pointing the camera downward a bit more. Still, I’d recommend an external flash when using this lens, to take care of this interference and of course to get far superior bounce flash shots. There was no issue with the lens blocking any output from a camera mounted EX flash.

No lens creep on this lens. The overall lens length does not change with zooming. The zoom ring is snug, but turns smoothly, as does the focus ring, which can be turned after AF’ing for any fine tuning of the focus. The subject end of the lens does NOT TURN when zooming, which is great for circular polarizers and other filters that need to stay oriented. The lens length is 4″ (with a UV filter attached) from the front of the lens to the camera body face.

At first I thought this lens might be a specialty lens that I would only use when I needed whole room shots or was met with other wide angle challenges, but with an effective 35mm range on an APS-C camera, the quality of this glass makes it a candidate for a lot more uses as well, enabling quick access with a twist of the zoom ring to any action that comes in “close”, or to capture 2 subjects that are not conveniently side-by-side, as is sometimes the case with candid photo’s.

I have to admit that I’m writing this review after taking less than 300 photo’s with this lens, but the image quality and jaw dropping access to amazingly wide “views” that I’ve never had the ability to capture in one shot with a dSLR compelled me to brag “now” about this lens. If I encounter anything noteworthy after taking some more test shots under various conditions, I’ll amend this post.

In all honesty, it’s hard to imagine anyone who has ever been challenged by a wide angle shot not immediately falling in love with this gem once they get in to the field with it. Five star thumbs up on this one. Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLRs

5 Stars Can’t beat the pictures this lens takes
bottom line, this lens takes amazing pictures you just can’t get with any other lens for this camera. Worth every penny.

5 Stars Love this lens! Surprised!
I bought this as a birthday gift for my husband, because he had requested it. I have never been much interested in wide-angle lenses–to me, long telephotos were the ones I lusted for. This lens has changed my mind. It opens up new worlds of photos that I had never thought about!

The quality seems great, as usual with Canon lenses. It’s small and relatively lightweight. The pictures look good to me–I don’t have the chops to evaluate them in a technical way, but the color rendition and sharpness look good.

5 Stars Excellent “L Lens” Optics – Very fun, enjoyable, high quality lens
First of all, this lens is an absolute blast to use. If you’ve never shot a full frame camera with a wide-angle lens, you’re in for a treat. Sitting on a chair I can easily see my knees as I look straight ahead with the lens – its just silly.

The optics are spectacular. I was skeptical too, but taking some test photos, they are very, very sharp – comparable or better than my 24-105L and 100-400L (still can’t beat the 70-200, sorry).

The build quality is good… but not great. Take this comment with a grain of salt. Besides my 60mm macro, i’ve only owned and used “L” lenses over the last year – so my expectations as far as build quality go, are high.

There is definitely distortion (i forget if its pincushion or barrel), most noticably at the widest focal lengths when the focus is near (less than 30 feet away). Its definitely not severe distortion, or even distracting. If you look for it, you will find it though. That being said, this isn’t really a problem when you are taking pictures of landscapes, buildings etc. In fact, this lens does a better job of keeping buildings/rooms looking natural in terms of perspective (think about how your pictures have leaning buildings in them usually – this lens is good at fixing that).

For the price (its not terrible but not cheap), I would have liked to see a metal body (of course it won’t be without “L” designation) and a lens hood (something they don’t include outside of “L” lenses). But for the price, its definitely still of good value as it is just that sharp and that much fun to use.

Bottom line…. if you only use a crop camera (not full frame) you will absolutely love this lens if you ever wish you could get more in the frame than your current lens. The image quality is worth it alone… but seriously, its a REALLY fun lens!

4 Stars Amazing lens for 1.6 crop sensor
It’s been reviewed to death here and elsewhere so not much to add from me. Amazingly wide, very good contrast and color, nice details also. The only thing to pick on is the plastic look and feel but it is also the plastic that makes this lens so light and portable.

I know this has nothing to do with the product, but I want to add my comments about Amazon. The packaging seems to be getting worse these days, may be they are going green and using less plastic air/bubble to pack but it does not make you feel good when a 700 dollars lens come bouncing in a box with no impact cushion. Having said that, I would have to say Amazon provides the best customer service/support among other merchants that I buy from, I can always buy from Amazon with confidence because I know they would do anything within reason to make my purchase satisfactory. I buy my gear from a few other online merchants too due to availability but their exchange/return policy is nowhere near what Amazon would do for you.

Buy/More Info

Tamron AF 70 300mm f 4 0 5 6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens for Konica Minolta and Sony Digital SLR Cameras

It’s never been easier to capture great action shots than with the Tamron AF 70-300mm macro lens. Delivering superior image quality for both digital SLRs and 35mm film cameras, this flexible lens lets you zoom in extra close when shooting moving subjects, such as athletes on the field or children running or playing. When used with a digital camera, the lens does even better, producing a super-telephoto 35mm equivalent of 465mm–unbeatable in almost any other lens.

Macro Switch
The lens offers an easy-to-use macro switch that lets you alternate between the 180mm and 300mm focal lengths, letting you enjoy true macro photography with a telephoto effect at a maximum magnification ratio of 1:2. The minimum focus distance, meanwhile, is 59 inches from the subject in normal shooting ranges, but when you flip the switch, you can get as close as 37.4 inches. And as an added bonus, the lens boasts a nine-blade circular diaphragm that provides beautiful soft-focus imagery for a professional result. Now you can showcase all your photographic talent with close-up shots of small flowers and insects in parks or in the wild, or any other beautiful small object you discover.

Coatings
Tamron has also adopted various countermeasures against ghosting and flare, common problems in digital photography. The lens employs internal surface coating and new multilayer coating technology to minimize reflections that occur when light enters through the front element, while also reducing image-degrading effects caused by the imagers themselves. The strictest quality control standards were also applied to increase resolution performance and prevent flare due to aberrations, resulting in a telephoto zoom lens ideal for photography with digital SLR cameras. This is one lens you can use with confidence.

• Lens construction: 9 groups and 13 elements
• Diagonal angle of view: 34 to 8 degrees (at 21 to 15 feet)
• Type of zooming: Rotation
• Diaphragm blade number: 9
• Minimum aperture: f/32
• Minimum focus distance: 59 inches in normal setting; 37.4 inches in macro mode
• Macro magnification ratio: 1:2
• Filter diameter: 62mm
• Accessory: Lens hood
• Dimensions: 3 inches in diameter and 4.6 inches long
• Weight: 15.3 ounces

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Nice for a telephoto (as a secondary lens)
This is a nice telephoto lens. You will need a wide angle lens for general photography. The macro function is a bit ackward since you must be 10′ away from anything you are trying to shoot. Overall, I would buy this lens again for my Minolta Maxxum 5D. I put a skylight filter on it for protection.

5 Stars i love this lens
i love the tamron it works great and for the money it was a great deal. i love the macro feature on it but it took me a awhile to figure out how it works. i am glad i bought this lens and have no regrets. if i had to say something bad about the lens it would be that sometimes its hard to focus in low light and that the directions with the lens are not much. not that you need alot of direction with a lens but it would have been nice to have more on the macro feature.

5 Stars Great telephoto lens for the money
I have used this telephoto lens with filters, with teleconverters and it works seamlessly with my Sony SLR. No problems noted. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to supplement their kit lens. It also definitely makes a difference that the stabilization for the Sony is on the body of the camera and not dependent on the lens like Canon or Nikon.

5 Stars Good Product.
It works with the A300 and it takes great shots. Don’t get your hopes up to high for the Macro setting though. While it works well enough it is not a substitute for a Macro lens.

4 Stars I like this lens
With the rotating front lens when you focus the use of a polarizing filter is a 3 step process. I like this lens.

Buy/More Info

Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12MP Digital SLR Camera Black with EF S 18 55mm f 3 5 5 6 IS Lens and EF 75 300mm f 4 5 6 III Deluxe Accessory Kit

The Canon EOS Rebel XSi Digital Camera incorporates improved autofocus sensor, enhanced 14-bit A/D conversion, an advanced Live View function, and the proprietary DIGIC III image processor which ensures that the fine details and natural colors of the images are optimally recorded, and also manages the camera’s efficient energy consumption and high-speed signal processing performance. Its newly designed 12.2 megapixel APS-C size CMOS sensor employs large micro-lenses over each pixel to reduce noise and enhance sensitivity up to ISO 1600, while the 14-bit Analog-to-Digital (A/D) conversion process means the Rebel XSi camera records up to 16,384 colors per channel and allows the camera to produce images with finer and more accurate gradations of tones and colors. The camera also incorporates the Highlight Tone Priority and High-ISO Noise Reduction functions (previously found only on Canon’s Professional Digital SLRs) and the camera is equipped with Canon’s Auto Lighting Optimizer technology, which corrects image brightness and contrast automatically to prevent underexposure with backlit scenes. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS SLR Lens: Canon’s latest optical Image Stabilizer (IS) technology provides up to 4-stop compensation for image blur caused by camera shake and slow shutter speeds. Photographers normally shooting handheld at 1/250 sec can switch on IS to obtain a similarly steady and blur-free result with a shutter speed of just 1/15 second. The inclusion of automatic panning detection makes it easier for photographers to track wildlife and other moving subjects. Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens: An economical DC motor driven AF zoom, with the same optical system, construction, and exterior as its USM sister model. ++PLUS++ 8GB Deluxe Accessory Kit: Loaded with extremely useful accessories.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars impressed
I feel that this was a good product. We received it with in a week and everything was is good working order. Some of the extras were of a cheaper quality but the camera and lenses were great and it was overall a great deal!

5 Stars Canon XSi review.
The delivery was quick and on time. All the products in the order were in good condition and the product is great.

5 Stars Canon Digital Rebel XSi
So far its been great. For my first DSLR camera, its awesome. a little tweaks here and there. I’m taking very good pictures and almost no post processing done. I’ve had a Powershot and after taking picture, I would edit them, then post the up in my Flickr (http://flickr.com/photos/skyp3r/) account. But now, I’m getting better quality pictures straight from the camera. I definitely recommend this cam to anyone as a starter in photography

5 Stars Love at first click!
I’m new to the SLR world and a VERY novice photographer. With this camera it doesn’t matter. I have taken great shots of my children play soccer and baseball using the sports setting and have gotten excellent action shots that I never dreamed I could get. The package with the zoom lens, tripod …. was the best value around. This is the best purchase I’ve made all year.

5 Stars Excellent
This package is great. I use the camera everyday and I love it. I reccomend this to any budget photographer

Buy/More Info