With the slightly improved weather today (at least it was dry) I took the opportunity to give the camera a bit more of a workout. Apart from having to get used to a completely different layout for the controls when compared with the 400D, there are a few other initial things of note. Firstly, it creates larger files (about 14MB as opposed to 10MB). This is because of how it stores RAW colour information (14 bit). The main impact for me is that my data cards fill up more quickly. The second 'management' difference is that to clear the card you have to go into the menu system, rather than having a 'delete all' option when you call up the trash-can. On the other hand, the view finder is much better: brighter and larger, so it's much easier to see whether a shot is properly in focus. It also has a wider range of ISO settings, and two burst mode speeds (6 frames a second is pretty fast and I've already taken to deciding when I want that option switched on otherwise the card fills up before you know it). The camera is slightly larger, but this actually makes it more comfortable to hold (and no I don't have particularly large hands).
As for taking photos, well I'm impressed. I grabbed this shot of a sparrowhawk this morning. Not the greatest, but it was a fleeting opportunity as it sailed overhead. The type of shot I miss more often than not.
Altogether more staid was this pigeon, which posed for ages on a nearby roof.
But there's only so much you can do in the garden, so I headed to the local kestrel site.
Now the shot of the kestrel starts to show how the camera comes into its own. The spot metering helps a lot in getting the exposure right (I didn't use any exposure compensation despite shooting against the sky, so the richness of colour and detail surprised me). The photo is a moderately hefty crop as the bird was a distance away. With the 400D (which lacks spot metering) I tended to have to dial in a lot of compensation to get a decent exposure.
The wind was proving a pain though. Even if the kestrel could hover against it, I could barely stand upright. Before I moved off I took a few shots with the 17-40mm lens. I'm going to need to develop a landscape 'technique', but I'm pleased with the overall feel of the lens and the much wider field of view than I can get with anything else in my kit.
Sun, wind… sea! I headed down the road to the coast. Sure enough the waves were racing in.
Last time I posted about Rottingdean I mentioned the problem of getting sea and salt on the lens. This time I was using a UV filter on the long lens, and a polarizing filter on the 17-40 lens. The amount of spray I needed to clean off afterwards was shocking. The camera itself is rather more weather-proof than the 400D, which is also an advantage. The UV filter (and sea spray) didn't seem to adversely affect the image quality, which was pleasing. I took numerous shots of gulls (in the August Birds album).
I expect to learn a lot more about the camera over the next few weeks, but I can already see why so many 'birders' rave about the 40D. For what was a fairly casual trip out in less than ideal weather (rapidly changing light and high winds which make keeping the camera steady a job in itself), the camera performed extremely well, producing a high proportion of sharp images with excellent colour.
More shots from today are in the Rottingdean and August Birds albums.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D. The South Downs and 'View along the beach were shot with the EF17-40mm f/4L USM lens and a Hoya polarizing filter; the rest were taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens (with a Hoya UV filter for the sea and gull shots).
Cynthia23
11 Aug 2008Fantastic! Looking forward to seeing all the new shots.
Vulpes vulpes
11 Aug 2008Really interesting post! The new pics look great!
Dudley
11 Aug 2008Congrats on the new camera.
Great photos :up:
gdare
11 Aug 2008Excellent. Especially a pidgeon and a last one :up:
SittingFox
11 Aug 2008Very impressive! 🙂 I'm sure you're going to have a lot of fun with that camera.
Words
11 Aug 2008Cynthia, thanks!
Words
11 Aug 2008Vulpes, thanks. I'm pleased with the results so far 🙂
gdare
11 Aug 2008I have just saved that one on my hard disk. Excellent :up:
Words
11 Aug 2008Darko, thanks. I think my favourite though is this one:
click to enlarge.
Words
11 Aug 2008Andy, thanks! It was time for an upgrade.
Words
11 Aug 2008Adele, thanks! I'm sure you're right 😉
Words
12 Aug 2008Oh great. 😀
cakkleberrylane
13 Aug 2008Beautiful photos! You certainly gave it a good test with all the variety.
Words
13 Aug 2008Thanks Lois!
Flying Red Fox Blog
14 Aug 2008Nice you got a new camera, iam still finding smallnew things with my Fuji which is fun to learn. 😀 The 400D and 40D sound very simular yet look so different.
Words
14 Aug 2008Mark, there's always more to learn, but that's all part of the joy of it. And getting out and about!