2nd gig with Canon EOS 20d - 1st with Canon 580EX Flash
April 21st, 2005
I am burning onto cd’s 2.9 GB worth of photos from my recent Bar Mitzfah event photo gig for the client. My 2nd gig with the Canon EOS 20d.
The current distribution medium of choice for photos is still the cd-r.
And since there are 476 of these full sized 8.2 MP jpeg’s from the gig, I need to spread the love onto 6 CD-R’s. Burning hell….
Even with the burn time around 6 or 7 minutes per cd - it’s taking excrutiatingly long.
I have been doing glamour, portrait and event coverage photos for many years, however this was my first paid bar mitzfah event job.
Also it was the first time I used my new Canon EOS 20d with the new Canon 580EX flash (previous gig using it was outdoors at a country music video shoot where they had softboxes set up).
The pictures of the Bar Mitzzzfuh turned out great. I’m really impressed with the EOS 20d and the 580EX flash. Great combination. Reasonably light and easy to carry for prolonged periods of time. Simple to use because they work so well together.
What I don’t like about my new camera is the fact that the aspect ratio of the 20d’s images are a different ratio than my prosumer cameras.
Full sized image is:
3504 wide x 2336 Height
Reduced down the resolution is:
1280 x 853 or 720 x 480 (DV aspect ratio).
…instead of 1280 x 960 which is full screen resolution on my 21 Viewsonic monitor.
That means if I want to use the images for wallpaper I have to crop before resizing or uncheck “constrain proportions” in Photoshop.
An extra step I’d rather not mess with, but hey, those jumbo sized 3504 x 2336 sized images are pretty impressive looking…
I guess that must be because of the reduced size of the image sensor???
Oh well… I find it odd that I have to make compromises upgrading to a pro camera like the 20d from my prosumer cameras.
The Canon A95 is no match quality wise but I love some of the features. It helps me take great photos. The 20d’s lack of features in some respects prevents me from taking great photos… don’t get me wrong… the quality is great - but…
Let me explain…
Canon A95 and most “prosumer” cameras let you compose shots through the LCD screen. I’m accepting that on Digital SLR’s every single one of them at present only allow you to compose shots through the electronic viewfinder.
I can do that. No problemo. In many cases it even enables me to take sharper, better focused pictures and I appreciate that. BUT I must say that the Canon A95 in particular was a dream for taking pics because it had a larger sized LCD which made it easy to take pics from nearly anywhere and any angle. Combined with the pull out twsitable LCD screen you could do some bizrre composing from angles you just can’t do in an electronic viewfinder. For example you could face the cam towards yourself and snap pics with people and see yourself in the LCD. That’s a lot of fun.
So I find it odd that I am buying a much more expensive camera and I can’t do what I have grown to love so much about digital cameras. Take pics at odd angles and see what the pic will look like in an LCD.
Then, another quirk… I have gotten used to taking long exposure shots at night. I live in Newport Beach and there are spectacular scenes at nights with reflecting lights on the water and such and I find myself continually taking pictures at night with the A95 (I still do). I have a little mini tripod (flexi gumbi style one) and I can easily take all kinds of shotw with great angles and what I do is use the SELF TIMER so the camera doesn’t jiggle.
On the Canon A95 it allows you to select between 2 seconds and 10 seconds, but the 20d has 10 seconds or nothing. So now if I wanna do a long exposure with the self timer I have to wait long periods for the self timer and then processing time on top of it (15 or 30 second exposures require a lotta crunching time).
So, I’m miffed at why I buy a better camera and it lets me do less… less options… Why not include a choice of 10 seconds or 2 seconds… I guess they want to sell accessories like wired remotes and such…
I can’t help but feel some of you out there are going “stop whining” but hey, it’s up to people like us to point out when things could be better… I’m not saying the 20d is a bad camera… I love it. But I can’t understand why less expensive prosumer cameras have more features.
Like how about all the preprogrammed modes??? Sure, I’ve had pros tell me “you’re a pro - you don’t need modes”, but hey - it’s great to flip the dial and try each and every combination when taking fotos. It’s fun and easy… sure it’s a short cut… why can’t pros take short cuts too???
I DON’T always wanna think for 2 minutes before I take a picture about the settings… it can be extremely gratifying to wander around a take zillions of pictures - boom - boom - boom - twist the dials - take more - boom.
I have gotten some great shots I would not have gotten otherwise because I had jumped around and tried the various settings and modes.
OK, enough of this rant… I didn’t intend to whine in this batch o’ words.
I am curious though how others out there feel about the things I have brought up.
Does the 20d’s aspect ratio throw ya a curve? Does the lack of presets and modes on high end SLR digital cameras stump ya like it does me? Do you wanna use LCD’s at least some of the time to compose shots even with a “pro” digital SLR???
Lemme know!
Entry Filed under: Digital Photography
2 Comments Add your own
1. Anand | January 5th, 2006 at 2:34 am
The 20D is in fact a prosumer camera. Perhaps the finest prosumer camera available (other than maybe the Nikon D200), but a prosumer camera nonetheless.
The 3:2 aspect ratio isn’t a design limitation. It’s the same aspect ratio Canon has been using on SLRs since 1934. Other manufacturers have been using it even longer. Yes, it’s outdated, but it clearly was a design goal. With the advent of HDTV, the 4:3 aspect ratio (which was designed for television) of your point-and-shoot cameras are arguably outdated, also. Of course, a 16:9 still camera would really suck.
Digital SLRs do not have electronic viewfinders. Not a single one. They’re all optical. That’s the whole point of SLRs, you see what the lens sees.
I see this post was made last April, so by now you’ve had plenty of time to get used to your DSLR. I’m sure you’ve realized that those picture modes actually slow you down. The 20D has them because it’s a prosumer camera, and Canon understands that many people need them until they learn how to use a DSLR.
I can see how you’d be irritated by the self-timer, but Canon wants you to buy a cable release and image stabilized lenses. One of the pitfalls of having an expensive product in the age of marketing.
I’d be curious to know if your views on the 20D’s functionality have changed over time.
2. Administrator | January 24th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
I love the camera but since it is large I only use it for special occasions or gigs. As a result I have to relearn it everytime I use it. Admittedly I am getting more and more used to it, but the quirks still bug me. I don’t wanna buy a cable release so that rubs me wrong. While I appreciate the precision an optical viewfinder gives me, I still miss being able to take shots at odd andles and such with a flip oyt LCD like on my a95. That has got to be the greatest invention.
What would be the ideal aspect ratio??? I now have a 24 inch monitor and the resolution is 1920 x 1200 which now throws a new curve. Some pictures appear cropped on my screensaver but I think the 20′ds are now full screen. My old 1280 x 960 wallpapers don’t fit the full screen.
As for presets, they are timesavers. On my a95 I know it so well I can turn it on and flip the dial and get exactly the right settings so qucik I don’t miss many shots if any. The “sports setting” is so great it helps me get shots that otherwise blur and it’s auto so the exposure is always spot on. I know a lot of pros think using auto settings is cheating but as long as the photos are good who cares what the setiing was?
Yes I knowI can get those settings on the 20d but I like to take pictures fast and while I am inspired not break out my sliderule and make calculations. No offense to those that like to analyze what settings, but I’ll get more shots and to the eyes of most people they will not see a difference.
What I do love is the 30 sec. long exposure the 20 d allows. Night time sjots are so beautiful with next to zero noise.
That’s 1 question I have - will there ever be a smaller a95 like camera that can take ppictures in challenging conditions and light levels with less noise??? I hope the next generation improves upon that. That is my biggest compalint with the a95. Sky has noise almost always (never as bad as my Nikon coolpix was though).
Oh well. But all in all I am happy with the 20d. Just wish it weren’t so damn huge. But the pics are soooo clean and pretty. Cheers!
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