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But I did get myself a bargain Canon EOS 3!!!!
After much searching and changing of mind I stumbled across a bit of a bargain - 350 for an EOS 3 in good nick seemed far too reasonable to pass by.
Problem is I now need to get some new lenses to accompany said purchase - I can see this taking a few months though! Until then I shall perform the utmost crime and stick my EF 35-80 on it... probably the naffest lens ever made 
Ta for the words of advise that I may, or may not, have totally ignored in the event 
As a recent entrent into the world of Canon I am intrigued by your description of the EF35-80 as 'the naffiest lens ever ever made'. What are your actual complaints of the lens?
With my kit came the EF35-90 f4-5.6 II USM lens.
I have not seen any actual D&P results to date, so I cannot comment on sharpness and contrast etc.
The lens certainly seems to focus pretty snappily and looks sharp in the viewfinder.
My only critiscm, to date, is that in a lens costing more than a 100 notes it has a plastic bayonet mount.
From the Canon site it would appear that many of the lenses in the lower price bracket suffer this feature.
My concern is wear and long term fit reliability.
My Pentax MZ-M came fitted with 35-80 lens with a metal mount.
Maybe I have made a bad decision in changing horses?
jas
It's plastic, and not very solid feeling that's for sure! Mine is actually a cheaper one than yours - non USM for starters. The results have always been a little soft focus (I have tried 2 and they were both the same on results!) It's really just a cheap "get you started" lens... although to be fair there probably are worse ones out there
Be interesting to see if the results are better on an EOS3 body than on the EOS3000 that it has been living on for the last couple of years (I went digital not long after getting the 3000 and never quite got around to buying a decent set of lenses as I always planned! Going to rectify that over the coming months though, and probably get a reasonable standard lens on the old 3000 as a backup whilst I am at it!)
To my mind, the 35-80 is not a bad lens, but not the greatest.
My nephew (Dan87) has been using mine, and is pleased enough to consider buying it - compared with the compact film and digi cameras he's used before it is pretty good.
Personally, I prefer to sacrifice the conveneience of the zoom, and use the 50mm/1.8, which is a lot better optical quality.
I do have a very, very nice Nikkor f1.8 50mm lens on the old Nikkormat so can entirely agree with that! However primes are less useful when you need to carry a bag of em around remote and inhospitable places!!!!!
Okay, perhaps I am being a little harsh on the 35-80, it isn't all bad and I have had some decent pictures out of it. I still say it's a bit soft though
The 50mm f1.8 lens appears to have the same plastic mount going by the picture on the Canon EF lens site.
I was quite surprised by the quality of the Pentax 35-80 lens. I only made the change as auto-focus is becoming more of a necessity and Canon appears to be the better system by all accounts.
Apart from the auto-focus, I much prefer using the MZ-M body to the OES300V as it has a 'normal' shutter speed dial and the aperture settings on the lens ring, no fiddily dials and buttons turn and press to set exposure manually. But I guess that is what you get with the automation.
Well, I shall keep both systems going, particularly as I have a number of Pentax prime lenses. All with metal mounts!
jas
I do miss aperture settings on the lens itself as well, always confused me why Canon popped it into the camera itself!
I am trying not to even think about primes at the moment, that is an expensive place that I don't want to go to just yet! Ideally I can get a 17-35 Sigma, 24/28-105/135 Canon or Sigma and a 135-400 Sigma to cover all eventualities over the coming months. This is all leading up to a big trip to the Arctic winter in mid March next year so I have a bit of time in hand yet!
Aye, that's where I am looking at the moment! The IS for 269 is getting very, very tempting indeed at the moment!
The 30v was the alternative camera that I was considering (and the 1N for that matter). I decided that my budget was enough for a new 30 - a second hand 3 just made more sense in the end as I am heading off to the Arctic with it, and I live in a nice, dry environment called Scotland The weather sealing on the 3 and 1 suddenly seemed like very good things indeed!!!!
Oh aye - have you noticed the 7dayshop flash prices... 129 for a 420EX!
Add to this the fact that when I tried to register the 75-300 lens on the Canon website the lens type did not appear in the dropdown list. After completing the email form that appeared with the problem and submitting it I duly received a reply from Canon saying they did not reply to individual emails. What was the point of the form then?
The printed warantee forms that came with the items seemed more concerned with my spendings habits and the amount of money I have available for spending rather than care for the goods I have bought from them.
Reference to the FAQs section on their website seemed more like a sales spiel on the good points of their cameras. using the email form to submit a question not covered by the FAQs againe elicitated a reply from Canon that said they do not answer individual emails. Again what was the point of the form inviting you to submit a question? Pure sales dressing it appears.
You may gather that I am not very chuffed with Canon.
The info that I have managed to glean from their website is minimal compared to the info that I have got from the fuji site.
If I ever buy a DSLR you can guess which marque it wont be!!!
jas
Jas sorry to hear of your problems. I thought the web site was ok. Is the manual no use? I received a 140 page one with my camera and another one covering the software. My experience with the Fuji web site was not too brilliant. It is fairly easy to get software updates from either, but more was difficult.
If you think the Canon one is bad try the Sony site. The support for my Clie is abysmal. I had a problem getting its software to run in Xp, the solution did not rurn up in the FAQ etc but in note it says you can read the details of the driver update if you want.
Anything one of us existing Canon users can help you with?
My complaint against all the dSLR vendors is that they do not tell you enough about image processing (need for sharpening etc). A little bit of advice here would not go amiss, for example a couple of pages on typical photoshop settings.
hi John- my problems were minor in trying to register my warrantees and a question relating to the use of my existing flashgun. The camera is the OES300V film camera which I bought for the fast autofocussing.
My rant was really caused by Canon's inability to respond to quite simple requests using the facility they had provided. Which gave concern for the response to potentially more serious matters.
However, we will take it as it comes. I'm sure the camera will perform well.
Referring to your last comment on DSLRs vendors I saw a letter in a recent issue of AP where the writer (with no computer facilities) bought a Sigma SD9 DLSR which produces only a raw output and is now apparently unable to get commercial prints as the raw output needs processing first! His previous camera was a Nikon Coolpix and he had prints made directly from his card.
And we think we've got problems!
jas
Well done on the camera Rob. Bet you can't wait to try it out in the Arctic!
Of course, now all you need is a suite of nice L lenses for the weather sealing. Should only cost you a few grand or so. Uh oh...
If you're still interested in getting a rangefinder, I just bought a FED 4 off Ebay for a whole 10, and it seems to be working (haven't developed the first roll yet). For that money you can throw it in your bag not worry about it being trashed.
I am still thinking about a rangefinder as well - probably not just yet (need to spend as much cash as possible on lenses!), but sometime.... Have a hankering for an XPAN or possibly a Bronica/Maymia 645 job as well
I would love to go out and get me some L lenses, I keep looking at the new "budget" 17-40 (just shy of 600), but in reality I think I will have to stick to the more consumer oriented stuff :-( Few months to go yet though before I need to worry about getting the whole set up sorted though!!!
Look forward to seeing your FED 4 results! Some of those Russian Rangefinders on eBay look absolute bargains!
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