Batgung

hi, I saw your story on the net, Ive to go in Hong Kong in few days, where do you suggest me to go to buy the Canon 350D (or in other words Rebel XT)?? I want to buy a SLR and I know that over there it is cheaper but where? could you help me?
thanks a lot
Andrea

One year on, the 350D has given some really good photos of the children. Priceless in fact. Made me wish I'd bought a DSLR even earlier.

I've noticed a pattern in parental behaviour and DSLRs at children's events.

The guys handle the DLSRs, the wives handle the videocam and the subjects are still the kids!!

I have noticed a weakness of the 350D - the AF doesn't track children all that well. Another one is the 3 frame per second feature - it doesn't get a good sequence for a faster moving object (despite the advertisment's claims).

I'm seriously thinking of trading in the 350D and moving to the 30D. (next model up)

I should add that the Family Tall bought an Ixus 800 last month. We searched Yau Shing Building (see more about Yau Shing here, and although we got several offers of prices below HKD3,000, none of these deals included the extra battery and SD card, both of which we wanted. So we just went to Fortress instead, since their overall deal was the best.

We're extremely happy with the camera itself so far. It seems like a very good product.

Hi Alex;

I would be surprised if you failed to find that model in just about any camera shop in HK. You should have no problem finding it in any Fortress.

Mr Tall

Hey guys,

I want to buy an IXUS 800, and I'm visiting both Hong Kong and Tokyo in the upcoming weeks. Where do you guys think I should buy it?

Buying in Japan has the additional advantage of the camera being "made in Japan," for whatever it's worth. What do you think?

How much did you pay for the canon 350D?

This is the shop I usually buy my stuff from. I find them very amenable.

Last purchase was a Canon 30D. Great camera!

Wise concerns.

It depends what you are comfortable with. Men are more likely to lug the weight of an SLR around the neck.

There are of course, special moments like the school play or sports events which are almost impossible to get good photos of with a pocket camera. SLRs all the way here.

If you are satisfied with the Ixus, stay with it. We were not satisfied with the compacts because of the quality of pictures from those special events. Blurred pictures, lots of grain, missed expressions occurred.

Having said that, we are going to buy a new compact. If it's someone else's party a compact is fine and very convenient for the informal pictures. If you have a number of special events, hmm, I'd suggest the SLR.

Sometimes I just go down to the playground and take pictures of the kids using the SLR. It's just to get good, clear photos of them running and climbing around at different stages of their lives.

Borrowing someone's SLR, using it and then viewing on your home computer would be one way of testing it out.

would you know how much is the EOS 400D now in HK with the lense kit? im planning to ask a friend who is going there next week to buy for me. Thanks

I must have tempted fate, as less than a week after writing I was 'a mostly happy Ixus user' above, the camera died!

I've stayed with Canon, but bought a model from the slightly larger family, the Ixus 850 IS (aka SD 800 IS Digital Elph). Having seen how close the prices have got, I didn't spend much time comparison shopping, but just visited these three shops. They are all in the same area, and from previous shopping expeditions they have fair prices. Here are the prices they quoted, all in HK$:

The differences in the prices match the price of the extras on offer, so which you'd choose depends on whether you want the extras or not. I think it's safe to say if you're visiting on a holiday and know you want to buy a compact digital camera, head along to the nearest Fortress store and buy it there. The differences in price have become so small it's hard to justify spending much holiday time walking around stores comparing prices.

The Fortress sticker price is $3,080, but they knocked off $100 without prompting. The extras they include are great if you'll use them. When we had visitors a couple of weeks back I took them along to Fortress to get exactly this bundle.

I bought from Kinefoto, as I wanted to make my own package:

• No SD card. I'd recently bought a 2GB SD card, so didn't need the extra. (The Toshiba Class 4 cards seem cheap at the moment, and are fast enough to take video with the camera. A 2Gb card costs just $129 in Wanchai Computer Centre. Don't bother with the faster Class 6 cards that the salesman will say you need.)
• Proper screen protector. The LCD screen on my last camera broke twice, and ended up costing almost as much as a new camera to repair.  Then I bought a 'da protector' perspex screen protector, and had no further screen problems. This camera gets a da protector too, so hopefully there'll be never be any need to pay for a new LCD. They don't yet list a version for this camera, but their custom 59 x 43mm cut fits fine, and only costs $66 including shipping from the US. (That's HK$66). The 'protector' in the Fortress bundle is a thin film that sticks over the screen. Ok to stop minor scratches, but it won't prevent bumps from cracking the screen.
• Canon battery. The extra battery offered by Fortress is a 3rd-party brand, something like the 'Goki' brand I bought for my last camera. "After all", I thought, "a battery's a battery." But after two years of alternating between them, the Canon battery that came with the camera still holds its charge as well as when it was new. The Goki got worse and worse over time, and after two years only takes around a third the photos the Canon battery can before needing a recharge. If you are an occasional user you probably won't notice much change, but if you recharge often this gets annoying. So this time I bought an extra Canon NB-5L battery for $240 at Kinefoto ($300 at Fortress).
• Extended warranty. I took an extra 2-years warranty from Canon ($700) to have a total 3-years warranty. I usually don't bother with extened warranties, but I found that the Canon's mechanical parts can jam relatively easily (the infamous E18 error you'll find on many internet forums). Unlikely a problem for occasional users, but if the camera lives in your pocket every day(even in a case) and accompanies you to the beach, eventually some bit of dirt or sand will jam the works. The warranty should have me covered for fixing that.
• No case. Got that already.

So far I'm happy with the camera, and the improvements that it gives over my old camera:

• Sharper photos and movies. I think this is due to the Optical Image stabilisation, which this camera has but my previous did not.
• I can zoom while taking a movie. Hurrah! It's only digital zoom, not optical. Still it's great to have.
• Wider angle (zoom is 28-105mm vs 35 - 105mm). It's helped a couple of times when taking photos of groups when there is limited space.
• Extra pixels. The extra resolution (7 vs 4 Mpixels) has been useful when cropping some photos recently. I'm not sure I'd bother with more than 7Mpixels - but that's what I thought when I made the jump from 2 to 4Mp!
• Faster downloads to the PC. USB 2.0 at last, making downloading photos and movies much faster.

The only downside is that the Ixus X00 models are bigger than the X0 models. I previously had an Ixus 40. If I'd stayed with that family of cameras I'd have bought an Ixus 70. The wide-angle zoom and image stabilisation swayed me to choose the 850, but it's about as large as I'd comfortably like to carry in a pocket. To compare, 850 is around 25% larger than the 70, though surprisingly it's the lighter of the two.

How about value for money - which is best judged looking backwards. The Ixus 40 lasted around 2 years, compared with my first Ixus that lasted 3 1/2 years. However in the time I used them, each took around 6,000 photos. So a cost of around HK$0.5 per photo for each.

Is that 2-3 years going to be the typical life expectancy of a digital compact in daily use? We'll see how long this new 850 lasts.

MrB

Yes, with the improvements I've seen, the urge to dash out and buy a DSLR has certainly diminished. We had friends visiting a couple of weeks back, and some of the zoom shots from their almost-SLR (Fuji 9500) were excellent. For general shots we seemed about equal though, and for videos the Canon was better. So I'll need to find a dad with the DSLR that wants to trade some shots for videos!

Cheers, MrB

Though you may find the shop asks to add a couple of percent to the "cash-price", if their cash price is really low.

If that makes the price too high, you could consider changing money to pay in cash.

MrB

Hi there,

Different brands and models of DSLRs have their own characteristics and specifications. However no matter the differences, they are nothing but tools for shooting. If your spouse is already living very happily with a Canon EOS 350D, it would be financially easier for you to stick with the same brand of DSLR using compatible lens and share your resources. You might still need your own tripods and filters though. This could save you big bucks for lens.

It's it more fun to find out what the cameras can do and use your own skills to compensate? After all taking photos is you want to express, what you capture. The rest is just secondary. It would also be fun trying to learn how to cheat the built-in program of digital cameras. :-)

Best Regards,
T

Hi there,

[Cheating the camera programs] simply means using unconventional settings to take photos.

All Digital Cameras are basically a computer running a proprietary embedded operating system with a photo-sensitive capturing input device and a flash memory storage device with a whole lot of different operating modes. If it is a computer then it could be cheated, maybe even in very creative ways. If your camera has manual controls (as mode DSLR cameras do), it would be fun to try different settings on the same subject and see what would happen.

DSLRs have the advantage over pocket Digital Cameras as they have an enormous array of lens, filters lens, flash lights and other accessories to play with. The only thing that could stop you from trying them out are most likely $$$ or your spouse. Now that both you and your hubby are keen on shooting so there's only one factor to stop you.

I don't have a DSLR yet, but if my current Digital Cameras are damaged beyond repair, my next camera is definitely going to be a DSLR.

Best Regards,
T

Hi

I've just bought the Canon 400D, and the prices I was quoted for body only we around 5300 dollars in Stanley street (nr. 25 and 27), they were both the official dealers with the full warranty  etc.  Finally I bought it from Concept Digital (shop 113 Wanchai computer centre).  The body was also 5300 there, but the advantage was I got excellent and honest advice from the guy.  I went with a professional photographer friend of mine who shops there often.  The best bit of advice he gave me was to get a Sigma 18-200 lens rather than the standard Canon lens.  The canon lenses are apparently better as lenses, (maybe so for the pro's but I can't tell) but for full versatility (wide angle and zoom) without having to change your lens, this is the best.  Plus if you keep on changing lens you can get dust in the camera which is a no-no for digitals.  The canon lenses were either 18-55mm or 17-85mm. 

I was kitted out with the body, the lens, a protective lens cover, a polarised lense, screen protector and 4GB disc for HK$8250. And I could pay by credit card!

 Speaking 2 months later after my purchase, I'm delighted with the camera and the advice on the lens.  It really is versatile for all my needs.  I think some good advice is worth more than any additional discount.