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In this section I provide reviews on equipment that I use or have used. My main intention here is to share my personal opinion with respect to the quality, technical performance and the general strengths and weaknesses of each piece of equipment based on my own experience in using it in the field. I do not repeat any list of specifications nor provide in-depth reviews of technical performances based on very serious tests. I prefer, when necessary, to refer to relevant website, magazines or other similar resources where such info can be found. 
 
This camera is a 12.8 Mpixels digital SLR.
I have acquired it in May 2006, as an upgrade from the EOS 20D digital SLR. In general, it really is more or less equivalent to the EOS 20D with a few but quite significant additional features. Image Quality: I use it with the Canon 17-40mm, Canon 28-135mm IS and 100-400mm IS lenses. The sharpness is very good (although this also very much depends on the quality of the lenses used). Pictures printed at A3+ size look very sharp. That said, it isn't that much sharper than a similar image taken with the 20D. Quite disappointing when we think the 5D contains 60% more pixels than the 20D. My main dislike however is, just like the 20D, the very poor handling of the highlights. As soon as brightness level rises 1.5 to 2 stops over the mid tone exposure, the sensor saturates very quickly. This means loss of colour accuracy (depending on which colour channel saturates first) and loss of details. Although this can be controlled with neutral density graduate filters, it still makes photographing highly contrasted subjects very difficult. To give an idea, where for a given situation on Velvia slide film a 2 stop grad filter would have been sufficient, with the 5D a 5 stop grad is likely to be needed. To get around this problem I often find myself underexposing quite significantly and then recover the underexposed areas in photoshop, which naturally has its own problems (e.g. loss of tonal density, increase noise). So it's always a case of compromise, i.e. underexpose just enough to retain sufficient details and colour accuracy in the highlights and not too much to retain as much colour tonality in the dark area. Now that said, and to be faire with this superb camera, this is a problem common to most digital cameras and to my knowledge, at the moment no digital camera has yet solved completely this problem, even if some, like the Fuji S5, do seem to have slightly better results. This is certainly one part of digital technology where much improvement is to be made. Now I would say that almost everything else about that camera is just excellent, which means for non contrasting conditions the results produced by this camera are very good indeed. Contrast and colour renditions are, like the 20D, very good. The noise level is, once again just like the 20D, very well controlled. This night photo of the Mont-Blanc shot at ISO 800 with an exposure of over 5 minutes, although naturally showed some noise, it was not only very acceptable but could easily be minimised with either photoshop or the noise reduction tool in DPP (Digital Photo Professional - Canon's RAW editing software). Camera Functionalities: This camera has everything any professional and/or serious amateur can need. Two of the features that are present in the 5D and not the 20D which I found very useful and important are the spot meter - a necessity to be able to accurately check exposure levels in a composition, and the RGB histogram - a must to be able to check highlights clipping on all three colour channels individually. It is very easy to navigate through the various menus and everything is quite self explanatory. The focusing is excellent even in dark conditions. The large screen sure gives extra comfort for visibility but, personally I don't see that as a great plus as the screen shouldn't be used to assess picture quality, but only look at the histogram and other various textual information and eventually sharpness. And for all this even the small screen of the 20D was already doing that just as well. Personally I think it just draws more power than anything else. I wished the ISO speed setting was always visible, either on the small LCD screen or in the viewfinder. The small LCD screen on the top can be lit which is very useful when shooting in the dark. Under normal temperature conditions, the battery life is reasonably good (for a digital SLR that is!). If the use of the back screen is kept to the essential (checking histogram for exposure, and sharpness) I could go through around 500 exposures (+/- 100) with one full charge. But unfortunately, as with the 20D, the battery life in cold conditions is quite limited. Already at temperatures around zero degree, if the batteries are kept in the camera for any significant amount of time (i.e. > 30mn) they become flat. So under cold conditions, it's absolutely necessary to not only keep the batteries in the warmth of a pocket inside a jacket while not shooting, but also have several spares. Build Quality: I found it very well built. Has a much more professional feel than the Canon EOS30. It's relatively small size compared to the EOS 1D family gives it that extra facility to bring it in extreme conditions like when mountaineering. And when needed, it's always possible to attach the battery grip BG-E2 which is useful to get a good hold of the camera. Only down thing is that the grip is not very strongly built and doesn't do the camera any justice in that respect. It doesn't fit the camera that well and is very prone to dust and water. Strengths: Even if my above review may sound a bit negative, this camera really is a very good piece of equipment and compare to the currently available SLR's of its range it's no surprise that it has become one of the reference amongst them all. But here is my list of main strengths:
Some more in-depth reviews of this camera can be found in the following links: www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos5d (probably the best review of them all) www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/5d-field.shtml photo.net/equipment/canon/5D/ www.photographyreview.com/cat/cameras/digital-cameras/digital-slrs/canon/PRD_342024_3127crx.aspx 
This camera is an 8.2Mpixel digital SLR.
It was my first digital camera after having spent my first
three years of photography with a Canon EOS 30E analogue SLR.
I bought it as soon as it came out back in Sept 2004 and have
used it extensively for over 18 months before upgrading to the
Canon EOS 5D in May 2006.
Image Quality: I have used it with the Canon 10-22mm, Canon 28-135mm IS and 100-400mm IS lenses. The sharpness is very good (although this also depends largely on the quality of the lenses used). Pictures printed at A3+ format look very impressive. My only main dislike is the difficulty to handle highlights. The response of the sensor falls off very rapidly as soon as luminosity gets above 1 or 2 stops of the correct exposure. That said, with the help of neutral density graduate filters, this can be controlled to some extent. General contrast and colour rendition are very good. The noise level is very well controlled. I was able to shoot some handheld pictures at a hot air balloon nigh show. I shot all the pictures at 1600 ISO and, yes of course you do have some noise, but it is completely acceptable. Camera Functionalities: It has everything any serious amateur can need. Spot metering would be nice instead of the partial metering. It is very easy to navigate through the various menus and everything is quite self explanatory. The 9 focusing points is a nice touch and can be useful at times (especially when shooting portraits or for landscape when working on a tripod and wanting to focus somewhere without having to move the camera). The small "joystick" like button can be used to select the focus points. This is quite good although can be a bit difficult for the selection of the focus points located at 45deg off the centre. But like everything with a little practice it becomes easier. This joystick can also be used for navigating through the zoomed pictures and is really easy and quick. I wished the ISO speed setting was always visible, either on the small LCD screen or in the viewfinder. The LCD screen can be lit which is very useful when shooting in the dark. Build Quality: I found it very well built. Has a much more professional feel than the Canon EOS30. The battery grip BG-E2 that can be attached to it is useful to get a good hold of the camera. Only down thing is that the grip is not of very strong built quality and doesn't do the camera any justice in that respect. It doesn't fit the camera that well and is very prone to dust and water. One of my concern when I bought this camera was the specified temperature range (0 to +40degC). The 0deg was the most worrying for me as I do mainly landscape and nature work. But so far it has performed flawlessly even in temperatures down to -15deg. Ok the batteries to go low very quickly but as long as you always keep a spare close to your body, its fine. Strengths: Just about everything really! But mainly:
Some more in-depth reviews of this camera can be found in the following links: www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos20d (probably the best one of all) www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/20d.html www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/20d-part1.shtml www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/eos_20d-review/index.shtml www.photographyreview.com/cat/cameras/digital-cameras/digital-slrs/canon/PRD_324573_3127crx.aspx 
This is a generally very good wide angle zoom lens, ideal for
landscape and outdoor photography.
Image Quality: The first thing that I noticed with this lens is its sharpness. I found it a little bit better than the Canon 28-135mm IS and very similar to the Canon 10-22mm. The softness in the corners is quite visible at the wide end but becomes much less visible if stopped down above f/11. The vignetting is well controlled but quite well noticeable at the wide end, especially if a polariser is fitted. As for sun flare, it behaves pretty well, and much better then the Canon 28-135mm IS lens. I have been able to shoot quite a few pictures with the sun right inside the frame and not one bit of flare was visible. Build Quality: It is very strongly built and yet reasonably light. There are no protuberant parts which means it is well protected against dust and water. General: When used with a filtering system which requires a filter holder to be screwed in front of the lens, such as Lee or Cokin, at the wide end vignetting can occur especially if a polariser needs to be fitted. With my Lee filter system and it's two square filter slots together with a big 105mm polariser fitted at the front, vignetting occurs down to focal lens of 20mm. Now that's not really a criticism to the lens but just something to bear in mind for those that already use some filtering systems. Strengths:
Some more in-depth reviews of this lens can be found in the following links: www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-17-40mm-f-4.0-L-USM-Lens-Review.aspx www.photographyreview.com/cat/lenses/35mm-zoom/canon/PRD_144218_3128crx.aspx www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/canon-17-40.shtml 
This is a very good wide angle EF-S zoom lens. The 'S' in "EF-S"
means that it can only be used on Canon digital SLR which have
a croping factor of 1.6, such as the
Canon EOS 20D, or 350D. It certainly combines perfectly
with those cameras.
Image Quality: The first thing that I noticed with this lens is its sharpness. I found it a little bit better than the Canon 28-135mm IS lens. The softness in the corners is quite visible at the wide end but becomes much less visible if stopped down above f/11. The vignetting is well controlled but quite well noticeable at the wide end, especially if a polariser is fitted. As for sun flare, it behaves pretty well, and much better then the Canon 28-135mm IS lens. I have been able to shoot quite a few pictures with the sun right inside the frame and not one bit of flare was visible. Build Quality: Although not branded as a Canon 'L' lens, it does very much feel like one. In fact it feels very similar to my Canon 17-40mm lens. There are no protuberant parts which means it is well protected against dust. It does feel quite light, especially compared to my Canon 28-135mm IS lens. Note that as Canon does not brand it as an 'L' lens, it isn't sold with its hood, the EW-83II (really annoying!). General: When used with a filtering system which requires a filter holder to be screwed in front of the lens, such as Lee or Cokin, at the wide end it is necessary to screw in the filter holder directly into the lens as any extra filters such as a UV or polariser produces vignetting. Now that's not really a criticism to the lens but just something to bear in mind for those that already use some filtering systems. Note that a Coking P will produce vignetting until around 15mm even if the holder is screwed in directly into the lens. Strengths:
Some more in-depht reviews of this lens can be found in the following links: www.photographyreview.com/cat/lenses/35mm-zoom/canon/PRD_329221_3128crx.aspx www.dpreview.com/news/0408/04081907canon_efs_flash.asp www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/Canon-10-22mm-test.shtml www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-S-10-22mm-f-3.5-4.5-USM-Lens-Review.aspx www.completedigitalphotography.com/index.php?p=325 
Let's start by saying that this is a great lens. It has its
defaults (like all) but after using it extensively for more
than 4 years, mainly for landscape work, it has really given
me full satisfaction.
Image Quality: It is quite sharp for a prosumer zoom lens and performs best at around f/8 and f/11. Although not labelled by Canon as an L series, I find the sharpness similar to the Canon 100-400mm IS lens which is an L series. The image stabiliser is really a bonus. Ok it does add to the overall weight but sometimes you just don't have time or simply can't get the tripod out and it's also very useful if you want to travel light, or do sport like mountaineering, and still get some shots in low light conditions. One area where this lens does let down a little is sun flare. If the sun hits some part of the front elements it is likely to produce flare. Personally I haven't been able to shoot one picture with the sun in without flare being clearly visible. Build Quality: One of its down side is that it does fill a bit plasticy compare to L series lens but hey it's not the same price! The moving barrel tends to slide down by itself when walking around and the camera is hanging on your shoulder. This is something mentioned quite often. I must say although it sounds a bit annoying, don't discard this lens just for that reason. It's not that bad, and like everything you get use to it. It is a bit on the heavy side but that's because of the image stabiliser (again can't have everything without a cost). General: The 28-135mm focal lens available is really perfect for travelling light. I always carry it with me when travelling, mountaineering or climbing and it covers most my needs. One thing to note is that although on 35mm analogue equipment or full frame digital sensors this lens is a true standard lens as it covers from relatively wide angle to short telephoto. However when mounted on digital SLRs with cropping factors than the wide angle is lost. On the Canon EOS 20D for instance, which has a cropping factor of 1.6, this lens becomes a 45-216mm. So when I acquired the Canon 10-22mm lens, it wasn't luxury! Strengths:
Some more in-depth reviews of this lens can be found in the following links: www.photographyreview.com/cat/lenses/35mm-zoom/canon/PRD_83415_3128crx.aspx www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-28-135mm-f-3.5-5.6-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx www.wlcastleman.com/equip/reviews/28_135zoom/ www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=10&sort=7&thecat=27 
This is an 'L' series telephoto zoom lens. It is on the heavy
side but worth the weight considering the overall quality and
focal lens range it provides.
Image Quality: For a zoom lens the sharpness is very good. It does soften a little towards its the longer end. At all focal distances, it performs best at around f/11 and does soften a little when wide open and even more when stopped down. At 100mm focal lens the sharpness is equivalent to the Canon 28-135mm IS lens. This is a bit disappointing given the price and that this is an 'L' lens. No vignetting issue here (we are with a telephoto so no surprise). Build Quality: Well that's as good as it gets. It is very strongly built. The white coating avoids the lens to be untouchable when working under the burning sun. The only dislike I may have is the pumping mechanism of the zoom. You do get used to it but turning a ring is certainly much more comfortable. This also tend to make it more prone to dust. There is a ring around it, close to the camera end, which is there for tripod mounting and hence allowing for better balancing. General: At 1.3kg the lens is on the heavy side, but that's what you get for this strongly built telephoto zooms of this range. So as a travel zoom lens it may be a bit heavy. As for the price, this is quite an expensive piece of equipment but you do pay for what you get. Strengths:
Some more in-depth reviews of this lens can be found in the following links: www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=19&sort=7&thecat=27 www.photographyreview.com/cat/lenses/35mm-zoom/canon/PRD_83410_3128crx.aspx www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-100-400mm-f-4.5-5.6-L-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx 
This is a relatively small and light portable hard drive.
Functionalities and General Handling: Although it says 40GB there is actually only 37.2GB of usable memory even after a complete disk formatting. This is quite annoying as 2.8GB can accommodate for quite a few pictures and in the end you don't get what the box is actually advertising for! 
The interface is relatively simple and easy to use. There are a few buttons which allow browsing through the files on the disk, creating/deleting files and folders, and there is a button which when pressed saves automatically the content of the card plugged into it. So this is quite easy to transfer your images. All information is displayed on a small but clear LCD display. However, the photos cannot be visualised. This is always quite worrying once having downloaded a full 1Gig card of images onto this and not be able to check visually that they are all safely backed up. Although there is the facility to check the files once they have been copied, I'm not sure how much trust can be put on this software check. But so far I haven't experienced any problem. All my photos have always been successfully saved without any corruption. The speed of transfer is reasonable. A 1Gig CompactFlash downloads in roughly 4 min. Build Quality: The build quality is what lets this drive down. Ok it is very lightweight but it does fill very plasticy and cheap. The whole box is built of a top and back clipped together. The clipping system on the side of mine is already broken (and believe me I have been very gentle with it) and now I have had to put some sellotape around it to hold it all together!!! Ok it does the job for now but as soon as I can afford it I'm gonna buy another portable drive so that I have always two with me just in case one breaks I would still have the other as a backup. Strengths:
This is an inkjet colour printer that can produce borderless prints up to A3+ format.
Functionalities and General Handling: The installation is quite straight forward, with the amount of buttons and setup kept to the essential. The software driver allows quite fine adjustment of the final colour renditions, so with some good testing (and a lot of time and patience) it is quite possible to get results that accurately match what is seen on the screen without a custom ICC profile (although I certainly recommend to get custom profiles). 
The colours and contrast are very well reproduced. The black may lack a little bit of deepness but overall the quality of the prints produced is excellent. The results on Ilford Smooth Highgloss paper are simply amazing (gets very close to an Ilfochrome print!) One of the strength of this printer is certainly its speed, especially compared to its Epson equivalent. An A3+ print is printed at the highest quality in well under 2 minutes (on an Epson 2100 this could take well over 5min!). Each of the 8 ink colours is kept in individual cartridges so only when one ink tank is finished it is replaced. Also the print head is separate from the ink tanks. This has the advantage of keeping the cartridge cost to a minimum and to reduce the need of regular print head cleaning or alignments. The main draw back is the life expectancy of the prints mainly due to the type of ink it uses, i.e. dye ink. Canon specifies an expected life time of about 15 years for prints on Canon Professional Paper Pro (PR101) paper. This is quite short compared to some of the latest Canon PIXMA technology or to pigmented type ink (as used on the Epson 2100). The paper format is limited in length and therefore it is not possible to print panoramas on roll paper. This is quite a frustrating limitation. Build Quality: The overall build quality feels a bit too plasticy to me. The extending plastic front panel (where the final print ends up) is far from having a smooth extend/retract mechanism. The same goes for the back panel used to hold the paper before a print. Strengths:
Some more in-depth reviews of this printer can be found in the following links: www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Canon%20i9999/page_1.htm http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?page=5688&head=0 
A camera bag with the trekker in mind.
General Handling: I used to have the Mini Trekker but decided to change for this one as it had a better back system. 
Unfortunately I have found the back system still not to be
as good as it should be. When such a bag is filled with
camera equipment and a tripod, the back system is not rigid
enough to keep straight and therefore it is difficult to keep
the bag close and tight to the back. So in the end if I have
to spend a whole day out with my camera, three lenses and a
tripod, then I prefer to pack them all on my
LoweAlpine Skyline 65 rucksack.
In terms of space this bags can take in quite a lot. Personally I usually have it packed as follow. On the lower part I have my EOS 5D mounted with the either the 28-135mm IS or 17-40mm lens and in a side compartment the 100-400mm IS lens. Then on the upper part I have my remaining lens in a lens case, all my filters (Lee filter system, and all boxes for UV and polarisers), and all other accessories like batteries, battery recharger, portable hard drive, remote release cable, spare memory, flashgun etc. As well as camera equipment the upper compartment (the main one) of this bag allows to carry extra items needed for a day out like bottle of water, extra jumper, maps etc. With the equipment that I carry I can certainly include all this. Build Quality: Certainly the main strength of this bag (and most of the Lowepro camera bags) is its built quality. It feels very strong. The only let down being the back system which is not rigid enough. When the bag is filled with all my camera equipment and the tripod is strapped on the outside the whole bag feels quite unbalanced as the heavy tripod stands quite far from the back. The all weather cover that normally is folded in a pocket under the bag comes quite handy under a very rainy day. Only problem is that it cannot be used if a tripod is also on the bag (unless a very small tripod is used - but anyhow it cannot cope with my Manfrotto 190DB tripod with its 141RC head. Strengths:
Some more details of this bag can be found on the Lowepro website: www.lowepro.com/Products/Backpacks/allWeather/Rover_Plus_AW.aspx 
A solid all round tripod with a 3-way head.
General Handling and Quality: I have used this tripod heavily since 2003 and I have been generally very happy with it. The legs extend using screwing rather than clip mechanism. I prefer that as I find that in cold conditions the clipping can sometimes be painful and more difficult to handle. It is also easier to maintain the screwing mechanism when a bit of oil is required. 
The rigidity of the tripod is one of its strength. The down
side is that it ends up being quite a heavy tripod
but I find it a good compromise between weight and solidity.
When all the legs and the central tube are fully extended the tripod height rises to 145cm. Adding the height of the 141RC head the camera stands at 160cm which means the camera is more or less at eye level. In windy conditions where it may not be recommended to use the central tube fully extended (in order to minimise vibrations) the tripod will still rise at a height of 116cm, so camera at around 130cm, again still a reasonably comfortable working height. The legs are made out of metal. No insulation is provided which means that in winter holding the tripod for long or even short period of times usually means "cold hands". Some other Manfrotto tripods do come with insulation foam on some of the legs. This one unfortunately doesn't. The 141RC head is quite heavy but does feel very strong and is certainly well built. The rotating movement on each of the 3 axis is very smooth and the adjustment can be done quite precisely. The best thing about the head is the quick release plate. It is not too big so it can be left on the camera without disturbing too much and allowing for quick tripod mount whenever required. Neither the tripod nor the head are built with spirit levels. This is unfortunate as trying to level the tripod with a spirit level on the camera hotshoe is not so easy! Strengths:
Some more in-depht details of this tripod can be found on the Manfrotto website: www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/op/preview/cache/offonce/pid/2214?livid=68%7C69&idx=71 
High quality professional filtering system.
General: After having used the Cokin P filter for about 4 years, I ended up changing and investing in this higher quality but more expensive filter system. The Cokin P system was giving me serious vignetting on my wide angle Canon 10-22mm lens. 
The overall build quality of this system is very good. The size of the filters is large enough to allow usage on wide angle lenses without vignetting. This is made possible by using some special filter holder adaptor rings specially designed to minimise the area that extends in front of the lens. Although this system is quite expensive, at least it does come with very good quality protecting pouch and cleaning cloth. The system is quite flexible too. The filter holder comes as a standard with two filter slots. This can easily be extended to three or more. It also allows mounting of a special ring adaptor that can take a large circular polariser, again to minimise chances of vignetting. Strengths:
This is the link to the Lee Filters website: www.leefilters.com 
A cheaper, but not so well built, version of the Lee filter
system.
General: When I started photography, this system looked like the ideal start-up kit. The P system allows for wide angle use down to about 30mm focal lens (on 35mm format) without vignetting, of course depending on the lens. For wider focal lenses, it becomes difficult to avoid vignetting. 
The build quality is reasonable for the price but far from that of the Lee system. The boxes into which the filters are sold are far from good. Some of them leave some scratches at the centre of the filter. I was originally keeping them in the original boxes assuming they were well safe in them but realised after a while that there were all scratched because of the plastic seam in the middle of the box. So I had to buy a whole new set of filters and build my own protecting box. Strengths:
This is the link to the Cokin filters website: www.cokin.com |
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