Wow. What a palava.

Mark

I'd like to have a look - my colleague shoots on a D300 and anytime I've used it, it's been a case of WTF do all these buttons do?
Simplicity is a virtue. It feels like Canon have figured out what you're going to want 90% of the time and stuck with those, whereas Nikon delight in having a button for everything on the back.
I'm not saying the Nikon isn't as well featured, or that you have to dig through the menus to do things - far from it.

On the 7D, set format as one of your custom menu options, then like Mark it's two clicks.

"Copy" when used for lenses, as I understand it, tends to be used in a similar way to "photocopy". It seems sometimes the QC at the factory isn't quite as good as it can be, and you get an occasional "bad copy" of a lens. I can't say I've ever had that experience, but I know a couple of pros who have, and returned the dodgy lens for another "copy".

My view of "copy" would be for example; I have a Tamron 17-50 and A.N. Other has a Tamron 17-50. My copy is lovely and sharp at f/4 but his shows lots of softness in the corners.

Due to minor differences during manufacturing the lenses these things can happen e.g. decentering. The other guy in this case might argue he got a "bad copy" and even return it.

Right, thanks everybody. That focal length thing was handy, thank you.

So ultimately, 70-200 on either a Nikon or Canon crop should be fine for all day on the mountain. But no good indoors (aside from looking ridiculous!) or for anything more general? If that's the case, that's ok. That means I can get something more general if I want, or just a good prime. What are people saying about primes on crop? 35 or 50? I have indoor low light, flashless shots in mind, mostly in bars. I'd also like to be able to shoot landscapes, but I imagine that's where a 3rd lens comes in?

The "copy" thing doesn't happen with Canon, Nikon and Pentax lenses then? They're all good and no batch problems?

Thanks again for everything guys

Indoors, something wide can be handy like a 24mm or a 28mm so you're not having to take big steps away from your subject to frame it, a 50mm is a great portrait lens (and on the street) and landscapes usually warrant something like a 24/28mm lens. Again, I've done some decent landscape shots on a 50mm.

You can get a good and bad copy of ANY lens. I guess with something heavy and expensive from the major manufacturers the quality is likely to be more consistent though.

As for 35 or 50 (on APS-C) I've never used a 35 to claim one way or the other but as both Nikon and Canon offer 'nifty fifties' that would seem the obvious way to go.

A 35mm FX lens on a crop sensor is more akin to a 50mm anyway, no?
I've taken some wonderful landscape shots with my 50mm lens, but that doesn't mean I didn't find it restrictive.
Maybe I'm spoiled with my 14-24mm FX lens for landscapes.
I'd imagine a 70-200mm would be fine though, as my main workhorse lens was, until very recently, a 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6, and I was very happy with the results from it.

Mark

That Pentax looks sweet!

Hmmmm......

It is! If I wasn't gonna be spending loads of time trying to focus on and shoot fast moving people, I'd probably get one!

Out of interest, anyone got any experience with the Canon refurb outlet on eBay?

http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=canon_uk1&ftab=AllFeedback&rt=nc&myworld=true

The feedback is worrying, but the prices are ridiculous. Would you?

To be fair that review is on a Pentax Forum so there could be some bias.

On the other hand it is a cracking camera and I love mine. Its sensor is rated (or was, I haven't checked recently) on Dx0Mark as the best APS-C around and has better dynamic range than a Nikon D3! For a camera costing less than £700 it's pretty impressive.

I'd take it over a D7000 and 60D any day. Over the 7D... I'm not so sure. Whilst I've seen evidence the AF on the K-5 is as good as the competition (being the D7000 and 60D) the general opinion on the web is the AF can fall behind compared to the 7D. If sports are your thing then it's something worth doing research on.

The feedback's not that worrying is it?

One of our students bought a Chinese 5DmkII from eBay, so no UK warranty, but the firm in Glasgow who deal with Canon's warranties will cover the warranty instead of Canon UK.
That said, he's had the CF pins in the body go US, and now it's needing recalibrating. I'm sure it'll be fine once it's been taken apart again.

Well first off, it's a lot of money to spend via Paypal. Or am I overly worried about that?

But secondly, seems to be lots of issues with delivery times and people having to return. Especially considering this is supposed to be "actual" Canon. You'd think they'd sort that kind of thing out - no?

It's not difficult to have the jump on a camera that was brought out three years earlier. (8+p

Mark

I wouldn't worry about sending that much via PayPal. Why is it different to sending a fiver?

Also, I note "Canon Outlet, the official and exclusive Canon-branded web reseller, is operated by Digital River." is on their eBay pages, so presumably Digital River are responsible for reselling this stuff rather than Canon UK directly.