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Old 08-08-2005, 05:46 AM
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iceman (Mike)
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Some of the first tests of the 20Da

On CN, by the great astrophotographer Stefan Seip.

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthrea.../o/all/fpart/1
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Old 10-08-2005, 08:17 AM
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Striker (Tony)
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Just got an email from the states....they are sending me the 20DA today so give it about a week.....David (Westsky) has seen the 20DA in action from his Japanese friend that comes to Australia every year for a week of imaging....he is very impressed with the camera.

Keep in touch everyone I may have the odd camera for sale in the near future with having the SAC mintron now and the sac 10 ordered and to be released at any time.....I will have 1 or 2 too many camera's...even the toucam may be on the for sale list.
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Old 12-08-2005, 07:11 PM
rowena
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Remember Tony!!! I get first bid on the 20DA!!!

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Old 12-08-2005, 08:41 PM
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seeker372011 (Narayan)
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what do want for the Sac 10?

have you got it yet BTW?
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Old 14-08-2005, 06:22 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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Oh I can see me turning to the Dark side very quickly. looks nice and has some nice features. Looks as though I might have to sell the Pentax *ist DS and the 50-500 APO sigma telephoto lens ;-)
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Old 14-08-2005, 06:41 PM
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iceman (Mike)
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Quote:
might have to sell the Pentax *ist DS and the 50-500 APO sigma telephoto lens
To me, for $500
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Old 14-08-2005, 06:48 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
To me, for $500
$4000+ invested
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Old 14-08-2005, 08:25 PM
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iceman (Mike)
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It's all about deflation h0ughy, the camera is only worth $1000 now The lens you can just throw in as a sweetener

Also, anybody notice the Olympus E300 DSLR with 14-48 lens is $999 now too.. is that a good camera?
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Old 15-08-2005, 10:41 AM
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My 20DA arrived this morning.....dont expect any results for a while as I dont have a clue on how to operate it....too much is going on with family and new equipment so I will probably need some advice to get started....

Camera looks good........I just worked out how to charge the battery so thats a start....lol

Seeker...the SAC 10 has not been released yet.....going by the website and forums they started 2 weeks ago but thats not true...no one has them yet but it could be any time now.

keep you posted.
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Old 15-08-2005, 12:12 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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hey Mike this is from dpreview.com

Conclusion - Pros
* Good resolution, almost as good as the more expensive Canon EOS 20D
* Good color, contrasty images with consumer-appeal 'punch' (can be adjusted)
* Noise free images at ISO 100
* Wide range of image parameter adjustment (color, tone, sharpness)
* Good automatic white balance, indoors better under fluorescent light than incandescent
* Kelvin white balance option, all white balance presets fine tunable
* Selectable color space (sRGB / Adobe RGB), although with a caveat (see cons)
* Effective long exposure noise reduction
* RAW mode provides the 'digital negative'
* Good kit lens, provides wide angle zoom (although some vignetting at telephoto)
* Indication of setting adjustments on viewfinder display (ISO etc.)
* Supersonic Wave Filter ensures no dust on sensor
* Excellent Compact Flash write performance (3 - 4 MB/sec with fast card)
* Customizable exposure steps (1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV)
* Good bright and detailed LCD monitor (although only 1.8")
* Fast startup time, although still not instant (Nikon D70 has set a benchmark)
* Supplied Olympus Master software is well designed, same-as-camera RAW conversion
* Customizable 'OK' button
* Powerful, lightweight Lithium-Ion battery
* Playback magnification up to 10x
* Orientation sensor
* Value for money
Conclusion - Cons
* Recommended sensitivity ISO 100 - 400, images at ISO 800 usable, ISO 1600 not really
* Demosaic artifacts on JPEG and Olympus Master processed RAW
* Images not per-pixel as 'crisp' as from other D-SLR's (image processing / low pass?)
* Moire artifacts can be detected in fine repeating detail
* Noise tends have the appearance of color mottle not 'film like' grain
* Metering bug sometimes left under-exposed images (isolated issue?)
* Auto focus provides just three focus points, although AF performance good
* Viewfinder slightly darker than E-1, seems smaller than EOS 300D / 20D
* Over-saturated Adobe RGB images
* Poor continuous shooting capability, small buffer
* No focus distance indicator on kit lens
* Flash must be raised for AF assist
* Potential to lose images if CF door is opened during write
* Only USB 1.1 (no USB 2.0 Hi-Speed?)
Overall conclusion
When Olympus first revealed the E-300 at Photokina last year it wasn't too much of a surprise, many of us had been expecting (wishing) them to introduce a 'consumer level' digital SLR with a Four Thirds system mount for some time. Indeed it was my opinion that Olympus should have started the whole Four Thirds system 'revolution' with a consumer level camera and lenses, but hey what would I know?. The E-300's pricing versus the competition is pretty keen, $999 for an eight megapixel digital SLR and a decent lens easily matches the Canon EOS 300D / Digital Rebel (which is 'only' six yes-megapixels-sell) , it undercuts the D70 and is some $500 cheaper than the nearest eight megapixel digital SLR (the Canon EOS 20D, although that is a more proficient piece of kit).
So overall we were pleasantly surprised to find out the E-300 had eight megapixels and a decent sound spec sheet. Then we saw the camera in the flesh, I'll be honest it's not the prettiest design. Olympus engineers have been 'clever' and produced a horizontal viewfinder so the camera is shorter, this has two effects, firstly it makes the camera look wider than it is and secondly it removes the resemblance to SLR's that most 'switchers' (those going from film SLR to digital SLR) are used to.
Good news though, in use the E-300 is all function, it's comfortable to hold and easy to understand it starts up in a couple of seconds, focuses quickly, has negligible shutter lag, writes images quickly and is overall quite a nice tool to shoot with. Yes the viewfinder seems a little small and perhaps a little darker than the E-1 but you get used to it, yes the body is plastic but you hardly notice that, yes there's only one command dial but who's counting? Lets not forget another unique Olympus feature, the Supersonic Wave Filter, a big name for a solution to a problem many D-SLR owners have to live with, dust on the sensor. It seems to work, we didn't experience any images with dust artifacts and haven't once needed to clean the E-300 (or our E-1).
Next we come to the reasons people buy digital SLR's, flexibility and speed. They buy because an SLR gives them the flexibility to chose lenses and be able to change the lens they use to suit a particular situation. The other area of expectation is the flexibility to use a range of ISO sensitivities ('film speeds') at will, to wander in to a church and switch up to ISO 1600 and shoot without worrying too much about image quality. Here's where the E-300 begins to falter, put simply the Kodak CCD doesn't seem to like being pushed to high sensitivities. It's fine between ISO 100 and 400 (although shadow noise can be a bit more than we'd like), at ISO 800 it's usable but noisy and to be honest ISO 1600 is pretty much no-go area unless you're posting lots of VGA images on the web (but then why would you need eight megapixels?).
The next effect on image quality is image processing, it's clear from what we've managed to achieve with RAW files from the E-300 that it's capturing more than the in-camera CPU is capable of extracting in that second or two it has to do all its work. We also had problems with the camera's metering system, not one camera but two full production camera's produced the same 'problem' (in our experience anyway) which lead to under-exposed images and use of exposure compensation where I wouldn't expect to need any.
So that's the negative stuff out of the way, on the positive side the camera demonstrates good resolution (really pretty close to the EOS 20D), can produce some excellent results especially when shooting RAW, has nice punchy color and tone balance, has a wide range of image processing parameters (so you can get what you prefer). Most importantly it works well as a photographic tool and doesn't hinder your progress in actually capturing a moment. All things taken into consideration, especially factoring value for money this camera deserves our Recommended rating. If you're a real stickler for image quality however you may wish to consider other cameras.
Recommended
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Old 15-08-2005, 04:46 PM
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Striker (Tony)
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Ok who can give me a crash course with the 20DA or 20D on what I should do in tonights attempt of lagoon neb...I dont have a clue but I am going to give it a go tonight.

What settings should I be looking for.???????

I was only going to do some short 30 seconds exposures at 800 ISO as it will be unguided first up....does this sound right.
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Old 15-08-2005, 04:50 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Striker
Ok who can give me a crash course with the 20DA or 20D on what I should do in tonights attempt of lagoon neb...I dont have a clue but I am going to give it a go tonight.

What settings should I be looking for.???????

I was only going to do some short 30 seconds exposures at 800 ISO as it will be unguided first up....does this sound right.
take a dark frame, point shoot and cross your fingers I am sure that you will be producing shots equivalent to the meade ads in just your first night
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Old 16-08-2005, 09:31 AM
westsky
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Hi Tony , the biggest problem you will find with the 20DA is getting focus, don't use the LCD screen it can cause heat problems on the chip. just take a 10sec image of a bright star,adjust focus and repeat till you have it right, it doesn't take long.
capture in Jpeg format.
ISO 800
and try 3min shots and stack them, with the light pollution you have a 10min shot will wash out very quickly.
For the Lagoon you will need a F6.3 reducer and even then you may not fit it all in.
I would suggest you try the M20 first, it does fit with a F6.3.
Hows the EQ6 doing is it any better?

cheers
David.
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Old 16-08-2005, 11:35 AM
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acropolite (Phil)
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If it's like my 20D, long exposure noise reduction will do an automatic darkframe and make sure you use mirror lockup. Both settings are in the main menu. Make sure you use either the self timer or cable release.
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