Hi ! I have never done photography with an SLR. Now I want to buy one. After reading these columns I decided to buy a Nikon F65 or a Cannon EOS300. Usually the price of EOS300 with 28-90 lens is 2990 French Francs (FF) in France. However, there is an offer here which gives new EOS300 with Sigma 28-105 lens in 2490 FF. The original price is supposed to be 3890 FF. Is this a good alternative for EOS300 with 28-90 lens. I cannot spend more than this.

Vivek

-- Vivek Ranjan (vivek_ranjan@mailcity.com), October 30, 2001

Answers

The Canon 28-90 is an appallingly bad lens, and should be avoided. I'm not convinced that the sigma will be a great deal better, but it shouldn't be worse. Generally it's best to stick to the OEM's lenses, but at this end of the market it doesn't make a lot of difference.

-- Isaac Sibson (isibson@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

Neither of these lenses are that great, but for general shooting they should be fine. So I would get the one with the Sigma 28-105 because it's cheaper and has a greater zoom range. The only downside is that the Sigma autofocus will be noisier.

Do get the Canon EOS 300 over the N65. The EOS 300 has film DX override and a 9.5% partial meter. Film DX override allows you to override the automatic film speed setting. For example, many experienced photographers shoot certain films such as Ilford XP2 Super 400 at ISO 320 or 250 for finer grain and better results. (Send it in for normal processing.) On the Nikon you are unable to do that. Also, the 9.5% partial meter will allow more control over your metering in difficult lighting situations that might otherwise fool the evaluative meter.

-- Peter Phan (pphan01@hotmail.com), October 31, 2001.

I bought EOS 300 about 1 year back. It was a toough decision between Nikon F65 and EOS300. Mine is with 28-90 cannon zoom. I have got wonderfull results with this camera. I also bought a 80-210 Tamaron Lens. But the photo quality of cannon 28-90 zoom is much beeter than Tamaron

-- Mudit (mudit@lycos.com), February 03, 2002.