I'd expect the mirror to go snap if it was hitting the lens once, let alone a few times?

I'd expect the mirror to go snap if it was hitting the lens once, let alone a few times?

I get the impression it is a very slight touch. It only happens when using high drive speeds and a re-seat of the lens cures it. The contacts are clean and seem to seat well and the lens works well on my 350D with no problems.:confused:

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with a Pentax - I have a K10D and love it.

I got mine as I still had other lenses from a Pentax film camera, if you're not already ties to a make, try them all out, not just Nikon & Canon but Pentax and Sony and others too.

I wondered where you were hiding. Probably behind that bloody big behemoth of a Prime:D

I have a prob with my Sigma APO EX on my 40D though. the mirror seems ot occasionally catch the lens somehow (I think thats whats happening) Caused me a lot of grief at eh weekend. Don't suppose you have any ideas Graham.

I'm pretty certain that the mirror will not hit the lens. This will normally only occur if you stick an EFS lens on a full frame or 1d model camera.

Check that the lens mount is tight on both the camera and the lens. Fire the camera off at high speed without the lens and see if you can here the noise you think is causing the problem. If it only occurs with the sigma, I would be tempted to suggest that the aperture opening and closing at high drive speed is making the noise. At the end of the day, if the shots are coming out OK, keep using it and try not to worry too much.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with a Pentax - I have a K10D and love it.

I got mine as I still had other lenses from a Pentax film camera, if you're not already ties to a make, try them all out, not just Nikon & Canon but Pentax and Sony and others too.

yup I couldn't justify the cost going canon/nikon with the amount of amateur snapping I do.

I'm pretty certain that the mirror will not hit the lens. This will normally only occur if you stick an EFS lens on a full frame or 1d model camera.

Check that the lens mount is tight on both the camera and the lens. Fire the camera off at high speed without the lens and see if you can here the noise you think is causing the problem. If it only occurs with the sigma, I would be tempted to suggest that the aperture opening and closing at high drive speed is making the noise. At the end of the day, if the shots are coming out OK, keep using it and try not to worry too much.

Ta very muchly. My thoughts were along the lines of the EF-EFS problem, which of course I shouldn’t be able to have. The viewfinder goes a little grainy and dark and eventually the camera won’t fire. Perhaps it’s time I saved up for a spot of longish L glass? (see you are doing it again:D) Do you think that the high speeds are causing the aperture to stick? it does seem to happen when I am in Tv mode so the apperture will be having to work quite hard I guess?

Interestingly my 17-55 F2.8 Canon lens is fine, I don’t tend to use the high drive speeds on that, but I tried it as a test and no problem.

Ta very muchly. My thoughts were along the lines of the EF-EFS problem, which of course I shouldn’t be able to have. The viewfinder goes a little grainy and dark and eventually the camera won’t fire. Perhaps it’s time I saved up for a spot of longish L glass? (see you are doing it again:D)

Interestingly my 17-55 F2.8 Canon lens is fine, I don’t tend to use the high drive speeds on that, but I tried it as a test and no problem.

Sounds very much like sticking aperture blades, has the 40d got a DoF preview button? try stopping down with a small aperture and see if the lens returns to wide open immediately you let go of the button... If not :(

Sounds very much like sticking aperture blades, has the 40d got a DoF preview button? try stopping down with a small aperture and see if the lens returns to wide open immediately you let go of the button... If not :(

Oooooh good thinking:thumbup:, you should take up photography, you’d be really good at it I reckon.

Don't Sigma et al reverse engineer the AF algorithms on Canon cameras, rather than license them, in order to make their lenses work? (why the DoF button doesn't work on some Sigma/Tamron etc lenses) Could just be the shutter speed is too quick for the software in the lens to keep up with and confusing it? As it will meter wide open and try to stop down to your aperture to take the shot, and will try doing all that for each successive shot?

Don't Sigma et al reverse engineer the AF algorithms on Canon cameras, rather than license them, in order to make their lenses work? (why the DoF button doesn't work on some Sigma/Tamron etc lenses) Could just be the shutter speed is too quick for the software in the lens to keep up with and confusing it? As it will meter wide open and try to stop down to your aperture to take the shot, and will try doing all that for each successive shot?

Yes Sigma reverse engineers their stuff. Although I have seen this lens being used a few years ago by a snapper at a boxing thing I was working on. But it is interesting that the lens is fine with the 350D @ 3.5 fps and occasionally gets stuck on the 40D @ 6.5 fps. Aperture sounds a likely culprit.

If the aperture diaphragm was sticking then it should be consistent even at lower fps surely? If it's only at high fps I'd imagine it's to do with the software and motors not being able to keep up, how new is the lens model? It's an APS-C dedicated one, so they may not have expected it to have to run at a high fps? Does the 30D do 6.5fps? Is the 5D an APS-C sensor as that's the only other higher range model they could have tested on if so?

If the aperture diaphragm was sticking then it should be consistent even at lower fps surely? If it's only at high fps I'd imagine it's to do with the software and motors not being able to keep up, how new is the lens model? It's an APS-C dedicated one, so they may not have expected it to have to run at a high fps? Does the 30D do 6.5fps? Is the 5D an APS-C sensor as that's the only other higher range model they could have tested on if so?

I think the 30D and 5D are both slower in the frame rates than the 40D. but the idea that when I am using Tv mode and say following the planes the other day as they flash into the sky and then down to the water and across the city skyline, there is a fair old bit of work being done by the aperture. The problem once manifested, seems to stay in the viewfinder and the quickest fix is the reseat of the lens. I don’t know if it is the jolt (unlikely) or the reconnection and reapplication of power that clears this problem. The lens itself is about 2 1/2 years old and there have been 2 updates of it since then (adding macro was the first). It’s not a dedicated C lens that I know of (it is a Digitally coated lens though) and I have seen it on a pro camera at a boxing (don’t know what the old 1D could shoot at but I am guessing it was quicker than my 40D).

I will examine the fault using the slower frame rate available on the 40D (somewhere around 3fps) and see if I can replicate this. I really don’t want to send it off to be fixed. An alternative would be to wait till I was at a major sporting event like Wimbledon where the Canon service guys fix things for free (I gave them a couple of bottles of wine the last time)

I'd say software issue, if it gets confused and doesn't reset the aperture properly then it'll show in the viewfinder? A disconnect of the power and reconnect will then reset it to normal?

Chuck it on Av and open it up as wide as it goes and try at the full 6.5fps, it shouldn't need to change aperture at all then? If it works fine then you at least know it's an aperture [changing] issue?

If it's a software issue though, they'll only have two options: to re-flash it (if they have updated software) or simply tell you not to use a high fps. So you may not be able to 'fix' it.

Yes it could well be so :( But never mind, it will make me think about saving up for a new lens:)

Sounds very much like sticking aperture blades, has the 40d got a DoF preview button? try stopping down with a small aperture and see if the lens returns to wide open immediately you let go of the button... If not :(

Tried this after shooting at a high drive speed and moving the lens around to look at light and shade and give the aperture a good work out. Sure enough once it has jammed I stop the lens down and press the DoF button and it clears the fault. So it looks the aperture is the culprit and I guess it’s a mechanical sticking type fault rather than a software fault. Thank you for the advice and Mort too

So a D40X would be a worthy entry level DSLR to replace my Lumix DMCFZ7 as I like the feel of it and the menu system seems to work for me.

Is there a huge difference in features between say the D40X and D60? I love photography but am a complete NOOB when it comes to some of the more techy features. I understand the basics like shutter / aperture / exposure etc.

This is quite a useful thread BTW

Yes I would suggest so.

I am generally used to an older camera (F301 body and similar age lenses) so I do sometimes miss having everything easy to read on the camera and lens itself as needed so, given the D40 doesn't have an LCD on top of the body, it's taken a while to get into the habit of pressing the button on the back and looking at the dislpay to see what is set or not. It has also taken a while to get used to adjusting apertures etc via controls on the body rather than the lenses, but the having said that the functionality is good and the pictures are good as well. It sometimes seems to expose things differently to how I would want but generally I've been very pleased with it. The battery life is very good, the VR lenses are excellent and the ability to use my old gear with it helps as well.

At the endof the day I think you've answered your own question - you said "I like the feel of it and the menu system seems to work for me" and that is half the battle!

I'm a Nikon girl myself but as mentioned go with which you feel more comfortable with. Nikons are heavier and have a sturdier body. Whenever someone hands me a Canon now it feels light and plasticy. Also the Nikons are supposed to be better ergonomically, easier to change settings - it's all there on the body rather than having to enter the menu all the time. Another thing I found about the menu - on the canons it's exactly the same on the SLR's as my on my canon compact! I found that a bit disturbing haha!

Loz makes a good point about having many physical buttons on a SLR: you can get the function / setting you want to change without having to go through menus.

Once you figure out where they are and remember where they are, you can change settings whilst still looking through the viewfinder, so your chances of getting a shot of what you want when you want are a lot better

At first, I'd lose so many candid shots because I was thinking "ahh that looks good", then take step back to see the whole back of the camera, do the tweaky setting, and then when I next looked through the viewfinder, the moment had passed.

And as Mr Pro says, I reckon the single better feature out of an SLR is the focusing control and speed. It really does blow compact into the weeds. Again, having dedicated focus setting buttons helps

I have lots of major control buttons on my 40D Canon and the menu is really easy to follow (very similar to the Pro models). Plus I have 3 custom assignable positions on the main control dial and can set things like ISO, Shutter speed, Aperture, Priority Tone control etc etc to this pre-sets. It makes it very quick and easy to have a setting for changeable conditions.

But do not ever suggest that the result are no different from those from an SLR

I think if you read my post again you should reconsider your response, and your tone.

I think if you read my post again you should reconsider your response, and your tone.

If you meant something else, maybe you should consider the way you wrote it

:rofl:

I think you'll find I said in decent light (ie ideal conditions) you'll struggle (ie didn't say they weren't different) to tell the difference. I am an SLR user myself and on certain landscape pictures in my collection I do struggle to say which was from the Nikon and which the Pentax compact. Once you get to needing dynamic range etc and away from perfect light, or need flash or anything really then the similarities end, but for the likes of holiday snaps there isn't the point in carrying an slr around. Certainly in Scotland the argument for a DSLR is pretty big since it's so cloudy, oh and as soon as you want an action picture there isn't a compact that'll come close to even the cheapest SLR - Satisfied?

I think you'll find I said in decent light (ie ideal conditions) you'll struggle (ie didn't say they weren't different) to tell the difference. I am an SLR user myself and on certain landscape pictures in my collection I do struggle to say which was from the Nikon and which the Pentax compact. Once you get to needing dynamic range etc and away from perfect light, or need flash or anything really then the similarities end, but for the likes of holiday snaps there isn't the point in carrying an slr around. Certainly in Scotland the argument for a DSLR is pretty big since it's so cloudy, oh and as soon as you want an action picture there isn't a compact that'll come close to even the cheapest SLR - Satisfied?

Ahhhh you didn't say that you were comparing it against a NIkon SLR - that explains why you found it difficult to tell the difference. :eek:

The new entry level canon 1000D is out now, it appears to be excellent value for money for a beginner's SLR. it's got some decent kit on it for the price. there's already good deals to be had on the internets.

Canon EOS 1000D Digital SLR Camera - Canon UK