George and others,
Thank you for your reply to my question re: camera purchase dilemna. You
mentioned the Pop Photo article of July 93. Do you know where I can find this
or any other articles on the IS-3?
Also: Does anyone have experience with Beach Camera in New Jersey
(www.BEACHCAMERA.com)? They advertise the IS-3 for $399.
Thank you very much.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 17:47:20 -0700
From: "George M. Anderson" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hi. I think it's an easy choice: **IS-3**
Reliable? I had an IS-1 for 2 years and then bought an IS-3, used and
have had it for close to 3 years. No problem with either one.
Money? I think you can get a brand new IS-3 for $399.00, altho it might
be more, used ones around 300 give or take.
Separate parts? None. Dual-tube flash built in, winder built in. 35-180
ED zoom built in. And its a great lens (see Pop Photo test july 1993)
Manual focus? Yes. The IS-3 is normally full auto-focus (no Nikon F-5,
but it is quite fast and accurate) and the zoom lens is powered too, so
you can change focal lengths at touch of zoom button. 2 speeds of
zoom. And it works quite well, much better and more precise than power
zooms on P&Ss. Now, if for some reason you want to focus manually, the
zoom buttons double as manual focus. So you must zoom to focal length
first, then switch to manual focus. Then adjust focus with zoom
buttons. Handy way to set up portraits etc where you want same focus
point for a series of shots and don't wanna have to worry about the AF
rectangle. (You can easily get in these shots with the IR remote, $20 or
so)
Exposure modes: more than I can remember, but all 3 basics are there:
shutter-priority, aperture-priority and **manual**. Also, it's got a
spot meter.
The 2 accessory lenses (28mm and 300mm) also are quite good and cost
under $100 each if you want to expand in future. And, probably the best
addition, is the G-40 flash. The buit-in flash is quite good.
Automatically covers the entire zoom range with the dual tubes, and has
the usual anti-red-eye mode. But, the G-40 (at ~ $140) adds: coverage
to 28 and 300, rear curtain sync, multi flash, FP flash (unless you're
in the US) auto-zooming flash - zooms with the lens, and more. But best
of all, it can point in any direction, allowing bounce flash and other
creative flash work. I get fantastically lit portraits with just this
setup.
Hope this helps.
George
PS: I don't see any problem with the polarizer at all, except possibly
may throw the spot meter off if it's linear rather than circular
polarizer. Lens has standard 55mm threads.
--
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Walt Disney Feature Animation - Burbank
(818)526-3216
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