Friday, February 13, 2004
Had a hands-on session with the EOS 300D camera this morning. Tested out with my Tamron and Canon lenses; they worked perfectly fine. For the first time I could compare side-by-side the sharpness of these lenses at the same settings and see for myself the effect of chromatic aberrations--it was extremely obvious when the lens is stopped wide open.
Then came along the test with the Sigma 70-300mm lens, and that was where the problems started. At wide open the lens was fine, then when it had to be stopped down--even if it's just one stop from wide open--the 300D gave an "Err 99" signal. Apparently the lens was not compatible with DSLRs (although it worked fine on my EOS 300 SLR), and I had to send it for re-chipping to update the lens' firmware. But I've got no time to send it down to the Sigma workshop, and I need the lens tomorrow to cover the hall production!
Panic, panic! Then I picked up my handphone and sent two SMSes to my dear friend, Kenneth. He has the updated version of the same lens (okie, not exactly the same model, but he had the newer version from Sigma) that worked on DSLRs. Within the next 2 hours, I got the lens from him. What a great chum!
Boy, sometimes I think I take him for granted. After knowing him for 3+ years, I find that he's a very nice and hardworking guy. A lot of time he was the one who bailed me out in both academic and non-academic stuff and I thank God for his presence in my life. And he is one smart guy, 'cos he and his team won some local Microsoft software engineering competition and he's going to Brazil to represent Singapore for the competition in the coming months ahead. Despite having to juggle so many things on his hands, he still takes time off to pursue the finer things in life.
How interesting God can bless me even through non-Christians. May God bless his soul!
Then came along the test with the Sigma 70-300mm lens, and that was where the problems started. At wide open the lens was fine, then when it had to be stopped down--even if it's just one stop from wide open--the 300D gave an "Err 99" signal. Apparently the lens was not compatible with DSLRs (although it worked fine on my EOS 300 SLR), and I had to send it for re-chipping to update the lens' firmware. But I've got no time to send it down to the Sigma workshop, and I need the lens tomorrow to cover the hall production!
Panic, panic! Then I picked up my handphone and sent two SMSes to my dear friend, Kenneth. He has the updated version of the same lens (okie, not exactly the same model, but he had the newer version from Sigma) that worked on DSLRs. Within the next 2 hours, I got the lens from him. What a great chum!
Boy, sometimes I think I take him for granted. After knowing him for 3+ years, I find that he's a very nice and hardworking guy. A lot of time he was the one who bailed me out in both academic and non-academic stuff and I thank God for his presence in my life. And he is one smart guy, 'cos he and his team won some local Microsoft software engineering competition and he's going to Brazil to represent Singapore for the competition in the coming months ahead. Despite having to juggle so many things on his hands, he still takes time off to pursue the finer things in life.
How interesting God can bless me even through non-Christians. May God bless his soul!
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