D60 environmental and maintenance concerns

[kwmullet]

[font color=\'#000000\']After scanning through the posts to relevant boards on both dpreview.com and photography-on-the.net, there seems to be fairly substantial numbers of D60 users who've gotten bitten by the firmware problems with dropped images.  This leaves me wondering whether I can trust the D60 for production work where I can't afford to have random images dropped by the camera.

The D30, however, seems to suffer from none of these problems, but I'm fairly certain that the D30 will give me 11x14-able images.

I haven't seen similar complaints about the Nikon cameras.  If I didn't have a big investment in Canon glass and an ongoing commitment to use Canon for our 35mm film shooting, I might dump Canon and go with the Nikons.

It sure would be good to get a sense of how frequently within the entire user base the D60 drops images.  Seems to never happen to some users, and happens frequently for others.

I'm also surprised that given the fairly narrow environmental restrictions of the camera, that there's been no discussion of what's considered safe shooting conditions for it.

-KwM-[/font]

[jwarthman]

[font color=\'#000000\']KwM,
I suppose it all depends upon your criteria. If you're expecting to count grains of sand in a large print of a distand landscape, then no, the D30 doesn't have sufficient resolution. But for many purposes, I think D30 images can make very good 12" x 18" prints.

Using my D30, Genuine Fractals, and my Epson 1270, I have made many 12" x 18" prints that were awarded 1st place in competitions at my local camera club - competing with prints made in wet darkrooms and digital darkrooms using scanned film.

My daughter similarly won awards for a 12" x 18" D30 print. This print was awarded "Arizona Resident's Award", and was voted "People's Choice" at the Arizona State Fair International Photography Salon.

I can't wait to get a 1Ds and see the improved resolution!

Enjoy!

-- Jim[/font]

[kwmullet]

[font color=\'#000000\']I don't see the D30 listed on the canon site anymore, and ritzcamera, bhphoto and keh don't seem to have any. Does this mean (a) Canon has discontinued the D30 and (2) that D30 owners are largely so satisfied with the camera they're not likely to part with it on the resale market?

btw -- regarding the 11x14/D30 issue, it seems that 11x14 is perfectly doable from the D30.  fancy that.  

Still worried about the D60, though.[/font]

[kwmullet]

[font color=\'#000000\']Okay.  I'm sold on the value of D60 images v. 35mm film.  The digital workflow is certainly more attractive to me.
I'm not stuck on the "romance" of processing film.

Before out studio takes the plunge and invests in D60 (and eventually 1DS) gear, I must resolve my remaining doubts about the equipment.  They fall into two categories: environmental and firmware.

ENVIRONMENTAL
The lower temperature limit for both the D60 and 1DS is stated as 32f/0c.  While North Texas doesn't spend a LOT of time at or below those temperatures, it does happen and I can't live with a camera that can't go where I go.  Of even greater concern is the upper humidity limit of 95%.  I'd venture a guess that at least 20% of the days here are at or above 95%.  Yesterday, I did some shooting in an arboretum -- I had almost constant lens fogging problems, but a bit of lens tissue fixed that.  What would happen if I went into that environment with a D60 or 1DS?  Would the imager just short out?  Would I be stuck with hundreds of dollars of repair costs or would I just be stuck with a US$2K paperweight in that environment?

FIRMWARE CONCERNS
Several folks on the Canon Digital Photography Forum have encountered a problem where some or all of the images disappear from their flashcard.  A lot of our business is weddings.  We simply cannot afford to drop random frames.  Some events, like a bouquet toss, are only available for one frame (well, two... the release and the scramble to catch).

I haven't found much satisfactory discussion of these issues out there, thus this new topic.  Hopefully, someone has some insight that will put my mind at ease.
 
cheers,

-KwM-[/font]

[chipmanp]

[font color=\'#000000\']Does anybody have a comment on this question based on field experience?  I'd be interested also.  Michael appears to have used it in cold weather at Yellowstone, but was everything hunky dory, or did it start to have problems at a certain temerature?  I'd be intersted not in "if you warm it up in your jacket you can shoot at this temperature," but rather what temperature it operates normally without the aid of a minute or so of body warmth.

Thanks,

Pete.[/font]

[kwmullet]

[font color=\'#000000\']

but I'm fairly certain that the D30 will give me 11x14-able images.

Correction: I meant to say  "I'm fairly certain that the D30 will NOT give me 11x14-able images"[/font]

[wardworld]

[font color=\'#000000\']More importantly to me...has Canon (or anyone else for that matter), attempted to resolve the firmware issues. I just got a D60 (after selling my D30) and have not had any time to "field test" this problem, but I sure would like to know that Canon was on the ball with fixing it..
Any news from them?
 [/font]

[jdmorrison]

[font color=\'#000000\']KwM,
I can't address your environmental concerns with the D60, but have certainly not experienced any lost images. I've shot about 4000 frames on my D60 (outdoors in KS, OK, CA), all using 1GB MicroDrives, and have lost none.
--John[/font]

[Ray]

[font color=\'#000000\']I also use the 1GB microdrive and after about 2500 images with the D60 have experienced no losses. I did have a big fright recently at about the 1000 counter. Whilst hopping rocks in a stream, with the D60 around my neck, trying to get a different perspective down stream, I slipped and fell to my waist in water. I had the D60 in one hand and whilst trying to protect my fall with the other hand, the D60 'clunked' on a hard rock. The noise was audible to my partner several metres away. Also, a fair amount of of water splashed on the camera, but thankfully it wasn't immersed.

You can imagine my relief when I later found the camera still to be working perfectly. I haven't to date noticed any irregularities in performance.[/font]