Ok, did some nighttime testing and I am back with some impressions.
Sadly it wasn't a very wise idea LOL. I was tired, had to piss and it's cold..
So, I picked up a parking lot and shoot a test picture with the Pro 1. That's ISO 50, exposure time 15 sec and F was at 3.2
I then started to test the 350D with its standard 18-55 lense. and after 2 sec I was pissed off already. With the pro 1 I always use the viewfinder, but not when using a tripod, where the rotating LCD is sooooooo practical. I was already suffering from some pain in my back, so it was really sucky to shoot pics.
Also, another negative point is the viewfinder itself. I wear glases and with them I can't see the whole picture when looking through it. I can with the Pro 1. It's a minor problem but have to get used to it.
And finally, I think those low to medium grade lenses are not up to the task of shooting at night. It wasn't easy to focus and actually most pics are un-postable since too blurry.
Last negative point, the aspect ratio of the pics... instead of 1600x1200 you get 1600x1067 and 1024x768 is 1024x683.. WTF! Luckily I always crop my pics, and with 8 MP it's easy to still obtain the proper 4/3 ratio I still prefer
Details actually.
So, the pictures at ISO 100 were blurry, but I could save this one, ISO 400, 5 sec exposure and F7.1
Well, the Pro 1's still looks better, especially colorwise, but I didn't play with the white balance (in any of them), and every camera is different.
For these pics I was at about 15 meters from the car. The Pro 1 was basically shooting at its max focal lenght (the max at which it can still focus since lately at full lenght it can't anymore), and same goes for the 55mm
I then switched to the 90-300mm and took a pic from the same position, at 90mm, so the "wider" field possible. Got this
LOL!
At 300 I was able to have the wheel filling the picture completely.
I walked backwards untill I was around 50 meters from the car and still impossible to have it completely inside the picture at 300mm. Couldn't try to walk some more since there was a wall LOL. Basically impossible to use the 300mm in town I guess, but it will be precious at events or on track. Even without a stabilizer IMO.
So, first impressions are not as good as you might expect, but well, considering the situation, I was expecting it to be like that. Wanted to wait for tomorrow to come and test in daylight first but impossible to resist.
Anyway, definitely, to shoot at night the Pro 1 is much more practical with it's rotating LCD. Period.
Can't wait to test it tomorrow with daylight because I am sure it will be a blast!
On the positive side, since the 350D uses the same mem cards as the Pro 1, I am not forced to install new software but I just use the Pro 1 to transfer the pics
