Double Touch

Here is the latest and greatest Podcast from DoubleTouch and Games Media Culture. This week we take a look at the new MMORPG: Age of Conan: The Hyborian Adventures. Click HERE to listen.

Falling in Canon’s DSLR range between the EOS 450D and the EOS 40D, the EOS 30D has for the past three years dominated the serious amateur market. However with the arrival of its spiritual successor, the 40D – released in September 2007 and offering a list of new features – does the camera offer good value for money over what it replaced, the EOS 20D? If you cannot justify the expenditure for the new 40D, but are serious about getting into photography and are looking at both the 20D and 30D, then this is the review for you. Here we are taking a look at the EOS 30D.

The first point to note is that the 30D is no longer being produced by Canon, so to find one you have to venture onto eBay or check out independent photo retailers for used or shelf-bound units. The price has dropped somewhat since its initial release and plummeted since the arrival of the 40D. Originally given a recommended market price of £1099 before settling at around £800 at the peak of its popularity, the 30D with kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6) can now be found for as little as £500.

On paper, the 30D shares many aspects of the excellent specification of the 20D. These include an 8.2 MP sensor, Digic II Image processor, a high-precision 9 point AF (Auto Focus) system, 5 fps fast continuous shooting and durable magnesium alloy body. In addition the 30D, due to sharing its sensor with the 20D, also inherits its 1.6x crop factor.

What the 30D doesn’t share however is its larger and sharper 230,000 pixel, 2.5in LCD monitor, which is a great new addition. This is the LCD that Canon has used on the EOS 5D and EOS 1D Mark II N and provides a much wider viewing angle. In addition to the new LCD screen the 30D picks up a few more tricks over the 20D, such as a wider selection of ISO settings and spot metering.

Spot metering allows for a finely tuned exposure in complex lighting situations, such as scenes with high contrast and wildly variable levels in brightness. The improved range of ISO settings [up to ISO1600] allows hand held shots in low-light conditions with the ISO setting now appearing in the viewfinder of the 30D. Further there is now a larger image buffer and a RGB histogram making it easy to get your exposure spot on at the scene.

Moving away from specifications for a moment, the 30D is an absolute pleasure to use. Providing a big body, nice handgrip and with a weighty feel the 30D feels excellent in the hand improving stability while shooting,. Certainly we found it to feel more professional than the 20D and personally I found it easier to hold, having large hands. The 30D actually weighs in 20gm heavier than the 20D, taking its weight up to 785gm; although this never caused an issue when we used it for long periods.

The specifications and ergonomics are one thing but how did the 30D perform in testing? Well on release there was an air of disappointment over the 30D only been shipped with Canon’s 8.2MP CMOS sensor, for many had expected 10MP. Now there’s no denying that there is a large gap between the two, but honestly if you are a serious amateur, or simply an enthusiastic hobbyist, it doesn’t make any difference. The 8.2MP sensor produces more detail, greater dynamic range and less noise than its predecessor and this is coupled with the excellent Digic II processor providing you with excellent images time after time.

If there is a criticism you could level at the 30D it’s that close up, and when using a wide angle lens, the images showed a slight softness around the edges. This is nothing though that we couldn’t quickly correct in Photoshop or Elements and if anything, it’s better for your images to be too soft than too sharp when adjustments need to be made.

There are a few more advantages to the 30D to over lesser DSLR’s. The energy consumption has been significantly reduced, with roughly 10% more shots per battery. Secondly the 30D incorporates Canon’s image auto rotation feature so any image taken in a portrait orientation will appear so in the LCD monitor. Thirdly the loud, slightly cheap sounding clack of the 20D has been replaced with a deeper and softer sound, making the 30D much more suitable at quiet venues. Of course all these aspects are built into the 40D, but for the price point, they still add up to a great package.

Lastly it’s important to understand that the 30D is compatible with the Canon EF-S range of lenses, a small but excellent series of lenses specifically designed for all the Canon bodies which utilise the APS-C sensor. This matters specifically if you are in the market for a wide angle lens that remains truly wide angle even with the crop factor. When testing the 30D we used Canon’s EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, which performed superbly. With the 1.6x crop factor the lens provided an effective focal range of 16-35mm in 35mm format.



Verdict

Despite being recently replaced by the superb 40D the 30D is still an excellent choice for any photographer, serious amateur or hobbyist. The image quality is excellent and is offered at a perfect price point. However, the 30D is only an incremental improvement over the 20D and if you own the latter, it’s hard to recommend as an upgrade over the newer 40D. If you are in the market for a top-end amateur piece of kit though and have no previous history of DSLR’s, then the 30D is now more than ever a great choice.

With the recent announcement of the upcoming 9-series from nVidia, spearheaded by the 9800 GX2 which it is rumoured will be released in March, the life-span of nVidia’s current top end 8-series is coming to an end. With both the 8800 GTX Extreme XXX and 8800 Ultra looking vulnerable, with the former now a year old, the question is: “do these cards still represent a wise purchase?” It is the GTX Extreme XXX that we’re looking at today; so let’s see how it stacks up.


Statistically speaking, the XXX is, as you would expect, excellent. Building on the standard GTX’s unified architecture of 128 stream processors running at 1.35 GHz, with a GPU clocked at 575MHz and the 768MB of RAM clocked at 900 MHz (1.8GHz effective), the XXX ramps up the clock speeds further. The XXX boasts a GPU clock of 630 MHz, a RAM speed of 1GHz (2GHz effective) and the same 1.35GHz clock on the stream processors. In addition, both cards run on the same 384-bit interface. This is a sizeable overclock on paper, specifically considering that the XXX uses the same standard HSF seen on the GTX.

The HSF however is perfectly adequate and remains relatively quiet even when dealing with the heightened clock speeds. The card itself though remains huge and as with the GTX it is 269mm long, so it would be advisable to measure up your case before opening your wallet. As with the GTX this card also provides a vast array of features including: HDCP, SLI, Dual DVI Out, HDTV compatibility and a TV Out.

In terms of overall design the card has not changed since the GTX. The XXX still uses the reliable 90 nm process seen on the GTX for the chip and the styling remains as sleek as ever on the board. Just as with the GTX the XXX requires two six pin PCI-E power connectors, with a heavy draw on the PSU. You need a serious power supply to run the XXX stably and it would be advisable to refer to the power draw graph at the end of this review before making a decision.


To test the titanic XXX, I used our Asus Striker Extreme motherboard in partnership with an overclocked and overvolted Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo. This set-up was then coupled with 2GBs of Corsair CM2X1024-6400C4, running at 800MHz and with timings of 4-4-4-12. The operating system used was Windows Vista and the driver revision was nVidia’s latest WHQL Certified 169.25.

As the list of graphs show at the end of this review, the results were impressive. Testing the card with Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3 and Supreme Commander the XXX consistently provided excellent performance, with only the two cores on the E6600 pulling down the minimum frame-rate. The vast amount of RAM on the XXX also allowed for a gradual curve of diminishing results at higher resolutions. This card is most at home at resolutions of 1680 x 1050 or higher and in all but the system breaking Crysis, allowed for playability at 2560 x 1600. It is important to note however that these results were based with the XXX running in Dx9. While the card was still good in Dx10, this is only in comparison with lesser offerings from nVidia and ATI and the XXX only provided playable (25fps or greater) framerates at resolutions of 1280 x 1040 or lower in Crysis.

Despite the impressive display by the XXX in the benchmarks we could not push the card any further with RivaTuner. Even the slightest overclock to the already aggressively overclocked XXX proved to be too much for the card and caused a system crash. Indeed it would seem that even a GPU of this calibre has its limits. It is here though where we hit the crux of the matter. With the inability to overclock the card further, it soon became apparent that you could almost match the speed of the XXX with an overclock on a standard GTX. Results were not kind to the XXX in testing this, with the standard GTX only throwing results 1-3 fps behind it after an overclock. Now of course the overclock on the XXX is guaranteed but it comes at a very high cost.


So what else do you get bundled with the XXX? Well apart from the standard quick install guide, latest drivers and manual, you get a few extras. These include two VGA to DVI dongles, a HDTV block (3-way RCA component), a SVideo cable and a six-pin to Molex power cable. Slightly disappointing however is that there is no top video game title included with the XXX. This feels slightly at odds, considering both the GTX’s pedigree as a gaming card and the slightly mediocre bundle described above. The XXX does however come with a two-year warranty.


Verdict

The nVidia 8800 GTX Extreme XXX offers almost unparalleled performance with modern games, with only the marginally faster Ultra taking the series crown. Unfortunately however, the card does not offer unparalleled value for money. With only a 10 per cent increase in performance over the standard GTX and almost an extra £100 on the cost, it would be foolish not to buy a standard card and overclock it. Well either that or, if you have serious money to spend, wait for the DirectX 10.1 compatible 9800 GX2.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the Purple Plum!

I meet Trevor Leighton in the pit lane at Silverstone. It is a cold but sunny spring morning and the weak rays of sun glint off the passing MG’s as another volley drives by. Standing in amongst the jovial and eager attendees, you get the feeling that today is going to be an excellent trackday.

This is none more true for Trevor, nicknamed the “Purple Plum” due to his rather excellent purple MGF. Sitting in the shade of the paddock the MGF -to which Trevor has many made modifications- waits patiently for its owner to return. Unfortunately it won’t be for a little while as today I’m asking what Trevor what he makes of MGs on Track and, of course, the MGF.

Trevor has come to the Silverstone trackday, one of the highlights of the MGoT’s year and incidentally sold out within a couple of days, from his home in Stockton-on-Tees near Middlesbrough. As a regular attendee of almost all the trackdays MGoT have to offer, this long distance drive is not new. In fact for many of the trackdays Trevor travels down the night before and stays overnight in order to attend. For today’s trackday Trevor spent three and a half hours travelling.

“They’re all a great bunch,” Trevor notes as I quiz him over the social aspect of MGoT. “I’m not that mechanically minded and there’s always someone who will give you a hand.” “The social aspect of the trackdays is good,” he adds and as for the sessions on track “it’s not competitive so there’s no pressure.” This is something Trevor appears to really appreciate. As we start to discuss his favourite tracks through the country another volley of MG’s flies by.

As a regular at MGoT Trevor has driven the best Britain has to offer. Well, apart from a few tracks right down in the south! From Trevor’s favourite track Caldwell to the stately Castle Donnington, to the Paddock hill bend at Brands Hatch, Trevor has visited them all. When I ask him about today’s offering he replies, “Silverstone is a good, full circuit.” Other tracks that Trevor has visited include Croft, Sutton and Anglesey.

So what has the Purple Plum done to race spec the MGF? The car, which cost £17,000 with 6000 miles on the clock, was bought by Trevor after just six months use. It has a 1.6 litre engine and churns out between 165 to 175 Bhp. However underneath its fruity shell Trevor’s additions include: lowered suspension, new adjustable shock absorbers, a different exhaust manifold with quad-pipes, roll bars and crisp new 16inch wheels. This combined allows the car to hit 60mph in 6.5 seconds and with minimal fuss to boot.

Before joining MGoT Trevor had a history rallying, specifically in the 1970’s. In addition he also spent ten years racing in Rally Cross, something that he moved on from in 1995. His first session with MGoT was at Caldwell in 2004 and since then has really enjoyed everything it has to offer. So, as Trevor gets kitted up for his next session, MG’s lining up and then pulling away in the pit just a meter or so from the Paddock exit, I ask him where we can expect to get a glimpse of the Purple Plum next? As the last car pulls away in the pit, Trevor fires up the MGF’s engine and states, after a little thought, that he will be at Snetton. A few seconds later he is on track.

It’s a cold and windy day today at North Weald airfield and racetrack. However that is not stopping MGoT from kicking off the New Year with a track day aimed squarely at beginners. Yes here today at North Weald MGoT is showing what it’s all about; a branch of the MG Car Club dedicated in organizing fun and sociable track days which drivers of any ability can take part in. And boy is it being taken part in! We have a plethora of MGs here on track, ranging from MGB’s to MGF’s, heck there’s even a couple of RV8’s! It really is quite an interesting spread of vehicles considering it’s a day aimed at newcomers to MGoT.

As I pull alongside the makeshift pit-lane the cars are being lined up by their drivers ready to undertake training in taking corners. This exercise is being led by professional driving instructor Andy who is coaching the drivers on taking a left hand bend at speed. The exercise basically involves an individual driver to accelerate down a straight and then take a left corner as quick as they dare. The corner actually widens out onto a runway so there is no danger of a crash, but down the centre lies a ridge, which today is “the imaginary wall”. This aids the drivers development two-fold, firstly tutoring them on the technical skills involved in completing a good corner and secondly, helping them to reach and hopefully increase their driving ability. It certainly sounded and looked fun, even though in one of the exercises Andy got the team to take the corner with only one finger on the wheel!

As a red MGB flies out of the pit and onto the straight, being monitored by MGoT’s very own Dave Livingstone with a speed gun, I head towards the rear of the queue as 59mph flashes up on the display. Today I’m here to interview the owners of a certain RV8 with a great, if not melancholy, history. Joanne and Michelle, proud owners of a limited edition ‘White Gold’ RV8 which is number one off the production queue and only one of twelve ever made, are just coming back in off the track as I reach the end. Today is their first ever day on track and the enthusiasm on their faces is evident; clearly they have come for a good time.

Unfortunately however, it is not just the fun, exhilaration and fantastic community that MGoT is known for, why both Michelle and Joanne are here today. On Friday the 8th of February 2008 their father, Bob Shilton, MG enthusiast all his life and owner of a marvelous Red RV8 roadster, passed away after seven years of ill health. Today at North Weald was to be Bobs first track day and he intended to share it with his two daughters. In anticipation of doing so Bob had bought and renovated the White Gold RV8 Joanne and Michelle are driving today and had given it to them on Christmas day as a present. They were going to attend North Weald together, but sadly today, the Red RV8 Roadster is nowhere in sight. “We are doing it in memory dad”, Michelle notes as we get closer towards the front of the queue. “It was something for us all to do together”, she continues as both of them express just how much Bob would have loved it here today and how if he was in the car with them he would be constantly saying to them “to go faster!”

Bob I learn, originally bought the car off a gentleman who had bought it off its original owner, the then Head of BAE/Rover, Ken Reeves. Once acquired the car had then be discreetly driven to Brown & Gammons at Baldock for a damn good going over, before being crept into the garage, ribbons and bows included, ready for Christmas day. Both sisters had absolutely loved the V8 the moment they set eyes on it and have been driving it ever since. And boy do you know it! As the girls fly out again to take on the increasingly shallow left hander, they seem completely at home and take the corner with style.

After the girls have come back in again I quiz them about the day, after all has it been everything that Bob would have wanted it to be for them? Firstly the car is handling “excellently”, Michelle notes before Joanne adds that it’s also been an “excellent experience”. “I haven’t spun and hit the imaginary wall”, Michelle laughs as the engine rumbles and we move forward in the queue once more. “Andy is very good”, Michelle adds, “He really encourages you to find your limit”. Overall it seems they’ve had a great day then. Just before they head out once again Michelle informs me that they fully intend to keep attending the track days and driving the RV8 in memory of their father.
We look forward to seeing Joanne, Michelle and the RV8 at various events throughout the coming year.