Advice for new Canon EOS DSLR set-up please

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01steven

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Hi
I'm about to enter the world of Canon EOS Digital SLR.
For many years I had an old EOS 650 print film camera which has served me very well.

I have 3 lenses for this:
A prime 50mm f/1.8, a 20-80mm and an 80-200

I bought a Canon A95 to get into digital a few years ago, and now I want to make the full digital SLR switch (and would you believe it my A95 packed up on me last night- think the Canon gods are trying to force me into a DSLR purchase sooner!)

If circumstances were different I'd go out and buy a new 40D, but unfortunately funds are a bit tight right now.

So my thoughts are to maximise my budget and buy used (probably from ebay).

I'm looking currently at a 350D/Digital Rebel XT which I can pick up for about £250 (I'm in UK). My thoughts are to buy one body only and buy a good lens or two extra, rather than using the bundled 18-55 which I understand is a cheap lens and not that good quality.

I know I could use my old lenses on this new digital camera but obviously the focal lengths will change.
So I do want the equivalent of a 50mm lens for the new digital set-up.
First question- would a modern Canon 50mm actually be 50mm on a DSLR? If not, what focal length would be the equivalent of my old 50mm?

Assuming 50mm does equal 50mm (!), I've seen there's a 50mm f/1.4, which I thought might be a good investment- so that one day I could upgrade the camera but will have good lenses.

Please could you let me know your thoughts? Nothing set in stone here, happy to be persuaded I've got it all wrong (invest in better camera not lens etc.)

Many thanks
 
The 50mm lenses are very very good, there's hardly any glass in them so the quality is amasing for how little they cost.

DSLRs that arn't full frame (i.e. the 350/400D, 40D and 1D) will have a crop of about 1.6/1.8 so you loose a few milimeters I think.

I'd also try and go for a 400D, the improved features compared to the 350D make it worth spending a bit extra.
 
Welcome Steven :). Some good advice there - the 50mm f/1.8 is a cracker, and gives some great DoF effect shots. It's effective focal length will be 80mm on a x1.6 crop body, so a great portrait lens. Effective 50mm length would then be around 35mm instead. I would suggest sticking with the 50mm and your existing zoom, although maybe consider a better quality 'walkaround' telephoto, something like a 17-50 Tamron or Sigma (which are f/2.8 through the range), or maybe a Sigma 17-70mm if you wanted a bit more reach. Purchase-wise, you'll probably get a little more for your money if you put an ad in the Wanted section on here, plus a more trustworthy transaction.

Hope this helps, and good luck.
 
Hi and :welcome: to the forums :D

The crop factor on a 350D is 1.6, so your 50mm lens will give you the effective focal length of 80mm. To get the equivilent of 50mm you'll need something around the 30mm area, something like the Canon 28mm f2.8 or the Canon 35mm f 1.4 as a couple of examples
 
You can use your old lenses. But you'd need to increase the focal length to get the 1.6 crop frame equivalent. You 50mm would be equivalent to an 80mm lens on a full frame camera. So If you shoot lots of landscapes or wide angle shots, your lose this with you current glass. You can pick up the kit lens for £20 or less on ebay. This is 18-55, which is equivalent to 28-90.
 
Thanks for all replies so far.

A couple more questions if you don't mind!

I've heard that the entry-level digital SLRs (350D/400D) are physically small. Whilst lightness is obviously an advantage in many cases, I'm used to having a nice firm grip on my old 650 and it feeling substantial in my hand. Not sure to what extent this will be an issue, but perhaps I'd be better off looking at an old 20D or 30D.

I think I can get a used 20D for not much more than a used 350D.

Also, now I've had it clarified that to get the same focal length as my old 50mm I'd need to get something like a 28mm or 35mm, it's clear that I won't be able to get as fast a lens as my f/1.8 without spending fortunes. That seems a shame. Are there any fast 28 or 35mm that won't break the bank (I really want to stick with Canon).

Also what are the general risks involved regarding buying a used lens or indeed a used camera body? I'll try and find one that appears to have had little use (although I appreciate people can write anything on their descriptions). Some ads I've seen refer to the number of shots the body's taken. How many is too many?!

Thanks for all your assistance.
I'm very excited about my imminent new purchases!
 
If size of the body is a concern, I'd say you'll find a 350/400D too small in your hand. Possibly you'd be more comfortable with a used 20D or 30D :)

EDIT: You could always put a battery grip on a 350 / 400D of course ;)
 
Putting the size issue aside, would a 20D get me better results than a 350D, even though it's slightly older technology?
 
Yeah the 20D is better than a 350D in the same way that the 30D is better than a 400D, it's a similar comparison.

If you can afford to get a 20 or 30D then go for it, you will get better results compared to a 350 or 400D.

The hiaracy for the EOS range goes like this:

Professional Full-Frame: 1Ds MkI / MkII / MkIII
Professional High-Speed: 1D MkI / MkII / MkIII
Semi-Professional Full-Frame: 5D
Prosumer: 20D, 30D, 40D
Consumer: 300D, 350D, 400D
 
may i highly recommend the 30D, it's a fantastic piece of kit and worth the extra over the 20D due to its improved shutter (has a longer life than the 20D)
 
Thanks for all the replies so far.
I think the 20D seems like a very sensible choice.
30D is pushing my budget really.
Just a question of which lens to go for - I think I'll keep my 50mm f1.8 as it's a great lens and can now be used for portrait work.
So I need to decide if it would be best to get a 20D with the 18-55 lens that comes bundled with it, or try and find a good prime lens at 28 or 35mm.
The sort of lenses mentioned in the thread though will probably stretch my budget.
 
well sorry to throw cold water on those more knowledgeable and experienced than myself, but I am finding the 18-55 kit lens to be quite reasonable, within bounds, especially for the cost. Its obviously not the world's greatest lens, but I would say its far from being the worst, and for a very small amount of money they are worth trying, especially as it reaches down to that 18mm (equivalent to 29mm on 35mm cameras). Maybe there is some quality variation and this time I got a good one, I was expecting a right horrible result from it according to reputation, but I have been genuinly surprised. Quite useable if on a tight budget. . . . but I'm just a family snapper.
 
samples here, http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/lawrence-breva750/Stinkwheel%20Show%2016%20Sept%202007/
only ones I've uploaded from the kit lens, the first 2 were taken on the old 28-105 otherwise all 18-55 kit on the 400d, straight from camera the only processing was resizing, just ask if you want a 100% of any area of any of them for a detailed look.

Conditions were mainly very bright sun, with the sun behind the marquee so usually looking at the shadow side of everything and the sun onto the lens (amazingly only one shot dumped for mega lens flare). Yes the quality goes a bit in the corners, leaves on trees come out purple against the sky.
 
After much consideration, and reading various people's thoughts on the issue on this and other forums, it looks like what I'm going to do is buy a new 400D with the 18-55 kit, and possibly also an extra lens - either the 28mm f/2.8 or the 35mm f/2.0.

My reasons for this are mostly because I'm nervous about buying second hand equipment. Although my trusty old 650 lasted for almost 20 years, my Powershot A95 packed up on me this week and will cost £100+ to repair.

It's clear that in this day and age complex electrical equipment, no matter how good the manufacturer is, can fail (I've seen this on new Mercedes and BMW's so I'm sure Canon cameras suffer too). Although I can get a 20D for about £300 I'm worried how much use it's had, and what would happen if it did just break on me.

The 400D has a cashback offer now, so buying it with the kit lens from Amazon will only cost me £350 in total.

It seems a remarkably good deal, and from what I can gather the picture quality will not be too disimiliar to the 20D- it'll just be smaller in my hand and wont' have quite so many features (although in some ways will have more- bigger screen, more Megapixels, dust removal etc.)

So if anyone has any thoughts on which of those 2 lenses would be better for me as an everyday lens to do the job that my 50mm f/1.8 did for me on my 650, I'd appreciate it.

Many thanks
 
I dont know the details of the 20d but it may be better than my 400d which struggles with ISO settings. The 400d has 100, 200, 400, 800 & 1600. The 400 is pretty good generally looks far superior to 400 film to me, 800 is usable but gets very noisey (grainy)in dim areas and 1600 is good too but obviously worse if not in bright conditions. Whilst the 400d is pretty good, it may be that a 20d is better still on ISO performance and I am currently going through a phase of finding that iso performance appears to be a major factor on these digital beasties to get best results.

My theory, currently hitting me hard between the ears is :
higher iso allows smaller apertures (bigger f number) where the lenses can get their better sharpness to feed the resolution on the sensor. The last stop or 2 of the open end of aperture on my cheapish lenses appears to be soft, but get them to f8, 11 or 16 and they are crisper and importantly depth of field is more useable too. The ability to crop and enlarge your shots really makes depth of field errors a pain, the depth of field appears to get shorter and so focus errors become very obvious as the image gets bigger.

Others may like to comment as I am working this out with a lot of trials and mainly error at the moment, also I dont know how the 20d would relate to the 400d on iso abilities.
 
I understand your feelings on buying second hand but I'm sure one of the genuine members of this forum may have a decent 20D or 30D for sale at this time or sometime in the near future now that the 40D is out. Keep an eye on the for sale forum or place a wanted add.
 
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