Best upgrade after a 400D
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- matt
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My wife has swiped my 50D and uses her 400d kit lens with it, she is more than pleased with the upgrade. Appreciae that the body only will eat up most of your budget but its a great camera for the money and despite what I may have said in the past I think its worth the extra over the 40D.
Matt
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Why not spend the money on some quality glass for the 400D. That would be better than buying a better body with average glass.
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*** he said...
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...and +1, another vote from me. The 400D is a great camera - have you really found its limits? Is the shutter really about to give up? Remember, it's still sold by Canon new [in the shape of the 1000D].
Instead, review every image you ever took via an EXIF reader program, and decide on the focal length you use the most. Then, put that £750 towards the sharpest, fastest prime you can get, or maybe an L zoom...
Voila! I promise that there is no shot you can take with a kit lens zoom that'll 'pop' like the photos you're now capable of taking.
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In general I would agree but I have to say that some of the shots my wife has taken using the kit lens off the 400D (now on the 50D body) are now sharper and look to be in correct focus whereas the 400D ones always looked a bit soft (or more accurately oof), it could be our 400 was not matched quite as well to the lens as the 50D is. Shots that were of a moving item also now appear sharper, we both feel the AF on the 50D is working better than the AF on the 400. We have both a 50/1.8 and an ef-s macro, both these seem to produce better results on the 50D, we have not micro adjusted anything on the 50D so its not that altering the accuracy. The whole camera just feels like its working better for her, personally I dont like it though (just to put an even tilt on the argument) I prefer my cheaper secondhand 1D (Mk 2).
Each to their own as they say.
magicaxeman
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As said above its worth putting the money to new lenses.
However if you want to go for a body and lens upgrade..
There are some good deals to be had on the 500D at present, cameraworld are doing the body for £469 at present and the tamron 17-50 F2.8 for £299, they would pair up nicely and give you a good, fast, sharp lens thats streaks above the kit lens.
However if you want to go for a body and lens upgrade..
There are some good deals to be had on the 500D at present, cameraworld are doing the body for £469 at present and the tamron 17-50 F2.8 for £299, they would pair up nicely and give you a good, fast, sharp lens thats streaks above the kit lens.
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i had a 400d and now have the 50d. The 50d is amazing. Get a second hand 50d and a tamron 17-50 and you're on your way to some great photos.
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I've got a 400D with 18-55mm, 50mm f1.8 and 75-300mm. Just upgraded my zoom to a 70-200mm F4L 
I do quite a lot of wide angle work but the kit lens is doing the job at the moment. I plan to get into more sports stuff so a quality zoom was my upgrade choice.
My advice would also be to go with a new lens! Think about what sort of shots you do and/or what you want to do in the future. All will become clear after that!
That is, until you ask yourself what zoom / prime / wide angle to get, but that's a whole new thread
Oh, do you use a battery grip with your 400D? They give a nice 'balance' to the camera once you start putting the bigger lenses on! And you've got the added bonus of added battery life.
I do quite a lot of wide angle work but the kit lens is doing the job at the moment. I plan to get into more sports stuff so a quality zoom was my upgrade choice.
My advice would also be to go with a new lens! Think about what sort of shots you do and/or what you want to do in the future. All will become clear after that!
That is, until you ask yourself what zoom / prime / wide angle to get, but that's a whole new thread
Oh, do you use a battery grip with your 400D? They give a nice 'balance' to the camera once you start putting the bigger lenses on! And you've got the added bonus of added battery life.
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I had a 400D and would agree that its a great camera, if i never gave up togging a few years back then i would probably still be with Canon but with better glass, i made the transition to Nikon in the end, but i would say that if you are going to stay with Canon, get some better glass.
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I upgraded from the 400 to the 30D and love it to bits. Although since the upgrade I have learnt that glass is more important. The main reason I upgraded was the noise of the 400D at 800 ISO as I found it non usable, now I can take pics at 800 ISO on the 30D no probs.
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I still use my 400d and have found it does for my needs so far
I upgraded the lenses and found new joy with that, I would like to upgrade but cannot afford it.
Did think of trading in the 100-400 to get a 50D+ something else but thought better of it.
The 400d is a bit dissapointing at higher ISO but I am learning to live with it, if I had the money I would probably go for the 50d
I upgraded the lenses and found new joy with that, I would like to upgrade but cannot afford it.
Did think of trading in the 100-400 to get a 50D+ something else but thought better of it.
The 400d is a bit dissapointing at higher ISO but I am learning to live with it, if I had the money I would probably go for the 50d
Thanks for all the advice guys. The reason I need to upgrade the body is that the 400D got stolen so I have taken your advice and managed to buy a 450D in the classifieds on here and have borrowed a lens for now.
My OH wants to sell his 24-105 but tbh I don't have enough pennies for one of those yet.
Thanks
My OH wants to sell his 24-105 but tbh I don't have enough pennies for one of those yet.
Thanks
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Same here. Although I got the 17-85mm IS lens with the kit, I tend to use the 18-55mm IS instead. But for me, I needed:
- bigger body - I seem to have large hands.
- faster burst rate - 6fps is great for sports shots and wildlife
- better AF - 9 cross AF points
- better high ISO - no longer afraid to go above 400
Graham
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I am in the same boat with the 400D upgrade. I nearly went with a 50D as you can find them around the £600 and it is a great camera but I have decided to find the extra money and get a beautiful 7D 
Now as others have said it is glass that is the most important BUT top glass completely changed when coupled with a great camera. A colleague at work went from a 400D with several L lenses to a 50D and said his images improved so much. He was a little disappointed with the L glass on his 400D but the same lenses on the 50D gave the results he was expecting from the lenses (and now he has a 5Dmk2 and I plan to soon kill him and clam it for myself).
I have decided to get a new body because the 400D just doesn't give me the range I want with ISO and FPS and the higher ISO it does have is rather noisey so I don't like using it. Also I never take it out if it as much as drizzles but the 7D is weather proofed so I will be happy to get it abit wet which will open up a new world of photography for me.
So in summary if it is quality you are looking for only then think about glass first but if you are reaching the limits of the 400D in terms of ISO and FPS etc then jump to a better body. Although I would advise if you go down the body root make sure its a big jump or the minor improvements will feel minor and you will soon be thinking of yet another body upgrade.
Ok wake up everyone I have stopped typing
Now as others have said it is glass that is the most important BUT top glass completely changed when coupled with a great camera. A colleague at work went from a 400D with several L lenses to a 50D and said his images improved so much. He was a little disappointed with the L glass on his 400D but the same lenses on the 50D gave the results he was expecting from the lenses (and now he has a 5Dmk2 and I plan to soon kill him and clam it for myself).
I have decided to get a new body because the 400D just doesn't give me the range I want with ISO and FPS and the higher ISO it does have is rather noisey so I don't like using it. Also I never take it out if it as much as drizzles but the 7D is weather proofed so I will be happy to get it abit wet which will open up a new world of photography for me.
So in summary if it is quality you are looking for only then think about glass first but if you are reaching the limits of the 400D in terms of ISO and FPS etc then jump to a better body. Although I would advise if you go down the body root make sure its a big jump or the minor improvements will feel minor and you will soon be thinking of yet another body upgrade.
Ok wake up everyone I have stopped typing
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I still use my 400d and have found it does for my needs so far
I upgraded the lenses and found new joy with that, I would like to upgrade but cannot afford it.
Did think of trading in the 100-400 to get a 50D+ something else but thought better of it.
The 400d is a bit dissapointing at higher ISO but I am learning to live with it, if I had the money I would probably go for the 50d
Ignore me:bang:
Just upgraded tp a 50d and it is soooooooo much better
Can't beat good glass though