Canon EOS-10D?

jryans10

jryans10

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John
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Hi guys,

I'm going on holiday next month, and have never used a SLR camera before. I have a bridge camera - but that's about it.

Anyway, I want to get a cheap used SLR camera that I can 'practice' on and bring to holiday with me before I invest in buying a brand new SLR camera (because they are quite expensive).

I found a Canon EOS-10D used on eBay for £114 and that includes the Camera Body, Battery and Charger so I'd need to buy the lens and the CF card.

Just wondered, is this camera good, especially for a starter like me?

There is also the Canon 350D at about the same price range (an extra £5) - not sure if this is any better?

Many thanks!
- John.
 
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It is a good camera if a little dated. Do some google checks for reviews, you might find the 350D is better at higher iso. It is also smaller and lighter. Look to see what you can get a 20D for as well.
 
I think the 20D was an improvement on it. They can be had for around £100 (ignore the buy it now for £149 they don't go for that). Bought a 20D 2 weeks ago for £103.
There are enough of them going through eBay that you should be able to catch one within a few days that will go for around £100. You will see some sell for £130 but that is the nature of eBay!

Have to say I love my 20D and it does everything I need and it produces images that are of very good quality. It feels great to use, has all the buttons in the right place, LCD screen at top etc,. etc,.
The obvious differences between this and a newer camera are the following so all depends how much they matter. They don't matter to me which is why I am happy with it;
- Small screen makes if difficult to review images (although has histogram, blinkies etc, so servers a purpose but just looks tiny compared to a modern camera)
- no video
 
The 20d is a better buy, in all ways - but missed by the above - the 10d won't take EFS lenses - so there's no cheap 18-55 to put on it.

IMO a 20d is a better camera to use than a 350d - but it depends on your priorities.
 
I've had a 10D and a 20D also.

I agree that the 20D is a better camera, but the 10D has one thing going for it... it's quiet... Get used to a 10D and then press the shutter button on a 20D and it'll sound like someone standing next to you has thrown an anvil into a tin bath.

If stealth is your aim the 10D wins hands down but in all other respects a 20D is probably better.
 
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The 10D is capable of good images, my only negative recollection of it (along with the 300D) was the slowness of operation. Just pic to pic time became frustrating. High ISO is bad compared to newer bodies, but at 100-400 is good, and still usable at 800 with care and some post processing. You could look for the cheap 18-50 Sigma lens to use on the 10D, while they are becoming rare they still pop up for £30-£50 on occasion (local shop had one with 6 month warranty for £49 recently).

The 350D/20D are both better bodies, as a travel body the 350D might be advantageous for size and weight, but both use a very similar 8MP sensor and have a much improved speed of operation and better noise control.
 
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rhody said:
If your budget allows try for a 30D or they have a 10D which blows a well know auction site away
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Not sure which auction site you are referring to but guess it isn't eBay. A 10D with a 35 - 80 lens sold for £67 yesterday in claimed very good condition.
Fair enough it may be safer to buy from a shop but £67, with a lens!
 
ernesto said:
Not sure which auction site you are referring to but guess it isn't eBay. A 10D with a 35 - 80 lens sold for £67 yesterday in claimed very good condition.
Fair enough it may be safer to buy from a shop but £67, with a lens!
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I was referring to the OP's first post.
 
ernesto said:
but it is eBay, it doesn't just have one item :)

3 or 4 10Ds sell pretty much every day for prices ranging from £50 - £130...
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and the Mifsuds one has a 3 month guarantee................................. no contest in my book but we are all different
 
I recently sold one of my 20Ds for £100 (plus postage) - so i certainly wouldnt suggest paying that much for a 10D
 
rhody said:
and the Mifsuds one has a 3 month guarantee................................. no contest in my book but we are all different
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Not much use if goes wrong after 4 months and could have bought two from eBay but agree, we are all different. Thank god eh :)
 
Sorry to jack the the thread a little but saves starting a new thread on the same subject.

What would you say is good price for this set up

Canon EOS 20D camera in excellent condition, Boxed with manuals, DVD, all leads and charger.
Tamron AF 55 – 200mm Lens with both caps, a 62mm step up ring with a 62mm Vivitar 62mm UV Filter and hood.
A Light Meter,
A shoulder camera bag with pocket and strap.
Two Camera batteries, one brand new.
A Canon Flash with case all in excellent condition.
Also is 2x EOS to M42 adaptors for M42 screw fit lenses

Shutter count on the camera is less than 3000.

ta
 
20D £120+ (because of low shutter count - it is never mentioned on the ones that sell for £100 and I haven't got a clue what mine has on it)
Lens - seem to go for around £50
Flash - all depends which one so no idea on price of that.

When weighing up used prices it is good to take a look at eBay and do an advanced search so you can tick the completed listings box and see what things have actually sold for recently. Apologies if you already knew this!
 
Cheers, Been offered it for £190. So seems a little on the high side.

Thanks for the ebay tip, did not know that
 
You can pay up to £200 for a 20D 2nd hand from a shop (for a good one). With all those bits £190 is a fair price
 
to be honest £200 is too much for a 20D - the one i sold recently had about 8 thou on it and that went for a ton - you can get 30Ds for less than 200 notes

that said even according to the price ernesto posted (which are nearer to the mark imo) £190 for the package isnt bad

thats

120 for the cameras + 50 quid for the lens = 170 , so thats £20 for the flash, the bag, 2 batteries, light meter and adaptors
 
Thanks for all your replies - has been really helpful.

I'm just wondering, what about a Nikon D70?

Thanks.
 
jryans10 said:
Thanks for all your replies - has been really helpful.

I'm just wondering, what about a Nikon D70?

Thanks.
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I wouldn't pay more than £120, pretty old now, and if it's a plain D70 I seem to recall they had some sort of manufacturing problem (rectified in the D70s).

I can't google now, but seem to remember something like blue light of death or green light of death, pretty sure it was something along those lines and was a D70 problem.
 
post deleted, I was talking rubbish 'cos I didn't read the post properly!
 
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£75 posted is pretty cheap, the 300D is a good camera to learn on, quite good image quality (especially at lower ISO's), only real foible is slowness of operation, but that could be considered a good thing when learning.

A new battery can be bought from Amazon for £3 or £4.
 
Dave1 said:
£75 posted is pretty cheap, the 300D is a good camera to learn on, quite good image quality (especially at lower ISO's), only real foible is slowness of operation, but that could be considered a good thing when learning.

A new battery can be bought from Amazon for £3 or £4.
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Thanks, do you know if the 300d has full manual controls? Only that's really what I want, not one where it 'decides' most things for me.

Thanks!
- John.
 
jryans10 said:
Thanks, do you know if the 300d has full manual controls? Only that's really what I want, not one where it 'decides' most things for me.

Thanks!
- John.
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Yes, full Manual, Av, Tv, Program, and green square "idiot" mode, as well as a number of creative modes.
Set on the round dial on the side of the hot shoe.
MN-CanonEOS300D-oben-ML.jpg
 
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jryans10 said:
Thanks, do you know if the 300d has full manual controls? Only that's really what I want, not one where it 'decides' most things for me.

Thanks!
- John.
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Bold statement but I would think that every DSLR will allow you to do what you want as that is what they are designed for. Some have more auto and scene features but they all have the P,A,S and M modes as that is what is expected of a DSLR.

And to me they all give very adequate image quality, certainly good enough not to get in the way of a good shot if used well. People find reasons to buy £5000 worth of camera and lenses but most amateurs don't actually need them and you should have just as much enjoyment on your chosen camera (I am not saying there is anything wrong with that as spending money on hobbies is fun in itself!)

Have fun.
 
You've made a good choice, nice one.
 
Good thing with the 300D over the 10D is that although they are both crop sensors, the 300D can use the EF-S lenses whereas the 10D can't. Just means that you've that little bit more variety to choose from when you come to buy some.
 
I think that the only real limitation of the 300D is that the max shutter speed is 1/4000 sec as in good light if you're using a wide aperture lens you can easily exceed this, so, if you intend to use wide apertures you may need an ND filter. Other than that you're limited (as far as I remember) to ISO 1600.

I found all ISO's useable especially with modern software. I've recently reopened some in camera JPEG's taken at ISO 1600 as RAW in CS5 and got a real improvement :)

Good luck with the camera, I hope it serves you well. The next thing I'd do is buy a Sigma 30mm f1.4 :)
 
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