Beginner Canon Eos 550d VS Canon Eos 5d Mark 3

Grant.Baxter1989

Grant.Baxter1989

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Grant
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I have had a Canon Eos 550d camera for about 4-5 years now and wanted to upgrade to the canon Eos 5d, im a bit confused at the moment as i spoke to a Canon store who advised me to not bother???? Some reason i cant understand why they would advise that to me other than so say the 550d has a better chip speed. So to those who know what they are talking about can anyone actually answer this question? Should i upgrade my camera and will it be any better for me?

cheers
 
Grant.Baxter1989 said:
I have had a Canon Eos 550d camera for about 4-5 years now and wanted to upgrade to the canon Eos 5d, im a bit confused at the moment as i spoke to a Canon store who advised me to not bother???? Some reason i cant understand why they would advise that to me other than so say the 550d has a better chip speed. So to those who know what they are talking about can anyone actually answer this question? Should i upgrade my camera and will it be any better for me?

cheers
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the canon store are unsurprisingly talking out of their arse unless they thought you were talking about a 5D classic possibly

the 5D3 is undoubtedly a better camera than the 550D but whether its right for you will depend on what you want to do with it

for a start what lenses do you have ? If they are EFs mount they won't work on a full frame camera where only EF lenses will - so if you've got a lot of money tied up in glass you might be better with a 7D2

secondly what sort of photography are you into

and thirdly what do you feel the limitations of the 550D actually are for you - a more expensive /better camera won't make you a 'better' photographer , unless the limit on you at the moment is something your current body isnt capable of rather than your ability or what lenses you have.
 
Well the camera itself I would rate well above the 550D. As you would expect, it's a "pro" level body but comes at a pro level price too..

Things to be aware of:

  • It's a Full frame sensor. If you have any EF-S mount lenses, which are designed to function only on crop sensors such as your 550D, you won't be able to use them. There may be additional costs as a result.
  • It will be bigger/heavier than you 550D - it's an metal body (mainly) rather than plastic, and has additional weather sealing. You may be less inclined to carry it around for long periods.

By upgrading you will achieve better low light shooting capabilities, faster AutoFocusing, and a fair few other bells and whistles. It won't improve your images at all and if you are not sure if you need to upgrade, you definitely don't need to. If there is some limiting factor you are finding with the 550D, then there may be a more cost-effective way of overcoming it and besides, upgrading the camera body may not be the correct resolution anyway.

Of course, if you are just lusting after some new gear and have some money burning a hole then go for it. The 5DIII is a great camera. Not buying one due to it's chip speed performance is a completely new one for me though....

HTHs

Edit: I seem to have repeated what @big soft moose said, it just took me a lot longer to type ;)
 
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thanks for that, well i wanted to make a career maybe out of photography. Still some way to go yet, its probably more of technique which i have problems with than the camera. I find that the photos i take sometimes don't look very good or the quality is poor, if im honest i know bugger all about different camera's which i suppose is a bad thing. I thing its more the quality and Mega pixels the camera has than anything, very frustrating when i see photos taken on a higher spec camera or even a compact camera.

I do a lot of landscape photography along with everything else, not very helpful i know.

Don't have many lenses at the moment with the 550d, i have a 50mm prime lens which is awesome and is the best lens i have. The others are cheap and not so good, its mainly distortion i find with my images i don't know why and have been on so many photography courses to find thats that and thats how they should appear. :thinking:

So even if i wanted to upgrade or change i would need the full package including lenses, maybe i will stick with the 55d and improve the lenses? what do you think?
 
Thanks both, get your point now i wont upgrade the body and look more into detail as to why or what i need to do to improve my photography :)
 
I think you'd be best waiting until you actually need to upgrade - you definitely don't need 'more megapixels' to take good shots - my highest paying image was taken with a 300D (6MP) and wound up on the front cover of a national magazine

admittedly if you aspire to weddings or portraits Full frame is probably the way to go - but whether you need a 5D3 or whether you could get by with a 6D is an open question

I'd also suggest that the higher quality images probably have more to do with the skill and experience of the photographer rather than any kit related limitation - buying a better camera won't solve this theres no short cut it just requires practice and learning.

better glass will help , but again a good photographer with an 18-55 kit lens , will still get better pictures than a poor photographer with say a 50mm f1.2 (which costs about a grand)
 
I'm a wedding rather than portrait shooter so studio lighting isnt my thing, but i'll take a look
 
I'd agree with posts on here. Share some of your photos and ask for critic on here. That's probably the best way of learning.

I'd also recommend lens upgrades before upgrading your body.

You should only really upgrade your body when you are sure that it is a limiting factor, not yourself or your lenses.
 
Grant.Baxter1989 said:
thanks for that, well i wanted to make a career maybe out of photography. Still some way to go yet, its probably more of technique which i have problems with than the camera. I find that the photos i take sometimes don't look very good or the quality is poor, if im honest i know bugger all about different camera's which i suppose is a bad thing. I thing its more the quality and Mega pixels the camera has than anything, very frustrating when i see photos taken on a higher spec camera or even a compact camera.

I do a lot of landscape photography along with everything else, not very helpful i know.

Don't have many lenses at the moment with the 550d, i have a 50mm prime lens which is awesome and is the best lens i have. The others are cheap and not so good, its mainly distortion i find with my images i don't know why and have been on so many photography courses to find thats that and thats how they should appear. :thinking:

So even if i wanted to upgrade or change i would need the full package including lenses, maybe i will stick with the 55d and improve the lenses? what do you think?
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I would say stick with the 550D until you are producing consistently good images with it. From what you have said so far, you have an enormous amount of learning to do.

I don't want to put you off going pro, but I would like to warn you of a couple of things. 1. To be _really_ set up with gear it is massively expensive. 2. The competition is numerous, talented and fierce. 3. It's not just photography you need to be skilled at. Business skills are just important. 4. As soon as you make photography your main source of income, think about what hobby you will replace it with, because photography is very unlikely to be your hobby any more.
 
Grant.Baxter1989 said:
thanks for that, well i wanted to make a career maybe out of photography. Still some way to go yet, its probably more of technique which i have problems with than the camera. I find that the photos i take sometimes don't look very good or the quality is poor, if im honest i know bugger all about different camera's which i suppose is a bad thing. I thing its more the quality and Mega pixels the camera has than anything, very frustrating when i see photos taken on a higher spec camera or even a compact camera.
Click to expand...

I think this paragraph nails it for me. You are seeing work by other people and looking at the gear they use. The camera is but a tool wheras the person makes the photograph.
The 550D with kit lens is a very capable tool for taking amazing landscape photos. Some of my best landscape work was taken a few years ago with either a 20D or a 40D - this was while I was doing a lot of landscape photography and therefore was improving my skills.

When I went out a couple of times last year with my 5DIII I was quite disappointed. Why? I had forgotten much of what I had learned and needed to work on my technique again.

Personally I think if you were to buy a new camera you would be starting down a road to disappointment as you haven't really identified why you need a new camera. It certainly won't magically give you better results without you putting the extra work in.

My recommendation - show us some of the stuff you are not happy with. Let the community help you understand to get from where you currently to what you want to be doing.

Also, remember when others display their work they are showing their best. And as photographers we are always more critical of ourselves.
 
RichardtheSane said:
I think this paragraph nails it for me. You are seeing work by other people and looking at the gear they use. The camera is but a tool wheras the person makes the photograph.
The 550D with kit lens is a very capable tool for taking amazing landscape photos. Some of my best landscape work was taken a few years ago with either a 20D or a 40D - this was while I was doing a lot of landscape photography and therefore was improving my skills.

When I went out a couple of times last year with my 5DIII I was quite disappointed. Why? I had forgotten much of what I had learned and needed to work on my technique again.

Personally I think if you were to buy a new camera you would be starting down a road to disappointment as you haven't really identified why you need a new camera. It certainly won't magically give you better results without you putting the extra work in.

My recommendation - show us some of the stuff you are not happy with. Let the community help you understand to get from where you currently to what you want to be doing.

Also, remember when others display their work they are showing their best. And as photographers we are always more critical of ourselves.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more.

OP, check out this playlist from DigitalRev if you think it's all about the gear:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDAnNjRJxOQ&list=PL7ECB90D96DF59DE5
 
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