EOS 50d or 5d mk1

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arron
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Hi wonder if anyone can help
I Currenlty have a 40d witchhas seen better days but have been left some money to spend on equipment and i dont no witch camera to get either a eos 50d or a 5d mk1. i use my camera mainly for live bands so **** one would be the best to buy?

Cheers
Arron
 
5D without question.

The 50D may be quite good at low light work but the 5D mk1 is much better. Plus you have the added bonus that fast lenses with an appropriate field of view are cheaper.
 
Reading up on the 50D suggests there is little point in going from the 40D to the 50D so if you're ONLY choice is the 50D or 5D Mk1 then it's the 5D without question :)

Just make sure you have good glass for the 5D though, otherwise you "could" be disappointed.
 
Actually you could argue that the 5D mk I is rather less demanding of glass than either 40D or 50D - the 5D resolves fewer lp/mm. Of course, you need full-frame coverage, but that was true of film too...

I have a 5D1. I've used it for live bands and low light work a few times:

http://www.askisaac.com/images/5d/_MG_0394.jpg
1/100th, F2.5, ISO1600

http://www.askisaac.com/images/fire/firecar1.jpg
1.3s, F4, ISO1600

What I've found with the 5D is that images, particularly at ISO1600, require less PP than the 50D. At all ISO the 5D tends not to require lots of sharpening - it seems more "right" straight out of the camera (all RAW).
 
I nearly bought a 5D with 24-105 L on ebay the other day - £850! :(

So there are some bargains around - seems like a great camera.

i got my 5d about 2 months ago for £495 in mint condition.
and then it fell off my camera bag and broke. cost me £200 to fix at canon elstree. but its still a great bargain. and when it went in for repair i asked for shutter count. just over 8000 clicks and id put about 2000 on it .so very low mileage
 
5D would be the way to go, the images from it are stunning though and for under £800 they are superb value for money.

The full frame sensor just shows up every fault with a lens at it is looking at the full area, so you may notice softness in the corners or vignetting which wasn't there on the 40d depending on your current glass. You can correct the vignetting during PP but you can't really fix the softness.

I know you may already know this but any EF-S lenses you own will not work on the 5D.
 
one of the first things i noticed on full frame was how much more detail it captures, especialy things in the distance
all my lenses are L so i cant comment on the cheaper lenses
 
I think I am replacing 50D with 5D mk1, as soon as 40D goes. I already have a similar full frame, but sometimes lower weight is nice, and IQ is everything to me. I honestly can't think of any improvement in 50D over 40D, but AF micro adjustment - that is only really good for primes.
 
I have recently used both for a couple of weddings.
And the 5D blows my 50D away, the image quality is soooo much better.

The only thing I did really notice was the 5D took longer to focus in low light.
I'll be buying a 5D as soon as the wife lets me!!!

Spence
 
Sorry to threadjack a little, but my goal was to buy a 5D MkII as an upgrade from my 40D but have been wondering over the 5D as a nice stop gap until I can have the funds available. I've read various reviews on the 5D and some compare type reviews and I wasn't sure if I would lose anything at all going from 40D to 5D?

EDIT:

Positives:
Reports show that I would see slightly less noise on the 5D at higher ISO.
Slightly better image quality due to the slightly bigger sensor on the 5D.

Negatives:
40D is good for 6.5fps, the 5D is good for 3fps
Would lose the 40D '1.6x' teleconvertor that you inherently get on crop sensors.

Anything else?
 
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A couple of things that put me off the 5D...

No built in flash.

No sensor cleaning, I've read that it's a dust magnet.

They're getting a bit old now but if you can get a low milage one this shouldn't be a problem.
 
Cheers for your help everyone can anyone recommend any lenses to get with it as i will have a bout 250 left over

Sounds like you would pick up a nice 50mm F1.4 for that...
 
A couple of things that put me off the 5D...

No built in flash.

That is the very best thing about it. Built in flash is terribly annoying (to anyone facing the camera) and otherwise useless.

No sensor cleaning, I've read that it's a dust magnet.

True, but so is 20D, 30D, 1DmkII, 1DsmkII and all the slightly older Nikons. New ones can also get dust

They're getting a bit old now but if you can get a low milage one this shouldn't be a problem.
 
Sounds like you would pick up a nice 50mm F1.4 for that...

That would be one option.

From a zoom world perhaps Tokina 28-70mm or Tamron 28-75mm would do (very very bad experience with Sigma 24-70mm!)
 
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