Kit dilemma

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cjlawton

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I am in need of some advice on what new Canon body to buy.

I currently have a 350D and am looking to upgrade so I can use the 350D as a back-up.

My dilemma is do I buy the 400D at £437, the 30D at £659 or really splash out on the 5D at £1599

One of the things that is leading me to the 400D is that I have the battery grip with extra batteries, which will fit and if I move up to the 30D or 5D I will have to buy new ones.

Another thing putting me off choosing the 30D is its overdue replacement by the 40D.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Chris
 
Although I'm not a Canon user myself, quite a few of my friends use either the 350D or 400D. Although the 400D is better, I wouldn't have thought it would be a significant upgrade. Probably better holding out for the 30D I'd have thought.

The 40D shouldn't put you off - there's no disputing that the 30D is an excellent piece of kit. The release of the 40D may well push the price of the 30D down anyway, making it a more cost-effective upgrade.
 
You could still buy a new Canon 20D for less than £350, and probably less than £400 with a grip, if you hunt around. It is a superb camera, with canons 'Pro' build quality, ie magnesium shell, and it's built to last.

It is excellent value for money, and for what you save, you can invest in a bit of 'L' quality glass.
 
I have a 400D and bought an 30D opportunistically (sp?) from a friend who was selling one. I have to say it almost immediately became by default body with the 400D now my back up / second camera. I wouldn't hesitate to go for the 30D or even 20D as Doug suggests. With no release date for the 40D at the moment I wouldn't worry about it tbh. As for the 5D, it rather depends whether you want / need a full frame sensor and bear in mind that any EFS lenses you own are not compatible with it
 
I have a 20D on ebay with 18-55 Kit lens & Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro lens. All mint with original boxes and original Sigma pouch for the lens.

If you want the link PM me for it.

I am selling due to upgrading to a 30D, i was going to get a D200, but the more i thought about it, the better i was going to a 30D as i could use my existing grip etc with it.
 
If you buy the 30D you can get a battery grip for around £45.
 
cjlawton said:
I am in need of some advice on what new Canon body to

Another thing putting me off choosing the 30D is its overdue replacement by the 40D.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Chris
Click to expand...

I've had a hunt around all the usual 'rumor' sites, and I certainly can't find anything to suggest that a 30D replacement is imminent. I did however find this:

John Biggs (Crunch Gear Forum):

'Canon is allegedly upgrading the EOS series to 40D on September 26th. The new camera will potentially have a 10.1-megapixel sensor, a 2.5-inch LCD and that anti-dust feature. Not much else right now, but we can assume the 30D will go down about $100 - just like with the Rebel XT - and this one will be priced at 30D levels, about $1,300.'


Canon - In reply:

'Please know that this camera (40D) is not scheduled for a release anytime soon that we know of, or if it even being developed at this time. The EOS 30D is still current, and will remain so for a while. I am sorry to say that your writer may have been misinformed.

While we are no strangers to internet rumors, We ask you to please remove your posting on this camera, because it instructs consumers to not buy the EOS 30D, which we feel is not a good business practice'
 
Looking at your images submitted (indoor portraits), my view would be go for the 5D, apart from the 1 series bodies, it's the best canon has, for a not unreasonable price.
One of the difficulties of a minor upgrade in camera, is that you are tempted to upgrade in around a year's time for another minor upgrade in camera, ending up spending more than you would have originally buying a 5D.

Anyway, that's my two pennorth, for what it's worth.
 
Thank you for all your input so far,

Les, can I ask what brings you to this conclusion?

Les McLean said:
Looking at your images submitted (indoor portraits), my view would be go for the 5D...
Click to expand...

Another concern I have is the quality of my lenses, which consist of:

Canon 18-55mm Kit lens (that I used to take the afore mentioned portraits)
Canon 50mm f1.8 MkII
Canon 80-200mm f4.5-5.6 MkII
Canon 28-90mm f4-5.6 (Kit lens from my film EOS300)

I really need to get some better quality lenses so if I get the 400D I can get the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 EX DC Macro that I have by eye on.

Chris
 
Do you really need the 2 bodies? As has been said the 400D isn't much of an upgrade, you might aswell save some more money to put towards lenses and buy another 350 in that case.
 
Les, can I ask what brings you to this conclusion?



Three reasons, firstly you don't particularly need a 1.6 crop camera as you possibly would if you were a sport or wildlife shooter.

Secondly, the pixel count on a 5D, means you can gain the most detail possible, important as it's in this genre that large scale prints are often required, that's why pro -portrait photographers go for the best possible (pro-backs for their Hasselblads, IDS MKII etc) pixel count.
Not that I'm suggesting other genres don't print large , just it's more common in this area.

Thirdly, and I'm reflecting my experience, 2 1/2 years ago I was ready to upgrade from a 10D, I bought a 1DS MKII, being quite confident I wouldn't need to upgrade for a number of years, and 3 years from release it's still the best DSLR on the block, so I reckon I've got at least another 2 years with it. So around 5 years of use for a DSLR which is a hell of a long time for modern cameras.
If I'd gone the 10D-20D-30D-5D route I would have ended up spending an equivalent amount that I spent on my 1DS MKII in an upgrade cycle, and still not ending up with anything as good.
So if you buy a 5D now, you won't be tempted in say 2 years time to upgrade, as you'll still have a camera that will cut the mustard for a good few years.
 
I can see what Les is saying but I'm not sure I agree. If you definitely need a backup body then possibly stretching for the best you can may be a good idea. If you can get away with one I reckon spending the money on better glass will make a far bigger difference to your shots than any of the upgrades you mentioned.

If you already had a few L lenses it would be a different matter....
 
Definitely spend the money on lenses. You will end up with better images then spending the same upgrading the body.

This is what I did while shooting with 2 20Ds. When I later upgraded one of the bodies to a 5D I had no worries about softness or quality of my lenses.
 
SW4peter said:
I can see what Les is saying but I'm not sure I agree. If you definitely need a backup body then possibly stretching for the best you can may be a good idea. If you can get away with one I reckon spending the money on better glass will make a far bigger difference to your shots than any of the upgrades you mentioned.

If you already had a few L lenses it would be a different matter....
Click to expand...

I don't disagree about the lenses, a FF body really does show up any weaknesses in lenses.

Although the 50mm 1.8 will hold it's own, it's a peach of a lens.
If Chris did go with the 5d, then the 24-105 F4L would be a good companion in relation to the kind of shooting he does.

It doesn't come cheap, but it's still a better value option than possibly buying relatively cheap lenses only to end up on flea-bay when they don't meet expectations.

Most have us have been there and got the tee-shirts :)
 
See, if you'd bought a minolta like me and Pete or even a Sony you wouldn't have these worries, there is no upgrade path. Instead you just have to decide whther to hold tight or decide which ship you're going to jump onto.
 
True Kev, but at least we get to buy lenses like the beer can, 70-210mm F4, good and sharp for £120. IS in the body. What's the price of the equivalent canon or Nikon lens?]


(and two new bodies coming "soon")
 
Thank you all for your comments, I have taken the plundge today and bought a 400d and a Sigma 18-55mm f2.8 EX lens.

I figured that the 30D wasn't a significant upgrade and I couldn't justify a 5D just yet.

Chris
 
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