Upgrade woes

jimmyjamjojo

jimmyjamjojo

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Jamie
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Hi all,
Several years ago, my father gave me an old 1100d he had kicking around to see if it gave me the bug.
It did.
And now, years later, with some glass and experience under my belt i'm starting to wonder what else is out there.
My budget is low, really low. I have a family with 3 kids to look after and i make a lowly chefs wage, leaving no spare money each month. I do however have a few assets, such as about £400 of telescope and eyepieces. If i sell all that i'd like to keep half of it to start an engagement ring fund, so i guess i'd have whatever i can get for the 1100d plus £150-200.

Looking around, the few bodys i like the look of are the 550/600d for a boost in resolution plus some whimsicle extra features whilst maintaining a decent high iso noise performance (which is actually ok on the 1100d due to the relatively low pixel count). The articulated screen seems handy for astro, macro, and other wierd angles. Plus a self cleaning sensor is nice.
Or there is the 50d. Quite an upgrade in terms of fps and build, plus dual controls and top lcd. However, the older tech suffers with more noise and the 50d in particular had the banding issue and i don't know if it was fixed.

As far as noise goes, i currently never go above iso 1600 and very much prefer less than 800, 1600 is really borderline, and i gather these other models will either be much the same or slightly worse.

My lenses are the 18-55 kit which will sell with the body, a 50mm 1.8, a 70-200 f4L, and a samyang 14mm 2.8 which i intend to swap for a tamron 17-50 2.8.


So i guess i'm just looking for advice. Will the 600d blow me away? Will the 50d's features make up for the slightly older tech? Any other options for my £300-350 budget? I'm not expecting a 1ds, and although in this hobby a couple of hundred quid could easily get lost in an old camera bag somewhere, i am hoping for a significant upgrade if i inject £200 or so, and if i cant get it, i'l stick with the 1100d until i can afford a 6d in about 10 years...
 
All I can say is I still shoot with a Canon 40D, and I still love it.
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
My budget is low, really low. I have a family with 3 kids to look after and i make a lowly chefs wage, leaving no spare money each month.
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Then don't bother upgrading the body at all unless it doesn't do something you specifically need. Upgrading will do nothing for your photography any way.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Then don't bother upgrading the body at all unless it doesn't do something you specifically need. Upgrading will do nothing for your photography any way.
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I have to agree with this...besides 1100D to a 600D is pretty much a sidewards step anyway, your not really going to see any real change in quality, for me when I came to upgrade from my 450D a few years ago it was because I needed cleaner ISO and an ability to go higher on the ISO front...for me also a move to full frame was the way to go as I'm also a fan of the UWA...
 
There's not much between 550, 600 and 600D. The articulated screen isn't as much use as you'd think either IMHO...Great cameras, mind
 
Seems that full frame is the only worthy upgrade for me tbh, other bells and whistles while nice, but all you need is moderate iso and a shutter button i guess...

Milky way and cityscape shots are the dream, so the only real boost to performance would be the massive leap in iso noise from FF.

Oh well, anyone wanna buy a kidney?
 
Do you have a flash? Spending the money on a basic off-camera-flash kit could open up a whole new world.
 
I do have a 580ex, and a ttl cable... I'm not great with it but bouncing it yields good results. That was another pull of the 600d - it can wirelessly trigger the 580 which would be fun for macro and still life stuff.
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
Seems that full frame is the only worthy upgrade for me tbh, other bells and whistles while nice, but all you need is moderate iso and a shutter button i guess...

Milky way and cityscape shots are the dream, so the only real boost to performance would be the massive leap in iso noise from FF.

Oh well, anyone wanna buy a kidney?
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The "leap" in noise you refer to from crop to full frame is not as great as you imagine, and in some cases, none-existent. Also... if astro stuff is a big thing for you, you can reduce your noise by using faster lenses actually. It's cheaper to gain a stop in lens speed than it will be gaining a stop in ISO noise. Unless you really need to go ultra wide, you can get amazing wide field astro images from the Samyang 24mm f1.4. Imagine you are using ISO3200 with your f2.8 stuff now... then getting the same shot with a f1.4 lens would allow you to use ISO800. A 2 stop gain. No camera upgrade will reduce your noise by that much.
 
Pookeyhead said:
The "leap" in noise you refer to from crop to full frame is not as great as you imagine, and in some cases, none-existent. Also... if astro stuff is a big thing for you, you can reduce your noise by using faster lenses actually. It's cheaper to gain a stop in lens speed than it will be gaining a stop in ISO noise. Unless you really need to go ultra wide, you can get amazing wide field astro images from the Samyang 24mm f1.4. Imagine you are using ISO3200 with your f2.8 stuff now... then getting the same shot with a f1.4 lens would allow you to use ISO800. A 2 stop gain. No camera upgrade will reduce your noise by that much.
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I disagree the leap in noise control isn't as great as one would imagine, and to say it's non existent is crazy.

I can shoot at iso 10,000 on my 6d with usable images! This still gives me less noise than iso 3200 on a 70d.
 
If you do decide to upgrade I can recommend the 550D its a great camera with excellent image quality Ive had mine since they were released along with a 7D
You should be able to get one pretty cheap secondhand now
It's not worth getting one of the later 600D ect if you're on a budget as the sensor and the image quality is the same as far as I know
 
odd jim said:
I disagree the leap in noise control isn't as great as one would imagine, and to say it's non existent is crazy.

I can shoot at iso 10,000 on my 6d with usable images! This still gives me less noise than iso 3200 on a 70d.
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Sorry... in some cases it isn't an issue. It depends what you're comparing what to. The 70D was never great in that department. Something like the D7100 is awesome for a DX sensor, and is actually better than some full frame cameras. This myth that the only way you can get great low light performance is to go full frame is just nonsense.

Anyway... as night/astro is the OP's thing... faster lenses will serve him better, and it will be cheaper.
 
Thanks for all the replies and advice guys.
I've decided to stick where i am for now, and maybe look at that samyang.
Astro isn't all i do, i tend to dabble in a bit of everything, it's what i love about this hobby - the ability to switch things up. I just often find myself hungering for one more stop of light in soooo many situations though, and the common ingredient in all those situations, though the lenses may change, is the body, so figured that was best to upgrade as far as light goes.

The situation is as i expected though - with my budget i can only sidestep rather than upgrade, so i'l leave it for now.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Sorry... in some cases it isn't an issue. It depends what you're comparing what to. The 70D was never great in that department. Something like the D7100 is awesome for a DX sensor, and is actually better than some full frame cameras. This myth that the only way you can get great low light performance is to go full frame is just nonsense.

Anyway... as night/astro is the OP's thing... faster lenses will serve him better, and it will be cheaper.
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All I can say is the 6d gave me a huge advantage in noise control, and at low ISO, far better dynamic range and detail than I was getting from my Canon crops.

Can't comment on Nikon as I don't use them.
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
I do have a 580ex, and a ttl cable... I'm not great with it but bouncing it yields good results. That was another pull of the 600d - it can wirelessly trigger the 580 which would be fun for macro and still life stuff.
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If you're fancying playing with off camera flash a bit more, you're right it opens up a whole new world, once you get the hang of it. You could get either a pair of Yongnuo RF603 manual triggers for under £20, these don't allow Ettl or remote changing of controls, or the Yongnuo YN 622C for a little under £60 (although if you keep an eye on the classifieds they pop up regularly for around £40 per pair). They allow Ettl and also remote changing of settings (even easier if you get a YN 622ctx). All in all much cheaper than upgrading your camera :D
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
If you're fancying playing with off camera flash a bit more, you're right it opens up a whole new world, once you get the hang of it. You could get either a pair of Yongnuo RF603 manual triggers for under £20, these don't allow Ettl or remote changing of controls, or the Yongnuo YN 622C for a little under £60 (although if you keep an eye on the classifieds they pop up regularly for around £40 per pair). They allow Ettl and also remote changing of settings (even easier if you get a YN 622ctx). All in all much cheaper than upgrading your camera :D
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You can get a cheap wireless flash trigger (transmitter and receiver) for about £15 on flebay, my mates one works a treat up to about 50ft.
 
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