DSLR Buying Advice

[VC10]

After a 20 yr+ break I am getting back into photography. I am considering the purchase of a Canon EOS 550D or maybe a 600D, or something in that sort class. Anyone have any opinions on these two camara's, I know they are very similar.

In case you are wondering why I have gone for Canon it it because I have an FTb,a AE-1 and an A-1 so I you can say I am very much a Canon man. I am open to other makes if anybody thinks they are better.

I looking at predominantly airshow type photography and Steam Locomotive photography.

Paul

[AllanL]

Being an inveterate Pentax use from MX through MZ3 and DS to finally a K7(she'll never agree to an update after coughing out for that), I can't really comment on the Canons (SWMBO would go beresk if I changed lens mount now) but if recent mag tests are anything to go by Nikon cameras seem to have faster focus speeds than Canons - which could be handy for the airshows if not the chuffers. Lens quality and picture quality seems to be pretty even steves apart from that.

I was royally peed off when I showed the Aunt of a teenage lass, using her first Nikon DSLR, at Goodwood a couple of years ago how to improve the pictures that she was taking, only to have her fire off about 3 accurate shots of an F1 car that the DS struggled to catch one of. Cue time to buy the K7!

I like the K7, but is has probably taken a year to sort out the best settings for landscape and Goodwood, and my favourite lenses still come from the MZ3 film camera era. (Sigma 28-105 and 70-300APO)

Other side issues, I have found that 7dayshop seem to be the cheapest for memory cards and I don't buy bigger than 4-8GB on the basis that, if the card goes t*ts up, then you will be losing fewer pics.

With DSLRs the one bug is dust on the sensor, and the best cleaner that I have come across by far, once that is needed, is the Dust-Aid Platinum.

[TobyV]

I've been a Canon Man for about 8 years now. Shot on Olympus OM series prior to switching to EOS. As ever, for the top dSLRs the debate is mainly between Canon and Nikon, but there are a few more interesting competitors at the lower level. However, I'd be confident recommending a Canon.

I'd check the specs and the prices of the 550D and 600D. Best deals are usually from internet retailers based out of the Channel Islands, however these cameras evolve step by step and sometimes those steps are bigger than others. Sometimes its clearly worth paying extra for the newer model and other times its not obvious why you should fork out the extra at all.

Below those models is the 1000D which is almost identical in spec to my old 350D which served me well for 4.5years! I'm currently on a EOS 7D which is what produces the photos I now post here occasionally.

Hope that helps a little.

[VC10]

Thanks for you contributions Allan & Toby. I was hoing you would respond Toby as I know you are heavily into photography.

Allan, you did make me think about the auto-focus, but then I thought, hang on, when I was taking photo's with my steam driven camera's, before all this auto-focus milarky came in, for air displays I just set the focus on my 100 - 200mm zoom to infinity and fired away. It was same when I was taking pictures at the British GP, before all the chainlink fencing went up, I never had any problems with out of focus shots. Has the technology changed so much focus is now an issue at such distances?

I will probably buy a 600D body, Amazon seems to be the cheapest and buy a Canon EF-S 55 - 200mm separately from buyacamera.co.uk. I realise this will be a grey import.

Toby, I have been reading that a Canon 'EF' lenses are designed for full frame sensors while the 'EF-S' lenses are for APS-C sized sensors. Will there be any problems using an 'EF' lens with the 600D's APS-C sensor?

Paul

[AllanL]

Some of the grey import guys may not be all they seem. When I was researching the K7 I saw some silly prices which ultimately proved to be companies based in Hong Kong who may not have actually delivered the camera. I ended up buying the camera from Park Cameras, well at least they were there if I had a problem with it!

The only issue with lenses is that the C ones will cause vignetting if used on a full scale sensor at their widest, no problem going the other way. In a push once I put a digital designed lens on a film camera (Pentax K mount lets you do that) and zoomed out a bit to lose the vignetting. In fact you may have more glass on the front of the lens with a full size lens, and when it comes to optical quality lens diameter really does matter.

The other thing about DSLRs is that the effective lens length is about 1.4* the lens on a film camera. So a 200 is about a 280 in effect on digital. At airshow distances the focussing is not likely to be such an issue, in fact I sometimes switch off the autofocus because it can hunt when it loses an aircraft. At Goodwood you can be within 70' of the cars, so it is more of a problem there if you pan round. You can push the shutter up a tad too at the trackside without worrying about stopping props.

[DaveB]

Hi Paul..

Canon have always guaranteed backwards compatibility with lenses which is handy. One of the drawbacks with EF lenses in digital cameras is as you mentioned, the APS sized sensor. In the real world, your 28-135 IS USM (for example) will become 44.8-216mm so for wide angle use, you'll have to get a new 'S' (shortback) lens. Mulitiplication is approx 1.6 on my 300D though this may vary with newer models. Point is.. you can use your existing lenses with your new body straight out of the box then take time to fill in the gaps as required

ATB
DaveB

[speedbird591]

Whilst I can't add anything constructive to what the experts have said about DSLRs, I do have a money-saving tip if you have any Tesco Clubcard vouchers lying around. Jessops now accept Tesco Clubcard reward tokens at two times face value.

I recently bought a Canon G12 compact listed at £429. I converted £200 of Clubcard vouchers so I only paid £29 in real money. Even if you haven't got that many vouchers you may have enough to buy lenses or accessories.

Don't tell the missis though - she may be saving the vouchers for Christmas!

Ian

[VC10]

Whilst I can't add anything constructive to what the experts have said about DSLRs, I do have a money-saving tip if you have any Tesco Clubcard vouchers lying around. Jessops now accept Tesco Clubcard reward tokens at two times face value.

Ian

Ian,

Thanks for the tip but SHMBO blew all the vouchers on an Ipod Touch for my birthday. I have to say I have got more use out of that than I thought I would.

Dave, unfortunately all my my existing Canon lenses are the old mechanical FD type so I assume they are incompatable.

Paul

[DaveB]

Hi Paul..

That may be the case I'm afraid. I had (still have) an EOS 50e and EOS 600 before buying the 300D which have the same EF mount. I wasn't quite out of the woods because most of my lenses were Sigma and one thing I didn't know (few knew until it was too late) was that Sigma had taken their fingers off the pulse with Canon which meant none of my old lenses worked with the 300D. I was not a happy bunny! Sigma quickly offered a free update service but required original bills of purchase and as my lenses were old enough for me to have binned the receipts, it was of little use. Anyway.. I digress. I don't think.. in fact I'm 99.9% certain that you won't be able to use the FD mount lenses on anything other than an FD body. Like all things though, you can pick up some decent bargains on second hand and new lenses at places like ebay if you're willing to take the risk. Unless you go for IS or IS L lenses (L lenses in particular) the basic Canon optics aren't too expensive and now Sigma have caught up.. you have another option there

ATB
DaveB

[VC10]

Thanks for all the input so far, I'm still wavering between the Canon and a Nikon D5100. When you read all the reviews it would suuggest the Nikon has the edge but I think the plus points of the Nikon are only where you take photography to the limits, in everyday use I think they will both produce the same quality of image