400D to 650D disappointment and thoughts?

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rwassell

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Rob
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Hi,

I have had my trusty Canon EOS 400D since 2007/2008 and I have been very happy with it, especially when coupled with a Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens.

Recently I considered upgrading and having compared the specifications I decided to go for a 650D. Even though it is considered 'entry level' it has all round better specifications to my old 400D, or so I thought. It has more pixels, liveview, touch screen and as it's much newer I just expected to be overwhelmed by the improvement in picture quality - but - that's the point, I'm not. Its rather nice to have these gimmicks, such as touch screen, configurable options, creative modes etc but its the quality of the pictures that matters.

Taking into consideration that I have only run off a few hundred shots with the 650D, I am still getting better results with my old 400D than with the 650D. Obviously I am familiar with the 400D and presumably I would need to put in time getting to know it the 650D and tweaking the options for my own preferred style. But this is where I am disappointed, I think I probably expected too much when it wasn't such a huge jump after all.

Part of me thinks maybe I haven't given it enough time to familiarise myself with all of the positive things about this camera, but then again, I am thinking to send it back and get a refund and instead buy a full frame camera, probably a 5DMkII off Ebay as I think this will be a more satisfying leap forward.

I just wondered if anyone else had a similar experience, especially if they also upgraded from a 400D. What did you upgrade to and did it satisfy your expectations, if it didn't what did you do about it and if it did how did you benefit.

I know its all subjective based on your own needs and wants from your equipment but its great to get other peoples experiences and feedback.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Regards,

Rob
 
I think upgrading from one Canon crop to another is all a bit like that, I started with a 650d but I went to a 70d. I didn't really do the upgrade for a better quality pic but for the other features that help me get the shot.

I'm sure the 650d has better AF and a better frame rate etc? You can crop away more of the pic before losing quality

A lot of this will depend on what kind of pics you like to take? What kind of photography do you like to focus on?
 
Hi


Won't to be honest up front here rusty as sold gear a while ago for health issues !

Ok is your disappointment the image when you look on the PC is your new camera many more pixels than old model, why? Well I went 40D for 7D and the image under whelmed me as well no doubt for me crop camera loads of pixels when viewed on screen just don't look great

You need to try printing some off the new camera see if it looks ok then

The 5d2 is very nice fantastic iq but its pricey on lens and if you need focal length read very very expensive if you shoot mainly landscape ff wins hands down but at big price difference

Hope that helps a little

Allan
 
Rob, entry level is entry level, and Canon has done relatively little over the years apart from video. You may find 5DIII a massive leap forward (it is in the right hands) but do not forget older pro gear (1-series) for bargain prices that is similarly day and night compared to rebels.

But first, how do you process and do you have samples to show us? There could be things to do before spending big.
 
I had a Canon 500D and upgraded to a 650D and was also disappointed, that was when I went back to Nikon :)
 
Rob, as above and a couple of questions. What sort of photography are you interested in, and what are you expecting from the camera that it's not giving you?
 
rwassell said:
I just expected to be overwhelmed by the improvement in picture quality - but - that's the point, I'm not. Its rather nice to have these gimmicks, such as touch screen, configurable options, creative modes etc but its the quality of the pictures that matters.
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What exactly is lacking in the quality of the pictures? In my experience even the basic entry level bodies are more than capable of producing excellent shots - its usually not the camera that's limiting.

Some example photos with a description of why you're not happy would be useful (with EXIF intact).

Im doubting a 5DII would magically improve the picture quality either. Ultimately you need to tell us what exactly you mean by quality and give examples. Then someone can suggest something to help.
 
Thrash said:
I had a Canon 500D and upgraded to a 650D and was also disappointed, that was when I went back to Nikon :)
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You went back to Nikon? Didn't realise the 500d was a Nikon? :P
 
I have just got a 700d (much the same as 650d)

only issue I have is noise compared to my Fuji XE-1 seems to make an appearance much earlier in the iso range is there any settings I can use to reduce this ?
 
A lens upgrade will make far more difference to your shots than a different body, and if you're only comparing on a screen the differences are likely to be pretty small because of the resolution of the screen, not the camera. A basic shot in good light with a kit lens, displayed on a screen? I'd think anyone would struggle to tell if it was taken on a 400 or a 650 - or a 5 III, come to that. But it takes time to learn the quirks of any new piece of equipment, so be patient and practice some more!

And of course biggest difference of all is how the camera is used, not what model it is.
 
gnirtS said:
Im doubting a 5DII would magically improve the picture quality either. Ultimately you need to tell us what exactly you mean by quality and give examples. Then someone can suggest something to help.
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Yup.

I went from 300D to 20D and saw little if any improvement. After seven years with the 20D I bought a 5D expecting to see a leap forward and at low to middle ISO's I was underwhelmed. The 5D is better at the higher ISO's though.

I've since mostly moved to MFT and IMVHO the only difference to the 5D is again at the higher ISO's. So, IMVHO and in my experience you get new features, bells and whistles with new cameras but you really only see improvements in image quality in specific circumstances and I only see improvement in higher ISO performance. It's highly likely that there'd be an improvement when printing big, but the biggest I've ever printed is A3+.

OP, Unless you need the new bells an whistles new models offer, shoot at higher ISO's or print very big I'm not sure you'll be astounded by any improvement you'll see in 5D (of any mk) images. Maybe it'd be better to look at lenses or even more modern processing software?
 
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