Canon 500d or Sony A550?

P

porpoise

Suspended / Banned
Messages
51
Edit My Images
Yes
I have been planning the purchse of my first DSLR for many months, I've been using a Fujii bridge for 2 years.

I can't decide between these two bodies, I was going for the Sony as I wanted in body stabilisation, but the lack of mirror lock-up is a worry as I want to do macro shots and also use a tripod sometimes for portraits and for long focal lengths. The lenses I have chosen (I think) are

sigma 17-70 (with OS if going with canon)

sigma 120-400 OS

50mm 1.8 (canon or sony)

tamron 90mm macro

These lenses should cover my main interests - portraits, macro, zoo photography, and, well, other stuff that takes my fancy. (There is a link to my flickr below.)

So with the Sony I risk camera shake when using a tripod due to lack of MLU... but with the canon, my two primes will not be stabilized, and I will sometimes want to shoot with them handheld. Is the 50mm at 1.8 fast enough that camera shake shouldn't be a problem? What about the tamron at 2.8?

Am I just overthinking the whole thing? It's a very big purchase for me, and I want to get it right. Any advice welcome.
 
They both look like good choices, the canon will add video and a greater range of lens if you should ever want to change but it might just come down to which you like the feel of.
 
Thanks. I knew someone would tell me to go into a shop and handle them both ;)

the video doesn't swing it for me too much, but I wonder if the lack of MLU on the Sony is important - some internet references say it is, some say they rarely use it anyway.

Oh, and ken Rockwell says that noise reduction on the canon does weird things to the images, but other internet sources say that's not the case...

it's too hard, I'm going to take up stamp collecting instead....
 
LOL I chose the Canon a couple of weeks ago and made my decision on the feel of the camera, the availability of various lenses, the reliability/build quality over the Sony.

I love Sony products as a general rule of thumb but believe the Canon camera I felt was far superior...
 
Difficult choice with the Canon and Sony - as has been said, pop down to a shop and see which you like the hold off, the Sony 550 has a much better grip on the body than the lower models do, so personnal choice re use of controls, feel etc.

Don't forget the Sony's have the IS built into the body (which can be switched off for tripod use etc), whereas Canon you buy it in the lens - I've read there isn't much benefit to either for shorter lenses, but I seem to remember it was better to have it in the lens at longer ranges - say 300mm.
 
500D gripped has a lovely feel if you feel the camera is to light, bought mine here for £37.50 and it makes the wqorld of difference, just my opinion though :)
 
The in-body image stabilisation of the Sony does make a huge difference for many shots. And the tilting screen with live view is very handy for tripod shots where the camera isn't level with your eyes. But you need to consider that you can't hire lenses for Sony cameras in the UK. Hopefully this will change in future, but for now it's not possible.

Canon are considered to be a bit less noisy at high ISO than Sony, and if you can afford lenses with stabilisation - it may be a good choice.

For me, it would all come down to what feels more comfortable in my hands and which one has the button and menu layout that suits you more - even if one camera has better image quality, what's the point if you're too busy fiddling with the controls to get the shot?
 
porpoise said:
Is the 50mm at 1.8 fast enough that camera shake shouldn't be a problem?
Click to expand...

Pretty much, yes. I've taken some shots in appalling light with my 50mm 1.8, at 1/50 shutter speed and haven't needed to go above ISO 800. With an aperture so wide you're heading into candlelight territory.
 
I would go for the Canon simply because if you really get into macro you will have more lens options
there's the Canon MPE a specialist lens for extreme close ups and the new Canon 100mm image stablised lens

The tamron is a really good lens though and is avaliable in canon and sony mounts
 
Toss a coin or hold them, simple as that really.

When I started I went for Sony simply because at the time they offered the most bang for my buck. I love my Sony cameras but I'm sure I'd equally love my Canon, Nikon or Olympus camera too.

Yes there are more lens choices if you go for Canon but I've never found the Sony range lacking at all, especially now they are pulling their finger out and making more of a range (finally).

I use my camera for taking pictures, if you were buying a spanner that you were using all day you'd buy the comfiest one for your hand wouldn't you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top