Canon guys, would you go 5D if you did it again?

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I'm at the point where I'm a few weeks away from dropping the green stuff on a new DSLR. My background is with film based SLR's so I have a pretty good understanding of what I want and don't need.

My camera choices as of now are the Canon 30D, the Nikon D200 and possibly the Canon 5D. The latter choice is the obvious one that stands out, it's a great deal more expensive for one! There are a couple of features that I REALLY like about the 5D - the full sized sensor being the main one and the significantly larger 12.8MP's being the other.

However, no on-board flash and a slower continuous speed (3FPS) are two dings against it - at least in my book. It also doesn't take (or make use of) the S series lenses, right? Which means what exactly?

For the Canon guys, if you were starting over and had the choice of the 5D over your 20/30D's, would you go 5D or not? :suspect:
 
The reason it doesn't take the S series lenses is that the S series was made specifically for cropped sensors, so you aren't really losing anything there. What kind of photography do you do? Do you actually need more than 3fps? If I had the money no contest I would buy one as the FF sensor w/o the 1DS price range is the main reason. As for the on board flash, I absolutely never ever use mine I either use available light or my flash gun as you don't get that "I used on board flash" look in the pic. I'm pretty new at this so I'm sure others will come by with there 2p.
 
i went from the 300d to the 5d and i'll do it again.
the 5d is much better than anything iv had in the past.
the onboard flash (or the lack of it )does not bother me
i just bang the EX550 on when i need it.
3fps? i taking pictures not making a movie.
just my 2p worth.
 
The 5D is sooo good that I cannot imagine where to go from here. The 1ds-mkII is the only upgrade path that makes sense but the money difference is huge.
I love the low ISO handling of the 5D. Contrast and colours are way better than the 20D it replaced (which wasn't bad). Only gripe is speed. If it's sports you are better with a 1d-mkII or III but for landscape, portraiture, etc it is VERY hard to beat. Flash is not really an issue as once you have an L lens on a body (best upgrade to ANY eos camera) any on-board flash will not be high enough to clear it (causing shadows).

HTH!
 
HIMUPNORTH said:
If it's sports you are better with a 1d-mkII or III
Click to expand...
I'd add nature to that list as well. The crop factor of the 20D/30D is a real benefit when trying to get closer to nervy wildlife.

5D just isn't a camera that appeals to me on any level although there's no disputing the quality.
 
The S series lenses are made purely for crop sensor cameras and they achieve their focal lengths by the rear of the lens extending further into the camera body. With a 1 Series camera or with the 5D, the rear of the lens would actually foul the camera mirror.

The 5D is a bargain for the money Gaz, but whether you'd see a benefit from that fiull frame sensor depends entirely on what sort of photography you do. Wedding and portrait photography - landscape photography then there's an obvious advantage. If you do wildlife and a lot of sports then unless you can fill the frame with your subject you're not going to see any advantage, as by the time you've cropped to get your subject a reasonable size in the frame, you've lost all the sensor size and pixel advantage you started out with.
 
I had a chat with Grendel about this recently. I went Pro1, 350d, 30d to 5d inside a year with lenses ranging from a nasty 55-200 to 70-200 f/2.8. If i were to do it again I'd go straight to 1Ds mkII with some decent L's and just about break even £ wise.

That said, of what i have owned (EOS 3 excluded as not tested yet) the 5d as far as I'm concerned is the Daddy (sorry Paul). The practical difference between 5fps on the 30d and the 3fps on the 5d doesn't make me want to reach for the 30d instead of the 5d on many occasions and there's nothing like the vista through the 5d with a wide lens attached. EF-S lenses, DC (sigma) lenses and DI (tamron?) lenses are a no-no, but you'll need glass that is of the best quality so you're looking at L's and top notich primes.

Worth every penny even if i live off baked beans now :)
 
To add to what Jon has said above....
I currently own a 400D which I'm more than happy with. As my first DSLR the crop factor wasn't even an issue for me, it's all I've ever known. I've been considering an upgrade for a while and had decided to wait for the successor to the 30D.........Then I got my hands on Jon's 5D with his 12-24 Sigma on. All I can say is WOW! What a difference the ff sensor makes with a wide lens. I was sold instantly, it's such a gorgeous camera. I do think there's a very valid point though as to weather your style of photography would give you the benefit from the ff sensor. Certainly from what I saw on Jon's 5D, for landscape or where you want to go wide a crop sensor can't touch it
 
If you can afford the 5D buy it, you won't regret it.

That said I recently bought the 30D and am very happy with it, it's a universe above the 300D I upgraded from, my reason for choosing it were twofold, price, at 2.5 times more expensive the 5D is a huge commitment and I already own three EF-S lenses which would have become surplus to requirements entailing even more expense to replace them.
 
I bought the 5D when it first came out and the only thing I can fault it for is the dreaded sensor dust. I have a 10D and a 20D that do not seem to pick up as much, but then again I suppose I use the 5D more. I think the combination of the 5D and the 70-200 L IS is superb. I am looking at the 1D mk 3 as a potential new camera but would still keep the 5D. This time I think I will wait until it goes down in price a bit before commiting....Ian
 
could compromise and go for a 1dmkIIN? high fps, weather sealed and cropped a little, half-way house thats good for nature, sports and landscapes. everything really! down side is it can be a bit too hefty for some.
the 5D is great and the next step up - realistically - would be the 1dsmkII (or what ever it may become) so its not a bad start. I'd say lenses are more important though, software can interpolate images up to massive sizes - you'll probably never need! at the way prices are falling on the 5D its more and more of a bargain...I know I've got my eye out for one ;)
 
Wow, excellent feedback and a lot of insight, thanks!

A couple of guys had pointed out the wide-angle aspect capabilities of the full sensor 5D - this to me is where the cropped sensors suffer. I would likely be shooting more scenery than nature so this is one of the key reasons I would be considering the 5D.

CT had mentioned that the S series lenses protrude into the lens mount. Does this "compensate" for the wide angle ability? In other words, is an S series lens with a focal length of 24mm the same as a none S series 24mm lens in terms of results on each camera regarding FOV?

Just out of curiosity, what sort of wide angle lenses are offered - or more correctly - achieved on the cropped sensor SLR's? Those of you with cropped sensors, do you find yourselves "needing more" for wide angle work?

Agreed, my argument about the FPS ability of the 5D when compared to the 30D is somewhat trivial. I was more surprised than anything else that the 5D wasn't at least the same spec and you're right, it would likely never be an issue. :D

How about the focus assist ability that's missing from the 5D? I also heard that the transfer rate from the camera to PC was pretty slow - though this is a moot point if you remove the card to read from it.

Sounds like this might get expensive! :lol:
 
An EF-S lens at 15mm would give you the same field of view on a 1.6 crop sensor as a 24mm on a full frame sensor would.

The Sigma 10-20mm and Canon 10-22mm wide zooms are both common lenses for cropped sensors.

If you buy a 5D buy a flashgun as well, there's your focus assist if you need it.

Always use a card reader to transfer images to your pc.
 
Steeps baby I know, but he confused me on that one!! Ergo: a sigma 10-20 DC on a 1.6 crop gives you a fov of 16-32mm. A Sigma 12-24 non-DC on a full frame gives you the correct fov of 12-24.

Your point re lower spec than 30D isn't quite correct as the file size is a LOT bigger on the 5d - approx 13mb compared to 8mb. Thats a lot more data to shift both through the buffer on an fps basis and from the camera to the PC on a read / write basis. Always use a card reader - it saves on camera batteries and will be much faster as well.

There's no flash - fair point, but difficult to cram a built-in flash on top of the full frame penta-prism. There are also 6 additional and invisible focus assist points within the central circle - great for AI servo :)
 
The thing is the 5D is less than half the price of a 1DS mk 2 which lets face it is still the best DSLR around, but not everyone has £5000 to spend on a camera. The next choices are the 1D mk2 N and the 5D. If sports are your bag then go for the 1D mk 2N (or the new mk 3). For everything else pound for pound the 5D is a winner.
 
or keep your powder dry and see what replaces the 1Ds mkII - if the price crash of the 1D mkII n is anything to go by.......... :help:
 
Well I was talking to a buddy at work today about my camera purchasing research and knew he had bought a 20D about 12 months back for his wife. He has a few lenses for it also and is lending the kit to me tomorrow for about 10 days! Bonus, now I can see how well I like the cropped sensor. :woot:

Pretty exciting really but damn, I'll have ulcers by the end of the week! :gag:

Thanks to everyone who took the time to provide input, I'll let you know how it goes but you guys have me pretty convinced on the 5D right now... :thinking:
 
Just my 2p worth.

I did consider the 5D as my first DSLR purchase but decided on the 400D instead. I dont regret this decision. Yes the 1.6 crop factor is limiting for landscape work....but for everything else I feel it is a bonus... extra reach for your lenses.

With the money that I saved I was able to buy some L series lenses... the 24-105L was my first choice....

Have now ordered a 70-200 f4L IS and the 100mm macro..

And if I want to shoot landscapes I just use the 24-105 on an eos 5 film camera.....

Unless you spend the money on the 1DS Mk2 (9.5 f stops), cmos sensors dont have the same dynamic range as film....

Dave P.
 
CT said:
The S series lenses are made purely for crop sensor cameras and they achieve their focal lengths by the rear of the lens extending further into the camera body. With a 1 Series camera or with the 5D, the rear of the lens would actually foul the camera mirror.
Click to expand...

:nono:

Only partially true oh wise one...

The s in EF-S is short for Short back focus which was intended to solve ghosting problems in D-SLR's. These are primarily caused by reflections between the reflective sensor and the rear lens element.

:D
 
Anton Roland said:
:nono:

Only partially true oh wise one...

The s in EF-S is short for Short back focus

:D
Click to expand...

But it's a discussion on why the EF-S lenses don't fit certain Canon cameras. ;)

Short Back Focus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Short back focus is Canon Inc.'s descriptor for their EF-S lens. The distance between the rearmost surface of the lens and the sensor plane is shorter than that of a normal Canon EF series lens. A shorter back focus does have some advantages when designing wide-angle lenses, but there's a limit to how short it can be in an SLR lens since it can't be so short that the SLR mirror hits it when it flips up. The lower limit on the size of the mirror depends on the size of the film (or sensor). Medium format SLRs need a big mirror, 35 mm SLRs need a smaller mirror, and SLRs with a digital sensor smaller than a full frame 35 mm frame can use an even smaller mirror. The "S" in EF-S stands for "Short back focus".
Since the sensor in the Canon Digital Rebel is only 15.1×22.7 mm, smaller than the 24×36 mm full frame 35 mm frame size, the SLR mirror can be (and is) smaller, so it can use a lens with a shorter back focus than full frame cameras, hence the EF-S lens [1].
As of March 2007, bodies compatible with EF-S lenses are as follows, in chronological order; note that some bodies are known by different names in different markets:
 
:runaway: :runaway: :runaway:

:D













Actually the mirror on the rebel xt/350D is 14,8 x 22,2 mm. The 15,1 x 22,7 is the mirror size of the 20/30D...

:whistling:

















:D :D :D
 
My pleasure P.S.:D
 
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