Is this a good kit for this price?

GlasgowGunner

GlasgowGunner

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Hi there my wife has decided to come out photohunting with me:love:, i have a friend selling some kit that i thought might fit the bill but i'm not sure if it might be a little to much for her.

The kit is as follows, canon 30d with an ef100-300mm telephoto, an ef28-80mm wide angle and an efs18-55mm standard lens. also a canon speedlite 380 flashgun.

All this for £450, Does this sound ok?
 
That sounds like a good deal to me, like said have a look on ebay and price up all the gear then you should be able to make a comparison

As for the camera being too much, I do not think so, it will be a learning curve no matter what camera she got, and she will have you to guide her too so she should not be at a total loss (hopefully lol)
 
A 30d body tends to go for £300 (top whack) so I would say the extra £150ish for three lenses and a decent flash would make it a pretty decent buy :)
 
Yeah thanks i did have a quick look on the bay and prices where here or there, i no the camera and lenses are in great condition as he looks after his kit, and the camera body has hardly been used.

I was just wanting to double check as i shot with Nikon so i no nothing of Canon.

Is the 30d an ok body to have as it will have to do her a while, i plan to up the glass in the near future but just want to make sure im not waisting money on a body that wont cut it.


Thanks.
 
It depends what you expect from a body. If you want to submit to agencies, then 30D can just about do it using low ISO and exposing carefully. 40D is a better camera but not by much if you don't need very clean ISO400-800 and very clean sensor. 30D sensor attracts dust and it is its biggest problem if you shoot macros or stopped down above f/8.
I guess for regular shooting and learning 30D is plenty good, at least it was for me, minus the sensor dust.

I would definitely skip the lenses / flash as they are really as poor as it gets. They will make you hate the camera (maybe that's why your friend is selling up). Agree a fair price for the body and get some decent glass. Depending on your needs I would recommend some of the following for not much more £££:
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 - general walkabout (there is also Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 and Tokina 16-50 if you can get a better deal on it)
Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM - good portrait lens (also 100mm variants)
Canon 70-210mm f/3.5-4.5 USM - great fast cheap telephoto (2nd hand only)
50mm f/1.8 or 1.4 - do it all but can be hit and miss and are all extremely fragile

GlasgowGunner said:
Yeah thanks i did have a quick look on the bay and prices where here or there, i no the camera and lenses are in great condition as he looks after his kit, and the camera body has hardly been used.

I was just wanting to double check as i shot with Nikon so i no nothing of Canon.

Is the 30d an ok body to have as it will have to do her a while, i plan to up the glass in the near future but just want to make sure im not waisting money on a body that wont cut it.


Thanks.
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edit: double check if 100-300mm has 'L' designation and the red line - then it could be worth the money.
 
GlasgowGunner said:
Is the 30d an ok body to have as it will have to do her a while, i plan to up the glass in the near future but just want to make sure im not waisting money on a body that wont cut it.


Thanks.
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The body will certainly "cut it" and, to a certain degree, out perform the lenses. In other words, if the results aren't up to the standard you're expecting then it's the glass you should be looking at primarily.

Bob
 
Nawty said:
A 30d body tends to go for £300 (top whack) so I would say the extra £150ish for three lenses and a decent flash would make it a pretty decent buy :)
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:agree:

sounds like a good price to me and will give your wife a good idea of the sort of focal lengh she prefers.

she can then trade some lenses if she is not happy with them.
 
Thanks folk, i had an idea the lenes where on the low budget end but i thought they would do to start off with.

I did have a few bits of fast glass in my own kit so i know what to expect there, thanks for the info guys and i'll look out for sensor dust too.

The one thing i did notice when i gave it a few bursts of the shutter was when looking through the viewfinder it looked rather dull, This might just be a Canon/Nikon thing but my Nikon seems brighter somehow could this be it needing put in for a clean maybe?
 
GlasgowGunner said:
The one thing i did notice when i gave it a few bursts of the shutter was when looking through the viewfinder it looked rather dull, This might just be a Canon/Nikon thing but my Nikon seems brighter somehow could this be it needing put in for a clean maybe?
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Most likely it is due to v. slow glass on canon vs your fast nikon. Compare both with equivalent lenses or very quickly without any lens. The difference should be negligible.

I'd also seen one 40D which had very misty / foggy viewfinder. I compared with mine using the same lens and the difference was staggering. There must have been something wrong with it.
 
GlasgowGunner said:
The one thing i did notice when i gave it a few bursts of the shutter was when looking through the viewfinder it looked rather dull, This might just be a Canon/Nikon thing but my Nikon seems brighter somehow could this be it needing put in for a clean maybe?
Click to expand...

The listed lenses are all quite slow...probably not a match for your "good" Nikon glass in terms of aperture.

Bob
 
Canon Bob said:
The listed lenses are all quite slow...probably not a match for your "good" Nikon glass in terms of aperture.

Bob
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I would be more concerned about their sharpness or total lack of it even at f/11. Unlike Nikon, canon has never made an acceptably sharp and contrasty kit lens. £200 for the set of these lenses may be hard to get back.
 
daugirdas said:
Most likely it is due to v. slow glass on canon vs your fast nikon. Compare both with equivalent lenses or very quickly without any lens. The difference should be negligible.

I'd also seen one 40D which had very misty / foggy viewfinder. I compared with mine using the same lens and the difference was staggering. There must have been something wrong with it.
Click to expand...

This i would say is the same FOGGY, anybody else seen this.:thinking:
 
daugirdas said:
I would be more concerned about their sharpness or total lack of it even at f/11. Unlike Nikon, canon has never made an acceptably sharp and contrasty kit lens. £200 for the set of these lenses may be hard to get back.
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did a quick search on completed listings

100-300 seems to average around the £100 mark (cheapest £77 max £180)
28-80 seems a bit mixed £21-56 - shjould be able to get £27-30
18-55mm seems to be about £30-40
380 flsh cold only see one £45

Should give you a rough total £200-210

30D seems to be about £260-300.

So I'd say it's a fair price, all depends of condition as well of course....plus paypal fees etc...
 
akr said:
did a quick search on completed listings

So I'd say it's a fair price, all depends of condition as well of course....plus paypal fees etc...
Click to expand...

Dont forget the listing time, ebay fees which are still increasing and a chance that something will go badly wrong with some buyers. I do take a risk sometimes, but never like this.
 
daugirdas said:
Dont forget the listing time, ebay fees which are still increasing and a chance that something will go badly wrong with some buyers. I do take a risk sometimes, but never like this.
Click to expand...

Good point, was just using it as a guide ot the price of the lenses etc if not required they don't need to be resold on ebay necessarily, could be here for example..but yes ebay can be risky for sure
 
Lets remember a camera is only as good as the glass ot sees through and canon lenses are very good so for the price of the whole kit its a good buy.......and I am Nikon through and through
 
It does sound ok, but not really a bargain, it's just a fair price. Why don't you want to buy a new camera for her in this price range? You can get new Nikon d60 with kit lens and some entry level telephoto zoom (secondhand). I'm sure there won't be any difference in IQ and as you shoot Nikon it would be convenient to swap lenses with her.
 
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