Stick or upgrade?

dM-Photography

dM-Photography

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David
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Hi there,

Im coming to end of my NC Photography course and im starting my HNC in august and with my student loan I plan to invest in some lenses but was also thinking of upgrading my camera but not sure if its really worth it.

My current equipment is:

Canon 1100d
18-55mm Lens
50mm 1.8 mkII Lens

I and going to be adding these:
Sigma 10-20mm 4.5
Canon 60mm Macro 2.8

I know the 1100d has no spot metering so this has me worried about what im missing from other cameras which do have this.

I mainly shoot portraits/still life/landscapes.

Any advise would be great cheers.
 
It might be worth selling the 1100D & kit zoom and picking up a secondhand 5D mk1 or mk 11 and going for full frame as it has benefits for all the subjects you mainly shoot.

I would go longer on the macro, either 90mm or 100mm as it lets you stay back from your subject a little.
 
iancandler said:
It might be worth selling the 1100D & kit zoom and picking up a secondhand 5D mk1 or mk 11 and going for full frame as it has benefits for all the subjects you mainly shoot.

I would go longer on the macro, either 90mm or 100mm as it lets you stay back from your subject a little.
Click to expand...

Would love a full frame but prices are through the roof are they not?
Would the 60mm macro not be about 90/100 on a cropped sensor?

I will look into your ideas, cheers :)
 
The 60mm macro would be 96mm on a canon aps-c crop, you do need to get pretty close with it but whether that's an issue depends on what you're using it for. I have one and have used it a bit with my 7D. While I have been very happy with the 60mm, I'd say the 90 or 100 could be a better buy as they're not limited to aps-c and could move with you if you ever go full frame.

What's your budget if you do decide to change ?
 
How macro do you want to get? Further back is easier to light. Consider secondhand manual focus and an adaptor and/or bellows for pure macro work.

Forget spot metering, its old hat when you can just chimp and adjust.
 
stu.artd said:
The 60mm macro would be 96mm on a canon aps-c crop, you do need to get pretty close with it but whether that's an issue depends on what you're using it for. I have one and have used it a bit with my 7D. While I have been very happy with the 60mm, I'd say the 90 or 100 could be a better buy as they're not limited to aps-c and could move with you if you ever go full frame.

What's your budget if you do decide to change ?
Click to expand...

I am using £1000 of my student loan to buy equipment, from lenses to portable harddrives etc

Got my eye on the 60D now, looks pretty nice and specs are interesting.
 
andrewc said:
There is a secondhand 5D Mk 1 for £ 400 in the classifieds. You wouldn't be able to use the proposed Sigma 10-20 with it though. A 100mm macro may be a better bet too.
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Only thing putting me off the 5D is the age of it and lack of features. High ISO etc and overall speed. Would the 60D be a nice upgrade from 1100d?
 
dM-Photography said:
Only thing putting me off the 5D is the age of it and lack of features. High ISO etc and overall speed. Would the 60D be a nice upgrade from 1100d?
Click to expand...

5D mk1 is 100 times better than 1100D. They may advertise 6400 ISO, but to be frank it is unusable rubbish. Just get a f/2.8 zoom.
 
daugirdas said:
5D mk1 is 100 times better than 1100D. They may advertise 6400 ISO, but to be frank it is unusable rubbish. Just get a f/2.8 zoom.
Click to expand...

What about compared to a 600d or a 60d? im heading towards the 60d. here is a list of things I plan to get/upgrade.

My £1000 limit!!!!

£30 - A third cheap flash - ebay
£10 - A third trigger for flash - ebay
£319 - sigma 10-22mm f4.5 from digitalrev
£40 - Seagate 500gb usb 3.0 external harddrive
£470 - Canon 60D body digitalrev
£24 - 60d battery grip 300803015785
£10- 77mm nd variable filter 190682539295
£2 - 77mm uv filter
£44 - camera bag 150974400356
£19 - 3x LP-E6 Batteries 281070032330
=== £968

OR

£30 - A third cheap flash - ebay
£10 - A third trigger for flash - ebay
£319 - sigma 10-22mm f4.5 from digitalrev
£329 - sigma 70mm f2.8 macro from digitalrev
£40 - Seagate 500gb usb 3.0 external harddrive
£310 - Canon 600D from digitalrev
£19 - 600d battery grip 271088738686
£10- 77mm nd variable filter 190682539295
£2 - 77mm uv filter
£44 - camera bag 150974400356
£10 - 3x LP-08 batteries 260876793142
=== £974

As you can see by getting the 600d I could get another lens, but the 60d looks nice with the small lcd screen ontop of camera for looking down onto.
 
Last edited:
dM-Photography said:
What about compared to a 600d or a 60d? im heading towards the 60d. here is a list of things I plan to get/upgrade.

My £1000 limit!!!!

£30 - A third cheap flash - ebay
£10 - A third trigger for flash - ebay
£319 - sigma 10-22mm f4.5 from digitalrev
fancy import tax? No UK service? and the fact this is the 2nd worst widenagle after Tamron 10-24. Get one of Tokinas from UK, maybe also consider used
£40 - Seagate 500gb usb 3.0 external harddrive
I bought one of those 3 years ago. You can get 1TB portable USB3 easily within £60, even high street shops
£470 - Canon 60D body digitalrev
again, I wouldn't import
£24 - 60d battery grip 300803015785
cheap and nasty job? you might get lucky
£10- 77mm nd variable filter 190682539295
Do you seriously think this will be good? You get what you pay for here
£2 - 77mm uv filter
This will undo every pound you have spent on your kit. Never ever buy cheap UV.
£44 - camera bag 150974400356
£19 - 3x LP-E6 Batteries 281070032330
=== £968

OR

£30 - A third cheap flash - ebay
£10 - A third trigger for flash - ebay
£319 - sigma 10-22mm f4.5 from digitalrev
£329 - sigma 70mm f2.8 macro from digitalrev
too short, import, no IS
£40 - Seagate 500gb usb 3.0 external harddrive
£310 - Canon 600D from digitalrev
imported toy
£19 - 600d battery grip 271088738686
£10- 77mm nd variable filter 190682539295
£2 - 77mm uv filter
avoid!!!
£44 - camera bag 150974400356
£10 - 3x LP-08 batteries 260876793142
=== £974

As you can see by getting the 600d I could get another lens, but the 60d looks nice with the small lcd screen ontop of camera for looking down onto.
Click to expand...

Seriously, 600D or 60D are no match for full frame. xxxD are particularly bad due to small size, poor handling and tiny viewfinder (or may I call it a peephole)

Now I am not sure where you are getting the advice from. Most on the list are not good value for money or just poor junk (see above)
 
maybe get a raynox instead of a macro lens, and cheap uv filters are bad.
while I'm not familier with cannon kit, a 5d would give you a big viewfinder and lots of manual buttons, plus the full frameness I think?
 
daugirdas said:
Seriously, 600D or 60D are no match for full frame. xxxD are particularly bad due to small size, poor handling and tiny viewfinder (or may I call it a peephole)

Now I am not sure where you are getting the advice from. Most on the list are not good value for money or just poor junk (see above)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments mate etc. much appreciated.

I just worry that getting a used 5D with very little life left in it might not be worth the cash.

Ive bought of digitalrev plenty of times with no imported tax etc Very professional company with a great community orientated website aswell.

Ive got the same variable filter for my current setup and works great with surprisingly good image quality for the price.

I just use a cheap UV filter to protect my lens, is this bad practice and effect your image quality hugely?

Thanks again
 
it varies abit, but when i first got a b+w uv filter, its like theres nothing there, you struggle to see the glass :). and it reflects *way* less than a cheapo. cheapo ones often look milky, or do after awhile.

i think its mostly shutter activations is the issue with slr's, with the mirror flapping about too. should be good for atleast 100k to 250k at a guess?
 
There are lots of people perfectly happy with their 6xD / 6xxD camera's, read the reviews (likes of dpreview) so you know exactly what to expect and if it suits your upgrade needs and you're happy with the way it handles (you really do need to try one in store somewhere) then that's your call.

Cheap filters do have a tendency to have a detrimental effect on image quality.
 
For your stated type of photography, full frame is the first choice. A well looked after, low shutter count original 5D is STILL the same camera it ever was, plenty of life left. Newer models only give better high ISO quality (Not needed for your shooting style), faster auto focus, (Again not needed) and better bragging rights! 60D nice enough but not THAT big a jump from 1100, and gives nothing for your stated type of shooting only other types.

"by getting the 600d I could get another lens", and by not getting one and getting an old top quality manual focus macro lens (Experienced users prefer MF) for around £100 instead of £370 odd, you'd have lots of wonga left for other things and STILL have your 1100D for the ultra wide zoom if you persisted with buying it despite advice. Do you have a good tri-pod? Image editing software?
 
Stumpy said:
For your stated type of photography, full frame is the first choice. A well looked after, low shutter count original 5D is STILL the same camera it ever was, plenty of life left. Newer models only give better high ISO quality (Not needed for your shooting style), faster auto focus, (Again not needed) and better bragging rights! 60D nice enough but not THAT big a jump from 1100, and gives nothing for your stated type of shooting only other types.

"by getting the 600d I could get another lens", and by not getting one and getting an old top quality manual focus macro lens (Experienced users prefer MF) for around £100 instead of £370 odd, you'd have lots of wonga left for other things and STILL have your 1100D for the ultra wide zoom if you persisted with buying it despite advice. Do you have a good tri-pod? Image editing software?
Click to expand...

Thanks for great reply. I think I will have a rethink on what to get, but its hard trying to find a 5d with low shutter count as most are pretty old now. So the prices are quite high for me, I have £1000 but I want to get quite a wide variety of equipment to expand on my learning experience through my HNC next year.

Yeh I have a tripod, lightroom and photoshop.
 
The 600D and 60D are not too far apart in features, bar the top LCD and viewfinder size. Image quality will be very similar to your 1100D, but you will get spot metering of course. I had a 60D for a good couple of years but much preferred the older 5D, despite it missing modern features such as auto ISO and a decent screen.

With regards macro, don't discount the cheapie Cosina 100mm macro lens (plastic fantastic) which can be had for well under £100.00 used. My advice would be to buy used where you can, you could save a fortune. I have no probs with Digital Rev BTW, I bought my 60D from them with no issues.
 
i just dont know what to do lol!!! Would keeping my 1100d and spending the money on fast lenses be better option?

I think its going to between keeping 1100d and getting new lenses, or going for 5d and one nice lens.
 
So I decided to keep my 1100d and bought some lenses etc.
18-135mm
10-20mm sigma

But after playing about with the lenses, im not really feeling the need for the wide angle. Well the extra 8mm that it gains from my 18-135 im not really noticing the need for it, even for my landscapes im never using that low of a focal length.

So do you think I should sell the sigma and get a macro instead? I paid £250 for the sigma and reckon I could get that back in ebay as they are all going for about 260+. And with that cash I would get the 60mm canon macro.

My Lenses:

Canon 18-135mm
Sigma 10-20mm (£250 if I sold)
Canon 50mm 1.8 mkII (£60 if I sold)

If I sold these 2 lenses I would get a nice macro for £310. The 60mm macro would work as my portrait lens instead of my 50mm 1.8 but will also have 1:1 macro.

What do you think?
 
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