Which Canon Camera To Get

*Bumble-Bee*

*Bumble-Bee*

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Lisa
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Firstly we have a 500d already but as me and my partner are really into photography and have to share the camera when out (annoying and miss lots) We love wildlife photography, birds and bugs with some scenery thrown in.
So we have decided to get another camera, to have one each.

Budget for the camera is around £500.

Now on amazon they have the 500d:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-500D-Digital-Camera-Clear/dp/B0020MLKEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305757522&sr=1-1

Which is around £530. 15.1 mp etc.

Then you have the 550d:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-550D-Digital-Camera-Body/dp/B0037KM0EY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305757690&sr=1-1

Which is around £500. 18 mp.

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Why is the 550d a bit cheaper than the 500d? I would have thought it would be the other way around. Is there really a lot of difference? The 500d has only 15.1 mp but the 550d has 18 mp there again I would think the latter would be the dearer. Which is better?

Was thinking about getting the 550d as we already have the 500d.
I don't think that there's anything else around our price range of £500?


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Secondly. Where would you buy from? And new or second hand?

Our 500d we got that from Amazon, terrible customer service and never got the software CD with the camera and they told us they couldn't help when we emailed. So we're wary of buying from them again as we really want the software with this purchase.

We are also going to be getting the canon 100-400L within the next few weeks as well. Everyone seems to love this lens. The only thing that put me off was the dust collector threads about it, it is a lot of money to be spending. Should we or not..........

I'm just really cautious about buying anything this expensive which my partner thinks is really odd for a woman, he's the one just wanting to get it all, I said I wanted to post on here first so we're waiting another week or so.

Thanks for reading.
 
Buy my gripped 500D, you'll save £150 off the 550D ;)

In all honesty, I've used both and the 550D seemed a little unresponsive in comparison, but then it was my bosses and it may have been due to the 64gb memory card he insisted on using.

Saying that, the 550D is better specced and if you buy new get the 550D over the 500D. Although many will say get a used 40D/50D which isn't a bad choice by any means although you lose video functionality.
 
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Raikiri said:
Buy my gripped 500D, you'll save £150 off the 550D ;)

In all honesty, I've used both and the 550D seemed a little unresponsive in comparison, but then it was my bosses and it may have been due to the 64gb memory card he insisted on using.
Click to expand...

The memory card wouldn't make a difference in relation to the cameras responsiveness.
 
Its a third party thats selling the 500D through Amazon.

Also...keep in mind you are getting £30 cashback (until the 1st June) on the 550D, just download the form and send the receipt back to Canon and you'll get a cheque for £30 in 4-6weeks so price is actually £470 all in.
 
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Raikiri said:
I meant in relation to the buffer/burst speed, it wasn't a particularly fast card.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't make a difference unless you completely fill the buffer?
 
We are thinking of getting the 40d now after looking at it online, though at the moment I would only be able to afford second hand, the ones I've seen on amazon are about £350+ which to me seems very good, is it really?

Like on this page:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B000V9KCEY/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1308492098&sr=8-1&condition=used

I know it has been said that pixels aren't the biggest deal in the world but on the 500d we have, we have 15.1 megapixels but the 40d has only 10.1 MP......... as we crop our pictures a lot would this matter? I thought the more pixels you had the better?

Also would you buy second hand from the list above? I mean do you get any guarantee that if the camera doesn't come as described or is faulty you can send it back or get another? I'm not sure what the rules are when buying second hand expensive things. Plus we would want the canon software cd this time with the camera as the new 500d one we got that was missing.


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Also the 100-400L lens we are buying, we are buying this new as we want the guarantee and all that, but would you say the best place to buy it from is amazon?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-100-400mm-f4-5-5-6L-Telephoto-Cameras/dp/B00005QF6O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308492785&sr=1-1

We want to get this ordered this afternoon if possible as we are going on holiday in a few months and will need a longer lens than we have now. Do you think this is the best deal for this lens by amazon, the seller is canon i think?

Thanks for reading :)
 
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I do love that lens. I've played about with it abit in stores and was fine on my 500D. I personally feel that if i was going to buy another camera(which im looking at a bigger one) i'd go for the same megapixel size or more, unless i was going FF. I really Like the 50D as i think its a magnesium body as opposed to the 60D which i think has gone back to plastic?

I think the price for the lens is good. aswell as the 40D(flat mates have one, lovely feel of it) so i would say do it if its what you really wanted :) you'll love the better Fps too for wildlife.
 
You should be able to get a good s/h 50D for circa £500. If you are buying the 100-400L check out Kerso's prices (he is a member here) he will probably beat Amazon's prices and you can deal with him with confidence.
 
Never noticed the lack of pixels on my 40D and seems fine shooting birds with a 400mm although I don't tend to crop very much at all

There is a school of thought that suggests the more pixel crammed sensors introduce noise, i'm no expert and can't comment on that

Would say that in my opinion the lesser pixels seem to retain detail a bit better especially on landscape type subjects such as trees.
 
Please dont get suckkered into the Mega Pixel race. 10MP is plenty enough to print to A3 in decent quality. If you arent printing that big, then anything above that is just "nice". Ive got a picture on my wall that is A2, and its from an old Nikon D200 with "only 10 MP".
18MP on a crop camera is just silly IMO, but its a number which everybody recognises and the marketing bods at Canon HQ can use to sell you a new camera. A first time buyer wouldnt buy a new camera because the buffer was 2 times bigger than the old model or there were more autofocus points, becaise it would mean nothing to them. Megapixels for some reason was latched onto by people as "bigger is better" and the marketing people went with it.
Im guessing it stemmed from when digital cameras first came out and were maybe 1 or 2 MP. Up to a point more MP are better, but that point has long been surpassed and its getting to a point now where more MP can actually reduce image quality and present more noise than a camera with a lower MP count.
 
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TCR4x4 said:
Please dont get suckkered into the Mega Pixel race. 10MP is plenty enough to print to A3 in decent quality. If you arent printing that big, then anything above that is just "nice". Ive got a picture on my wall that is A2, and its from an old Nikon D200 with "only 10 MP".
18MP on a crop camera is just silly IMO, but its a number which everybody recognises and the marketing bods at Canon HQ can use to sell you a new camera. A first time buyer wouldnt buy a new camera because the buffer was 2 times bigger than the old model or there were more autofocus points, becaise it would mean nothing to them. Megapixels for some reason was latched onto by people as "bigger is better" and the marketing people went with it.
Im guessing it stemmed from when digital cameras first came out and were maybe 1 or 2 MP. Up to a point more MP are better, but that point has long been surpassed and its getting to a point now where more MP can actually reduce image quality and present more noise than a camera with a lower MP count.
Click to expand...

:plusone: I couldn't have put it better myself.
 
Raikiri said:
Which didn't take much with 18mp RAW files (5 frames maybe?), at which point it slowed to a crawl and took forever to clear the buffer.
Click to expand...

Been there, done that, bought a faster memory card!

Consumer DSLRs don't have large buffer memories so, at 3.5 FPS or so, it doesn't take long to fill them up, even when shooting Jpegs.
 
Dust collection on the 100-400 is one of those internet hype things IMO. I've had mine for about 7 years now, including a trip to Kenya and haven't had any major dust issues. I'm not going to claim it's dust free as any lens that changes size when zooming will inhale and exhale air, but it's certainly nothing to be worried about.

If you get a lens cover from Wildlife Watching Supplies it will help not just with weather & dust, but also helps wildlife stop spotting the big white thing quite so quickly.
 
I recently upgraded from a 350d to a 40d and haven't looked back since. I purchased mine from eBay for £400. Think I may have paid a little too much but its in great nic. You may want to ask the seller about the shutter count, there is software available allowing you to determine this. May be worth asking if you can email him.
 
Thank you all so much for your replies, I appreciate it as we are still kind of
new to DSLR cameras and whats good and not.

At the moment I'm still thinking about getting the 40d, just where from - I've looked on ebay and they have some on there for what seems like great prices:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-EOS-40D...lCameras_JN&hash=item3a678b5a40#ht_993wt_1135


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-EOS-40D...lCameras_JN&hash=item25651d40b6#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-EOS-40D...lCameras_JN&hash=item3cb9681865#ht_500wt_1156


And even these, why would anyone sell them for that price..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-EOS-40D...lCameras_JN&hash=item19c6b1adb1#ht_500wt_1156

This price must be a joke or he has a high reserve that will not be met this low:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-EOS-40-...Cameras_JN&hash=item4aac72ce73#ht_8367wt_1135


Another thing, when people say that the life of the 40d is 100,000 or whatever it is, what happens when that number is reached?
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On the lens front, we have decided to get the 100-400L off Kerso on here.
So hopefully we should have it soon and hope it will be as great as some I've seen on here and the pictures.
 
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Bumble bee thanks for asking these questions as I too really wanted these answers. Also thanks to everyone answering. Very interesting point about too many megapixels with a crop sensor. I thought the 40d was old news but if it's still used and good I might get one too. The 500d is still pulling me though hmm.
 
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