P, M, 1, 2, 3

Our Family

Looking at cameras again

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I’ve been looking to buy a new dSLR for a long time, and I’ve also sold off the dSLR I had. (I still have my film one though…)

I was more or less fixed on getting the Canon EOS 5D mkII until recently… PG and I were at a shopping centre and the EOS50D was on display together with the EOS550D and EOS1000D – She felt that the EOS50D was very big. The EOS 5D mkII is bigger! It doesn’t help that the EOS5D mkII costs more too. 🙁

So, today, I decide to relook at my options. What do I really need?

  • Must have
    • Auto-focus – Fast, reliable
    • Auto-exposure – Consistent. I can compensate accordingly as long as it is consistent. Especially with flash.
    • Good image quality – Expectation of Image Quality will of course depend also on the type of camera.
  • Good to have
    • Built-in flash
    • Use SD card
    • High continuous fps
    • Full-frame
    • Small enough for travelling

So now, the possible candidates..

1. EOS 1000D – $800 with kit lens

Entry-level dSLR. Basically equivalent to what I had on my older SLR. Slightly more control, better response and flash control, compared to our compact camera.

Can still take good pictures, but it’s like trying to take good pictures with a compact camera. Not impossible, but limited capability.

2. EOS 550D – $1100 for body. $1600 with the 18-135 lens

Consumer-level dSLR – same level as what I had when I bought it. The 18-135 range is extremely useful for travelling. My experience with similar long zooms though is that the pictures don’t turn out very well – they then to be soft.

I could of course buy better lens… but that means that I would not be able to upgrade to a full-frame (FF) camera – Would I ever upgrade to FF? (All the cameras in this post are not FF except for the EOS 5D mkII.

3. EOS 50D – $1400+ for the body

The low-end of the pro-sumer series. Rumors of a EOS 60D coming out soon… The EOS 550 is newer and it actually better than the EOS 50D. The next EOS60D should be similar to the current EOS 7D.

The price has basically dropped $400 since the camera was launched in end 2008. Image quality is better that the consumer EOS 550D, but for a hobby, the Consumer version is slightly more worth it for now.

4. EOS 7D – $2200 for the body, $2800+ with the 18-135 lens

High-end of the prosumer. If you are looking for a crop body, this is currently the best there is. Basically $1100 more than the consumer version. 8fps (which I actually don’t need), wireless flash… other useful features that are good to have, but not so critical if I am the one taking the shots 🙂

5. EOS 5D mkII- $3200 for body, $4600 with the 24-105 lens

*sigh* still the dream camera. $2000 more than the consumer camera. Bigger and more bulky for travelling. Heart pain if stolen or spoilt. But much better image quality. Worth it? If only there are ppl selling the older 5D for $1K

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