550D or 50D?

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

dannyjo22

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After getting into photography more than I ever thought I would, I've provisionally sold my 1000D.

My work bonus pays out at the end of may and I'm in the market for an upgrade.

Most of my photography is of my growing son although this year I hope to get out and about a bit more to do some scenery etc.

I take the odd video of my son usually on my Ixus, lowish quality short films. My initially reason to sell the 1000D was to then buy the 550D and use that to take better quality films of the little fella as he grows.

Now I'm starting to think 50D and buy a seperate small HD video cam. At a push I could buy a 7D body but that would limit my glass options for another year. I'm thinking either of those two cameras and then buying myself a piece of L glass would be a much better investment than a better body and have to buy a cheap lens for 12 months?

Any thoughts or advice before I buy?

Ther's been a lot of reviews recently in photography magazines on the 550 and it's getting decent write ups. I've also found it now for £610 with the £50 canon cash back.
 
The 550D is a nice camera. It will do everything you need it to and give great results.

The 50D is a step up to a semi-pro level. Better build quality, internals etc.

Personally I'd have a dedicated HD camcorder and the 50D.
 
I bought the 50D. It feels much more substantial and nicer to hold than the 5xxD series, has weatherproofing and performs well. Got mine from the canon shop on Ebay for about £570. You could also look at a 40D body if there are any about as the results are very similar.

Really it's probably best to try both bodies and see which you prefer.
 
Hi,

I currently have the 50D and i love it, it does everything i need and i was also tempted by both the 7D and the 5D II but settled on the 50D with some better glass. As you say you could always get a separate video cam for video if you really need it. If your going to use video on a 7D or a 5D II then you do really need good glass (someone correct me if i am wrong). Also when i compared the 550D to the 50D the 50D just felt more robust and better in my hands i also now have the battery grip for it. But my advice would be to go and have a play with both and see which you prefer.
 
I bought a 7D with a view to also using for video, it's just not very practical so I fell back to using the HD camcorder. I also had the 500D prior to this. There is a difference is feel between the xxxD and xxD models, the xxD are more substantial but I did like the small size and weight of the 500D when I had it. With a battery grip it was nice to handle.

A 40D or 50D + camcorder would be the way to go from my experience. yet again you may love having to manually focus a DLSR when using video! :)
 
My money would be on the 50D (it looks like a great camera from reviews) the build quality for a start is much better than the xxxD range.
 
If you don't need the build quality, viewfinder and speed of a 50D (mainly the more pro level features)- the 550D has a much better feature set:

Excellent video mode inc 720 60 FPS and VGA crop Function
Better 3:2 screen
Similar noise handling
Slightly higher resolution
7D level metering

Can you tell mines being delivered today? :D
 
If you haven't yet used video on an SLR, you will probably find it really quite tricky to get started. It is nowhere near as straightforward as a camcorder, and you'll most likely need some equipment (stabilisation as a minimum) to take advantage of it.

Nail it, and of course the video quality is astounding.
 
Just got a 550D, for me choice was simple as I wanted something that's going to travel with me everywhere, therefore size and weight were key factors, 50D just felt too big and heavy. Nice camera and movie features are a bonus, looking forward to testing them out soon. :cool:
 
Some interesting food for thought thanks guys. I'm pretty sure the controls on the 550 will be similar and the feel of the body will be similar to the 1000D. I guess I need to go and have a better play about with the 50D at a shop.

Is the 17-85IS lens that comes with the kit on the 50D a decent enough lens, better than the 18-55IS?
 
I recommend getting a 40D (second hand) as it's the best bang-for-buck camera and it just falls behind the 50D. The 18-85MM is an OK lens but I'd recommend getting the 17-50mm 2.8 Tamron.
 
Pah still can't decide what to upgrade to :( Spent some time instore handling the 550 and the 50D and also the 7D. I wanted to actually have a play with the video functions but the batteries where dead on the display models and they claimed to have none spare charged.

I've always liked the size of my 1000D and my Mrs uses it regularly on full auto and loves it. She found the XXD models too big for her but I personally loved the feel and the 550 felt like a plastic toy in comparison. To be fair I'm comfortable with the placing and feel of the buttons of them all in my hands.

Hopefully this week I can have a play and see how happy I am with the video functions and take my own memory card to see the results as to buying an all in one or seperates.
 
I've got the 500D and would definitely go for a 550D if I was buying again - if only for the much improved video functions (nice to see the external mic input for instance) and the high fps recording rates too - 60fps is sorely missed on the 500D @ 720p!
 
The video is simple enough to use from my experience, and the 500D is my first DLSR so it was a jump up from a simple point and shoot.

The 550D is I would imagine the same if not easier as I understand they've tweaked a few things to make them simpler.

A read of dpreview's coverage would give you more insight.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Are the video functions/focus easy to use or are they going to be complicated for my wife who will want to point and shoot?
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It's manual focus so depends on how good you are at that? I found it too cumbersome for videoing family\kids stuff. Quality is great but the loss of focus with kids running around isn't fun to watch! Only time I've ever used manual focus previously is for static stuff, so it wa too high a learnig curve for me. Especially when I have a HD camcorder which is smaller and easy to use.
 
Rojin said:
It's manual focus so depends on how good you are at that? I found it too cumbersome for videoing family\kids stuff. Quality is great but the loss of focus with kids running around isn't fun to watch! Only time I've ever used manual focus previously is for static stuff, so it wa too high a learnig curve for me. Especially when I have a HD camcorder which is smaller and easy to use.
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Ah right thats a no no for me then. I might as well but a seperate HD recorder my mrs wouldn't bother if she had to manually focus.

Leaning towards the 50D then and a separate HD camcorder :)
 
Sorry! My experience is with the 500d where you had to hit the AE lock button to auto focus (not continous). I believe the 550d is better in that respect, although if the AF on your lens is noisy you will hear it if using the internal mic.

edit: although I did also have the 7D, and found that cumbersome to use as well, although the camera being much bigger also counted against it.
 
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I also recommend going down the camera + HD camcorder route too. I sold my Canon HV30 and bought a 5d mark ii with the idea that it would serve both purposes, and while the quality of the 5d mk ii video is astounding (just as I'm sure the 550D would be) unfortunately as has been mentioned it's not very practical.

I guess it depends on the application, in your case a DSLR may be arkward to record a subject that may change distance from the camera quite often, thus forcing you to use manual focus.

If I was able to make the choice again, I'd of gone for a 50D and kept my HV30.
 
Rojin said:
I believe the 550d is better in that respect, although if the AF on your lens is noisy you will hear it if using the internal mic.
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This is one thing I hate about the lack of an external mic as my cheap 55-250 IS lens is pretty noisy when it's focusing so if you're filming something without an obvious sound source all you hear is the motor spinning up occasionally / focusing!

Just a half press of the shutter button gives an audible rumble from the actuator in there!
 
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