Canon 550D - What else?

Jo2009

Jo2009

Jo2009

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Canon 550D - Good price?

Well, I made a topic about what camera I should get and made my mind up that the 550D would be better than getting the 500D. So I've bin looking around and fount one for £899 and it comes with:

Canon EOS 550D with 18-55mm IS lens
Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 DI Lens (5123011)
Sandisk Extreme 8GB SDHC Card (5135390)
Centon Digital SLR Outfit Bag (5124395)
40 FREE Prints. Use voucher code FREE40PP on http://********ps.com to redeem your prints

So, do you think that's a good price for all of that? I just don't want to buy that and then find out I can find the same stuff bran new some where else.

Thank you
Jo
 
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I'd shy away from the tamron 70 - 300 mm lens. I've used my mates at the football and its not as good as the canon equivalent (slower focus and tracking) so depending on what you want the zoom lens for you may wish to reconsider and get the zoom at a later stage.
 
Oh I see, Well what deal do you think is best out of:

Canon EOS 550D with 18-55mm IS Lens
£749

Canon EOS 550D with 18-55mm IS lens
Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 DI Lens (5123011)
Sandisk Extreme 8GB SDHC Card (5135390)
Centon Digital SLR Outfit Bag (5124395)
40 FREE Prints. Use voucher code FREE40PP on http://p*******.com to redeem your prints
£899

Canon EOS 550D with 18-55mm Lens
Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 Lens (5123011)
Centon DSLR Outfit Bag (5124395)
Sandisk Extreme 8GB SDHC Card (5135390)
Lenspen Lens Cleaner (5116506)
£899

Thanks
Jo
 
Jo2009 said:
Oh I see, Well what deal do you think is best out of:

Canon EOS 550D with 18-55mm IS Lens
£749

Canon EOS 550D with 18-55mm IS lens
Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 DI Lens (5123011)
Sandisk Extreme 8GB SDHC Card (5135390)
Centon Digital SLR Outfit Bag (5124395)
40 FREE Prints. Use voucher code FREE40PP on http://p*******.com to redeem your prints
£899

Canon EOS 550D with 18-55mm Lens
Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6 Lens (5123011)
Centon DSLR Outfit Bag (5124395)
Sandisk Extreme 8GB SDHC Card (5135390)
Lenspen Lens Cleaner (5116506)
£899

Thanks
Jo
Click to expand...

Before deciding on what package you want to buy - anything up to £900 appears to be what you want to spend - what sort of things do you want to take pictures of? There could be a better combination outwith the packages you listed. e.g. buy the body only then get yourself a couple of lenses / accessories within the budget.
 
What do you want to shoot- this is key to what gear you choose...

Are you shooting landscapes? Are you shooting in all weather? Are you shooting sports? Are you going to work in low-light without a tripod/flash? Are you taking portrait photos? etc. etc.
 
Tbh, I'll be useing it for mostly every thing, Flowers, landscapes, portraits etc. The only thing I can think I won't be useing it for is sports.

Thanks
Jo
 
40D + 2xbatteries = £400
Tamron 17-50 F2.7 = £250?
Rest: Canon 70-300 USM IS.

Second hand, superb setup better than any other 550D/50D setup and all you loose is video (which with a 7D and a 40D) that isn't really anything to loose sleep about.

Tamron is better than the kit lens, 40D has better high ISO noise than the 50D/500D/550D. AF is better than the xxxD bodies and the same as the 50D.

6.3FPS, superb camera.

What i'd get IMO.
 
Jo2009 said:
Tbh, I'll be useing it for mostly every thing, Flowers, landscapes, portraits etc. The only thing I can think I won't be useing it for is sports.

Thanks
Jo
Click to expand...

Well if you're not wanting to take photos of sports then I'd rule out the packages with the 70 - 300 for now at least. If you're wanting to do landscapes then the kit lens is ok for that until you can upgrade to a better lens. As for portraits you can get the 50 mm 1.8 in the zooms place. nice sharp prime which is cheap as chips.

You can add in either a circular polarizing filter or a cokin filter system with some grad filters for landscapes or both if the budget allows.
 
This is what I would go for here... comes in about £900ish? It includes all the accesories you'll need too.
40D - £375
Tamron 17-50mm used - £225
50mm f/1.8 - £80
Nissin Di622 - £90
Cokin P series filter ND grad kit - £50?
Redsnapper RS-283 & RSH-12 £100
Remote Release - £5
Camera bag - lowepro minitrekker? £50?

The 40D has good resolution and feels good in the hand. Plus it's got a decent build quality. The 17-50mm is fast for lower light and covers a good range. The 50mm is good for creative DOF/lightweight shooting. The flashgun should help you out in low-light/let you explore that world.

The filter kit will be useful for balancing out dull skies. The tripod is obviously a great tool for landscapes and the redsnapper tripod is the best tripod you'll find under £175. The remote releases can be found on the bay and prevents movement of the tripod.

As for camera bags - thats personal preference. I'm currently using a Peli case, a Lowepro vertex 200 and a shoulder bag from next. I find I use each case/bag depending on where/what I'm shooting.
 
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p0ss3s3d said:
This is what I would go for here... comes in about £900ish? It includes all the accesories you'll need too.
40D - £375
Tamron 17-50mm used - £225
50mm f/1.8 - £80
Nissin Di622 - £90
Cokin P series filter ND grad kit - £50?
Redsnapper RS-283 & RSH-12 £100
Remote Release - £5
Camera bag - lowepro minitrekker? £50?

The 40D has good resolution and feels good in the hand. Plus it's got a decent build quality. The 17-50mm is fast for lower light and covers a good range. The 50mm is good for creative DOF/lightweight shooting. The flashgun should help you out in low-light/let you explore that world.

The filter kit will be useful for balancing out dull skies. The tripod is obviously a great tool for landscapes and the redsnapper tripod is the best tripod you'll find under £175. The remote releases can be found on the bay and prevents movement of the tripod.

As for camera bags - thats personal preference. I'm currently using a Peli case, a Lowepro vertex 200 and a shoulder bag from next. I find I use each case/bag depending on where/what I'm shooting.
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^ Very good stuff.

Although personally I had a 50mm and then got a 17-55 USM IS and never used it so IMO don't bother with that and instead put the money towards batteries.

Get Canon ones, 3rd party ones are hopeless, and i've tried a few even the ones that are supposed to be good and they fail after about a year and the Canon one is still going strong! (2 and a half years old!)
 
Concorde Rules said:
Although personally I had a 50mm and then got a 17-55 USM IS and never used it so IMO don't bother with that and instead put the money towards batteries.
Click to expand...

Thing is though, if you're new to photography a 50mm F1.8 will teach you everything you need to know, and you don't need to worry about breaking it because ~£80 isn't too much in the grand scheme of things. It'll teach you about aperture, will keep the shutter speeds higher, reduces the bulk and weight, and most importantly makes you zoom with your feet, which makes you think about the shot first :)

It should be the law that for the first 6 months of owning a dSLR you can only use prime lenses :p

I just about coped with only a 50mm f1.8 and 400d pairing when I spent a month in Chile a few years back, admittedly it wasn't perfect, but I'm glad I didn't take my other zooms that I had at the time :)

As for the 70-300 IS, I would personally go for the 70-200 F4 L Non-IS as there isn't too much difference in price :)

40D is a great camera, and is what I'm currently using, but make sure you get some warranty with it, mine was only 8 months old when it started showing its first dead pixels :( (Can you even buy it new anywhere any more?)
 
p0ss3s3d said:
This is what I would go for here... comes in about £900ish? It includes all the accesories you'll need too.
40D - £375
Tamron 17-50mm used - £225
50mm f/1.8 - £80
Nissin Di622 - £90
Cokin P series filter ND grad kit - £50?
Redsnapper RS-283 & RSH-12 £100
Remote Release - £5
Camera bag - lowepro minitrekker? £50?

The 40D has good resolution and feels good in the hand. Plus it's got a decent build quality. The 17-50mm is fast for lower light and covers a good range. The 50mm is good for creative DOF/lightweight shooting. The flashgun should help you out in low-light/let you explore that world.

The filter kit will be useful for balancing out dull skies. The tripod is obviously a great tool for landscapes and the redsnapper tripod is the best tripod you'll find under £175. The remote releases can be found on the bay and prevents movement of the tripod.

As for camera bags - thats personal preference. I'm currently using a Peli case, a Lowepro vertex 200 and a shoulder bag from next. I find I use each case/bag depending on where/what I'm shooting.
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I've had a look and the 550D seems to have way more better things than the 40D tho. So would it not just be best to go for the 550D even if it dose cost a bit more?

Thanks
Jo
 
My advice would be hop down to you favourite (Ok, only) highstreet camera store and try a 50D (Same as a 40D, but newer and in some cases not as good - Trades more pixels for saturation, but atleast they'll have a 50D in stock) and a 550D, you'll feel the difference :)

The 40D is a seriously chunky bit of kit and just "feels" better in the hand, but maybe that's because my hands kept falling off the bottom of the grip of my 400D :p

On paper the 550D SHOULD blow the 40D away, but in reality it'll be a much closer run thing than the spec sheet suggests, and remember, more isn't necessarily better, especially when it comes to pixel count :)
 
Jo2009 said:
I've had a look and the 550D seems to have way more better things than the 40D tho. So would it not just be best to go for the 550D even if it dose cost a bit more?

Thanks
Jo
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Better things?

Well it's got more megapixels (you only need 6MP to print any size keeping to a 1/2 print size viewing distance - 30inch print = viewed at closest of 1 foot for perfect detail). But I still have shots printed large with a 4.1 megapixel 1D!!!!

You also get better ISO (about 2/3rds of a stop high ISO I suppose - but the 40D is fine to 3200 and the 550D is okay at about 4000/5000 from what I've read (not used a 550D).

But with the 40D the focus is likely to have a bit more snap. The shooting speed goes up to 6.5fps (pretty fast) and the build is much better (xxxD's feel like toys!)

Considering your shooting landscapes and general use is your idea ISO probably won't matter too much. Megapixels are nice - but since your not cropping it shouldn't matter too much.

I'd still class the 40D as a better camera than the 550D because it's nota camera you will outgrow (the 550 you will outgrow). The 40D also has an invaluable top LCD.
 
griffo_001 said:
My advice would be hop down to you favourite (Ok, only) highstreet camera store and try a 50D (Same as a 40D, but newer and in some cases not as good - Trades more pixels for saturation, but atleast they'll have a 50D in stock) and a 550D, you'll feel the difference :)

The 40D is a seriously chunky bit of kit and just "feels" better in the hand, but maybe that's because my hands kept falling off the bottom of the grip of my 400D :p

On paper the 550D SHOULD blow the 40D away, but in reality it'll be a much closer run thing than the spec sheet suggests, and remember, more isn't necessarily better, especially when it comes to pixel count :)
Click to expand...

550D *is* worse than a 40D.

Used both ;)

Besides a 40D is cheaper and better, why wouldn't you want that? :/

10MP is more than enough to be honest, I have 17MP with my 7D and sometimes I knock it down to 10MP!!
 
Concorde Rules said:
40D has better high ISO noise than the 50D/500D/550D..
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You know better than me, but everything I read on the 50D prior to buying on TP says that is no longer the case. That the reviewers early on made mention of it but some of the iso settings out of the box applied to the RAW image when they shouldn't and disabling the settings improves the high iso considerably. Of course those early reviews wouldn't know this.

I could find the thread if you wanted a read.
 
dannyjo22 said:
You know better than me, but everything I read on the 50D prior to buying on TP says that is no longer the case. That the reviewers early on made mention of it but some of the iso settings out of the box applied to the RAW image when they shouldn't and disabling the settings improves the high iso considerably. Of course those early reviews wouldn't know this.

I could find the thread if you wanted a read.
Click to expand...

My opinion has been made up from looking at photos over at POTN, IE real world.

And I was of the opinion that the RAW file isn't messed with in any shape or form apart from long exposure noise reduction? (I might have to re-read somethings if this isn't the case!)

There isn't *much* in it and it may be my slight bias but the 40D did seem to come out ahead up to ISO3200.

7D @ 3200 is better than the 40D at ISO3200 from what I can tell however.

Either way I'd still say buy a 40D over anything else he is looking at. Mainly because its cheaper!!!
 
At 100% the 40D wins but when printed it's identical performance with the 50D.The 500D isn't really any better than the 450D ISO wise and the 550D is a half stop ahead of the 40D at 100% and probably about 2/3rd's when printed.

Oh and below ISO800 you'll find the 40D has the best ISO, followed by the 50D and 7D then finally the 550D!!!
 
Concorde Rules said:
My opinion has been made up from looking at photos over at POTN, IE real world.

And I was of the opinion that the RAW file isn't messed with in any shape or form apart from long exposure noise reduction? (I might have to re-read somethings if this isn't the case!)
Click to expand...

Yeah there was big comparison bit on TP where they found some of the settings that shouldn't be applied to a raw file where being applied.

In the 50D owners thread IIRC they put a lot of time into comparisons.
 
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