30D, 5D, D200 - quick samples \m/

mrk

mrk

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Well I finally had time to spend more than just a moment with the 30D, 5D and D200 today. Previously I just had a quick handle of the 5D and D200 but this time I had time to shoot some quick samples and explore the bodies, nothing extensive or "review" material, just general user thoughts :)

The store had lenses on each of the bodies so I just used them, they were 18-55 on the 30D, 17-85 IS on the 5D and 18-70 on the D200. All shot at 50mm at their widest setting on AV at the following: iso400,800 and 1600. Samples will be posted below as jpegs straight from the cam, shot at JPEG “Large” setting, I didn’t think about using RAW :/ maybe next time. Also images resized to 1600 wide to keep bandwidth at a low (besides 100% size doesn't mean much when viewing on a screen whole)

The D200 images were shot at a diff store as the 1st store did not have any in, this shouldn't affect the IQ though as both stores have the similar lighting…

Focus speed on ALL 3 bodies was just as fast as each other, I noticed little to no difference between them regardless of lens used.

The 5D mirror had an instant slap to it which gave the body a very faint jolt during this moment, you could feel it through your hands as it tinged through, it was also fairly loud like a CLICK!. The 30D was the same as 20D which almost everyone is familiar with.
The D200 mirror had a fainter slap, hard to describe but it sounded/felt more dampened but still audible.

I also did not like the CF door on the 5D and 30D, like the 350D it felt weak and flimsy, the d200 had a separate door release latch on the rear of the body so no accidental opening or possible problems later.

The D200 viewfinder was only a small amount smaller than the 5D (both are still awesomely big and nice to focus manually) with the 30D having the smallest viewfinder.

Anyone who has held all 3 will probably agree here, the D200 definitely feels better and meatier and more professional from the moment you hold it. It feels like the D2x minus the vertical grip welded underneath.


Images! (no iso100 or 200 because up to iso400 there is no noise difference between either cam, and probably any dslr really…)

30D
400 / 800 / 1600

5D
400 / 800 / 1600

D200
400 / 800 / 1600

IQ wise you can see there is very little difference between all 3 and that's jpeg, expect RAW images to be much better and sharper.

I got lucky and have access to both C/N equipment and the above stuff may help others decide too but you really must hold and use all 3 before deciding if like me you do have access to both systems :p
 
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:)

nice to have a play with all 3 i guess...often a good lunchtime hobby!

never had a play with a d200. does look nice.

the best 5d vs d200 compaison I've seen is this:

http://www.potatobear.com/ND200/D200F.htm

I think its safe to say that the 5d edges it! for me skin tones is a very good test. Wish someone could do a test with fully comparible lenses as you cant ignore the effect that the glass could have had on the images. in this test the nikon uses the AF85 F1.4 and the Canon uses the EF135 F2. I assume the nikon is as good as the canon? its hard to say...yet another unkown.

I think if you had a camera with the body & build of the d200 with the internals of the 5d you'd have an awesome piece of kit
 
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Looks like they had a very soft sample of the lens on the d200 there!, I think iit's best is such rveiews use the same lens like for example the awesome sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX for both mounts, that way no one can say x glass is better or xglass is worse :p
 
Seems odd to me that the results are THAT different - the IQ and colors are very different there. You could test them both one copy of a sigma prime then that'd be fairer assuming both bodies have no focus issues with the particular lens used.
 
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I wanted a sample from the 1dsmarkII at the Focus on imaging. The guy refused to let me stick my CF in it (incase I gave a near 2 year old camera a bad review! what a dumb ass. I couldnt be more in love with it)

Let me stick my 17 - 40 L on it though. oooooh full frame!
 
Fstop11 said:
I wanted a sample from the 1dsmarkII at the Focus on imaging. The guy refused to let me stick my CF in it (incase I gave a near 2 year old camera a bad review! what a dumb ass. I couldnt be more in love with it)

Let me stick my 17 - 40 L on it though. oooooh full frame!

are you serious?

I went to a canon open day at the largest pro camera store chain, and me and my friend spent a good hour playing with the 1DmkIIn, 5D and 1DSmkII, with their lenses/our lenses, with our memory cards in, they guy was even chatting to us whilst we were doing it :s Quite surprising given our age really, although we obviously knew our way around a dSLR and weren't just trouble making kids, as we both had our 20D's and assorted lenses with us :)

Tom.
 
rG-tom said:
are you serious?

I went to a canon open day at the largest pro camera store chain, and me and my friend spent a good hour playing with the 1DmkIIn, 5D and 1DSmkII, with their lenses/our lenses, with our memory cards in, they guy was even chatting to us whilst we were doing it :s Quite surprising given our age really, although we obviously knew our way around a dSLR and weren't just trouble making kids, as we both had our 20D's and assorted lenses with us :)

Tom.
Yes it was true. I cant mention the name but it was a retailer at Focus. They had one in their glass cabinet. Some man in a suit was holding it trying it out. Didnt know a dam thing about anything "how do I open the door?" "derrrrr help mee... Wooden spooooooon!"
So I had a go and used it flawlessly (Asked him of course if I could have a look)
Was testing it for full frame ability, AF speed, Multi shot bursts and weight. Then the guy said to me.. (after telling me I cant put my card in it, his reason.. coz i could give a test model a bad review)
To be careful with it.. its an expensive camera..

I said, Why does that matter? You have just told me its a test model.
So then I said. "Thank you! I dont think I will be shopping with your store in the future!"

I mean some people are so rude without being direct. does he expect someone to purchase a 5k investment by gentle touch and eyes only!
 
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morgan said:
:)
the best 5d vs d200 compaison I've seen is this:

http://www.potatobear.com/ND200/D200F.htm

I think the colour profiles on each camera are very very different
would like to see what is the most accurate
having said that I like the shots from the 5D better and the quality of the shots on the 5D blows the D200 away for me
could be the lens/camera combination but from those samples, I wouldn't touch the D200
add in FF sensor and it's a clear winner
 
I've been considering either a 5D body to go with my existing Canon lenses, or going for a similarly priced bundle of the 30D + a couple of IS lenses. This is getting to be a hard decision!!
 
Opinions on the Potatobear review range from "It's a fake" to "Totally unreliable and poor testing methods". I'd stick to high quality reviews like Phil Askey's at dpreview.com
 
speaking of dpreview...they still havent got a review of the 30d up yet :rolleyes: thought it would have been done by now. The camera has been available for nearly 3 weeks now...
 
madmaxx said:
I've been considering either a 5D body to go with my existing Canon lenses, or going for a similarly priced bundle of the 30D + a couple of IS lenses. This is getting to be a hard decision!!

what lenses do you already have? Nearly every review I have read on the 5D reminds potential buyers that due to the fact that it is a full frame sensor you need to use the best glass possible...
 
Phil takes his time to do reviews, not like the sorry excuse of a "review" that other people *cough* *Ken Rockwell* decide to do, often without actually using the camera or lens.

I'd quite frankly rather wait a few more weeks than read something that is worth more or less nothing. Plus, it's not like you have to pay for dpreview.com, so I can't say I'm complaining.
 
Yup "dp"reviews are always of the highest quality and I like the pros cons markup they use, pretty accurate.

However! I should think it's pretty clear what the 30D review will be like, heh.
 
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