A Move to Full Frame?

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I have the itch again :( I keep seeing 5Dc's and thinking I could swap my kit for one of them nice bokeh machines with out much loss really.

So yes I am happy with what I have and I get good results with the kit, but I feel like moving on, am I stupid?

My kit at the moment, 500D gripped, 18-55is, 55-250is, Sigma 10-20 4.0 and the 50 1.8. I would move the 500d, 18-55 and the 10-20.

I would like to then buy a 5Dc and a 24-105L keeping the 50 1.8 and keeping the 55-520 for the wife, selling the rest. That would be me sorted hopefully for the foreseeable future (never true)

Is it a wise move? Should I stick with what I have? Will I be disappointed?
 
Save for longer and buy a second hand 5D mk ii if you can afford it. Whilst the mk 1 is a decent camera, its tech is very old now and the LCD screen on it is rubbish.
 
Save for the mkiii. Normally I'd say use common sense and go for what you can afford but I got a loan to get 2 lenses and the mkiii. Man alive its the best purchase I've made in the photography arena. So much so I've actually given my 60D away as I know I won't use it again :)
 
as above save for the mk2 realistically thats double the money but it will be a camera you can keep for along time.
you could have course invest in some better glass, maybe get an L lens or two - the quality output generally holds the itch at bay for a little while longer.
 
I think An Exception's signature holds the real answer to your question!

The 5dc was a great camera in it's time but it's getting a bit long in the tooth today the lcd screen in particular isn't great, if you decide to stay canon I'd really look to get the 5d mkii the mkiii would be nice but thats a massive load of money which most of us don't have!
 
Tbh I think it's easy to get carried away with these threads.

5Dc will not be a disappointment to any purchaser so long as they are aware what they are buying. Yea LCD is pants, limited AF and ISO performance compared to modern cameras... but its half the price of a used 5Dii which will go most of the way to paying for a used 24-105 F4 L.

At the end of the day if that is what you can afford OP, and you want to make the jump - its a viable way of getting a FF camera in your hands. I say go for it. For that money... there is no viable alternative to a 5Dc.
 
Yes all very valid points! However Nikon is out the window as the wife is going Canon as well and sharing lenses would be a big bonus for her.

Mk2 is a shed load of money and would love to get one, will have to think about that. I do expect I wouldn't be able to spend that much on one though as it's a lot! Full frame is sooo appealing!

I will be borrowing said 5Dc tomorrow for a few days off a mate with a 70-200 2.8is, so should see what its capable of. he just let me know the know so this should be interesting!

Quite excited now, I can compare both cameras and see how it goes. If I decide not too maybe a 40d?
 
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Haha yes I suppose it does sound like that :p I was silly to say that. I had been looking at 40D's before I realised how much 5Dc's were. My reasoning being slightly bigger body, better built, better IQ (slightly) and better FPS. Then again we will see how the 5Dc performs in the next few days.

I'm pretty sure I will be either be going for the 5Dc + 24-105 or sticking with the 500d and selling all the glass I have and trying to get a nice L for that.
 
I would say go for the 5Dc or nothing. If you were going to go for an XXD body it would have to be the 50D. Improved resolution, ISO, and LCD compared to the 40D. But the price differential to the 5Dc is not that much....
 
I'd say get a 5D mki and use that for 3 years while saving for a 5Dmkiii, you'll get the benefit of full frame and can look forward to the upgrade in spec.

you might buy a super expensive model and find you just dont like it.... get something on level that you can swap lenses with the wife as some for the more expensive DSLR's arnt compatible with cheaper models, whats the point of having an expensive camera with a low end lens
 
I have the itch again :( I keep seeing 5Dc's and thinking I could swap my kit for one of them nice bokeh machines with out much loss really.

So yes I am happy with what I have and I get good results with the kit, but I feel like moving on, am I stupid?

My kit at the moment, 500D gripped, 18-55is, 55-250is, Sigma 10-20 4.0 and the 50 1.8. I would move the 500d, 18-55 and the 10-20.

I would like to then buy a 5Dc and a 24-105L keeping the 50 1.8 and keeping the 55-520 for the wife, selling the rest. That would be me sorted hopefully for the foreseeable future (never true)

Is it a wise move? Should I stick with what I have? Will I be disappointed?



The 55-250 won't work on a full frame camera, even if it did you would have far less reach so would want to invest in something longer (100-400 or 400mm etc) The only transferable lens is rather mediocre 50mm f1.8. So you are basically starting from scratch, the perfect time to have a long hard think about what system you want to settle on and invest in. Given current camera line ups you would need some very specific lens choices to decide to go with canon.

Otherwise, there is no way on earth I would go from a modern crop camera to a very old FF camera. What isn't about your 500d that you don't like?

Bokeh has nothing to do with the size of the sensor but is everything to do with the design of the lens. The 50mm f/1.8 you have is an ugly lens, will still be ugly on FF. if ou want nice Bokeh then you need to invest in nice lenses. Sigma 50mm f/1.4 or the newly announced 35mm f/1.4 could be good, classic canon lenses like the canon 24mm and 35mm f1.4L. Zeisse primes have very nice bokeh characteristics.

Don't discard the zooms, the 24-70mm produces fairly nice bokeh for such a lens.



You also want to be very careful of aperture choices. You wil get a narrower depth of focus using a faster prime on a crop body than the slowe f4.0 zoom you suggest on a FF camera. There is about 1.3 stops difference between FF and cr, unreal world terms you won't see a big difference between an f4.0 zoom on a FF camera and an f/2.8 lens on a crop camera, while a nice f1.4 or 1.8 prime on a crop camera will offer narrower depth of focus than a f4.0 or even f2.8 lens on FF (to be clear f/1.8 on crop is about the same as f/2.8 on FF).

Don't make the common mistake of trying to get shallower DoF by buying a FF camera and then using lenses slower than you would use on a crop.
And don't make the mistake of thinking sensor size or aperture controls the quality of Bokeh, it doesn't, you need to find beautiful lenses to get beautiful bokeh.

The converse of the above is a lens like the 24mm /f1.4 on a FF camera absolutely cannot be replicated on a crop camera.
 

Thanks for that, very in-depth! Will have to give it a proper read later when I get home. Just to clarify the 55-250 will be kept not for the 5Dc as I know it won't work but for the wife's new camera a 600D. Maybe this is the reason I got the itch haha... she gets new I want something different :cool:

Good point on the the lens. I think I really just have to try it out and then have a long hard think about it.
 
I would recommend a 5Dc all day long but it has no AF fine-tune (micro adjust). I'v found it's invaluable when shooting at shallow DOF.

As for the allure of shallow DOF, why on earth would anyone stick a 24-105 F4 on a camera, if you were after a shallow DOF?

Op may as well just get a Canon or even Tamron 17-50 2.8 and save some cash...
 
FYI I've got a 5DII selling in the MM but it sounds like you'd benefit from a decent lens before a body upgrade to be honest
 
Hmmm no one has asked what you shoot to know if a Mk1 5D is going to be in some way a limiting factor. Have to say I struggle when people claim that a camera is more limiting than their own skills as a photographer !!!!!!

I have a 5D Mk1 .... was a great camera when came out and was the current must have, and still take the same pictures today.... If you want one, try and and go for it, then learn how to get the most out of it.... and don't worry about the willy wavers who MUST have the latest just released kit.....
If I can't get the picture I want with it, then it will be me messing up not the camera.

If the same lens was put on a Mk1 and Mk3, picture taken, in RAW, put in PS, corrected, resized to 1024 pixels wide and posted on here could we tell the difference ?.... If it was printed to A3 could we tell which camera took the picture ?


I'd agree to buy a nice lens that suits your type of photography......will always be useful.
 
The 5Dc is a great camera, the image quality is superb when decent glass is attached, it doesn't have all the cool features of modern dslrs nor does it sport a great auto focus system or high iso compared to some newer cameras but if these aren't important to you then it's a good budget option
 
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