Help Choosing a DSLR

AndyCroft1982

AndyCroft1982

AndyCroft1982

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Hi Guys, im currently lokoing for a secondhand digital slr camera for my girfriend. She will be taking lots of different types of pictures, mainly of landscapes etc. I would also like to get into astrophotography and would also like to "borrow" her camera. So i am looking for something than would be decent at both, without the need to hard mod the camera. Im currently looking at the Canon EOS 50d. What would your opinions be on this camera or any others you reccommend. I am a complete novice when it comes to cameras :)
 
AndyCroft1982 said:
Hi Guys, im currently lokoing for a secondhand digital slr camera for my girfriend. She will be taking lots of different types of pictures, mainly of landscapes etc. I would also like to get into astrophotography and would also like to "borrow" her camera. So i am looking for something than would be decent at both, without the need to hard mod the camera. Im currently looking at the Canon EOS 50d. What would your opinions be on this camera or any others you reccommend. I am a complete novice when it comes to cameras :)
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I went from 40D to 50D and am pretty satisfied. I avoided the 60D as it cut out a lot of features, particularly the magnesium body. The 50D came under criticism by some for increased noise levels over the 40D at high ISO levels (the level of sensitivity, equivalent to increasing the ISO level of film), but I've not noticed any sign of this, if anything my 50D pics are marginally cleaner than those I got from the 40D, but that may be that my technique has improved.

The 70D is all-round a much better camera, and worth the extra money, but for me the 50D is a bit of a bargain sweet-spot of speed, features, image quality and handling.

If you don't need microfocus adjustment, also consider the 40D, I'd still be using mine if the shutter hadn't failed (this was unusual, they are normally pretty reliable).

I've done some astrophotography with both, what are you looking to do?
 
Thank you for your response much appreciated. Eventually I will be trying to take pics of constellations and dso when I can afford a decent telescope. My partner wants one so she can take different types if pictures with different lenses basically learn all about taking pictures with one. She is a member of a camera club and feels left out as she feels her bridge camera isn't quite up to the job anymore as she learns more and more.
 
Bear in mind if you want to capture nebulous DSO objects you really need to get rid of the inbuilt IR filter. This pretty much cripples the DSLR for normal photography, unless you can fit an IR filter to all the lenses you're going to use....

A DSLR isn't necessarily the best cam for astrophotography, you can get pretty amazing DSO results with fairly low-res (but not necessarily cheap) astro cams, and then stacking multiple frames together. Either way you'll find yourself hitting long-exposure/frame capture limits before too long, and then you'll need a tracking mount, which doesn't have to be expensive.

On the other hand, you can get some good wide-field results just by finding dark skies, fitting a sharp lens, sitting the camera on it's back on the floor and doing long exposures.

Have a read here:
http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/129833-astrophotography-dslr-or-webcam/

And be aware, if you go for it, it can become an obsession :)
 
Thanks again for the advice, i dont think i will be taking off the ir filter as i imagine she would kill me lol. I will check out the website when i get home and study it in detail. I only had my travel scope for 20 minuites looking at the stars and moon before i was looking for better tekescope :) i imagine that astro photography will go the same way haha.

What did you use yourself when you got in to astro?
 
I have a Meade AR6-AT, initially for visual astronomy. I bought a secondhand 1000D and adaptor to do some astrophotography, but quickly outgrew it and replaced it with a 40D, and spent many happy evenings snapping the skies. By that point I got back into general photography after years using a bridge camera, so treated myself to some decent kit.

Around that time I moved up to London from Guildford, so that sort of put a lid on astronomy as dark skies became a good hours drive away. Still have the scope in storage though (and no, not selling it :) )
 
No all my cams have the IR filter still in place, 40D and 50D are so close that I'd choose based on whether you want the MF adjustment (which is of no consequence to astrophotography) and availability of Magic Lantern on the 50D (which could be).

If I had access to dark skies I'd consider removing the filter on my 40D. You can get the 60Da though, which doesn't have a filter from the factory.
 
Depends on what your budget is really. There's some great deals to be had on a 7D body nowadays which is a cracking camera.

As others have said both the 40D and 50D are great bodies though.
 
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