I want to Buy Canon 350D

[Banish]

but I have been looking at a package

this

Canon EOS-350D plus
Canon EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6
Canon EF 55-200 f/4.5-5.6
Canon BG-E3 Grip

question is would this be a good all round setup for me to use taking my Kids pictures, rallying/motorsport I cant afford for huge zoom lens but this package price is best Ive found so far £619

but I thought I might get a 2x teleconvertor ? good ? bad idea ?

Cheers
Brian

 

[YooEntSinMeROYT]

That would make a good all round setup. You could try a 1.4x Teleconverter but 2x Teleconverter will lose you too many stops to prove useful. You'd have to have a very bright day to get any reasonable shots.

I've had a 350D myself for the past 4 months or so (having gone from a Powershot S1 point & shoot) & never looked back.

 

[rpstewart]

but I thought I might get a 2x teleconvertor ? good ? bad idea ?

Using a teleconverter with a 350D & the lenses listed is a bad idea. Firstly you'd need to use a third party converter, the Canon ones only work with a limited number of the L series lenses. Secondly, and far more importantly, adding a teleconverter to a lens changes the maximum aperture as a result of the increase in focal length. Therefore adding a 1.4x TC to an f/5.6 lens results in it becoming an f/8 lens, add a 2x TC and it's f/11. This then gives you a problem with auto focus because the 350D's AF cannot operate with a lens slower than f/5.6 so as soon as you add a TC to either of the lenses you've listed you'll lose AF capability at the long end, ie where you want the TC...

 

[Vertigo]

That's the same sort of thing I've been looking at getting but I'm waiting a month or so until the 400d makes an appearance.

My initial thought was to get the 400d as, although I'm not too bothered about the extra megapixels, I do like the bigger LCD and self-cleaning. Then I found out that the RRP was 200-300 quid more than the 350d so I forgot about it. Now I've seen the 400d priced at only 50-100 more than the 350d in some places, although there's obviously no stock yet.

I think I'm going to hang on until the 400 makes an appearance. If it's not much more than the 350 then I'll go for that otherwise it'll hopefully knock 350 prices down a touch.

 

[King_Boru]

The Canon 18- 55mm 'kit' lens is nothing to be desired. You are better off buying the body only and scouting around for a Sigma 18 - 55mm or equivelent. Better quality both build and picture wise. As for a telphoto lens consider the Sigma 70 - 300mm APO DG Macro. It can be had as little as £155 from certain online retailers.

 

[Banish]

thanks for the replies, so no convertor then

I also looked at the 400D but the prices so far I have found for pre orders £599 body only so I wont bother

cheers for the info
Brian

 

[ichabod crane]

i have just bourght the 350D after 5 years of using an eos 300V and its a superb camera it doeasnt lose any of the features the 35mm had its probably got more. im still getting used to it only had it one day going out this afternoon to give it a run in. i got it with the standard lense and a tamron 70-300 lense thrown in. the tamron isnt the best in the world fantastic tele foto zoom but a bit slow on the AF, but for £99 its a bargain and i have other lenses from my 300v. i cant recommend the 350D enough if you want the freedom of digital in an outstanding SLR get the 350D

oh you can get the Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro (Canon AF) for £114 from a well known camera store

 

[Banish]

Found that 300mm lens now for £98 inc vat

and the 400D now for £519 inc the 18-55mm lens so could be a 400 not a 350 for me

 

[DRZ]

The Canon 18- 55mm 'kit' lens is nothing to be desired. You are better off buying the body only and scouting around for a Sigma 18 - 55mm or equivelent. Better quality both build and picture wise. As for a telphoto lens consider the Sigma 70 - 300mm APO DG Macro. It can be had as little as £155 from certain online retailers.

Yes the Sigma is better (I assume you are talking about the F/2.8 here? At any rate the Tamron 17-35 is better than both), but in the right hands the kit lens is a great bit of glass for the money. At the wide end its fine for a general wideish lens to have in your bag. At the longer end it does suffer slightly but nothing that isnt too hard to sort out in photoshop afterwards. Throwing money at it might get you some great glass but it wont make you a better photographer.

Some low-res samples from the kit lens:

Assuming the OP is new to photography, its not a bad place to start (though the Sigma 70-300 APO is a better zoom lens for what you want) at all.

In my opinion though, now is the wrong time to be buying an entry D-SLR. Canon have announced the 400D so 350D prices should drop right down to shift the remaining stock - whichever camera you go for its hugely prudent to wait for just a bit longer to see how the market shifts. Just a couple of days could see you either saving a fair bit of money or getting a newer/"better" camera.

 

[Vertigo]

Banish: that price is the subject of much debate elsewhere - I'd wait and see before placing any pre-orders if I were you.

As for the 400D generally, I'd echo DRZ's comments about waiting, whichever way you plan to jump. Also, there are no actual hands-on reviews of the 400D yet so there are a few questions. One of them revolves around noise at high ISO settings, which could well be worse than the 350 due to the higher CMOS density. Many have noticed that the vast majority of sample images released so far are at low ISO. There are also questions about the general sharpness of the images compared to the 350d.

We need some decent independent reviews. Of course, if these show that the 400's image quality is indeed inferior to the 350s in many cases (not saying this is the case, just hypothesising), then it could bolster the price of the 350 a bit.

 

[Banish]

more thinking, looks like I shall hold on for a wee while, its not like I need it next week or anything