Mirrorless or DSLR?

Blinkz · 6 Jan 2015 at 11:29

CGrieves said:
Bear in mind the 40D isn't a low-end camera, it's what Canon term "Prosumer". I had one for a good while and only upgraded to the 50D (which is very similar) when the shutter failed. It's a massive amount of camera for £60. Fast, too.

I also have the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 and Canon 17-55 f2.8 IS. The Tamron is a fantastic lens and a bargain, but the Canon is the better lens- faster/quieter AF and IS is a godsend.

There is an element of buy cheap buy twice here.... You can pick up the Canon for just over £300 secondhand- I bought mine on these very forums. Well worth saving up for.

Thanks for the info, and glad to hear its a really capable camera. Having read the reviews and played with a few dslrs and mirrorless in the shops I was leaning towards a dslr anyway, the 40d for £60 just makes it a no brainer.

I'm hoping that I love the camera in which case I can just use it and be happy, slowly learning and building up experience and increase my lens as needed. If I don't like it then I think even with an expenditure of approx £300 for the 40d and tamron lens shouldn't be hard to sell for around the same price I paid for them....hopefully I won't need too!

englishpremier · 6 Jan 2015 at 11:30

That tamron 17-50/2.8 is a good lens on all systems. The major issue you'll read about is the focus being out of alignment.

The one I had on my Pentax was, and my K5 didn't have enough adjustment to bring it line. Wicked sharp though when it was focused correctly.

Chimp Paradox · 6 Jan 2015 at 11:48

Blinkz said:
Everyone has to start somewhere. We weren't all born with the ability to know everything about photography

Sorry, didn't mean to come across like an idiot

Energize · 6 Jan 2015 at 15:56

What photos do you want to take? The lens recommendation depends entirely on that.

EDIT - I just realised that was in the first post.

Thaifood · 6 Jan 2015 at 16:21

Been looking at the canon but brand new the price is hard to pull out the cc

Blinkz · 12 Jan 2015 at 18:51

Hey folks, got my 40d now so need to get the lens and CF card to get it up and running. Cf card wise is there anything I need to look out for? I've seen a 64gb 266x for £30, it sounds a good deal? Or is it worth going for 32gb at 600x instead? Never used CF so don't know anything about them! The 40d manual doesn't help much either it just says over 2gb CF type 1 or 2 is supported!

CGrieves said:
I also have the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 and Canon 17-55 f2.8 IS. The Tamron is a fantastic lens and a bargain, but the Canon is the better lens- faster/quieter AF and IS is a godsend.

There is an element of buy cheap buy twice here.... You can pick up the Canon for just over £300 secondhand- I bought mine on these very forums. Well worth saving up for.

I'd be prepared to pay £300 for the canon lense but can't find it anywhere near that! Lowest is £400+

englishpremier said:
That tamron 17-50/2.8 is a good lens on all systems. The major issue you'll read about is the focus being out of alignment.

The one I had on my Pentax was, and my K5 didn't have enough adjustment to bring it line. Wicked sharp though when it was focused correctly.

I've not heard about any alignment issues? Is it common?

I also saw a Sigma 17-55 f2.8 which is optically stabilised, which I assume is a good thing? For £290. Anyone have any other good starter/all round lens suggestions for around £200 ish?

englishpremier · 12 Jan 2015 at 19:08

No real point in 64gb on a 40d unless you plan to use it in something else too. The 40d is 10mp, a 4-8gb card would do. It probably can't recognise a 64gb card anyway.

I always prefer smaller cards unless I'm doing video, that way if something happens to the card before I've backed up or got the files on my computer, I haven't lost everything.

As for the lens, here a round up of some zooms that might interest you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3UfbsdfUu8

Blinkz · 12 Jan 2015 at 19:31

englishpremier said:
No real point in 64gb on a 40d unless you plan to use it in something else too. The 40d is 10mp, a 4-8gb card would do. It probably can't recognise a 64gb card anyway.

I always prefer smaller cards unless I'm doing video, that way if something happens to the card before I've backed up or got the files on my computer, I haven't lost everything.

As for the lens, here a round up of some zooms that might interest you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3UfbsdfUu8

Thanks, I'll check out the video. Godo news that it doesn't need a big card! I'll look for smaller, which I guess means go for a faster card? Is there any minimum speed? And what about compatibility with faster cards? Thanks!