Moonrise & Aurora

Moonrise & Aurora

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I currently have an EOS 3000V. It was my first SLR and I thought that the romance of film would outweigh the impracticalities.

It's served me well for a couple of years, but I'd really like to step things up a bit in terms of going digital and in terms of the quality.

I'd like to be able to use my existing lenses (without an adaptor) and I'm interested in CHDK - so it really has to be a canon.

My question then: Where is the sweet-spot between price and quality when it comes to 2nd hand Canon DSLRs?

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6  
I may be mistaken, but I don't believe CHDK is available for Canon DSLRs, just point and shoots. It probably won't influence your decision, but it's worth bearing in mind. – Mark Aug 16 '10 at 21:47
@Mark, that's correct. – Reid Aug 16 '10 at 21:48
1  
There isn't any universal sweet spot, it all depends on how much money you want to spend and how much camera you need. – Guffa Aug 16 '10 at 22:13
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That's really sad regarding CHDK. I'm hoping it's because it's not needed as much on the DSLR range... – Tom Wright Aug 17 '10 at 9:51
I've found that the things missing from the DSLRs from CHDK can be done with external equipment (e.g. an intervalometer for time-lapse or timed exposures > 30 seconds). – drfrogsplat Aug 19 '10 at 3:21

4 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

At the moment 450D or 40D could be good purchase. They are quite modern but they lack video shooting so they are not that 'hot' any more.

For CHDK get a second hand IXUS or similar, older models are cheap. The only CHDK like project for DSLR is the magic lantern project for 5DII and 550D.

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The 400D and 1000D are also in approximately the same category. I'd recommend them over the 300D/350D as Canon made some big improvements to ISO levels above 200 since then. – drfrogsplat Aug 19 '10 at 3:30
up vote 4 down vote

You may want to consider full frame, given that you're coming from film and will have FF capable lenses. In which case, a second hand 5D (mark i) will be a good bet.

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Great tip. I'd not thought of that. – Tom Wright Aug 17 '10 at 9:54
On the other hand, your lenses will definitely work on the 1.6x crop, so depending on your lenses it might be a good thing to have them all "upgraded" to 1.6x their focal length. It's more likely to be a problem on the wide end rather than the telephoto. Your 50mm would be 85mm, so you'd want a 30mm to replace it. If you've already got a 30mm then you'd need 20mm to go that wide (which is starting to get a lot more expensive). – drfrogsplat Aug 19 '10 at 3:28
up vote 1 down vote

Consider that the camera body is a far distant third when it comes to (image) quality, with Photographer and Lenses being First and Second, respectively.

So perhaps this formula: Given a certain budget, the sweet spot is the difference between your budget and your lens choices.

In other words, pick out lenses, and whatever money is left, pick the body.

To put things in perspective, here is the flickr pool for the Canon Rebel (aka EOS 300), which was Canon's first entry level dslr, which you can purchase on Ebay for around $250.

Since the 60D is right around the corner, the current sweet spot is the 50D used (once the 60D is announced, you will see fantastic bargains on Buy and Sell forums).

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up vote -2 down vote

On Amazon.com, the T1i is approximately half the price of the T2i at the moment. I'd say that's a fantastic deal.

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While this comment may have been useful at the time, it's less so two years later. – mattdm Sep 22 '12 at 16:02

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