DSLR's .

[vtrdaz]

I'm looking for a new DSLR - preferably Canon .

It's a toss up between the Eos 450d or the Eos 40d.

The 40d is around £250 - £300 more for a similar kit to the 450d.

Now i love the feel of the 40d over the 450d (it's size and weight) ands it fit's my hands better than the 450d , but is this worth the extra expense?

Your feedback would be appreciated chaps.

Cheers

Darren

[JumboBeef]

Buy the 40D, without a doubt!

We have two 40Ds here: they look and feel so much more professional, plus will last longer.

[MudRat]

Buy Nikon!

[vtrdaz]

I would buy Nikon but i had nothing but trouble with one in the past - i'm definately a Canon man! :lol:

[Popoff]

I have the 40D and love the feel of it, the new 450D may take the slightly better photo, but the 40 will probably last longer with its better build, and will always have the better quality feel, for me it would have to be the 40D ;)

[vtrdaz]

Cheers
chaps - 40d it is then!

[thermidorthelobster]

Good choice.  Extra weight will help stability, it'll feel better to handle and it will last longer if you drop it (like I did my 10D a week after getting it).  You'll probably have it many years so the expense will be spread out...

[landmannnn]

Cheers
chaps - 40d it is then!

Credit crunch and all that you may find an unwanted Xmas pressie on the bay of e for a good price.

[Blue72]

suppose if your set on Canon then the 40d is the better of the 2.....but then Im not a canon man.

Cheers

ANdy

[zulublue]

I dont have a DSLR I did try a canon once but sent it back, ok it was a cheap jobbie about £300 and I dont pretend to be in the same room as Andy, but for the pictures I have seen and if I had the money to spend it would go on a nikon.

[vtrdaz]

Cheers for the comments chap's ,

Andy - what do you recommend?

Darren

[Blue72]

mmmmm...without being prejudice as I use Pentax anyhows....I would personally go down the Nikon route.....

My camera the K20 sits  "apparently" between the 40d and 5d although the 5d is full frame so dont know how that is supposed to comapre!!!
however it is a better camera full stop.

Its nearest equivalalent and the one camera I would go for ( D700 aside :) ) is the D300 but rather pricey but a bloody brill camera.

Now the reason I will stick with my Pentax is th emake very good lenses and at less than half the price of the Nik/can stuff however I shall remain un biased for you sake!!

Canon kit is approx  £750 with a decent kit lens and the Nikon equiv which is going to be D60 or even the new D90??
It does depend what you use it for as you invest in a brand.
i would go for the D60 or even D90 even though it has a few gimmicks.
Having sioad that the new Canon 50D is IMO not worth touching.

If you can get the D300.
If not get the D60 or D90

Or just buy yourself a K20D and a 16-50 F2.8 and be done with it!!

Basically dont buy from JEssops but try the cameras you like and what ever feels "right" is the one to go for.
Cameras change ALL the time so dont fall for any gimmicks. If I tried to keep up id be changing cameras every 3 mths!!!
To swop to Nikon for me now would cost over 5k!!!.

To conclude..

Its whos behind the lens that counts at the end of the day!
Im competing against togs with 24k kit adn yet with some you may as well give them a point and shoot!! if you see what  i mean...

Choose you camera and get teh best lens youc an afford NOT the kit lens that comes with it..they are pap!

anyhow just shout if you need any more UNBIASED advice :)

Cheers

Andy

[vtrdaz]

Cheers Andy - some interesting points there.

Basically , i'm upgrading from a Minolta 7hi - which was one of the hybrid type cameras.

I was looking for a camera that would last and that i could develop with and the 40d seemed to fit the bill ( the 450d just seemed too small for me).
Is there any reason you  recommend the Nikon's over the Canon's?

Cheers

Darren

[L90OOK]

Good choice.  Extra weight will help stability, it'll feel better to handle and it will last longer if you drop it (like I did my 10D a week after getting it).  You'll probably have it many years so the expense will be spread out...

Is that the one you filled with water too  :doh:  :lol:

[Boddle]

 Only experience of 40D was to borrow a friends for a few shot I personelly prefered my 400D for size the 40d was to big.
 I had my 400D stolen before Christmas the insurance replaced it with 1000d (which is slightly lesser 450D only 10million meg not 12Million). Personally like the Live view that it give not available on 40D or even 50D and secondly it runs SD cards which are faster that Compact Flash. I seem to recall that 40D has the ability to do raw only (which 400D was). The processor on 450D is newer than 40D and faster.
 I have found so far that Canon have manage to put most of the buttons on 1000D in the right place to use and works well don't about 450D as it has a bigger screen. I guess it depends on what you intend for, You may be less happy about using the 40D for photographing out of a landy with no door top on playing in a quarry.
 Think I would suggest it to go to your nearest Jessops (Photography shop) and have a quick play then look for one on E-Bay there plenty of good cheap buys on there.

[Blue72]

Cheers Andy - some interesting points there.

Basically , i'm upgrading from a Minolta 7hi - which was one of the hybrid type cameras.

I was looking for a camera that would last and that i could develop with and the 40d seemed to fit the bill ( the 450d just seemed too small for me).
Is there any reason you  recommend the Nikon's over the Canon's?

Cheers

Darren

Not really .as I dnt have either but IMO and from talking and working with other Pros ist 6 of one half a dozen of another.
If your upgrading form a Minolta Id say defo go Pentax!!
But if its for taking on Land trips gor for weather sealing ( which the Pentax has :)) but really the Nikon is a better camera overall than the Canon for build and lens quality adn they dont keep chasing silly megapixls. 15 mp in a cropped sensor camera DOES not work as well as 10mp in a crop fram camera.
Nikon sensors and image processor is far superior.

Like i Said, If i had to swop Id be buying the D700 but there you go...thats me. but Ive found the Pentax does everything I need sometimes with a glare of dissaproval form other Pros but you have to drive the pentax to egt the best results rather than auto on most others.

Little secret here....most pros shoot on P mode no matter what the camer they use!!! contary to what they say!!

Like Boddle said and I mentione dbefore, go try a couple out, see how the feel to use and take your own SD or CF cards so you can take them home and comapre results directly especially shooting in low light high ISO.

You cant go wrong with eithwer of them to be fair.

Cheers

Andy

[cardiff_gareth]

I too use Pentax, I have got a istD, Pentax's first DSLR. With the pro grip on it; its about the same size and 'feel' of a Nikon F5 (old school eh!). It shoots JPEG, TIFF and RAW and does everything I need.

There is this amazing hype over pixels and everyone rants and raves about 10 and even 12 million pixels. Well mine is only 6 million but given the image quality of the Pentax lenses and the files I can shoot this is just fine for me. I use Photoshop and even when cropping images down the image quality doesn't suffer.

As said above already, its all down to the user behind it so don't go for the all singing all bells model if your just an amateur with an interest.

Also, a Nikon 55-200 D lens on Jessops site, in the sale is £117.44
The equlivelent Pentax lens, the Pentax 50-200mm f/4-5.6 DA ED, I bought from Jessops new for £29.33  :shock:
Not sure if there was an error but I bought one and i'm awaiting it to turn up, funnily enough its no longer on the website :lol:

Basically dont buy from Jessops but try the cameras you like and what ever feels "right" is the one to go for.

I worked for Jessops for 5 years and it used to bug me why after spending sometimes over an hour doing a camera demo they would walk off and not buy and then turn up the week after with the same camera!
Now I don't work there and the interent has taken off I fully appreciate why people do that. The same camera online can be £100's cheaper than them. Jessops isn't the best for price, they can't be - they have overheads to cover, staffing wages etc but what they do offer is the chance to hold the camera, get a feel for it and see it working in the flesh. The amount of times someone came in and to look at one model and then decided they much likes another  :lol:

I would avoid going straight to ebay to buy a camera, if you look at the back of most photographic magazines you'll see loads of shops selling new and second hand that are cheaper than Jessops. Also, try Amazon, they sell all DSLR's. You can also go to google and type 'Canon 40D' it'll bring up shopping results with loads of online shops. Just make sure its a legit company and comes with the appropiate warrenty. Sony for one does an american warranty and a european one so if you buy a american model  :(

[JumboBeef]

Personally like the Live view that it give not available on 40D or even 50D

Live view is most definitely available on the 40D and above!  I have used the live view a lot on the 40Ds we have here.

[Blue72]

Personally like the Live view that it give not available on 40D or even 50D

Live view is most definitely available on the 40D and above!  I have used the live view a lot on the 40Ds we have here.

Live view is stil a gimmick to some extent.
Only really useful if you have it on a tripod at a stupid angle that you cant see through the viewfinder!!
Any DSLR gives you a histogram or exposure preview before taking the shot if you want anyhow.

Just go and have a play!!!

Cheers

Andy

[freelanderpx54]

We have two 40Ds here: they look and feel so much more professional, plus will last longer.

Aye, you can't beat a pair of 40DD's

[Boddle]

Live view is stil a gimmick to some extent.
Only really useful if you have it on a tripod at a stupid angle that you cant see through the viewfinder!!
Any DSLR gives you a histogram or exposure preview before taking the shot if you want anyhow.

Just go and have a play!!!

Cheers

Andy

 I have found it quite useful on Manual focus (using 2x coverter on with my 300mm which is easier to carry round than a 600mm), as you can zoom in on LCD you can get a lot better focus although x10 zoom is to much unless on a tripod certainly when using 600mm lens. I haven't yet tried it on macro shots but I can imagine it would allow a macro shot to be focus manually better than certainly achieved by eye and especially by autofocus.

[cardiff_gareth]

Live view is stil a gimmick to some extent.
Only really useful if you have it on a tripod at a stupid angle that you cant see through the viewfinder!!
Any DSLR gives you a histogram or exposure preview before taking the shot if you want anyhow.

Just go and have a play!!!

Cheers

Andy

 I have found it quite useful on Manual focus (using 2x coverter on with my 300mm which is easier to carry round than a 600mm), as you can zoom in on LCD you can get a lot better focus although x10 zoom is to much unless on a tripod certainly when using 600mm lens. I haven't yet tried it on macro shots but I can imagine it would allow a macro shot to be focus manually better than certainly achieved by eye and especially by autofocus.

There is a feature in this months Digital Photo on still lifes that says to use the live view for that :D