what to buy - lense, upgrade body or compact.
Discussion
Ok, have been thinking about upgrading my 350d for a little while, mainly due to the age of the kit I now have a dilemma.
Little one on the way :-) and want to get the best shots I can as they are only little for so long.
So the question is what to do - upgrade the body, probably not. although the 350d is a bit long in the tooth it still works and still takes shots as good as the day I bought it.
New lense ? possibly main issue is low light indoors and the closer range (have 18-55
and nifty 50 already).
Or do I buy a reasonable compact as this is easier to carry about and more likely to be near at hand for quick candid type shots.
Limit of £300-350.
or do I get a cheap compact (powershot 1100) and a cheap lense (18-55 is) and a cheap body (1100d) and regret buying them all !
Had thoughts of selling all my slr kit (maybe getting £500) and buying an rx100 or similar but think this might be a mistake in the long run.
Little one on the way :-) and want to get the best shots I can as they are only little for so long.
So the question is what to do - upgrade the body, probably not. although the 350d is a bit long in the tooth it still works and still takes shots as good as the day I bought it.
New lense ? possibly main issue is low light indoors and the closer range (have 18-55
and nifty 50 already).
Or do I buy a reasonable compact as this is easier to carry about and more likely to be near at hand for quick candid type shots.
Limit of £300-350.
or do I get a cheap compact (powershot 1100) and a cheap lense (18-55 is) and a cheap body (1100d) and regret buying them all !
Had thoughts of selling all my slr kit (maybe getting £500) and buying an rx100 or similar but think this might be a mistake in the long run.
As Rob says I think and get a decent flash. Something with enough power to make bouncing the light a regular option. Most really keepable shots in the first few months are likely to be indoors - feeding time and stuff like that. Flash, despite good modern body low lght performance, is an excellent aid in those situations.
When my kids were young I often used a 70-200 (ish) lens with 35mm film to isolate the subjects from background "clutter" and fill th frame. That or 50mm was all I had that were useful.
18-55 and a 55-250 (good reputation for that one) would be the nearest logical equivalent combination today I would think.
For something pocketable you could probably pick up a 3 or so year old top end compact (Canon S90 is what I have) for not too much cash these days and that would provide excellent results as well. All angles then covered and need not cost too much.
If you are happy with the 350D and a new body stretches the budget but you are happy with the flash idea get the lens, the flash and the compact. Reconsider the body a few months down the road.
When my kids were young I often used a 70-200 (ish) lens with 35mm film to isolate the subjects from background "clutter" and fill th frame. That or 50mm was all I had that were useful.
18-55 and a 55-250 (good reputation for that one) would be the nearest logical equivalent combination today I would think.
For something pocketable you could probably pick up a 3 or so year old top end compact (Canon S90 is what I have) for not too much cash these days and that would provide excellent results as well. All angles then covered and need not cost too much.
If you are happy with the 350D and a new body stretches the budget but you are happy with the flash idea get the lens, the flash and the compact. Reconsider the body a few months down the road.
Thanks, i have the 55-250 (good lense)
Definitely going to look at the compacts as it's something that can always be to hand.
Hadn't really thought about the flash - have a cheap one at the moment that I haven't really tried bouncing, will have a look at strobist and see what I can learn there. May need to upgrade but need to find out what to first
Is it worth upgrading the 18-55 to one with Image Stabilisation - never been too keen on mine (non IS) as it always felt a bit plastic and 'loose'.
Definitely going to look at the compacts as it's something that can always be to hand.
Hadn't really thought about the flash - have a cheap one at the moment that I haven't really tried bouncing, will have a look at strobist and see what I can learn there. May need to upgrade but need to find out what to first
Is it worth upgrading the 18-55 to one with Image Stabilisation - never been too keen on mine (non IS) as it always felt a bit plastic and 'loose'.
I went through the same dilemma and moved from a DSLR to Sony NEX as I thought the size would make me use it more. It did, but I still bought a Sony RX100 to use alongside it.
Looking back over the past year, probably 90% of my shots have been taken on the RX100.
The NEX7 is sharper (with a prime) and goes wider and longer (with a superzoom), so I will definitely keep it but it will be used when I am actually going out to take photos rather than just when I am out anyway and fancy taking a few shots (if that makes sense!)
Looking back over the past year, probably 90% of my shots have been taken on the RX100.
The NEX7 is sharper (with a prime) and goes wider and longer (with a superzoom), so I will definitely keep it but it will be used when I am actually going out to take photos rather than just when I am out anyway and fancy taking a few shots (if that makes sense!)
wucheng said:
M4FFU said:
£230 gets you a 17-50 Tamron f/2.8 from DigitalRev. It's tempting me right now.
Tempting - I like the idea of the 600d refurb but think I prefer the idea of better glass in this sort of range, I can upgrade the body in the future as funds become more available.I suspect, for your purposes, the body and lens upgrade from the 600D deal would be a better 'set up for the future' package than the lens only option but the key to that is comparing the relative merits of the bodiesfor the use that you anticipate.
Mainly take shots of the family (outside in the main) and wildlife.
No interest in landscapes.
The main issue is really indoors. I would love a higer resolution body for cropping the wildlife shots without losing too much but to be honest it's definitely not a priority at the moment.
High burst rate would be good, the 350d can sometimes be a problem when it's clearing its fairly limited buffer from a small burst.
But Mainly I want to be able to take decent shots indoors without spending a huge amount. What I have is fine for what I currently do, its the indoor/dark shots that are the problem.
No interest in landscapes.
The main issue is really indoors. I would love a higer resolution body for cropping the wildlife shots without losing too much but to be honest it's definitely not a priority at the moment.
High burst rate would be good, the 350d can sometimes be a problem when it's clearing its fairly limited buffer from a small burst.
But Mainly I want to be able to take decent shots indoors without spending a huge amount. What I have is fine for what I currently do, its the indoor/dark shots that are the problem.
wucheng said:
Mainly take shots of the family (outside in the main) and wildlife.
No interest in landscapes.
The main issue is really indoors. I would love a higer resolution body for cropping the wildlife shots without losing too much but to be honest it's definitely not a priority at the moment.
High burst rate would be good, the 350d can sometimes be a problem when it's clearing its fairly limited buffer from a small burst.
But Mainly I want to be able to take decent shots indoors without spending a huge amount. What I have is fine for what I currently do, its the indoor/dark shots that are the problem.
I think you would find the better high ISO performance, sometimes in combination with the lens IS but remember that only helps with camera shake on relatively static subjects, more useful that a stop or so faster on the lens. Unless, of course, you are looking for very shallow Depth of Field - but then you would probably be better off standing back a little and using the 55-250 zoomed in anyway if talking 'portrait' stuff.No interest in landscapes.
The main issue is really indoors. I would love a higer resolution body for cropping the wildlife shots without losing too much but to be honest it's definitely not a priority at the moment.
High burst rate would be good, the 350d can sometimes be a problem when it's clearing its fairly limited buffer from a small burst.
But Mainly I want to be able to take decent shots indoors without spending a huge amount. What I have is fine for what I currently do, its the indoor/dark shots that are the problem.
You also get video of course. Not af deep interest to me to create any but had I had it around when the kids were little - especially in the sort of combination packages you get today with DSLRs, it would probably have been a different story. But maybe you already have a video cam or, like me,, you are not really interested in it.
One downside of an update is that you need SD cards. On the upside they are quite cheap these days.
wucheng said:
Mainly take shots of the family (outside in the main) and wildlife.
No interest in landscapes.
The main issue is really indoors. I would love a higer resolution body for cropping the wildlife shots without losing too much but to be honest it's definitely not a priority at the moment.
High burst rate would be good, the 350d can sometimes be a problem when it's clearing its fairly limited buffer from a small burst.
But Mainly I want to be able to take decent shots indoors without spending a huge amount. What I have is fine for what I currently do, its the indoor/dark shots that are the problem.
For indoors a better body/flash gun would be my suggestion. A newer body would also help with the other issues.No interest in landscapes.
The main issue is really indoors. I would love a higer resolution body for cropping the wildlife shots without losing too much but to be honest it's definitely not a priority at the moment.
High burst rate would be good, the 350d can sometimes be a problem when it's clearing its fairly limited buffer from a small burst.
But Mainly I want to be able to take decent shots indoors without spending a huge amount. What I have is fine for what I currently do, its the indoor/dark shots that are the problem.
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