Bridge or budget Canon DSLR with full frame sensor?
Discussion
I use a wet film olympus OM and have several lenses including a 21mm. Younger daughter is a keen photographer and has a Canon Powershot SX220HS.
I'm content to stick with wet film but want to move the daughter onto a Bridge camera(with a flash hot shoe), preferably a Canon so neither of us (I sometimes have to show her stuff) have to learn everything from scratch - look and feel of Canon etc. I thought about the SX50 but then saw I could get a EOS600D for not much more money.
The attraction of the 600D is that, unless I'm mistaken, and since it has a full frame sensor, I can get a lense adaptor and use my OM Zuiko lenses on it occasionally, including the 21mm. Additionally, I could let the daughter borrow my 21mm, my 85-250mm etc. Eventually I'd purchase Canon lenses and probably buy a Canon DSLR myself.
What's the downside to the EOS 600D and using Zuiko lenses?
I'm content to stick with wet film but want to move the daughter onto a Bridge camera(with a flash hot shoe), preferably a Canon so neither of us (I sometimes have to show her stuff) have to learn everything from scratch - look and feel of Canon etc. I thought about the SX50 but then saw I could get a EOS600D for not much more money.
The attraction of the 600D is that, unless I'm mistaken, and since it has a full frame sensor, I can get a lense adaptor and use my OM Zuiko lenses on it occasionally, including the 21mm. Additionally, I could let the daughter borrow my 21mm, my 85-250mm etc. Eventually I'd purchase Canon lenses and probably buy a Canon DSLR myself.
What's the downside to the EOS 600D and using Zuiko lenses?
Weslake-Monza said:
I use a wet film olympus OM and have several lenses including a 21mm. Younger daughter is a keen photographer and has a Canon Powershot SX220HS.
I'm content to stick with wet film but want to move the daughter onto a Bridge camera(with a flash hot shoe), preferably a Canon so neither of us (I sometimes have to show her stuff) have to learn everything from scratch - look and feel of Canon etc. I thought about the SX50 but then saw I could get a EOS600D for not much more money.
The attraction of the 600D is that, unless I'm mistaken, and since it has a full frame sensor, I can get a lense adaptor and use my OM Zuiko lenses on it occasionally, including the 21mm. Additionally, I could let the daughter borrow my 21mm, my 85-250mm etc. Eventually I'd purchase Canon lenses and probably buy a Canon DSLR myself.
What's the downside to the EOS 600D and using Zuiko lenses?
Hi,I'm content to stick with wet film but want to move the daughter onto a Bridge camera(with a flash hot shoe), preferably a Canon so neither of us (I sometimes have to show her stuff) have to learn everything from scratch - look and feel of Canon etc. I thought about the SX50 but then saw I could get a EOS600D for not much more money.
The attraction of the 600D is that, unless I'm mistaken, and since it has a full frame sensor, I can get a lense adaptor and use my OM Zuiko lenses on it occasionally, including the 21mm. Additionally, I could let the daughter borrow my 21mm, my 85-250mm etc. Eventually I'd purchase Canon lenses and probably buy a Canon DSLR myself.
What's the downside to the EOS 600D and using Zuiko lenses?
The 600D dosn't use a full-frame sensor, it uses the popular 'APS-C' sized sensor. This sensor is still generally much larger than the sensor on a bridge / compact camera but the fact that it is smaller than full-frame means that lenses attached to it need to be multiplied by 1.6 to work out their equivalent view.
E.g. A 100mm lens on a APS-C (or 'crop camera') would have the same field of view as a 160mm lens.
I'm afraid I've never used Zuiko lenses on a DSLR. It's worth keeping in mind that the viewfinders on DSLR don't have the traditional 'split circle' focusing screens. Can make things a bit more difficult to focus manually.
As said the 600d isnt full frame but crop ( like 110 film).
Canon SLRs though are good for adapting other lenses, apart form as mentioned no split prism viewfinder for manual focus, but it does have live view which helps. Also the viewfinder focus screen is optimised for brightness with slow lenses so wont show depth of filed shallower than f4 or so, this makes focusing manually fast lenses tricky.
But apart from that no downside. All the canons come with 18-55 kit lenses which I would seriously recommend as they are pretty decent options and you can do a lot with them.
Canons bridge options are ok - I've just had a G16 on loan for a few months and have been impressed with its usability and handling. The files are good for what it is but fall short of any larger sensor system.
Also consider the EOS M, should be able to pick this up fairly cheap now and its a very powerful little camera, its downside is focus on moving targets which it doesnt do well at all.
Canon SLRs though are good for adapting other lenses, apart form as mentioned no split prism viewfinder for manual focus, but it does have live view which helps. Also the viewfinder focus screen is optimised for brightness with slow lenses so wont show depth of filed shallower than f4 or so, this makes focusing manually fast lenses tricky.
But apart from that no downside. All the canons come with 18-55 kit lenses which I would seriously recommend as they are pretty decent options and you can do a lot with them.
Canons bridge options are ok - I've just had a G16 on loan for a few months and have been impressed with its usability and handling. The files are good for what it is but fall short of any larger sensor system.
Also consider the EOS M, should be able to pick this up fairly cheap now and its a very powerful little camera, its downside is focus on moving targets which it doesnt do well at all.
The SX50 will do very little that her compact doesn't already do, so I'd discount that pretty quickly.
A 600D (or similar) would do everything that she could ask and much more and should last her a very long time. It would be usable with your lenses via an adapter but, as others have said, because the sensor is slightly smaller than 35mm film they will seem slightly more "zoomed in" - i.e. your 21mm will have a field of view more like a 35mm. This is not unique to the 600D, most DSLRs use this size sensor and you have to pay significantly more to get one that is full frame.
The other option I'd look closely at would be the 100D. This essentially a 600D in a smaller, lighter body, which might be appreciated especially if she's not yet fully grown.
A 600D (or similar) would do everything that she could ask and much more and should last her a very long time. It would be usable with your lenses via an adapter but, as others have said, because the sensor is slightly smaller than 35mm film they will seem slightly more "zoomed in" - i.e. your 21mm will have a field of view more like a 35mm. This is not unique to the 600D, most DSLRs use this size sensor and you have to pay significantly more to get one that is full frame.
The other option I'd look closely at would be the 100D. This essentially a 600D in a smaller, lighter body, which might be appreciated especially if she's not yet fully grown.
Please don't get a bridge. They are generally terrible.
For adapted lenses the best option is mirrorless. You can adapt any lens and use focus peaking / magnification to aid manual focus. The EOS-M isn't really that good so I would go for something from Panasonic / Olympus or Sony, all of which you should be able to get an OM mount adapter.
For adapted lenses the best option is mirrorless. You can adapt any lens and use focus peaking / magnification to aid manual focus. The EOS-M isn't really that good so I would go for something from Panasonic / Olympus or Sony, all of which you should be able to get an OM mount adapter.
As above, If you want to use old film lenses on a modern digital camera, get a mirrorless camera.
Something from the Lumix G range, Olympus PEN, Sony NEX etc.
I've just bought a Lumix GX-1 and I'm really impressed with it. Lovely camera to use and the adapters are cheap if you want to attach older film lenses. Most still have APS-C sized sensors and the slightly smaller micro 4/3 sensor really makes little difference to quality, even though the internet will try to convince you otherwise.
Worth looking into it over a DSLR or Bridge.
Something from the Lumix G range, Olympus PEN, Sony NEX etc.
I've just bought a Lumix GX-1 and I'm really impressed with it. Lovely camera to use and the adapters are cheap if you want to attach older film lenses. Most still have APS-C sized sensors and the slightly smaller micro 4/3 sensor really makes little difference to quality, even though the internet will try to convince you otherwise.
Worth looking into it over a DSLR or Bridge.
Marc W said:
The 600D is a better option for the future, if she stays enthusiastic she'll end up with an SLR eventually anyway. This way any lenses and similar can still be used if she upgrades to a better Canon SLR in future.
I disagree. I ditched all my Canon DSLR kit for Micro 4/3.Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff