Oh Oh - yes - another what camera choice - Canon...

[crmcatee]

Okay..

Currently got a 20D which has had a hard life and gets used and abused for all manner of shots (Landscapes, portraits, motorsport, travel). It's done about 30 odd thousand shots so I'm expecting it to die shortly and I'm trying to pre-empt it's failure, that plus any excuse to upgrade and keep it as a backup.

Lens bag currently consists of
EFS 10-22
EF 24-70L
EF 100 Macro
EF 100-400 L

Thinking about it's replacement there seems to be three of the beasts that could fill it's boots. I've looked at them from a basic function point of view and came up with the following lists.


Obvious choice is the 40D
+'s
Still able to use the EFS 10-22
Cleaning Sensor (although I'm able to do that)
10 M-Pix
Same FPS as the 20D.
Same Batteries and Battery grip as the 20D

-'s
Crop Sensor (I fancy a full frame)

==========================================

Next option is an upgrade (seemingly), to the 5D
+'s
Full Frame
12.8 Mpix


-'s
Slow FPS (3)
Loss of EFS lens use (I could end up buying an EF 16mm zoom later)
New battery grip (thankfully the same batteries)

Nice and I'ld get the full frame but losing the FPS would probably impact my use of it.

==================================================

Or do I really push the boat out, not buy a roof tent for my Landrover this year and go for the 1D MKIII instead.

+'s
10.8 Mpix
Bloody fast
Cleaning Sensor (as mentioned I'm more than capable of doing this)
Water resistance

-'s
Cost justifying the speed.
Loss of EFS use
Crop Sensor


From a fundemental point of view - can't see what the huge increase in costs over the 40D is apart from the speed (which I would probably use occasionally)

================

This is going to be Santa's present to Craig from Craig so I'm at the early planning stages.


Feedback greatly accepted on all manner of items especially the camera choice...

I've read rumours that the 5d is probably due for replacing, and of the AF problems on the MKIII. There's too much choice / models in the Canon range...

My head's saying 40D, my hearts saying MKIII and my wanting's saying 5D.... AAaaarrrrghhhh..

[Byker28i]

Do you need a full frame camera with the efs 10-22?

Obviously it depends what type of photography you do... I've got a 40D, shoot mostly sport and love it.

[MonkeyHanger]

30 odd thousand shots on a 20D is nothing. The life expectancy figures for shutters are estimates...
It could fail after 10 shots, equally it could fail after 100,000. I know of 2 1DMK2's that needed new shutters before the 5K mark.


If the 20 is still working fine, either keep the money in the bank until it dies then get the 40D, or buy the 5D now and have the best of both worlds.

If you want a single camera, bearing in mind you include Motorsport in your list, i'd say go and find a nice low mileage 1DMK2N and swap your EF-S lens for a 17-40L or Sigma 15-30.

Edited by MonkeyHanger on Tuesday 2nd October 18:49

[RobDickinson]

As said the 20D is rated to 100,000 shots I think.

10mm on 1.6 crop is 16mm on full frame so a swap of the 10-22 with a 17-40L would be the smart move, or with the sigma 10-20 for use with the 1dmkIII.

I'd personaly rather have the 5D over the 40D because I dont shoot sports that much, but if you do then 400d vs 1dMkIII, or prehaps a used 1dMkII ?

[Qoda]

Personal opinion:
Full frame with good pixel size can't be beaten.
Rather than 1d Mk3, try 1ds Mk2......should be available cheaper now.
5d is a good second best

I use 1ds Mk2 in low light and for movement, (theatre) and it produces good quality images with no/very little noise even at high ISO, and if you do not print over A3 any of the above won't be stretched at all.

Enjoy

[crmcatee]

Thanks for the feedback.

I remember when I got my 20D they were going on about 30,000 actuations being the average, but having trawled it on Google it does seem that 60,000 seems to be the average.

Having said that - I've always hankered over having a spare body so if I went the full frame (and the MKII is an interesting avenue) I could keep the 20D as backup.

Mmmm too many choices..

[Luca Brazzi]

I've had my 20D for 2.5 yrs, and taken 10's of thousands of shots...lost count how many. The shutter release button started playing up a little, with not focusing properly, and the shutter firing later than it should, meaning the action shot was missed and blurred. But this was only intermittent, and not easily repeatable at a service centre.

Since upgrading to the 1D3 in June, I've shot about 30-40,000 pics, and despite the known about autofocus problems (the 1st and last pics taken are soft, when on rapid fire servo focus, which get worse as the ambient temp goes up), and which is being looked at by Canon, the machine is fabulous.

The picture quality is incredible, and its not a full frame sensor. Noise is so well controlled, I often shot at ISO 800 and ISO 1000 at the GT races, as I wanted to use a polariser. You can see the results on the PH GT pages. Its not all about sensor size, its about the extra bits in the camera's electronics that make picture quality so very, very good.

As such, I still have my 20D, but it simply NEVER gets used. Looking at the tiny LCD display is painful when you are used to the latest size (which makes the 40D an incredible proposition. I've used the LiveView function a couple of times, when wanting to shoot over people's heads in a crowd, and its been very handy.

So I guess in summary, get the best you can afford, and with functions that you need.

Bit of a ramble....ho hum

LB

Edited by Luca Brazzi on Wednesday 3rd October 10:24