Canon 400D (Rebel Xti, Kiss X)

[MassJester]

The 40D is a great camera. I'd have seriously considered it if it was on the market when I bought the XTi. That said, I haven't even scratched the surface of my XTi's capabilities.

Not sure how I'd go today, but I know I wouldn't "trade up" to a 40D. My next move, and certainly not this year, will be a full frame camera. I've heard chatter about an eventual 5D replacement, and that's the direction I'll look when it's time to spend over $1k on a body.

 

[Master Mason]

The 40D is a great camera. I'd have seriously considered it if it was on the market when I bought the XTi. That said, I haven't even scratched the surface of my XTi's capabilities.

Not sure how I'd go today, but I know I wouldn't "trade up" to a 40D. My next move, and certainly not this year, will be a full frame camera. I've heard chatter about an eventual 5D replacement, and that's the direction I'll look when it's time to spend over $1k on a body.

I thought long and hard about full frame as well, but currently the full frames don't have the greatest frame per second rate, and that kills it as a sports camera. The top end canon and nikon are getting better, but still not there yet.

 

[fortcampers]

Okay, I don't know anything about those two cameras, but I just recently bought a Pentax K100d Super. Coming from a digital Kodak p/s, it is a lot to learn and I really haven't used this camera much more than a p/s so far. I bought it for taking photos of my son playing football for his high school team and my daughter at her dance competitions. (and the rest of the family as well!) Recently during a dance competition, I was able to take 200 photos of her and her team during two dances that lasted a total of 5-6 minutes total. I was amazed! The shutter speed on my kodak is slow but it takes good outdoor photos. I didn't bring the pentax to wdw recently because I was so afraid it would get broken, lost, stolen, etc and it is really heavy to carry around along with all the other things mom's carry around. That being said, I love the pentax for it's shutter speed and it can do some amazing things that I haven't even begun to tackle.

 

[DizzyV6P]

My thoughts from using both cameras in the past and I presently own a 40D.

I found that the extra dial on the 40D is a god-send when I have to change settings on the fly. The 6.5 fps is great when taking lots of sports action shots. It came in handy while shooting a marathon last Thanksgiving Day. That being said, MOST consumers or beginning SLR folks will most likely not even use that much speed. I shoot in RAW 80% of the time and found the 40D buffer size to be bigger than the XTi. Granted, most folks won't notice this difference, but I do when I'm shooting lots of shots of my daughter during a ballet class. The Elan 7 has the buttons similar to the XTi on the back to make your selections. I think moving to the 40D's dial system will open up a few avenues in your shots.

The XTi in my hands felt too small and uncomfortable to hold. This can be solved by purchasing the extra battery grip to add more heft and that extra vertical shutter button. The 40D felt pefect in my hands and I still haven't decided on whether I want the Battery Grip for it yet.

If you are already proficient with a film SLR, I think a 40D would suit you better. Both cameras, typical of most DSLR's have a steep learning curve for those coming from the P&S world. You mentioned that you have an Elan with a few Canon lenses already, so you've got a slight skill advantage. The Elan 7 has 4fps already, so going to the 40D would actually be an upgrade for you For low light shots (you mentioned that you have a 100 f/2.8 -- great lens!) the 40D will better suit you with the ability to go up to ISO 3200.

For many people starting off with their first DSLR, I would usually recommend the XTi and save money for better glass. Since it sounds like you already have some nice glass, then, you can spend the money to upgrade to a better body.

Keep in mind that both bodies are crop sensor bodies, so they use Canon's EF-S lense system AS WELL AS the entire EF line. So you can use all your "old" Elan 7 EF glass for either camera.

Good luck with your choice

 

[bubba]

I hope someone can help me with a humidity question. I'm concerned about weird things happening to my camera when I've had it in an air conditioned room all night, then we go out into the heat and humidity in the morning. Can I expect fogging or anything more severe ? Any tips about what to do to avoid these problems ? I appreciate any and all help !

 

[Master Mason]

The tip that I read was to put it in a ziplock bag, let the camera adjust to the ambient temp, and then pull it out.

 

[DizzyV6P]

The tip that I read was to put it in a ziplock bag, let the camera adjust to the ambient temp, and then pull it out.

That tip is also perfect when you're outside in the freezing snow taking pictures and then you have to go back inside to a toasty house.

Place the camera in the ziplock back, seal it, then bring it back into the house. Wait about 15-30 minutes and it should be ok. You can test it by touching the camera through the plastic to see if it has warmed up...or cooled off.

 

[bubba]

Great ideas ! Thanks for the help MasterMason and DizzyV6P. I'll have to remember to throw a couple of large zippy bags into my camera bag before we leave !

 

[seaotter]

Hello there! My friend is thinking about buying the canon digital rebel. She found an eBay auction where they offer several lenses with the camera. I know there is a great deal of knowledge here and I was hoping that somebody could tell us if these lenses are any good. I own the digital rebel myself, but it appears that the standard lens - the EF-S 18-55mm lens - that came with mine is NOT in this package. I want to see if the sigmas they replaced it with are any good!

I really appreciate your help! I don't know much about lenses so I really don't know what to tell her. But I do want to be sure that she doesn't buy from a seller who is giving her a cheaper alternative to the standard. Thank you for your help!

 

[ukcatfan]

That does not look like a good deal to me. The Sigma lenses are alright, but most of the stuff in that package is just there to make you think you are getting a good deal.

Kevin

 

[mike_r]

Looks to me that the only good lens in that deal is the 50mm 1.8, the rest are not the best and 2 are not even lenses they are attachments for a lens.
May be better off just buying the body alone from somplace like amazon for like $520 and the 50 mm for about $85 and then putting the some money towards a tamron 28-75 2.8.

 

[DizzyV6P]

I'd avoid any ebay offerings. Most of that stuff is junk. The 50 f/1.8 can be had for less than $100 so ur not saving any money there.

I personally only purchase from www.adorama.com , www.bhphoto.com , and www.beachcamera.com
www.sigma4less.com also has good ratings. I've never purchased there, but may other folks I know had good experiences.

Make sure to get the USA ones and not the imported ones if you want to keep your warranty intact.

This is a much more usable kit.
http://www.adorama.com/ICADRXTIBKKA.html?searchinfo=canon xti&item_no=2

Don't bother w/ a tripod until you really need it. Even then, most can be had at your local Ritz or Best Buy for cheap.

$519 for body only at Adorma + $419 for a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 will do wonders as well. The bag? Take your pick from any of those sites. Those ebay bags tend to be worthless and cheap. If you want cheaper, the Canon 18-55 IS $170 will do just fine and will leave you with plenty of cash for other goodies.

Walkaround lens? The Sigma 18-200 OS for $449 is also a great walkaround lens. Reviews have been pretty good for that lens for the price.

 

[Marniescrapbooks]

I want to know what is the best setting for taking pictures of fireworks. I have the Canon EOS Rebel XTi digital SLR camera. What is the best setting? I need to know down to the ISO and f-stop.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

The most imporant thing is to have the camera on something stable because you'll want long exposures. That usually means a tripod. A thrashcan, rock, fence rail or other stable base can do in a pinch.

An ISO of 200 will work fairly well. I'd start with an aperture of f/11 and be prepared to adjust up or down depending on how the pictures look. For the shutter speed, I'd recommend shooting in "bulb" mode and using a remote shutter release. Open the shutter just before the fireworks explode and close it when you think you've caught enough. Vary things up a bit so that you have more options when you look through the pictures later.

Also, make sure to turn noise reduction off on the camera. At ISO 200, noise won't be an issue and the noise reduction will really slow you down as it doubles the time it takes for each shot.

You might want to check this thread for more information on shooting fireworks.

 

[tyedye]

I went and held a bunch of dSLR's again and for me, I seem to prefer the entry level smaller models than the bigger ones. I felt the Sony was too big, the D80 too big, the Oly 420 different, and the Oly 510 a maybe. I have I think at least narrowed down my choices again to the D60, or XTI or and I haven't held this one but XSI.

How big a deal is it that the XTI is 2 yrs old? I kinda think I'd rather spend the extra money to get the newer technology since I'm hoping that this camera purchase will last a good number of years.

I have also been looking at lenses available at various online stores and it seems that there is more of a selection for the Canon's and Nikon's than other brands.

Since taking pictures of my kids playing soccer and swimming in addition to other family and vacation pics are my main interests is one of the D60 or XTI or XSI better suited for this?

Thanks again for all info and opinions.

 

[Master Mason]

If your not worried about spending the xtra money, I would get the XSi simply because it has spot metering. This is very useful for shooting things like fantsmic or others where there are big contrasts within the shot.

 

[blackears]

I just got the D60 kit over the Cannon xti kit. I held both, looked through both, and decided that the D60 would fit better in my wife's hand. Plus, another thing that I noticed was that the Cannon had more "foucus brackets" that made the subject window busy, vx the D60 only had 3, and a "cleaner" view. Now I know that those extra focus points just give a person more options, but my wife (who realy wanted the DSLR) probably wouldn't care, or use them to the full potential. So I went w/ the D60 and it has done pretty good so far. I am still reading the manual, this forum and experimenting w/ it to get a better feel of it before we go to Disney in a month.

BTW, we are just stepping up to the DSLR world from a Kodak P&S that just went bad.

 

[MICKEY88]

I was planning on getting the Canon Xsi here shortly but last few days have been reading about the new Sony A300. Seems it is just getting in stores but no reviews or user reports on it yet. "On paper" it looks real good but I have had Canon for a long time and have always been happy with them.

Daughter bought a Nikon D40 last summer and it has performed very well. She needs to "tweak" the settings a bit but has just not taken the time. Happy with the pics from it so far.

google... sony a300 reviews

you will find quite a few reviews....

 

[ukcatfan]

I do not see you mention holding a Pentax. Most Ritz and other true camera stores carry them. You can sometimes see one at CC, but they are not in most big box stores.

I had forgotten another difference between Nikon DSLRs and most other brands until last night when I was installing the software that came with my new Nikon S210 p&s. The RAW software that comes with the Nikon is very basic. If you are planning to do RAW shooting, then you are almost going to have to use other software to process it. That could increase your overall cost on them. I know that Pentax includes decent processing software, I am pretty sure Canon does, but the other brands I am not 100% sure. Jut something else to consider.

Kevin

 

[tyedye]

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_eos450d%2Cnikon_d60%2Cpentax_k200d%2Cpanasonic_dmcfz20&show=all

That's a side by side of the 3 camera's plus my current one (FZ20).

The K200D has many features on it that I like (as most of them do), and basically it was not on my list because I have not seen one in person yet. There is a camera store near our mall that I'll have to check to see if they have it as that would be another option.

I would want to get a decent telephoto/zoom lens at around 200mm and f/2.8. Are Pentax compatible lenses as easy to find as C and N?