Seven
Hey guys,
I really need help and fast. :(
I was considering of buying a canon 500d with a 70-200mm f/4 L glass lens and it was JUST under my budget... Now I read about canon announcing a newer model and I'm so confused.
19th feb I will be going on holiday to Dubai, which is a once in a lifetime thing for me. I really wish I could capture many many photos there but the 550d will only be available by the 24th!
I know that lenses are waaay more (and if not, the only) imporant thing and not the body. And that investing in a lens (especially an L lens) is better and bodies come and go...
I really appreciate any help/advice.
Best regards,
Answer
Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012YA85A?tag=dcmb-20
Review: My journey with DSLRs began back in 2003 with the original Digital Rebel. DSLRs changed my photography for the better like nothing else. Five years and some 25,000 shots later, it's still going strong. Along the way I upgraded to the Canon 30D, which is a fantastic camera as well. When the 40D was announced, I decided to wait until the 50D sometime in 2009, but wanted a newer backup/second body for my photography needs. So when the XSi/450D was announced, it sounded like a perfect fit for my needs.
I got it from Amazon.com three days ago, and have given it a pretty good workout since then, having shot about 650 shots under a variety of shooting conditions and with a number of different Canon and third-party lenses. The following are my impressions.
The build feels very good. The camera feels wonderfully light yet well built. I'm 6ft tall with average size hands, and the camera feels good in my hand. The battery grip, to me, defeats the purpose of having a small, light DSLR, so I opted for a Hakuba/Opteka grip (it's a plate that screws into the tripod socket that enables you to use the excellent Canon E1 hand strap with it) and I couldn't be happier. I'm not a fan of neck straps, so this works well for me (see the uploaded photo for the configuration).
Most of the menu buttons on the back feel different from the ones on the original Digital Rebel and the 30D; the XSi buttons feel more tactile and have a definite "click" to them when you press them. The exception are the Exposure Lock (*) and AF selector buttons, which have retained the deeper, softer feel of the older cameras. Just different, not better or worse, for me.
The LCD is now 3" with 230K pixels. The playback images look great, and probably because of the higher resolution of the sensor, there's a very slight delay when you zoom in to 10x while the image loads and displays properly. People coming from other cameras or brands might not even notice it--I only did so because of the difference between it and my two other Canon DSLRs (which have lower resolution sensors). The viewing angle of the LCD screen (how clearly you can see the screen from side and up and down) is excellent; you can still see the screen holding the camera almost straight up for an overhead shot (more on this later). I'd estimate the viewing angle is about 160-170 degrees both horizontally and vertically.
The Digital Rebel has a separate status screen above the main LCD screen, and the 30D had one on top of the camera, so I wasn't sure if I was going to like the big LCD acting as the status screen and no top screen. I'm happy to say that this arrangement works well, at least for me. The back screen makes it really easy to take all the settings at a glance. The viewfinder is much larger and brighter than that in the Digital Rebel. A humongously welcome feature for me is the always displayed ISO value in the viewfinder.
The camera is only 1/2 of the image quality equation, the other being the lenses being used. Coupled with my favorite lens, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L telephoto lens, the XSi turns out fantastic images. The supplied kit lens is very light and compact for being an image stabilized lens, and turns out good performance. The IS is certainly very useful.
Two features that used to be missing from the Digital Rebels and found in the more expensive DSLRs are now featured in the XSi: spot-metering and flash exposure compensation (these may have been available in the previous Digital Rebel model, the XTi, as well). The inclusion of those two features make the camera a much more complete and compelling photographic tool. The timer function now has a custom mode, where it'll count down from 10 seconds then take a number of shots (specified by you) in succession. No more running back and forth to reset the timer after each shot! There's also the traditional 2-second timer.
Let's talk for a minute about sensor and the ISO values. XSi/450D has five ISO values you can choose: 100 (best image quality), 200, 400, 800, and 1600. Higher ISO increases the camera sensor's sensitivity to light, thus you can achieve faster shutter speeeds for a given lighting condition. However, the trade-off is that the sensor "noise" (think grain for film photography) increases with higher ISO, so you get a degraded image quality in return for less blurred photos from hand shakes (thanks to faster shutter speed). This may come in handy in situations where flash photography is not permitted, such as a museum or a concert or theater. HOWEVER, compared to point-and-shoot digital cameras, the larger sensors of DSLRs, including the XSi, means that even at ISO 800 and 1600 you get very usable images right out of the camera. Running the images shot at those ISO settings through any number of third-party noise reduction software will i
Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012YA85A?tag=dcmb-20
Review: My journey with DSLRs began back in 2003 with the original Digital Rebel. DSLRs changed my photography for the better like nothing else. Five years and some 25,000 shots later, it's still going strong. Along the way I upgraded to the Canon 30D, which is a fantastic camera as well. When the 40D was announced, I decided to wait until the 50D sometime in 2009, but wanted a newer backup/second body for my photography needs. So when the XSi/450D was announced, it sounded like a perfect fit for my needs.
I got it from Amazon.com three days ago, and have given it a pretty good workout since then, having shot about 650 shots under a variety of shooting conditions and with a number of different Canon and third-party lenses. The following are my impressions.
The build feels very good. The camera feels wonderfully light yet well built. I'm 6ft tall with average size hands, and the camera feels good in my hand. The battery grip, to me, defeats the purpose of having a small, light DSLR, so I opted for a Hakuba/Opteka grip (it's a plate that screws into the tripod socket that enables you to use the excellent Canon E1 hand strap with it) and I couldn't be happier. I'm not a fan of neck straps, so this works well for me (see the uploaded photo for the configuration).
Most of the menu buttons on the back feel different from the ones on the original Digital Rebel and the 30D; the XSi buttons feel more tactile and have a definite "click" to them when you press them. The exception are the Exposure Lock (*) and AF selector buttons, which have retained the deeper, softer feel of the older cameras. Just different, not better or worse, for me.
The LCD is now 3" with 230K pixels. The playback images look great, and probably because of the higher resolution of the sensor, there's a very slight delay when you zoom in to 10x while the image loads and displays properly. People coming from other cameras or brands might not even notice it--I only did so because of the difference between it and my two other Canon DSLRs (which have lower resolution sensors). The viewing angle of the LCD screen (how clearly you can see the screen from side and up and down) is excellent; you can still see the screen holding the camera almost straight up for an overhead shot (more on this later). I'd estimate the viewing angle is about 160-170 degrees both horizontally and vertically.
The Digital Rebel has a separate status screen above the main LCD screen, and the 30D had one on top of the camera, so I wasn't sure if I was going to like the big LCD acting as the status screen and no top screen. I'm happy to say that this arrangement works well, at least for me. The back screen makes it really easy to take all the settings at a glance. The viewfinder is much larger and brighter than that in the Digital Rebel. A humongously welcome feature for me is the always displayed ISO value in the viewfinder.
The camera is only 1/2 of the image quality equation, the other being the lenses being used. Coupled with my favorite lens, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L telephoto lens, the XSi turns out fantastic images. The supplied kit lens is very light and compact for being an image stabilized lens, and turns out good performance. The IS is certainly very useful.
Two features that used to be missing from the Digital Rebels and found in the more expensive DSLRs are now featured in the XSi: spot-metering and flash exposure compensation (these may have been available in the previous Digital Rebel model, the XTi, as well). The inclusion of those two features make the camera a much more complete and compelling photographic tool. The timer function now has a custom mode, where it'll count down from 10 seconds then take a number of shots (specified by you) in succession. No more running back and forth to reset the timer after each shot! There's also the traditional 2-second timer.
Let's talk for a minute about sensor and the ISO values. XSi/450D has five ISO values you can choose: 100 (best image quality), 200, 400, 800, and 1600. Higher ISO increases the camera sensor's sensitivity to light, thus you can achieve faster shutter speeeds for a given lighting condition. However, the trade-off is that the sensor "noise" (think grain for film photography) increases with higher ISO, so you get a degraded image quality in return for less blurred photos from hand shakes (thanks to faster shutter speed). This may come in handy in situations where flash photography is not permitted, such as a museum or a concert or theater. HOWEVER, compared to point-and-shoot digital cameras, the larger sensors of DSLRs, including the XSi, means that even at ISO 800 and 1600 you get very usable images right out of the camera. Running the images shot at those ISO settings through any number of third-party noise reduction software will i
Best Quality Lens For Canon EOS 550D?
Amber Smit
I am a fashion photographer and at the moment im using just the lens that came with body, the 18-55mm. But as I'm getting more into my work, I'm getting increasingly annoyed with the quality of the lens. Quality is grainy and blurs easily. So I'm just wondering what a really good lens for this camera would be? Is the 85mm, 24-70mm or 50mm any good?
Help much appreciated, thanks!
Answer
yes most lenses with an ;l; in the lens would be a major upgrade, but some of the older ones are horrific for todays standards, you could get a simple £80 f/1.8 50mm canon lens, this is a good cheap lens and is vastly better than your kit lens, there is a shallower depth of field, and even with a 5 blade, unrounded diaphram blades the bokeh is nice and smooth open wide, and with all the tack sharpness a prime lens should have. A good multipurpose lens which is popular for a reason in the proffesinal lens series, of 'l' are the 24-105mm f/4 lens and the 24-70mm f2.8 lens
24-105mm pros
greater focal range
image stabilization which allows you to take lighter photos min the dark because you can use a slower shutter speed and still get sharpish images
good image quality
decent price around £500 second hand
24-70mm lens pros
slightly better image quality
some say sturdier build
heavier (some prefer this)
bigger (looks more proffesional, and bystanders will flee at your presence, because they think you are important)
can take photos in dark situations
good for portraits, with much more blur, or a shallower depth of field before and behing the focused subject, this is very useful,
cost's around £650
- i prefer the 24-70
there is now a mark ii for the 24-70mm, if money is not an object, this lens is fantastic, and pin sharp as a prime at any length or apeture, but at around £1600
a good cheaper 'l' lens is the 70-200mm f/4 fantastic image quality for around £300 alot cheaper than the other two
yes most lenses with an ;l; in the lens would be a major upgrade, but some of the older ones are horrific for todays standards, you could get a simple £80 f/1.8 50mm canon lens, this is a good cheap lens and is vastly better than your kit lens, there is a shallower depth of field, and even with a 5 blade, unrounded diaphram blades the bokeh is nice and smooth open wide, and with all the tack sharpness a prime lens should have. A good multipurpose lens which is popular for a reason in the proffesinal lens series, of 'l' are the 24-105mm f/4 lens and the 24-70mm f2.8 lens
24-105mm pros
greater focal range
image stabilization which allows you to take lighter photos min the dark because you can use a slower shutter speed and still get sharpish images
good image quality
decent price around £500 second hand
24-70mm lens pros
slightly better image quality
some say sturdier build
heavier (some prefer this)
bigger (looks more proffesional, and bystanders will flee at your presence, because they think you are important)
can take photos in dark situations
good for portraits, with much more blur, or a shallower depth of field before and behing the focused subject, this is very useful,
cost's around £650
- i prefer the 24-70
there is now a mark ii for the 24-70mm, if money is not an object, this lens is fantastic, and pin sharp as a prime at any length or apeture, but at around £1600
a good cheaper 'l' lens is the 70-200mm f/4 fantastic image quality for around £300 alot cheaper than the other two
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