Author Topic: Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?  (Read 5747 times)

  • Offline zpyder

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Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
on: August 14, 2010, 16:54:49 PM
I have a 400D at the moment. Its a great camera, my first SLR. However I rarely use it as generally its more practical to be taking a tough compact with me when Im out. The most use it gets is for photomicroscopy. The big downer on this front is having to use the viewfinder to check the camera focus etc. Liveview would be a godsend in this regard, and Id get a lot more use out of an slr with live view on the grounds of my weird eye focus issues too!

Problem is the age of the camera, popped into a shop earlier to just get an idea of trade in prices and things, Id only get £100 for the body, £30 for the kit lens. Given that the 500D is £500+ it seems, Im going to have to wait a little while.

Which brings me to the question of where the best/cheapest/reliable places are for cameras at the mo. I got the 400D from Jessops some years ago as it was actually one of the cheapest places I could find.

And I guess Ill be best off selling the 400D to cover some of the cost of the upgrade, I think Ive had enough of ebays stupid fees, and not used Gumtree before. How safe is it, are there many time wasters etc? The cameras in good condition except for a few specs on the mirror, doesnt effect picture quality but is visible in the viewfinder, and the kit lens has a few minor scratches on it from being on the microscope, but again not visible in pictures. Otherwise excellent. Would £250 be reasonable?

Re:Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #1 on: August 14, 2010, 17:00:20 PM
you could sell your 400d & get a 450d for about £100 diff on ebay.
ive considered doing the same as I also want liveview & the 450d has liveview

  • Offline Dave

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Re:Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #2 on: August 14, 2010, 17:45:15 PM
Personally Id look to getting more glass but if I was really wanting to upgrade a 400D I wouldnt look to upgrade to what is basically a more up to date version in the range but perhaps look to try the next range up.

Take a look at say a 40D on e-bay - if you sell your 400D then it shouldnt cost too much to upgrade - or perhaps even the 50D since the 60D should be out soon  then maybe prices of second hand/refurbished 50Ds will drop.

Personally Im still happy with my 400D - there are some instances where Id have liked spot metering and others where Id have liked more frames per second - Im not that fussed about live view though. Also better low light performance would be nice though I shoot in raw and use lightroom so its been OK so far. Overall Im glad Ive resisted the temptation to upgrade and have invested in more lenses instead. Ill probably look to upgrade in the next 6 months or so but then will likely be looking at a 7D or 60D.

Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #3 on: August 14, 2010, 18:19:20 PM
as already said the 450D has live view

Id give it a proper clean before selling to make sure you dont get moaned at, i sold a 350D with kit lens on ebay after i got my 450D and got what i wanted for it, cant remember the price but it sold quickly and trouble free.

  • Offline zpyder

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Re:Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #4 on: August 14, 2010, 19:46:09 PM
Yeah and I guess if the 450D is already discontinued Im guessing price will drop 2nd hand quite quickly as people replace up.

How do you go about cleaning the mirror properly? I remember at the time I tried, improved the situation a little, but dont want to make things worse. Id rather just state that it is there and let it be a case of buyer beware.

Is it better to sell on ebay than gumtree, given the stupid listing fees now? I dont need a quick sale, sometime in the next month or so would be nice though. Money wise Id rather sell the 400D before buying the replacement.

The 40/50Ds dont have live view do they? May be a silly question but just what do they offer over the consumer level stuff, just better quality?

  • Offline Dave

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Re:Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #5 on: August 14, 2010, 22:33:39 PM
Quote from: zpyder

The 40/50Ds dont have live view do they? May be a silly question but just what do they offer over the consumer level stuff, just better quality?


They do have live view as far as Im aware. Theyre also a bit more robust/better build quality, better autofocus, faster frame rate... theyre just a step up from the rebels/XXXD series - they still have the 1.6 crop sensor but with a more robust body and more pro features...

The 40D essentially has the same sensor as the 400D (it is supposedly different with better low light performance- but essentially the same) - so if you were to take a picture of a fairly static subject on a bright sunny day using the same lens youd likely get the same image from either camera. The differences come where you want to say shoot sports or wildlife or perhaps want to shoot in low light better autofocus, faster frames per second etc.. will help.

This thread has got me weighing up the idea of purchasing a 50d, 7d or 60d(to be released soon) in a few months.

  • Offline zpyder

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Re:Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #6 on: August 14, 2010, 22:36:25 PM
Cheers dave.

These names are getting confusing. I wish theyd just re-do them all and list them from 1D - 10D, ranging from 1D being the top end and 10D being the entry level. Then they can just call them say 3D mkii if they update them. That way at least youd know whether going from a 7D to a 5D mkii was an upgrade or not ><

Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #7 on: August 14, 2010, 22:45:30 PM
id love a 5d mkii myself, bit pricey though

  • Offline Sam

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Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #8 on: August 15, 2010, 00:58:02 AM
For the idiots amongst us (me), can someone tell me what a 400d and a 500d roughly equate to in the Nikon lines ?

  • Offline Dave

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Re:Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #9 on: August 15, 2010, 02:44:05 AM
400D was the canon rival to the nikon D40 and probably prompted nikon to release the D40x increasing the resolution from 6mp to 10mp

canon 500D is basically the equivalent to the nikon D5000 I think

edit:

basically from mid 2006 it seems nikon has gone from D40 -> D40x -> D60 -> D5000

in the same timeframe canon has gone from 400D -> 450D -> 500D -> 550D

Theyve both now got more basic entry level models - nikon D3000 vs Canon 1000D which dont seem to be too dis-similar to the 400D and D40 released back in 2007

  • Offline zpyder

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Re:Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #10 on: August 15, 2010, 08:26:41 AM
Classic, listed it on gumtree last night and its been deleted already ><

  • Offline Sam

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Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #11 on: August 15, 2010, 15:07:32 PM
So I have the D5000 and cant get shots as good as you guys with lesser cameras.
Proof if you ever needed it that Im useless and its all in the photographer.

  • Offline Dave

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Re:Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #12 on: August 15, 2010, 15:24:12 PM
not necessarily - tis the lenses too

Best thing I did was get a prime lens (nifty fifty) and start playing with it - improved things a lot - I was pretty much forced to do so as the kit lens you get with a canon is pretty ropey.

Get this lens and keep it on your camera for a while:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-50mm-F1-8D-Nikkor-Lens/dp/B00005LEN4/ref=sr_1_1/279-8106084-8849737?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1281882051&sr=1-1

It forces you to think about composition, youll get very sharp images from it as all manufacturers have been making 50mm lenses for decades and they can make the very well without the compromises needed to make a zoom. Youll have access to a much wider aperture and so can take pics in low light without flash, take pics with very shallow depth of field... tis good for portraits as you can throw everything behind the subject out of focus and its a good focal length for the face etc.. to not be distorted (50mm on your crop sensor camera is equivalent to 80mm on one of the more expensive full frame cameras).

Ive since invested in an 85mm f1.8 prime lens and a decent replacement for the kit lens that came with the camera - tamron 17-50 f2.8 is a fantastic lens - Im not sure what your standard zoom lens is like - nikon tend to put more expensive zooms with their entry level DSLRs so you might not need to replace it but Ive found that having f2.8 across all focal lengths has been great - the tamron lens was less than <£300 and tbh.. to get any better than that lens Id have to fork out for the very expensive canon equivalent costing more like £700 or get myself a 5D + the 24-70 which would cost £2.5k

Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #13 on: August 15, 2010, 15:34:16 PM
i dont agree with any of the kit lens is a bit ropey stuff, iv got some great shots with it, its still an 18-55 EF-S IS lens after all, decent range and the IS is always handy.

  • Offline Dave

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Pondering upgrading to a 500d or similar / Gumtree?
Reply #14 on: August 15, 2010, 15:49:18 PM
Quote from: Binary Shadow
i dont agree with any of the kit lens is a bit ropey stuff, iv got some great shots with it, its still an 18-55 EF-S IS lens after all, decent range and the IS is always handy.


I cant see the need for IS in that range tbh... and if you want to shoot in low light then lower f number > IS any day...

Im not saying you cant get good pictures with it but youre limited by it a lot - it is soft wide open so you have to stop it down but your aperture is already not very wide to start with so you then need to crank up the ISO in a lot of situations. On a bright sunny day at f8 youll get acceptable images - it does suffer from CA a bit but you can play around a bit in post with that.

Im just not that fussed by it - if I were worried about breaking stuff while traveling Id perhaps take it and the nifty as both are cheap to replace (or rather Ive got a replacement for the kit lens anyway) - I just preferred to have something a bit more versatile so the tamron was a very good purchase for me - especially as the equivalent 17-55 offering from canon is more than double the price with only marginal improvements on the tamron or indeed the equivalent lens from sigma.

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