Canon 300D won't start - new camera needed

[Bobster]

you can pick up a 20D for about 120 notes..

[Bobster]

Objectively, the quality of the 7D is poor.

yeah i get complaints all the time from my customers over the quality of my images!

[TheAnimus]

yeah i get complaints all the time from my customers over the quality of my images!

True, but you are buying it for other reasons, you've got glass that is good quality that you know well and I dare say love.

I wouldn't be surprised at all, that if we gave you a smartphone like a 1020 you would produce photos that your customers would love. We are lucky now, that in the last couple of years, you can get amazing image quality for £300 DSLR. The problem is, that we haven't seen much improvement recently, to me it's one of how the camera firms are using differential pricing, for those without an economics bent, this is where a company tries to "up sell" you, without loosing the low end market either. Airlines are the goto example, your flight arrives the same time on the £500 ticket, as much as on the £25000 ticket. Yet Singapore Airlines and the like use their amazing first class service to be a halo, it makes people think that their economy must be better than say BA, because their top tier service is. This I think many camera firms do. Look at say Nikon right now, you've got a body for all price tags going, the 3xxx the 5xxx the 7xxx then a step and you've got the 6xx, 7xx, 8xx and a big jump again and D4S. You can spend as much as you are able to spend.

[oldboy47]

In reply to Animus - Optic quality is my main reason. I have been buying Canon for many years and have never been disappointed with my purchases. I agree with what you say about the manufacturers trading on their reputation. Fortunately I have, by and large, been very happy (although my last lens purchase was Sigma - very pleasing). I only wish I could get a digital back for my film model cameras - their optics I think were much better.

[TheAnimus]

There was a very interesting article I was reading a few months back, it was taking a detailed look at lenses from old film to digital. The upshot was something like 12mp in a APS-C size sensor has more resolution than 35mm film, as such, it will find flaws in lenses, lenses that would have looked fine on film suddenly less so.

Now this doesn't matter too much, as at the end of the day everyone is downsampling anyway. But it was still a really interesting read.

The old lenses you have, can you not use them with an adaptor? Being a good Pentax fan boy I have to point out how I use many old lenses all the time, without any issue at all, joys of having a backwards compatible lens mount and the best crop sensor on the market

What I think is really interesting of late, is how Sigma is shacking up the lens market. I mean, wow. I had a sigma telephoto, it was my first digital camera tele, it was cheap and had very, very poor quality in many ways. I then got their 150-500mm because it was so cheap, I mean you can't argue with £500, but still it's very soft beyond 300mm. So the idea that Sigma have an amazing 50mm, and this brilliant 18-35mm (which is on my body, that's sat on a tripod in the corner of my hotel room as a write this), simply shocked me so much. Optically, it's brilliant, the build quality, not so good, lacks real weather sealing, couldn't take of my CPL when it got dark, because it was too cold and had shrunk on.

I guess I am disappointed with the innovation, or rather complete lack of, we see in the digital camera prosumer market. I honestly think (fanboy hat on) that Pentax are the only ones who've done anything interesting in the last two years, and that is with the simulated OLPF thing, but that is so minor as most people don't bother with them at this high MP anyway. This is rather sad I think. What's even more sad is people are still buying Canon in droves, mostly because of their huge marketing, and the fact that the 5d is a good bit of kit. This is sending the message that people don't care about build quality, they don't care about image quality.

Where I've seen real innovation is in the micro 4/3rds. And given my camera + laptop bag tipped the scales at 8kg this trip, I can really see myself jumping ship to Olympus in the near future (fanboy hat off), I could have brought a 500mm equivalent lens with me, that weighs less than my Sigma 18-35. I also worry about Pentax and their future, the constant rumours of a full frame worry me, as the last thing I want is to lug more weight, I just want better image quality which frankly I've got enough of already. I worry about them making one, because as in my reply to Bob, I dislike how differential pricing has eaten away at the quality of products that aren't the top end, I think it's fair to say all manufactures gimp their lower end products to make people buy their top end. Thankfully, Pentax don't do that so much, as their top end is seriously expensive compared to CaNikon, but if Pentax have a FF I worry they will start to do this, if they do I'll definitely end up on a m43.

Hopefully this also explains why I really dislike Canon, they are the epitome of everything I think is wrong with the camera market today (mount change, painfully gimped low end, refusal to do sensor stabilisation, very poor build quality etc). Plus too many Canon fanboys have pissed me off in the past by saying that the system you have must have a FF camera, but somehow their rule vanishes when you suggest that their system must have a medium format!

The thing is thou, changing system isn't that expensive when you are buying a new body anyway, as the glass really holds its value well, it's only bodies that depreciate.

Today I've been counting the number of tourists here (Hoi An, Vietnam) who have their tulip on backwards, in what I can only describe as perfect tulip use conditions. Scores so far, Canon 6 out of 10, Nikon 1 out of 6, Pentax 0 out of 1 (no, that 1 wasn't me). This also boggles my mind, I can't understand why you would buy a camera, and not use the tulip, even if just as a keep crap out of my lens end device. I also think these people are also what's wrong with the camera market. I still feel it's worse today, than it was 3 years ago.

[Zak33]

I did some wandering around, held a few different Canon's..... and the one thing she's always struggled with a little is the size and weight of the 300D

then I saw a 100D.......

Guess what she now owns? yup... no doubt a million and one reasons why you guys didn't suggest it so we shall keep our fingers crossed and see what the results are like


thank you.. all of you.. for your input,

Bob.. I think I may keep my eyes open for a 20D... good idea!