Camera Upgrade Advice?

[maddogjonnyp]

Hello guys, just looking for a bit of advice, im looking into the possibility of upgrading my Olympus E510 for a better model, could anyone give me some advice as to which cameras I should be looking into?

I have currently been looking at the Nikon D90 & Canon 550d or at the top end of the budget a Nikon D700 or Canon 7D.

Any recommendations welcome.

Cheers!!

[sybren]

So why do you want to upgrade? What are the limitations of your current camera you're experiencing?

[maddogjonnyp]

Originally Posted by sybren

So why do you want to upgrade? What are the limitations of your current camera you're experiencing?

Better image quality required, more flexibility on lenses, higher ISO speeds, more megapixels required, was also hoping to maybe pick up a full frame camera at a good price.

What would you recommend Sybren? The Olympus is a great little camera dont get me wrong but I just feel that I now need something more to take my images to the next level.

[sybren]

If you want to move to full frame, check out the Canon 5D mark-2. I think it's a good idea to move to full frame immediately, now that you're about to switch brands anyway.

[maddogjonnyp]

Sybren, to be honest i think the Canon 5D is slightly out of my price range, would you recommend purchasing the 7D and why?

[sybren]

Oh the 7D is a marvellous camera. It's not full frame, but it's the best APS-C camera on the planet at this moment. As you can see in my signature I'm the happy owner of one. If you need more motivation than "phhhooooaaah this thing is awesome!" let me know ;-)

[inkista]

Just me, but the 550D has a very similar sensor to the 7D. I'd be willing to bet there's not a lot to choose, image-wise or high-iso performance-wise between the two. Obviously, the 7D has a ton of better usability features, but it also costs about $1000 more.

Given that you're starting up from scratch, I'd say whatever you're realizing from your Oly lenses (assuming you're selling them to fund this switch) should be going into the lenses you'll need, more than into a new camera body. Mostly because glass depreciates much more slowly, and tends to be usable for much longer periods of time. Bodies start to come down in price from the day they're released.

I would also point out that these days, a used 5DMkI costs less than 7D.

Also, if you adapted any old OM lenses to four-thirds--keep them! You can adapt them to EOS as well. The old OM Zuikos tend to have image quality equal to (or in some cases even superior to), some Canon lenses, and they're nearly always a lot smaller.

[sybren]

For me the image quality/sensor was only a small part of the reason I switched to the 7D. The better controls, larger viewfinder, 100% coverage, movie mode and better LCD screen were important too, and I think the most important feature is the built-in Speedlite master functionality. The three custom modes have proven to be very useful too.

[maddogjonnyp]

Cheers for the advice Inkista, so you would recommend purchasing the 550d then? Would you recommend any decent reasonably priced canon lenses which would accompany this camera?

I do have two Olympus standard kit lenses so would probably sell them with the camera if/when I purchase a new one.

Originally Posted by inkista

Just me, but the 550D has a very similar sensor to the 7D. I'd be willing to bet there's not a lot to choose, image-wise or high-iso performance-wise between the two. Obviously, the 7D has a ton of better usability features, but it also costs about $1000 more.

Given that you're starting up from scratch, I'd say whatever you're realizing from your Oly lenses (assuming you're selling them to fund this switch) should be going into the lenses you'll need, more than into a new camera body. Mostly because glass depreciates much more slowly, and tends to be usable for much longer periods of time. Bodies start to come down in price from the day they're released.

I would also point out that these days, a used 5DMkI costs less than 7D.

Also, if you adapted any old OM lenses to four-thirds--keep them! You can adapt them to EOS as well. The old OM Zuikos tend to have image quality equal to (or in some cases even superior to), some Canon lenses, and they're nearly always a lot smaller.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by maddogjonnyp

Cheers for the advice Inkista, so you would recommend purchasing the 550d then?

Well, if you're cheapass like me. If you have a fortune to spend, you already have the Canon lenses you need (as in Sybren's case), or you're in desperate need of the 7D's features, then the 7D might be a better choice. And, of course, if you wanted full-frame, then a used 5D or 5DMkII are better. The 550D is still an entry level camera, and it doesn't handle as well as the higher-tiered models (stupid stupid AV/± button!). If you're willing to give up that usability for extra cash, though, I think it's worth it, because $800-$1k can buy you a lot of glass.

Would you recommend any decent reasonably priced canon lenses which would accompany this camera?

The three beginners' "training wheels" setup I tend to recommend is to get the body with the EF-S 18-55 kit IS, and blow an extra $350 to add the EF-S 55-250 IS, and EF 50mm f/1.8 II. Kitted, the 18-55 only adds $100 to the price, while if you try to buy it later on its own it's $170.

With these three lenses, you'll have wide-to-telephoto and available light capability. They're not ideal lenses, or top-of-the-line image quality performance, but they are low-cost and should give you the experience you'll need to make your next "permanent" lens purchase.

Other folks might disagree and say that you should go for the body only and blow cash on better lenses than these, and that's a better path in terms of not wasting time on a interim lenses, but only if you know what lenses you want. To me, the three lenses I suggest above together ($450) cost about what a single good lens does, so I think it's worth it--but I'm used to US prices, alas. YMMV. Wildly. Especially as you have to contend with UK pricing, which tends to be much higher.

The only big mental adjustments you're going to have to make going from Olympus to Canon is that your crop factor changed from 2x to 1.6x (or 1.5x if you go Nikon). So, compared to what you had on your E, lenses of the same focal length are going to seem shorter/wider. And Canon doesn't have in-body stabilization, so longer lenses are going to be more of a hassle to use, unless they've got IS.