First DSLR - how old is too old?

[annie]

I'm an interested novice who has long been wanting to get a DSLR and expand my photography skills. I'm particularly interested in shooting candid portraits including kids, landscapes, and macro. A friend of a friend is offering to sell me a Canon Rebel XT with kit lens, Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Lens, an external flash, and a camera bag for $500 which I'd hope to bargain down to about $400. Apparently she got it around 3 years ago, took about 80 shots with the camera and kit lens, and then it has all sat in her closet ever since.

I'm wondering:

- Is this a reasonable price for entry-level equipment that's out of date?

- Part of me wants to spend more on a newer model, but then another part of me thinks that if I would have been thrilled to have this camera 5 years ago why not be thrilled to have it now? I imagine that since I'm just starting out, it will be a while before I bump up against this camera's limitations. And I can avoid a lot of the depreciation of a new camera. Or am I wrong?

- It looks like some of the main limitations will be with low-light conditions, autofocus, and speed. (Hmm...when I write it out like that, it sounds like a lot!) Anything else big that I should be concerned about?

- Any alternative recommendations based on what I've said so far?

Thank you in advance for any and all advice!

[private]

YOu have a lot of bargaining room - IMO. Here is one in pretty good condition with just the 18-55 lens 0206B003 Canon Digital Rebel Xt Chrome W/18-55

And the 75-300 is 100 dollars used

[dlambert]

You're hitting a few interesting topics with this (potential) purchase. First, since you're buying your first DSLR equipment, you'll want to make sure you're evaluating this as a *platform* purchase. By that, I mean that once you start investing in Canon equipment, for instance, it's fairly expensive to switch brands. Given that you're in one of the "big two" brands, though, I think you're in pretty good shape here.

Next, since you're looking at a package deal, be sure you're paying attention to whether you're interested in buying all the parts of the package. If there's something in the kit that you know right now you're not interested in, be sure to factor this in to what you pay for the kit.

Finally, there's the "how old is too old" question. When it comes to lenses, they have a really long lifespan, as long as there isn't a major shift in technology that invalidates a whole line of lenses. You should be able to buy and sell EOS lenses for quite a while, which means you'll be able to upgrade those lenses at whatever point you wish to do so. The body is fine for getting started, but it's getting old enough now that you're not going to get much for it if you want to resell it at some point. Again, not a big problem as long as you factor this into the price.

I'd say depending on the type of flash that's included, if you can talk her down to $350-400, that's not too bad. I'm sure you'll see areas where you'll want to improve on parts of the kit, but this would give you something to build on gain experience with.

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by annie

- It looks like some of the main limitations will be with low-light conditions, autofocus, and speed. (Hmm...when I write it out like that, it sounds like a lot!) Anything else big that I should be concerned about?

You may find it tough to shoot candid photos with that set up unless you are constantly shooting in bright light. The Canon XT files start to fall apart at relatively low ISO. Combined with variable aperture lenses, you're going to be seeing a lot of slow shutter speeds. As people, especially kids, move around in candids you're going to be dealing with motion blur and camera shake.

[annie]

Originally Posted by Rentham

You may find it tough to shoot candid photos with that set up unless you are constantly shooting in bright light. The Canon XT files start to fall apart at relatively low ISO. Combined with variable aperture lenses, you're going to be seeing a lot of slow shutter speeds. As people, especially kids, move around in candids you're going to be dealing with motion blur and camera shake.

Hmm...would this problem be improved if I got a prime lens with a wider aperture? (Something I want, and might be able to get sooner if I get a less expensive camera.)

Thanks everyone for the very helpful information!

[dlambert]

Now you're square in the middle of the questions we ask any time we want to upgrade.

When you start with an entry-level camera body and entry-level glass, they're both matched pretty well. You can upgrade either one and get better performance, and then you'll sort of be limited by whatever you didn't upgrade. If you go get a good, fast prime lens, for instance, you'll get better pictures out of the Rebel body, but you might very well then have a lens that would perform even better on a better body.

So how do you know whether you're better off upgrading the body or the lens? It's almost impossible to tell without some understanding of what sort of pictures you're shooting and where you're hitting the limits of your equipment. If you had the setup in your original post, for instance, and you found yourself shooting mainly portraits right around a certain focal length, and you found yourself struggling with camera shake because your lens is too slow (and you don't want to use flash, for whatever reason), then a new prime lens in that length would be a slam-dunk. If you're shooting all over the focal lengths of both your lenses and you want to improve image quality, then it's probably worth looking into an upgraded body.

At this point, you can make some educated guesses about where you might need to upgrade, but it's really hard to know for sure until you start taking pictures. It's a no-brainer to say you'd rather start with a better camera, better lenses, better flash, and so on, but when you start adding that stuff up, you might find that you just priced yourself out of a setup. It's your call at that point whether you'd rather start with equipment that you're very likely to want to upgrade, or hold out until you can get a higher-quality setup -- either way is perfectly fine.

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by annie

Hmm...would this problem be improved if I got a prime lens with a wider aperture? (Something I want, and might be able to get sooner if I get a less expensive camera.)

Yes, something like a 50mm f/1.8 would give you some extra stops of light at the expense of a shorter focal length compared to the telephoto zoom. On the plus side you'll be able to use faster shutter speeds and, if you want, more shallow depth of field. The trade off is you'd have to get closer which may hinder getting the candidness of some shots.

[diegoespinoza]

when I got my camera it was also my first DSLR, I took into account the numbers of clicks in the camera which I think you mentioned is only 80 shots, I say that is excellent for a 3 yrs old camera.