Upgrade to 50D?

DJ-S1 · January 24, 2009

Looking for some advice on upgrading. I currently have a 30D and a backup 20D (that I never use). Would it make sense to sell them and purchase a 50D?

I shoot mainly kids sports and family stuff, with some landscapes on occasion. I lust after the high ISO of the 5DM2 but full frame is not for me or my bank account.

For glass I have the 24-105L IS and the 70-200L 2.8.

Your thoughts?

Candid Arts · January 24, 2009

I have the 50D, upgraded from the 40D. The high ISO performance of the 50D I haven't been impressed with, but I don't have any noise reduction software (which I'm sure will help a lot). I love the screen on the 50D though vs. the 40D, HUGE improvement. The 50D also has a few new features that the 40D doesn't have that are pretty nice. One example that some people on here have found very useful is the micro adjustment for lenses. With the 50D, RAW files are WAY bigger, so larger memory cards and in abundance are a must. The 50D also has face detection on live view mode which might find useful for your family stuff...

I love my 50D, but yes, bank account didn't permit the 5DMKII.

Shootin1st · January 24, 2009

Reviews seem to say the 50D will be superior to the 5DMkII for the sports and action stuff. Focus speeds and frames per second on the 50D are faster than on the 5DMkII, not to mention the crop factor benefits.

Candid Arts · January 24, 2009

Shootin1st wrote:

Reviews seem to say the 50D will be superior to the 5DMkII for the sports and action stuff. Focus speeds and frames per second on the 50D are faster than on the 5DMkII, not to mention the crop factor benefits.

Very true, a 300mm lens on a 50D will have the effective focal length of 480mm... So you're getting longer lenses w/o having to buy longer lenses...kinda (hence the term "effective" focal length). But in tern, a 16mm lens on a 50D will have an effective focal length of 25.6mm. So you loose on the wide angle, but gain on the telephoto zoom side.

Scott_Quier · January 24, 2009

DJ-S1 wrote:

Looking for some advice on upgrading. I currently have a 30D and a backup 20D (that I never use). Would it make sense to sell them and purchase a 50D?

I shoot mainly kids sports and family stuff, with some landscapes on occasion. I lust after the high ISO of the 5DM2 but full frame is not for me or my bank account.

For glass I have the 24-105L IS and the 70-200L 2.8.

Your thoughts?

You have very good glass but is it tack sharp? I thought I was doing good with my 30D cameras. I got the 50D, did the AF Microadjustment and it's like I have completely different lens kit.

crockett · January 24, 2009

My thoughts...

This is a no brainer for your situation. I went from a 30D to a 50D and personally I feel it's a perfect all around picture taking machine.

With my 30D and sports I topped out at 1600 ISO (3200 was just too nasty). On my 50D if I expose properly I have absolutely no qualms shooting at 1600 and have had good sucess at 3200. The 3200 has been a big eye opener for me because I've been able to use my 70-200 2.8 for indoor basketball. The BIG key is exposing properly and a bit of NR software.

Of course, used as a portrait camera it's an improvement over the 30D but not a HUGE improvemnt. The biggest advantages in the portrait realm are that you can crop more because of the added MPs, micro-focus adjust and the LCD display. But lets face it, a 30D at ISO 100, good glass and good technique can take some absolutely amazing images just like most DSLRs.

The hardest thing for me and I'm still struggling with are the HUGE file sizes when shooting in RAW. I shoot sRaw1 quite a bit. And if you ever shoot multiple games on the same day forget about RAW, you are just going to have to go to JPG.

If you plan to do sports plan to spend a BUNCH of money on new cards. The 50D can use UDMA cards and they make a HUGE difference.

My old 6 GB card would take 30 seconds to fully recharge a spent buffer (16 images in full RAW). My new 4 GB UDMA cards recharge a spent buffer in just over 7 seconds. I have yet to tap out the buffer while shooting HS BB with the 50D. With the 30D it would happen a couple times a game when those darned HS kids couldn't make a bucket and you would have multiple rebounds and attempts in a very short time period.

Next on my list....a used 5D for portrait work and a backup to the 50D for sports.

Oh another thing I love about it is that I wasn't happy with snap shots using the 30D at 1600. However, I use my 50D all the time to take snap shots around the house at 1600 and 3200. We never print any of these larger than 4 x 6 and my wife just scrapbooks them so it's opened up quite a bit for us in that respect as well. I used to hate carrying my 30D and 35 f2 with 580 ex around. Now I rarely put the flash on the 50D and just use it with a 35 f2 or my 35 f1.4 at 1600 or 3200.

DJ-S1 · January 25, 2009

This is all great information guys. Thanks for the thoughts!

Scott, I think they are sharp but could they be sharper? I always thought some of the soft shots I get were lack of technique on my part but maybe micro adjust would help.

Shootin1st · January 25, 2009

Here's Scott's thread on his process for adjusting the focus point to match his lenses.

Great stuff.

Scott_Quier · January 25, 2009

DJ-S1 wrote:

This is all great information guys. Thanks for the thoughts!

Scott, I think they are sharp but could they be sharper? I always thought some of the soft shots I get were lack of technique on my part but maybe micro adjust would help.

Do a quick test. Put the camera on a tripod, point the camera at a well-textured, high-contrast, well-lit subject, set the 10-second (or 2 second timer), and press the shutter button. If, under those conditions, the photo is a bit soft - well, I would say there's a good chance the upgrade would be a good thing to consider.

agunther · January 25, 2009

Don't
The 20D and the 30D are excellent cameras. Every two years I get the upgrade bug and drop some money on new cameras, but often thats not really necessary.
You should ask these questions

Do you feel limited by your current cameras capabilities?
Do you desperately need higher resolution because customers are asking for larger prints?
Do you feel that 5fps vs 6.5fps really makes a difference?
Do you feel like a lesser person with a lesser camera (silly quesiton, but I think the main reason for people to upgrade is their fellow photographers and not an inherent need).

Andre

Upgrade to 50D?

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