Buying a new camera

canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
edited August 17, 2007 in Cameras
My friend is buying a new camera. He does not know which one to go for the Canon 400D or the Canon 30D. I was unable to give any exact information as to which one was the best considering the mega pixels are more in the 400D. Your comments would be appreciated and I will pass on your worthy comments to my friend.
Many thanks
Bob

Comments

  • henryphenryp Registered Users Posts: 144 Major grins
    edited August 16, 2007
    canon400d wrote:
    My friend is buying a new camera. He does not know which one to go for the Canon 400D or the Canon 30D. I was unable to give any exact information as to which one was the best considering the mega pixels are more in the 400D. Your comments would be appreciated and I will pass on your worthy comments to my friend.
    Using megapixels as THE spec by which to choose a camera is a little like using horsepower as the spec by which to select a car. You can do a side-by-side spec comparison of the two at http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp. Among the differences is ther 30D's faster top shutter speed, slightly larger sensor size, optional ISO 3200 setting, & faster top fps rate.
    Henry Posner
    B&H Photo-Video
  • gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
    edited August 16, 2007
    Bob...either will do just fine. The 30D has a few features over the 400.

    btw the 400D has a larger sensor than the 30D.. but that is not how you should be looking at it what-so-ever. I like the 30D better as it is a larger camera for my hands & i like the stronger build in the body.

    Just spend the money saved on good lenses.
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited August 16, 2007
    henryp wrote:
    Using megapixels as THE spec by which to choose a camera is a little like using horsepower as the spec by which to select a car. You can do a side-by-side spec comparison of the two at http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp. Among the differences is ther 30D's faster top shutter speed, slightly larger sensor size, optional ISO 3200 setting, & faster top fps rate.

    Excellent side by side guide. I have passed your worthy comments on to my friend and he thanks you very much Henry.
    Bob
  • canon400dcanon400d Banned Posts: 2,826 Major grins
    edited August 16, 2007
    gus wrote:
    Bob...either will do just fine. The 30D has a few features over the 400.

    btw the 400D has a larger sensor than the 30D.. but that is not how you should be looking at it what-so-ever. I like the 30D better as it is a larger camera for my hands & i like the stronger build in the body.

    Just spend the money saved on good lenses.

    Thanks ever so much Gus. I have passed on your valuable comments to my friend and he asked me to thank you very much.
    Bob
  • claudermilkclaudermilk Registered Users Posts: 2,756 Major grins
    edited August 17, 2007
    gus wrote:
    Bob...either will do just fine. The 30D has a few features over the 400.

    btw the 400D has a larger sensor than the 30D.. but that is not how you should be looking at it what-so-ever. I like the 30D better as it is a larger camera for my hands & i like the stronger build in the body.

    Just spend the money saved on good lenses.

    Um, not according to Canon. deal.gif Canon's site shows: XTi 22.2mm x 14.8mm and 30D 22.5mm x 15.0mm. As I suspected, less than 1mm difference so meaningless--but you left me a nice open door to be pedantic. :D As is the 10.1MP vx 8.2MP. As Henry pointed out, this is the least important statistic (continuing his analgoy, kind of like choosing a Bugatti Veryon over a Ferrari Enzo for daily driving because the Bugatti has 1000HP vs Ferrari's "mere" 660HP).

    What is he intending to shoot? Total budget? There are things each camera is more suited for, but we need more information to make any kind of recommendation.
    Chris
    http://www.chrislaudermilkphoto.com/
  • gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
    edited August 17, 2007
    claudermilk wrote:
    Um, not according to Canon. deal.gif Canon's site shows: XTi 22.2mm x 14.8mm and 30D 22.5mm x 15.0mm. As I suspected, less than 1mm difference so meaningless--but you left me a nice open door to be pedantic. :D As is the 10.1MP vx 8.2MP. As Henry pointed out, this is the least important statistic (continuing his analgoy, kind of like choosing a Bugatti Veryon over a Ferrari Enzo for daily driving because the Bugatti has 1000HP vs Ferrari's "mere" 660HP).

    What is he intending to shoot? Total budget? There are things each camera is more suited for, but we need more information to make any kind of recommendation.
    Im not really into pixel counting...its for different people to me...but isnt the 400D 10mp & the i know my 20 & 30D are 8mp headscratch.gif
  • VizhonVizhon Registered Users Posts: 38 Big grins
    edited August 17, 2007
    gus wrote:
    Im not really into pixel counting...its for different people to me...but isnt the 400D 10mp & the i know my 20 & 30D are 8mp headscratch.gif

    Uhm... Yes... If you are trying to make a correlation between sensor size and resolution, there is none.
  • gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
    edited August 17, 2007
    Vizhon wrote:
    Uhm... Yes... If you are trying to make a correlation between sensor size and resolution, there is none.
    No...im not & i couldnt care less about any of it myself. I just want bob to understand that a 10 mp camera in this cat is not better than an 8mp camera in my opinion. But im sure someone in here will pick that up & run with it.
  • VizhonVizhon Registered Users Posts: 38 Big grins
    edited August 17, 2007
    canon400d wrote:
    My friend is buying a new camera. He does not know which one to go for the Canon 400D or the Canon 30D. I was unable to give any exact information as to which one was the best considering the mega pixels are more in the 400D. Your comments would be appreciated and I will pass on your worthy comments to my friend.
    Many thanks
    Bob

    My take, in a nutshell, not as a user of either (I don't do Canon) but having followed what gets said about all the major cameras out there, is as follows:

    400D - Consumer level dSLR, entry level camera, built like an entry level camera, decent resolution, a little flat on the colors and mid-range in noise.

    30D - Semi-Pro wedding/Porttrait camera - Faster shutter speed, more features, lower resolution but better color, higher ISO capability, lower noise and most notible in the comparison of the two cameras, the 30D has a higher Dynamic Range (Range between what the camera sees as black and what it sees as white or 'how many shades of grey') meaning it is much more forgiving for bad exposure and low-light situations.

    If I had to pick between the two, I'd get the 30D anyday. Pixel count isn't that important to me (You can usually stitch frames together if you really need the resolution) but I am a color, low-light and high dynamic range nut and right now the 30D is the Canon camera in those areas.
  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 24,132 moderator
    edited August 17, 2007
    Vizhon wrote:
    ... the 30D has a higher Dynamic Range (Range between what the camera sees as black and what it sees as white or 'how many shades of grey') meaning it is much more forgiving for bad exposure and low-light situations.

    ...

    I know there are a lot of rumors about the dynamic range of the 20D/30D being so much better than the 400D/XTi, but I just don't see it in tests or examples.

    According to these folks, the two classes are about the same for dynamic range:

    http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Canon-EOS-30D-Digital-Camera-Review-/Testing--Performance.htm
    http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Canon-EOS-Digital-Rebel-XTi-Digital-Camera-Review/Testing--Performance.htm

    The Canon 5D, Canon 1D MKII/MKIIN and especially the Canon 1D MKIII have exemplary dynamic range, and it shows in the low noise floor at high-ISO. The luminance channel is especially clean on these cameras, and it shows when you apply noise reduction software. The 5D and 1D MKIII have much improved in-camera processing, but often the 1D MKII/MKIIN can match after noise reducion software processing.

    The best actual study (I have found) is here:

    http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedetail/evaluation-1d2/
    http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedetail/digital.sensor.performance.summary/
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
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