Used 30D or new 40D?

Julia

I realize that's almost a crazy question... but hear me out. I'm just curious what some of you would do though, if you were me.

Currently have the XT. Doing this whole thing for fun, but with the goal to grow it as a side business. FTR, I don't foresee myself needing, wanting, or being able to afford a 5D ever. So that's out of the mix. :wink

I need to upgrade if I want to be truly serious, but I'm currently not making enough and cannot justify going into hock for the 40D.

I could "Bill Me Later" (which I've never done) the 40D and scrounge up the money from now until Spring. Or, I could buy one of the many used and seemingly well cared for 30Ds I keep see cropping up all the time.

I *think* the 30D would suit my needs perfectly... but alas, I'm a techie nerd and love having the newest gadgets. I worry I'd regret not getting the 40D.

So, if you were in my position, needing to upgrade for a casual side hobby that occasionally is business-like, but not rolling in dough, would a used 30D be acceptable? Or would you splurge and sell your soul for the 40D?

My site is in my sig if you need to evalute my skill. Also, a random sample from my most recent session:



I'd love and welcome and feedback! (Searching for 30D vd 40D doesn't work as they're too short - apologies if this has been beaten to death.)

J

TylerW

From a Rebel XT, either camera is going to be a significant upgrade. If the features of the 40d will benefit your type of shooting a great deal, it may be worth it to go into a bit of debt to make it happen. But if you don't, you don't. As for the gadget fetishry, you can get whatever you want - there's always going to be something newer and better just around the corner. Meet your needs, but don't sell yourself short.

ziggy53

Julia,

I took a look at your gallery and you have a very good eye for composition, color and shapes.

I notice that you like to include the sky in your outdoor images and you like to photograph flowers.

There are a couple of features of the Canon 40D that you might appreciate:

1) Highlight tone priority. This effectively yields more highlight information, retaining more highlight detail in high dynamic range conditions.

2) Better high ISO treatment. This provides additional shooting opportunity when the light gets dim. This feature, along with improved autofocus, should be an amazing improvement over the XT.

If you can swing it, I think I would highly recommend the 40D for your style of photography.

Julia

TylerW wrote:

From a Rebel XT, either camera is going to be a significant upgrade. If the features of the 40d will benefit your type of shooting a great deal, it may be worth it to go into a bit of debt to make it happen. But if you don't, you don't. As for the gadget fetishry, you can get whatever you want - there's always going to be something newer and better just around the corner. Meet your needs, but don't sell yourself short.

Thanks Tyler - that really does help to know the 30D would be a significant upgrade. And "Meet your needs, but don't sell yourself short." will be something I definitely bear in mind. Thank you!!!

Julia

ziggy53 wrote:

There are a couple of features of the Canon 40D that you might appreciate:

1) Highlight tone priority. This effectively yields more highlight information, retaining more highlight detail in high dynamic range conditions.

2) Better high ISO treatment. This provides additional shooting opportunity when the light gets dim. This feature, along with improved autofocus, should be an amazing improvement over the XT.

If you can swing it, I think I would highly recommend the 40D for your style of photography.

Thank you SO much. I appreciate you taking a look to see what I do... Yes, a lot of outdoor, sailing regattas, beachy, nautical stuff. I also do a lot of indoor dog show, pet photography stuff as well, where being able to shoot at higher ISOs is key. So that's all really good info to have about the 40D...

I need a better paying full-time job. Agh!

Any other opinions are most welcome...

salazar

I don't have any advice for you about the camera, I did just get a 40D and love it but it's really up to you. I had a look at some of your galleries (you have some great shots there) and have a question. 299/365 ::: "Leaf peeping" is a really interesting photo, it seems to be more than a simply a double exposure created in photoshop.

http://www.saltygrapes.com/gallery/2832655#212463552-A-LB

Would you care to explain how you made that shot?

About searching on dgrin, especially using short words that dgrin's search won't allow, check out this thread on how to use Google to help you:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=198489&postcount=6

The important part is the site:www.dgrin.com bit, as in:

SEARCH TERM GOES HERE site:www.dgrin.com

Julia

salazar wrote:

The important part is the site:www.dgrin.com bit, as in:

SEARCH TERM GOES HERE site:www.dgrin.com

Hey, that's quite handy!! Did not know that. Thanks for the tip!

As for the "leaf peeping" shot...



... it really is just a Photoshop thing. I just layered a photo of some good old red and orange New England foliage on top of the photo of me looking up at it, with the blending mode set to "overlay" - tweaked a bit here and there of course.

(I'm nearing the end of 365 days and definitely thinking outside the box at this point - you can get really bored with yourself after 305 photos. :nah )

Moogle Pepper

that is an awesome composite!!


As for used 30D or 40D? I'd wait a little bit on the 40D, being that there are some crops of them that have AF issues according to the forums on DPreview.


Me personally, I am also in the lacking funds situation, I would settle for a good used 30D. I bought mine off of Ebay and happy with it! My 30D is one years old! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

salazar

Julia wrote:

Hey, that's quite handy!! Did not know that. Thanks for the tip!

As for the "leaf peeping" shot...



... it really is just a Photoshop thing. I just layered a photo of some good old red and orange New England foliage on top of the photo of me looking up at it, with the blending mode set to "overlay" - tweaked a bit here and there of course.

(I'm nearing the end of 365 days and definitely thinking outside the box at this point - you can get really bored with yourself after 305 photos. :nah )

Julia, thanks for the Photoshop recipe. I've really no understanding yet of what the various blending modes actually do in Photoshop. That'll be a self teaching project for the winter when the weather gets bad and I don't want to go out to shoot. It's too nice out right now to spend much time with it.

niimo

I went from the XT to the 30D, it was a move I was happy with.

The 40D has some very good sounding features, but many amatuers and pros have done amazing thing without those features. Don't get too sucked in by those alone. Even the addition 1/2inch on the LCD isn't that great. It is still too small to use to seriously view a photo. It is interesting that they added live-view. I wonder if we will begin seeing people shooting DSLRs like point-and-shoots composing with the screen! Scary.. lol To me that is a weird feature for such a camera. Anyway, I suppose there is no wrong choice--unless you'r touching your kids' college fund.. :nono

claudermilk

I agree with niimo, don't get too sucked in with bells & whistles. The additional
features are nice, but if you cannot afford them, you can easily skip them. I'm still perfectly happy with my now-well-worn 20D. It gets the job done, even in my typically challenging environment.

Here's a question: what glass do you have? Would you get more bang for your buck upgrading the lenses?

All that said, it appears you're getting the most out of your current gear. Some really nice images in the galleries.

dancinkate

Julia wrote:

(I'm nearing the end of 365 days and definitely thinking outside the box at this point - you can get really bored with yourself after 305 photos. )

But you are still going to continue with another year with me......yes?

swintonphoto

2 months ago the 30D was awesome, and for some reason now it's just not good enough. Bunk I say. The 30D is a fantastic camera - just because the 40D is out doesn't change how great the 30D is. I am a pro here in Manhattan Kansas - a smallerish town so there are only about 6 studios here in town. 4 of them are still using 20D's, one is using 30D's. So, take that for a justification. These guys do awesome work - with 20D and 30D's. I use Oly E-500's - I have 2 of them. The E-510 and the E-3 have come recently, but my E-500's still work great. Why upgrade? Just because a car dealer releases a new model of the car every year doesn't mean you have to buy a new one every year. For some reason we think that with cameras. We forget how much we raved about the 30D last year. Last years model still works great - it's just marketing.
Save your money, buy the 30D, and get the 50D in a year and a half when you are making more money.

ccpickre

From what I read of the reviews and comparisons of the 30D to the 40D, my opinion would be to save even more money and get a good quality 20D. A lot of the reviews I read have said the 30D was not that great of an improvement over the 20D, and some even said it wasn't even worth it. I recently received a 40D, upgrading from an XTi, and the 40D improved on a lot of the introductions from the XTi (ie; ultrasonic senor cleaning, Digic III chip, plus the frame rate difference alone is like pure bliss). So if you're just wanting to make cash on the side, I'd go with the 20D, because megapixel wise it's still 0.2 more, which is the same for the 30D. It just depends on whether you want to spend the little but more for a camera that I've been told is not that much of an improvement. But it's up to you.

And Niimo, the live view mode is probably a little more complaicated than the PaS'ers are used to (I know, I tried to get a crash course in the setup before I was supposed to shoot the Dalai Lama while he was meditating), and it's more for the silent mode than anything I think. No auto focus capability, and the shutter is quiter because it's spread out. Definitely a noise thing for quiet situations.

ziggy53

ccpickre wrote:

... And Niimo, the live view mode is probably a little more complaicated than the PaS'ers are used to (I know, I tried to get a crash course in the setup before I was supposed to shoot the Dalai Lama while he was meditating), and it's more for the silent mode than anything I think. No auto focus capability, and the shutter is quiter because it's spread out. Definitely a noise thing for quiet situations.

Apparently you can use a Custom Function (III-6) to allow autofocus during Live View (although it does drop down the mirror momentarily):

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=72636

Airedrifter

That's correct.

ziggy53 wrote:

Apparently you can use a Custom Function (III-6) to allow autofocus during Live View (although it does drop down the mirror momentarily):

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=72636

After activating the CF III-6, you push the AF-on button and the mirror drops down and AF activates during the time you press the AF-on button.

My son and I used this feature while using the camera, with a long lens, as a spotting scope on a rock climbing trip.

Last night I used manual focus while looking at the comet. (no good photos)

Nice feature.

ccpickre

ziggy53 wrote:

Apparently you can use a Custom Function (III-6) to allow autofocus during Live View (although it does drop down the mirror momentarily):

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=72636

I'm not that versed in its functions yet

ziggy53

ccpickre wrote:

I'm not that versed in its functions yet

You are doing fine!

This guy, from your Dalai Lama series, I wonder about.

http://mnemosyne.smugmug.com/photos/212154757-L.jpg

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=74556

ccpickre

ziggy53 wrote:

You are doing fine!

This guy, from your Dalai Lama series, I wonder about.

http://mnemosyne.smugmug.com/photos/212154757-L.jpg

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=74556

HAHAHAHA, I took that with a Canon I found the irony amusing. I'm tempted to send that picture to Nikon for publicity use, just as long as they don't strip the exif data so everyone knows it was taken with a 40D

Julia

Thank you everyone so much for all the advice... I still haven't made any decisions, though to be honest, a day or so after I asked my question, I was unexpectedly laid off! So, in a way, that might make my decision for me... I am more financially strapped than I initially thought BUT, this sudden turn of events has caused me to throw myself MORE into my potential photography business. And I know I need better gear more than ever.

I sold quite a few prints at a holiday fair this past weekend ($$$ toward the upgrade!), and while I was there, got asked to fill in for the misisng pro Santa photographer. So, at least I'm getting more unexpected exposure!

I don't have any fabulous glass - my best bits are the 50 f/1.4 and the 28-135 IS. No L glass... so, it probably would be wise to go with the 30D and use the difference towards some better glass.
And Kate, YES, I'll continue the project!!! It's become too much a part of my life to stop now!! Heh.

Julia

Julia

Update, in case anyone wants to know...

I'm the proud new owner of a 40D. Arrived today! :ivar

It's an amazing step up from the XT... I can't wait to really put it to use.

Thank you everyone!

eichert12

Congrats! I'm jealous

eichert12

Oh, and what made you decide to go with the 40D over the 30D? It sounded like the 30D was what you were leaning towards in you're most recent post in this thread prior to "this" one.

Julia

I spent about two hours in the camera shop playing with both and talking with the guys there. It was hard to resist just how fast the 40D was. Maybe it was in my head? It just felt right - I went with my gut.

I've also suddenly got more confidence now that I'm really throwing myself into my photography completely, out of necessity. The holiday season has been unexpectedly busy for me, with matted print sales, child portraits, and custom holiday cards so I found myself more willing to spend a little extra.

eichert12

Cool, thanks for sharing! ...and enjoy!

ccpickre

Julia wrote:

I spent about two hours in the camera shop playing with both and talking with the guys there. It was hard to resist just how fast the 40D was. Maybe it was in my head? It just felt right - I went with my gut.

I've also suddenly got more confidence now that I'm really throwing myself into my photography completely, out of necessity. The holiday season has been unexpectedly busy for me, with matted print sales, child portraits, and custom holiday cards so I found myself more willing to spend a little extra.

You'll love the 40D, I've had a blast with it and I've only had it for little more than a month

Julia

I took it for a spin today... and I'm horrified by how much better my photos are. I thought I did ok with the XT... but I found myself post processing a lot. I didn't do anything differently today than I ever do, and my colors were GORGEOUS.

Very happy with my decision (to upgrade! I'm sure I would have experienced a similar shock with the 30D. )

evoryware

Congrats! I know the feeling of planning to buy equipment and unexpectedly losing a job. Take this chance and roll with it! I'm itching to buy the 40D just need a lil more time.

ccpickre

Julia wrote:

I took it for a spin today... and I'm horrified by how much better my photos are. I thought I did ok with the XT... but I found myself post processing a lot. I didn't do anything differently today than I ever do, and my colors were GORGEOUS.

Very happy with my decision (to upgrade! I'm sure I would have experienced a similar shock with the 30D. )

Wait did you have the XT (350D) or XTi (400D)?

I have an XTi and a 40D, and the XTi uses the Digic II processor I believe, while the 40D uses a Digic III. So that right there is a big step. A 40D over an XT will definitely be an improvement.

At the same time though, it might not just be a color issue. It could be that the 40D with it's better resolution, noise reduction and higher iso abilities, allows you to play more with ISO, Shutter, and Aperture, and get better settings for the situations you're in. Although it's also quite possible I have no idea what I'm talking about

It's worth it for the frame rate alone though

Julia

ccpickre wrote:

Wait did you have the XT (350D) or XTi (400D)?

I have an XTi and a 40D, and the XTi uses the Digic II processor I believe, while the 40D uses a Digic III. So that right there is a big step. A 40D over an XT will definitely be an improvement.

I went from the XT to the 40D. So yeah, huge improvement!!!

The high speed drive/frame rate is just insane. I snapped 20 shots of my dog in a yawn. Crazy!

ziggy53

Julia wrote:

... I snapped 20 shots of my dog in a yawn. Crazy!

I'm sorry but I just laughed out loud at that comment. It's a good thing I wasn't eating.