Digital SLR camera - Canon any good?

lisadupreez

Hey there Bingobob.

I got a FABULOUS deal on the Canon 350D last December. Mastercard were running a promotion that if you bought it before a particular date and then sent the receipt and the barcode from the box they would give you £100 :j back. Does help you at the moment.

The Canon 350D is great for me as a keen photographer. I've had a manual SLR, Minolta, for years and upgrading to this has been great. Hubby is a point and push camera man and is finding this quite easy to use.:T

The LCD at the back is large enough to see a good photo, but doesn't take up the whole back.

The CF card, we bought a bytestore 512 from Amazon - cheapest place at the time. This holds about 130 images on the normal/good quality pixel thing.

In the box was a leaflet saying register on line at Canon and they'll send you a 256 card for free - damn shame that they had run out and then sent us a 512! Bonus.:D

Have a look at http://www.canon.co.uk/promotions :beer:

The promotions change all the time - currently:
Receive £200 Cash Back! - EOS 5D Promotion
Buy an EOS 5D camera between 21.02.06 and 30.06.06 and receive £200 cashback from Canon.

Mioght also be worth googling the words 350D, promotion, canon, etc...

Please PM me if you want me to rave about this camera anymore.

lisadupreez

Opps, forgot to mention that I've got the Digital zoom 18-55 (old speak is about 28-70 zoom).

This is good for all round use and we are going to get well used to the camera and how it works before we move up to the large -->300 zoom.

mclaren_2

bingobob wrote:

Actually I'm sold on the Canon 350D...it's now just a case of where the best deal is to be had at the moment. As it's quite an expensive purchase for me I want to get the right deal.

so was i when i was going to buy a camera, i thought that it was brilliant, but when i looked at the nikon d50, which was £150 cheaper than the EOS 350D and i asked my friend, who is a photographer, he said that the amount of features that i wouldnt use on the 350 would be so much... he said that the D50 has all the features i woudl use (and that was only a few) and there was none that the 350 had that the 50 had that i would use.... So it depends on if you are a professional or amature

Personally, both really good cameras, but on the advice of ma m8, i went Nikon D50 and i aint ever looked back once... it is a fantastic camera.

Difference between 6.2MP and 8.0MP will not be in the equasion unless you plan to print the images out, and blow them up to the proper size, which would be more than A1 size, normal images are A6/A5 (1 being bigger 6 being smaller) - and even then there wouldnt be much difference - esp if you use a flashbulb etc...

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_eos350d%2Cnikon_d50&show=all

the link above is the side by side on the EOS 350D and Nikon D50

Nikon D50 Samples http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond50/page27.asp

EOS 350D Samples http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos350d/page29.asp

Take a look at both, and you will see, apart from features, that you will not use unless you are a professional, then they are both about the same, with D50 being about £100 - £150 cheaper

lens kits are also about the same price for each, and memory cards are cheaper for nikon

good luck on your choice though, both ace cameras

CAT-THE-FIFTH

I am more a Minolta and Nikon man myself but the D50 does have 1/500th flash sync which can be useful at times.

The only way you are really going to know what you want is to go into a camera store and actually handle the cameras.

Also budget digital SLRs do have TERRIBLE viewfinders when compared to their film compatriates.

A Eos20D will have a better viewfinder and build than an Eos350D for example.

In this sense I regarded the Pentax budget DSLRs better than those from Canon,Minolta,Nikon and Olympus.They also use AA batteries which I think is great as opposed to a specialised type.

The new Sony Alpha A100 looks very interesting though.10MP and CCD antishake for under 700 quid with a kit lense seems good.More importantly it takes Minolta A mount lenses - yippee!!

Alechjo

I own Canon 350D and tink it is very good. If you look at the prices of competitors you can see they go down quicker that Canon's which should prove my point :cool: .

CAT-THE-FIFTH

I don't find the Eos350D is really much better than any of the budget DSLRs though. It produces nice pictures but so does the Eos300D,D50,D70 and the various others.

What glass you put on your cameras is more important as well as your technique!

Look at the D70 which has lasted through BOTH the Eos300D and Eos350D with just one midlife update(D70s).It also comes with a very good standard lense which was better than all of the competitors in the same price range.

The Olympus E system has some of the best digital lenses ever also.

Also just beacuse a competitor is cheaper does not mean it is not as good.

Some companies have very short product cycles - look at Sony and even Pentax. Pentax have produced at least 4 variants of the original *ist D in the last couple of years.

In the end the OP will probably do well with a Eos350D as he/she as Canon lenses already. However I think saving up for an Eos20D would be better still as they are going down in price due to the 30D entering the market.

I think the Eos20D is an excellent camera.

bingobob

thanks all for all your comments....still haven't purchased...i thinkt he 350d is due for a price reduction sometime soon...hope so..then i will pounce.

bb

GaryS

Go into Jessops or somewhere and try them out for yourself.
Then go and find a better deal elsewhere, althought I think Jessops will price match.

I own a Canon 10D and would always go for Canon kit.

ManAtHome

Rumours are that the 350D is likely to be replaced in the next few months - probably announcement or launch at Photokina (the big German camera show) end of September. Watch out for cashback offers - Canon have done quite of these in the past.

pin

BTW there is a good offer on the Pentax *IST DL2 at present. Camera and lens for £350 at Jessops (and some extra % off if you go through quidco, etc).

I looked at Pentax when researching to buy my camera and thought they were great (however did end up choosing the Nikon).

FYI Sony have taken over Pentax.

Also one thing to consider is memory cards. I had a point and shoot camera before I bought my SLR, so had loads of spare SD cards and that was one of the deciding factors to by the Nikon. Canon SLRs normally use CF cards.