View Full Version : 5d or 30D?


roberth
07-19-2007, 07:47 PM
This question has been asked a million times on the internet, and I need to ask it again!
I have been holding off buying a DSLR; I love wide angle photography, and was hoping that cameras with full frame sensor would drop in price. Slide film and printing costs have been going up and up, so I have decided to go digital.
I am not new to DSLR, I have had access to a 20D and before that a D10, I just didn't buy one for myself as I have a nice film camera that was superior to both of them.
I have some good glass 24-70 2.8L, and 70-200 2.8.
I mainly do landscape and portraits, but also dabble in food photography.

My concern with the 30D comes from past experience using the 20D, the view finder is pretty dark and doesn't show the whole frame, and the 1.6 crop factor is really noticeable for the wide angles.
The lack of pop up lens on the 5D is not an issue, as the lenses I have are big and cause a shadow when using the flash. I have access to a flash when I need one.

So I am either going to buy a 5D, or a 30D and a 10-22 S lens (to get me a the wide angle I lose with the crop factor). There is not a huge difference in price (around $900), but enough to warrant a good hard think. Does anybody have any advice?

mjs1973
07-20-2007, 03:45 AM
Welcome to the Forum. Like you, I took a good long look at both of these cameras. I love the idea of having the FF sensor of the 5D for wide angle shots, but since most of my shooting is done at the long end, I felt a camera with the 1.6x crop factor was a better fit for me. Just last week I picked up the Tokina 12-22 f/4 wide angle lens, so I'm back in business on the wide end.

I think both the 5D and the 30D are great cameras, but neither one was right for me, so I chose not to upgrade.

If you are seriously looking at the 30D with the 10-22mm lens, I would take a good long look at the Rebel XTi also. My personal opinion is that the XTi is a little better camera than the 30D. I think the image quality is a little better, it has the sensor cleaning technology that the 30D doesn't, it has the same AF system as the 30D and it's cheaper. It doesn't have as fast of frame rate as the 30D, but neither does the 5D. It also has more megapixels, but that really isn't that big of a deal anymore.

Personally, I'm holding out to see what Canon comes out with to replace the 30D.

deckcadet
07-20-2007, 04:47 AM
In your position i'd either wait to see what replaces the 30D soon or jump on the 5D. 5D prices are dropping more and more and it seems that it might be replaced soon (albeit close to the original price point most likely) and that would be a good time to buy with prices in clearance mode.

Michael has some good points, but I think that coming from the 20D you would be disappointed by the XTi in terms of ergonomics, controls, build quality, and so on. Also, I've read a lot of user reports on Canon's sensor cleaning systems and from what I've read in reviews and user reports alike, the cleaning system in the 400D isn't particularly effective. The improved version in the 1D MkIII is noticeably better but still isn't amazing.