Canon 50D

[Juggy]

I'm considering upgrading due to a few things.

1. It has a better LCD res than the 450D
2. Higher ISO
3. Faster shutter options
4. The 450D is apparently well known for noise in images at high res which the 50D has overcome
5. The 50D has a battery grip that supports WiFi which is quite handy albeit a gimick I doubt I would use
6. The 450 only has a 6 image RAW burst cache and the 50D has 16

Anyone here have a 50D and can vouch for it's performance?

 

[bwana]

You might want to have a look at how much the WFT-E3 costs . . . I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with six-hundred-dollars.

The new 60D is designed to incorporate the much cheaper Eye-fi cards.

 

[douglash24]

Nikon D5000 ftw! Just my 2c. Was looking at the 50D also and while good, plastic not so nice..

 

[bwana]

Nikon D5000 ftw! Just my 2c. Was looking at the 50D also and while good, plastic not so nice..

The Nikon D5000 might be made of plastic but the 50D has a magnesium alloy body.

 

[Juggy]

Nikon D5000 ftw! Just my 2c. Was looking at the 50D also and while good, plastic not so nice..

Nikon is out of the question. I recently purchased a whole bunch of Canon lenses

 

[koffiejunkie]

4. The 450D is apparently well known for noise in images at high res which the 50D has overcome

The 50D isn't noise free, and it suffers a bit from banding at the higher settings. That said, I don't know what the 450D files look like, so the 50D might well be better.

5. The 50D has a battery grip that supports WiFi which is quite handy albeit a gimick I doubt I would use

You're not likely to accidentally buy the wifi-equipped one instead of the regular one...

Anyone here have a 50D and can vouch for it's performance?

Happy with mine. If you can hang on for a bit or afford the extra money, go for the 60D rather. I has the newer sensor and the improved metering - should be better all-round.

 

[ChrisJ]

I am very happy with my 50d. I have a couple of amazing 2.4m x 1.2m prints and quite a few A0's from it. High ISO noise is not bad as long as you don't under expose the image.

The increased frame rate and buffer a very useful and I hardly hit the buffer in RAW mode and never in jpeg.

You will find the handling far superior to that of the xxxd series bodies. I personally would get the standard grip, I don't think mine has come off the 50d in nearly 2 years apart from the odd clean.

 

[koffiejunkie]

I am very happy with my 50d. I have a couple of amazing 2.4m x 1.2m prints and quite a few A0's from it. High ISO noise is not bad as long as you don't under expose the image.

The truest words. I've seen so many guys under expose to avoid using high ISO, and hten wonder why their images look so bad when they push the exposure in post. It doesn't work. 12800 ISO is grainy on the 50D, but properly exposed, it looks a heck of a lot better than when you take the same shot at 3200 and -2 EV or 6400 ISO and -1 and then try to correct the exposure in post.

 

[Juggy]

Thaks, the highest ISO on the 450 is 1600 and the fast shutter in 4000 so the 50D will be a huge improvement in that area already.

 

[Juggy]

Thanks again for the advice guys. I'm collecting my 50D tomorrow morning and will feedback as I'm going to Killarney on Sat to shoot the racing

 

[bwana]

Thanks again for the advice guys. I'm collecting my 50D tomorrow morning and will feedback as I'm going to Killarney on Sat to shoot the racing

Congrats . . . I predict a "what lens should I buy for racing" next

 

[Juggy]

Rofl, unfortunately I didn't make the racing however I think my 100-300 F4 should be ok for a start?

This is it... http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/100-300mm-f4-ex-dg-apo-hsm-sigma It's not OS but heck, can't be perfect right? My next choice however is going to be a 70-200 F2.8

This photography thing is quite addictive innit?

 

[Juggy]

Ok, I have a question.

When in the creative modes a half press on the shoot button doesn't initiate auto focus. I actually have to press the AF-ON button for AF, it works properly on the pre set programs though. Anyone know if this is correct? My 450 would AF in any of the cameras modes.

All in all a very nice camera, images are much sharper and more detailed than my 450. The LCD is higher res which makes image previewing much nicer.

 

[bwana]

Ok, I have a question.

When in the creative modes a half press on the shoot button doesn't initiate auto focus. I actually have to press the AF-ON button for AF, it works properly on the pre set programs though. Anyone know if this is correct? My 450 would AF in any of the cameras modes.

All in all a very nice camera, images are much sharper and more detailed than my 450. The LCD is higher res which makes image previewing much nicer.

I think you'll find that someone has activated back button focusing (C.F IV-1). It's actually pretty useful but it does take some getting used to

 

[Juggy]

Thanks again for your invaluable information Bwana. I almost typed Bwanana

Think I'l disable it until I get used to the camera, it appears that back nutton focussing is the default on this camera as I reset the settings and it was on.

 

[Juggy]

In case anyone is interested there are options 0-4. I have gone with option 1 which allows for metering with a half depression of the shutter button. The rear AF-ON can be depressed to lock focus for multiple shots.

 

[koffiejunkie]

In case anyone is interested there are options 0-4. I have gone with option 1 which allows for metering with a half depression of the shutter button. The rear AF-ON can be depressed to lock focus for multiple shots.

I use the * to lock metering - I use that a lot. It's not often that I need to lock focus.

 

[bwana]

It feels odd to me when I pick up a camera now and back button focusing hasn't been enabled

 

[koffiejunkie]

I don't recall having to enable mine. Both back button focus and metering worked out of the box. The one thing I miss is the having AF-ON on the battery grip. Heavy portrait mode use is the one time where I would actually use AF lock.

Another thing I'd really like is to have access to the ISO switch on the grip.

 

[bwana]

I don't recall having to enable mine. Both back button focus and metering worked out of the box. The one thing I miss is the having AF-ON on the battery grip. Heavy portrait mode use is the one time where I would actually use AF lock.

Another thing I'd really like is to have access to the ISO switch on the grip.

But was the front button focusing disabled? I'm surprised though as canon claims the default is for it to be disabled.

Fortunately the grip for the 7D has it too.