Canon 20D

I am pretty set on upgrading to the Canon 20D, but now read that the

30D will be out in the spring. What's your opinion? Should I wait

for the 30D? or maybe still buy the 20D when the price is reduced

further?

 

Also, if you could suggest one new lense, what would it be? I am an

amatuer, that just enjoys taking a lot of pictures. Mostly travel,

landscapes, friends & family.

 

Thanks for your input.

I would go with the 20D plus the EF-S 17-85 IS. As is standard I will advise purchasing the 50/1.8. It is only $70 and very useful for photographing in low light. Incidentally upgrading from what.

 

Everyone is picking a replacement will be announced at PMA 2006, Feb 26 - Mar 1. Now Canon is pretty good at actually getting supply out to catch the buzz generated by the announcement but even it could be a month or longer for supply of the new camera to pick up and prices to drop on the 20D. It is up to you whether you want to wait.

 

I doubt I will upgrade my 20D. I could do with some more pixels (I print quite large) and would dearly love ISO continuously viewable on the top LCD and at the very least viewable in the viewfinder when changing the ISO. I would also like a true spotmeter. These are quibbles though and the camera is superb.

I recently bought the 20D knowing full well that I would be sorry after a newer Canon, or a better model of a Nikon would come out almost immediately. I'm sorry I rushed in and got the 20D, but I know I would be just as sorry for having waited a few months for a better camera. It's going to be that way for the foreseeable future I suspect, too. You are damned if you do and damned if you don't. The 20D is a super machine and will be for several years, so bite the bullet or miss some great shots in the meantime.

Currently the killer camera is the Nikon D200. Everyone agrees that is is much better than the 20D or, at least, will be when people actually get their hands on one.

 

It may be that Canon supercedes it with their PMA announcement. Who knows. Keeping up with the Jones (or in this case the Matsumoto's) is a mugs game.

 

Incidentally DSLRs are now fairly mature. The improvements are now fairly incremental and the limiting factors are becoming more and more the laws of physics.

"Keeping up with the Jones (or in this case the Matsumoto's) is a mugs game."

 

My Nineteen eighty-one Canon F1n is still going fine, thank you very much. I don't understand the digital upgrade feeding frenzy...especially for amateurs...you can go to Keh and get a slightly older dslr at a fraction of what it went for new. It's your money.

Well, W T, the difference is that with digital, a newer camera often means some increase in image quality. It's not quite the same thing as upgrading a Canon 1Fn. I'm not sure I agree with Alistair either. I think the technology is *nearing* maturity. Some times those incremental increases are still pretty substantial. In either case, I'm just nit pickin. I don't forsee any really big improvements, but would be delighted to be proved wrong.

 

Personally, I would wait if possible. Figure that the new camera, if there is one announced at all, will be available May. It should have some nice feature upgrades. Probably more pixels with a larger buffer, and bigger LCD. It also might have; slightly faster AF, a little better viewfinder, a better way to select AF points, maybe even ECF, better low light / high ISO images, better auto white ballance, very slightly more dynamic range, etc. Those would all be nice to have & even with only half of them would make for a moderately improved camera that could be worth waiting for.

 

It will be a while before the 20D gets lower priced than it is right now with the tripple rebates. But you would have to spend quite a bit to get those "savings."

What are you upgrading from? An old Speed Graphic?

<I>you can go to Keh and get a slightly older dslr at a fraction of what it went for new.</i><P>Really? Gonna pick up an E-6 and C-41 processor on that same trip? <P>I hate to say it, but comments about the D200 are *not* troll remarks, and on the money. If you aren't looking to go full frame like a 5D and yet have the cash to consider a 20D, I'd seriously consider moving to a D200 and leave Canon's APS sensor market in the dust. <P>Provided the 30D actually exists, I can't wait till Canon posts 30D sample images taken with their usual 35,50, and 85mm glass, then sells the camera with their dismal lens kit.

Like a lot of folk you appear to think that an upgrade means to go to a DSLR. The SLR was the top grade with film but these days you get much more performance with the top-line Pro-sumer cameras.

 

For what you say you do you are indulging with over-kill to buy more than a Panasonic FZ5. As a serious amateur I have the FZ30 with no thought of getting a DSLR as they are today.

Someone posts a question about digital SLRs, and like a predictable cuckoo clock, UK NZ is sure to pop up in the thread with the old Panasonic FZ-whatever, as if the answer to every photographer's needs is found in this one camera. Do you work for Panasonic, UK NZ, or are you just an obsessively enthusiastic user? Frankly, I'm not particularly enthused with those all-in-one cameras; I don't like being stuck with the one lens the manufacturer chains me to. Also, when that camera becomes obsolete and/or broken, I'd have to pay for a whole new lens, too. At least with an SLR, one keeps existing lenses for the next body.<p>

Kathleen, I wouldn't wait for the 30D (if it exists beyond rumour); the differences from one model to the very next one are rarely that significant. You'd need to wait at least two models to see big enough enhancements to make waiting worthwhile... and then you'd be waiting quite a long time.

JC - not everyone shoots at ISO 50 all the time or likes looking at EVFs. Glad the digicams work for you (and the FZ30 is a good one) but there are plenty of 'photographic' reasons to go with a digital slr.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I currently have a Canon Elan 7 and bought the Canon Powershot Pro1 to try out digital. I like the impact the digital has on my wallet - I can experiment without spending a fortune in developing film/slides.

 

I thought I could get what I wanted with the Canon Powershot, but I feel it is nothing more than a point and shoot (for a hefty price at the time....) and I am pretty disatisfied with it.

 

I think I will go with the 20D and try, try to get better shots! ;-)

 

I hope the Nikon D200 lives up to all the buzz or there will be a lot of disapointed folks out there. Thanks again!

Kathleen -- good that you could see through some pretty off the wall answers. Unlike some of the posters, I have a 20D and like it a lot. There is a rebate that expires soon, but if you can wait a few months it will only get cheaper.

 

Bob

Kathleen, I've just got my 20d and I'm more than impressed by it.

 

(I'd changed from an EOS30 (Elan 7e) to it).

Another consideration is whether you will be using it immediately. If the new 20D sits in a

drawer considerably during the next quarter, then it might make sense to wait it out.