Differences between 503 CXi and 503 CW ?

[scott_carlsson]

I would love to get a new 503CW kit, but budget is forcing me towards

the used market.

I would like the TTL capabiltiy, so I'm ruling out the 501CM.

What are the improvements to the 503CW over the CXi?

Was the CXi the direct predecessor of the 503CW?

 

Thanks for you opinions

[kevin_lackey]

The CXi was the direct predecessor to the CW. To my knowledge, The only real difference is that the CW has the gliding mirror system, which allows you to have a full viewfinder image when using long telephoto lenses. The CXi viewfinder would vignette. Keep in mind, the VIEWFINDER... Images are fine, it's only the viewfinder image that vignettes.

[richard_freedman1]

I used my CXi for years with no problems, then three years ago, upon realising that I needed a back-up camera, bought the CW and relegated the CXi to backup status. Had I never looked through a CW (or any Blad with gliding mirror) with my 150mm lens, I would have never noticed the vignetting at the top of my viewfinder; now that I have and use the CW, I'm spoiled and am irritated by the CXi's minor "irritant". So I guess my advice is: if you're tight on cash, then ignorance is bliss--don't look through a CW's viewfinder and you'll never know what you're missing! Of course, the longer the lens, the more noticeable, so if you've got a 180 or 250, then just bite the bullet and get a CW, you'll be glad you did!

[q.g._de_bakker]

Richard,

 

You really never noticed how your slides or negatives did show a rather odd composition, everything tending to be somewhat lower down in the frame than it perhaps should be, and how this deviated from how you carefully composed your images in the viewfinder???