Ah... Decisions, Decisions

[steve_simons]

Before I write this all out, I want to say, please, no biased one

sentence answers here. If you want to reply have a thoughtful answer

that will help me out.

 

Anyways, after I'm paid for a web design job I have to do, I'll have

enough money to choose one of these:

 

Choice 1:

- Buy a Canon D30. I'll have enough money to get a new lens or, once

I've sold my Rebel Ti and Powershot A70 I can buy a new computer or a

bunch of new hiking gear (and EF lens) and maybe have enough for a

computer.

 

Choice 2:

- Buy a film scanner, new body, new digital, lots of film, money for

developing, and hiking gear.

Film Scanner would be something that's only around $400 Canadian,

Maybe a Minolta Dual Scan III or HP Photosmart S20. Camera body

would be either an A2 or, if I want to spring the extra money, an

Elan 7. New digital would be a Powershot G3, film would be slide

film. If I chose this, I could start up a small business for

retouching old scratched slides. I did this once with a slide my dad

kept as a memory of his father, I "borrowed" it without he was

knowing, scanned it on my cheap flatbed scanner, fixed the smudging

and color, printed a 5x7 on glossy so he had something bigger to

remember it by. I'd be the second person in town to do that, the

only one to have very much digital experience doing it.

 

I put this in the EOS forum because no people would know EOS better

than you, and that is what this is based around in ways.

 

Thanks.

[beepy]

Buy a Digital Rebel (300D - whatever).

<p>

People I know seem very happy with it.

<p>

Couldn't quite figure out your budget from you exposition - but I am attention deficit.

[melissa_eiselein]

I like Brian's idea. The D-Rebel seems to be a nifty digital camera for the budget minded. You can even get it with the wider 18-55 D-Rebel-only lens for an extra $100. The total cost is well under $1000 USD.

 

Selling the Rebel Ti and Powershot A70 just to get an Elan 7 and Powershot G3 hardly seems worth the money to me, but then I'm more frugal than most.

 

Regardless of whether you chose to upgrade to a digital SLR or not, I'd still keep your film camera. You might want to get into black & white shooting and self developing. You might want to experiment with infrared film. If you do get a DSLR and you don't get the 18-55 lens (good only on a Digital Rebel) then you might need the film camera to get those wide shots a digital with the 1.6x crop factor can't fit into the shot.

 

Of course, I and others might give different advice if we knew what lenses you currently have and how much money you're thinking about spending.

[tom_burke3]

How about....

 

choice 3: keep saving to buy a D60, 10D or 300D!

 

Seriously, I think you would find the D30 limiting because of its much lower

resolution. My personal feeling is that its time has gone. On this forum there is much

discussion about the relevant merits of the D60, 10D and 300D, and we pinpoint the

differences and agonise over them. The truth is, however, that all three are excellent

cameras, and by no means obsolete. I think you would get more long term

satisfaction & usage from, say, a s/h D60 than from a D30.

 

Speaking personally, I have a film scanner (Minolta Scan Dual II) which I have had for

some years. About 6 or 7 months ago I bought a D60. The results I have achieved

from the D60 are significantly better than what I was getting from slide or negative

images that I scanned. By the time I bought the D60 I had almost stopped using the

scanner. At intervals I would select some 40 or 50 'keeper' images and get them

professionally scanned rather than struggle with the scanner again myself. My

experience has been that cheap desktop scanners have great difficulty in dealing with

the dynamic range of a crisp slide.

[brambor]

Will you need enlarge your pictures to 16 inches or more? If the response is no then the D30 will work fine for you. It is more versatile than Digital Rebel and could be had for $500. Otherwise go for D60.Are you a hiker/backpacker? Then getting an ef 35mm/2 would be a great idea. It is lightweight and tack sharp. I have taken D30 on backpacking tripsand it has served me very well.

[michael focus97.com lee]

I say Option 1, except I say get something newer, perhaps a 10D? I'm biased, 'cuz I love taking my 10D hiking with me! How can you beat trudging through beautiful landscapes with a great camera on your shoulder?!?

 

Get an inexpesive but great lens to start, like the 50 1.8, or the 35/2 lens suggested previously, and go for decent hiking gear.

 

I suggest something newer, because once you're out there realizing the potential for fantastic shots in fantastic places with a Dslr, you'll be happy that you've got a camera that you can be pleased with for a while.

 

Good luck with your decision!

 

Mike

[steve_simons]

Ok, the general opinion is going towards getting a DSLR. This is good, but my only problem is getting wide-angle stuff, anyone know of a cheap lens to get wider than 28mm after the 1.6x crop factor? I know of the 16-40 or 17-40 or whatever it is, but that's out of my budget, and the MC Zenitar 16mm Fisheye but I don't want the fisheye effect for landscapes.

 

Anyways, just to let the people know who've been suggesting it, I don't think I could ever buy the 300D. It has too many limitations, I'm trying to get away from my Rebel Ti because I can't select which metering mode to use, not to mention only getting 2.5fps for 4 frames isn't nearly as good for shooting sports than 3fps for 8 frames.

 

Thanks for your opinions, it seems that scanning slides isn't a very quality-wise thing to do now that the world has DSLRs... the only problem being getting wide-angle.

 

Hmmm... I know it may be a dumb question, but how much quality do you think I'd lose if I attached one of those 0.5x wide-angle converters to my EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM on a DSLR?

[brambor]

Wider is not necessarily better but if you need it then here is another option: buy a dependable manual camera like Canon Ft-b with a wideangle lens and a nice external meter. Have your photos developed with an option for CD and you are all set. You'll save buko money, get pro like gear. The best thing is you will not depend on batteries and if it breaks it will be cheap to replace right off ebay.

[suman]

Off the topic-Is there any really manual Canon SLR out there which does not need a powercell to operate?

[PuppyDigs]

" I have a film scanner (Minolta Scan Dual II) which I have had for some years. About 6 or 7 months ago I bought a D60. The results I have achieved from the D60 are significantly better than what I was getting from slide or negative images that I scanned. By the time I bought the D60 I had almost stopped using the scanner."

 

Even if you never touch film again, most of us have decades of personal and family pictures to scan and tweak. If you're planning a retouching business, invest in a top of the line film scanner such as the Minolta 5400 or Nikon Super Cool Scan. Nobody will hand you a 30 year old digital file to retouch! Incidentally, you'll also need a top quality flatbed as many folks will simply hand you a faded old print (the negs are long lost).

[awindsor]

Depends on what you want to do with your shots. For large enlargements film is still

king but developing is expensive (and you tend to take fewer shots). Digital is very

convenient and the ability to preview your shots is great. I am not yet producing

digital black and white as good as my darkroom prints but I am about to try Peak

Images digital output.

 

For wideangle on a digital the fisheye is not such a bad option since you can post

process to get a rectangular image out. The same holds for consumer zooms which

are often sharp at the wide end of the zoom but show barrel distortion. The distortion

can be "fixed".

[babette_ross]

Hi, I just recently made these choices myself. I just got the new minolta scan dual iV which i really like (it replased the canoscan 2710) if you will be scanning old materials- or even think you might - you should probably invest in a scanner with ice. I find with new negatives my lab does a decent job of keeping them clean and i only spend about a minute in dust clean up. I also just bought a canon elan 7 on sale for 264 us at adorama (the 7n is releasing soon so im sure you can pick one up for even less shortly) For my general usage, this was the economical way to go. Do i want a dslr - YUP! But im not ready to go 100% digital at this time. Mainly because im too afraid of spending upwards of $1000 on something that is so delicate and/or built for a 2 year obsolence.