evphotography

I second what Steve Torelli's post said. I have personally owned both 5D and 40D. The IQ is so close to the 5D I don't feel it is worth the extra money. The 40D in just about every way is superior to the 5D in terms of features, AF and frames per second. As far as the XSi I think for the few hundred extra the 40D would be a better camera, the extra 2MP is only thing the Rebel has over it and that is no bid deal.

I forgot to mention that it won't take two years to learn, with the stuff on the internet they have now to learn from like the things I mentioned, you can learn a lot quicker now then before. Back when I was getting books to read it took some time, but with the websites out now with the video's you can watch it really cut my learning curve time down a lot.

I'm sure there probably is J., several have been written. I have purchased a few in the past when I was using Photoshop CS and CS2 like "Real world Camera Raw for CS2" and I think they have a new one out "Real world Camera Raw for CS3". That would be a good book to start out. But I found to be the most helpful was video tutorials over books because you can actuallly watch what they are doing on the screen while they do it. I always found I just learn more quicker watching a video of them actually performing the techinques and stuff on my computer and I can practice on my own images while I am watching them.

 

Here are a couple of GREAT websites that you can get those from. Try the www.radiantvista.com. They have some great video tutorials on there that are free to watch and they also have a e-book that you could purchase that would probably be even better because they go much more in depth on the different techniques they teach you. On his website they have what is called "photoshop workbench" which you can watch for free. They usually put up a new one about once a week and they are a great learning tool. When they post those save it to your computer so you can watch it over and over if you like. After they have been on his site for a couple of weeks and they replace them it with a new ones you have to pay to watch the old archived ones.

 

Micheal Reichman also has a couple on his website www.luminous-landscape.com which probably go even more in depth and I think are pretty resonable cost wise considering how long they are. He has a new one out for $39 that is 7hrs 45min called "Guide to Adobe Camera Raw" and another one for $34 "From Camera to print" which I belive is about 8 hrs long. Both of them will cover just about every single thing you would ever need to know for digital photography using Photoshop. If you check them out on his website you can see everything he covers in both of those video's and a sample video clip from each one. I have never purchased either of these but have bought other video's from him in the past and they are really well done. He also has just tons of great information on his website about everything photography related.

 

I have learned so much from both of these websites over past few years, more then I learned reading books. Are you going to be using Photoshop CS3? It is such an awesome version there are so many great improvements on it over the last photoshop CS2. The RAW converter in it is leaps and bounds better then anything in the past versions. I hope this helps you out J. Let me know what you think.

First let me say yes the 40D will produce IQ of 35mm film. I see a lot of post here comparing the IQ of the 5D to 40D, pixel peeping as they call it. Don't let that be your deciding factor. I have personally owned both camera's and they are both excellent camera's in terms of IQ. But after shooting both I perfer the 40D over the 5D hands down and here is why. Yes there is an advantage of full frame sensor when using wide angle lenses, but Canon makes two great wide angle lenses that will give you plenty of wide angle coverage and that is the 17-40mm f/4L or the 10-22mm. You mentioned shooting primarly fashion and portraits, so I don't think having very wide angle lenses is as important for that type of shooting and the 17-40mm would sufice for that. Secondly, yes you will see a touch higher IQ on 5D, but ever so slight. There is a touch more detail, but the difference is so slight you would have to compare very large prints side by side up close to notice the extra detail. Noise with the 5D is a touch cleaner at ISO's above about 800, but again ever so slight of difference and anything below ISO 800 you will see NO difference at all.

 

After using both cameras I can honestly say the 40D is superior to the 5D in about every other way. In terms of features the 40D wins hands down. It has 9 focusing spots which are all cross type sensors, 5D has one cross typre sensor. I think the colors produced with the 40D are better then 5D with the new processing engine they have in the 40D. Then with added features like built in sensor cleaner, live view mode and 6 frames a second shooting again tops the 5D. But here is the big one and I think this is something you really need to consider for fashion and portrait photography. The 40D has live view that can be tethered to a lap top or any computer and you can use there software or 3rd party software that allows autofocusing from the computer. You can zoom in 10X to check focusing and several other features. Here is a link to a article that Pop Photo wrote about it for studio work that will go more into the details of what you can do with this feature. You tell me, would that be a benefit for studio work or what? Comparing the features of the cameras mentioned should be your deciding factor, not pixel peeping. The photographer in the end will be the decideing factor on your overall images not how many mega pixels a camera has or full frame vs reduced frame.

 

Any good professional out there will tell you the same thing I mentioned here . Pick your camera based on price and features because the IQ in all of them is so good now, don't let that be your deciding factor. It's just something to think about J. Sinclair and I hope my comments will help you make the correct descion. Here is that link I mentioned.

 

http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4669/live-view-photography-with-the-canon-eos-40d.html

I agree with a lot of post here, pixel peeping over noise really shouldn't be the decideing factor. I do belive that Canon has had a slight advantage in image quality when it came to noise in the past, like with the camera's you are comparing. But that quickly changed with Nikon's new D300 & D3 which are outstanding. I belive Nikon camera's are better designed then Canon, I sometimes wonder if the people in their R&D department at Canon have ever done photography before. But after using any of the camera's you get use to their features and how to access them quickly. The one area I feel Canon has a big advantage in over Nikon is on their lenses. First let me say Nikon has some GREAT lenses, they do. But their really good glass are almost all f/2.8 which are heavy and very expensive, with the exception of a couple of lenses. But Canon L series lenses are exceptional glass as well and much less expensive, due to the fact they make a nice selection now of f/4 lenses which are not nearly as big and heavy and lot less expensive. So unless you really need that fast f/2.8 glass I would consider the Canon. Canon 17-40mm f/4L and 70-200mm f/4L are to awesome lenses and both cost between $550-$625 brand new. In my opionion those are some of the best buys out there for zoom lenses from any manufacture.