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Canon 30D - still a good choice? (1 Viewer)

solentbirder

Well-known member
I'm thinking of taking the plunge and getting a digital SLR for bird photography. I can get a new 30D body for £460 and wondered if this was a good choice. I think I've really narrowed it down to a 30D or the Nikon D80. Any thoughts on the pros and cons of these?

....or should I wait for the Canon 40D price to drop?

Many thanks
John
 
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I'm thinking of taking the plunge and getting a digital SLR for bird photography. I can get a new 30D body for £460 and wondered if this was a good choice. I think I've really narrowed it down to a 30D or the Nikon D80. Any thoughts on the pros and cons of these?

....or should I wait for the Canon 40D price to drop?

Many thanks
John

30D is an Excellent Choice but where did you see It that Cheap?,
That's a Very Cheap Price ... Be tempted myself at £460,
Canon generally give's you a Wider range of Lenses and Stuff and Seem's
the most Popular where ever I go ... But Nikon's are Still up there,
Good Luck,
John,
 
The 30D is a great camera - the release of the 40D doesn't change that.

A new 30D for £460 (and as John says, it's a hell of a price - the kind of price used ones are going for) is a no-brainer, really - you won't get anything else remotely as capable for that price, or even significantly more.
 
John,

I like Nikon camera's, but at that cost go for the 30D, as Keith said. I don't know where you are getting this cost from in Hampshire, but if it's pucker then go for it.

I think that it is still the Best value for money camera you can buy.
 
Warehouse Express are clearing them out at that price in unbranded white boxes although they're still UK imports with UK warranties.

HTH

Dave.
 
Thanks very much for all the replies. Dave is right, I saw the 30D at Warehouse Express for £459 (curiously comes in a white box but apparently brand new). I think I'll probably go for one of these if I decide to go ahead. Cheers!
 
I'm facing the same decision as SolentBirder: D80 or 30D?? Having read this thread I'm tending towards the 30D.

How is the 30D for compatibility with current Tamron and Sigma lenses for instance????? By the way I'm a complete beginner so please keep it very simple!

I can't afford to buy compromise gear and upgrade later so I may as well get a good camera and lens at the outset.

My main question in my mind is am I going to have a good choice of glass for the 30D so I can get a good lens secondhand????? (up to 400mm minimum)

Any guidance appreciated from those of you in the know as I dip my toe into photography (mainly birds, bit of wildlife).
 
Simply, the 30d is perfectly fine with the Tamron and Sigma lenses but don't think you will be able to buy 400+ Canon L lenses too cheaply, have a look on the Canon Digital Photography Forum classifieds section to get an idea. They dont hang around for long either!....but worth it in my opinion.
 
Sorry not to hijack this thread, but this could be important to a potential buyer of the 30D. What is the 30D multiplier effect? Is it 1.3x or 1.6x?

Thanks.
 
Sorry not to hijack this thread, but this could be important to a potential buyer of the 30D. What is the 30D multiplier effect? Is it 1.3x or 1.6x?

Thanks.
If you are talking about the crop factor, then it is 1.6 the same as the other xx bodies. This does not effect focal length whatsoever.
 
If you are talking about the crop factor, then it is 1.6 the same as the other xx bodies. This does not effect focal length whatsoever.

Well I read about this in Aurthur Morris book. It said that if you have a multiplier Effect of 1.6 and say you have the 100-400 zoom then it would be 240-540mm with the 1.6x multiplier effect. Is that right?

Thanks.
 
Well I read about this in Aurthur Morris book. It said that if you have a multiplier Effect of 1.6 and say you have the 100-400 zoom then it would be 240-540mm with the 1.6x multiplier effect. Is that right?

Thanks.
It effects the Field of View not the focal length. Because the sensor is smaller than 35mm you are just getting a cropped version of the full frame image.
Do a google for 'crop factor' and you will find plenty of info that explains it.
 
It effects the Field of View not the focal length. Because the sensor is smaller than 35mm you are just getting a cropped version of the full frame image.
Do a google for 'crop factor' and you will find plenty of info that explains it.

Am I missing something?

This was cut and pasted from his book the art of bird photography II

"For more than fifteen years I made a living working with a guaranteed sharp
maximum effective focal length of 840mm: the 600 plus the 1.4X
teleconverter. (Before the introduction of Image Stabilized lenses it was
impossible to make consistently sharp images with long lenses and 2X
teleconverters.) With the 500mm f/4L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark
II my guaranteed-sharp maximum effective focal length is 1300mm:
500mm X the 2X teleconverter = 1000mm X the 1.3 multiplier effect
of the EOS-1D Mark II = 1300mm.
For much of my bird photography I
opt for the lighter 500 IS lens rather than the heavier 600mm."
 
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Am I missing something?

This was cut and pasted from his book the art of bird photography II

"For more than fifteen years I made a living working with a guaranteed sharp
maximum effective focal length of 840mm: the 600 plus the 1.4X
teleconverter. (Before the introduction of Image Stabilized lenses it was
impossible to make consistently sharp images with long lenses and 2X
teleconverters.) With the 500mm f/4L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark
II my guaranteed-sharp maximum effective focal length is 1300mm:
500mm X the 2X teleconverter = 1000mm X the 1.3 multiplier effect
of the EOS-1D Mark II = 1300mm.
For much of my bird photography I
opt for the lighter 500 IS lens rather than the heavier 600mm."
As stated previously, 1.6 crop sensor gives a Field of View (not focal length) of a lens 1.6x longer. There are plenty of diagrams on the web which explains this if you care to look. As Keith said if you want a longer focal length you have to use a converter or a longer focal length lens. The statement you quote is misleading and contributes to people thinking that the focal length is increased when it clearly is not.
Here is a thread which explains it http://www.millhouse.nl/digitalcropfactorframe.html
 
This gets argued about all the time, CCR.

Some of us take (I guess) a purist view of the crop factor - that it only changes the field of view (and if you think about it objectively, what else can it change?) - but others are quite happy to argue that the effect of the crop factor is a de facto increase in focal length.

It isn't, but it is the same as cropping into an image youself, which we all do to increase the size of the bird in the frame.

If you want to take the crop factor theory to a silly extreme, why not make a sensor one pixel high and wide - the crop factor of a sensor that size would be astronomical!!!

;) ;) ;)
 
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This gets argued about all the time, CCR.

Some of us take (I guess) a purist view of the crop factor - that it only changes the field of view (and if you think about it objectively, what else can it change?) - but others are quite happy to argue that the effect of the crop factor is a de facto increase in focal length.

It isn't, but it is the same as cropping into an image youself, which we all do to increase the size of the bird in the frame.

If you want to take the crop factor theory to a silly extreme, why not make a sensor one pixel high and wide - the crop factor of a sensor that size would be astronomical!!!

;) ;) ;)

I see! Thanks for clearing that up. I'm sorry if I came off argumentative. I guess I'm just thick.
 
As stated previously, 1.6 crop sensor gives a Field of View (not focal length) of a lens 1.6x longer. There are plenty of diagrams on the web which explains this if you care to look. As Keith said if you want a longer focal length you have to use a converter or a longer focal length lens. The statement you quote is misleading and contributes to people thinking that the focal length is increased when it clearly is not.
Here is a thread which explains it http://www.millhouse.nl/digitalcropfactorframe.html

Thanks for going through the trouble to post the link I will check it out!
 
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