For a while now I’ve been using my trusty H5 and I’ve learned quite a bit about photography. I bought my H5 because it’s essentially an SLR without the interchangeable lens and flash hot shoe. Both of these features are very important, however the lens built into the H5 is a 36mm-432mm (35mm equivalent) and the flash is actually quite versatile. I can step the flash up and down in power with a total of 10 steps. This all comes included for the small price of $500 (retail price when purchased over a year ago). The same setup with an SLR would have easily run me in the thousands and at the time I wasn’t sure I wanted to dedicate that much money into my new hobby just yet.
The H5 has been a wonderful learning tool, and I truly feel everyone who wants to delve into photography should take a Full Featured as their first real step. It (cheaply) allows you a very wide range in the type of shots you can take, so you find out whether or not its something you really want to do and if so, what type of shots you like to take. If you buy a full featured camera like the H5 and you find yourself leaving it in ‘auto’ mode all the time you’ll be missing out on a lot of really wonderful shots. You probably wouldn’t benefit much from the switch to an SLR either.
That brings me to my next tidbit. I will be retiring the H5 soon. I’ve decided I need to make the switch. I have been looking for a while and thought I had decided on the Canon 30D. Until this morning. The only thing lacking in the 30D is a high resolution sensor. I loved the camera, the feel of it, the screen size, feature set, speed everything. However; I felt that if I were going to switch to an SLR I wanted at least 10 megapixels. Everyone is going to say:
but it doesn’t really matter, 3 or 4 is plenty 90% of the time!
And they’d be right, for 90% of people taking photographs. However; by making the switch to an SLR I’m taking one (small) step towards attempting to make money with my hobby. To do so I need to be able to print very large, and make very small crops. Therefor I need as much detail in the shots as possible.
This morning amazon slipped up and accidentally announced the Canon EOS 40D ahead of schedule. This camera is a thing of beauty (providing the accidentally leaked info is accurate). The three main upgrades from the 30D that I’m concerned about are:
- Increased efficiency 10.1-megapixel CMOS sensor with larger microlenses
- Large 3.0-inch LCD display
- 6.5 frame-per-second continuous shooting capability
For a full breakdown of the features (as temporarily listed by amazon) click here.
Looks like I might have found my new baby.
Randy Aldrich 
Pssh 40d. EOS 1DMkIII go big or go home 🙂
LikeLike
Hah, one step at a time. If I were to go pro I’d invest in the 1D. The 30/40D is plenty for me at this time.
LikeLike
The 40D specs.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082010canoneos40d.asp
It’s been shown that even a 6mp camera can print 24×30 decently. I think the biggest I’ve printed with my 10D is 10×15 and I’m sure I could’ve gone higher. Anyways, just my experience.
The 30D will probably be a steal now, though the 40D is tempting and definitely a worthwhile upgrade (6.5fps, wow!, oo and it finally puts the ISO in the viewfinder). Looks like they’ve made a lot of really nice improvements. Yay for Canon 🙂
LikeLike
=-o I searched Dpreview but they didn’t have it yet! Anyway, I guess ‘decent’ is a relative term. I know I’ve printed 20×30 with my 7.2mp H5 and while it looks wonderful from a few feet away, it is definitely a bit pixelated up close. The desire for the higher resolution is really more for crops though.
As far as the ISO in the viewfinder… when I read that I couldn’t believe the 30D didn’t already have it. Although, I almost always set the ISO speed manually, I couldn’t imagine not having it in the viewfinder when in auto-ISO mode.
LikeLike
Yep, crops will be far more do-able with 10mp. The bigger sensor in DSLRs makes a big difference too (much bigger pixels), so a 6mp point and shoot will look much different than a 6mp from a DSLR. You’ll have to let me know what you decide on.
LikeLike