Help Deciding Between Canon Xt Or 30d W/ 17-85 Lens

[faroutback]

WITH VACATION COMIMG UP I'M LOOKING TO BY MY FIRST SLR DIGITAL CAMERA. BUT I BUY PRODUCTS WITH THE INTENTION OF KEEPING THEM FOR QUITE AWHILE. FOR INSTANCE THE LAST CAMERA I BOUGHT WAS A REBEL G WHICH I STILL USE. THEREFORE I WANT THIS PURCHASE TO LAST ME. I'M NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER BY ANY STRETCH [JUST PICTURES ON SPECIAL OCCASSIONS AND VACATION MOSTLY] BUT I DO ENJOY QUALITY. SO I'M LOOKING FOR THE BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK. PLEASE HELP DECIDE BETWEEN THE REBEL XT AND NEW 30D. I KNOW THE LATTER COST ABOUT TWICE THE PRICE BUT I'M THINKING OF TAKING SOME PRO SHOTS OF THE FAMILY:confused: IN THE FUTURE OR WILL THE XT WORK AS WELL. I DO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD LENS BUT UNLESS SOME ONE HAS BETTER SUGGESTION I'M LOOKING AT CANON'S 17 - 85MM USM BUT IT'S A LITTLE EXSPENSIVE. I ALREADY HAVE A QUANTARAY 70-300MM 1.4-5.6AF AND SIGMA ASPHERICAL COMPACT HYPERZOOM 28-200 F3.5-5.6 MACRO. HELP ME FIGURE WHAT TO BUY. THANKS IN ADVANCE.

[timmciglobal]

No caps please.

#2: dSLR's won't last. If it stilll working in 5 years thats good, if its still working in 8 years that'll be amazing.

#3: The 17-85 is quite possibly one of the worst canon moderate priced lenses. Very high Ca, distortion and slow apature > 24 mm. Consider the sigma 18-50 F2.8 if you want that range or the Sigma 17-70 2.8>4. Better yet, 17-40 f4L.

Tim

[JTL]

WITH VACATION COMIMG UP I'M LOOKING TO BY MY FIRST SLR DIGITAL CAMERA. BUT I BUY PRODUCTS WITH THE INTENTION OF KEEPING THEM FOR QUITE AWHILE. FOR INSTANCE THE LAST CAMERA I BOUGHT WAS A REBEL G WHICH I STILL USE. THEREFORE I WANT THIS PURCHASE TO LAST ME. I'M NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER BY ANY STRETCH [JUST PICTURES ON SPECIAL OCCASSIONS AND VACATION MOSTLY] BUT I DO ENJOY QUALITY. SO I'M LOOKING FOR THE BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK. PLEASE HELP DECIDE BETWEEN THE REBEL XT AND NEW 30D. I KNOW THE LATTER COST ABOUT TWICE THE PRICE BUT I'M THINKING OF TAKING SOME PRO SHOTS OF THE FAMILY:confused: IN THE FUTURE OR WILL THE XT WORK AS WELL. I DO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD LENS BUT UNLESS SOME ONE HAS BETTER SUGGESTION I'M LOOKING AT CANON'S 17 - 85MM USM BUT IT'S A LITTLE EXSPENSIVE. I ALREADY HAVE A QUANTARAY 70-300MM 1.4-5.6AF AND SIGMA ASPHERICAL COMPACT HYPERZOOM 28-200 F3.5-5.6 MACRO. HELP ME FIGURE WHAT TO BUY. THANKS IN ADVANCE.Please don't type in all caps. We don't like it and it's hard to read. If for some reason you do not/can not type in upper/lower case, then all lower case is a much better choice than all caps. Thanks.

Hey, Tim...you beat me to it!!! :p

[JTL]

Also, for a general purpose lens, another better (but expensive) choice might be the Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS...

Any minute Don will be along with a Tamron...

[ktixx]

First - spend 66% of your budget towards lens(es) and 33% on the body. As a previous poster mentioned, your body will only last for 5+ years wheras the lenses will last you 2-4x that. When you have more experiance you can look into getting a better body.
Second - realize that the camera just takes the picture - the photographer creates it. What this means is put a digital rebel ($600.00 body) in the hands of a pro vs. a 1Ds Mark II ($7,000 body) in the hands of a newbie and you can almost guarantee better results from the pro. A Rebel XT is more than capable and will take great pictures (especially with good glass). I would consider the XT and spend the rest of the money on a really nice lens (Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L)
Third - also consider a 20d, the 30d upgrade was not huge and the 20d is very close in comparison.
Ken

[DonSchap]

Because you will be getting rid of it soon enough and there is no sense spending any more than you have to.

Every camera line has, what boaters refer to as: two-foot-itis. You get a 22-foot boat... and you pine away longing for a 24-footer. You get that... it's then 26... and on and on. Same crap goes in cameras. If you are already willing to buy an XT... rather than use common sense and get a reduced-price 20D... then do it! You'll be back in a few weeks, realizing your faux pax. By then, most of the 20D bargains should have been exhausted.

Do I sound cynical... yeah, I do. Been a rough day, all around. :(

Personally, we all should be "L"-glass heroes, with 5Ds strapped on the back of them. That sure would simplify this picture, wouldn't it?

Tamron is a good company, by the way... 6-year warranties and they do live up to them. I suppose your focus for early lensing should be on them.

If you have $5,000 to dump into cameras right now... forget third party and buy: EOS 30D
EF-S 10~22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Ultra-wide Angle
EF 24~70mm f/2.8L USM Standard Zoom
EF 70~200mm f/2.8L IS USM or EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM Telephoto Zoom
EF 50mm f/1.4 USM and/or EF 85mm F/1.8 USM Decent prime for portraits
Extender EF 1.4x II Extra bang for your telephoto
580EX flash Powerful flash... for all lenses
UV and Circ. Polarizer filters for every lens. Practice "safe lensing"... use a filter

I know if I had to do it all over again, this would be my new bag... again, provided I had the extra 5-Gs!

otherwise... it's just flavor of the day. :eek: I figure that about sums up the last two months worth of exchanges.

[coldrain]

Either an XT or 30D with 18-55 kit lens and EF 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 USM II will be a better (and more inexpensive) idea.

If you want a seriously good lens in the "standard zoom" range you should wait on the EF-S 17-55 IS USM, but it will be costly (over 1100$).

[ReF]

this discussion will end up involving the lenses 17-85, 28-105 usm, 28-70 f2.8, 28-135 IS, 18-55 and involve the same people too, so read these VERY similar threads:

http://dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19055

http://dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19178

http://dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19118

http://dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18469

http://dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18617

seems we just had these discussions yesterday.

btw, one of the users here has just been complaining about the picture quality of the 24-105 L so make sure you really know the cons and pros of this lens before parting with some all those dollars