| Lance Crowley |
In the market for a digital camera and have got it down to two; the Canon 300D Digital Rebel @ $999.00 or the Olympus C-5050 @ $699.
The 5050 is 5 meg and is somewhat discounted (as low as $500). The Canon is 6.3 meg and is very hard to find much below list.
To me this discision is very similar to my choice between the MDX and the LX470. Is the 300D really worth $300+ more than the 5050? Obviously the 300D takes better pix's, but, do I really need that much better shots?
I'm a purely amateur who whats to take home type shots.
I'd really like to hear from folks that own either camera; the quality of the pix's, problems they've had with the camera, blowup size, etc. |
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| manus1980 |
| Check out the new line of Ricoh cameras. They have the world's fastest image capture speed and the world's lowest battery drain. I read something insane on how you can take thousands of pics without the flash before needing to recharge. I'm not sure if they are available in the US but you can buy them on the internet. |
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| wmquan |
A digital SLR is going to have inherent advantages over a non-SLR. Besides the ability to interchange lenses, they have a larger light box inide, larger CCD, and thus better light sensitivity and much less noise. See www.dpreview.com's comparison of the Canon G5 (an excellent camera, but not a digital SLR) and the EOS 300D in their Digital Rebel review. Additionally, most digital SLR's will have faster startup times, more capable modes (though some of these will appeal more to to sophisticated shooter).
If you're just a home snapshot user, the EOS 300D may well be overkill. However, I'm pretty sure you'll notice the difference.
A friend of mine showed me some of the pics he took with his 300D. Even sampled down to lower resolution, they were terrific in how they handled low-light situations. Very little or no noise -- basically, they looked more like film than other digital photos I've seen. |
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| A2MDXer |
| William makes a good point and I would add that you really need to decide whether you want a digital SLR system (can change lenses) with superior image quality and more flexibility or a more compact camera. It really depends on your future plans and what type of shots you will be taking most of the time. My camera (G3) is one the go much of the time so I don't really want a digital SLR right now. Plus I am still learning how to take good photos. |
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| JimH |
I am not sure the canon has a better "picture quality" than the 5050 on the basis of a number of reviews I have read. I have a 5050 and believe it to be a great camera. I think the only negative for the 5050 is that the optical zoom is only 3X. A 5X would definitely have been a nice feature to have (optical).
Read the following review of the 5050 for more insight on the capabilities of the Olympus 5050.
http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/c5050/index.html |
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| A2MDXer |
JimH,
I think the "better picture quality" comment is basically a result of a DSLRs inherent advantage or a larger sensor (the chip that captures the image). DSLRs will give better pictures under certain conditions and not so much in others. In low light or "action" situations for example, you can avoid using a flash or a slower shutter speed by bumping the ISO on the 300D (Digital Rebel) to ISO 800 and still avoid "most" of the noise in the photo. This provides greater flexibility and hence image quality under these conditions (I am definitely not an expert on this, but I am learning as I go). Under ideal conditions, you are right that the 5050 will probably provide just as good of images (and maybe better before any tweaking) as the 300D. It really comes down to how advanced the user is, under what conditions the camera will be used and whether the added $$ are justified to achieve this. |
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| JimH |
A2MDXer:
Good points and comments, and concur that the real difference is based on how one will use the camera ultimately. The 300D obviously has been given great reviews, etc. Its advantages are different than those of the 5050, with the major one in my opinion of being able to employ the Canon SLR lenses. Here is a very brief review of the 300D with some owners comments after they purchased it:
http://www.photo.net/equipment/cano...00d_review.html
Also in the www.photo.net site, they have a writeup on the choice of best digital camera of the year, where they chose the 300D. |
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| Lance Crowley |
Thanks for the comments, very much appreciated.
I've been checking prices; the lowest price I can find for the Canon is $992 with the EF-S 18 - 55 lens.
I've found the Olympus for as low as $485. Now some of the folks that are down this low want to "bundle" the deal with a bunch of other stuff. You may have to twist a few arms to get this price, that said, you can sure be in the $500 range.
Thus, we're looking at about $400 difference. Oh, forgot the Canon doesn't have a memory card, so, your talking aboat another $100, or so. so that you can even take a pix. The Olympus includes a 32k card, so while it's not great you can at least start taking pix's right out of the box.
So, the bottom line is a difference of $450 to $500.
No question that the 300D takes somewhat better pix's and the option of using any Canon, or other supplier, lens is certainly attractive.
Anyone had experience with "on-line" camera shops? I'm a little unsure about ordering this type of equipment "on-line". |
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| JimH |
I have bought numerous computer, camera, printer, etc. items from www.amazon.com, www.buy.com, and my favorite www.newegg.com. They have all been great as far as fast shipping, etc. I consider newegg.com to be a great online dealer as far as shipping fast and great customer service in every respect. I would purchase from any of these. I think you may wish to check out newegg for their current sale of the Olympus C-5060,
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-111-124&depa=0
,which is now listed at $ 538 w/ a 128mb card. They ship within 2 days using Fed-Ex. The 5060 is similar to the 5050 but has a 4X optical. See wrotniak's web site that I wrote about earlier which describes the C-5060 (and comparison to the C-5050). For the price, I believe the 5050 or 5060 is a very nice 5 megapixel camera. |
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| A2MDXer |
quote:
Originally posted by Lance Crowley
Thanks for the comments, very much appreciated.
Anyone had experience with "on-line" camera shops? I'm a little unsure about ordering this type of equipment "on-line".
Another good one is onecall.com They will match any price from a authorized reseller (although they will not match the really great deals) but the service is top notch, delivery is fast and very reputable. I have ordered 3 things in the past year or so. I think newegg and buy.com are also good although no personal experience there. |
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| mgmdx |
quote:
Originally posted by Lance Crowley
... Anyone had experience with "on-line" camera shops? I'm a little unsure about ordering this type of equipment "on-line".
I have used CameraWorld in the past couple years to order electronics and various accessories including Sony MiniDV camcorder, Olympus camera, Sennheizer headphones, and lot of other accessories such as filters, tapes, batteries, cases, etc. The shipping is always fast and reliable and customer service is top notch.
In general, I would stay away from the web sites that advertise super low prices and try to force you to buy overpriced accessories when you confirm the order. If you refuse, they delay your shipment for months. It seems that most of these are located in New York.
In any case, before you buy from a website unknown to you, you may want to check the customer feedback/service rating on ResellerRatings.com website.
Good luck. |
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| MDteX |
quote:
Originally posted by A2MDXer
Another good one is onecall.com They will match any price from a authorized reseller (although they will not match the really great deals) but the service is top notch, delivery is fast and very reputable. I have ordered 3 things in the past year or so. I think newegg and buy.com are also good although no personal experience there.
I too have used onecall.com for over 5 years. They are fantastic. Good prices, excellent service and fast. They are on the west coast so I can order late in the day and it usually ships the same day.
I have spent several thousand dollars with them. I like them and trust them. :D |
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| Lance Crowley |
| Got to be careful with the prices on the Canon, most everyplace quotes the price for the camera body only, they show it with the standard EF-S 18 to 55 lens and then buried in the text you'll find a statement that says "body only". The lens is a $100 so the "real" price is $999, or so. And that's without any memory. |
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| Lance Crowley |
Just added to my choices! Made up my mind I was going to find a good price on a 5050 and get it over with. RIGHT! While hunting around I found a great price on a Nikon 5700. This was a ~$1200 camera and found on for $742. 8X zoom, 5 megs, etc. Read through the reviews and they seem to like the camera.
Anyone out there have a 5700? |
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| Lance Crowley |
Well, after a couple of days of research and input from this forum I went ahead and purchased a Olympus C-5050.
I determined that while the Canon 300D was a slightly better camera with the added ability to accept any Canon lens, these two points were not enough to justify spending $500 more, for my use.
To me it's like the comparison between a Lexus LX470 and the MDX. No question that the 470 is a better truck, and the dealer network is better, however, the X is an very nice, and the 470 wasn't worth an additonal $30k.
The other interesting thing on the C-5050 vrs the "new" C-5060 is that when you get down to the final analysis my most of the reviewers they actually liked the C-5050 better due to it's brighter lens. A full F-stop makes a big difference. Some dealers were actually asking more for the C-5050 then the 5060. The other point is that the Canon is a plastic case the Olympus is magnesium.
Purchased it at mpsuperstore.com for $465 + $44.55 shipping. Found a couple of prices slightly lower, but, they wouldn't ship to an address other than the one on the credit card. Only a couple of bucks difference. |
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| JimH |
| I believe you will be very happy w/ the 5050 as it provides great quality pictures. I purchased the Olympus FL-20 external flash for mine which helps prevent red-eye for the close-up indoor pictures (a great flash which I purchased from newegg), and have added the tiffen lens adapter (per wrotniak's advice) and UV-protection filter for outdoor use. You got a great price as I paid $ 590 in May, 2003 for mine (which was a good price back then). |
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| Lance Crowley |
JinH
Thanks for the thoughts. I couldn't make up my mind what I want for acessories, so, I got the camera, period. Once I've had a chance to take some pix's and get a feel for what I want for my needs I'll order them.
I think I'll end up with a 512k memory card, some type of small case, the 1.7 tele setup, the extension tube and a couple of filters, and a USB card reader.
Thanks |
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