I s the Canon EOS 350D still a good little buy

_Dragon_

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Im thinking about a Canon EOS 350D as its a old camera im going to have to think about this carefully,But whats your views on this secondhand £160 camera.
 
Thats good to hear,Its not just the camera it comes with a bag batterys/remote.

The thing i want it for is pictures of my kids birthday and xmas,Ive got a canon G9 is it going to be better than that?

I want to get some good pictures 10x7 of us at xmas.

I think the chap said the picture count that displays on the cmaera is 9116.
 
Am i correct that the 350 doesn't have any kind of Image Stabilizer?
 
Thanks,Well that looks like its a no go shame as i was all geared up for that,I think i would rather find one that has the lens with IS.
 
Thanks,Well that looks like its a no go shame as i was all geared up for that,I think i would rather find one that has the lens with IS.

why?

IS is only useful for stabilising your movement and on a short lens it has very limited effect, if your taking a photo of a child that wont keep still it isnt going to help you.
 
I didn't know that is how it works,But i would be taking shots of my child still aswell.

Not sure what to do now lol,Ive read that some people say the view finder is a tad small.
 
in its class they are all small

the 350D VF is not especially small as it comes in a fraction smaller than the D5000 and a fraction larger than the A390 which are both much newer and more expensive cameras.

the IS on such a short lens while sometimes useful is borderline gimmick IMO, the chances are if its too dark to shoot without IS its too dark to shoot with it.
 
So really at the price the guy is selling it at then its a must buy,I was just put of in case im taking a picture and i get a little wobble when taking pictures at xmas.
 
So really at the price the guy is selling it at then its a must buy,I was just put of in case im taking a picture and i get a little wobble when taking pictures at xmas.

The onboard flash will soon sort that out - if it's a problem ;)

Jim
 
Just one more little thing with the lens can you get quite a good blured background? (Bokeh)
 
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Just one more little thing with the lens can you get quite a good blured background? (Bokeh)

...what's the lens you're getting with it ?

TBH - better bokeh will be from lenses with wide aperture - e.g. F1.8 - and most kit zooms are around the F3.5 max aperture - but a 50mm F1.8 should be reasonably cheap...

JIm
 
Just one more little thing with the lens can you get quite a good blured background? (Bokeh)

With some trial and error but you wil struggle
It is however not quite as " wide open" in maximum aperture and long in focal length
If you get a 50mm 1.8 for £60 odd you will get plenty of that
 
Cheers well i have to say ill bite the bullet and go from my canon G9 to the canon 350D.

Its will just be the 18-55 lens that comes with the camera.
 
For examples of 350D image quality see my blog, anything from a year or so older is from the 350d.

Is is not a must have at all but if you need it you can pick up an 18-55 IS kit lens for nto much money.

The 'nifty fifty' is an orsoem potrait lens.
 
Thats some great shots you have had with the 350.

Thanks
 
We've had a 300D for about 8 years - with the kit lens and we also got a Canon 50mm F/1.8 for about £80. It takes very nice photos indeed - lots of Bokeh with the 50mm but I think you would struggle to get it with the kit lens which has a variable aperture and is quite narrow at the zoom end.

We are upgrading to a 550D to get a refresh on things like lcd size, higher resolution, video mode etc but we have some great photos from our time with the camera.
 
Thats some great shots you have had with the 350.

Thanks

Similar to Rob, I took pretty much all of the photos on my website using a 350D. And all of the photos in the Other Photography section were taken with my 350D. It is a very capable camera and is a great 1st DSLR. In June this year I upgraded to a 40D which is admittedly a big step up in performance but the IQ of the photos isn't that much better than the 350D at low ISO. At high ISO, there is a huge improvement but for every day, good light stuff, there isn't much in it (although the 40D has an extra 2MP).

Yes, the 350D is dated. Yes, the LCD screen is small. Yes, the viewfinder is a little small. Yes, it is only 8MP (but that is plenty big enough for A1 printouts). But it is still able to take great photos, especially if you team it with a good lens (and you know what you are doing).

Hope that helps.
 
We've had a 300D for about 8 years - with the kit lens and we also got a Canon 50mm F/1.8 for about £80. It takes very nice photos indeed - lots of Bokeh with the 50mm but I think you would struggle to get it with the kit lens which has a variable aperture and is quite narrow at the zoom end.

We are upgrading to a 550D to get a refresh on things like lcd size, higher resolution, video mode etc but we have some great photos from our time with the camera.

Thanks looks like its the one to have.

Similar to Rob, I took pretty much all of the photos on my website using a 350D. And all of the photos in the Other Photography section were taken with my 350D. It is a very capable camera and is a great 1st DSLR. In June this year I upgraded to a 40D which is admittedly a big step up in performance but the IQ of the photos isn't that much better than the 350D at low ISO. At high ISO, there is a huge improvement but for every day, good light stuff, there isn't much in it (although the 40D has an extra 2MP).

Yes, the 350D is dated. Yes, the LCD screen is small. Yes, the viewfinder is a little small. Yes, it is only 8MP (but that is plenty big enough for A1 printouts). But it is still able to take great photos, especially if you team it with a good lens (and you know what you are doing).

Hope that helps.

Thanks again great photos,Im still learning but im sure once i get to know everything then my pictures will also be great.
 
So ive took the plunge and just bought the 350D,What lens should i get for nice Bokeh portrait pictures? Im thinking maybe the money i will get from my canon G9 should be enough to get a used lens?
 
We use the Canon 50mm F/1.8 as mentioned - there is a F/1.4 too now (£60-£80-ish) - both give good easy Bokeh but you can get others with more blades to give less geometric shapes in the blur. That is a very nice lens though - it's a prime of course, so it's less flexible than a zoom, but we have taken some nice portraits with it - also good in low-light with the wide aperture :)
 

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