Going to buy a Canon 600d, any reason to hold off?

spiderjazz

I'm looking at getting into photography, and the Canon 600d seems to be the front runner for me at the moment. Amazon currently have it for 520 GBP, with a 18-55mm kit lense. I'm wondering though is there anything likely to come out in the next month or two from Canon in the same price range that would be worth waiting for? I realise that photography seems to be like mobiles phones/computers and technology is moving at such a pace that you're going to have new models out fairly frequently, but if there's another model coming out soon, I wouldn't mind waiting.

pearljamfan

theres a 650d out as well.

Splinters

The 650D is quite an improvement over the 600D too. It has a few gimmicky additions like a touch screen but it also has the Digic 5 processor which is a huge improvement over the 600D's Digic 4. It also has the potential to be ever further improved with future firmware releases.

The only drawback is its quite new so you'll pay a bit of a premium for having the latest model. Still well worth looking into.

spiderjazz

Thanks for the replies.

The 650d looks great alright, but it's another 200 euro, and I couldn't really justify spending that much extra, considering that I'm going into it as a beginner. From reviews it seems that the advantages of the 650d are the touchscreen and autofocus while filming, and neither of them seem too important for what I need at the moment.

Splinters

Far far from it. The advantage of the 650D is that it uses the brand new Digic 5 processor and not the same Digic 4 that was used in the 600D, 550D and 500D. Its probably the most important component in your entire camera so its really not to be overlooked. Its has far superior low light performance with considerably less noise. Ive read that the 650D is only utilizing a fraction of what that processor is capable of too so its entirely possible with either firmware releases or Magic Lantern f/w it will get even better again.

amdgilmore

There's very little difference in noise levels between the 600D and 650D at the same ISO levels. The 650 stretches to higher ISO, but any image taken at 25600 ISO on an entry-level DSLR - let's be honest - is not going to be pretty.

Check out DP review's article on the 650D:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-eos-650d-rebel-t4i

Thorough review with plenty of comparisons between the 650 and the 600 (and the rest of the competition).

From the perspective of a 600D owner, I don't think this is worth upgrading to. But for a first time buyer... it's up to you, really. I don't think you'll be disappointed either way. You just need to ask yourself whether the improvements are worth the extra money.

Don't forget, the lenses are just as important as the camera (arguably more important). I don't know what your budget is like, but whichever one you buy you're going to need a decent lens to go with it, so factor in that cost too.

Splinters

Unless you're talking full frame even 3200 and 6400 are going to pretty nasty unless its for small web use. The 650D has the edge here by quite a bit, even from that review. The 3200 ISO samples from the 650D are very close to the 1600 samples from the 600D. 1 stop difference is quite a difference in that range, which is quite easy to find yourself in.

When I was using a 550D I remember many a time having to go to 3200 or even 6400 (shudder) to get a shot where flash was either not available or appropriate and almost every time they were near unusable. At that time I would have happily paid the price difference with the 650D to have that extra stop available to me at usable quality.

In all honesty Im probably projecting my own situation here a bit much. As mentioned, both are fine cameras. I just think the 650D has an edge in an area that you may or may not need I suppose it may or may not be worth the extra. If you think you're likely to be shooting in low light situations, concerts etc then that difference could be the difference between a decent shot or not. If low light isnt something you're worried about then you wont likely notice much difference between the two.

amdgilmore

I'm not seeing the difference in noise levels you're talking about on that page.

They even say at the bottom of the comparison page:

Looking at the graph it's interesting to note that the 650D also shows higher noise levels than its predecessor, the EOS 600D, throughout nearly the entire range of ISO values. Yet based on the samples here, the 650D maintains a near identical level of image detail while also offering a top ISO of 25,600 (versus 12,800 in the 600D).

Seems like the only advantage is slightly improved noise at 12.8k and he option to go to 25.6k... both of which are unusable anyway.


But that's bad news either way for the OP really, because I dread seeing '3200' iso on my 600D. Nine times out of ten it means the shot is only fixable with NR in Lightroom or Photoshop - which causes its own set of problems.

I think the bottom line though is that if high-iso noise is a problem for him, he should look at something other than a x00D camera!

spiderjazz

Thanks for the replies.

I appreciate the fact that the 650d is more future-proof, but I don't think I can currently justify the extra expense of the 650d at the moment, though I will try and get in town and try them both out before purchasing anything.

With regard to lenses, I'm initially just going to get the stock lens, and plan to purchase a 50mm prime lens shortly afterwards.

spiderjazz

Just a quick follow up on this, I ended up going for the 650d. Very happy with it so far, I've ordered a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens for it, so looking forward to getting some shots with that as well.

jonneymendoza

Yea the nifty fifty is a great lens but imo i did not find it very usable for my needs on a crop.

it was either too long for general shots or too short for tele shots.

its basically a 85mmish lens when attached to a crop body