Convince me to Upgrade to a 20D (or not...)

[Ingrambw]

Hi Everyone,

I am at a crossroads decision and I could benefit from some thoughtfull insite from the group.

I currently have a Canon 10D with a Sigma 15mm Fisheye and a Sigma 28-200. This is my primary camera.

I also have a new Panasonic DMC-FZ30. If you have not already read about this camera it is a very nice fixed lens camera with a Lecia 35 to 420 lens and an 8 Mp CCD. I plan to buy a wide angle converter for this camera

I also have a Nikon Coolpix 4500 that has been converted to shoot only Black and White Infrared images.

Due to the additional baggage of the Canon 10D, lenses, accessories, etc... I bought the Panasonic and have been just taking it and the Coolpix on trips with me.

The results from the Panasonic are impressive, I plan to do some A, B testing between it and the 10D this week but figured I would ask this in advance to get peoples thoughts.

Here is the question.

Do I upgrade to a 20D, convert my 10D to Infrared, buy a sigma 18-200 lens for the 10D, sell the Nikon CP 4500, and take the 10D and FZ30 on trips?

Or

Convert the 10D to Infrared, sell the two existing sigma lenses, buy a sigma 18-200 for the 10D, sell the Nikon CP 4500, use the FZ30 as my primary camera and take both with me on trips?

If I needed to I could probably fit the 10D, FZ30, and most of the accessories into my existing "carry-on complient" Pelican case.

Thanks,

Brian

[SkipD]

I would choose another option. Keep the 10D and add a 20D to the package if you can afford to do that. The 20D is one heck of a fine camera. The reason to keep the 10D? Backup for a failed body. The lenses that you have all work on both bodies.

If IR is an important thing, keep the 4500. If you need a P&S for convenience, that's fine. It does seem that you have quite an array of unrelated equipment, and I would tend to pare that down.

Your choice(s) really come down to the way you use your equipment, though, and only you can define that.

[Raj]

If you are happy with your panasonic & skip using 10D primarily because of weight/luggage issues (I guess you like the portability of your panasonic vs 10D) then I dont think upgrading to 20D will be a good investment for you. If I am you, I would keep using your 10D for special events & use pana for others.

[Jon]

If you're using the all-in-ones rather than the 10D now, why would changing it for a 20D change anything? You don't know if you have lenses that are any good for IR (some of Canon's are prone to central hot spots - I haven't seen listings of Sigmas for IR). Sell the 10D and lenses if you haven't used them in the past 6 months or so. If you start aching for an SLR then, get a 350D, which is much smaller and you might be willing to take it with you. Maybe not what you expected to hear, but if you're not using something because it's too big, that's not going to change until you do.

[Snapman]

Having recently changed to a 20D myself, I can tell you that, although for my purposes I'm absolutely delighted with it, it isn't a lightweight.

If you don't take your 10D out with you because of its weight, I can't understand why you'd want to replace it with a 20D. Havee you tried a 350D? It has nearly all the features of a 20D but is smaller and definitely lighter.

[Ingrambw]

SkipD,

IR is important, I shoot a lot of landscapes and scenery so I definitly want to have the 10D converted to IR, the extra 2 Mp does make a difference over the CP4500. I bought the CP 4500 as an experiment to see if I liked the IR results.

Raj,

I do like the portability of the FZ30 for trips where long travel/airports are involved, but I have still been using the 10D for portraits and in town stuff mainly. So an upgrade to the 20D would still be used.

Jon,

I have heard that the 350D has a tendency to produce soft images compared to the 20D, surprising, sense I thought they had the same basic image capturing device. As for the Lenses, you are right, any lense I buy would be a trial-and-error process to find the right one for IR, but I can live with that process.

Snapman,

It is not just the weight that I don't like about the SLRs, it is all the Lenses and "other baggage" that tends to follow them. With the FZ30 it is just the camera, batts, charger, Circular polarizer, Wide angle converter, and maybe a flash. All of which can fit in a sholder bag. If I add the 10D (IR converted) that adds the 10D single lense, batts, charger, Circular polarizer, shutter remote, and maybe a flash (probably just use the same one as the FZ30). All of which could fit in a small backpag with a travel tripot tied to the side.

If I were to take just the current accessories for my 10D and two lenses on a trip I would have to have a seperate bag for any other cameras.


I guess there are some other options as well:

If the FZ30 does not perform to my expectations on portraits/lower light shots (the primary use of my 10D) I could get another 10D and have one modified for IR, buy a 18-135 or 200 lens and a 50mm 1.8, sell the CP 4500 and accessories, sell the 28-200 and 15mm Fisheye lenses, and maintian one 10D for portraits/lower light shots with the 50/1.8.

Or

I could buy an IR converted 20D from Maxmax.com (it comes with the EF-S 18-55), sell the CP4500 and accessories, sell the two sigma lenses, buy a 50mm 1.8 and use the 10D with the 50/1.8 for portraits/lower light shots. Anyone have any feedback on the quality of that EF-S 18-55?

Thanks,

Brian

[ACDCROCKS]

I would get a bigger bag :D ;)

[Ingrambw]

Well here is what I found out from the testing last night:

The Canon 10D is vastly superior to the FZ30 when it comes to noise levels, especialy in lower light shots, and that was through average Sigma glass.

The FZ30, with its 35-420mm Leica Lens, is vastly superior when it comes to Depth of Feild. On the FZ30 the f/5.6 setting is equal to the f/22 on the 10D. The FZ30 goes to f/11 which is equal to f/64! on the Canon.

I still have the option to return the FZ30 to amazon, 3 more days, but I think its convinence of size and good mix of capabilities will be good for traveling.

Now the question is simply to buy a 350D (or 20D) and have the 10D converted to IR, or buy another used 10D and convert one to IR. Either way I am selling the CP 4500 and the two sigma lenses and buying a better sigma 18-135 and a Canon 50mm f/1.8.