Sharing lenses between bodies

[Guineh]

Hi all,

After our vacation my wife wants a DSLR like mine. She has a film SLR now (Minolta) and was becoming frustrated that she didn't have the digital advantage.

The question is, since I already have a good set of lenses for the Canon system would it be wise to get her another Canon body, and share the lenses between the two?

Or, should I opt for the Sony and let her stick with her Minolta lenses?

Bodies in consideration are the XTi and 30D. I'd almost go for the 30D and "borrow" it when I wanted the features of the better camera. (But, that would be selfish, wouldn't it?) It would be that she has the better camera as her primary, while I stick with my XT. Maybe I'll get her an XT just to keep the field even. It looks like they're still available and are rather inexpensive, now that the XTi is out.

Hmm... Any idea how long the XT will remain on the market?

[peterdoomen]

Sharing lenses is a very wise idea. Besides that, it's also an advantage you have a backup camera if needed. Why would it be a problem that you have a 30D and she has an XT? The XT is a very fine camera. If you can swap lenses, you can also swap cameras, not?

The XT has been replaced with the XTi, as you indicated, but I guess the consumer line will stay. And you can pick up the XT for real nice prices nowadays. Don't wait too long though: it's only shops selling their stock.

P.

[Salleke]

Like Peter says. It's wise to keep only one system so you have allways a
backup and you can switch between the two camera's.

Good luck.

[Juan Zas]

I think like the others, but I don´t know if your wife has many lenses, and you are thinking about to keep the investment or not. That´s something to think about, but if only has a pair of lenses and they are not so expensive, probably I shall try to sell her equipement to get some cash and make the jump to have all Canon and share all.

[PEACHMAN]

sharing lenses shouldn't be a problem if you travel and shoot together (although I'm sure there would be the occasional conflict such as spotting a thought to be extinct dodo bird at 50 yards away and you both want the 70-200 at the same time...my suggestion however, would be to give her the rebel and buy yourself a new 20D or 30D (great savings on the 20D and I don't see a huge advantage of the 30D over the 20...(for the difference in price)

[Asmodeus]

When I bought my 5D I was swicthing between that and my XT. I ended up really liking having two bodies available, but the different control layouts on the bodies became a major annoyance, so I sold the XT and got a 20D. Perhaps you might just wnat to get your wife another XT; it would certainly be the least expensive course.

[buffalophotographer]

go for the XTi.

[Southswede]

I'd buy her the 30D. Praise the camera and make her feel great for having the "better" camera.
That puts you in line for the next big release.

[kevin_c]

Give her yours & the kit lens and buy yourself a nice new 30D! :-)

[jr_senator]

My wife has her own camera (also a Canon) and lenses. I don't know just how "into it" your wife is, but, if she has a decent collection of lenses that will work on the Sony and considering that the Sony comes with what looks to be a decent 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 lens; I would certainly consider getting her the Sony. My wife and I like having our own systems, that way we can shoot and not interupt or disturb the other while shooting.

[bsmotril]

Upgrade your camera, and give your wife the one you have now. Win win for everyone ;-)

[JulianL]

Upgrade your camera, and give your wife the one you have now. Win win for everyone ;-)

That's what I would do.

In fact, I just did that. I bought a 30D so my wife can keep my 300D (she's always borrowing) and use that for her real estate business. Trouble is, she really needs my 17-40mm lens to shoot home interiors as it's the only lens wide enough on a crop body to get decent shots.

Oh well, I have my 50mm lens I can use as a walk around lens and I still have a Bigma that takes great photos...it's just...well...big and I have some other gripes about that lens but I can deal with it until I decide to upgrade.

[sunbeast]

Give her yours & the kit lens and buy yourself a nice new 30D! :-)

Works every time for me....;)

[Choderboy]

One system. TOO MANY advantages to ignore.
Unless you go 1 series , batteries are interchangeable (and charger)
Allows you to cross check equipment - supect fault with a lens - 2 bodies to compare it on. Same with flash , work on both , test on both.
In fact majority of accessories will fit both bodies.
Combined knowledge - you are both using the same system - no need to be bi lingual.

One system - simple , reliable , practicle, economical.

[gsmx2]

Do you have an adult daughter or son?

Here is how my DigReb upgrade went.

I had it for three years and got the urge to upgrade to the 30D when it came out. Adult daughter was taking lots of grand kid pictures with her P&S, so a major selling point in me upgrading was that I would give the DigReb to daughter. Loved the upgrade. Wife was getting sick of her P&S and wanted to upgrade to DLSR. Got her the XTi. She took my kit lens, I got a 17-85 lens. Daughter loves the DigReb and has added sports photos to the repetoire of GK picts. Wife loves lightness of XTi and kit lens. And I love the 30D. Win-win-win

In my opinion, your final decision depends on how extensive her Minolta glass is and who is more passionate about photography. It should not be assumed that is you. Good luck with the decision.

[PostShawn]

Bring up the idea about giving her yours if you upgrade. See what she says.

I am fairly new here but I have been told and seen it mentioned over and over that it is the photographer and then the lenses that make good photos. So if she isn't to invested in the Minolta/Sony equipment then sell it off and put the money towards the Canon. Or keep it to have a nonDigi camera around too. Anyone one of the XT.XTi. or 30D would probably make her (or you) happy.

Another advantage to having the same brand (and even more so the same body) is that different brands probably take different photos (more sharp in this brand, better color in that brand, etc.) and if you have the same then you could both learn the same post processing.

[ScottE]

If she has good Minolta lenses she should get the new Sony body. It will use her lenses and she can use the equipment she is familiar with.

Sharing lenses sounds like a good idea, but you will find when shooting together you will both want to use similar lenses. Do you have two Canon telephoto lenses and two super wide angle lenses?

I would only recommend that she get a Canon camera if she intends to sell all her Minolta equipment and buy a complete set of Canon lenses. Waiting to use the lens you are using is not going to be fun for her.

[Permagrin]

Do you have an adult daughter or son?

That's what we do...old cameras go to the kids, when we upgrade.

If she has good Minolta lenses she should get the new Sony body. It will use her lenses and she can use the equipment she is familiar with.

Sharing lenses sounds like a good idea, but you will find when shooting together you will both want to use similar lenses. Do you have two Canon telephoto lenses and two super wide angle lenses?

I would only recommend that she get a Canon camera if she intends to sell all her Minolta equipment and buy a complete set of Canon lenses. Waiting to use the lens you are using is not going to be fun for her.

ScottE makes some very good points. Both my husband and I have our own kits. Some of our lenses have duplicate ranges (but we dont' have duplicate lenses)...so some we do share but like Scott mentions, often there are times when we need the same range. We're the type too, that has no probs. sharing our lenses (but sometimes a shot just can't wait for the other one to finish using it on their camera). At first we thought we'd need one of everything...it didn't take us long to find that didn't work at all....

[Broncosaurus]

Repeating the gist of a few other posts, how extensive, and how modern is her current minolta collection? If she's well equiped I'd get her the Alpha.
I'm not always prudent when dealing with well equiped women tho:o

[cdifoto]

I'd buy her the 30D. Praise the camera and make her feel great for having the "better" camera.
That puts you in line for the next big release.

In more ways than one! :) :lol:

[YKZ]

it it possible to use minolta (film) lenses with the canon 400d?

[Broncosaurus]

it it possible to use minolta (film) lenses with the canon 400d?

No, http://http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Gejj

[Guineh]

Her minolta collection is rather small, 2 lenses, both low-end sigma and thats about it. So I think its safe to say moving to the Canon system may be a better plan. I still have the 18-55 kit lens, and tend to use the Tamron 17-50 the most. So, the range overlap may not be an issue.

I don't know how she would take the "Upgrade my camera" and take my RebelXT would fly. I'm guessing not well. I'm thinking of getting her either the black XT or XTi. (so even if we trade cameras, we know which belongs to who..

I'd like to get the XT if its still in stock. If not the XTi would do, but cost me more.

[blam]

I wish my gf would get into shooting so we could have a wide range of lenses.... haha...sharing lenses would be a very good idea.

[Hellashot]

Hi all,

Bodies in consideration are the XTi and 30D. I'd almost go for the 30D and "borrow" it when I wanted the features of the better camera. (But, that would be selfish, wouldn't it?)

There are very few features on the 30D not on the XT or XTi. All that the XT/XTi is missing is spot metering. All other functionality can be done with the XT and XTi.

[basroil]

There are very few features on the 30D not on the XT or XTi. All that the XT/XTi is missing is spot metering. All other functionality can be done with the XT and XTi.

xti also misses on the servo, 5fps shooting, iso100-3200 in third steps, pentaprism viewfinder, and an lcd screen that's useful. when they said xti had the 30d's af, they meant the sensor only. the software behind the sensor, and the power to drive the lenses just isn't there though (i've tried it, xti focus slower than a 20d, though the accuracy with a 50mm 1.8 wide open is much higher than xt. )

from what it sounds like, go canon, since the alpha/better cameras won't like the low end sigma's as much as the film camera did.

[jr_senator]

There are very few features on the 30D not on the XT or XTi.

Including the 30D's larger, brighter, more informative viewfinder.

[blam]

don't foget the magnesium body...