luvdsny wrote in post #15942453
Ok, so you have seen that title a million times.

I have been lurking on these boards for months trying to make a wise decision. Let me tell you my mindset, new is better. However after reading many posts I am learning that may not be true. I've been seeing a lot of postings on refurbs. thru Cannon. Has anyone bought from Canon? Did you have a good experience? The boards also suggest good pricing from B&H and Adorama. Could you tell me your experiences on any of these. I called Canon about the loyalty program, seems with the return of my old camera (Canon SD1000) it won't drop a refurb price at all.
Someone on the boards posted a pretty comical review on the new t5i and now I can't find it. So here is my thinking I am leaning toward a t3i with a 18-135mm lens. Just having a hard time with the "new is better" mind frame. I like the price point of the t3i and the reviews from owners are excellent. Any feedback would be great.
I currently have a point and shoot Canon SX150 and wanting to upgrade.
Thanks in advance for great feedback.
If you're really okay with not buying new, then your options expand a lot.
If you're on an aggressive budget (and it sounds like you are), then the more bang for the buck from the camera body, the better.
In this case, you should strongly consider going with a 40D. The camera body will run you about $300 to $350. That'll free up some serious money for lenses, which is what makes the real difference in terms of image quality (until you start talking about really high ISOs, i.e. ISO 6400 and up).
And even at high ISOs, the 40D holds its own very well. Here's an ISO 5000 shot (ISO 3200, pushed 2/3 of a stop):
IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/photos/n2185x/8685533440/
img_9017-1.jpg
by
n2185x
, on Flickr
The 40D is very fast (6.5 frames/second burst rate), built really well, has excellent image quality, excellent autofocus (same autofocus system as in the 60D and T5i), handles
very well, and is dirt cheap these days.
If you're seriously considering going with used equipment, the 40D is, I think, the way to go at this point in time. It's
really hard to get more camera for your money than with that. And it's not a complicated camera by any means (no more so than any other DSLR, at any rate), so it won't be harder for you to learn how to use it well than any other DSLR body.