50D over 40D with the recent price drop?

I've been beating this matter to death for months and I need to move on getting my first DSLR -- long-time Canon film shooter. I shoot largely for magazine and newspaper outlets, part-time. I know my clients' needs and can go either 40D or 50D, and have been leaning toward the 40D. But now that the price separation is less than $100, does the lack of an effective price differential change what appeared to be a consensus that the 50D wasn't worth the extra coin? For a variety of reasons my price ceiling was set at $1000 or less, body-only, so I don't consider the 7D an option even if it proves itself up.

I've read that the 40D handles noise better at higher iso but I would rather have the 50D's microadjust option.

I own both and I'd say the high ISO performance is about the same if you look at physically same size images (e.g. same size print or resizing one to match the other.) I've taken many test shots in a controlled environment with both of my cameras and only if you look at RAW files at 100% pixel level without any NR is the 40D a bit ahead. But the 50D is 15mp so it captures more detail and once you resize the 50D down to 10mp the noise output is pretty much the same as the 40D or a tiny bit better on the 50D.
If you look at jpegs in case that's what you use, jpegs are actually much better on the 50D due to a new, better NR.
In bad weather conditions I regularly shoot ISO 1600 with my 50D with no problem.

The microadjust is a great feature and an important one to me. Also, the LCD on the 50D is miles better than the 40D LCD and on the 50D you can actually zoom in to the max on the LCD when checking images in play mode without getting the blurryness phenomenon of the 40D LCD (in the last couple steps of zoom). HDMI output (which I've never used), and also I can crop more when shooting birds with my 50D than my 40D. The Auto ISO feature is much better too on the 50D.


I love both of my cameras but the 50D is better overall.

If you're looking at a price difference of $100 I'd definitely recommend the 50D over the 40D.

Get the 50D. You feel better about it later.

Both GREAT cameras.
Now is the perfect time to buy a 50D.
The price has come down and you do get some great features.
As stated before, a bit more detail, better LCD but most important is the
AF microadjust.

I had to microadjust almost all my 8 lenses some as much as -10.
So "soft copies" just went to being "sharp copies" and lenses
I can shoot wide open. Is that worth 200.00 to you? It is to me.

Tim

While I do enjoy my 40D, and I feel that when I bought it I did get a great deal, I never really bought into the whole "The 40D is better than the 50D, or vise-versa" They're both great cameras, the 50D is slightly newer tech so it does have a couple edges. I REALLY wish my 40D had micro-adjust.

I get to shoot with the 40D and 50D side by side (a friend has the 50D) and I like them both for different reasons.

That being said, I don't see a reason to get the 50D over my 40D, the 7D yes, but not the 50D.

If the price difference is miniscule I would go with the 50D for sure.

I'd get the 50d, myself.

This thread was helpful. I have a 20D and will upgrade to a 50D next year after reading your posts.

I find the 40D to be the better bang for the buck...50D is like a 40D with more mp's crammed onto the sensor to me.

The 50D has a nicer LCD screen and MA to tweek "marginally off" lenses.

Both bodies are nice. You will enjoy either.

I opted for the 50D when there was a large price difference. I would do it again. It is a better camera, a clear step forward. Now that the difference is so small, it's a no brainer!

I just got my 50d earlier this week and i love it! (coming from a film shooter) I just need to get cs4 running again on my computer, its freaking out with a "0x00000004 can not read memory error" I love windows...

I had the 40d and now have the 50d .. I know 50d's image quality is better deep down, I also like the much higher resolution rear lcd !! so bright and clear ~

I use both cameras and find the metering is better on 40D. 50D has a chronic overexposure problem. 50D has advantages, better display, more megapixels, higher max ISO, etc. In spite of all this, I prefer the 40D. I spend less time trying to outguess what the meter on the 50D is going to do, very frustrating. It overexposes badly outdoors in sunlight. Others have complained of erratic metering on 50D, search the forum. 40D meter is much more precise which will give you better photos and less wasted time trying to correct images in Photoshop. Once again, megapixels are not everything. Noise is not that much different on either camera in my opinion.

darwindan wrote in post #8922119
I use both cameras and find the metering is better on 40D. 50D has a chronic overexposure problem. 50D has advantages, better display, more megapixels, higher max ISO, etc. In spite of all this, I prefer the 40D. I spend less time trying to outguess what the meter on the 50D is going to do, very frustrating. It overexposes badly outdoors in sunlight. Others have complained of erratic metering on 50D, search the forum. 40D meter is much more precise which will give you better photos and less wasted time trying to correct images in Photoshop. Once again, megapixels are not everything. Noise is not that much different on either camera in my opinion.

I agree. And that last sentence...1D classic's still rule and at only 4mp to boot!