50D or 60D,, Tight budget ??

I went from 10D to 30D to 50D and now 7D.

Compared to 30D, a 50D will give you approx. one more usable stop high ISO. Compared to 30D, 60D would give you about approx. two stops.

Both 60D and 50D would give you arguably better AF... The 30D has AF similar to 5D/5DII (except it tracks movement better than the FF cameras). It's got one cross-type point, at the center. The rest are single axis AF points. In fact, today all the Rebel/xxxD series use the same or similar to 30D/5D/5DII... except for the T4i, which appears to inherit its AF from 60D. 40D, 50D and 60D have all 9 cross-type/dual axis points, though the center one is still further enhanced.

30D is 8MP, 12 bit. 50D is 15MP, 14 bit and 60D is 18MP, 14 bit. Both 50D and 60D use the Digic 4 processor.

The metering system in 50D is similar to the 35 zone system in 20, 30, 40D, 5D, 5DII, as well as some other models of the same generation. 60D uses the newer 63 zone metering system that's found on 7D, 5DIII, and most (maybe all) of the current Rebel/xxxD models. In use, I don't see a whole lot of difference. I think the newer metering system handles backlighting and some other tricky situations a little better.

50D and 60D both have self-cleaning sensor. I have to do manual sensor cleaning far less often now, than I did with 30D and earlier.

60D can shoot video and has that neat articulated LCD screen. 50D can't shoot video and has a fixed LCD screen. Both camera's LCD screens are considerably bigger and brighter than the 30D's.

50D has MFA or Micro Focus Adjust, to allow fine tuning up to 20 lenses' focus to match the camera better, if you wish. It is not limited to macro lenses only... it can be used with any and all lenses, AFAIK. 30D and 60D both don't have MFA. (5DII and 7D have MFA. And 5DIII has a newer, fancier version of it.)

50D has a control layout similar to 30D, 40D, 5D. 60D is sort of a hybrid, with some controls that are a little more "Rebel-like". It's not bad, just different. For example, it's got a multi-directional button instead of a joystick. On a bright note, that's place so it can be reached with one's thumb, whether using the camera in landscape or in vertical/portrait orientation, even with a vertical grip on the 60D.

Both 50D and 60D allow interchangeable focus screens of a few types. 30D's isn't interchangeable.

60D is more plastic, 50D is more metal. Despite this, 60D feels substantial in hand and seems equally durable (plastics... or polycarbonates if you prefer... aren't necessarily a bad thing).

60D has a latch on the mode dial, that I wish were on every Canon DSLR with the easily bumped and accidently moved mode dial on the lefthand shoulder of the camara. It can be retrofitted to 7D and 5DII (at additional cost0, but not to 50D or other models.

50D uses the same vertical grip, batteries and memory cards as 20/30/40D. 60D uses a different grip, LP-E6 batteries and SD memory (which might be why it has a slower top frame rate).

Really, I think either camera would be a very nice upgrade to 30D. Not that 30D is a bad camera at all. It's still quite usable. But the higher resolution and the higher bit rate allow for more cropping or enlargement... and there are a lot of other incremental improvements, as you can see.

> Compared to 30D, a 50D will give you approx. one more usable stop high ISO. Compared to 30D, 60D would give you about approx. two stops.

This is not accurate. The per-pixel noise difference in raw among Canon's semi-professional models is minimal. For perspective, here's the original D30 from 2000 at ISO 1600:

http://a.img-dpreview.com …/Compare/ISO/d3​0_1600.JPG

And here's the 60D:

http://www.dpreview.co​m …/boxshot/img_02​34.acr.jpg

Many more pixels, but very similar noise. The added ISO settings are primarily marketing. I wouldn't use any of them above ISO 1600 if I could avoid it.

those are different scenes so its hard to compare them.
however, I have seen plenty of nice photos at 1600 on 30, 40, 50 and 60d bodies.
so it is obviously doable on all of them.

not sure above that.

Ronnie H wrote in post #14652545
$700. is about my budget limit right now,,so will look into a Canon refurb,,or put a hunt on for a good low click,,60D used one...any one else got thought on this ?? Yes as new as i can aford i think is better,,,,Ron

I think you should try to hold and play with both before you decide. The ergonomics are different between the 50D and 60D. The 60D has some newer and better features. Te 50D is probably much more similar to your 30D and has a few features not in the 60D, including micro adjust, the joystick and the mag body, which may be important to you. If you don't need the video I'd suggest the 50D. But as I said you should try both. A short time with each may be all that you need to determine which one you want.

Thanks to all who have given thoughts on this subject,,Amfoto1 you gave some interesting info...i live in a back woods area,,and its 65 miles to a camera shop,,and thats a poorly stocked "best Buy" so don,t have a chance to handle many cams...but there is going to be a Summerfest the 4th and some one should have a 60D or maybe a few words of advice there..so i could maybe handle a 60D before i buy one....One more ?? does the newer Rebs ,T3i and T4i still have the shutter clunk of the XSi ?? also will the 60D and the T3i or T4i do in-camera resizeing of Jpegs ?? i shoot Jpegs 98% of the time...Ron

Ronnie H wrote in post #14659221
Thanks to all who have given thoughts on this subject,,Amfoto1 you gave some interesting info...i live in a back woods area,,and its 65 miles to a camera shop,,and thats a poorly stocked "best Buy" so don,t have a chance to handle many cams...but there is going to be a Summerfest the 4th and some one should have a 60D or maybe a few words of advice there..so i could maybe handle a 60D before i buy one....One more ?? does the newer Rebs ,T3i and T4i still have the shutter clunk of the XSi ?? also will the 60D and the T3i or T4i do in-camera resizeing of Jpegs ?? i shoot Jpegs 98% of the time...Ron

The T3i sounds like the T2i. The click is more springy sounding than the 60D. The 60D sounds fine. I don't know if my 2 rebels sound exactly like yours. I presume the T4i sounds similar. The T3i and the T4i both can resize JPGs like the 60D.

sambarino wrote in post #14652515
No. It doesn't need it.

There is a big difference if doesn't need it vs doesn't have it. You may not need it with your lenses but I think most will agree having MA is very nice feature of new bodies.

sambarino wrote in post #14652515
No. It doesn't need it.

It would be more correct to say *you* don't need it.

Most of my lenses required just +2 to -2 MFA on my 7D, and I'm sure that I wouldn't notice if MFA was turned off. But my 135L requires a significant adjustment (-7 if I recall). If I had the 60D my choices would be to pay for Canon to adjust the lens or live with slightly OOF pictures.

Depending on the lenses you have MFA may be unnecessary, or it may be an invaluable feature. But if the OP doesn't want to get involved in trying to set up MFA then the 60D is a fine choice.