Looking to replace my camera

I am new to the forum and would like some help in maybe choosing a new camera. Right now I have a PowerShot S5IS camera. It is a 8.0 Mega Pixel with a 12X optical zoom.
The field of view was quite narrow so I purchased a NUKURA HGH DEFINITION 0.5X DIGITAL WIDE ANGLE LENS W/MACRO.
It has manual focus with the ability to manually set shutter speeds and aperture settings.
I purchased and external flash Canon Speedlite 270EX to eliminate shadows from the lens adapter. It takes nice photos and records stereo video's.
I was looking to jump to an SLR camera
The EOS Rebel T3i 18-55mm IS II Kit.
I would be jumping from a 8 mega pixel to a 18 mega pixel camera I the EOS Rebel T3i kits are not that expensive and have good reviews.
All of the lens accessories that I have would work with the new camera. IThe wide angle lens is 55MM and all of the filters I have are 55mm. I am pretty sure the Speedlite flash I have would also work on the Rebel.
Would I see a big difference between the two cameras? I know that the mega pixels has jumped a lot. I do not do that much printing of my photos. I do a lot of sharing on the internet through Emails and posting using Photobucket in the different hobby forums I am in.
I do like to take Macro photo's of my watches and guns and this is where I share them on different forums.
I am not concerned with the cost of the REBEL T3i. I am looking to jump into a SLR verses the Powershot camera.
I am planning a long vacation at the end of the summer. I have been disabled for the past 14 years with a chronic back problem. I had my 7th surgery and I have regained my life back. I used to travel all over the word in the work I did before I was laid up with my back. Having all of the photo's of my travels helped me through a rough 14 years. I live in western NY and am going to fly to Las Vegas and from there I will be going to the Grand Canyon and going to keep traveling north and taking my time in all of the National parks along the way to Montana. Then I will cross over to Seattle and work my way down the Pacific Coast Highway to San Fransisco to L.A. and back over the Rockies to Denver, Colorado. I am planning to take my time and do the trip in 40 days. I want a good camera to record my travels just like I did before when I traveled with my job to Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Bali, Singapore and then I lived in mainland China for 4 years as an Expat. I photographed all of my travels and have quite a collection of great pictures and great memories.
I want to do the same with this trip and want a good camera to document it. I would welcome any input that would help me in my decision. Thank you in advance for your time and help.
Ex

Although the Rebel T3i 18-55mm IS II Kit is a good start, it is a fairly old camera so make sure you are getting a good price. Most stores would be willing to unload that camera just so it doesn't become a dust collector on a shelf. You should go to a store and try out a 60D as a possible alternative. It has much more "heft" in the hands than the Rebel. Many people, and I'm one of them, find the "heft" a benefit in holding the camera.

I note that you live in the States so you should make yourself aware of the Canon Loyalty Program ("CLP") for refurbished cameras. These are stores returns or potentially were a camera that at one time was found to be defective upon purchase. Canon goes over them carefully and makes sure everything is working properly. This by the way isn't done at the factory on the low end cameras. Most people here report getting essentially new cameras. My 60D had 40+ shutter actuations and was spotless. I could not tell it wasn't new. Same applies to a T5i my niece recently purchased. The cameras offer a significant savings and come with a 14-day exchange and 1 year warrantly. Go to https://photography-on-the.net …ght=Canon+Loyal​ty+Program for full details.

To do a CLP purchase you have to trade in a Canon product, supposedly non-functioning. It can be a film type camera and in my instance I just told them the battery would not accept a charge. I don't feel they really care. The provide a postage paid box for the return of your "bad" product. I have seen old Canon cameras in Goodwill and the Salvation Army for $5 to $10. Also, many are on eBay as parts cameras. I would not recommend trading in the PowerShot S5IS since it appears to be working. It makes for a nice pocket size item for traveling, like that mule ride down to the Phantom Ranch (river level) in the Grand Canyon that you should take. Do that trip in early summer by the way, no later than about July 1st.

By the way, what kind of watches do you collect. I collect the old Bulova Accutron tuning fork watches, although I only like the ones with the 218 movement.

The change from a point and shoot to a DSLR will be big. But know that you will be also limited by the lens you carry. If your back is the limiting factor in what you can carry, then I would suggest checking out something like the latest Canon G series. It is an upgrade in every way, and you dont have to worry about hulking heavy lenses all over the place.
If weight is no problem, I would suggest looking for a used T2i or above and pair it with something like a Tamron 17-50 + Canon 55-250. Learn how to use the DSLR. Its a big change.
If you feel you have mastered the art of using a camera outside of the Auto mode, then get a used 50D or above.

lesbaer wrote in post #16733459
I am new to the forum and would like some help in maybe choosing a new camera.

Right now I have a PowerShot S5IS camera. It is a 8.0 Mega Pixel with a 12X optical zoom. The field of view was quite narrow so I purchased a NUKURA HGH DEFINITION 0.5X DIGITAL WIDE ANGLE LENS W/MACRO. It has manual focus with the ability to manually set shutter speeds and aperture settings.

I purchased and external flash Canon Speedlite 270EX to eliminate shadows from the lens adapter. It takes nice photos and records stereo video's.

I was looking to jump to an SLR camera: the EOS Rebel T3i 18-55mm IS II Kit. I would be jumping from a 8 mega pixel to a 18 mega pixel camera. The EOS Rebel T3i kits are not that expensive and have good reviews.

All of the lens accessories that I have would work with the new camera. The wide angle lens is 55MM and all of the filters I have are 55mm. I am pretty sure the Speedlite flash I have would also work on the Rebel.

Would I see a big difference between the two cameras? I know that the mega pixels has jumped a lot. I do not do that much printing of my photos. I do a lot of sharing on the internet through Emails and posting using Photobucket in the different hobby forums I am in. I do like to take Macro photo's of my watches and guns and this is where I share them on different forums.

I am not concerned with the cost of the REBEL T3i. I am looking to jump into a SLR verses the Powershot camera.

I am planning a long vacation at the end of the summer. I have been disabled for the past 14 years with a chronic back problem. I had my 7th surgery and I have regained my life back. I used to travel all over the word in the work I did before I was laid up with my back. Having all of the photo's of my travels helped me through a rough 14 years.

I live in western NY and am going to fly to Las Vegas and from there I will be going to the Grand Canyon and going to keep traveling north and taking my time in all of the National parks along the way to Montana. Then I will cross over to Seattle and work my way down the Pacific Coast Highway to San Fransisco to L.A. and back over the Rockies to Denver, Colorado. I am planning to take my time and do the trip in 40 days.

I want a good camera to record my travels just like I did before when I traveled with my job to Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Bali, Singapore and then I lived in mainland China for 4 years as an Expat. I photographed all of my travels and have quite a collection of great pictures and great memories.

I want to do the same with this trip and want a good camera to document it. I would welcome any input that would help me in my decision. Thank you in advance for your time and help.
Ex

I am adding some white space to help readability in order to illicit more mature and helpful responses.

I will say that if all you are going to do is share photos online and never print anything large, etc, just about any DSLR will work. The T3i will be just fine for your needs, and you would only want to concentrate on glass that covers what you want to shoot.

lesbaer wrote in post #16733459
All of the lens accessories that I have would work with the new camera. The wide angle lens is 55MM and all of the filters I have are 55mm. I am pretty sure the Speedlite flash I have would also work on the Rebel.

Yes the Canon 270EX Speedlite will work with any Canon DSLR.

Are you sure the filter size is 55mm? I thought most P&S camera filter adaters had either 52mm or 58mm threads. If it is 55mm, the lens accessories won't fit because the 18-55mm IS II lens has 58mm filter threads.

I can't think of any Canon EF or EF-S lenses that use 55mm filters.

I will throw in here that you WILL be disapointed with a DSLR for your macro work without the purchase of a dedicated macro lens. Porbably you best bet would be the EF-s 60mm macro. As you are not using it for bugs etc the fairly short working distance should not be an issue. Also being a true macro lens it will allow you to get close enough that you can get the size of the object in real life be the same as the image on the sensor, so you can fill the frame with an object that is about 23×16 mm. Most normal lenses such as the kit lens will only allow you to foucs down to around a foot, this is OK for big stuff but you will find it limiting with things like watches. Macro is something that p n s cameras can generally do better than DSLR's out of the box.

Also even if they will fit I would not use any of your filters or the "wide" adapter on your DSLR, the quality even compared to the basic kit lenses will be rubbish at best. I would also avoid "protection" or UV filters on your lenses, just get the the correct cheap copy lens hood for the lens from the bay to both protect the front element and also help reduce possible lens flare. Really the only filters that you need for a DSLR are a GOOD quality Circular Polarizer and possibly some nutral density or graduated nd filters, any other effect can be produced in PP these days.

Alan

Well, I'll say that right now, the T3i is at a bargain price. Is it old technology? Yep. Anything that's been out for more than a few months is old technology. But moving from a point and shoot, the T3i will do everything that you'll ever want it to do for a very long time. It will also do full HD video. And, you can still get it new in the box. It's light, and can be carried in a small bag with the kit lens.

Everyone likes to bash the kit lens, but it's actually not bad. What most don't understand about kit lenses, Canon or Nikon in particular, is that these lenses have been in production forever. They change them now and then, but the basics are the same. So, they have the production process and quirks worked out pretty well. They are plastic little toyish things, but they serve a purpose. For the price (which basically comes to nothing when buying a kit), they are an excellent lens and will keep you busy for quite some time. If you pixel-peep on your monitor you'll find soft corners sometimes and some fringing, but you can produce excellent results with this lens. Not to mention, Canon's software has software corrections for all of their lenses.

As far as macro, it's subjective. Some people call close-up shots of flowers macro shots, and others consider nothing but 1:1 a macro. Technically speaking or not, it sounds as if close-ups are more your thing, rather than macro. You can focus pretty close with the 18-55 and get nice close-ups. Macro is nice, but sounds like something different than what you are actually doing.

Good luck on your search.