5D!! Shock!!

DH & I have been discussing upgrading our camera. We have the original digital rebel. He shoots wildlife and I do family photos and etc... We both want to do more with our photos.

He decided to bite the bullet and take advantage of the rebates and purchase the 5D. He also got the EF 19-35mm wide angle and the 580EX flash. We have an EF 100mm marcro, EF 28-135mm, and a 500mm telephoto lens. I am excited about learning more and taking better photos.

Understanding Exposure is already on my Christmas list.

well congrats..however I must say you might be the one using the 5d. If he's shooting wildlife, although the 5d is a great camera, it's not a camera best-suited for wildlife. He ought to look at either the 30D (VERY similar menu/layout/features/e​tc to 5d) to take advantage of the 1.6x crop factor that will make all your lenses seem longer...which is very helpful for the majority of wildlife photography.

regardless of what you get, it'll be a nice step up from the original digital rebel. That camera still takes beautiful pictures, but the processing speed is DARN slow....so no matter what, I'm sure you'll be pleased.

welcome to the forums by the way! (hide your wallet)

Congratulation on your new gear, make sure to have a lots of fun!
Welcome to POTN!

He has a couple of extenders to make his lens longer... thanks for thinking of it.

We will keep the old rebel, just to have. And dd can learn using it.

ckphoto wrote in post #2375978
He decided to bite the bullet and take advantage of the rebates and purchase the 5D. He also got the EF 19-35mm wide angle and the 580EX flash. We have an EF 100mm marcro, EF 28-135mm, and a 500mm telephoto lens. I am excited about learning more and taking better photos.

Congrats on the new gear but I have to agree with Cathpah, I own a 5D and it's certainly a fine camera but nonetheless for most of my wildlife photography I use my trusty 20D primarily to take advantage of the 1.6 crop factor. You can never have too long a focal length when shooting critters

Ron

Actually given the pixel density of a 5D being equal to the 20D/30D/XT, it has the same "reach" as all but the XTi.

Cathpah wrote in post #2376007
.... it's not a camera best-suited for wildlife. He ought to look at either the 30D (VERY similar menu/layout/features/e​tc to 5d) to take advantage of the 1.6x crop factor that will make all your lenses seem longer...which is very helpful for the majority of wildlife photography.
....

Actually, I believe that the crop does not directly map due to the 5D having more pixels. The sensors themselves are a 1:1.6 but the image will be different due to the pixel density.

If I do the math, the 5D with its 35.8x23.9 mm sensor packs in 12m-pix for a pixel density of about 122 pixels per mm. The 30D with its 22.5x15 mm sensor packs in 8 m-pixels for a pixel density of 155 pixels per mm. So, doing the ratio and assuming the 5D as 1, the 30D only has a 1.28 crop, not 1.6.

Am I missing something?

Unfortunately you're mixing and matching linear and area numbers with your ratios.

Based on your numbers the area of the 5D sensor is 855.62 mm2 for 12.8mpixels and the area of a 30D sensor is 337.50 mm2 for 8.2mpixels. The 5D sensor has 2.53x more surface area and only 1.56x more pixels (a pixel is already an area measurement). Because of the difference a 5D image will not have as many pixels when cropped down to the size of the 30D sensor--which is 1.6X smaller linearly per side.

Also, I think canon has the individual photosite (pixel) size on their website somewhere...and sure enough the 5D pixels are larger.

Doug

gregster wrote in post #2376308
Actually given the pixel density of a 5D being equal to the 20D/30D/XT, it has the same "reach" as all but the XTi.

The 5D has the same pixel density as the 1DmkIIN, but the sensor of the 5D is FF while that of the 1DmkIIN is approx 1.3.

The 1.6 crop sensors of the 20D/30D/XT have a greater pixel density. The practical results is that those crop sensor cams have a bit more "reach" for telephoto shots, but are also more limited in their F stop range before loss of sharpness due to diffraction.
http://www.cambridgein​colour.com …al-camera-sensor-size.htm
http://www.cambridgein​colour.com …ffraction-photography.htm
Mike K

Mike, I'm glad you put "reach" in quotes.

The above posters seem to be still misunderstanding the most misunderstood part of digital, the CRAP factor.

There's just no way anyone can say the 5D is not suited for wildlife, especially considering the OP has a 500mm lens.

The crop factor DOES NOT give you any greater focal length. It merely gives you the field of view of a greater focal length lens.

A 5D image can certainly stand whatever cropping would be necessary and still be the match, if not superior, to the crop cameras.

me

In addition to the above, the viewfinder view alone of a FF camera is breathtaking in its scope and brightness; reason alone for its superiority.

MDJAK wrote in post #2378057
Mike, I'm glad you put "reach" in quotes.

The above posters seem to be still misunderstanding the most misunderstood part of digital, the CRAP factor.

There's just no way anyone can say the 5D is not suited for wildlife, especially considering the OP has a 500mm lens.

The crop factor DOES NOT give you any greater focal length. It merely gives you the field of view of a greater focal length lens.

A 5D image can certainly stand whatever cropping would be necessary and still be the match, if not superior, to the crop cameras.

me

I agree, after all lots used (and still use) a film SLR for wildlife. The whole crop argument is bizarre to me also since if I had a 5D I'd buy lenses that are required to get the job done with the format I've chosen.

Didn't mean to start a debate. lol DH was aware of the 'crop factor' there are just some other benefits of the 5D that we wanted.

Now to read the manual, and take photos.

ckphoto wrote in post #2378156
Didn't mean to start a debate. lol DH was aware of the 'crop factor' there are just some other benefits of the 5D that we wanted.

Now to read the manual, and take photos.

Have fun with your new camera!

MDJAK wrote in post #2378057
A 5D image can certainly stand whatever cropping would be necessary and still be the match, if not superior, to the crop cameras.

me

The 5D is good, but it ain't that good. The 20/30D is a superb camera in its own right with terrific image quality. To say you can crop a 5D picture down to below 5mp and exceed the quality of the 30D is simply not true.
While many overestimate the importance of resolution, its wrong to say its unimportant and besides, IMHO, the difference between the two cameras isn't night and day. At best one is an incremental improvement over the other.

And yes, i've used both.