Upgrade from 350D to 40D ?mainly macro work

Hi I am considering upgrading to the 40D from my 350 D
I am very happy with the 350 D it was the best thing I have ever bought
I have taken a lot of shots with it mainly macro butterflies dragonflies etc and birds.
I was thinking of the 40D because I do a lot of natural light macros at higher IS0's 400 and 800 and than 40D is supposed to have very little noise.
Would I get an improvement in picture quality ?
Below is an example of the type of shot I take I rarely print larger than A4 but if I got a really great shot I might want to
I have been serious with the hobby for 18 months and definately am still in the learning stage.
I know the wisdom is that glass is the most important thing but I have the lenses that I want (except maybee the Sigma 180 macro) and mostly use the Sigma 105 macro
thanks
Pete

nice shot lcpete, I do a little macro shooting from time to time, nothing to special(have a look in my smugmug nature folder if interested) and I have ordered a 40d moving up from a 350d. it should be with me tomorrow and I will probably shoot some macro in the garden if the weather is ok. I will post some pics when I have it.

Carl

lcpete, I upgraded from a 300D to a 40D a few days ago, and I am loving it. I don't do macro work, but I have found that the live view mode is awesome for when you have to have the most precise control over focus.

Here's how: I took a shot of a flower. It looked great on the screen. Downloaded it to my laptop, viewed at 100% and saw that the focus was not where I wanted it to be. This was before I started messing around with the live view features. Once I started trying out the live view, I quickly realised the power of being able to look at the subject on the huge screen, versus the viewfinder. I then decided to retake the shot. Walked up to the very same flower, turned on live view and then hit the zoom button twice. I was absolutely floored with the IMMENSE amount of detail I could now see. The lightest touch to my focus ring would produce a very visible shift in the focus. I then carefully tweaked my focus to provide the part of the flower I wanted to be absolutely spot-on-focus. Took the photo and it came out unbelievably well.

So, using the magnification (you have the option of x5 and x10) on the LCD's live view gives you a way to control your focus that I don't think the viewfinder can provide you with (unless you have amazing eyesight - mine is terrible, I wear glasses). Of course, this may or may not be important to you - but the better high ISO performance would be. Apart from this, I don't think you will get a HUGE upgrade in IQ since you don't make very large prints.

I have the 350D and I'm also upgrading to the 40D but I don't think you should upgrade for that reason. It's not going to be that big of a difference in your shooting. If you want to upgrade for other reasons then good luck and I hope you enjoy it.

FZ, thanks for the live view report. I figured that live view would be the bee's knees (ahem) for macros - glad to hear that's true.

-js

beautiful shot

fz_za wrote in post #3901919
So, using the magnification (you have the option of x5 and x10) on the LCD's live view gives you a way to control your focus that I don't think the viewfinder can provide you with (unless you have amazing eyesight - mine is terrible, I wear glasses). Of course, this may or may not be important to you - but the better high ISO performance would be. Apart from this, I don't think you will get a HUGE upgrade in IQ since you don't make very large prints.

Thanks for this - one of the reasons why I am considering getting a 40d. A question - how effective is the screen brightness in the harsh African sun?

Thanks for the replies
it looks like for the type of shooting I do I wont see much of a change in image quality.
At the moment the 40D is £839 body only in the UK so is quite expensive. The larger screen is another reason I was thinking of upgrading as I have reading glasses so struggle to see what I have taken is sharp without putting my speccies on
and I may be better off getting the 400D as this has a good sized screen.
To be honest I cant decide what to do so I will start saving anyway
The live view mode looks useful for macro
Pete

I went from the 350D to the 40D - Worth every penny IMHO!

Blows the 350 out of the water for me anyway and live view plus a MPE-65mm would be a dream combination!

If you can afford it go for it - If not then start saving

number six: my pleasure. Live view is great for macro shots and shots where you have plenty of time to focus, compose, etc. but is not up to the point-and-shoot level yet. What I mean by that is that I don't see myself handing my camera to an "amateur" (or passer-by) and showing them how to use live view to take a photo of me... It's hard enough for most people to have to push the shutter in halfway before taking a photo, let alone pushing two different buttons (AF-ON, then shutter), working out focus (magnifying in live view to confirm correct focus), etc.

BigAl-SA: glad you found my post useful too. I cannot really comment on how the screen fares in bright sunlight as I have not had a chance to use it in this kind of scenario yet. However, from the little outdoors use I have done, it seems to be at least as good as the screen on my 300D... But the much bigger size really, really helps and I would definitely say it is still usable. The screen is also plenty bright at 50% of max brightness (which it is set to by default), so you can even bump up the brightness to a searing level if you need to. It should do fine

The Missus is in favour as long as she gets the holiday I promised her
So I will be getting the 40D in the near future once I've paid for the holiday.
Ive noticed the price is coming down already, when I went to Jessops a few days ago it was £839 and noticed on their site today it is £806
thanks
Pete

Cool! Good luck, Pete! Let us know when you get your new toy, and whether you find an improvement in your shots.

Hi everyone just got it , the 40D brilliant not had a chance to use it properly been raining but I,m off out tommorrow can't wait.
First impressions are that the noise level at 1600 ISO is amazing
And live view will be very handy for zoo shots I could lean over the railing and hold the lens hood against the wire cage . I had to abandon photographing as it started raining heavily but got 2 more days off so should get another go
Pete

glad your enjoying it, I love mine. Live view is really good for macro, try using the zoom and manual focus, wow, so good. noise levels are great, the camera is better to use, much easier shooting in manual than the 350.
Only one downside, I want more lenses now, ahhh, all worth it tho.
Carl