Upgrade lens or body?

I'm unsure which option is the best for me.With my current equipment(50mm-f1.8,75-300mm f4-f5.6 and 300D body), I was limited by:-
i) Focus hunting and slow to get focus in low light even with 50mm f1.8
ii) Even use a manual focus point selection, the subject exhibit front/back focus problem. Right now I use try to use as small aperture as possible to minimise the effect but in low light situation i've no choice but get a bunch of out of focus pictures!
iii) Out of focus shoot for moving subject i.e tiger/elephant - tested with f2 and f5.6 for both lens
iv) Camera tend to underexpose where the same scene a camera like 20D with the same setting correctly expose the subject. Even use flash 420Ex doesn't help.
v) Keep missing nice shoot when camera jam, while waiting for it to clear the buffer(writing to CF card
vi) Unable to do continuous shoot in RAW.
even with hi-speed cards)
vii) Flash 420Ex coverage distance is very short even ISO set at 800.Note that for this test I use direct flash.
viii) Writing speed getting slower and slower as the number of pictures increase in CF cards. This made me feel there's no point getting a 2Gb cards.

My option is either get a 40D body and stick with my current equipment for get a 85mm -f1.8 len and 580EX II flash. But then with 300D, I won't be able to utilise E-TTL-II in 580EX II flash and the distance info provided by 85mm-f1.8 lens.

Please advice which is the best option that could solve my problem.

I suggest to upgrade to 40D.

This will improve:
i) Focus speed.
ii) CF card writing speed.
iii) Virually no camera jam.
iv) Better control in metering mode.
v) Support E-TTL II Flash

Upgrade to Either A 30D and some glass or just a 40d.. When I did my upgrade, I wanted more reach, I had a 350D and my 70-200 F4, So Instead of getting the 100-400 I got a New 30D and 1.4xTC.. Never looked back.. Also Keep your 300 for a back up.. I regret selling my 350D

40D

Thanks FYI. Say if I upgrade to 40D,i wont experience focus hunting, miss focus even using 50mm f1.8 as compare to 300D?

also how much faster is the autofocus than 300D if I use 50mm f.18 lens?

as for the flash distance, would it improve?

also the problem i point out using 20D with the same setting with 300D, does it improve? I suspect with less user control of the metering and probably less intelligent DIGIC I processor , the 300D tend to underexpose? Correct me if I'm wrong. I just dont understand why 300D is showing different behavior if both camera (20D and 300D) was using manual mode, f5.6-1/60s ISO400 same lens but 20D give correct exposure, but 300D need to use flash to compensate that.

Before the digital age, I was shooting with Elan IIE and I never miss a shoot and never get out of focus picture.

When I first change from 300D to 30D, I feel overall speed improvement like
faster AF (even with kit lens), shutter lag reduce, faster startup, faster CF read/write speed.

I owned 50mm f1.8 before. The focus hunting will reduce.
But, due to the AF inaccurate of 50f1.8, you will still have miss focus issue.
(That's why I upgrade to 50f1.4)

Sorry, not sure about the flash distance.

The big problem of 300D is you can not choose metering mode.
The metering mode is fixed as below

Tv/Av Mode - Metering is Evaluative. Press AE Lock switch to Partial.
Manual Mode - Metering is Center Weighted Average. Press AE Lock switch to Partial.

Where 20D you can freely choose metering mode in Tv/Av/Manual mode.

The underexpose problem you have when compare to 20D may be due to difference metering mode. I don't have any underexpose problem with my previous 300D.

I don't have 40D so I can not comment on it.
Base on my previous experience of 300D/30D, 30D is a big improvement.
40D should be even bigger improvement.

I suggest you to upgrade the camera first and take good picture then get the lense you want.

I hope this comment will help.

Thanks for your adviceThe Canon DSLR body will release a new model every 18months and even with the same price it'll have pack with more features and improvement. Since you owned a 30D, do you feel bit regret by buying a 30D when 40D came out?

At first I'm thinking of getting a lens and a 580Ex-II flash since both would last longer since it won't have a new release every 18mths and both are in a mature stage.

But I'm unsure that would solve my problem. Since you owned 300D and 30D if you put in a USM lens into 300D would that focus faster and less focus hunting?

Also say if you put in a non-USM lens into 30D and 300D with a usm lens, would the focusing speed of 30D combination would be almost the same as 300D with USM lens?

As for my 300D underexpose problem, even 20D can choose it's metering mode, how would 300D underexpose if both use the same metering and same setting? 20D manual is also set to centerweighted? Is it possible the 20D is smarter than 300D?

Heard that your 300D got no problem then maybe I'm a few of unlucky one to have a problematic 300D and yet Canon service center unable to fix what was the problem.

[QUOTE=danielyamseng;4​175282]how much faster is the autofocus than 300D if I use 50mm f.18 lens? [QUOTE]

That lens is relatively slow to focus, I don't think that a new camera body will change that by much. To improve the speed you would have to get a different lens with a better focus motor.

I would recommend what ItsMike says... a 30D and some better lenses. You want to keep your camera body and lenses around the same level of quality, otherwise you're just putting lipstick on a pig.

Good Luck with your decision.

No. I don't feel regret when 40D came out.
30D still a good camera and it is suitable for my shooting style.

I normally print in A4 size and 8MP is more than enought for me.
I don't need LCD Live Preview because seldom shoot macro.

Sorry, I never compare AF speed of 30D+non-USM to 300D+USM before. Can not comment on this.
But I can ensure you that you will notice big speed improvement on every aspect.

Back to your problem again. IMO, new body will solve more of your problems then the new lense.

Hope this help with your decision.

Volatile, That mean I can't have value for money option for choosing either option? Hmm, to have a great system I must spend for ~$3k. Then is like complete build up system to solve all of my problem?

I think at least the all of the focus issue should be solved and that's more important to me.

Do you think if let say I get a 85mm f1.8 would solve the all focus related issue?

85mm f1.8 has better (faster, more accurate) AF then 50mm f1.8.
Sure it will solve the focus issue.

Again, if 85mm use on the new body like 20D/30D/40D, it will focus even faster.

Thanks Liang for your valuable feedback. I'm worried that I feel regret in making a decision and that's why I'm asking you all for the pro and con of both options. Also the thing is there's no camera stall allow us to experience/test 40D performance with USM/non USM lens and compare against my 300D with new 85mm lens.

Your feedback really valuable to me and I personally also being seduced by the 40D. In fact to be frank I've being long time planing to get a higher end body than 300D since the release of 20D.

But at that time, the price of 20D is quite expensive and there's not much hype to make me get it.

You know I've been waiting from 20D until now, the 40D.

I'm unsure should I get a 85mm lens then 580Ex II, use it for a fews years until 40D become obsolete , then only decide to get a future model i.e 50D or probably 60D.

Sometime is hard to make a wise decision if we have a limited budget.

You can hold the upgrade from 20D until now.
You are better in resisting then me.
I upgrade to 30D during last christmas.

I think you are leaning towards 85mm right? Go for it!

IMO, 300D is still a good camera.
Even though it is out performed by newer model.
It will be able to take good picture with 85mm.

85mm F1.8 also is my next target...

danielyamseng wrote in post #4174789
I'm unsure which option is the best for me.With my current equipment(50mm-f1.8,75-300mm f4-f5.6 and 300D body), I was limited by:-
i) Focus hunting and slow to get focus in low light even with 50mm f1.8
ii) Even use a manual focus point selection, the subject exhibit front/back focus problem. Right now I use try to use as small aperture as possible to minimise the effect but in low light situation i've no choice but get a bunch of out of focus pictures!
iii) Out of focus shoot for moving subject i.e tiger/elephant - tested with f2 and f5.6 for both lens
iv) Camera tend to underexpose where the same scene a camera like 20D with the same setting correctly expose the subject. Even use flash 420Ex doesn't help.
v) Keep missing nice shoot when camera jam, while waiting for it to clear the buffer(writing to CF card
vi) Unable to do continuous shoot in RAW.
even with hi-speed cards)
vii) Flash 420Ex coverage distance is very short even ISO set at 800.Note that for this test I use direct flash.
viii) Writing speed getting slower and slower as the number of pictures increase in CF cards. This made me feel there's no point getting a 2Gb cards.

My option is either get a 40D body and stick with my current equipment for get a 85mm -f1.8 len and 580EX II flash. But then with 300D, I won't be able to utilise E-TTL-II in 580EX II flash and the distance info provided by 85mm-f1.8 lens.

Please advice which is the best option that could solve my problem.

My advice will be to buy a 40D if you can.
It will give you much better low light capabilities, much faster and accurate focus system and a faster writing speed with a larger buffer.
The lenses you are using is not that hot and spending money on better glass in the future will be a wise move.

Goshawk, you mean 85mm f1.8 is not that great? I guess if I go for 40D I'll be lock in with a set of old lens that I used before the digital age for long.