What was/is your main reason for buying a FF?

What was your main reason for buying a FF camera, like most of you own a 5d.

Im still using my 30d and I really like it...Im not sure if I will ever use a FF, but if I will then I should really consider EF lenses from now on.

so, tell me

I'm a wide angle whore, but honestly a 10-22 on a cropped body and a 10mm fe would have done the same thing. For me it was the IQ gain in the 5D over the 1DmII. It's amazing how sharp and saturated the photos are out of the camera with the 5D... I've wondered if the new 40D would be as nice with a 10-22 and 10mm FE, but why change now? I love FF. The only down side is on the long end. All my lenses would be 60% longer and with swapping out my 2 wide options I'd have all the same FLs covered....

but I just keep coming back to the 5D being "special". Something about it's IQ just blows me away.

I've seen many people say that "I want to buy a 5D because it's FF", and never really say what they think FF is. In your mind, what do you think the benefits of FF are? When people are referring to FF, I often find that they are really referring to a specific camera. There are 4 FF cameras on the market (1Ds, 1DsMKII, 1DsMKIII, 5D), and one soon to be released. Do you not care which camera to get as long as it's FF, or are you really wanting to be sold on a specific camera? There's alot of difference in my mind, from saying "sell me on FF', versus saying "sell me on the 5D".

Buying a FF camera just because it's FF is senseless. Buying a FF camera because it offers specific advantages over a cropper is rationale. So let me turn the table on you, sell yourself on FF. What specifically do you think are the advantages of full frame?

As BigBlueDodge put it, what do you THINK the advantages are? Or, put another way, WHAT causes DISSATISFACTION for you, with your 30D...and we'll tell you whether or not FF body fixes that dissatisfaction!

I still shoot B&W film, not as much I have. But having a 30D and a film camera was driving me crazy when shooting together.

First, it was the greater IQ of the 5D for my landscape photography. Second, it was having the ability to use my EF lenses as they were designed to be used and not having to take into account the crop factor. Not sure if I worded that correctly, but you get the gist. With the 5D, things are back to 'normal' and life is good.

There isn't any easy way to bring all of the different factors involved in crop shooting to bear in the real world, if you're used to 35mm. So I wanted to move to FF to make things just that little bit simpler.

The viewfinder image in the 5d is streets ahead of my 350d.

Also, I went for the 5d because I loved the images that I'd seen it produce. Now, having one, I absolutely love it. The Auto-White Balance is quite often way off, but I shoot RAW, so that's not a problem. Otherwise, it's fantastic, and I love it.

Let me provide my story. In May of 2005 I bought my first DSLR, the magnificent 20D. For the next 2 1/2 years I continued to learn and grow with that camera. When the 30D and 40D came out, they didn't offer anything that I felt was holding me back, so I never upgraded to them.

Over time, I learned the in's & out's of my camera (20D), things like how it metered under different lighting conditions, how the focus reacted to different contrast scenes, etc. I started to find that my niche was people, and landscapes. I had dabbled in some macro, sports photog, wildlife, but it didn't do much for me.

While using & learning with my 20D I found things that I felt could be improved and allowed my photo's to improve as well.

1. Viewfinder - Couple a small viewfinder with wearing eyeglasses, and I had a very small window to look through. As stated I shoot alot of people/portraits and like to use wide primes to blur the background. Due to the razor thin DOF you get when using 1.4 or 1.8, I found that the AF didn't always nail where I was hoping, so I found myself manual focusing alot. Trying to manual focus in the 20D's viewfinder, using eyeglasses was difficult at best. I felt a bigger viewfinder would help me see more of what I was focusing on.

2. High ISO Performance - I shoot alot of pictures indoors of my family/childreen. Due to the low what flourescent (saving the world!!) light bulbs ISO 1600 is pretty much a fact of life. While the 20D could deliver some great ISO1600 photo's, I found that I really had to nail the exposure perfectly. I began dialing in +1/3 to +2/3 EC to make sure the photo's were slightly overexposed to minimize any noise. As such, that slowed my shutter speeds even more, and increased the amount of noise-free, but blurry shots. I wanted a camera that offered better high ISO performance, so I didn't have to worry so much about the technical aspects, and could focus on capturing the image/framing, etc.

3. AI Servo - I found that the AI Servo on my 20D wasn't the greatest. Given most of my photo's were of people/landscape it didn't present a problem too often. I felt that the 20D needed more help (ie read more AF points) to improve the quality of the focusing. Personally, I didn't not like how spread out the AF points are from each other. When trying to take photo's of birds, I found that only one AF would cover the bird, and the others didn't even touch it, which mean I couldn't use all AF points for AI Servo. My 20D stayed on center AF 99% of the time. I wanted a camera that offered more AF points. I was in love with the 45pt AF in the 1D series.

Those were the three main reasons why I arrived at the 5D. (Notice I didn't say "why I arrived at FF"). I felt that camera offered what I wanted at a price point I could pay. Being FF does not automatically mean it will fit those criteria. For example, I do not think the 1Ds would have worked for me, despite being FF, as it's high ISO performance can't match the 5D (or probably even the 40D as well). If the 5D had been a 1.3 or 1.6x camera I wouldn't have cared as long as it met me criteria above. I especially like that the 5D has 6 additional AF points clustered around the center AF point to assist in AI Servo. That was a perfect comprimise for me if I couldn't get 45pt AF from the 1D series.

Oh, and I'm still scrathing my head why this is posted in the EF Lens forum?

BigBlueDodge wrote in post #4682766
Oh, and I'm still scrathing my head why this is posted in the EF Lens forum?

"...but if I will then I should really consider EF lenses from now on."

BigBlueDodge wrote in post #4682661
Let me provide my story. In May of 2005 I bought my first DSLR, the magnificent 20D. For the next 2 1/2 years I continued to learn and grow with that camera. When the 30D and 40D came out, they didn't offer anything that I felt was holding me back, so I never upgraded to them.

Over time, I learned the in's & out's of my camera (20D), things like how it metered under different lighting conditions, how the focus reacted to different contrast scenes, etc. I started to find that my niche was people, and landscapes. I had dabbled in some macro, sports photog, wildlife, but it didn't do much for me.

While using & learning with my 20D I found things that I felt could be improved and allowed my photo's to improve as well.

1. Viewfinder - Couple a small viewfinder with wearing eyeglasses, and I had a very small window to look through. As stated I shoot alot of people/portraits and like to use wide primes to blur the background. Due to the razor thin DOF you get when using 1.4 or 1.8, I found that the AF didn't always nail where I was hoping, so I found myself manual focusing alot. Trying to manual focus in the 20D's viewfinder, using eyeglasses was difficult at best. I felt a bigger viewfinder would help me see more of what I was focusing on.

2. High ISO Performance - I shoot alot of pictures indoors of my family/childreen. Due to the low what flourescent (saving the world!!) light bulbs ISO 1600 is pretty much a fact of life. While the 20D could deliver some great ISO1600 photo's, I found that I really had to nail the exposure perfectly. I began dialing in +1/3 to +2/3 EC to make sure the photo's were slightly overexposed to minimize any noise. As such, that slowed my shutter speeds even more, and increased the amount of noise-free, but blurry shots. I wanted a camera that offered better high ISO performance, so I didn't have to worry so much about the technical aspects, and could focus on capturing the image/framing, etc.

3. AI Servo - I found that the AI Servo on my 20D wasn't the greatest. Given most of my photo's were of people/landscape it didn't present a problem too often. I felt that the 20D needed more help (ie read more AF points) to improve the quality of the focusing. Personally, I didn't not like how spread out the AF points are from each other. When trying to take photo's of birds, I found that only one AF would cover the bird, and the others didn't even touch it, which mean I couldn't use all AF points for AI Servo. My 20D stayed on center AF 99% of the time. I wanted a camera that offered more AF points. I was in love with the 45pt AF in the 1D series.

Those were the three main reasons why I arrived at the 5D. (Notice I didn't say "why I arrived at FF"). I felt that camera offered what I wanted at a price point I could pay. Being FF does not automatically mean it will fit those criteria. For example, I do not think the 1Ds would have worked for me, despite being FF, as it's high ISO performance can't match the 5D (or probably even the 40D as well). If the 5D had been a 1.3 or 1.6x camera I wouldn't have cared as long as it met me criteria above. I especially like that the 5D has 6 additional AF points clustered around the center AF point to assist in AI Servo. That was a perfect comprimise for me if I couldn't get 45pt AF from the 1D series.

Well put I do the same with my 30D and will most likely go FF instead of the x0D upgrade. Maybe th 5D MkII (7D?).

It (5D) just felt right. I cant explain. I owned a 20D, and 30D and now a 1Dmk2. 90% of the time my camera of choice is the 5D. The photos seem to have more "pop"

The only downside was you need good glass with FF, but after a few "L" lens Im happy.

Sometimes things "feel" right.

I chose the 5D because, I already own the 6mp Rebel, and could not justify spending 1200 bucks for 4 more MP, so I went the next step..., 5D.

I used to shoot 35mm film. 50mm is 50mm to me. Not 80mm

Next, pixel density.

After that, well - I like wide.

I bought mine because of the excellent IQ, the superb 'look' of images, high ISO performance and I could now afford a FF sensor that gave me the wide angle images that I like so much. After over two years with it I am still impressed. All it really lacks for me is a decent LCD and the AF could be a bit better.

Since getting the 1DmkIII I've not used it much but when I do serious wide work it's the body I take.