NEW 20d camera - how safe?

If you're buying new, I'd be very surprised to find a 20D for any significant amount less than a 30D. They'd all be sold by now.

Personally, I'd buy a gently used 30D from the POTN Sell forum for about $600.

captainnofun wrote in post #4857355
The search I was doing was preliminary, and (kicking myself) I didn't write down the name of the particular website that was offering it. It was also done at work, which uses IE as a browser (aka lists many advertisement websites in a search string). Now that I'm at home, on Firefox, all the rif-raf is gone. But it was selling "brand new" at $571.00, I believe.

Other sites I've noticed list it as new for around $1,200. However, when that's the case I'd rather just buy the 30d or 40d for roughly the same price used.

All that being said, since someone mentioned the reseller.com website, I'll be double checking the sites against that, as well.

I will hazard a guess that you were using ShopCartUSA, and every site there is a scam. I honestly believe that the scam artists put this site out there to lure people to their sites.

The $571 is for a refurbed one at BroadwayPhoto, a well-known bait and switch.

http://www.shopcartusa​.com …42A002/PT_Y/?ic​_campID=98

Stay away, and like others stated, buy a preowned 30D from POTN members. It may be hard to find one for $600, but $650-700 is very doable.

Nosquid, the larger LCD would be considered a "perk," but the spot metering...ah yes. From what I'm gathering, everyone LOVES the spot metering feature. So that would be a strong decision factor.

To TeamSpeed, thank you for the info, and I'm running away as we speak. Choosing the camera is only part of the decision process, as I'm coming to understand after being on this forum. It's just as - if not more - important to research the place you're buying it from.

This forum has been so amazingly helpful. Thank you all, for the solid information on here.

TeamSpeed wrote in post #4857599
I will hazard a guess that you were using ShopCartUSA, and every site there is a scam. I honestly believe that the scam artists put this site out there to lure people to their sites....

Yes, they are a scam site, but not every site they list is a scam site. They list legit sites as well. I have sen B&H listed there. You will see Amazon, Dell, and others legit sites list their cameras for double what Express, Bestprice, 1wayphoto does. THe suckers go for the scammers.

captainnofun wrote in post #4856837
The 20d or 30d decision...

The biggest factor is, it seems like every person, from every forum, from every direction in the known universe who owns a 20d LOVES it. I've never seen such FIERCE LOYALTY to a camera than when I started researching and kept seeing applause for the 20d.

You clearly haven't talked to many 5D users

In seriousness though, the 20D and 30D aren't very different, it's the spot metering and LCD that are the only real significant differences. If you can get a 30D on the used market for less than a 'new' 20D, I'd go for it, but you should be able to get used 20Ds for even less used! I'd buy used rather than new in this case, you're paying more than you need to for a 20D these days if you pay 600. It's a fantastic camera though.

The 30D also has an RGB histogram, a feature that I sorely regret not having on my 20D. Others have already mentioned the spot metering.

My top three things the 30D has over the 20D, in order of importance is RGB histogram, spot metering and larger lcd. If you don't really care about any of those then the 20D should suit you fine.

I got a refurbished 20D for about $650 but that was over a year ago and I don't know if any more are still available.

gjl711 wrote in post #4857791
Yes, they are a scam site, but not every site they list is a scam site. They list legit sites as well. I have sen B&H listed there. You will see Amazon, Dell, and others legit sites list their cameras for double what Express, Bestprice, 1wayphoto does. THe suckers go for the scammers.

That is fair, I am wrong. It just seems every time I have pulled it up for camera equipment, the scammers simply overrun the others. Pricegrabber.com does a great job of filtering these scam sites, due to customer feedback, so I always use pricegrabber.

Yea, I think that they use the legit sites as bait. You see Amazon, know who they are and right next to them you see Express Camera with a better price and better rating.

used 30d's are running in the 600's right now

http://www.keh.com …CC=2&CCC=1&BCL=​&GBC=&GCC=

Heck, I just picked one up from Adorama by way of ebay for $570 shipped in EX+ condition

Here's one reviewer's opinion of the 30d when it came out, comparing it to the 20d

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_revi​ews/30d_pg7.html

captainnofun wrote in post #4857447
Very nice price. I think so, at least!

Then I suppose I'm going to need to re-hunker down and decide between the 20d and the 30d. Ahh, the decisions...the decisions!!!

To statsman...the 40d is very nice, I agree! And I'd like to work my way UP to it, but I also know that part of taking good pictures is having good lenses, so that $400 price difference between the 30d and 40d, while not much, will help me to spend a bit extra on the lenses, accessories, etc.

i've owned both. for the price difference the 30d is a better camera.

ed rader

dekalbSTEEL wrote in post #4859741
used 30d's are running in the 600's right now

http://www.keh.com …CC=2&CCC=1&BCL=​&GBC=&GCC=

Heck, I just picked one up from Adorama by way of ebay for $570 shipped in EX+ condition

Here's one reviewer's opinion of the 30d when it came out, comparing it to the 20d

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_revi​ews/30d_pg7.html

Hey, thanks for this! I checked out the keh.com site and it appears to be running cheaper than Amazon right now (although Amazon does offer several of those "all-in-one-kits," but that's a whole other post all together, lol).

statsman wrote in post #4857404
At $1200, you could get the 40D new (with code, you can get it new at B&H for $1119).

At CircuitCity, 40D is $1389 with the kit lens but you should be able to get 10% off that price with a AAA membership.

That makes it about $1250 with kit lens. If you don't need the lens, it should sell for over $300 on eBay. That leaves you out about $950 for the 40D body.

That's how I bought mine!

Well, B&H is selling used 20Ds for $530 now (geez, I paid 'em $800 for mine, should have held out longer ) To be perfectly honest, I have yet, in a little over a year with my 20D, thought "Well, shucks, I just wish I had a 30D." A 40D or a 5D or a 1 series, yes, but the 30D, imo, isn't different enough to bother with...