Should I Get a 5D Now?

Hi All,

One of my friends has offered to sell me his three month old Canon 5D which only has about 2000 shots. He wants $1100 plus me installing a wireless network in his home as well as upgrading his laptop to Vista. (He has the software and hardware already purchased.)

It sounds like a good deal to me, but I'm not sure if I would benefit from having the FF 5D with my current system (with two EF-S lenses), and if I buy the camera I certainly won't be able to buy a new lens for a while. I typically take family pictures, portraits, theatre and travel photography.

My current system includes:

• 30D
  
• 10D (Back up if I need two bodies)
  
• EF-S 17-85mm f4.0-5.6
  
• EF 28-105mm f3.5-4.5
  
• EF 70-200mm f4.0 L IS
  
• EF-S 60mm f2.8 Macro
  
• EF 50mm f1.8 Mk I
  
• Canon 550EX
  

It's like switching from Canon to Nikon. Too much investment in the non EF lenses. Either sell it all, and buy one good EF lens, or just live with what you have.

The 5D will demand some serious glass, and save for the 70-200 F4L IS, nothing else you have would work 'well.' The 50 might, but, it's a stretch unless your copy is super sharp.

Good luck.

For that price, id do it. plus from the kind of photography you do, it looks like youd benefit from the full frame. also, as long as your keeping the 30d you wont have to worry about getting rid of your efs lenses. id say go for it. i will be upgrading to the 5dmk2 in february, and i do pretty much the same kind of photography as you.

5D is still an awesome camera.

I'd go for it. Your 28-105 will suffice (though it could be a little wider).

If you can, you could sell a bunch of lenses and get a 24-105 f/4L IS which is very good on a FF camera.

I'd get it and sell your EF-S lenses and 10D (even the 30D maybe??) to get the 24-105. I'd also sell the 28-105mm too if you could, but you'd have to be careful not to be left without a standard zoom.

But then, you could keep the 17-85mm for the 30D, for when you need things a touch wider.

Like the guy said above, you need good glass to fully benefit from the awesomeness of the 5D.

The 70-200 f/4L IS is one of the best zooms in the world. So that's a keeper.

I think the 5D with the 28-105 would become a good walkaround.

5D will take advantage of your lenses and you are not giving up anything but money.

The full frame sensor is certainly worth the advanatges with thye type of photography you do and will help with landscapes if you take a vacation.

If you don't realize the advantages even with your current lense then perhaps you won't take advantage of the camera body and the whole deal is MOOT>

Personally, I'd love a 5d body and would spned $1110.00 to get a newer one. The rest of the deal is just a favor in return for you getting such a great deal!

$1100 for only 2k actuations? I would buy that in a heartbeat.

I've been thinking about getting a 5d lately too. this one seems like an all around great deal but once you start seeing mk2's selling used on ebay the mk1 is going to be much cheaper as people see them on sale. Just a thought from a poor college student.

I would just get cash for the work he wants done. Then you can take your time and decide what to get. I looked at 2 5D's last week, both $1200, came with all original packaging, nice condition, not sure of click count ( I didn't buy ).

As someone else said, the 5D's will be getting cheaper, and I wouldn't be surprised if there is quite an increase in the number of used one's for sale if you figure many 5d Mk II buyers may be 5D owners.

Geek Squad would probably charge around $300-$400 for that work, depending on how many pc's on the network.

But if you think you want a 5D, you probably won't find many used one's with 2K clicks.

inthedeck wrote in post #6760834
It's like switching from Canon to Nikon. Too much investment in the non EF lenses. Either sell it all, and buy one good EF lens, or just live with what you have.

The 5D will demand some serious glass, and save for the 70-200 F4L IS, nothing else you have would work 'well.' The 50 might, but, it's a stretch unless your copy is super sharp.

Good luck.

i think he already has the 70-200 f/4 L IS which is great. I say sell the EF-S get the 5D and buy a new lens with the two that you sold!@

Go for it, that's a terrific price.

inthedeck wrote in post #6760834
It's like switching from Canon to Nikon. Too much investment in the non EF lenses. Either sell it all, and buy one good EF lens, or just live with what you have.

The 5D will demand some serious glass, and save for the 70-200 F4L IS, nothing else you have would work 'well.' The 50 might, but, it's a stretch unless your copy is super sharp.

Good luck.

I've found the opposite actually. The 50 1.8 is terrific on the 5D, and I have the same 28-105 zoom that's very nice. I find that the 5D brings out the best in my lenses, rather than demand good glass to produce good images.

$1100 is a good price for the body alone. And there isn't enough cash or barter in the world to get me to try to install Windows. Tell him to go and buy a Mac instead.

MarKap77 wrote in post #6761885
$1100 is a good price for the body alone. And there isn't enough cash or barter in the world to get me to try to install Windows. Tell him to go and buy a Mac instead.

Installing Windows Vista was one of the easiest things Ive done on my computer. I built it from scratch, too.

OP, if I were in your shoes I would get the 5D. I would then sell the 30D, all the EF-s lenses, and the 28-105 f/3.5-4.5. Then use that money to buy a 24-70 f/2.8L or 24-104 f/4L IS. Either of those two lenses would be great for the type of photography you do and would compliment your new FF setup nicely.

precisley this reason why i never touched an ef-s lens with a 10ft stick ( apart form the kit lens!)