Maybe silly, but should I? (upgrade 300D? )

itzcryptic wrote in post #8449857
Do you feel limited by that camera? IQ-wise it will take some great pictures. What lens(es) do you have now?

I suggest a good zoom lens first. I know it's not as exciting as a new camera though.

One thing that really bugs me (this is so superficial) is the viewing screen. It seems so small compared to the newer models. My lenses are listed in my siggy. Plus, it seems kinda slow but perhaps that's just my perception.

That's not superficial at all, the viewing screen can be a great tool to get proper exposures and those itty-bitty ones don't help much. Your camera has a small 1.8" viewing screen so I can understand why you feel that way. Stepping up to a 2.5" inch screen on the XXD series will be a nice change, and a 3" will make you feel all warm n fuzzy I'll say it again...30D's are a bargain

I went from 300D to a 30D.

People usually say glass 1st but I felt the 300D was truly limiting moreso than glass. The ISO performance was terrible (400 was poor), speed was absurd, buffer was small and slow, lcd was tiny and you couldnt zoom from the image preview. Does the 300D have a RGB histogram? I've recently switched to using the RGB histo after coming to understand you can blow out a single channel and not know from the single histogram. This has become very valuable to me as I feel its by far the best way to verify exposure.

I still reccomend the 300D to friends who are unsure about photography and want to see what its like. If you know you're in it for the long haul though, I'd start with an 30D on up.

I upgraded from my 300D to a 50D about 6 months ago. Wish I would have moved to a better series sooner. I'm not affraid to use my camera now. I was never comfortable with that chinsy plastic feel, like it would break if I bumped it into something on accident, or melt if I left it in the car on a hot day.

I can't compare the 50D to the 40D or 30D, but I'm happy being in the xxD series until I can go FF. The screen is great, even for just viewing the histogram. Easier access to everything, quick boot up and the larger viewfinder is a dream in comparison to the 300D, even if it's just a smidgen bigger.

+1 for upgrade!

Had the same decision to make around two years ago, and switched to the XTi/400d. The 300d was a good camera, but the XTi had several advantages -- stored images more quickly, much faster at USB tethered operations, shorter shutter blackout, no four-frame continuous buffer limit, more durable shutter mechanism, less high ISO noise, wider in-camera saturation adjustment range, smaller body, better E-TTL flash performance. The XTi has worked so well that there are two in the bag now (one is a refurbished body that was available for US $340). The only major added expense to the switch to the XTi was getting new batteries.

A 300d was a decent quick replacement when the D30 broke, but its operational limits made a switch to the XTi a good decision when XTi prices dropped in 2007. One of the useful tricks with this equipment is to stay an affordable generation or two behind the state of the art.

My 2 cents. I had a 300D for many years. I try to buy one photography-related item per year. So my first upgrade to the 300D was a 70-200 F4L. Then a couple years later my next upgrade was the 24-105L. Then finally this year I sprung for a 50D.

So if you see where I'm going here, I took virtually everyone's advice on the forums here and bought some good glass first. I can't argue that the 300D is capable of excellent shots. Finally I got fed up with the 300D constantly refusing to focus on fast moving subjects. There were times I'd press the shutter button, I don't know, 5 times, and nothing.

Now I'm very happy with my 50D.

The 300D has trickled down to my kids, who have proven that even with the kit lens it is still a capable camera and certainly an upgrade to the P&S's they own.

daystar wrote in post #8453532
One thing that really bugs me (this is so superficial) is the viewing screen. It seems so small compared to the newer models. My lenses are listed in my siggy. Plus, it seems kinda slow but perhaps that's just my perception.

Well, you've got your lens ranges all covered, except maybe ultra-wide angle, so maybe a new camera wouldn't be such a bad thing. If you step up to the xxD series, the 50D feels plenty fast to me. I'm sure the 30D/40D feel pretty similar.

It's possible Canon will be introducing a new XXD body this month, so the 40D/50D bodies will probably drop in price if you can hold out another month.