Camera advice

Im looking to move to Canon from Pentax and was looking for some advice on which one to go for, Iv had my eye on the 40d and it looks to be a great camera but in my price range i could aslo go to the 500d but i think this would be like the equivolent of the 400d compared to the 40d ie the 500d is the cheap version of the 50d.
All advice will be greatfully recived.

Thanks Dan

Welcome to the board.

In order to provide relevant help for you, we need you to give us some more information. There is no generic solution or answer.

What do you shoot?
What do you like about your Pentax?
What don't you like about your Pentax?
What is your budget?

It's usually recommended to spend as little on the body as possible when starting out, put your money into better glass. With that advice, a used 40D, or a Rebel would make sense. Give us some more details and you will get a wealth of conflicting answers

As Glen asked, what do you shoot? What are you looking for? etc.

Also, if you like to shoot Manual, I will highly recommend an XXD over a XXXD body.

Heres a very personal judgement on the Canon range:

Canon's xxd range are aimed at the "serious amateur", the xD range are very solid cameras aimed firmly at the pro market.

xxxxD are for first time dSLR users, maybe upgrading from phone cameras, while xxxD are more for users upgrading from point and shoot cameras.

The biggest issue I have with the xxxxD range and to a lessening extent as we move up is the size and brightness of the viewfinder. I come from film SLR's and anything less than full frame is small and dark in comparison.

As TaDa says, something from the xxD range will probably be your best bet. Many wedding pro's use bodies from this range because they get the quality they need at a better price than the so called pro level cameras. I use a 30D myself and as my introduction to digital it has done me well.

Hi and thans for the quick relpys i suerpos i have a budget of somewhere between £500-600 so then i can spend some real money on glass id say i would have to be a serious amateur iv been using srl's for as long as i can remember i think i was 11 with an olympus om10 as my first camera then i upgraded to the canon eos 300 35mm then upgraded to the pentax k10d and thought i had a great camera but as iv got better at photography if found that the resaults from the camera dont i know how the camera work and how evrything on it works but yesterday when out on a shoot with my little brother who has got a canon eos 350d and my dad who has a 450d there pictures were more striking better lit and all round beter quality pic's then i get with my pentax iv upgraded the glass over and over but still find that some of the pic's just dont stand up to what i know i can do and it just seams that canon seams the way to go for my next step in life. As for what i shoot i try to put my hand to it all Portraites,landscapes,​macro and so on.

Thanks Dan

I know nothing about Olympus cameras, so cannot speak to them.

I began with Canon DSLRs with a Rebel XTi. It drove me crazy, so I sold it off to get the 30D. I loved the 30D. It's a great camera, and pretty simple design. I eventually moved to the 40D for some bells and whistles, but didn't really love that upgrade.

Since camera bodies depreciate so quickly, I hardly ever advise getting a new body. If you look on the classifieds here, you can find used 30Ds and 40Ds well under your price point. Great cameras and you can take the rest of your funds to fund some glass. You may want to consider the 40D since you said macro. It has Live View, which would allow you to use the LCD screen to help you in macro focusing.

Don't overlook the used market. Shutters are supposed to be lifed at the 100,000 mark and I'd bet that many never get past 10,000. There will be bargains to be had.

You are right about the glass. I learnt my lesson the hard way via Tamron, Sigma and Nikkor and now stick with Canon "L" lenses.

The OM10 was a wonderful camera. I was using a Nikon FE at around that time.

worthyd wrote in post #9363871
Im looking to move to Canon from Pentax and was looking for some advice on which one to go for, Iv had my eye on the 40d and it looks to be a great camera but in my price range i could aslo go to the 500d but i think this would be like the equivolent of the 400d compared to the 40d ie the 500d is the cheap version of the 50d.
All advice will be greatfully recived.

Thanks Dan

500D may be the cheap version of the 50D but they share the same sensor and the 500D has video. but the new Pentax K-x does too, if you've invested in pentax glass why change?