Camera recommendations solicited

[O2BBubbleFree]

Hi all,

This is not diving related, but you all are the largest community of photogs I know, so hope you'll humor me.

My wife is a pretty good amateur photog, and now that we're expecting our second baby she wants to move up from her trusty Minolta Maxxum 7 to the digital 5D.

I've ebayed one of my toys, and am hoping to get enough from it to surprise her with a new camera, but I'm wondering if there is $500 worht of difference between the 5D and the 7D. They're both 6.1M Pixels. What do you think?

She has a recurring dream of starting a home-based portrait studio, but I think if it is more than a few months before she goes 'pro,' she'll probably need a new camera at that time, so I'm not sure that's a factor now.

Any advice?

 

[stiebs]

If you haven't already checked it out, there's a great resource at http://www.dpreview.com and some very active and helpful forums. Going by specs alone, there is very little difference between them.

Something to think about though, is that a lot of the time when you buy an SLR, in the long term the cost of the body is a pittance compared to the accessories you buy, especially if you start to turn pro. I'm only a hobbyist, but my camera body cost me $1k (Pentax *istDS) and I have about $5k worth of lenses and flashguns.

If your wife already has a selection of lenses for the Maxxum 7, I'd say definately go for the cheaper 5D. It seems that it is pretty much a re-release of the 7D just to get something new to market before another top-of-the-line model. All the big dSLR manafacturers do the same. That's why there are so many Canon dSLRs with only 2 or 3 features different than the next. If you do that, you can save the extra 500 bucks to go toward a second body when the latest and greatest comes out. Trust me, if she wants to go pro, she won't want an upgrade, she'll want another.

If she doesn't have a large selection of K-M lenses and accessories, it may be well worth it to look at a Canon system. Although not my preferred camera, there is no doubt that the range and availability of lenses and accessories is well ahead of Nikon, Pentax and K-M.

 

[Travisc]

Thats a pretty broad question there. The other question is what is your budget?

 

[Chris Bangs]

I am not familiar with the Minolta but I do know that Canon Digital SLR cameras produce very good results when used in studio photography. I use Canon for just that whereas I use Nikon for UW work. In reality I would switch to Canon but the lens investment is holding me back

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

<snip> If your wife already has a selection of lenses for the Maxxum 7, I'd say definately go for the cheaper 5D...<snip>

That's exactly why she's wanting to go with the Minolta, because of the lenses she already has. Also, she's had several Minoltas, and has a comfort level with them.


Thanks, all for the insights!

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

Thats a pretty broad question there. The other question is what is your budget?

I don't think the question is that broad, but maybe I didn't word it well enough.

My budget is going to depend on the outcome of the auction I mentioned. If the auction goes high enough, is the 7D worth $500 more than the 5D? So far, it isn't looking like it.

The second question is basically, this: If she get's into pro photography a year from now, is it going to matter whether we bought the 5D or 7D now?

Thanks,