Canon 450D vs Sony A350

[batavia]

I would say go for A350....like other ppl say it got liveview, tilting LCD & Steadyshot..... get ur self a fast third-party lens like the new sigma 10-20mm F3.5, tamron 17-50mm, sigma 50-150mm, u got urselves a quality budget set-up.......CZ is good but too ex... i think u can get all the 3 lens for the price of 1 CZ lens.... u get slower AF but thicker wallet......... spend the rest on good filter, tripod & head, bag, accesoriess.....

 

[alvin1975]

Wow, that's very good advise! I guess I am in your position as well given that I tried both cameras a few times and still undecided! By the way, you mentioned about tweaking the camera to get vibrant colours. How do you do it? I'm still new to DSLRs so need some advise and help from whoever I can get.

If you are into entry level model, then I don't think you are overly concerned about the noise level....

Of course Canon CMOS sensors are one of the better ones in terms of noise level and I agree as I seen pictures taken at ISO1600 by EOS1000D is quite clean that I thought it was ISO400...

Anyway, I was in the same situation as you, comparing between 450D and D90 only 3 months back...

Sony has never came into my mind at all as I "still" considered them as new-comers in this field....

However, a trip to the COMEX last year completely changed my mind and I bought a A300 instead of the other 2...

Of course, I can anytime afford a D300/D700/D3 and 50D/5DmkII at that point when I was deciding....but it still voice down to why you need DSLR in the first place...

I need a small and handy camera to give me better quality pictures over PNS and my wife can also use it to take pictures of our son occassionally, so the SUPER FAST AF in LiveView and how easy to use the camera won us over!!! :thumbsup:

Noise level wise, I dun think it's a big problem as long as you don't print bigger than A3 size even for ISO800 is still quite ok...or do you ever need to print out that big in the first place....

In summary, 450D definitely has better noise control over A350 but not very obvious unless you always look at your pictures at 100% all the time.

Colour rendering I would say Sony has better and more vibrant colours with some tweaking in camera...

Handling wise, I find 450D too small and grip is very uncomfortable when holding for long period...A350 feels more solid and it gives you the $1.3k feeling rather than the $500 feel 450D gives...

LiveView, if you need it as much as I do, A350 is now the king of the hill for AF, no one does it better as this point in time...

BTW, only Canon L lenses are good and they are also very expensive...

 

[Rashkae]

Wow, that's very good advise! I guess I am in your position as well given that I tried both cameras a few times and still undecided! By the way, you mentioned about tweaking the camera to get vibrant colours. How do you do it? I'm still new to DSLRs so need some advise and help from whoever I can get.

It's just the settings... You can adjust saturation, contrast and sharpness in-cam.

 

[lenrek]

just take note. built in IS means the the whole camera has to go for service while lens based means only the lens. have to weigh the pros and the cons...

Since all Sony DSLR has IS built it, I would invest into a 2nd camera body. No need to be an expensive camera body, just a a100 or a200 would be more than sufficient. If can't afford new, then get from B&S.

Chances are, as you develop the interest, you would be getting a backup camera body anyway.

 

[SKCIN]

Since all Sony DSLR has IS built it, I would invest into a 2nd camera body. No need to be an expensive camera body, just a a100 or a200 would be more than sufficient. If can't afford new, then get from B&S.

Chances are, as you develop the interest, you would be getting a backup camera body anyway.

Of course depends on individual budget allocated by our "finance minister"/gf/wife...not everyone has a sugar daddy...and it may not be so critical for some people to die die must take photos when the body is sent for servicing...

Some may just want to use the extra cash to invest in more lenses for more creative shots...

 

[Galdor]

just take note. built in IS means the the whole camera has to go for service while lens based means only the lens. have to weigh the pros and the cons.

also...can take a look of the offerings from Pentax like K-M as well as Olympus E620 if you are interested in body based IS systems.

all thats left is to see which brand supports your area of photography the most.

Doesn't really matter actually cos if you need to send your cam for servicing whether with build in IS or not you would still be w/o a body to use if you do not have a backup body and so far I haven't heard of any IS failure, at least not on the KM or Sony bodies.

 

[lenrek]

Of course depends on individual budget allocated by our "finance minister"/gf/wife...not everyone has a sugar daddy...and it may not be so critical for some people to die die must take photos when the body is sent for servicing...

Some may just want to use the extra cash to invest in more lenses for more creative shots...

Well... The guy is worry about what would happened, if camera body sent for services... What I am trying to say is:

1) 2nd camera body from Sony, either a100 and a200 can be a cheap solution as a backup camera body (if that person *must* have a working camera body at all time).
2) All Sony camera body has SSS, so a cheap a100 or a200 (get from B&S) would has such feature as well. This mean, all the lenses you own would continue to benefit from it.

 

[Watchman64]

I looked at Canon 450D, Pentax K200D, Oly E-510 and Nikon D60 when I was buying last year. Sony was not in my list but I ended up with the A300. At entry level, the Alphas are hard to beat for value. The built in IS on Alpha mount, CF Card medium, plus tilting LiveView are deciding factors in my case.

The selling point for Canon is the large array of lens. Since I only need a few, all can be found in old Minolta or Sony/CZ/G lens, it didnt matter. BTW, the Sony Flash system is very affordable and imo offers more then the Canon's flash system currently.

But whichever model you end up with, you will still be able to take good photos with some skill and experience. The difference is a matter cost. All the best!

 

[kelvint81]

I looked at Canon 450D, Pentax K200D, Oly E-510 and Nikon D60 when I was buying last year. Sony was not in my list but I ended up with the A300. At entry level, the Alphas are hard to beat for value. The built in IS on Alpha mount, CF Card medium, plus tilting LiveView are deciding factors in my case.

The selling point for Canon is the large array of lens. Since I only need a few, all can be found in old Minolta or Sony/CZ/G lens, it didnt matter. BTW, the Sony Flash system is very affordable and imo offers more then the Canon's flash system currently.

But whichever model you end up with, you will still be able to take good photos with some skill and experience. The difference is a matter cost. All the best!

Surprised me that Sony Alpha is not in your list but in the end you got yourself a good cam that's hard to beat for the entry level DSLRs.
Same like me, i considering Canon 1000D, Nikon D60 and in the end i end up with Sony A200.

 

[Lexar]

Seems many new DSLR buyers were not even considering Sony as one of their purchases and end up with one...:thumbsup:

Canon and Nikon's marketing strategy and legacy are long enough in this field, that's why people already have a mindset to buy either one of them when considering cameras/dslrs....it's just like Toyota and Honda in their respective market.

Many advanced users buy C&N because they are stuck with their lenses or they need many lenses for their work or hobby...

For consumers like myself, I just need 2-3 lenses to take my shots....which is well served by Sony or 3rd party lenses...

Sony is just like Mazda, nice, easy to use, tons of features, serves the same purpose and it's cheaper than T&H...

However, I believe it is still the usability, features and value for money when it comes to deciding a product for individual needs.

When I got my A300, everyone says why Sony??? But deep in my heart, I just know that the photos I take will not lose out to those famous brands, and I am able to use the tool to my advantage as I know I will be more at ease using something I feel most comfortable with...

Many say LiveView is useless, but to certain extent, I was able to take more good shots (and faster) than my friend's D60 during one of our friend's child birthday...

 

[boombox]

just take note. built in IS means the the whole camera has to go for service while lens based means only the lens. have to weigh the pros and the cons.

also...can take a look of the offerings from Pentax like K-M as well as Olympus E620 if you are interested in body based IS systems.

all thats left is to see which brand supports your area of photography the most.

Good case,

well having all the eggs in the basket is risky - but there's also the advantage of having stablisation in all lenses - including the 24-70 f2.8 lenses, which in aps-c cropping is 105mm - it's quite a long focal length, there had been no IS versions released from C/N. IS in wide angle lenses, or wide - mid tele lenses, are quite desired by many of my bros and friends who are on C/N mounts) - and that's where in body IS comes in handy.

For Sony, you can grab a few excellent Konica Minolta Lenses and have great performance for the fraction of the price of the more modern offerings.

It's really case of give and take amongst all brands. So it's a difficult decision I think. :sweat:

 

[alvin1975]

Thanks Watchman64! This is good advise!

 

[Watchman64]

Thanks Watchman64! This is good advise!

You are welcomed. Hope to see some photos from you soon. Cheers!