I currently own an EOS300/R2K, and would like to know if anyone out there thinks it is worth upgrading to an EOS30/33. I mostly take pics for the family album, but like to take nice pictures. But I also like to take close-ups of flowers in my garden and views of the local scenery around my home in Wales?UK. I am happy with my 300, and am just wondering if up-grading would be worth the money or not.

-- Sarah Needham (sarah.needham1@orange.net), April 05, 2002

Answers

if you are happy with your results, you need not upgrade it to 30/33. instead get some good lenses which can improve the quality of your photos. the body just give you additional features and controls. but the picture quality depends mainly on lens and ofcourse the film.

it is no doubt worth upgrading to 30/33. i too own eos 300 and if i can afford i would go for 30 and not think about saving $100 with 33. i find 300 to limiting, especially when i want to choose metering mode, the only way is to press the partial metering button or switch over to"M" mode. its very irritating. secondly i would like to use the mirror lock-up when mounted on tripod. next it can do second curtain syn, FEC, ECF,... but spending extra bucks is worth only when you need it. for what you have been doing even a point and shoot is sufficient. but if you want to do little more its better to upgrade it to 30/33.

-- sajeev (chack74@yahoo.co.in), April 05, 2002.

Is there a specific aspect of your photography that you wish to improve? If not, don't bother to upgrade. But if you need better gear, in most cases a better lens will do more for you than a better camera. having said that, I agree with Sajeev. I have used both cameras and an upgrade to the EOS30/33 is well worth it if you desire a better camera. The metering control is important for me. Build quality is also much better.

-- Derrick Morin (dmorin@oasisol.com), April 05, 2002.

Believe it or not, the camera body has little or no impact on how nice your pictures come out. It really depends on the quality and characteristics of your lens. You don't mention which lens or lenses you have but if you have the 28-80/28-90 lens that came with the camera, upgrading the lens could bring a significant improvement to your pictures. However, if you were to only upgrade the camera body (to the EOS 30/33, for example) but still continued to use the same lens, your pictures won't be any different from ones taken with your EOS 300. Does that sound like money well spent, considering that you were happy with the 300 to begin with?

For the price of a new EOS 30/33, there are many excellent lenses that you might consider that would allow you to take nicer pictures. I'm sure many people would love to offer their recommendations. But it would be helpful to know which lens/lenses you currently have.

-- Peter Phan (pphan01@hotmail.com), April 07, 2002.

In response to the last remark, I own the 28-90 lens that came with the body, but I also have the 50mm mk11, the 50mm macro, the 24mm 2.8 and the 80-200 zoom mk11. I know the 3 prime lenses give better sharpness and quality than the 2 cheap zooms, what I really want to know is if the various extra functions of the 30/33 will handle tricky lighting situations better. Also the 30/33 has mirror lock-up - would that make a big difference (I do sometimes use a tripod and lowish shutter speeds - 1/2 to 1/4 second). Let me know what you think!!!

-- Sarah Needham (sarah.needham1@orange.net), April 07, 2002.

so you have a good collection of primes with shorter focal lenghts. if you are not much interested in going for a larger focal length lenses (since the 80-200mm is not so good) then upgrading your eos 300 would be a better option. from your first posting it seems you were more interested in family albums and snaps shots. since you have some good lenses and is interested in doing something more EOS 30 is the option. you can ofcourse go for it. even any older mid-range camera like EOS 50/50e can be a good candidate.

happy shooting

-- sajeev (chack74@yahoo.co.in), April 08, 2002.

The EOS 30/33 does have a number of better features over the Rebel 2000. One is the mirror lock you mentioned, which is very valuable for use with slower shutter speeds and macro photography. In addition the EOS 30/33 offers a faster frame rate (4 fps versus 1.5 fps), a higher flash sync speed (1/125s versus 1/90s), higher build quality, numerous custom functions, and quieter operation.

One other feature that is often overlooked is DEP. The DEP mode found on the EOS 30/33 (and higher models) is different that the DEP mode on the EOS 300/Rebel 2000. In DEP mode, you are able to designate near/far depth of field points within a scene. First, you autofocus on the nearest point you want sharp. Second, you autofocus on the farthest point you want sharp. Then you compose/frame your image and the camera sets the appropriate focus position, aperture value and corresponding shutter speed to achieve the depth of field you have designated. It is a very convenient, accurate and effective tool to use. (The scene won't look like it is focused correctly, but it is because you are viewing the scene while the apeture is wide open, but the aperture will stop down at the time of exposure).

The DEP mode on the EOS 300/Rebel 2000 does not allow you to designate unique near/far points. It does it automatically for you based on what falls beneath the autofocus sensor spread. It doesn't give you the unique depth of field control that you have with the DEP mode in the EOS 30/33 (and higher) models. For that reason, I believe DEP mode is designated as A-DEP on the Rebel 2000 (A for automatic).

As for additional metering capabilities, the EOS 30/33 allows you to set the camera to evaluative, center-weighted and partial. This gives you slightly more flexibility than what you get in the Rebel 2000, which only allows center-weighted metering in manual mode and requires that you activate partial metering by pressing the (*) button every time you use it. But as far as metering accuracy is concerned, that is more dependent on your metering skills and understanding of metering. I'm not sure if it is available in the UK, but I would highly recommend you look into Charles Campbell's Chromazone Exposure System, a course and tools for developing metering skills with a partial and spot meter: http://www.photonaturalist.com/chromozone/tutorial_2a.html

The custom functions are also very nice to have. Look here for the custom functions that you would have access to on the EOS 30/33:

http://www.photozone.de/EOScf.htm

One notable custom function is the ability to link partial metering to the active autofocus sensor. The Rebel 2000 can only partial meter off the central area. Being able to partial meter at the active focus sensor can increase your metering accuracy. This is particularly helpful if you use Eye-Control, making a seemless intergration of focus-point selection and metering at that position.

One other nice thing about upgrading to the EOS 30/33 is that you get the addition of a Quick Control Dial on the back of the camera. In AV or TV mode, this is used to control exposure compensation. If you learn the Chromazone System, you will be able to identify when and how much exposure compensation to add for any given situation. This is particularly important with slide films. Having learned the Chromazone System, I use the Quick Control Dial to dial in exposure compensation constantly. Having the QCD is a very easy and intuitive way to do it.

Hope that helps.

-- Peter Phan (pphan01@hotmail.com), April 09, 2002.

well said peter. its a good description of 30 Vs 300. it would be very useful to all those who are interested in knowing these differences.

-- sajeev (chack74@yahoo.co.in), April 09, 2002.