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Hi Everyone!
This morning we spotted a Canon EOS 30D camera with lens at a local second-hand shop, for $150. It seems to me like a pretty good price for a decent camera (I’m guessing that the op-shop staff don’t know it’s value, although I could be wrong!).
Jemima currently has a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7, and is thinking of upgrading to this one, but would like to know if it is a recommended camera or not!
A couple of things about it that I’m not 100% sure about though… (1) It is a 2006 model – is there any problem with ‘old’ cameras, or simply that it won’t be a touch screen etc.? And (2) I found online that this model has a 3x optical zoom. Would this only be if there was no lens on the camera? So that if a lens that had a good zoom capability was attached to the camera, it would be able to zoom up more than 3x?
Thank you for any help!
Laura
Wow, that camera is practically an antique! 🙂 It’s nearly 20 years old!
I generally wouldn’t recommend quite so old a camera, but hey, James used to shoot with a 40D if I remember correctly! 🙂 What lens does it have with it? That will definitely affect the value of the kit, cause the camera body itself isn’t very valuable, as old as it is.
3x zoom is just a marketing gimmick that isn’t really helpful. I’m guessing it’s an 18-55mm lens, so that would indeed be 3.055x zoom (55 divided by 18). If the camera comes with the 18-55mm lens, then that’s a pretty standard kit, and nothing very special or valuable (especially considering its age.)
Another thing to consider is memory cards… That camera uses CF cards, and if there’s not one included, you might have some trouble tracking one down (and/or finding a compatible card reader). Then again, maybe everyone is selling their old cards and readers, and maybe you can find a cheap one somewhere.
I won’t tell you not to get it, because it *might* be a good starter DSLR and give you some good years of service. Just beware that it’s old, and electronics are generally not built to last decades, especially ones that fall on the cheaper end of the spectrum.
Definitely check it carefully before agreeing to buy. Does it power on? Autofocus? Can it take sharp photos? Is the lens foggy or mildewed? Does the battery hold a charge? Any signs if being dropped or damaged?
Lack of touchscreen isn’t a big deal, there are lots of pro photographers who don’t have touchscreens.
Here’s a comparison with a much newer entry level DSLR from Canon, the T7: https://camspex.com/comparison.php?camera1=Canon+EOS+2000D+%28Rebel+T7%29&camera2=Canon+EOS+30D
A few points to notice: The LCD screen is very small and low resolution, and there’s no video or live view. Personally, I don’t think I’d pay $150 for that kit. MAYBE $100 if everything looked good. That’s my 2 cents! 🙂
Thank you for your thoughts, @buddingphotographer! Yes, it is an old camera, which is a big downfall! Thankfully cameras age faster than humans though…otherwise I’d be an antique also!!
Not sure about the lens, and we’re not actually sure if the camera even would turn on when tested, as it is labelled with ‘needs new battery’… So that might even mean that it won’t turn on. But the shop has agreed to give us a ‘trial run’ on the camera, and will refund the money if it doesn’t work.
Yeah, will have to check and see if it has a memory card. Could possibly be a gamechanger for us.
And to clarify the price, when I said $150, that is actually equal to $93.42 USD…so that was quite misleading, sorry!😀
Again, thank you for your insights!
You’re very welcome!
Wow, that’s nice that the shop will let you take the camera for a spin! Sounds like it was a better price than I was originally thinking too. 🙂 Have fun with it!@buddingphotographer covered everything that I can think of!
I started with a 20D (in 2006), then upgraded to a 40D (then to a 5Dii, then 5Diii, then 7Dii), so 30D sure is a long time ago!
Did it pass the initial trial run, @laura-aome? Be sure to set up scenarios and take test photos with both cameras to see on the computer the difference between the two with the exact same photos.
Thanks, @jamesstaddon. That’s a good idea; we’ll have to do a comparison!!
The camera is working fine…we were given the impression that the camera wouldn’t even turn on because it “needed a new battery”, so we didn’t even try to turn it on when we were checking it out at the shop. But it turned on at home and the battery has only just gone flat now!
The photos seem to be very low quality (such as when you try to wind up the brightness on the editor it goes very grainy or something!), although I do realize that it might be capable of doing higher quality but we don’t know how to change it yet! Also we don’t know how to easily download them. Do Canon cameras need a special downloading program? I use Play Memories Home for my Sony camera, and that wasn’t even recognizing the Canon.
I can’t really say how it is going, as we still don’t know how to change things such as the aperture and shutter speed! One thing, though, is that when I was taking photos on it the other day, they looked nice and bright through the viewfinder, but when viewed on the camera screen or computer monitor, they seemed to be darker, which was funny!
–Laura
Laura, you should be able to find and download an user manual from online.
As for why the photos look bright in the viewfinder but not on the computer monitor, it could be because of a setting that adjusts the brightness. Also the camera screen is probably not very good quality. I know there’s a big difference between a old camera we have and my newer one.The photos seem to be very low quality (such as when you try to wind up the brightness on the editor it goes very grainy or something!)
I’m not surprised, considering the amazing progress at noise reduction and better light sensitivity that has been made since 2006. It’s likely that you can do some better with techniques such as “expose to the right”, but that old camera is going to give noisier results than a modern camera, period.
Does the camera come with a USB cable for connecting to a PC? If not, you’ll need a CF card reader. Usually you don’t need any special software for copying photos to your computer: just use your file browser to select all of the photos on the camera card and copy them to a folder on your computer’s hard drive. Are you on a Windows computer?
If the photos are turning out too dark, make sure you’re on “Auto” mode. The shutter speed or aperture might be adjusted wrong, causing the photos to turn out underexposed. Auto will let the camera select the proper exposure, and you should get better results.
Keep in mind that with a DSLR “what you see” through the viewfinder is not “what you get” when you press the shutter button as far as exposure is concerned. If you’re used to a point and shoot camera with live view and automatic exposure preview it can take a little while to get used to that. 🙂
Blessings Captured’s idea is a good one. Here’s a link to the owner’s manual for the 30D. https://canoncanada.custhelp.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1036444/~/eos-30d-instruction-manual
Thanks, @blessingscaptured! And @buddingphotographer, thanks for the link to the manual…I’ll get Jemima to have a look at it🙃.
That’s very interesting that you don’t see the proper exposure through the viewfinder…I really didn’t know that! That might be why the ‘photo’ looked brighter through the viewfinder than when I saw it on the screen after it was taken. I thought ‘no live view’ meant that it was just the same as live view, but through the viewfinder, not the screen!
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