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D30 Reasonable Used

gstaylor

New Member
I am a long time user of film SLRs and shoot kids sports, including hockey. I want to get into digital and am considering searching out a used Canon SLR. I have reviewed the features of various SLRs. Lag time is the thing you want to minimize with shooting sports. Is there a noticable difference moving from D30 -- D60 up through the current "amateur" offerings?

If I locate a good buy on a D30, maybe it would be worrth while, but if the lower Pixels and if slower, maybe I should save my money for a 10D (at least).
 
> I've had the D30, 10D, 20D, and 1D. The D30 is a good camera. I never noticed any lag time as there is in the consumer Power Shot Pro 1. There are some good buys on D30's. I just sold mine for $525, body only. I also like the > 10D and use it as backup to the 1D. Didn't like the 20D and sold that too. When I had the D30 I used it for bird shots (flight) in continuous shooting mode and never had problems with lag time. No problems with colors either. > If you buy the body only, you will also need a lens. A good all-around lens is the Canon 28-135 IS, which would probably be what you need for hockey and sports shots.
 
> You will not be happy with anything less than a 10D or 1D. Even the 10D is not as fast as the current 20D when it comes to action and sports, but it far surpasses the D60. Seriously, you would be better off with a decent used 1D with its virtually zero shutter lag (when I started shooting with mine, it seemed like it could take the picture before I decided to) and 8 frames per second speed. Even with 4.1 megapixels, it's perfectly adequate for newspaper, magazine and up to 8x10 work. With a good noise and/or sharpening program, much bigger prints can be made. In fact, since I'm saving for the next generation of 1Ds, and don't do much sports work right now. I'll sell my 1D.
 
I have a few Canon lenses, so I will keep with Canon. I tried a few zooms and have a 70-200 f/4 L now and it is a great lens: the best feature is the fast focusing. The f4 is a bit dark for indoor hockey, but I have had great results using a Canon 50E (ElanII) and 800 speed film. For soccer, I would like a little longer lens, so using digital with 1.6x factor, I should be in good shaoe, without requiring a tele-extender, or new lens.

I will keep looking at the used market: any tips there? I will check into the features of the 1D, as I have not thought of that model.

Lag time aside, it seems like I would do okay with any Canon SLR entry to start, but may want to upgrade, so this is why I am looking into used at this time. Every new model seems to outdo the previous in some way. That is how electronics seems to be. Thanks for the input!
 
>Hi Scott,

Not sure if this is the the sort of advice you are referring to, but I have got some good bargains off ebay as far new lenses. You may also want to check out Barnes and Noble as they also have some below retail lenses and other accessories.

Steve

the answer to life the universe and everything is 42
 
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