Question to photo enthusiasts.

[Nilsen]

Ive been asked to recomend a camera for a friend of mine. He is new to photography.

He has asked me to help him choose between the Canon S3IS and the 350D. He wants picture quality as number one priority and he sais he will _never_ spend money on any other lens than the kit lens and not on other things either except memory cards.


So the question is really. Will the S3 offer the same quality photos as the 350D given the fact that he will only use the kit lens?

I have read reveiws of both cameras but not seen a review were they put them up against eachother.

Thx.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I have no experience of both cameras but I have the predecessor for 350D, the 300D. S3 IS is more of a general consumer camera which is aimed for the 'point and shoot' type of persons. Anyone with a hint of interest in photography should get the 350D or 400D instead (of course those not being the only options).

The S3 most likely will enable shooting photos using the lcd screen for aiming, the 350D will not due to different optics.

The basic setup of 350D will most likely produce slightly better pictures, but it's a better choice mainly for future upgradeability. No matter what he says about upgrading optics if the fly bites it bites and then he'll be happy to have the option.

[Nilsen]

Well thats just it.

The 350D will give him tons of future options, but i know him and he will prolly do as he sais and only bother with the kit lens. I bet he would buy a new DSLR camera before bothering with lens upgrades. So the key question is image qualty of both cameras "out of the box"

[wasq]

Originally posted by Nilsen
So the question is really. Will the S3 offer the same quality photos as the 350D given the fact that he will only use the kit lens?

The Kit lens is actually quite good compared to Point-and-Shoot cameras, but it is quite limited as the tele end is only 55 mm. If I was to buy a camera with only one lens, I would buy the 400D (much better than 350D, 10Mpix, dust removal, better autofocus) and Canon EF 28-300 L lense.

[Nilsen]

Originally posted by wasq
The Kit lens is actually quite good compared to Point-and-Shoot cameras, but it is quite limited as the tele end is only 55 mm. If I was to buy a camera with only one lens, I would buy the 400D (much better than 350D, 10Mpix, dust removal, better autofocus) and Canon EF 28-300 L lense.

The reason for choosing between the two mentioned cameras is that the 350D is "cheap" now after the 400D came out. The 400D is above his budget but the 350D is not.

The 12x zoom and SD card support are both big selling points of the IS3, and would make it a clear winner if the image quality of both cameras were virtually identical.

He will prolly use it on auto for 99% of the time too btw.

[john9001]

tell him to get the S3, "he" won't be able to tell the difference in image quality between that and the 350.

[Nilsen]

Yeah, im leaning that way too. He is borrowing my D50 this weekend so ill see how he likes that one first. He has bigger hands than me so ill take him to my fotostore so he can get a feel for how the S3 feels in his hands.

[wasq]

Well, for what it is worth, I used the 350D to take about 6500 pictures and I found it to be a good camera. I upgraded to 30D in May.

As far as I strech it, it's still quite a clear decision: no extra lenses = S3IS. Unless you go my way and buy the 28-300 L lense. I still would buy 350D+28-300L but if the budget is tight this might not be a feasible solution.

[Nilsen]

thx wasq

Its his lack of enthusiasm that makes me think that maybe the 350D is overkill. Plenty of his gadgets are collecting dust after a few weeks use. A camera is something he will atleast have to use.
 
Ill interview him when he gets back and see if he has ventured beyond full auto and if he has taken any pics at all. If i recomend the cheaper option his wife wont give me as many evil-eyes. Ototh I will get alot of evil-eyes if their family pictures turns out crap