Auction, good deal?

[bcavanau]

I am in the process of moving from a point (3.2MP) and shoot to a digital SLR.

I am leaning towards a Canon Rebel XTi (10MP). Any thoughts?

I found an ebay auction that seems to be be great, would love some opinions...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-EOS-Digit...992598QQihZ018QQcategoryZ147173QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks in advance,
Brian

 

[maestrokev]

The XTi is a great camera in that price range. Check out http://www.dpreview.com and other photography review sites and you'll find lots of compliments.

 

[baby duck monge]

Well the auction is over now. I hope you weren't the winner. J&K Camera is associated with a number of known scam companies (BestPriceCamera, Infinity Camera, etc.).

 

[bcavanau]

Well the auction is over now. I hope you weren't the winner. J&K Camera is associated with a number of known scam companies (BestPriceCamera, Infinity Camera, etc.).

No, I did have not made a final decision yet, but good to know about the company...

Do you recommend a particular store, or eBay seller? Looking for a deal similar.

 

[epicwelshman]

No, I did have not made a final decision yet, but good to know about the company...

Do you recommend a particular store, or eBay seller? Looking for a deal similar.

Honestly, my advice is to buy from a reputable store. B&H is great if you're in the U.S., or of course Best Buy or similar. In Canada there's Camera Canada, Black's Photo, Carsand Mosher etc. If you find it cheaper than any of these places then it's probably a scam, at least in my experience.

 

[-hh]

Well the auction is over now. I hope you weren't the winner. J&K Camera is associated with a number of known scam companies (BestPriceCamera, Infinity Camera, etc.).

The only way that I'd touch J&K is with a ten foot pole...that's got a LIVE hand grenade attached.

In looking at this eBay auction, they bundled that camera with a lot of real trash items that you don't need or want. As such, while that $880 price sounds like a great a value with all the extras, let's take a look at them:

Two UV filters - - for no-names and in these sizes, these are worth $5 each.

Two folding lens hoods - - I made the mistake of buying one of these awhile ago and found that they are utter garbage. Real world worth is zero.

2GB CF Memory - - its standard speed! That is such "old tech" that they're starting to get hard to find. Note that the colors suggest SanDisk brand, but the image has no name on it. To say that this card is worth all of $15 is generous.

USB Memory Card Reader - - call it $8

'Carry Case' - - on the streets of Brooklyn this bag is $5.

Tripod & Mini tripod - - again really cheap stuff. $10 each (and do you really need both?)

Lens cleaning kit - - $2, tops.

(Subtotal: $60)

I'm going to ignore the 'free battery grip' as a feature, as I'm going to assume that any order from J&K contains something that isn't going to work, be the wrong product, etc. Their reputation simply is too utterly bad.

So in getting rid of this whole pile of abysmal quality & BS Accessories and using B&H as a reputable dealer:

$659.95 - price for XTi body

$129.00 - Sigma 28-70 (cheapest lens that Sigma sells)

$139.00 - Sigma 70-300 (second cheapest lens that Sigma sells)

This all sums to $928. As such, this means that all of the risk that you're taking through eBay with dealing with a known-questionable dealer versus a known-good one is going to save you only $50...although I'd probably be more inclined to get the body with the 18-55 kit lens for $717, and the Canon EF 75-300 ($150) is probably the equal to the Sigma. This combination would add up to $867...

-hh

 

[bcavanau]

The only way that I'd touch J&K is with a ten foot pole...that's got a LIVE hand grenade attached.

In looking at this eBay auction, they bundled that camera with a lot of real trash items that you don't need or want. As such, while that $880 price sounds like a great a value with all the extras, let's take a look at them:

Two UV filters - - for no-names and in these sizes, these are worth $5 each.

Two folding lens hoods - - I made the mistake of buying one of these awhile ago and found that they are utter garbage. Real world worth is zero.

2GB CF Memory - - its standard speed! That is such "old tech" that they're starting to get hard to find. Note that the colors suggest SanDisk brand, but the image has no name on it. To say that this card is worth all of $15 is generous.

USB Memory Card Reader - - call it $8

'Carry Case' - - on the streets of Brooklyn this bag is $5.

Tripod & Mini tripod - - again really cheap stuff. $10 each (and do you really need both?)

Lens cleaning kit - - $2, tops.

(Subtotal: $60)

I'm going to ignore the 'free battery grip' as a feature, as I'm going to assume that any order from J&K contains something that isn't going to work, be the wrong product, etc. Their reputation simply is too utterly bad.

So in getting rid of this whole pile of abysmal quality & BS Accessories and using B&H as a reputable dealer:

$659.95 - price for XTi body

$129.00 - Sigma 28-70 (cheapest lens that Sigma sells)

$139.00 - Sigma 70-300 (second cheapest lens that Sigma sells)

This all sums to $928. As such, this means that all of the risk that you're taking through eBay with dealing with a known-questionable dealer versus a known-good one is going to save you only $50...although I'd probably be more inclined to get the body with the 18-55 kit lens for $717, and the Canon EF 75-300 ($150) is probably the equal to the Sigma. This combination would add up to $867...

-hh

Thank you for breaking it down..Once i found out about the reputation, that was obviously a deal breaker.

I am now looking at B&H (per epicwelshman's suggestion). They have the body, 18-55mm lens and 133x (2GB) card for 759 + 12 s&h...best reputable deal I have found so far.

Since you seem to be quite knowledgable, what lenses would you recommend for a beginner, besides the 18-55...do I really need any others, or will this suite me for quite a while until I get more into it?

 

[nbs2]

Since you seem to be quite knowledgable, what lenses would you recommend for a beginner, besides the 18-55...do I really need any others, or will this suite me for quite a while until I get more into it?

As always, it will depend on what you plan to do with it. I ended up getting a 50-200 and a 50 prime to go with my kit lens. I normally use the 50, but keep the other two for when I may need to change my distance. I am thinking about selling my 50-200 to get something a little longer (like a 75-300).

Unless there is a type of photography you plan to do right away that would call for wider or longer, I would stick with the kit until you are sure. Just make sure to get a 50 prime. Really nice lenses, they are.

 

[ChrisA]

I am in the process of moving from a point (3.2MP) and shoot to a digital SLR.

I am leaning towards a Canon Rebel XTi (10MP). Any thoughts?

I found an ebay auction that seems to be be great, would love some opinions...

Not going to say what brand to buy but. Please do remember that you are going to be "married" to the company, be it Nikon or Canon for perhaps decades. You will collect some lenses and then when you ned to upgrade the body you will want to keep the lenses so you will buy the same brand body. This cycle can repeat forever because switching brands is not easy or cheap. You do NOT want to commit to a long term relationship with Nikon or Canon just because you stumbled on a deal were you could save $50. Think it through. Are you ever going to want one of those expensive 80-200 zooms are a fish eye or an 85mm f/1.4 lens? If so pick them out now BEFORE you commit to a brand

So look at the FULL SET of equipment you will want. The big thing is the lenses. Which body you buy hardly matters much. It's your kit of optics that determines what you can do. So look, plan out the next few things you want. And decide on a brand AFTER doing so five year planning. Have you decided you like the Canon 18-55 "kit" lens? Is it better then the one on you P&S? Is there another lenses you like better? You do NOT have to buy the kit lens if you don't want it. They sell "body only". Do a bit of homework. then buy.

Don't buy a new camera from eBay. All of the cheap camera deals are scams. There are enough good companies to buy from. Even buying used on eBay, many camera deals are scams -- Pawnshop brokers posing as private parties and so on selling junk no one would buy if they could see it first. I don't know what it is about cameras but they seem to be the things these scammers use. Most of the web and eBay is safe but what out for cameras

 

[-hh]

As always, it will depend on what you plan to do with it. I ended up getting a 50-200 and a 50 prime to go with my kit lens. I normally use the 50, but keep the other two for when I may need to change my distance. I am thinking about selling my 50-200 to get something a little longer (like a 75-300).

Unless there is a type of photography you plan to do right away that would call for wider or longer, I would stick with the kit until you are sure. Just make sure to get a 50 prime. Really nice lenses, they are.

Yes, the classic answer is "it depends".

For lenses, I started (with film) with a Pentax K-1000 many moons ago. Had a 50mm & 35mm prime, and a mild zoom (? to 200mm).

When I moved to Canon in the 1990's, I started with a Tamron 28-200, but fairly quickly traded that in for the EF 28-135 IS. This served as a good general purpose lens for when I didn't really know what my photographic passions are.

Later, I decided that wildlife was an interest, so I needed more telephoto (a vacation to Alaska), so I added a 75-300 IS (Alaska). This has since been effectively replaced by my first (and still only) "L" lens, the 70-200 f/2.8 IS, which I use a lot with a 1.4x teleextender on a 20D dSLR ("1.6x" crop) for an effective 150-450mm reach.


Along the way, I also became attracted to increasingly wide angle perspectives. As such, there's a Tamron 19-35 in my bag. For when I pack light (which is now most of the time), what I end up carrying is just the WA and the Tele, which currently results in me having a gap where I have nothing between 35mm to 70mm because I've essentially stopped carrying my 28-135 IS lens. This gap doesn't bother me one bit...I know that I can zoom with my feet

Along the way, I also picked up a 50mm prime, figuring that I'd use it primarily with my collection of Cokin 'creative' filters. For whatever reason, playing around with the Cokin filters hasn't carried much interest with me like it did when I had my old Pentax system. Maybe that interest will resurface? I don't know.

For my near-term future, I'm finding with my (non-fullframe) dSLR to not be anywhere near as wide as I like. As such, "something wider" is on my to-do list, along with moving to an Underwater housing so that I can retire my increasingly archaic 35mm Nikonos V camera system. Of course, if I happen to stumble across a nice 400mm telephoto at a great price, it will be snapped up because I'm starting to get more interested in birding and what I have now is relatively lightweight/portable, but a far cry from being a system that can excel in that area...in a perfect world, an EF 400mm DO IS f/4 would only cost $550 instead of $5500.


-hh

 

[Martin C]

Yeah, B&H is fantastic. I'm lucky enough to have their one and only superstore in my hometown of NYC. I highly recommend them.

 

[epicwelshman]

Unless there is a type of photography you plan to do right away that would call for wider or longer, I would stick with the kit until you are sure. Just make sure to get a 50 prime. Really nice lenses, they are.

I second (third?) that. I have the 18-55 kit lens with my Nikon D40x, and it's a wonderful little lens. My main problem is that I do a lot of landscape/street shooting, of equal parts, so I feel like I need a telephoto, wide angle AND a macro lens, not to mention a nice 50mm prime. Obviously this would add up to a couple thousand dollars at minimum, but at least I know what I want/need now. Shoot a few thousand photos with the kit lens, and you'll quickly figure out where you feel you're lacking.

 

[tsk]

Yeah, B&H is fantastic. I'm lucky enough to have their one and only superstore in my hometown of NYC. I highly recommend them.

I also highly recommend Beach Camera. My experience is their prices are about the same as B&H but their shipping is free. And they ship out the products immediately with the free shipping (unlike Amazon where if you choose free shipping, they wait several days before shipping).

I would also avoid any kits like this as people have said. I think you're far better off purchasing exactly what you want so you know exactly what you're getting.

 

[raptor96]

I also highly recommend Beach Camera. My experience is their prices are about the same as B&H but their shipping is free. And they ship out the products immediately with the free shipping (unlike Amazon where if you choose free shipping, they wait several days before shipping).

I would also avoid any kits like this as people have said. I think you're far better off purchasing exactly what you want so you know exactly what you're getting.

I'd like to add my 2 cents here: I bought my camera (D50 + kit lens) with Beach Camera as well and I'd like to say they were both fantastic and hassle free + I got a great deal on my camera since it was being discontinued. I also believe that my camera came 2 days after I ordered it when I got normal shipping. Pretty sweet. Also I've been shooting with my kit lens for a while and I'd second/third the suggestion that you shoot for a while before diving in and purchasing more lenses. The kit lens is an inexpensive way to figure out what you're missing. (Example) For me I knew when I started that I'd want a wide angle and a telezoom but having shot for a while w/ my kit lens I know know that I want the zoom much more than the wide angle. Hope you get what you need and cheers on the new camera!