I'm about to sell my 400d and was considering a 5d, 50D or possibly a 5d mark II. I don't have any lenses at the moment. Starting again. I tend to shoot landscapes and people. I'm an enthusiast rather than a pro.

I'd decided on the 5d until I saw the benefits of micro adjust. I tend to buy lenses on Ebay and was planning to buy some fast primes (24 f1.4, 50 f4 and 135 f2 with possibly a 24-70mm f2.8 L).

I love the shallow DOF and was considering FF for that reason. The 5d can be snapped up for a bargain but with the shallow DOF I'd like to use I imagine the micro adjust would be useful for tack sharp images).

I previously owned the 17-55mm f2.8 and wasn't impressed. May have been my camera or a bad copy. I was considering the 50D to be able to get the best out of this lens if I went for a crop camera.

Do I need to bit the bullet and get a 5d mark II?

There's far too much choice!

Thanks in advance,

Tony

Full frame camera.

I wouldn't live without MA ... with 2 MA bodies and 10 lenses ... I wouldn't even consider giving it up.

Thanks for the replies. I guess that leaves me with the 5D II or 50D. Any reasons to avoid the 50D?

I'm leaning towards the 5D mark II though. A bit pricey at the mo!

I will never ever buy a cam that has no micro adjustment... My primes have never been better

I have two 40D bodies and a 5D and none of them require any adjustment. Nice feature to have, but not mandatory. Of course it depends on what you shoot, but I would rather have a 5D without MA, than a 50D that has MA.

what's microadjust? My 40D, 5D and 1D II don't have it.

It allows you to make fine changes to your AF to ensure your lenses are pin sharp. It avoids sending lenses back to Canon for calibration.

People that have it seem to like it.

MA is absolutely one of the nicest features Canon has added.
dialing in a lens to exact focus point is something you will never want to be without once you use it.

it can also give creativity for you when using a crop camera As you can pull the focus point up a notch or two to give a bit better bokeh.

Pixel Perfect wrote:
what's microadjust? My 40D, 5D and 1D II don't have it.

It is that feature to counter the rather loose Canon AF factory defaults

Calibrating all those bodies and lenses under warranty became too costly for Canon...

It is helpful, but I use to leave without fine. Now since I am no pixel sick person , I don't adjust until I see some troubles.

northerner wrote:
It allows you to make fine changes to your AF to ensure your lenses are pin sharp. It avoids sending lenses back to Canon for calibration.

Oh, he knows - the point is, we've managed pretty bloody well without it so far, and while it's nice to have I suppose, I'd rather get the lens that needed it fixed...

It's also of little use for zooms.

This is one of those questions that doesn't really have an accurate answer - photographers have managed 99% of history without MA, but if you regularly shoot wide aperture lenses at wide aperture then I'm sure it's helpful, otherwise the MA is likely to get lost in the depth of field anyway.

FWIW I have MA'd several of my lenses and not actually noticed any difference at all, because zoom lenses are tricky to MA anyway and I rarely shoot wide open, others shoot very differently

Should it be a reason not to buy a camera? Not to me, I'd much rather have live view than MA

David

If MA feature can be added only by firmware update, Canon should do it with all existing bodies.

Lenses and bodies are manufactured separately. Therefore, getting a perfect combination is always difficult.

keithreeder wrote:
northerner wrote:
It allows you to make fine changes to your AF to ensure your lenses are pin sharp. It avoids sending lenses back to Canon for calibration.

Oh, he knows - the point is, we've managed pretty bloody well without it so far, and while it's nice to have I suppose, I'd rather get the lens that needed it fixed...

It's also of little use for zooms.



Ah good on you keith. It appears not putting a smiley at the end of a sentence is a serious error.

I'm really nervous when I hear of the extreme microadjust many seem to need for all their lenses on cameras like the 1D III. I'd say all of my lenses are pretty well spot on, on my 1D II and 5D.

I've had far fewer AF accuracy issues with the 1D/s series than xxD series, even with the same lenses. (There is no need to mention the 1D MK III, as there is a true defect.) 50D really needs the adjustment for some lenses. I did not use the 5D2 enough to determine the absolute accuracy, but the MA is nice with the Liveview for checking.

EBH

Go for the 50D or 5D Mark II - they both have microadjust, and another feature I can't live without now - live view. You can use the LCD for focusing instead of the viewfinder. For your landscapes, that means you could zoom in at 10x and fine tune your focus for razor sharp images without having to review them and zoom in after the shot.

Of course, some here will say you could just take the shot and zoom in afterwards, but to me, that's like arguing against power windows on a car.

Oh, and you can use live view to get unique angles. It takes the guesswork out if you're holding the camera over your head to get a child looking up.

People have been using cameras without microadjust for a long time, so yes I can live without it. But progress is pretty, so if you think you need it, then go for it!

I would rather have a 1Ds2 without MA than a 50D with...

Daan B wrote:
It is that feature to counter the rather loose Canon-Nikon-Olympus-Pentax-Sony AF factory defaults

Calibrating all those bodies and lenses under warranty became too costly for Canon-Nikon-Olympus-Pentax-Sony...


I fixed that for you

NumberFive wrote:
Go for the 50D or 5D Mark II - they both have microadjust, and another feature I can't live without now - live view. You can use the LCD for focusing instead of the viewfinder. For your landscapes, that means you could zoom in at 10x and fine tune your focus for razor sharp images without having to review them and zoom in after the shot.

Of course, some here will say you could just take the shot and zoom in afterwards, but to me, that's like arguing against power windows on a car.


I hate power windows! It's just one more thing to go wrong as a car ages... & crank handles work perfectly well.

But seriously, I appreciate all the new user-friendly titoos Canon are coming out with but you have to wonder whether some of these things are going to become repair nightmares in a couple of years.

Thanks for all the really useful replies. Your opinions have been really helpful. I think it's going to have to be the 5D mk II.

joezasada wrote:
I would rather have a 1Ds2 without MA than a 50D with...

Exactly.

EBH

alanwarp wrote:
Daan B wrote:
It is that feature to counter the rather loose Canon-Nikon-Olympus-Pentax-Sony AF factory defaults

Calibrating all those bodies and lenses under warranty became too costly for Canon-Nikon-Olympus-Pentax-Sony...


I fixed that for you

Dude, are there really other camera brands besides Canon?

Daan B wrote:

Dude, are there really other camera brands besides Canon?


oh crap...no just canon, really no one else...shhhhh