Hi,

I have a Canon 500D. I am using the camera for my real estate photos which is mostly for indoor shooting.
I would like to buy a new camera either Nikon D3400 or Nikon D5600.
My main objective is to buy a wide angle lens actually so that I can capture more when indoor.

Would my old Canon 500D serve my need if I buy a wide angle lens to pair with it?
Or it is worth it to go all out and get a new camera?

I just point, align and shoot automatically. I don't have much time usually. It has to be fast as the owners usually don't give me much time.
One gripe that I have with the 500D is the recording. It just can't record much. It only takes about 30 seconds to 1m each video until it ends abruptly.
Other than that, if the performance isn't much better than the newer cameras for my needs (indoor shooting), I will just remain with the Canon 500D and get a wide angle lens and record videos using iPhone 8.

New question.
I fancy Sony A6000 since it is small and lightweight. Very practical.
However, I can't find ultra wide angle lenses for this camera.

Thanks

Price list
Nikon D3400
RM2268 at Harvey Norman
RM1800 body only and RM2150 with lens and bag and memory card at Shashinki.

Nikon D5600
RM3677 with 18-55mm lens at Harvey Norman

Sony A6000
Ranges from RM2000-3000.

Lenses
Tokina 11-16mm lens costs RM1750.
Canon EF-S 10-18mm costs RM1030

This post has been edited by barca96: Jul 11 2018, 12:24 PM

lens, a different body would give u better dynamic range and all that,
but doesn't seem like u need an upgrade?.

I used to own a 500D

1. Current cameras are way better/sharper than the 500D.
Afterall It’s almost a decade old. Autofocus speed on newer cameras would be way faster.

2. As for video recording, that’s due to your card. Get a Sandisk ultra or extreme and that should solve your problem.

I would try getting a new card and see if you can live with it. If you can’t, just get a new camera. The SD card can be used on the new camera as well.

This post has been edited by LegendLee: Jul 10 2018, 02:13 PM

Just fyi. Getting the Nikons you mentioned will not solve your problem.

1. will the low light photos be much better with the new cameras or would a new lens do the trick?

2. noted

I just need to take indoor photos which most of the time with not so good light condition. That is all.
That's why I am hesitant on spending over RM3k on a new camera and on top of that a new lens which is another 2k.

If the quality level of the photos won't be much different (especially low light indoor) then I might as well stick with the 500D and buy a wide angle lens.

If low light is a concern, you can get a new camera.
There are faster/brighter lenses. But the ones below Rm2k are not wide angle.

Wide angle lens below Rm2k will not help much with the low light issue too.

Get a new camera. Their low light performance will be much better. Current Nikon camera you mention handle noise way better than older canon cameras as well.

If you are hesitant to invest this much in another camera. You can get a tripod. Increase your exposure time (TV mode). This will solve your low light issue to a certain extend. But you now have a tripod to carry around.

I would recommend flashes too. But they’re not that cheap, and a certain amount of skill is required. Plus you may not want to spend too much effort and time between every real estate shot.

This post has been edited by LegendLee: Jul 10 2018, 05:27 PM

Buy cheap tripod, does not need to be robust cause u doing indoor anyway. Set longer exposure like 1/10s or longer, with 2s wait time before shot. See if that makes a difference. Or get p20 pro and set night mode, lol.

U buy new camera but dont do post process is a bit wasted IMO.

This post has been edited by TrialGone: Jul 10 2018, 05:48 PM

Just use the 500D, plenty sufficient. Pair it with lens like EF-S 10-18 and you're good to go.



SD card problem.

It's not about the speed / class, it's the card that you're using.

Some SD cards do have have this problem.

Get a tripod. Low light not an issue when you're on a tripod, just set to long exposure.

Flash are cheap, RM 300 - 400 can get nice Godox unit already. RM 1k+ can get a set with trigger.

The problem with flash is not only skill to shoot but also need to find place to place them, need to bring stand for flash, need to worry about batteries.

I shoot interior so many years also never touch flash, don't see the need unless the scenes are so complex that you have some really dark areas somewhere that need to be lit.

lets say if u get a full frame,
like a 6D or something thats gonna be something like 3-4k with a kit lens.

i'd spend on some decent lenses, nice 14 or 25, anything inbetween.
get a prime lens so u get abit more quality.
for a good prime you're looking at somewhere 900-1500

and if you're keen for legacy, look up which ones can fit the canon mount, and go crazy!
legacy sells something like 200-400 bucks per piece. but no auto focus, and no stabilization,
but i believe your 500d does.

Price wise is cheap when compared to a lens or a body.
But it is still a couple hundred bucks.

I agree, shooting wide angle with flashes is not easy for a beginner and it is very time consuming.
The placement of flash, angle, power, modifier all have to be good else the image would look fake and bad.
So if TS only has a few minutes for several shots, I don't think using Flash is a valid solution.

For SD cards purchased in the last 5 years, speed is very rarely the issue.
And I've experienced brands/cards which are problematic.

However for a SD card released the same time as the 500D... eg a Class 2 or Class 4.
This might be an issue.
Canon 500D has a maximum bit rate of about 45mbps or about 5+MByte/s.
A class 2 or class 4 SD card might not be able to keep up.
I did encounter this many years ago especially for wide angle videos with lots of details/noise.

Ultimately, it seems that TS just wants a solution which is
- Convenient and easy.
- Fast as he has limited time.

Thus, the easiest solution would be to get a current camera which should give him a >2 stop advantage.
Pair that with a Wide angle lens and with the similar effort and time taken... he can get relatively better images albeit at a significant cost.

But if he doesn't mind carrying a tripod around and spending a little more time.
Then that would be a better and more cost effective solution.

This post has been edited by LegendLee: Jul 10 2018, 10:04 PM

Sounds like a tripod would serve you best but it would take time to set up.

If you have somewhere to hang or put the camera on a table, maybe one of those smaller tripod things (i.e gorilla pod might work).

This post has been edited by nicknyhk: Jul 10 2018, 10:26 PM

I agree with others... tripod should be the priority here. If the owners pay you to get good photos, they should give you time to set up and get the best shots possible. If they just want quick jobs they can just take photos with their own phones. You should also be arranging furniture, decorations, playing with the lights etc. - this is where your art will shine. And all of this takes more time than setting up a tripod.

A new camera definitely has better ISO performance, but since this is indoors and no action, just do a long exposure shot at ISO 100. You'll get a clean photo. Also, do some exposure bracketing and HDR manually in post. Obviously, your composition is key here, so a wide angle lens would really help a lot.

I'm sure this way you can get much better results compared to 'point, align, and shoot automatically' even with a new RM10K camera and RM5K lens.

Back then we have many other users face those recording issue.

I even made this video to prove that Class 2 is not a problem.



Pretty sure it can keep up as the recording rate is variable, so as long as buffer is there it should not be an issue.

The ones that gave me problem are on the other hand Class 10 cards, from certain brands.

2 stops advantage might seem good but once the lighting condition is bad it won't be any much better.

Tripod is best simply because it's just a matter of exposure time, also one doesn't spend too much time on tripod.

Setup is just 2 minutes at most.

Did you manage to test the actual card write speed?
Both the class 2 and class 10?

Of course this depends on the buffer size and the actual bit rate.

Some companies, especially back then, like to overestimate their write speed and set a higher speed class. While other good brands like Sandisk tend to underestimate their write speed so a class 2 might get 3mbyte/s or faster.

I did not record a footage to show low speed cards causing video to stop but others on YouTube have.


It’s true that cheaper/certain brands of SD cards also tend to fail more frequently. Not due to speed but they just simply don’t work well with canon videos which are generally really big.
But saying Card speed doesn’t matter at all is not true.
It’s even stated in canon’s dslr manual.

Either way, a sandisk ultra card sold today will work and
it is also really cheap compared to 2009/2010. It’s easier to find a class 10 cards compared to a class 2 in shops today.
There is no point trying to skimp just to save a few ringgit and get a class 2/4 today.

As for the tripod.
I agree.
However if you need to take like 10 pics from different angles and you’ve 5 mins. Tripod might not be the best solution, esp if your main role isn’t a photog.
It depends on the limitation.

This post has been edited by LegendLee: Jul 11 2018, 10:25 AM

Thanks for your input. By current camera you mean a new camera or using my current camera (Canon 500D)?

Just get the Nikon D3400 and kit lens. (18-55) that includes Nikon's image stabilization (Vibration Reduction, VR).

18mm is wide enough and ISO range is quite good.

Having VR can further reduce hand shake.

“Current” in my reply means a “current/latest” entry level dslr.

In conclusion. There are better/cheaper solution to get good images but all this would require you to do/carry additional stuff.
You can give the tripod a try.

But if you insist on a point and shoot/convenient solution.
Getting a new body will improve your image quality with very little change to your workflow.
It all depends if your 500d images is usable. If it is, then a new body will make the image sharper/less noisy (an improvement). If your 500d takes really awful images that customer cannot accept it, then changing body will not help.

Also the 500D takes awful 20fps fullhd video.
Upgrading would give you a much better frame rate/less choppy. Wireless functionality might be useful for you as well. With that, you can quickly whatsapp the photos etc before reaching home/office to transfer the photos.

This post has been edited by LegendLee: Jul 11 2018, 11:46 AM