topic Re: Old Gear in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Old Gear

FiveseveN — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 23:24:01 GMT

Anyone else with old gear?

I have a 12 year old Rebel XTi with a 60mm macro, 18-55 basic lens, and a 70-300 IS lens that seems to produce a lot of noise, especially at full zoom.

I bought the lenses at the same time. Is there anything I can do about the noise issue with the zoom? Not sure if the problem wasn't there before, or if I just didn't notice it before.

Other than the noise issue, I love my old equipment, and even if I eventually upgrade, will never part with it. (Unless it gets destroyed or something )

Re: Old Gear

Waddizzle — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 01:41:30 GMT

Odds that the noise was always there. I have a T5 with 75-300mm kit lens, and it, too, seems noisy at the long end, It is the camera, not the lens. The aperture is at the rear of the lens, which means the same amount of light passes through the lens elements, no matter the aperture setting.

Re: Old Gear

FiveseveN — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 03:08:09 GMT

Yeah, that's what someone else told me too... I guess that means I need a new (to me) camera body. Any recommendations? Something I can use with my current lenses if possible. (though I think some dust got in my zoom lens)

Re: Old Gear

RobertTheFat — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 13:19:49 GMT

@FiveseveN wrote:
Yeah, that's what someone else told me too... I guess that means I need a new (to me) camera body. Any recommendations? Something I can use with my current lenses if possible. (though I think some dust got in my zoom lens)

Any Canon APS-C camera will work with your lenses. That includes the 7D, the 7D Mark II, all Rebels, and all nnD models except the 10D (which you're unlikely to find, because it's even older than your Xti).

Re: Old Gear

FiveseveN — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 05:34:41 GMT

What would be the best for macro, landscape, and timed exposure

Re: Old Gear

TTMartin — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 11:47:12 GMT

@FiveseveN wrote:
Anyone else with old gear?

I have a 12 year old Rebel XTi with a 60mm macro, 18-55 basic lens, and a 70-300 IS lens that seems to produce a lot of noise, especially at full zoom.

I bought the lenses at the same time. Is there anything I can do about the noise issue with the zoom? Not sure if the problem wasn't there before, or if I just didn't notice it before.

Other than the noise issue, I love my old equipment, and even if I eventually upgrade, will never part with it. (Unless it gets destroyed or something )

Your statement has a lot of ambiguous terms. Many people confuse out of focus areas with noise. When you say at full zoom, do you mean when using the lens at 300mm or when viewing the photos at 100%?

Perhaps you could post a photo that illustrates what you are saying.

Re: Old Gear

Waddizzle — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 12:19:03 GMT

@FiveseveN wrote:
Yeah, that's what someone else told me too... I guess that means I need a new (to me) camera body. Any recommendations? Something I can use with my current lenses if possible. (though I think some dust got in my zoom lens)

No, it doesn't necessarily mean you "need" a new camera body, but I am sure you "want" one, which I think is a good idea.

I have often wondered about why, with exposure settings being equal, that I seem to get less noise with a lens with a larger front element than one with a smaller front element, most particularly at longer focal lengths. '

I don't know if I am seeing a difference because of the physics involved, the differences in manufacturing quality, or a combination of both.

Re: Old Gear

FiveseveN — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 17:03:34 GMT

@TTMartin wrote:
@FiveseveN wrote:
Anyone else with old gear?

I have a 12 year old Rebel XTi with a 60mm macro, 18-55 basic lens, and a 70-300 IS lens that seems to produce a lot of noise, especially at full zoom.

I bought the lenses at the same time. Is there anything I can do about the noise issue with the zoom? Not sure if the problem wasn't there before, or if I just didn't notice it before.

Other than the noise issue, I love my old equipment, and even if I eventually upgrade, will never part with it. (Unless it gets destroyed or something )
Your statement has a lot of ambiguous terms. Many people confuse out of focus areas with noise. When you say at full zoom, do you mean when using the lens at 300mm or when viewing the photos at 100%?

Perhaps you could post a photo that illustrates what you are saying.

Noise as in those funky little aberrations in an area that should be a fairly smooth.

@Full zoom, as in @300 zoom on the lens. I don't have an old photo of the moon on this computer to show you (long story) but just to test it, I took photos of the moon last night... in the sky and any 'flat' areas of the moon, as in, large areas with little variation in color. It is almost like my 100 ISO setting is acting like 800 or 1600 ISO

Re: Old Gear

TTMartin — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 13:16:23 GMT

It looks like this

Instead of this?

Re: Old Gear

FiveseveN — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 16:32:44 GMT

Not quite that bad but yes. Less so with my macro lens, but still seems to be more than it should.

Got my eye on a camera body.... but will take a while to save for it. any idea how much it would cost to get my current one refurbished?

Re: Old Gear

TTMartin — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:43:26 GMT

@FiveseveN wrote:
Not quite that bad but yes. Less so with my macro lens, but still seems to be more than it should.

Got my eye on a camera body.... but will take a while to save for it. any idea how much it would cost to get my current one refurbished?

The top and bottom picture above are the same picture at 400%. The only differene between the two is one has heavy global sharpenning applied.

The problem is likely in your post processing rather than your camera.

Re: Old Gear

FiveseveN — Sat, 19 Aug 2017 04:28:45 GMT

Nah, I'm talking raw image before doing anything, browsing through and checking them at 100% I think though, part of my problem is camera shake, just enough to blur things just a little.... I hadn't noticed before, but I think my hands shake a little, they didn't in the past.

There was I time I could take a sharp photo at 1/15 of a second hand held. Factory work hasn't been so kind 😞 oh well... the tripod needs to come out and play more often 🙂

My sensor is old, and my camera needs a good cleaning. 100iso macro with a tripod is pretty good. My kit lens (18-55) is ok in bright light, fast shutter, but not so much under 1/100th of a second without a tripod... my zoom lens IS motor may be failing, and actually causing some issues, still need to test that.

Re: Old Gear

Waddizzle — Sat, 19 Aug 2017 11:30:55 GMT

@FiveseveN wrote:
Nah, I'm talking raw image before doing anything, browsing through and checking them at 100% I think though, part of my problem is camera shake, just enough to blur things just a little.... I hadn't noticed before, but I think my hands shake a little, they didn't in the past.

There was I time I could take a sharp photo at 1/15 of a second hand held. Factory work hasn't been so kind 😞 oh well... the tripod needs to come out and play more often 🙂

My sensor is old, and my camera needs a good cleaning. 100iso macro with a tripod is pretty good. My kit lens (18-55) is ok in bright light, fast shutter, but not so much under 1/100th of a second without a tripod... my zoom lens IS motor may be failing, and actually causing some issues, still need to test that.

Check out the Canon Online Store's Refurbished Section. There should be a link the eStore home page in the lower right corner of most, if not all, of the forum pages. I think you will benefit from the expanded ISO range of the newer models. I don't think they make Rebels as robust as they used to.

I think the current best value in the Canon lineup is the EOS 80D w/18-55mm STM lens. The 18-55mm STM lens is a significant upgrade in performance over your current lens. If you go with a Rebel, then go with a T6s. I do not like the smallish battery in the newer T7i and 77D.

Upgrading your zoom can wait, if you do not use it a lot. I would be inclined to save up, and wait for it to fail completely. I would not recommend any of the EF 75-300mm lenses. Either buy an updated version of your current lens, or the EF 70-200mm f/4L.

You might also consider buying a nice fast prime, like the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM, or the EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM. Note the letters "STM" on the end of the model numbers. That series of lenses uses STM technology for the focusing motors, and is Canon's latest.

Re: Old Gear

FiveseveN — Sat, 19 Aug 2017 16:40:37 GMT

Thank you very much, I was looking at the 77d/7Di. will have to check out the 80D

Re: Old Gear

Waddizzle — Sat, 19 Aug 2017 17:07:15 GMT

I have bought half a dozen DSLRs and given them away to friends and family, including two of these.

https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/eos-80d-ef-s-18-55mm-f-3-5-5-6-is-stm-kit-refurbished

At that price, it may not last the weekend.