Upgrade?

[Amegrapher]

With Black Friday deals being released I see there is a new Canon option available for purchase. I have the original T1i, and I am in the market for a new lense - at the very least. With the release of the T6 I'm wondering if buying a new lense is the way to go, or if I should upgrade my camera altogether.

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

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@Amegrapher wrote:
It is an EOS Rebel T6 - no i
I currently have an 18-55mm lense and a 55-250 lense.

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What improvement are you looking for over your existing lenses and camera? 

CAMERA - Your current camera has a 15MP sensor.  The T6 has an 18MP sensor, and is not good in low light.  If you shoot video, the T6 lacks an external microphone input.  The T6 is truly a beginner's DSLR.  Aside from a Wi-Fi system that is not as flexible as people expect, the T6 may disappoint you.  It is not much of an upgrade over a T1i, but more of a replacement camera, and your T1i doesn't seem to be broken.

LENS - There have been a couple of versions of those lenses.  I assume your current lenses are what came with the camera kit, or were what was available when the camera was new.  Most of today's lenses should offer noticeably better image quality over those lenses.  Are you looking to replace one or the other?  If so, which lens?

What is your budget?  You can rarely go wrong buying a quality lens, except for when you're buying one that duplicates a lens that you already own.  Almost no one needs two 50mm f/1.4 prime lenses.  Unless you purchase a camera body that represents a technological advancement over your T1i, which a T6 definitely is not, a lens purchase could be a better investment.

The T6 is not sold as a body only kit, but some better Rebel cameras are sold as body only kits.  The T6, like all of the Rebels, comes with "starter lenses", which are not much better than what you already own, if not identical to them.  No, I would not recommend a T6.  Check out the "body only" Rebel camera kits.

[ScottyP]

T6 or T6i?

A T6i would be a great upgrade. T6 much less so.  

What lenses do you already have?

[Amegrapher]

It is an EOS Rebel T6 - no i
I currently have an 18-55mm lense and a 55-250 lense.

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

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@Amegrapher wrote:
It is an EOS Rebel T6 - no i
I currently have an 18-55mm lense and a 55-250 lense.

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What improvement are you looking for over your existing lenses and camera? 

CAMERA - Your current camera has a 15MP sensor.  The T6 has an 18MP sensor, and is not good in low light.  If you shoot video, the T6 lacks an external microphone input.  The T6 is truly a beginner's DSLR.  Aside from a Wi-Fi system that is not as flexible as people expect, the T6 may disappoint you.  It is not much of an upgrade over a T1i, but more of a replacement camera, and your T1i doesn't seem to be broken.

LENS - There have been a couple of versions of those lenses.  I assume your current lenses are what came with the camera kit, or were what was available when the camera was new.  Most of today's lenses should offer noticeably better image quality over those lenses.  Are you looking to replace one or the other?  If so, which lens?

What is your budget?  You can rarely go wrong buying a quality lens, except for when you're buying one that duplicates a lens that you already own.  Almost no one needs two 50mm f/1.4 prime lenses.  Unless you purchase a camera body that represents a technological advancement over your T1i, which a T6 definitely is not, a lens purchase could be a better investment.

The T6 is not sold as a body only kit, but some better Rebel cameras are sold as body only kits.  The T6, like all of the Rebels, comes with "starter lenses", which are not much better than what you already own, if not identical to them.  No, I would not recommend a T6.  Check out the "body only" Rebel camera kits.

[ScottyP]

My usual thought is that a new lens is going to give more noticeable improvement than a new body.  This is probably my suggestion here, though the T1i is not 1 or 2 but 5 models old. Also the T6i was

the biggest model to model improvement the Rebel line has seen in a long time, if ever. 

To suggest lenses we'd need an idea of what you shoot.  Also your budget, as lenses can be mine-blowingly expensive.

Unless someone says they  shoot serious sports or they want to shoot closeup insects or something that steers you towards a specialized lens, I usually suggest a lens that lets you shoot in dimmer light and which gives  a shallow depth of field. This could. E a $1,600 24-70 f/2.8 2 but for a budget you could have a lot of fun and get surprisingly good images from an ef-50mm f/1.8 stm for $100.00. Or Ef 50mm f/1.4 for $300.00. Or the ef 40mm f/2.8 pancake for $150.00. 

Shallow DOF isolates your subject and makes it pop while blurring out ugly distracting background clutter.  A big aperture like f/1.8 or f/1.4 gives you 16 x more light into the camera. That means a huge difference in low light since it means you can get a good exposure with 4 stops lower ISO. Bumping ISO 4 stops on a Rebel, especially if you are already at like ISO 400 to begin with will destroy any image you could take with bad noise and low detail. And dim light to a camera is not really that dim. Shooting your dinner partner in a nice restaurant with nice mood lighting at night is pretty dim to a camera even though you can see fine. Even at f/1.4 you are probably at ISO 400 or 800.  At f/5.6 then you'd be at ISO 6400 or ISO 12800 and your image would look awful. 

[TCampbell · Accepted solution]

I used to own a T1i.  It caps at ISO 3200 and even at ISO 1600 it's very noisy.  So a major advantage to upgrading the body is that you'll immediately notice better low-light performance and you'll be able to use higher ISOs (and much less noise than you see now at equivalent ISOs).

Unless a camera body is significant (and offers capabilities that you would actually use) then normally lenses will do more for you than the camera body.

When I had my T1i, I had both the 18-55 and the 55-250.  The 18-55 was a solid performer, but I was never very happy with the 55-250 opitcs.  

Canon has since replaced both lenses with newer versions that use their "STM" focusing motor and updated the optics.  Both are better and sharper than their predecessors.

BTW, there's a Canon T6, T6i, and T6s.  All Rebel series bodies are consumer-oriented cameras (as compared to the xxD and xD models which are enthusiast through pro level bodies and usually more technical cameras.)  Anyway, the T6 (with no suffix) is at the entry-level of the range while the models with the "i" or "s" suffix are at the high end of that range.  They have completely different sensors, different ISO performance, lots of different features, etc.  So the T6i isn't just a T6 with a few more bells & whistles... it's a completely different camera with different performance and feature characteristics.    The "i" and "s" models are at the high end of the consumer range with the "s" model starting to sneak in features normally only found in enthusiast grade or above cameras (such as a rear control dial and a top LCD screen.)

[ebiggs1]

"With the release of the T6 I'm wondering if buying a new lense is the way to go, or if I should upgrade my camera altogether."

Go with the upgraded camera.  It will be significant upgrade for you.  Unless you are willing to jump into the "L" lens range the lens will not be as big an upgrade. If you decide to go with a new lens check out the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens.

It has near L lens IQ and build but it has near L lens cost, too.

[Waddizzle]

"With the release of the T6 I'm wondering if buying a new lense is the way to go, or if I should upgrade my camera altogether."

Go with the upgraded camera.  It will be significant upgrade for you.  

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This is really bad advice.  As noted several times above, the T6 is not a significant upgrade, performance wise.  If you buy it, you will get another EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II lens, probably just like the one you already have and want to replace. 

The T6 does not offer much in the way of technological upgrade, not at all.  Same AF points, same ISO range, and the upgrade from 15MP to 18MP would not be fully realized with your existing lenses.  Pass on buying a Rebel T6 to upgrade a T1i.

Buying the Rebel SL1 camera body would be a far more frugal move than buying a T6 to "upgrade" a T1i.  Even still, I would point you towards either a T6i or T6s if you're looking for a "Rebel upgrade."  Both cameras represent a technological leap ahead, and either should be considered an "upgrade" over a Rebel T1i.

[Amegrapher]

Thank you! You gave me a lot to think about and very sound advice!

[Waddizzle]

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@Amegrapher wrote:
Thank you! You gave me a lot to think about and very sound advice!

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Don't forget.   If you do not own a high quality lens, then buying one is probably the best investment you could make.  Almost any of Canon's "STM" lenses should give you a significant improvement in image quality.

The users of the EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens from Canon attest that this lens is great.  There is a similar lens made by Sigma selling for nearly half off the regular list price right now at B&H Photo Video, one of Canon's biggest online U.S. retailers.  Both lenses have wide, f/2.8, constant apertures.

There are many good lenses to choose from.  If you do not own a wide aperture lens, then I strongly suggest you join the party.