In my opinion!
These are some of the highs and lows for Canon in 2008. Agree or disagree, it was a year that sparked a lot of conversation.
*Note: Some things may have been announced in late 2007, but didn't reach mass market until 2008.
Best New DSLR Camera 2008
1. 5D Mark II (* The firmware will fix the issues.)
2. Rebel XSi/450D
3. Rebel XS/1000D
The 5D Mark II is producing fantastic images (black dots aside) and the movie mode is quite spectacular. A worthy upgrade from the 5D.
Worst New DSLR Camera 2008
1. 50D
I don't think it was much (if any) of an upgrade over the 40D. Canon needs to seriously rethink the xxD line.
Best Point & Shoot Camera of 2008
1. G10
2. SX110 IS
3. SD790 IS / SD990 IS
I'm not all that excited about Canon's P&S offerings in 2008. The G10 is a very solid camera, but isn't a great camera. It's coming to the time where Canon needs to step up in this market as well. My favourite P&S on 2008 was infact the Panasonic LX3, I only wish it was larger in size.
Worst Point & Shoot of 2008
1. E1
What the heck were they thinking? Grossly overpriced, no special feature set and frankly one of the ugliest cameras ever created. It will sit nicely next to your TX1.
Best New Lens of 2008
1. EF 200 f/2 IS
2. EF 800 f/5.6 IS
3. EF-S 55-250 IS
The first 2 are probably tied for first. Everything I've seen from the 2 lenses is remarkable. The 55-250 shocked me with its image quality, it's a great budget telephoto zoom.
Worst New Lens of 2008
1. EF-S 18-200 IS
It costs a lot and has below average build quality, no USM and mediocre image quality (A trait of most superzooms). It has a list price of $699 and is being dumped by retailers at $499 now. That tells us it isn't selling.
Best Third Party Lens of 2008
1. Sigma 50 f/1.4
2. Carl Zeiss ZE 85 f/1.4
3. Sigma 200-500 f/2.8
I love the first 2 lenses (if you get a good copy of the Sigma), both produce some great images. I only put SigZilla on because it's just cool. I've never used one!
Worst Third Party Lens of 2008
1. Tamron 18-270
Maybe I just hate superzooms. =D
Best New Feature of 2008
1. 1080p Movie Mode in the 5D Mark II
Worst New Feature of 2008
1. Continuing the more megapixel nonsense in DSLR's and more annoyingly in compacts.
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43 Comments
@ Peter.T & EdN
Agree that the 5D AF is good (if just barely for faster subjects)
What most people are doing is benchmarking the 5D with D700 AF. However, most do not have first hand experience with the 2 cams are are just basing their comments on paper specs.
Actually, 5D AF is as fast as D700 in cases where all 51points of the D700 AF are turned on and somehow D700 AF seems to have a slight lag before it actually tries to focus, however, D700 AF tracking is simply superior… not to mention more sure of a lock.
@ Richard
Moving from a 1Ds to 50D will give you a slight edge in overall corner-to-corner pic quality simply because your 1.6x cam is using the “sweet spot” of all your lenses. Especially for your case the end result would be similar 15/16MP. So there’s no doubt that 50D is a way to go for you, assuming that since you are already printing big, your techniques would be appropriately as good to use the 50D as mentioned in the LL article that it’s more unforgiving on flaws.
@GeorgeML
If we experts were shown a good 48-inch print today, I doubt any of us could say with any certainty from which of these 12+ MP cameras it came (The D700, D90, XSI, D300, 5D, 5dMkII, IDSMkIII, or 50D). Then all the tests, and all the hype and all the trivia would go out the window along with all our needless bitching and all our tiresome moaning.
Thank you Peter for your involved analysis, it was good to hear from a knowledgeable end-user.
I wish Canon had limited the 5D II to around 15 MP. That probably would have allowed a frame rate of 5 fps or more and better high ISO performance, both of which would have been more useful to me than 20+ MP. Canon would have had a perfect all-around camera and all the xxD owners would probably be rushing to upgrade. I’m envious of Nikon owners with the D700.
If I was starting over today, that’s what I’d buy. Canon has let Nikon jump ahead.
Yes, the 5D II has video, which is interesting/exciting. But its drawbacks result in an “on the one hand…but on the other hand” comparison, rather than the knockout winner it could have had.