what to do

[adhocphotographer]

If i were you, i would sell both of your current lenses and put it towards buying a EF-S 10-22, EF 24-105 (2nd hand) and a tripod.

If and when you want to invest in a full-frame camera (6D, 5D etc...) you can sell the 10-22 for a descent return (it is a great lens) and you will already have a lens.

All of this depends on your budget though...

With extra cash i would grab the 70-200 f/4L IS and/or 17-40 f/4L.

there are lots of options, most are not cheap...

Photo gear is like heroin... be careful!

 

[RLPhoto]

I used my 450D until it died, then I used the 7D for 3 years, then I moved to the 5D3's and see no need to upgrade past it.

450D----->7D------------->5D3.

But before I did any body upgrades, I got my set of primes to use.

 

[serendipidy]

i shoot only landscapes

Where do you shoot your landscapes? Are you unhappy with your results now?

 

[serendipidy]

I used my 450D until it died, then I used the 7D for 3 years, then I moved to the 5D3's and see no need to upgrade past it.

450D----->7D------------->5D3.

But before I did any body upgrades, I got my set of primes to use.

I started with the 450D (still have it...very low actuations). Then, got my present DSLR, the 7D. So, I guess I'm two-thirds done ;D

 

[500d]

i shoot only landscapes

Where do you shoot your landscapes? Are you unhappy with your results now?

in cities, iso could be better on my camera

 

[Drizzt321]

i shoot only landscapes

Where do you shoot your landscapes? Are you unhappy with your results now?

Some of your ISO woes may be because you have to hand-hold everything at the moment, while if you get a good tripod you don't have to bump it up so high, since you can exposure for a longer time. That won't freeze any action that is occurring unfortunately, but sometimes it's nice to have car light streaks



in cities, iso could be better on my camera

 

[500d]

i shoot only landscapes

Where do you shoot your landscapes? Are you unhappy with your results now?

Some of your ISO woes may be because you have to hand-hold everything at the moment, while if you get a good tripod you don't have to bump it up so high, since you can exposure for a longer time. That won't freeze any action that is occurring unfortunately, but sometimes it's nice to have car light streaks



in cities, iso could be better on my camera

what about getting a speed light

 

[Drizzt321]

i shoot only landscapes

Where do you shoot your landscapes? Are you unhappy with your results now?

Some of your ISO woes may be because you have to hand-hold everything at the moment, while if you get a good tripod you don't have to bump it up so high, since you can exposure for a longer time. That won't freeze any action that is occurring unfortunately, but sometimes it's nice to have car light streaks



in cities, iso could be better on my camera

what about getting a speed light

Speedlite or strobes are fine for closeish use, but if you are trying to capture city-scapes, they won't realy help you at all. They aren't a sun or a nuke, they just can't put out that much light. If you're talking about people across the street or in front of you it could help, but you're going to be very, very visible.

 

[verysimplejason]

I'm a 500D user and I find ETTR helps a lot especially when using high ISOs. It helps much on retaining details even when you apply some NR. Shoot RAW when you can (for me, ALWAYS). RAW + ETTR do wonders to your photos especially for landscape photography. HDR processing also helps if you find that DR isn't enough. Just be careful when applying saturation and for those halos to help you produce realistic pictures. All-in-all 500D isn't that bad if you're just ready to give some extra effort in PP. For action shots, just get a 7D or those with better AF. 500D isn't enough to get action shots. You might get some but the hit rate is just very low. Pre-focusing and some good old panning helps though. For all its shortcomings, I think 500D is a perfect camera to hone your skills while you're saving for a better body. Go for some good primes/L first before you buy the body that you want.

P.S. If I'm going to start all over again however, I won't start with an APS-C. I'll start with a 5D and some good primes instead and a speedlight.

 

[Zv]

If the 500D is anything like the 550D then you can take really good pictures with it - including cityscapes. I imagine it won't be so good at high ISOs but as people have mentioned a tripod is what you need not a new camera. Also shoot in RAW and get a nice long exposure with a fair amount of detail using a smaller aperture like f/8. You can then dial down the exposure and brightness in post or dodge and burn to bring out more detail where you need it. I find lightroom's adjustment brush to be quite useful for a quick fix but for more detailed work move over to photoshop and use layer masks to adjust specific areas.

Getting the color balance right in camera for night scenes can save a lot of headache - Personally I like to shoot near the tungsten side of the white balance scale for night/blue hour shots.

When I first started I never could figure out why my night landscapes looked crappy. Mostly because the camera was choosing white balance, focus point and aperture for me in P mode. Shoot in manual mode, using live view to focus manually. Use mirror lock up and a remote release. helps to shoot on a calm day, with little wind.

A speedlight might help illuminate some of the foreground if nothing else. Just make sure you gel it to match the white balance setting.

 

[500d]

If the 500D is anything like the 550D then you can take really good pictures with it - including cityscapes. I imagine it won't be so good at high ISOs but as people have mentioned a tripod is what you need not a new camera. Also shoot in RAW and get a nice long exposure with a fair amount of detail using a smaller aperture like f/8. You can then dial down the exposure and brightness in post or dodge and burn to bring out more detail where you need it. I find lightroom's adjustment brush to be quite useful for a quick fix but for more detailed work move over to photoshop and use layer masks to adjust specific areas.

Getting the color balance right in camera for night scenes can save a lot of headache - Personally I like to shoot near the tungsten side of the white balance scale for night/blue


















When I first started I never could figure out why my night landscapes looked crappy. Mostly because the camera was choosing white balance, focus point and aperture for me in P mode. Shoot in manual mode, using live view to focus manually. Use mirror lock up and a remote release. helps to shoot on a calm day, with little wind.

A speedlight might help illuminate some of the foreground if nothing else. Just make sure you gel it to match the white balance setting.

is there a site or books that teach how to shoot in manual
how do you know what wb setting to use

 

[Zv]

I wrote a blog article about white balance as part of a series that goes over the basics. Here's the link.

http://zeebytes.blogspot.jp/2012/09/photography-101-white-balance.html?m=1

 

[verysimplejason]

If the 500D is anything like the 550D then you can take really good pictures with it - including cityscapes. I imagine it won't be so good at high ISOs but as people have mentioned a tripod is what you need not a new camera. Also shoot in RAW and get a nice long exposure with a fair amount of detail using a smaller aperture like f/8. You can then dial down the exposure and brightness in post or dodge and burn to bring out more detail where you need it. I find lightroom's adjustment brush to be quite useful for a quick fix but for more detailed work move over to photoshop and use layer masks to adjust specific areas.

Getting the color balance right in camera for night scenes can save a lot of headache - Personally I like to shoot near the tungsten side of the white balance scale for night/blue


















When I first started I never could figure out why my night landscapes looked crappy. Mostly because the camera was choosing white balance, focus point and aperture for me in P mode. Shoot in manual mode, using live view to focus manually. Use mirror lock up and a remote release. helps to shoot on a calm day, with little wind.

A speedlight might help illuminate some of the foreground if nothing else. Just make sure you gel it to match the white balance setting.

is there a site or books that teach how to shoot in manual
how do you know what wb setting to use

Here:
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

As for white balance, you can get a gray card or a white non-reflective material and take a picture of it under the lighting condition you were in, then use it as your WB (you can consult your manual on how to use custom WB, don't worry it's easy). Or, just take it with DAYLIGHT WB in RAW and adjust it in PP (lightroom or Canon's DPP) later. I always use full manual mode when taking landscapes. Expose to the right (ETTR), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposing_to_the_right, means using your histogram and make sure almost all the graphs are in the right. Just be careful of clipping. It's a technique used with RAW and later adjusted during post-processing in order to decrease noise especially in shadows. Canon cameras are famous in good highlight recovery but bad with the shadows that's why you overexpose a little bit and then just adjust (darken) it later in post process. I'm sorry but I just assumed that you don't know these and I just want to help you. Have fun!