Most "legendary" Canon DSLR ever?

Tannin said:

Victor Engel said:

Tannin said:

a huge improvement on the clunky 10D and really very much the same thing as most of the models which followed it. 20D is #1 with a bullet.

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I never used a 20D because in my mind there was very little to gain over the 10D, so I'm surprised to hear it stated there was a huge improvement. My recollection is that the improvement was not worth the upgrade. On the other hand, I moved from 10D to 5D, which was a quantum leap improvement. Although the 20D came after the 5D, going to 20D from 5D would have been a step backward.

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I never owned a 10D, but a friend had one and I resisted buying one for myself because of several issues with it. I waited for the 20D, which solved all of them. (All of the issues which concerned *me*, that is. Doubtless there were others.) Which issues? No idea, it was too long ago!

The 5D came out a full year *after* the 20D, and despite its lovely big sensor, it was a step backwards in several ways, notably the focus system which was inferior. Astonishingly, the 5D II retained the same stone-age AF system! Apparently, Canon had an all-new, all-singing, all-dancing AF system planned for the 5D II but it wasn't ready in time so they went without it.

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You're right. The 5D came after the 20D. I wonder why I remember the reverse.

gipper51 said:

3MP was quite something for its day, and yes it made nice prints. Progress marches on.

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I don't think 3 megapixels was anything special at that time. The D1 was 2.7 megapixels and Kodak had released multiple 6 megapixel cameras like the DCS 560 and the DCS 760. A few months later Nikon released the D1x with 5.7 megapixels.

The thing that made it special is that you could zoom right to the pixel level and it still looked great. Digital images from other cameras tended to look blurry and noisy when you examined them at the pixel level.

gipper51 said:

And yes, I print a fair amount at home! Today the photography world is obsessed with cropping 80% of their bird images or printing landscapes 6 feet wide minimum and examining with a loupe, hence why 20MP is is labeled "low".

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The highest resolution people see my photos hasn't changed in twenty years. They're on the front of the A4 sized programs before the games. One time the school I shoot for printed a 3 foot by 5 foot poster of a softball photo I took and hung it in the lobby of their arena. It looked great and was taken with a 10 megapixel 1D Mark III.

eldo472 said:

I picked the 7D because it is so solid and well shielded against weather and dust. Today I was told that Canon regreted the solid build quality.

When The 7D mkii came out it was hardly upgraded at first sight. Under a stop better noise. After a while we undestood. Better af, Dual pixel af in live view and better video capabilities was a nice upgrade.

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The 7D was indeed a great camera, but it was very noisy over 400 ISO. 800 was bad. 1600 was terrible. The 7D II was *much* better in that regard, and has even better weather sealing. (Roger over at Lens Rentals did an interesting tear-down once upon a time.) I certainly managed to clag up my 7D Mark 1 during a tropical thunderstorm in Darwin. It just couldn't cope. No lights, no action, no camera. The other body I was using, a 1D III, sailed through completely untroubled.

As for the 7D, I took the battery out and patted it dry as best I could and just left it in a dry (air-conditioned) room for a day or two, hoping against hope that it would magically come back to life. And it did! Good as new. That wonderful old body is still in the family (I gave it to a relative), and still doing good work to this day.

Funny story which will bring some folks back...

My love for photography started when my dad used and let me take some test shots with his Canon AE1 Program. Something about that camera that just seemed ahead of its time. I wanted one badly to be like Dad. Tried to buy one used during the times when Photography magazine would literally print the NY camera store's inventory in the back of the magazine monthly. I was young at around 13 years old or so at the time.

A year or two passes and my mom at the time didn't want me to 'waste my money' on a camera because I was getting close to turning 16 and would need to buy a car. Well I didn't listen and ultimately saved up around 750$ and had a Canon Elan II shipped COD to my house (I didn't have a credit card at 15 years old). I paid UPS and off he went. I played with that camera for days in my room and I was in heaven. My brother unintentionally ratted me out to my mom and she had a heart attack that I disobeyed her. So not only did I have to send the camera back and lose a restocking fee, she grounded me by not allowing me to get my license until I was 16 1/2 years old. We still laugh about this today in my house.

Anyway, I grow up, go to college, get a job, and the first new camera I bought was a Canon 30D with a 24-105 lens I believe? Man I loved that camera. Used that and upgraded to a 70d years later. At some point I rented a FF Nikon D750 just to try it out. I used it for two days and was amazed at how rich and accurate the colors were straight from the camera. I recently went to purchase a Nikon Z6ii mirrorless, and when I held it for the time in the store, my hand literally overwhelmed this camera. I had no place for my pinky. I tried the Canon R and R6... They felt better in my hand but still not great. Ultimately I bought another DSLR instead. Mirrorless just isn't for me yet from an ergonomic standpoint. I settled on a Nikon D780 after renting it for several days. So far I'm loving it!

Maoby said:

The level of improvement is relative to each of us.
Personally, I would not have gone from 10D to 20D, in my eyes, it is always better to skip a generation or two.

Canon EOS-10D (2003) / Canon EOS-20D (2004)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72177720298653936

Canon EOS-10D (2003) / Canon EOS-20D (2004)

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I had the two : the 20 D was much better, not just because 2 more Mp , but because the 10D was a slow camera. The 20D was snappier. After that I skip the 30 D and 40 D and went to the 50 D (not the best one of the XX family)

--
It's all about photography

You didn't like your Canon EOS-50D!
For information, the 50D is the only camera with the EOS-500D (Rebel T1i) to have a 15MP sensor :-D

Powerdoc said:

I had the two : the 20 D was much better, not just because 2 more Mp , but because the 10D was a slow camera. The 20D was snappier. After that I skip the 30 D and 40 D and went to the 50 D (not the best one of the XX family)

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Yep. The 50D was a bit lack-lustre. An OK camera, not one of the greats.

Just for fun, I'll list all the Canon cameras I have owned from best to worst (trying to make allowances for the year of manufacture)

* 5D IV - The best DSLR ever made

* 20D - wonderful cameras, I had two and wore them both out

* 1D IV - still going strong and still takes a great picture

* 7D - a tour de force when released and still a worthy camera to this day

* 7D II - a fitting successor to the excellent 7D Mark 1

* 5DS R - slow and a bit clunky, but awesome image quality

* G9X II A great little pocket camera

* 1D III - a better camera than history says, the AF issues were quite uncommon

* 5D II - fantastic sensor, would be close to top-of-list but stone-age AF system

* Powershot A95 - very small, very practical. Good camera.

* 40D - just a 20D with a extra pixels but a decent workhorse

* 50D - just a 40D with a extra pixels and worse high ISO

*450D - too many compromises made this unpleasant to use. Good for the price.

* EOS R - Let down by awful ergonomics, bad viewfinder, and unreliable AF

Tannin said:

* 1D III - a better camera than history says, the AF issues were quite uncommon

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I had two and both had trouble tracking people running towards the camera. I was impressed if half of the photos were in focus. I had no choice but to use my 1D Mark IIn in those situations because Canon was unable to fix it.

5D4 for me because it’s the only one I’ve owned out of the poll options along with the 80D

Tannin said:

eldo472 said:

I picked the 7D because it is so solid and well shielded against weather and dust. Today I was told that Canon regreted the solid build quality.

When The 7D mkii came out it was hardly upgraded at first sight. Under a stop better noise. After a while we undestood. Better af, Dual pixel af in live view and better video capabilities was a nice upgrade.

Click to expand...

The 7D was indeed a great camera, but it was very noisy over 400 ISO. 800 was bad. 1600 was terrible. The 7D II was *much* better in that regard, and has even better weather sealing. (Roger over at Lens Rentals did an interesting tear-down once upon a time.) I certainly managed to clag up my 7D Mark 1 during a tropical thunderstorm in Darwin. It just couldn't cope. No lights, no action, no camera. The other body I was using, a 1D III, sailed through completely untroubled.

As for the 7D, I took the battery out and patted it dry as best I could and just left it in a dry (air-conditioned) room for a day or two, hoping against hope that it would magically come back to life. And it did! Good as new. That wonderful old body is still in the family (I gave it to a relative), and still doing good work to this day.

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I'd be curious to see how 7D files perform today with newer RAW software. Processing has come a long way. I know DXO Photolab works pure magic on my 5Ds files, and largely eliminates the "poor DR" issue this camera is often cited for. It cleans up any noise and banding when pushing the RAWs extremely well.

douglee25 said:

Funny story which will bring some folks back...

My love for photography started when my dad used and let me take some test shots with his Canon AE1 Program. Something about that camera that just seemed ahead of its time. I wanted one badly to be like Dad. Tried to buy one used during the times when Photography magazine would literally print the NY camera store's inventory in the back of the magazine monthly. I was young at around 13 years old or so at the time.

A year or two passes and my mom at the time didn't want me to 'waste my money' on a camera because I was getting close to turning 16 and would need to buy a car. Well I didn't listen and ultimately saved up around 750$ and had a Canon Elan II shipped COD to my house (I didn't have a credit card at 15 years old). I paid UPS and off he went. I played with that camera for days in my room and I was in heaven. My brother unintentionally ratted me out to my mom and she had a heart attack that I disobeyed her. So not only did I have to send the camera back and lose a restocking fee, she grounded me by not allowing me to get my license until I was 16 1/2 years old. We still laugh about this today in my house.

Anyway, I grow up, go to college, get a job, and the first new camera I bought was a Canon 30D with a 24-105 lens I believe? Man I loved that camera. Used that and upgraded to a 70d years later. At some point I rented a FF Nikon D750 just to try it out. I used it for two days and was amazed at how rich and accurate the colors were straight from the camera. I recently went to purchase a Nikon Z6ii mirrorless, and when I held it for the time in the store, my hand literally overwhelmed this camera. I had no place for my pinky. I tried the Canon R and R6... They felt better in my hand but still not great. Ultimately I bought another DSLR instead. Mirrorless just isn't for me yet from an ergonomic standpoint. I settled on a Nikon D780 after renting it for several days. So far I'm loving it!

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Dang, mom ran a tight ship it sounds like!

Bigger bodies like the D750 and D780 may be falling out of style with new body designs, but they sure are nice to shoot with.

Tannin said:

Yep. The 50D was a bit lack-lustre. An OK camera, not one of the greats.

Just for fun, I'll list all the Canon cameras I have owned from best to worst (trying to make allowances for the year of manufacture)

* 5D IV - The best DSLR ever made

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I'd have to agree. The 5DIV is certainly the best DLSR I've ever owned. The years of refinement just added up to a camera that excels in almost everything.

an_also said:

5D4 for me because it’s the only one I’ve owned out of the poll options along with the 80D

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You certainly picked a good one!

gipper51 said:

douglee25 said:

Funny story which will bring some folks back...

My love for photography started when my dad used and let me take some test shots with his Canon AE1 Program. Something about that camera that just seemed ahead of its time. I wanted one badly to be like Dad. Tried to buy one used during the times when Photography magazine would literally print the NY camera store's inventory in the back of the magazine monthly. I was young at around 13 years old or so at the time.

A year or two passes and my mom at the time didn't want me to 'waste my money' on a camera because I was getting close to turning 16 and would need to buy a car. Well I didn't listen and ultimately saved up around 750$ and had a Canon Elan II shipped COD to my house (I didn't have a credit card at 15 years old). I paid UPS and off he went. I played with that camera for days in my room and I was in heaven. My brother unintentionally ratted me out to my mom and she had a heart attack that I disobeyed her. So not only did I have to send the camera back and lose a restocking fee, she grounded me by not allowing me to get my license until I was 16 1/2 years old. We still laugh about this today in my house.

Anyway, I grow up, go to college, get a job, and the first new camera I bought was a Canon 30D with a 24-105 lens I believe? Man I loved that camera. Used that and upgraded to a 70d years later. At some point I rented a FF Nikon D750 just to try it out. I used it for two days and was amazed at how rich and accurate the colors were straight from the camera. I recently went to purchase a Nikon Z6ii mirrorless, and when I held it for the time in the store, my hand literally overwhelmed this camera. I had no place for my pinky. I tried the Canon R and R6... They felt better in my hand but still not great. Ultimately I bought another DSLR instead. Mirrorless just isn't for me yet from an ergonomic standpoint. I settled on a Nikon D780 after renting it for several days. So far I'm loving it!

Click to expand...

Dang, mom ran a tight ship it sounds like!

Bigger bodies like the D750 and D780 may be falling out of style with new body designs, but they sure are nice to shoot with.

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She sure did run a tight ship! Agreed. Something about holding onto the larger bodies that just feels 'right'.

5DSr

I like the 6D. I still use my 5D Mrk4 and a Sony A7R3 but the 6D, even as basic as it is, yields some very great shots. Lightweight and straightforward and color that is more to my liking over the 5D Mark 4 and certainly over the Sony.

Some interesting (though not unexpected) results here. Some quick summaries on the poll so far:

The top 4 cameras are all a member of the 5D lineup

The original 5D leads with 27.9%

5DII in second with 20.9%

Third place is a tie between the 5DIII and 5DIV with 7.0% each of the votes

The entire 5D series combined has 62.8% of all votes

The entire 1D series combined has 15.2% of all votes

1D: Separate readout of each half of the CCD (not CMOS) array allowed frame rates unheard of at the time. Flash sync 1/500sec. Rugged, weatherproof body, akin to the Canon 1V film camera. Built-in portrait grip. All 1D models since have the same body and button layout. No, or minimum, anti-aliasing filter led to sharp images, but for good lenses there was often moire. Without looking at the meta data you could tell if an image was from a 1D because there was a seam down the middle of the frame that bifurcated the left and right readouts. When it came out, only Canon had IS, by the way, Nikon did not develop its VR until years later.

I think some people are voting for their favorite camera rather than the most legendary one, which need not be a favorite.

Don said:

1D: Separate readout of each half of the CCD (not CMOS) array allowed frame rates unheard of at the time. Flash sync 1/500sec. Rugged, weatherproof body, akin to the Canon 1V film camera. Built-in portrait grip. All 1D models since have the same body and button layout. No, or minimum, anti-aliasing filter led to sharp images, but for good lenses there was often moire. Without looking at the meta data you could tell if an image was from a 1D because there was a seam down the middle of the frame that bifurcated the left and right readouts. When it came out, only Canon had IS, by the way, Nikon did not develop its VR until years later.

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The R3 is my all time favorite. The 1D was legendary. But not my favorite. It had many warts. It was a legend because people tell how it set the stage for DSLRs to come: