Hi there,

I have a question regarding cameras. In around 2008/2009, I bought a Canon EOS 1000D with some lenses. I practiced quite a bit and liked photography a lot. My main issue with it is that it is huge and heavy (as all DSLR), and I stopped carrying it with me on every occasion, which is a shame as I love “on-the-spot” pictures. And now, I haven’t taken any pictures with it for a few years, and it has been sitting on the shelf. Today, I’d like to go back to good gear, as I’m really feeling the limits of phone photography, but I’m completely out of the game and don’t really know what to look for.

My wishlist would be:

  1. Compatible with my lenses (mainly EF- 50mm and EF 55-200), adapter OK.
  2. Compact enough when mounted with the EF-S 18-55 that I can put it in a (medium) purse/bag
  3. Less than 1000€, ideally in the 500€ range.

I don’t care much for videos. Is there anything that would be fitting, or should I just buy bigger purses and get back to my 1000D ^^?

Thanks for the advice!

[EDIT] I made a mistake in the lens I wanted to keep, it was not so much the 18-55 (which is standard indeed) but the 50mm portrait… that being said, I suspect this does not change the answers given as the mounting system is the same. Thanks a lot for the answers btw. I will have a look at second-hand cameras and build from there. I still would like interchangeable lenses as I would like the versatility and hope to retake my camera for the occasional photo trip.

  • ZytaZiouZEnglish
    3•1 year ago

    My honest advice is don’t worry about the old lenses. Any camera should come with a comparable lens to the 18-55, and the 55-200 is not anything to base camera choice on. The only compact cameras that can properly use those lenses will be Canon’s discontinued EOS M series. It is a totally dead end system which has ceased development. I don’t think your lenses would work on the crop bodies of their new system, but the difference in price would make it a bad choice anyways. You can technically get an adapter to use the lenses on Sony’s cameras, but they will not work quite right in my opinion, will probably work much slower, have focus issues, and maybe even have issues with the stabilization causing blur.

    That being said, I really think the Sony cameras would be the way to go, but look at the used market. At least in the US, Sony made so many cameras that the used older models go for a lot less money, so they are really cheap to pick up. The A5100 would be a great balance of small, good image quality (24MP), and I assume very cheap. The A6000 line would add an eye piece but be larger. The A5000 would be good but lower resolution (20MP), and the entire Nex line are older yet and mostly cap at 16MP. The 16-50 lens is super tiny when off, and in my opinion a very under rated lens.