Neglected SLR - Is it still usable?

Mellor

Long story short I haven't used my SLR much in the last 4 years. It's something I want to get back into, but I'm concerned that the camera is worse for wear after sitting idle.

It's pretty basic entry level stuff, Canon 350D with the 18-55 EFS kit lens (the older non image stablising one that came with the 300, 350, 400 etc). I also had a 1.8 50mm, my nifty fifty, which didn't survive. Something knocked it during my travels and the front focusing piece was crooked in the main body.

I took it out, got a new battery, and snapped a few shots in the living room. I thought they looked a bit blury on the small LCD display, so I decided to do a test series before going further.

My guess is that the cause cold either be:
An LCD issue.
A Lens issue.
A Camera issue.

Some are more serious than others obviously.


The tests
So in order to test the camera and lens. I brought it to a small park along with a camera and lens from work. A 600D with the newer 18-55 kit lens. Both are in good condition and a tripod.

Equipment:
350D
600D
18-55mm Mk1 (old model)
18-55mm Mk2 (new model)



The first test consists of 4 shots.
Shot 1: 350D and 18-55mm Mk1
Shot 2: 350D and 18-55mm Mk2
Shot 3: 600D and 18-55mm Mk1
Shot 2: 600D and 18-55mm Mk2

As best I could I set up all four shots the same. Zoom set to roughly 35mm. Aperture priority set to 7.1. Shutter speed was 80-125 depending on light at the time. ISO was 100. I had to reshoot the first. I rushed it and set it to f5.0 by mistake.

Shot 1: 350D and 18-55mm Mk1



Shot 2: 350D and 18-55mm Mk2



Shot 3: 600D and 18-55mm Mk1



Shot 4: 600D and 18-55mm Mk2



Click pics above for larger shots. Flickr only allows me to link to 2048 not the originals. Unfortunately, the sun came out for the 600D shots, so they are a bit brighter, but ignore that please.

So, the shots with the older equipment is a little soft around the edges. But I can't figure out if its in camera, the lens or a combo of both.
Could it be as simple as needing a good clean. Or is it permanantly gooses?


Test 2 to follow.

Mellor

Test 2: New 80-400mm

As a second test, I tried out a new-ish 55-250mm

Four shots again. This time one at c.100mm and at 250mm in both cameras.


Shot 1: 350D at 100mm


Shot 2: 350D at 250mm


Shot 3: 600D at 100mm


Shot 4: 600D at 250mm




Thoughts, help, anything?
Can it be improved?
If not, is it significant. What sort of impact would it have on recreational photography?

scamalert

if the lens was kept on ,or body closed and covered dont see why there should be any troubles,you said blurry images-yet your lens doesn't have stabilization non image stablising that might be your answer to blurry images.Since your camera old i guess you have to focus yourself,and any movement may cause blurriness,also check your shutter speed,exposure settings etc.As it seems camera is working fine.hope that helps.

DaireQuinlan

scamalert wrote: »

if the lens was kept on ,or body closed and covered dont see why there should be any troubles,you said blurry images-yet your lens doesn't have stabilization non image stablising that might be your answer to blurry images.Since your camera old i guess you have to focus yourself,and any movement may cause blurriness,also check your shutter speed,exposure settings etc.As it seems camera is working fine.hope that helps.

The 350d was released circa 2005, Canon released it's first AF camera in 1985, so that's about 20 years to get their act together. People also managed to take non-blurry pictures for more than 100 years before image stabilisation came onto the scene in 1995 or so, it's more a matter of shooting at the right shutter speed, which the OP seems to have done if they were shooting at around 1/125 at 35mm.

All that said, that first image looks mighty funky. No way the edges of the shot should look that on any semi-decent lens stopped down to f/8 or so.

magicbastarder

both of the shots with the mk1 standard zoom are unacceptably soft at the edges. does the lens show a sign of having taken a knock?

Mellor

Thanks for the replies so far.

scamalert wrote: »

if the lens was kept on ,or body closed and covered dont see why there should be any troubles,you said blurry images-yet your lens doesn't have stabilization non image stablising that might be your answer to blurry images.Since your camera old i guess you have to focus yourself,and any movement may cause blurriness,also check your shutter speed,exposure settings etc.As it seems camera is working fine.hope that helps.

I should of mentioned I had image stabilization turned off. I was trying to assess the glass only.
And as mentioned, by old I mean its a 2006 model. Canon's standard dSLR lens, not some manual job from the 70s.

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

All that said, that first image looks mighty funky. No way the edges of the shot should look that on any semi-decent lens stopped down to f/8 or so.

I agree the first is too soft. How about the rest?
That's what confuses me. If the lens is soft, I'd expect 3 to be soft also. But its clearer better.
The 350D sensor is obviously not as crisp, as the Mk2 and the 55-250mm shows. But is it still acceptable with a new lens?

magicbastarder wrote: »

both of the shots with the mk1 standard zoom are unacceptably soft at the edges. does the lens show a sign of having taken a knock?

The lens cap was tight, and may have gotten a knock on the end.
I've been i oz 4 years now, so its moved about a lot with little use.


How do the 350D shots with newer glass look?
Not perfect obviously, but acceptable for a rec user.
I don't want to cling on to it if its a lost cause, but I'd like to keep using it tbh.
I can't justify a new body right now. But my girlfriend is considering a 600D/650D/60D or similar. So if the new glass we get for the new one brought out decent shots in the 350D, i'd like to keep it.

scamalert

Mellor wrote: »

I don't want to cling on to it if its a lost cause, but I'd like to keep using it tbh.
I can't justify a new body right now. But my girlfriend is considering a 600D/650D/60D or similar. So if the new glass we get for the new one brought out decent shots in the 350D, i'd like to keep it.

Considering the lack of usage you had with your dslr,dont see point in buying a new body.As for images first one def looks funky especially the tree is sorta blurry plastic or whatever,other pics look fine,but ive no professional as did only basic dlsr courses,so if someone said soft edges id hardly would notice that ,as it takes good eye for little things to be seen .After saying this keep the dslr and play with it for a while,do some prints and then decide.As myself i can take 100s pictures of same item/environment, but most of the time only 3-5 id consider good ones, and then process it with Photoshop to get desired results.

tylerdurden94

First pic just could be a mistake when you hit the shutter release just shook it a little, other pictures don't look bad on the 350d. It's certainly an old camera so isn't going to be up likes of the newer 600d.

If you're still a little worried about it maybe try a new test but this time take it out at night where you're not going to get drastic changes in brightness so as to skew the pics, you mention using a tripod? If so on the new test trying using the 2 second timer so as to not affect the camera at all.

magicbastarder

tylerdurden94 wrote: »

First pic just could be a mistake when you hit the shutter release just shook it a little, other pictures don't look bad on the 350d. It's certainly an old camera so isn't going to be up likes of the newer 600d.

shot 3 above (mk1 on the 600d) is awfully soft and aberrated (is that a word?) on the bottom left side - the problem seems to follow the lens.