Why does my "Prosumer" Olympus C-8080 take better pictures then my Canon 40D SLR?

[wagonist]

I'm by no means a good photographer but I understand the very basics. I currently have an Olympus C-8080 cam that I've been using for 5 years now and it take stunning pictures. Then about a year ago I purchased a Canon 40D with a Tamron AF28-80mm F/3.5-5.6 lens for my company, but been using it for personal stuff.

When comparing shots from the 2 cameras, the olympus take pictures that are much sharper (especially using zoom), WAY less noise when taking long exposure night shots at the same ISO, and pictures just generally look better, shadows, contrast, so on.

Is it because I baught a cheap lens for the 40D? It was one of those buy the camera body and accessories and we'll throw the lens in free deal. It was 850 new for everything.

I will take a few comparison shots tomorrow and you'll be the judge.

[BoostSamurai]

My guess... it's because the Olympus is designed to be simple to operate and give the best results in a variety of conditions when operated by novice users. Point and click and the camera tries to make the best choices it can based on various sensor inputs and a set of pre-set criteria.

Where as the results from the 40D are more dependant on you as a photographer and the setting, lenses, etc. that you use rather than some automagic settings. The 40D shines in terms of versatility and control and once mastered it should blow the Olympus out of the water.

Just my $0.02 worth HTH

[the dingo]

^^

I was about to type the exact same thing.

[BoostSamurai]

Great minds eh?!?! lol

[J. Evins]

The lens you have on your camera is not very impressive. That and a DSLR makes it much easier to make mistakes if you don't know what you're doing in comparison to a fully automatic point and shoot.

[Withers]

Is it because I baught a cheap lens for the 40D? It was one of those buy the camera body and accessories and we'll throw the lens in free deal. It was 850 new for everything.

Absolutely. The body is irrelevant, it's the glass that you use that makes the difference.

[Han]

My guess... it's because the Olympus is designed to be simple to operate and give the best results in a variety of conditions when operated by novice users. Point and click and the camera tries to make the best choices it can based on various sensor inputs and a set of pre-set criteria.

Where as the results from the 40D are more dependant on you as a photographer and the setting, lenses, etc. that you use rather than some automagic settings. The 40D shines in terms of versatility and control and once mastered it should blow the Olympus out of the water.

Just my $0.02 worth HTH

This.

[besthaticouldo]

The lens you have on your camera is not very impressive. That and a DSLR makes it much easier to make mistakes if you don't know what you're doing in comparison to a fully automatic point and shoot.

bingo...with nikons is really best (at least from what i know, because i shoot canon) to stick with nikkor lenses.

[Han]

bingo...with nikons is really best (at least from what i know, because i shoot canon) to stick with nikkor lenses.

Meh, really depends on which lens you're referring to. Almost all 3rd party lenses can't really "compete" with the Nikkor lenses, but they're 2-3x or more in price, so that's justification to going 3rd party.

[Withers]

Sigma can almost always compare with Nikkor (or Canon). If someone has been telling you otherwise you're being fed a load of horseshit. Tamron not so much.

[NerdCore]

With the right amount of time and skill, any picture will look great with Photoshop.

Also, depending on what you shoot that lens isn't a very good choice. Cars, I like to use a 50-250 lens. People, the 28-80 is ok... The biggest thing is are you using the auto settings or the p,tv,av,m?

[NerdCore]

Absolutely. The body is irrelevant, it's the glass that you use that makes the difference.

The body isn't irrelevant, but it's not as prominent as the lens is in this situation.

[Withers]

With the right amount of time and skill, any picture will look great with Photoshop.

Also, depending on what you shoot that lens isn't a very good choice. Cars, I like to use a 50-250 lens. People, the 28-80 is ok... The biggest thing is are you using the auto settings or the p,tv,av,m?

He may have gotten a bad copy. Tamron isn't known for their quality control.

Example pics would help

[BoostSamurai]

Agreed about good glass.

Here's an example, my old man has a D90 (as do I) and some pretty average (slow) glass. Recently, he was complaining that he wasn't getting the sort of shots he expected and wanted to upgrade to a D700. I kinda talked him out of it and instead he ended up going with a Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VR II. My reasoning was that even if he got the semi-pro body (D700), his glass would still let him down. Where as, if he got some decent glass it would shine even on a D90.

Now with the 70-200 his shots are much sharper and he has much more versatility with that lens even though it cost a bit more than the D700 body!

He's happy and so am I because now I can 'borrow' his 70-200 from him when I need it too Win, win situation IMHO. lol

[J. Evins]

Sigma can almost always compare with Nikkor (or Canon). If someone has been telling you otherwise you're being fed a load of horseshit. Tamron not so much.

Almost always? Not quite.

Some of their lenses are decent.. but they have horrible quality control and generally won't perform on the same page with top tier glass.

L primes > * One, maybe two Sigma lenses have image quality even close.