Upgrade the body or invest in new lens(es)?

I use a Canon EOS 350D at the moment. My impatient OH couldn't wait until Christmas to tell me his ideas of presents for me and said one if his choices was to buy me a new camera body. He's got a budget of around £500 so was looking at the 550D. Is it going to make that much of a difference to switch bodies though, within this budget? I know lots of people say to spend more money on lenses than the body, and I could get a pretty good lens or two in that budget - I'm sure he wouldn't object to me saying I'd prefer to spend it on lenses instead. I'm probably never going to be a pro charging loads of money, but considering we're looking at upping and moving to a new area in the next year or so, I get the feeling I'll have lots of spare time to get into photography a bit more seriously so some shiny new toys would be nice! So, invest in a better body or some new lenses?

Think carefully before making a decision to upgrade, question if the upgrade gives you that much more in options. Generally upgrading to the next model higher isn't really worth it ,the jump should give you considerable more in the way of features.
Maybe, and I don't know Canon cameras or the prices of, it is worth thinking about selling your existing camera and adding the money to the £500 and getting a better one than the 550D?

For £500 you are really still looking at "consumer" lenses and not the more expensive "pro" lenses. It really comes down to what your happy with at the moment.
Bazza

I think the biggest difference will be in ISO performance - and I would much rather a modern body with good ISO than an older one without tbh.

The first question to ask yourself is what (if anything) is holding you back just now in terms of the body and I guess the second question is what type of photography will you be doing as that will deternine whether you'll benefit more from a body or a lens.

The 550D is the latest model in the entry XXXD range so is a few generations newer than your 350D. 8MP to 18MP is a fair old jump but unless you rely on heavy cropping or print bigger than A3 then it's not really a big deal. ISO is a big leap if you shoot in fading light. All those extra MP mean frames per second hasn't improved that much from 2.8 - 3.7. Build quality - it's the same model really. Nice big screen is a plus and obviously shooting movies is an option if you're wanting to do that.

Slightly older models on the next rung up (XXD series) such as 40D or 50D are another option - these are bigger, heavier, mag alloy bodies, weather sealed, 6-7 frames per second so perhaps something to consider if you want to be in the 'outdoors' perhaps doing landscapes or wildlife.

For me personally (and we'll all be different) I'm more into my landscapes so 'fast' wide aperture lenses aren't really required. Kit lenses can produce some great results so in your shoes I'd probably be looking to upgrade the body.

If on the other hand you're current camera does everything you want it to do but you want wider angles, longer foacl lengths or faster lenses then obviously lenses are the way to go.

Good luck whatever you decide!

xx

Yep, I'd be thinking too what am I missing in what I have now? If you were going to be looking at making some cash maybe consider identifying what area of photography you would want to get into e.g. animal and baby portraits = some studio lights, flashmeter etc. Most people tend to go for quality lenses before upgrading the body but as Phil says, if you are doing landscapes or are stopping down to f8 the differences will be marginal unless you are blowing your pics up. If you were getting into club photographic competitions... then an A3 printer and mount cutters etc. Just ideas... Filters? A good polariser... probably around £45 for the lenses you have now... a 70-200mm lens... etc. etc.

The answer is generally go for good glass but its as long as your body does what you want it too.
I decided to upgrade body (from my ancient 300D to my gorgeously delicious new 550D) rather than get new glass becuase my camera really wasn't doing the things I wanted.
I wanted the histogram to show the 3 colour channels, I wanted to be able to go above ISO 400 without the noise being ugly, and I wanted a quicker, more accurate focussing system.
If I was given £1500 to spend next week (if only) I wouldn't get the 5D II I would get one or two amazing lenses because while the 5D would be amazing, my 550D does everything I need for now.

Happy shopping!

Cheers guys, I think I've been converted to the idea of a decent lens, been suggested a couple slightly above budget so going to look out for a good deal/decent second hand one, if not I'll be taking him up on his offer of building me a nice new PC as mine is too old/slow really!

Glass first, body second!

Simple, lens will last you a lifetime a body is out of date after a year.

It depends on the camera one already has, its no good having a fantastic lens costing thousands when the camera can't cope.

If you have a lens for a full frame camera its not going to be as good on a camera with a C sensor

Bazza