Can you obtain a decent Canon for £250-£300?

[bobbarley]

What about 500D?  We could squeeze our budget to pick one of them up. 

[T_J_G]

Remember you'll want some £££ for lenses.

I really want a 5d to sit beside my 7D.

[bobbarley]

Remember you'll want some £££ for lenses.

I really want a 5d to sit beside my 7D.

I think my main problem is that I've used my mates 5D.  Everything else by comparison seems rubbish 

[T_J_G]

Was it a mk1?

Crap screen, poor focusing (compared to today's cameras), problems with the mirror box etc but they still take amazing shots. I want a 17-40 as a mid range for the 7D then get a 5d body for ultra wide use.

Remember none of these cameras will make you a better photographer

[bobbarley]

It was brand new, he paid £2.5k for it, so assuming it's the mk3?

[Diamond Hell]

You've been totally spoilt by the 5D MKII!

Don't go 500D, go 550D if you're buying a 'cheap' consumer body - the internals are a lot more advanced than the 500D.

That said, I'd be tempted to go 50D if I was going where you're going.

As already suggested a 5D MKI would give you lush full-frame images.

Mifsuds always have a good range of second-user kit.  Canon bodies here:

http://mifsuds.com/acatalog/Used-Canon-Digital-SLR-s.html

Well worth considering, because their warantees are bomb-proof.  A friend bought a 40D from them, it failed, they shipped her a 50D to replace it, FOC.

Get something like a Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 lens for the body and work from there.

[bobbarley]

Thanks DH! Ill check their website out for anything nice

Would lens be more expensive for a full frame camera?

[T_J_G]

You'd have to buy EF lenses which do tend to more £££.

Try mbp photographic, second hand with warranty.

[DubFan]

Those prices on MBP are pretty good.

They've got some pretty cheap 450D bodies but you would need to add lenses.

Yes, full frame (EF) lenses are more expensive, but if you start with the Canon 50mm f1.8 (£80), that's an EF, so is fine on a full frame 5D, etc.
If you think you might go full frame at some point, you either start off buying EF lenses or accept that you'll have to replace them with more expensive lenses later.

[Diamond Hell]

To be honest the whole EF/EF-S thing is a bit of a nonsense.  I don't know why you'd EVER buy an EF lens, especially because if you get an EF-S lens with a good aperture it's just as dear as an EF. 

Only lens I regret buying is the 10-22mm EF-S because I can't put it on the 5D2.  That said, I've had a lot of great images from it prior to that.  The 8-15mm wasn't out when I bought it, either.  That's only a couple of hundred quid more, is L-series but is a fish-eye.

SO tempted to make an 8-15mm my next lens.