donalson's "what dSLR should I get thread"

seems these pop up from time to time here... i've done a bit of research already but honestly am still at a loss

so... i'm tired of my point and shoot... i've been playing with some digital SLRs at the store and a few friends and I'm ready for a digital SLR.

I understand the SLR fairly well... had a good bit of time using my dads full manual 35mm nikromat SLR back as a kid... even had to manual adjust the shutter speed... I loved what I could do with it although it took me a while to get everything set so candid shots never happend...

more recently I pulled out my father-in-laws lat 70's pentax... amazing how much easier the SLR is to play with when you're a bit bigger (i recall dads being bulky for me) plus having the shutter speed take care of itself is sweet :) set the fstop, focus, shoot.

so... i'm looking at a kit around the $500 range could go a bit higher but from what I'm seeing I don't see the extra stuff justifies much more then that outside of extra lenses

I know I need to spend some time with hands on and have been doing that to a limited bit... heading to the camera shop one of these days to get a hands on feel

I'm planing for family portraits, random family/friend get together type stuff, scenery (prob going to do some traveling here in the next year or so) and whatever else catches my eye... not being tied to the cost of 35mm film or the limits of the point and shoot it'll get a good bit of playing around with.

i'd like something that works well in auto mode so I can hand it to my wife or whatever when needed (not that i'm getting rid of my point and shoot all together)

I don't care about movie modes or live view... I do like the idea of the self cleaning sensor, seems stabilization is standard for the most part which is nice. Outside of a fast 50mm and a flash I don't see myself doing much upgrading (well outside of universal filters/covers and stuff like that) so I'm not sure if it's that big of a deal going with one of the big brands....

if my father-in-laws lenses where better i'd prob go that way (the AA's pentax uses is also a big turn off), same kind of thing with my dads nikromat... lenses are to old to work with out some sort of adapter on newer nikons.

media cards are so cheap I don't care one way or the other there... i've got a 2gig sony stick but with the price of that stuff I figure i'll be getting a 4gig min to go with whatever I end up with

obvious choices would be the canon xs or the nikon d3000

the Olympus e520 has caught my eye with the 14-42 and 40-150 lenses would cost about $50 more then the kit lensed nikon or canon, it feels fairly comfortable and layout seems nice, but the four thirds sensor kinda freaks me out... kinda like giving up part of going SLR if i'm going with that small of a sensor (not that the 2x crop factor with lenses would be horrid)

the sony a330 looks promising again for about $100 over the canon/nikons and adds a 55-200mm lens on top of the standard kit lens and pretty much meets all the specs of the canon

the thought of going used doesn't set well with me although some of the deals i've seen with a g

so thoughts? :)

My advice to you is the same as it has been in every other dslr thread; go to a real camera shop and play. don't decide before you do that. Outside of that, a 55-200 lens is still considered a kit lens no matter what way you slice it, and you can almost always get them for 100-150. If you are doing portrait photography, a nice 50mm prime will run you a little more than $100, and will get you far.

ok fine lol...

I went to the camera shop today... they where low on stock and completely out of nikon (apparently nikon was of stock BEFORE Christmas she said doh)

messed with a canon xsi, an older Pentax, and an olympus... the olympus was HORRID feel... the canon wasn't much better... that pentax was awesome... i'm looking for more info on other pentax cams and found one I need to get my hands physicay on... has all my "requirements" and the price is right about what I wanted to spend so awesome :)... will go back in a few weeks when stock is back up to test out some others but I now see what people where talking about feel... much different from the old blocky 70's SLR 35mm i've spent time behind

the shop also does classes for not to much $$$... think i'll have to do a few :)

The Pentax K-X is what i decided on...

do you know how the Kx feels compared to the k100d and k110d?

I used late 60s Nikon Fs forever, and upgraded to an F3 right before I stoped shooting film. Simultaneously in November I: 1. Got really fed up w/ the Sony point n' shoot, although I've shot some pretty good looking stuff with it, and 2. my employers were acquired and I got a nice employee retention bonus.

I read a lot, handled a few, then did some intensive intrwbzz deal searching. I ended up w/ a Nikon D90 w/ the 18-105 (DX) kit lens + a 70-300 AF-DX zoom.

I was planning on waiting a while, but there was a $200 rebate on the package which got it down to about $1300 shipped. It's going to take me freakin' forever to really ~learn~ the capabilities to equal what I could do with the incredibly simple F.

donalson wrote: do you know how the Kx feels compared to the k100d and k110d?

I don't, unfortunately, the K-X is the only Pentax we've looked at. Sorry.

how do the AA batteries last on that thing?... thats the biggest draw back that i've seen about it IMHO :(... you using the Lithium's or just rechargeable nimh?... i've got my eye on the k10d which is slightly older generation but the shape is identical to the k100 and it's weather sealed... we'll see if it's still around at the price i'm looking at when income tax $$$ comes around though haha

donalson wrote: how do the AA batteries last on that thing?... thats the biggest draw back that i've seen about it IMHO :(... you using the Lithium's or just rechargeable nimh?... i've got my eye on the k10d which is slightly older generation but the shape is identical to the k100 and it's weather sealed... we'll see if it's still around at the price i'm looking at when income tax $$$ comes around though haha

Didn't order it yet, actually... it's for the GF's birthday.

I do remember worrying about the batteries, then not caring once i saw how many pictures it was good for on one set of batteries. It was in the thousands, don't remember the exact number, though.

If you are wanting a good beginner camera for under $500, I suggest getting a Nikon D40.

Very easy to use and and takes great pictures. I have a D40 and a D90. The 90 takes much better pictures, but seems a little out of the range you want to spend.

Nikon D40

Yeah, I've got to go with Nikon also, but then I have a D300 so I'm biased. Seriously though, I shopped A LOT of cameras before I bought one and the only two I considered after were the Nikon or a Fuji (also Nikon based). In the end, the Fuji was much slower than the Nikon and that swayed my choice, but I thought the pic quality of the Fuji was a touch better for portraits. But that's what Photoshop is for!

The Canon was nice but felt cheaper in my opinion, but it still took awesome pictures.

In the end it comes down to which you are most comfortable with, but any of the other Nikons that I've used have taken very nice pictures (D40, D90 and D3000, as well as my D300). You'll love the control compared to a point and shoot, although I keep one in my desk at work for quick photos.

I love my Nikon D40 to death. Comfortable, durable, and takes excellent pictures - they've also come down in price quite a bit since I bought mine (Dec 2007).

Another vote for the D40 (as usual). Its an awesome bargain at the moment and is tons of camera for the money. Mine is currently being carried on a daily basis for my photojournalism class, leaving my D70 and D1X at home. I also have the awesome 35mm 1.8 AFS prime lens on its way that will make a nice compact package.

As I have mentioned before make sure you look at the available ranges and prices of eventual upgrades also. Some of the brands have less lens availability or cost 2-3 times as much as the same lens from Nikon or Canon.

Guy in my car club that's a professional photographer (he's had stuff in The Mag, and CMS too, I think) highly recommends getting a dSLR that has a big "onboard" memory. He says that way you can shoot a bunch of pics real fast without having to wait while it transfers to the storage card.

i'm going to get my hands on a Nikon... unfortunately the d40 is no longer sold by nikon from what I've found... can find it used but i'm hesitant there... will get my hands on some Nikons though and play around...

unfortuantly the feel of the canon is WAY off for me :(

Sam's has Nicon dSLR's for $499 here. I was looking at one this week. I don't know what model numbers.

I'll put in another vote for the D40. I still use mine as a second body all the time when I shoot. As Rebel mentioned, the f/1.8 35mm AFS is a great lens for it.

It also has the best high-ISO performance of any consumer DSLR I've seen. I just got back from shooting a weightlifting competition, and ended up using the D40 just for the ISO performance. The near professional flash sync speed (1/500) also makes it great for daylight shooting.

Go used/refurb and you'll save a ton. For your needs, it sounds like you don't need the latest/greatest, so a pro-sumer model that's a generation-or-so old won't cause you much problem.

keh.com is my go-to, and some good deals can be found at calumetphoto.com

I've always been a canon 35 fan because I'm perpetually broke and canon lenses ans equipment is usually cheaper than Nikon. Nikon lenses are higher quality, but the color gamut in canon's images suits me better.

I recently bought my first dSLR, a Canon XSi, and I'm sceamin' happy with it.

ultraclyde.smugmug.com for samples

2 main points to consider - entry level dSLR from N and C are fairly comparable, so buywhat FEELS right to you - that way you can concentrate on the shot not the hardware. Also, buy the fastest storage card you can get - cheap cards slow down expensive cameras like you wouldn't believe. Dont waste your money buying cheap frustration.

well finally got my SLR... went with a k10d w/ kit lens, has the battery grip and everything else to be ready to go shoot... i've also got a few older MF prime lenses from my father-in-laws SLR kit...

should be here on monday, can't wait to get to playing with it :)

I would get a used camera from B&H. More for the money since you can get a piece of professional equipment from a few years ago.

I shoot with a Nikon D1H and a Nikon D1X, both of which are the Volvo 240's of the camera world. Flexible and you can't kill them (all magnesium construction). You can get a D1X for $2-300 now.

daveestey.smugmug.com for examples of what I've been doing with them.

got the k10d in the mail yesterday... been playing with it a little... lots to learn, very excited about it though :)

little time of playing...

little bit of depth of field play

and a few shots of sunset... it was about 20 min to late to get the good shots when the sun was a little higher and it had a lot more orange in the sky... :-/ but fun experimenting with settings.

LOTS of things to learn on the cam still...