Help with a digital SLR camera

Well i really like the Nikon D70, the body will run close to 800 but i have seen some nice kits that come with 2-3 lenses fro 1300-1400. If nikon isnt your thing then the cannon digital eos rebble2 is a nice one, it takes great pictures. and like the Nikon you can by kits with some nice lenzes for it as well for about the same or maybe alittle less the the nikon. Either way and Image stablization lenze is the way to go with either of them. nothing is cooler than hand holdin a sharp 1/3 sec shot with one of them.

 

This one seems to be the camera of choice.

 

Canon seems to have the best image processing quality. Ive used the canon d20 and the nikon 70 and the canon wins hands down. I dont even think its because of the camera itself, but more so because Canon makes the best glass for the digital camera lens range.

I am not too fond of the lenses that come standard with the camera's (both of them) since they are pretty average zooms. Dont get me wrong, they do the job. But Zoom lenses have more glass elements therefore reducing the quality, reducing the aperture performance etc. Thats why I always use prime lenses. With the canon you can go out and buy a really nice second hand 10 year old prime lens for a couple of hundred dollars and take some really nice shots. You can do so with the Nikon as well, but I just like the charectaristics of canon glass over nikon glass.

Heres a picture I took with the D20, using a 50mm prime (25 year old lens), aperture at 1.2 / 22 secs. This is the Sydney Harbour bridge from underneath at Midnight.

The next picture I took using the same lens on a 35mm film using fuji veliva 50.
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Canan Rebel XT. It's a phenomenal peice of machinery. Check google.com for "DSLR reviews" there will be some awesome sites that compare tonnes of cameras with in depth reviews.

 

For ~$1k though I think that he'd be in Rebel XT range rather than D20 (1400-1600).

 

I havent used the XT, But Guess what, The Rebel XT is exactly Identical to the D20, the only difference is that canon have deliberately disabled a few menu options in the firmware.

There is hack out there on the internet to turn your XT into a D20! It just rewrites the firmware on the camera and you get the added options. I wouldnt suggest doing that though because it does void warranty. But the point I am trying to make is that they are identical machinery, same firmware sans a few disabled options. The D20 however is less plasticier, and has nicer menu dials.

 

In addition to my above post, I would like to add that the lens plays a huge role in quality, regardless of camera type. A good lens on an 8 year old canon SLR will produce far better looking images (subjective) than a mediocre lens on a modern Canon SLR.

 

True. And not only that, while the camera is a factor in the quality of the image, more important is developing skill in photography generally (ie. composition, lighting, balance). While a good digital SLR can compensate for a lot of amateur inaccuracies, it won't save you from chopped off heads, dead-center-of-the-frame composition, shooting *into* sunlight, etc.

I don't know the OP's skill, but I just bring this up because I've been reading a fair bit lately about photography to refresh myself, and a common theme in the literature is not buying more than you need. Especially for people trying to start up in photography for money, the motto should be "tools, not toys." You don't need a "5000XiC Deluxe v.2" when the "100C" will meet your needs. This is why I just bought an Olympus EVOLT digital SLR - 8mp, great balance, more features than I need, and available lightly used for 1/3 the price of a D20, and 1/2 a D70!

 

If you want to take action pictures (racing for example) the Canon 350 is very good because of it's AI focus system. But as said buy just the body and add your choice of lenses to it.

Ciao, Peter

 

Ryan, you hit the nail right on the head when you mentioned lighting. Pretentious photographers tend to call themselves "Painters that paint with light". Whilst this may sound corny and cheesy, it is very true, light is what generates perception of reality for the human eye. And by manipulating light you can minpulate thousands of variables in the final image.. mood, tone, depth, perspective, wrinkles, telling a story within a story through shadow, etc..

Most amateur photographers look for a "magic bullet" to making great shots. There is no such thing as a magic bullet, but I'd say lighting comes pretty close.

Here is a test shot I took of a crappy old Calvin Clein perfume bottle to use as a photography mockup to show the client. You would think it was taken using a Pro Camera with a full lighting setup right?

Wrong. I had taken this shot using a Canon 2 megapixel camera I had bought second hand for $50 (S90 i think it was). The object was lit by placing it ontop of a piece of sheet plastic curved behind the bottle and lit from underneath using a 40watt lightbulb. (Sort of like a makeshift product table)

So the lesson here, Lighting Lighting Lighting.

BTW. I'd like to add I am not a pro photographer, I just know the basics. So taking good shots isnt that hard if you know and practice the basics.
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Here are some other examples ive found of the same bottle with different lighting colours and intensities if anyones interested. (I placed coloured acetate ontop of the lights).

Again using the canon s20. (I did simulate a lens blur in photoshop for the blue one).
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I have the D 100 and am serriously looking at some changes. I am a pro and make my living with my eye so the image quality is exceptionally important to me but the speed the thing writes to disk is the thing i have run into as the biggest problem with the D 100

Nikon has the D70s and the new D50 which both will give the serious amature achres of elbow room

My debate right now is to reinvest in glass and go Canon (EOS D2s) or get a D2x and a D70s The image quality on the Canon is honestly superior and the ability to have 2x 5 gig cards working in tandem in the canon is very appealing to me but I have different priorities

The advice on Glass is spot on. Look at the Rebel and the D70s and decide what feels right in your hand. THEN GET THE BEST GLASS YOU CAN. it really does make all the difference

 

DPreview has a good writeup on the D200.

I'm a Canon 20D guy, but the D200 looks nice.

 

I just purchased the Canon D20. I based my decision on several factors. The most important factor to me was deciding what manufacturer’s lenses I wanted to accumulate. The glass is where you will spend your money over the long run and seems to have a longer life expectancy than the body. I think of it much like a stereo system where the glass is the speakers and the camera body is your stereo/dolby digital/flavor of the day processor. You may go through several bodies during the time period you own one lens.

I decided on Canon glass over Nikon for several reasons. The first reason is that I have a good friend who is an excellent photographer and has numerous Canon lenses and so we can borrow each other’s lenses on occasion. It also seemed that Canon had a greater number of lens options at a better price point than Nikon. Once I decided on Canon, I went with the 20D as it seemed to be a good price point for the features I wanted. I probably would have been equally happy with the Rebel.

 

I just got the Rebel about a month ago. I really like it. I bought it over the Nikon because I already knew how to use the Canon software and I also had a couple of lenses from my Canon EOS that work great.

 

Is there such a thing as a reasonably priced digital SLR, or are they all $1000?

 

the bodies are not that much (5-700) but the glass is zpenzive

 

Look for Olympus EVOLT E-300. More power than most ppl will use, 8MP, can find them used with the stock lens for under $500.

 

The Canon Rebel XT, 8 mega pixels, it's a top notch camera, but i think that i might exceed your price range. My cousin had it for a week, it was one awsome camera. I felt like a real paparazzi, with the number of settings it has.

Go check it out!

 

Very nice setup, but note the digital noise. This is the difference between a point'n shoot vs a real quality SLR with it's larger light gathering ability and supior optics and larger CCD. (I have a Canon S230 that's great but I'm hankering for a dSLR big time.)

Taken with a D70 set on 'auto' your lighting setup would make the result 'pop' out of the page.


EDIT: OH MAN, I finally did it. DCS PRO/c was down to $2750 on B&H. This is a FULL 35mm imager 13mpixel dSLR. Oh yeah I hit that. Full report when it gets here.