Digital SLR Camera advice

[windsor]

I'm looking at buying a 'toy'...an entry level DSLR camera. I haven't used and SLR in more years than I will admit to - (hint: the body was a Nikon F2) . This is a 'test' camera to see if I will really use it or default to my Canon point/shoot. If I use it with any regularity I'll pass it on to the daughter and upgrade...

Anyone have an input/insight?

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I'm looking at buying a 'toy'...an entry level DSLR camera. I haven't used and SLR in more years than I will admit to - (hint: the body was a Nikon F2) . This is a 'test' camera to see if I will really use it or default to my Canon point/shoot. If I use it with any regularity I'll pass it on to the daughter and upgrade...

Anyone have an input/insight?

This is obviously a request to our resident expert SLR photographer, ArkieDukie! She got lots of help here before she made her purchase, I guess from CB&B and maybe Lavabe?

[Lavabe]

I'm looking at buying a 'toy'...an entry level DSLR camera. I haven't used and SLR in more years than I will admit to - (hint: the body was a Nikon F2) . This is a 'test' camera to see if I will really use it or default to my Canon point/shoot. If I use it with any regularity I'll pass it on to the daughter and upgrade...

Anyone have an input/insight?

People will praise whatever make and model they use. I'm Canon-biased because of what I do, but I also recognize the power of Nikon in Macro photography. Some people like a certain bell & whistle on a model. And I will never fault a person for buying based on that.

But before you decide on what make and model you want, please do the following:
1) FIND A GOOD LOCAL, REPUTABLE CAMERA SHOP. These people can help you best identify the strengths and weaknesses of all the various models out there. They understand people, and it's in their best interest to help you be a satisfied customer. Avoid the cheapy grey market stuff. Go local, especially as you start learning whatever camera you choose.
2) Understand what you'll really be using the camera for: Try to identify why you want the camera and what types of photos you'll generally take. If it's just simple photos of relatives that you'll print out at the local supermarket/pharmacy or post on facebook, then you'll probably want one set of features that are different from what you'd want for animal action photography (just thinking that might be important for you). Are youusing it in extreme conditions (like what I do), or can you be readily assured of being able to control things in more standard settings? Again, a local camera/photo shop can help you identify issues.
3) Miscellaneous BIZWAH: do you want to try different lenses and peripherals to adjust what you're photographing, or is that not a major issue? Sometimes these can guide what you wind up getting. In my case, the best lens on themarket for what I do pretty much helped me decide what camera to get.
4) Often times, a good camera shop will let you try different equipment, and will also offer classes. If this is the case with your local shop, this is a very good thing. I am sure Arkie would agree COMPLETELY.

Keep me posted as things progress on the great camera buy of 2010. I hope something works out for you. Every day that I photograph is a great day. I hope it'll be the same for you.
Cheers,
Lavabe

[colchar]

I'm heading out to a football game tonight with my Dad, my brother, and my sister-in-law. She is a professional photographer so I'll try to remember to ask her for her opinions and I'll post them late tonight or sometime tomorrow.

[ArkieDukie]

I echo much of what Lavabe said. The local camera shop is great because they employ a professional photographer - he teaches classes and also gives tips on how to improve your pictures. I've been very pleased with my interactions with them. I don't think you can go wrong with Canon or Nikon. I have a Nikon, but it seems like everyone else I know has a Canon of some flavor or other. Once you settle on Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, or whatever, that will determine what peripherals you have and will likely set the course for the remainder of your camera purchases. (Once I eventually replace my camera it will be with a Nikon because of all the lenses I have.)

Question: do you have lots of lenses for your old camera? If so, you might want to look at the Nikon line of cameras and see if your current lenses are compatible. I have a Nikon D90, and lots of the old lenses work with it. Of course, I didn't have any older Nikon lenses, but they would've worked.

One thing I have read a few times is that it's better to purchase a "low end" camera and spend more money on lenses. The argument is that it's really the quality of the lens that determines how good your pictures are. Now that I have a couple of high quality lenses I think that idea has some merit. It will be interesting to hear what others think with regard to that point.

[windsor]

The nearest non 'big box' camera buy it place is about 15 miles from me...but I will be heading up there later today to have a chat with them.

I don't have any of my old lenses...sold them with the camera. I got a good price for them back in the day...but I wish I had them now since they were Leica lenses. I will not be buying that quality of lens for some time to come . The telephoto/zoom I had was heavy as a big dog...but oh my could that thing take some pictures!

I am looking forward to playing with a camera without having to spend a young fortune developing the film...I'm sure I"m going to love the 'instant feedback' from a DSLR.

I'm hoping to find a camera that has enough 'auto' features to be able to handle snap shot type photos without a lot of hassle, but enough manual operation to have some fun. Baring a major course change it will be a Canon or a Nikon - Sony makes a very highly rated entry level DSLR - they had them at Target and I had it in my hands...great features...very reasonabley priced but it felt like a cheap POS when you picked it up.

[Lavabe]

One thing I have read a few times is that it's better to purchase a "low end" camera and spend more money on lenses. The argument is that it's really the quality of the lens that determines how good your pictures are. Now that I have a couple of high quality lenses I think that idea has some merit. It will be interesting to hear what others think with regard to that point.

In all honesty, I feel it depends in part on what kind of photos you're taking. If it's just party photos to go up on facebook, then I agree with this statement. But I can easily imagine windsor getting loads of Tervuren photos, and if you don't know what you're doing at first, that could be frustrating. Those wonderful dark furry faces in action must be difficult to photograph. Sometimes the bells & whistles on the camera can REALLY help out an entry-level DSLR user.

My buying experience for my Canon 50D was predicated on one thing... the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 lens. There simply is NO substitute for the lens, and that basically told me to go Canon. Nikon has NOTHING like this lens. Once I did that, however, I went to a good camera shop I knew in Atlanta, and purchased two lenses, flash, and other peripherals. As Wilson can verify, the experience at the shop made ALL the difference in the world. As a result, I am now much better with ethnographic portraits of people, and my landscape skills have improved dramatically.

Having said that, if most of my photos would be flowers/macro stuff, I'd have been a Nikon person. Landscapes are a wash.

I think the 15 mile trip is worth it for an entry-level person... as well as for the person who has some experience. You can always learn from the professional photographers in your store.

[ArkieDukie]

What I meant was that you could've gotten the rockin' Canon zoom and gotten a camera slightly lower down the chain than the 50D. In my case that would've meant going with a Nikon D40 or D60 rather than the D90. The D60 is WAY obsolete in comparison to the D90 in terms of features. I researched the differences pretty thoroughly at the time and decided to go with the D90, but I can't remember all of the specifics. All I know is that it's basically a D300 (pro level camera at the time) in a consumer-level camera. I just know that I have loads of fun adjusting white balance and color saturation settings when I take pictures, which I also could've done with a D60. I'm also a macro person, which is why I have a Nikon.

Whatever camera you get, consider getting a 35mm or 50mm lens. They're generally inexpensive lenses that take great pictures in low light. My 35mm lens was my cheapest and is also one of my favorite all-purpose lenses. It takes far sharper pictures than the kit lens that came with my camera.

Are you going to use your camera to get pictures of dogs in motion? If so, the number of frames per second that you can shoot is probably going to be something you'll really pay attention to. My bro-in-law recently upgraded to a really expensive camera so he could take action shots of my niece doing gymnastics. His old camera wasn't fast enough for him. Mine gets just over 4 frames per sec, which is more than fast enough for me. D60 was slower. Lavabe probably wants a fast camera for lemur shots, too.

Love my local camera shop. They have a class on macro photography at the botanical gardens next Thursday morning that I REALLY want to take. There's another field trip class coming up next week - to the zoo. I want to take that one as well. I took a class on f-stops a few weeks ago that was great (discussed balance between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO and how you could use them to get the effect you desire in your pictures). I have also gotten lots of great photography tips through posting some of my pictures on the camera shop's Facebook page.

One other interesting tidbit: iirc, Sony bought Olympus, so Sony cameras are really Olympus cameras. Has anyone else heard this?

[ArkieDukie]

all this talk about cameras makes me want to go out and take pictures.

[windsor]

So I went to the one and only non-chain camera store in the entire county. Wow. Fucking Wow. Played with cameras. Played with lenses....played some more...got in the car...drove halfway home...made Uturn.

Bought Camera. Bought Lens, Bag, Filter...SDCard...made my credit card cry.

The service was top notch. The guy gave me his work and crackberry e-mail. If I'm having trouble e-mail him anytime (ok maybe NOT if I'm shooting a sunrise at oh-dark thirty) he'll help..e-mail copies of pictures if I am not happy with them. He'll try and figure out what I need to do. After I have a couple hundred shots on the card set up a time to come in, they look at all the shots then make recommendations then we'll go shooting and review those.

I am not a fan of buying the warranties, but their's was 3 years and covered everything (including dropping it a swimming pool , the dog chewing it) and covered regular clean so I went for it.

I am singing Simon & Garfunkel's Kodachrome "I got a Nikon camera...love to take the photograph..."

Proud owner of one Nikon D90 and a Tamron 18/270 lens. By the way, that lens ROCKS my world.

Now to figure out what all these freakin' buttons do....

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Congrats! Enjoy! Post lots of pictures!

[bjornolf]

Great advice so far. I love my Nikon D70. It's been great for me, and it's a LOT lighter in weight than the D90, and is a lot cheaper. I got mine at Costco cheap. Costco now sells the D500s for about what I paid for my D70. I think it's Nikon's replacement for the D70. I think I started a thread about this a year ago before I bought mine. Might look back at it to see what people were saying back then.

Oops, no, it was from DBR. http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/for ... post302938 if you care to look.

[ArkieDukie]

So I went to the one and only non-chain camera store in the entire county. Wow. Fucking Wow. Played with cameras. Played with lenses....played some more...got in the car...drove halfway home...made Uturn.

Bought Camera. Bought Lens, Bag, Filter...SDCard...made my credit card cry.

The service was top notch. The guy gave me his work and crackberry e-mail. If I'm having trouble e-mail him anytime (ok maybe NOT if I'm shooting a sunrise at oh-dark thirty) he'll help..e-mail copies of pictures if I am not happy with them. He'll try and figure out what I need to do. After I have a couple hundred shots on the card set up a time to come in, they look at all the shots then make recommendations then we'll go shooting and review those.

I am not a fan of buying the warranties, but their's was 3 years and covered everything (including dropping it a swimming pool , the dog chewing it) and covered regular clean so I went for it.

I am singing Simon & Garfunkel's Kodachrome "I got a Nikon camera...love to take the photograph..."

Proud owner of one Nikon D90 and a Tamron 18/270 lens. By the way, that lens ROCKS my world.

Now to figure out what all these freakin' buttons do....

Congrats on your purchase! I'm still learning what all of the buttons do on my camera. Can't wait to see pics with your new camera and lens. I've heard good things about Tamron lenses.

One piece of advice that I got from the photographer at Creve Coeur Camera with regard to zoom lenses has helped me tremendously: make sure that your shutter speed is set to AT LEAST the mm setting on the lens in order to avoid blur/shake problems. My pics improved dramatically after I did that. I <3 my zoom lens (a Nikon 70-300mm VR).

[ArkieDukie]

Great advice so far. I love my Nikon D70. It's been great for me, and it's a LOT lighter in weight than the D90, and is a lot cheaper. I got mine at Costco cheap. Costco now sells the D500s for about what I paid for my D70. I think it's Nikon's replacement for the D70. I think I started a thread about this a year ago before I bought mine. Might look back at it to see what people were saying back then.

Oops, no, it was from DBR. http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/for ... post302938 if you care to look.

I almost bought a D60 because of the weight. Definitely lighter than the D90, and I can see where the lighter camera would be easier to carry around. Which lens(es) do you have?

[ArkieDukie]

How's it going, windsor? Do you have pics to show off?

[bluebutton]

ArkieDukie, don't you mean:


OR


Meanwhile -- -- ah the dSLR life, while i like developing film, it's pretty sweet to have the option not to

[CameronBornAndBred]

ArkieDukie, don't you mean:


OR


Meanwhile -- -- ah the dSLR life, while i like developing film, it's pretty sweet to have the option not to

You know for the longest time I thought this said pigs?

[bjornolf]

Great advice so far. I love my Nikon D70. It's been great for me, and it's a LOT lighter in weight than the D90, and is a lot cheaper. I got mine at Costco cheap. Costco now sells the D500s for about what I paid for my D70. I think it's Nikon's replacement for the D70. I think I started a thread about this a year ago before I bought mine. Might look back at it to see what people were saying back then.

Oops, no, it was from DBR. http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/for ... post302938 if you care to look.

I almost bought a D60 because of the weight. Definitely lighter than the D90, and I can see where the lighter camera would be easier to carry around. Which lens(es) do you have?

My bad. I actually have a D60, not a D70. My dad has the D70s, which is between the weight of the two. I love mine. I just have the lens it came with, but it's pretty good. My dad's got a bunch of lenses for his D70 and N70, so I borrow his sometimes.

[captmojo]

You know for the longest time I thought this said pigs?

Damn hippies!

[DukeUsul]

Very important advice. Don't bring it to a laser light show.

http://www.photoxels.com/lightshow-lase ... lr-sensor/