# Sure learned a lot about DSLR's today



## dicklaxt (Jun 2, 2005)

I have spent about 8 hours running around the internet today.I do have two more questions tho and then I'll go into hiding and do some decision making.

#1. Not considering which you own or which you personally like best,,,,,,,,which is the best of these two, Canon or Nikon?

#2. How come no one mentions a comparable Sony,I always heard they were right up there too,,, and whats its model#

dick


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## Arlon (Feb 8, 2005)

Canon's the best at some things, nikon better at others. If you are going all new, I'd have to say the canon is hard to beat in the lower to mid range cameras. 

I like to use old cheap manual focus lenses and the d200/300 handles them perfectly and even meters them perfectly. Canon can't even mount old lenses. Some of my favorite lenses where less than $25 for the nikon, won't happen with a canon. There are tons of old cheap manual focus lenses available for the nikon.. I use manual focus 95% of the time and I have good eyes so AF just isn't that big of a deal for me. Mounting old lenses was the only real reason I chose nikon over canon.


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## Jerry-rigged (May 21, 2004)

Sony - I only hear folks raving about one model - the A700 - their "pro" camera... I have a buddy with one, I have used it few times, sweet camera... He got it because he had a lot of old pro-grade Minolta glass from a past life as a wedding photog...

Oly - they have a hair more noise, and a bit less DR, but supposedly they have some of the best "consumer" grade lenses...


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## fishphoto (Mar 3, 2005)

They all have strengths and weaknesses. As Arlon pointed out, Nikon cameras are able to use any of the old Nikon lenses if you don't mind manual focus. I would choose either Nikon or Canon. There's nothing wrong with the other brands, but these two have been in the game the longest and have the largest selection of lenses and accessories. I chose Nikon when I got started simply because I had friends with Nikon gear that I could borrow. Nikon's (cls) flash system is probably the best on the market right now.


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## dicklaxt (Jun 2, 2005)

I leaning towards Nikon,I know not why ,just seems like the thing to do.

dick


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

Rich...where are you? Rich has one of the new Sony models...not the A700 pro model, and he gets wonderful results with it. If you are like everyone else, whichever brand you decide on, you will most likely become an immediate fan and supporter of that brand. They are all so good and so advanced now that it is getting really hard to take a "bad" photo anymore. I said hard, not impossible. I still seem to take a large number of bad photos but it's usually due to me and my bad eyes and compositional reasons, not technical or camera issues. Even the bad ones look good sometimes.


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## dicklaxt (Jun 2, 2005)

I ordered a Canon EOS 40D body this morning ,school is still out on the lens.

dick


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

Enlighten us please. At 3:35am you were leaning towards Nikon. At 9:56am you have ordered the Canon 40D. What finally persuaded you in your chosen direction?


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## dicklaxt (Jun 2, 2005)

The Canon LCD monitor was 1/2 " larger and the Canon continuous shooting was 6.5fps vs 5fps over Nikon,,,,looked like everything else was on par including pricing.

Now I need to decide on lens.
How do you find out which lens will fit which camera or am I limited to Canon Lens?

dick


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## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

Dick, there are several third party vendors that make some good equipment. Sigma, Tamron and Tokina all make lenses with the Canon mount. I own some of each and like them all.

Tokina 12-24 f/4 wide angle zoom
Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 zoom (I like this as a normal zoom lens for everyday stuff)
Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 zoom (mild wide angle to medium telephoto - also good for portraits)
Canon 70-200 f/2.8 K IS zoom (really good for all sorts of shooting from portraits to sports like little league. softball, etc). Pretty expensive at about $1700 

Other options include the Sigma 17-70 zoom which includes a little more focal length range from wide angle to medium telephoto.
Canon also sells a 28-135mm lens in about the same price range ($330 or so)

Congrats on the 40D. I think you will really like it. It probably has more features than you will ever need. And it feels great in my hands.

Lemme know if you want to get a hands on these lenses and maybe we could meet somewhere locally and let you take a look-see. 
Mike


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## dicklaxt (Jun 2, 2005)

Thanks for the offer Mike but I wouldn't know any more when holding one than I do reading about it. $1700 is out of my league.

What I really want to do is get some action shots of PurpleMartins in flight coming into their housing during their mating season. I have a Canon digital Power Shot with both Optical and Digital Zoom features. When both are turned on I can really get some nice shots of the birds perching etc as they are quite tame and I can get close up to them. I have been as close as two feet.

I have an acquaintance that has a D200 with a 400mm lens that really does it up clean and clear of in flight pics.

Thanks for everthing guys.

dick


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