# Digital SLR



## hellonwater (Dec 17, 2005)

Want to buy a digital SLR but the more I research the more confused I become. What are the most important things to consider when looking for a new camera? Canon,Sony,Nikon,etc all seem to have new models available. Have never owned a digital slr and would like to keep budget in the $800-$1200 range.
Thanks for any input
Mike C


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## Arlon (Feb 8, 2005)

Lenses may be more important than the cameras. I like messing with old lenses so I went with the nikon just for the number of cheap quality lenses available on the used market.
I would certainly consider getting a body only and then look at aftermarket lenses like Sigma, Tamron etc.. I think you can get a higher quality lens for the same money on the aftermarket. The lenses in most of the "kits" are pretty poor in my opinion.. Arlon


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## TXCajun (Jul 21, 2004)

We have the Nikon D50 and we love it. One reason we went with Nikon was for the versatility in the lenses. We had a 35mm Nikon and the lenses you use for their 35mm models can be used when switching over to the SLR. I too was in the same boat last year in trying to sort out all the different types and funcitions. Good Luck


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## Guest (Dec 17, 2006)

Forgetting the make for a moment, what are the basic lenses you would consider mandatory with a DSLR?

Thanks, -JAW-

:rybka:


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## hellonwater (Dec 17, 2005)

So some of the aftermarket lens are of better quality than factory lens? Thats a good place to start because i keep looking for packages with the the dual factory lens assuming that was the better choice. Thought I was looking for something with 18-55 zoom and 75-300 maybe those are not the best choices just seems to be the standard. Thanks for the continued help. Mike C


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## Arlon (Feb 8, 2005)

Personally I think a lot of the new factory lenses are junk. They are made in 3rd world countries buy various shops on a minimum bid basis. I have Taiwan, Thailand and China lenses all with Nikon's name stuck on them. Gone are the days of quality japanese optics from the big camera makers. I have a Thai/nikon 70-300 zoom and it will not take a "crisp" picture no matter what you do with it. They can also be found on ebay for around $100 used, slightly more new. Get what you pay for I guess. They do make much better/more expensive "premium" lenses but I'm not sure they are worth the asking price either when compared to aftermarket lenses. I have an old vivitar 70-210 ($15 in a flea market) that takes much better pictures than the cheap Nikon "kit" lens. 
Of course the vivitar is manual focus (which I prefer). Even if you want a kit lens, get the body then look for the kit lenses on ebay. There are a ton of slightly used "kit" lenses on the used market (for good reason I think).

A good place to see what people can do with a certain lens or camera is the camera samples section at pbase.com. They have examples from about every lens known to man.

http://www.pbase.com/cameras just pick your lens or camera and start weeding through the pictures to get some idea of their potential.

I'm also a d50 fan... Happy hunting, Arlon

DO you have an SLR film camera now? That might help narrow your search if you already have some decent lenses you can go digital with. Happy hunting, Arlon

Just as an example, good place to start if you only want to carry a few auto lenses.... Some nice pictures and comments from owners of this lens. http://www.pbase.com/cameras/sigma/28-135_38-56_macro

Available new on ebay as low as $80 (depending on mount type).. Compare the "kit" price and the body price to get an idea of exactly what you are paying for a pair of kit lenses and a memory stick.


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

*Throwing my hat in the ring...*



hellonwater said:


> Want to buy a digital SLR but the more I research the more confused I become. What are the most important things to consider when looking for a new camera? Canon,Sony,Nikon,etc all seem to have new models available. Have never owned a digital slr and would like to keep budget in the $800-$1200 range.
> Thanks for any input
> Mike C


Mike,

The most important thing to remember is that there may be no wrong answer. All of the manufacturers you mentioned (and some you didn't) make great products in your price range. It is insane what you have to choose from right now. As Arlon mentioned the single biggest issue or most of us is the type of lenses we already owned.

Stay away from brand new models, just like a car it's good that there on the market for awhile to get bugs worked out. Go to the stores and try them out. How they feel in my hand is a big selling point for me. There's no reason that in your price range you should settle for anything less than 10MP, which will easily make 16x20 prints, which are bigger than anything you'll ever hang.

Canon cameras are the most popular. Nikon is very popular as well and Sony is new to the market, but the Alpha was Popular Photography's camera of the year and all the components are Minolta.

Dpreview.com is a great resource for comparing cameras. Once you narrow down your models, drop back in as all are used here.


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

If you can wait a few more weeks, do so. There's some new Olympus DSLRs coming out in January that are supposed to have the features and resolutions of the pro-sumer model Nikon and Canons that will break the $1000 price point. The camera is supposed to have anti shake image stabilization built into the chip, (versus the lens like Canon), and anti dust ultrasonic wave protection to keep the sensor chip clean.

A Camera is only as good as its' lenses, and that should be a factor that weighs high in your decision, but one many ignore. Here's a pretty good site that give the scoop on the good lenses, and the dogs too for Canon: http://photo.net/equipment/canon/

And this can help you with the decision process: http://photo.net/equipment/


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

-JAW- said:


> Forgetting the make for a moment, what are the basic lenses you would consider mandatory with a DSLR?
> 
> Thanks, -JAW-
> 
> :rybka:


 To answer that question, you first need to determine if the camera you are buying is full frame, or if it has a crop factor with smaller than full frame sensor. With a full frame sensor size, you're looking at a pretty expensive camera, and the focal lengths of any standard 35mm lense will apply. With a crop body camera like a Canon EFS series, you have a multiplying factor of 1.6x, so a 50 mm lense which is considered a standard kit lens for most SLR cameras shows an image that is like one you would get with about an 80 mm lense on a full frame or 35mm film camera.

Since most cameras in your budget level are crop bodies with about a 1.5 - 1.6 multiplier, a good walk around lens is a zoom that covers 17 mm to 40mm. Add a telephoto zoom to cover say 70-200 mm, and you have 95% of situations covered. Image stabilization is a nice feature to have that will let you shoot handheld in lower light versus having to use a tripod. If you do a lot of Portraits, then investing in a fixed focal length prime lense of 85, 100, or 135mm would be good also. Note, if you start to take this all seriously, you'll find your investment in Lenses to be about 4-5 times that of what you pay initially for the camera.


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## fishphoto (Mar 3, 2005)

Everything's pretty much been said already so I'll try not to repeat. Choose the lenses (focal length) that suit your photography. If you are looking at Nikon stuff, the "grey market" lenses are the ones made in countries other than Japan. The Nikon USA lenses are made in Japan and carry a 5-year warranty that is good at any nikon authorized repair shop. The grey market lenses have a one-year warranty and can have to be shipped back to the vendor you bought them from for repair.

From my personal experience, I have found that you pretty much get what you pay for when it comes to camera stuff. I started with cheap nikon lenses and aftermarket lenses (tamron, sigma) which all worked fine for me. Over the last couple of years, I have upgraded to the Nikon pro lenses. If you are shooting pics to share online or print 4x6 or 5x7, the cheaper lenses will probably be fine. I did a lot of side-by-side comparison of larger prints shot with consumer/pro lenses and there is no comparison once you start doing prints that are 8x10 or bigger. 

Aside from the optical improvements, I absolutely love the faster lenses and metal bodies. I always worried about the "plastic" lenses because they seemed so flimsy. If you do what Arlon does and go with the older lenses, you'll see that most of them have good, solid metal bodies. - I like to shoot outdoors and the metal body lenses make me worry a lot less about breaking my gear. The wide aperture you get with the high-end lenses may or may not be of use to you. I can name quite a few situations I shot with natural light that would not have been possible without the f2.8 aperture. Again, this goes back to your style of photography and what suits it best.

Good technique, both when shooting and retouching your images goes a long way. I think it is better to have cheaper/older gear and know how to use it rather than buy a bunch of pro stuff without knowing what to do with it. I didn't start replacing consumer gear until after about 3 years of shooting seriously. I love the stuff I have now, but I'm glad I started with something else and worked up to it.

Sorry for the long post, hopefully it was worth reading.

Brett


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## hellonwater (Dec 17, 2005)

Thanks everyone for their input it really helps me find a direction. Rusty your photos are great hopefully someday i'll get somewhat close. It seems as I age and mellow I want higher quality pics of the things that are important to me, sometimes they just don't turn out as I saw them.
Thanks 
Mike C


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

hellonwater said:


> sometimes they just don't turn out as I saw them.


That is a great quote. You should also know that you'll need batteries, storage card(s) and a card reader for your PC not to mention image editing software. Some will come with the camera, but you'll want more...we always do


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## KevinT (Feb 21, 2006)

I also am new to digital DSLR and just purchased the D80 Nikon. BestBuy in Pearland gave me a great deal matching competitor prices. 
I wont hold out to be an expert. But I think there is some good advice out there that says dont worry too much about the lens to begin with. The kit lens are adequate until you learn to master the camera and techiques. That's my tact anyway. I plan to get as good as I can with the kit lens and branch out from there. There is a great deal of complexity in these cameras and spending a lot of money on accessories early may not be the proper sequence.


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

*Some very good points...*

I think the issue with the kit lenses would be more noticable to someone who has been shooting better glass because it's a downgrade from what they're used to. Most kit lenses are a good value, but like Brent said you get what you pay for.


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## tarpon_fly (Jun 22, 2004)

This is a great digital photography website. Lots of great information.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/


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