Digital SLR cameras

the link works for me.

I popped into the camera shop to check what they had, it had to be a quick visit since I got there just before closing time on saturday. Anyway they had 2 camera's that they would recommend for a started which are (all prices are Canadian $. £1 = $2.15):

Canon Rebel XT, with 18-55 lens + 512MB card. $1149.99

Nikon D50 Kit, with 18-55 lens. $999.99, they also do a 2 lens kit, plus a 55-200 lens then $1279.99

I already have a Canon compact camera so I already have a 512 card so if I got the Canon I'd have 2 512 cards that I could interchange between both cameras, but with the Nikon I'd need to buy a new card.

If I were to buy I am leaning towards the Canon because I already have a flash card that will fit it and it has more mega pixels (8 as opposed to Nikon's 6). It is only a slight lean. They guy there didn't think there was much between the cameras. The build quality of the Nikon feels better though, it just feels more solid.

It doesn't make a difference to me, but the Nikon's auto focus is silent, whereas you can hear the motors in the Canon whirring. With the quick play I had with them they both seemed to focus as quick as each other and actually take a picture as quickly, which is far better then my current compact.

Still no nearer to a decision, but I think I need to find a dummys guide to SLR's though...

The page that comes up is mostly in Japanese (I assume), but contains the messge:-

"PAGE NOT FOUND

The requested item does not exist on this server.
The link you followed is either inaccurate or may have been deleted. Please recheck the URL or follow the link from the list below."

cheers, Martin

PS I'm using Firefox 1.0.

The one thing I know for sure is that with film cameras I never had the wallet/courage totry taking photo's like this one:



I took this at Silverstone yesterday. Over the course of 26 hours I took about 1,000 pictures. They would have cost me a small fortune to process and throw!

Tony

Good point, 1000 pics = 28 rolls of 36 shot film @ £5.99 dev and print = £167.72
Tony were you close to the track or do use use a mega long lens?
Martin

300mm, plus I had a media pass!

Tony

This is a shot from the same part of the track (100 metres or so before bridge, outside of circuit)about 4 hours earlier!



The lens is just a Tamron 28-300mm. It gives pretty decent results, but after seeing what some guys achieve with an L series lens......

Tony

very nice

Hi, you should also consider how you're going to edit and store all your digital photos. My complete kit currently consists of:-

Canon D30 SLR
Canon 20D SLR
Canon G2 compact
Various Canon lenses

iMac G5 20" desktop
Photoshop Elements 2.0 (editing)
iPhoto (library)

Canon i9100 A3+ printer

Photo editing, browsing and printing is simple and efficient with a setup like this. Digital photography doesn't end at the camera! Best of luck.

I'm still without an SLR. I am getting closer to one though! As I mentioned a few posts (and weeks ago now) I went in a for a quick look, but was still somwhat daunted by all the numbers for the lenses and what they mean and what I want.

I bought a book (Mastering Digital SLR Photography by David Busch) last week and I'm still going through the introductory stuff at the moment. I went for that book because it seems to focus more on the photography than altering the image afterwards which is what I want at the moment.

I'm going to try and get through the introductory stuff this w/e and the chapter on lenses and if I'm still ok with it all head back and maybe buy one. I'm leaning towards the Canon more at the moment, partly mega pixels, also because it sounds like it does less fiddling with the image than the Nikon.

The latest Digital Camera Monthly has a test of the EOS 20D vs a Nikon (not sure which). The verdict is that you should buy according to your needs. Have a look.
Oh, and please don't worry about the pixel count. To improve noticeably on 4mp needs an increase to about 8 or 10mp. So the difference between 6 and 8 mp isn't worth talking about.
Please don't buy a Canon with the 18-55mm kit lens. Every review slates a Canon because of this lens producing 'soft' pictures. Read reviews accordingly.

Tony

Canon EOS 20D is indeed sold with a 18-55mm lens, but you can buy the body only (about $150CAD cheaper than with 18-55mm lens, about £70). I'll have a look and see if there any reviews for this camera about. The Nikon it was comparing to I would guess is the D50 which is approx the same price.


EDIT - oops I think above I was mixing up the 20D with the digital rebel, and the Nikon in it's price range is probably the D70...

some of the kit's I've seen advertised (for both Nikon and Canon) you get an 18-55mm lens and a 17-85mm lens. Quite simply why get the 18-55mm lens at all when the 17-85mm lens covers it's whole range?

The 17-85mm is quite expensive compared to the 18-55mm, but it does have better optics and image stab. I think it will be my next buy.

Tony

At the moment I'm swaying like a grass in the wind between the Nikon and the Canon. On this page there are some comparison shots between the Canon Digital Rebel XT and the Nikon D50, I slightly prefer the Canon, I think the images are a bit sharper, but the Nikon's colours are more vivid. Anyway reading several reviews I don't think I would really go wrong with eiter as a first dSLR.

Currently I'm swaying a bit more towards the Canon, based on the images on the comparison page, plus I think the reviews I've seen are slightly (very slightly) more favourable towards the Canon, plus I can reuse the flash card and possibly the battery from my compact Canon.

I think I'll probably go back to the shop next week and have a final look and take the plunge, and probably get a 18-55mm and a 55-200mm lens.

Unless you are carrying lots of legacy glass, then don't forget Olympus. Their D-SLR's have a 'self cleaning' sensor and their optics generally get very very good reviews. Current offerings are E-1 (Top end, weatherproof etc.) and E-300 and a soon to be anounced E-500. The E-300 kits are said to be somewhat of a bargain at the moment.

You could do worse than to check out the Olympus DSLR (and Canon, Nikon, etc) fora at DPReview.com These will hopefully give you some kind of feel for what 'issues' people have with various brands, as well as the usual slagging off of the oposition.

/dl

David - YES - totally agree - the Olympus E1 is a great camera - I find it to be incredibly satisfying to use and it gets results that are not only pleasing to me but pleasing and acceptable to others.

It has the great advantage of being designed for the job as opposed to being a compromised design to enable it to handle the legacy lenses.

The Olympus SLR Talk Forum on DPReview is very helpful and free of flame wars. Users have created tips sheets and support web sites to help users maximise their use and benfit from the camera and, whisper it quietly, it is used by quite a few people to earn a living.

If you are coming from a Canon Nikon mind set it is an "out of the box solution" however the conversion process starts when you handle an E1 and find out how convenient it is to handle.

Then you have to two lens solution that takes you from an equivalent in 35mm speak of 28mm to 400mm lens spread in a significantly smaller size and lower weight than the Canik offering.

The colours produced by the Olympus DSLRs are said to be very film-ish and are much praised.

I mentioned the E-500 a couple of days ago. The news is now official. There is a brief resume of the E-500 at DPreview.

quote:

... the E-500 appears to breaks new ground in terms of value, the E-500 + 14-45 mm lens kit has an estimated street price of just US$799 (£600).

Sounds good.

/david

Derek,

quote:

Then you have to two lens solution that takes you from an equivalent in 35mm speak of 28mm to 400mm lens spread in a significantly smaller size and lower weight than the Canik offering.

Does Olympus make any 4/3s prime lenses?

Joe

Joe,
The Olympus primes appear to be more specialist items.

• ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 8mm 1:3.5 Fisheye (available from January 2006)
  
• ZUIKO DIGITAL 35mm Macro (70mm) 1:3.5 (available from December 2005) NEW!
  
• ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 50mm (100mm) 1:2.0 Macro
  
• ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 150mm (300mm) 1:2.0
  
• ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 300mm (600mm) 1:2.8

Taken from here. (You must scroll down to almost the end of the document.)

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the quality of the better zooms (ED and/or F2.n) were comparable with Zuiko primes of yore. I guess that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

There is some additional stuff on the 4/3 system here.

There are also adapters available to allow Zuiko (and other makes) of lens to be attatched to the E-1, E-300, E-500. Obiously there is some clipping factor.

/dl

Thanks, David.

A shame there are no wideangle (35mm equivalent) primes in the line-up.

Joe

There is an F2.0 ED 14-35mm (28-70mm eq) planned for 2006, and an 11-22mm (22-44) F2.8-3.5 available today. Example images for the latter should be available somewhere on the Interweb.

Sigma also make 4/3 lenses, but I can only find reference to zooms.

Check out the DPreview Olympus SLR talk forum for user opinions and the like.

/dl

David - do you have an Olympus?

Derek et al,
I have an Olympus 5050Z which is a compact digital, but with full manual if needed. When I was looking, D-SLR's were very expensive. At the time, Olympus had the E-10 and E-20 which I never liked. The 5050 was a good compromise. I moved up from and OM1 + assorted primes (21-28-50-135) which I still have, but don't use.

The 5050 has it's limitations, most notably a slight shutter lag, and the fact that what you see through the viewfinder does not exactly match the image taken; the viewfinder image crops slightly off centre, so one has to learn to compensate to get people in the middle of the frame. Either that or frame using the LCD on the back and risk camera shake and looking like a complete amateur; which I am

I hanker after a D-SLR, but mainly for the slightly more extreme lenses, ie a wide, wide angle and a medium tele - say 200mm equivalent. Problem is that, whilst the bodies and kit lenses are reletively inexpensive, anything outside these start to get expensive. If I photographed more, I might be keener, but I don't. Also, technology moves along a pace.

/dl

More Olympus 4/3 stuff here.

/dl

after much thought I finally went and got the Canon digital rebel XT. I opted not to get the lens that you can get packaged with it, but instead got a Tamron 18-200mm lens with it. So far I have just been playing about with it in the apartment so I'll have to think of somehwere to go with it tomorrow!