Any camera buffs here?

[Klobi-One-Kinobi]

Wife is looking into a new camera. Price range $1000-$1200 for body and one or two lenses. As of now she is pretty set on a canon EOS rebel dslr 12.1mp.

Any thoughts on this particular camera, or other recomendations would be greatly appreciated.

[Stonewall]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

http://www.dpreview.com/
I am not sure if this site is still the premier review site anymore but it was the best at one time.

[Khyron]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

If any of your friends have good glass, buy the same brand so you can borrow. Otherwise that's as good a body as any, assuming you are leaving plenty more money to buy lenses. Because the body is like 20% of the equation.

[stefan]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

i got a Nikon D40 to try and get in to an SLR at minimal cost. I've been quite happy with it. I'm starting to see it's limitations a little bit, but nothing that had made me think "i should have got a better one" as of yet. I do think I would have been better off getting just the body, and picking my own lens, instead of the kit lens, but then again, I know nothing about lenses... so with out the kit lens to compare to, I wouldn't have really know what I like and don't like. So far so good. I have very little experience with SLR's, but for the bottom end of Nikon's SLR line-up, I've been happy with it.

These are not particularly stellar... but it meets my needs:

[turbomeyers]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

that price range will get you into the new d60 from Nikon . if i was to start over again i would have bought it first and then bought a way higher end camera for my 2nd camera , i bought a d80 $1400 for my first camera .. its a sweet camera , fantastic but i could have learned just as well with a cheaper unit , i still want a d300 so i will end up having a very expensive back up (imo) but lenses for the d60 and lower are different then the lenses for the d80 and up .

[stefan]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

oh, the higher end nikons, i believe, will handle both of their autofocus systems. Mine doesn the new AF-S, but not the older, but still current and very common AF. Having the ability to use the AF lenses would have been a bonus. My friends have several AF lenses from their film cameras, and although they fit, I have to manually focus them.

[Triple G]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

I like my Nikon D40, does everything I need at the moment.
I bought the body and a couple lenses instead of buying a kit.

I have a 12-24mm f/4

Night, just walking around vegas, no tripod.



Recent cruise



50mm f/1.4, nice cheaper lens, very sharp





I don't feel the need to buy a more expensive body yet, Im happy with the pictures Im taking so far, only have had it 7 months.

[stefan]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

what I would like for mine is a 50mm, and an 18-200mm.

[Klobi-One-Kinobi]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

Wow lots of good info, thanks guys! Always seem to be lots of quality pictures from past meets/cruises so I knew there were a few of you on here. I've got a long weekend of camera shopping ahead of me.

[Mefro]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

what I would like for mine is a 50mm, and an 18-200mm.

I have a 18-250mm, best money I ever spent. Never need to change lens'. All I need now is a 10-22mm!

Chad if you are looking for something thats not too fancy, I would pick up a Nikon D40 and spend the saved cash on a decent lens. I have the Canon xti, and I have used Graeme's D40 quite a few times, and like it much better then the canon. And at the time is was about $300 cheaper.

Edit, couple shots I took with the xti

[stefan]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

i played with a 50mm f1.8, and it was one of the cooler lenses to play with. totally blows away the background when focusing on a close subject. Would really like a better zoom then my 18-55 kit lense. I'd like to just replace it with the 18-200. Its still a fairly compact lens, but 700$ seems like a lot of cash for a beginner.... Might have to wait till xmas or something .

[Mefro]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

i played with a 50mm f1.8, and it was one of the cooler lenses to play with. totally blows away the background when focusing on a close subject. Would really like a better zoom then my 18-55 kit lense. I'd like to just replace it with the 18-200. Its still a fairly compact lens, but 700$ seems like a lot of cash for a beginner.... Might have to wait till xmas or something .

The 50mm F1.8 is a very quick lens. Stefan try looking at a Tamron lens, its was about $300 cheaper then the canon 18-200mm. The lens is just a little slower to focus, but much cheaper. The pictures above I took with the Tamron 18-250mm.

[Tuna]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

One thing to note ('cause I've been looking as well) is that the XTI will likely slowly be replaced by the XSI in the next little while so it's reasonably cheaper.

You can get both right now with 2 "kit lenses for a really good price, one is the regular 18-55 and the other is a 55-250 or something like that. The XSI however gets really good autostabilization built in to the lenses whereas the XTI does not. I think I'd like stabilization but other people say it has disadvantages. One thing I (think) I like about the Canon's is the 9 focus points over Nikons 3.

Also another small thing is the XSI has gone to SD memory instead of Compact flash. It's good if you're moving up from a point and shoot (which is why they did it) but nice big memory cards will cost a lot more.

Vistek has a couple of kits for each one, as well as the Nikons, it's a good way to compare pricing.

The more I think about it though the Nikon is a decent way to go.

[Smarty39]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

Since we're on the topic of cameras (and I also have a D40), are there any good online tutorials for using the thing to it's full potential? I SUCK at taking pictures, and now that I have a good camera for once, I would like to NOT suck lol...

[Mefro]

Re: Any camera buffs here?

This site taught me a lot.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm