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Digital SLR Recommendations
Freejack
Jake the Not-so-Wise
in Zocalo v2.0
I am almost 100% certain this has been discussed before, almost just as certain I was even the one that asked the question, but a search did not turn up anything recent.
Anyway,
Pending the sale of our old house, my wife would like to invest in a digital SLR. The primary use of this camera will be two-fold:
[LIST=1]
[*]Take pictures of the wee one(s) as she/they grow. Of course the standard lag on cheap point-n-shoot digital makes good shots of a toddler almost impossible…
[*]Take high quality photos of my wife’s knit and crochet projects, both for her website, which currently has the crappy point-n-shoot photos, and for freelance submissions to magizines. About 75% of the photos will be close-ups in a light-box with the remained being worn by a model outdoors.
[/LIST]
We don’t need a camera to take professional shots, only one that can provide shots help my wife’s work to look more professional if that makes any sense…
While we aren’t limited to specific price, we need to get a camera that is a good value.
Jake
Anyway,
Pending the sale of our old house, my wife would like to invest in a digital SLR. The primary use of this camera will be two-fold:
[LIST=1]
[*]Take pictures of the wee one(s) as she/they grow. Of course the standard lag on cheap point-n-shoot digital makes good shots of a toddler almost impossible…
[*]Take high quality photos of my wife’s knit and crochet projects, both for her website, which currently has the crappy point-n-shoot photos, and for freelance submissions to magizines. About 75% of the photos will be close-ups in a light-box with the remained being worn by a model outdoors.
[/LIST]
We don’t need a camera to take professional shots, only one that can provide shots help my wife’s work to look more professional if that makes any sense…
While we aren’t limited to specific price, we need to get a camera that is a good value.
Jake
Comments
Dug
ps where are you moving to?(I'm also in stl)
Another reccomendation I can make is the Canon A640, it's a mix because it's a compact, but has alot of the features of a DSLR, 10MP, Very good Macro, good aperature and ISO settings (80-800iso) but small enough to fit in a mens pocket. (which for kids, is a good thing. ;) )
Canon glass is awesome and of course, when you're talking SLRs the body is almost superfluous, it's the glass you put in front of it that matters. As far as 'bang for buck' goes, nobody does better glass than Canon.
I suggest you price your lens requirements alongside any purchase you make, alot perhaps half or more of the dollars towards lenses.
I'm semi-pro ~ I've paid for all of my equipment and model costs + some cheese. How many "pros" can say that?
Nikon and Canon for D-SLR are the only consumer/pro-sumer options in my mind.
Nikon bodies are better hands down. However the color quality of the Canon CCD is truer in my opinion. The Canon is more affordable and will let you buy more/better lenses. From your write up that sounds like the key.
Regarding what body to get:
Look at the stats and you’ll see the big difference between $1K and $5K cameras is a max ISO of 1600 or 3200. Shooting speed ~ 5 shots per second or 15 for varying bursts. Plus a few other items like card type, display size, etc. Again I’d put money towards the lens and lighting over the body. Your not a sports or wedding photographer working in bad light and you are shooting for the web and 8.5X11 magazines at perhaps 300dpi so 8-10MP is already a bit of overkill.
Just to clarify. . . the Canon Digital Rebel XT DOES have an LCD screen. It's just that like most digital SLR cameras, you can't see the image on the screen until after you take the pictures.
But very few DSLR cameras allow you to see the image on the LCD before the picture is taken.
The cool thing is that we have a sales tax holiday this weekend in our state for back-to-school purchases and computers and periphials are tax free. Since we are looking at a digital, it will fall under that catagory.
Jake
I know 2 people personally who've bought the XTI and have had to return it due to various issues, one of them bought a 20D as a replacement, one of them went nuts and bought a 5D, a fabulous camera if you happen to have $3700 to spent (which i don't)
I personally own a 20D, and LOVE it,. [url]http://www.picasaweb.google.com/[/url] was all shot with my 20D
The XTI may do very well for you, but I wouldnt buy one personally, the 20D/30D is a better choice IMHO, As others have said, the Glass makes the camera, and Cannon Glass is currently some of the best out there,
I've another friend who swears by the Nikon D70, but as i've not used it myself, i can't say.
Good point about the plastic. I haven't had any issues with the lighter weight/plastic body. I do a little climbing with the camera and haven't had any issues, but I can see where they might crop up.
Another thing to remember about the lens and rebel/20/30d is they are aps-c sized sensors. The 5d is full frame. This means, when you buy your lens, on a aps-c there is a crop factor of 1.6. So a 300mm lens would act like a 480mm lens would on a 35mm camera. That's why the kit lens 18-55 ef-s is equivalent to 28-88 on 35mm. So if you want real wide angle, you need a 10-22 ef-s lens(about $500-700, which I am still waiting for).
That's why I recommend a 50mm 1.8 lens along with whatever else you get. It's inexpensive, good quality and fast. It also equates to an 80mm lens on 35mm.(Which is a decent portrait length).
If you want a good review on lenses, go [URL="http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html"]here[/URL], they evaluate a ton of lenses and use the XT for most of the canon lenses.
Dug
Any thoughts on the Pentax? [url]http://www.pentaxslr.com/bodies/k10[/url]
Jake
Good call on paying attention to the sensor size. I had mentioned this before as well. The 1.6 crop factor on the models other than the 5D will change the lens angle very significantly. It will turn what is normally a wide angle into a normal lens and normal lenses into telephotos. Something to keep in mind when lens shopping.
I don't know whats the deal with Pentax right now. They used to make very good camera's in the pre-digital era. I still have some around including a large format one. I actually thought they had been bought out and absorbed into some other big company. News to me they are still making Pentax branded digital SLR's.
If you want to do some research, [url]www.thephotoforum.com[/url] is pretty good. Most of the questions you have are asked on an almost daily basis. Mostly in the Beginner/Advanced and Equipment subforums.
Also, I believe Fabio(modeller of the new B5) will be doing a thesis over at lwg3d.com within a few days in the photo corner for another former B5 modeller who is getting rid of his minolta to go to nikon or canon.
Dug
[url]http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Pentax/pentax_k10d.asp[/url]
As for the 5D, i say if you have the money, go for it, it is a flippin SWEET camera, just, well, it costs more than several cars i've owned do. lol.
The only real complaint i have on the EOS line, is the Focus screen, Canon years ago used to use a magnificent split prism focus screen, Made manual focus a cinch, now Canon (and most camera manufacturers for that matter) like to use a flat focus screen, and i personally have a devil of a time with manual focus, maybe i'm just getting old and my eyes suck, but getting a sharp focus in manual mode can be maddening sometimes for me. I miss that old Horizontal Split Prism.
Once it arrives, I'll let you guys know how it works!
Jake
My Wife's Mother's Boyfriend (yeah i know) Has the Pentax, He loves it, but i've personally found it to be inferior to my 20D, All a matter of persomnal preferance.
Basically, what I'm saying is, make sure you have a return period if you end up not liking the image quality or something else. Whether it's the Pentax, Nikon or Canon, it's a good idea to try before you buy(for a couple days) or have the option to return it. That's the only good thing about buying local. You get that benefit, but you do pay for it.
Dug
I have a similar problem with my Panasonic LX2. I'm a Canon fan: I love their user interface and know it well. But when shopping for my latest camera, it came down to the Canon G7 and the Panasonic LX2. They were mostly equal, the major differences being the G7's lack of a wide-angle lens (I like wide-angle, as I take a lot of scenery shots), and the Panasonic having heavy-handed noise reduction and no RAW mode. I was a little disappointed after getting the Panasonic to find that the image quality above ISO200 is unusable for anything other than displaying on a monitor because the noise reduction kills the detail. Fortunately it's not a show-stopper and I'm very happy with the camera (except for some parts of its interface), but it's something I would have preferred not to have.
Dug
edit: it may have been the S2IS...
You’ll be able to get the Canon 70-300 II USM IS
In glass image stabilizing is where it is at ~ not software stabilization like some of these cameras.
For your close shots ~ well not sure of exactly you skill level or how you are going to shoot you macro or wide-angle stuff but:
EF 50mm f2.5 (drool) Compact Macro
Or
EF 28mm f/1.8 (hmmmm) usm
Or
ER 85mm f1.8 USM
Also ~ B&H Photo video is a great place and can be trusted unlike some fly by night photo dot coms…
the 70-300 II USM IS is a sweet lens, costs a bit tho, lol
as for the Fuji/Canon P&S, i made the same mistake with my daughter, for christmas last year she wanted a new digital, and it was between the S3-IS, or the Fuji S3200, at the time the S3-IS was almost $200 more expensive. and i'd had really good luck with my old Fuji, and the reviews were comperable. so we got her that one. I wish i'd gotten her the S3-IS, as now she's already looking to relpace the S3200. don't always trust what the reiviews say.