BUYING A DIGITAL SLR CAMERA

['Daniel']

I don't think a 300 or 350 feels like a cheap plastic toy. Maybe an expensive plastic one. Just kidding. But I have always preferred the cast metal of my Nikons to the less durable IMHO feel of plastic. All this is not to say Canon don't make a good camera. If they made junk, the would go the way of the dinosaurs like so many other camera manufacturers. If you take a look subjective look at the time line of the digital SLR you will find the Nikon D1 was the first reasonable priced (5K) full featured DSLR with a usable resolution. It followed the Kodak line of modified piggy-back two-ton bricks that were more in the 20 to 30K price range. Canon scrambled to catch up with several models finely passing Nikon for a short time until the D1X was introduced and the leap frogging was in full bloom. For every model Nikon would come out with, Canon would bring out two, three or more until they equaled or passed Nikon. We now have the D50/D70 and 350D battle for the pro-summer models. And the D2X and 1Ds MKII battle as well as the battle between the "full frame" and DX formats. I shoot a lot of wildlife so I like the DX format, my 400 3.5 looks like a 600 f3.5 now. The DX format also can provide us with smaller lighter high performance lenses and truth be told both formats require special wide angle lenses for full performance. As a side note, I feel the D2X will be Nikons last pro DX DSLR. The pixel size is the smallest in the industry and pushes the limit of the best glass to resolve, so my bet is the D3X will be a 20+ MP full frame with the same size pixels. And I really look for that to be sold at the same time as the D2 series. I guess this is rambling so I should stop for a while and let the debate proceed. Fun isn't it?

Can you explain this DX format? Is it like the medium format digital cameras I see? like the Hasselblad H2

 

[jstuedle]

DX is Nikons term for the sensor size in there cameras. It's about the same size as the "clipped chips" in the Canon 350. In the Nikon and Canon DSLR we have the smaller 1.5 to 1 (aprox.) sensor and full frame of the Canon MK2. Nikon has chosen for the moment to have all there DSLR's use the smaller or DX size chip and Canon uses both. Just something more to debate.

 

[DocFrankenstein]

To hell with camera brands. My Drebel is too big, I wish I'd bought a Pentax *ist D and used all those SMC lenses with it.

jsuedle - tell me what you think about the way to study photography. You never replied to that post.

 

[GerryDavid]

There's three cameras I'd recommend you look at: The Canon EOS 300D, the Canon 350XT or the Nikon D50.

There are rebates for the Canon 350d and the 20d. Another option is the Nikon D70 but its more expensive than the 3 listed above, and the Canon 20d is even more expensive I believe, not sure about after the rebate.

The way this rebate works is you save us$75 for every canon item you purchase, up to 3, for the Canon 350d.

example if you bought the Canon 350d and 2 other things, you save $225 on that camera. If you bought it at B&H you end up paying $790-$225=$565, a sweet price.

Say you bought the Canon 50mm F1.4 for $320-$45=$275 *this rebate is 3x$15*

And for the 3rd qualifying item, say the Canon 70-300mm for $160 - $15 = $145 *3 x $5 rebate*

The total for all 3 items is us$985

Just a heads up.

 

[Otohp]

And how many thousands is that in AUS dollar.. lol

*counts fingers* ALOT

 

[DocFrankenstein]

GerryDavid - he's down under. The rebates are for US only.

 

[GerryDavid]

$985us = $1303 australian or so, before shipping and duty.

You could save some money and get something cheaper for the 2nd item there, but still have 3 items to triple all the rebates.

This isnt a bad deal cosidering your getting $1260us worth of stuff. :0)

If you just get the body, thats say $725us = $960 australian.

 

[GerryDavid]

GerryDavid - he's down under. The rebates are for US only.

Good point. :0) So itll only work if he has an american friend.

 

[Otohp]

Which i don't. I'd rather have something i go into a store and touch to buy. Like i said, might just get some crappy second hand dslr with a decent lense and see what happens.. meh

 

[Otohp]

After a while of checking things out, i've decided to head toward the Nikon trail..

Any suggestions for a cheap but decent Nikon dslr to start out with?

 

[jstuedle]

The D50 or D70s are reasonable new DSLR's. If you are adventurous, a D1 or D1h can be had for $300 to $600 on ebay. They are only 2.7 MP, but don't let that fool you. Nice 8 X 10's can still be had and it will get you in the DSLR door.