The best camera for a mama

mrsF · Jul 9, 2009

Hi all,

Firstly, let me state that I don't want to be a professional photographer, I have no intention of going to school and trying to making a living out of this, i'll leave that one to the pro's! I do however want to take great pictures of my daughter (mainly). I currently have a powershot S5IS 8m/p (which has been great although very basic)
but want to upgrade to a DSLR...

I have been looking at both the Nikon D60 and the D5000. Its to take pictures of family and I want something that I can grow with. I would rather not spend more than $800- $1000 as I might buy another lense in a couple of months. Are there any other cameras you might reccomend?

Also is there any books that are reccomended for Digital photography? If I had the time i'd take a class but with a newborn its hard to get out much

Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated!

PhotoXopher · Jul 9, 2009

Nikon D90 without a doubt... That or the D5000 you mentioned because of the added video on both, being a father myself of 3 young kids it's very cool to switch over and grab some video quick, whenever I want - you'll appreciate having it!

The main advantage I see with the D90 is that it will autofocus older lenses, meaning it could save you some money in the long run if this is important to you. You'll be able to take advantage of the $100 Nikon 50mm f/1.8D for example, or the ~$300 Nikon 35-70 f/2.8D (great walk around lens).

Books: Whichever camera you get, see if there's a Digital Field Guide for it (I know there's one for the D90). Also the popular 'Understanding Exposure' is a good one too.

All the best to you,
Chris

mrsF · Jul 9, 2009

We actually have a great HD digital video camera so the movie feature doesn't mean that much to us

THank you for your imput, great advice.

PhotoXopher · Jul 9, 2009

In that case get a D40 and nice glass

mrsF · Jul 9, 2009

Thank you

Can you reccomend any?

PhotoXopher · Jul 9, 2009

You bet...

Portrait/sports lenses that will auto focus:
Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S
Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S
Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 AF-S
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 HSM

Nice walk around lenses that will auto focus:
Sigma 18-250 OS HSM
Nikon 18-200 VR

Lenses that will work but not auto focus on the D40/D60:
Nikon 35-70 f/2.8D
Nikon 50mm f/1.8D
Nikon 85mm f/1.4D

mrsF · Jul 9, 2009

ooooh thanks so much for your help! I'm going to ask a couple of friends but I think I might go and pick up a D40 this afternoon and try it out for a couple of days.

Jeffro · Jul 9, 2009

Do you have to have Live view or do you take your pics thru the view finder?

D40 and D60 do not have live view!

enufced904 · Jul 9, 2009

^ Also - the D40 will save you a couple hundred bucks.

mrsF · Jul 9, 2009

I have always taken pictures through a view finder, with the D40, with it being 6.1 and my current camera 8. (even though its not SLR) will I see a difference in quality?

bhop · Jul 9, 2009

If you shoot in low light and don't want to use flash, the d90 will kill the d40 and the d60 in high iso image quality. They can't compare in that regard.

You can also use lenses without internal focus motors (less expensive) with the d90, but not with the other two... well, you can, but you'd have to manual focus on the d60/40.

PhotoXopher · Jul 9, 2009

I have always taken pictures through a view finder, with the D40, with it being 6.1 and my current camera 8. (even though its not SLR) will I see a difference in quality?

No, not unless you want to make 20+ inch prints or do heavy crops

mrsF · Jul 9, 2009

N0YZE said:
I have always taken pictures through a view finder, with the D40, with it being 6.1 and my current camera 8. (even though its not SLR) will I see a difference in quality?

Click to expand...

No, not unless you want to make 20+ inch prints or do heavy crops

THats good to know thank you, sorry if it was a stupid question!

mrsF · Jul 9, 2009

Also, is it extremely important to get good editing software to produce wall worthy pics?

Maybe I'm getting a bit carried away for a beginner!... hehe

PhotoXopher · Jul 9, 2009

No stupid questions, better to ask than find out the hard way!

You can get by with free or less expensive software for sure... heck, Google has a free download of Picasa that is pretty fun to play with and works on both Mac and Windows platforms.