what to buy...please help...

NJPhotonewb · Oct 20, 2006

hello everyone,

This is my first post but wanted to first say u have a great site. i've spent the last 2 hours as a "guest" surfing and reading some of the hints and reviews. needless to say i learned quite a bit.:hail:

as my handle shows, I'm a photo newb thats looking for a decent beginners/amateur dSLR. Unfortunately the only "real" camera shop near me doesn't carry one of the cameras i'm looking at so i'm looking to you guys for help.

I'll mostly be shooting pictures of my wife, 2 boys (22 months and 8 weeks)

dog, sporting events and landscapes. Nothing professional or for pay. Currently I have a Canon powershot G3 P&S camera, and a Minolta maxxum HTsi plus with a 28-80 lens.

I've been looking at the Canon EOS Rebel XTi and the new Sony Alpha 100. which of these two cameras do you guys think would be better for me? Is EBAY a good place to buy from or should i stick to bigger name shops like B&H? Price wise the deals on ebay run about 1400 bucks for the camera, 2 lens,wide angle adaptor, 4gb flash card, bag, hard case, tripod, flash and lens cleaning kit...Is that a good deal?

please help me out...everytime i think i decide on one, i get cold feet thinking its the wrong one...

thanks

G-

SpeedTrap · Oct 20, 2006

My Experence with the kits on ebay is that while the camera is ok, some of the lenses and other stuff they provide is not worth it.(Cheap)

there are lots of places you can order the camers from online and no worry about grey market equipment.

dsp921 · Oct 21, 2006

I would stick with B&H, I spend more money than I want to think about there and have never had even the slightest issue.
As for the camera, of those two I would go with the Canon, check the reviews and draw your own conclusion, the Sony has a pretty good amount of noise once you start bumping the ISO (unless you get fast glass you'll need to bump the ISO up for sports). But the Sony may take the Minolta lens you have, I'm not up on that system.
Now, being a Nikon shooter I feel it necessary to at least mention the D80, does very well in the head to head tests against the Rebel and Alpha. You don't have to look at it, but I have to uphold my brand loyality

NJPhotonewb · Oct 21, 2006

thanks for the feedback guys. its helping...
does anyone else have anything to add?

i priced out the lens from the kit on B&H and they were about 175 bucks a pop. is that cheap or pricey? like i said, i'm a newb

KevinR · Oct 21, 2006

i priced out the lens from the kit on B&H and they were about 175 bucks a pop. is that cheap or pricey? like i said, i'm a newb

That's reall quite reasonable. You'll find that the more you get into it, the more you will want. Although this site is a good support group, it's more of an enabling support group. :lol:

If you are not married to any camera brand yet, Canon and/or Nikon is the way I would go. Not saying Pentax or Sony are bad cameras, just think you will be able to grow a little easier with the others.

And just for the peace of mind I would order from B&H, Adorama, or Freestyle Photo.

jlbrew3 · Oct 21, 2006

Personally, as a Nikon guy, I would try to steer you towards the D50, or if you are willing to spend the money the D80. However, my friend has the Rebel XTi, and loves it, has never had an issue with it. I could never think about parting from my D200, but Canon makes a great product and I think Sony is just too new to the market to be trusted right now. In my opinion, definitely go with the Canon.

DeepSpring · Oct 21, 2006

If you want to save about $200 you can go with the rebel xt. It dosn't have all the features that the xti has but to me it has everything I need. But that you have to make up your mind on your own if the added features are really going to be worth it. As everyone has said I ave used B&H and Adorama and never had a problem. B&H tends to ship much faster than Adorama tho, at least from my one Adorama use it took 10 days for a 3-5 day shipping.