Getting New Gear

stickman.walks · Apr 20, 2011

I`m at a cross roads. I am no professional, though I aspire to be. I keep taking hundreds of photos a day with all my free time - working on my composition skills and developing my tastes along the way.

I currently have a Canon G10. It suits me well for now. I want to keep it until the end of 2011 and get a DSLR (and a smaller, more portable p&s). But not sure what is over kill and what is a wise investment,
knowing that the camera doesn`t make the photographer - though good, rock solid equipment doesn`t hurt the photographer, either.

I have always been into Canons, though lately I have been playing around with the Nikon D700 and aside from people taking issue with the 12mp offering, everything else seems to be stellar via reviews. I am
curious if this seems like a camera I can grow into for my above needs. I don`t need door size enlargements, maybe 16x20 would be the limit for me. And perhaps come the end of the year, the D700 replacement
will have arrived and the mp issue` will have been answered.

Just curious on some thoughts of what would be a good, solid pro-grade camera in that price budget (of the D700).

Any thoughts on a solid, well made, quality lens, great resolution and low noise digital p&s? Canon G12, S95 / Olmypus XZ-1 / Panasonic DMC LX-5 / Ricoh GRD III / Samsung EX-1 / Sigma DP1s??? Or something else I missed? Just want something small and portable as a go anywhere camera that can produce solid images. My G10 feels bulky at times (though still solid).

Lastly, I would like a good film camera, too. Would you say the Contax T2 would suffice? Or something solid but p&s...

mikehaugen · Apr 20, 2011

Just about anyone here will agree when I say that your attention should be more directed at lenses. Nice bodies are great, but if you use your whole budget on a body and put a cheap lens on it, that is a poor choice. With that budget, I would pick out a couple really nice lenses then see what you have left for a body. The greatest camera in the world with a cheap lens will make images that are inferior to a rebel with good glass.

stickman.walks · Apr 20, 2011

I agree 100% and I have come across that opinion quite often. I narrowed my post to make it more manageable. I find that the zoom range of the G10 (28mm - 135mm equiv) serves me well, so I would definitely get a really high quality lens that falls within that range. I know that different photogs needs are serviced by various focal length lenses (as well as apertures). Do you have any suggestions for what would be considered basic, must-have lens focal lengths? And is it always necessary to get the fastest one you can buy?

Derrel · Apr 20, 2011

I don't agree with Mike, entirely. Neither the lens nor the body is more important than the other. Without the lens, the best body is useless. Even with a great lens, a crappy body makes it harder than it should be to focus, to see the viewfinder image, or to get the shot you want, when you want it, reliably. And frankly, lenses today are PLENTY good at their smaller apertures. So, yeah, to me, I don't agree on a great lens on a Rebel being better than a moderate-grade lens on a FF; in fact, I would rather have a moderately good lens on a full-frame sensor that is 2.7 times larger than the sensor in a Rebel. The best affordable FF professional camera in the D700 range is....the D700. The D700 will mount, meter, and shoot with 40 million lenses Nikon has made since 1977.

The D700 has a good sensor, and excellent body sub-systems: flash, flash commander, color-aware metering, sophisticated flash metering, and excellent body controls, and a professional level autofocus system.

mikehaugen · Apr 20, 2011

Derrel said:
I don't agree with Mike, entirely. Neither the lens nor the body is more important than the other. Without the lens, the best body is useless. Even with a great lens, a crappy body makes it harder than it should be to focus, to see the viewfinder image, or to get the shot you want, when you want it, reliably. And frankly, lenses today are PLENTY good at their smaller apertures. So, yeah, to me, I don't agree on a great lens on a Rebel being better than a moderate-grade lens on a FF; in fact, I would rather have a moderately good lens on a full-frame sensor that is 2.7 times larger than the sensor in a Rebel. The best affordable FF professional camera in the D700 range is....the D700. The D700 will mount, meter, and shoot with 40 million lenses Nikon has made since 1977.

The D700 has a good sensor, and excellent body sub-systems: flash, flash commander, color-aware metering, sophisticated flash metering, and excellent body controls, and a professional level autofocus system.

I could be wrong, but it was my impression that the t2i, 50d, and 7d all have the same sensor. Also, he edited his review. He was originally asking about a rebel, a 60d, a 7d and a 5dmkii. Also some Nikon's that I am not familiar with. I guess I was making more of a reference to the image quality, not ease of use and autofocusing (though I guess if it doesn't focus quickly or accurately enough your image quality won't be very good, will it?) I do agree with you though, that there are advantages to better bodies and maybe I was exaggerating a little, but I too have done a lot of thinking about upgrading bodies but have decided that I think I will get some nicer lenses for now. I don't feel too limited by my 20d (except I want a spot-meter), I think I would benefit more from faster/ higher quality lenses. If only we could have it all.

Also, I just saw a 1ds mk2 on ebay with a 28-135 lens and I just didn't understand it. Maybe he was just trying to unload a lens he didn't use anymore, I don't know.

mikehaugen · Apr 20, 2011

sorry stickman, getting back to your question... If that is the focal range you are looking for, Canon makes that exact lens, which I have and it's not terrible, but also not stellar. Though if you go with a crop sensor body, it will no longer be 28-135. With crop frame, you would get close with the 17-85mm which I have heard decent reviews on. If you want to spend the money a 24-70 f/2.8 or 24-105 f/4 would be about there. I find 28mm to be too wide on my 20d and use my 18-125 sigma lens more than I like. I am not intentionally only recommending canon, it's just what I am familiar with and am a little partial to it. Nikon's are great too and they make a lens/ body to coincide with just about anything canon makes. They also work with older lenses, as Derrel pointed out so it give you a lot of options.

Derrel · Apr 20, 2011

Oh, I see Mike, yes, he edited his post about ten minutes before I posted my comments. In answer to his question, "what would be a good, solid pro-grade camera in that price budget (of the D700)." my answer would be: the best choice right now in the D700 budget range is,today, the D700. 12 megapixels is enough for most uses. 12 MP on a 24x36mm image capture sensor is a good deal.