Help choosing camera. 1000$ budget

[bahandi]

i feel disgusted placing my face on a camera that other people put their face on.

lol... do you ever use hand rails on stairs or elevators? Do you open the washroom door with just your bare hands? Do you ever put your purse/bag/book on the ground and then put that purse/bag/book on the table you're sitting on? Do you use other people's keyboards?

There are so many things much worse out there than someone's nose grease.

oh... just remembered, do you ever share earbuds of your mp3 player? lol... i always have to wipe down the buds after i let someone listen in on what i was just listening to.

 

[globe91]

Or have you ever slept in a hotel bed? Those are a million times worse than someones else's camera.

 

[upper]

no i've never slept in a hotel bed. i just dont like it used. i like it brand new. factory sealed or something to that extent.

now i'm either going with the d40 kit with an undecided extra lens or D80 kit or XSI with an extra lens..

 

[Rogan]

im still sticking to my post
the D40 kit i posted is excellent

 

[TamiyaGuy]

Yep, me too. The D40 is really a fantastic camera. Do not get sucked into the megapixel hype; you can easily print good looking 30 x 20" photographs without pixelation. If you look at the print from 10" away, then yes, you might see some, but you don't look at a 30 x 20" photo like you would a 6 x 4.

Another thing is that good lenses make much more of a difference than a good body, and more knowledge of photography will make more of a difference than better lenses. You won't need to upgrade your camera, even if 10 more, so-called "better" models come out. A D40 is a fantastic little camera, and is perfectly capable of creating large prints.

Get it, get a 55-200mm f/4-5.6 VR and enjoy it!

 

[deudeu]

But if you are planing on buying older lenses, the D40 doesn't meter on them.
This is why the D80 might turn out to be cheaper in the end (if you buy a few old lenses. If not, the D40 will be just fine).

 

[Mav]

I have both a D40 and a D80 and honestly like the D40 better. Nobody recommends the D60 because the D80 is a far more capable camera in terms of features for hardly any more money. The D40 (compared to D60 and D80) is sharper, has better high ISO performance, a faster base ISO, faster flash sync (1/500s vs 1/200s), 6MP is plenty unless you plan to crop a lot or print huge a lot (larger than 20x30" on a regular basis) and I like the way it drives better with respect to the rear info display and menu setup (D60 is the same here, but the D80 still has the old menu system). Both are good choices. The biggest bummer about the D40 is that it won't autofocus with a lot of the great cheap older used lenses out there, like the 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 that I just picked up, which also does 1:2 macro. Cost me a whopping $140 USD.

Anyways the D40 is a great choice. If and when you feel the need to upgrade, it's a great secondary camera or a backup to just stuff in your bag ready to go with the body cap on. It takes up practically zero space. Personally I'd look for a kit with the 18-55 and 55-200VR. Already mentioned, but the 18-55 kit lens does 1:3.2 macro which is closer than a lot of people realize and good enough to get you started with macro shots. If you want to get closer, pickup any used 1:1 macro lens for a few hundred USD. You'll have to manually focus with most of them, but that's the usual thing to do for macro shooting anyways. On lenses where the D40 won't support autofocus, you still get electronic focus assist. Just select the AF sensor you want to use and watch for the focus confirmation dot in the lower left, and shoot.

 

[Mav]

But if you are planing on buying older lenses, the D40 doesn't meter on them.
This is why the D80 might turn out to be cheaper in the end (if you buy a few old lenses. If not, the D40 will be just fine).

The D40 will meter perfectly fine on any 1986 or newer AF, AF-D, or AF-S type lens. It just needs AF-S type lenses for autofocusing. Even on the older AF/AF-D lenses you still get electronic focus assist so they're far easier to manual focus than most people think. You don't have to squint to see your subject or anything - just watch for the focus confirmation dot. :mrgreen: Actually the D40 will mount more lenses than the D80 will because it can use pre-AI lenses without converting them.