If possible... This time even less BS... Just pick Canon EOS rebel T1i or NikonD5000

BrianClark · Feb 4, 2010

Got a little off topic so...

And Cant have both so...

If possible... This time even less BS... Just pick Canon EOS rebel T1i or Nikon D5000

And if you want argue your point.

gsgary · Feb 4, 2010

I wouldn't buy either i would buy a higher spec camera secondhand

Derrel · Feb 4, 2010

Nikon D5000.

Video clips. Articulated LCD. Stills. Nikon metering. Nikon F-mount accessories.

F-mount, so lenses dating back to 1959 will go on there with no mods...that opens up about 30 million "pre-Ai" lenses to you for experimenting.

Older,manual focus macro lenses work on baby Nikons. Old teles and wides too.

Want a 300mm f/4.5 ED glass telephoto with internal focusing for $250 used? F-mount, totally. Want to be able to control f/stops on reversed lenses? Nikon mount. Want to be able to use $5 eBay extension tubes to make a $10 pawn shop 135mm f/2.8 lens a close-focusing lens AND have the ability to your f/stop? Uh, F-mount.

John Shaw books on close-up photography on how to use Nikon equipment. For the beginning photographer, or the person who wants to TRY OUT things like macro lenses, extension tubes, reversed lenses, low-cost telephoto lenses, and really AFFORDABLE accessories, the Nikon introductory-level cameras, what I call the "baby Nikons" are far,far better choices than the entry-level Canon bodies. Canon bodies require electronic extension tubes, electronic telephoto converters, and electronically-operated lenses of recent vintage and high demand; with the baby Nikon's you can buy millions of F-mount accessories and use them. Nikon is a better system for low-budget macro and low-budget telephoto and "experimenting" than the EF mount is, simply because it's an older system that uses the SAME, identical, mechanically controlled aperture system in every single Nikon camera body made from 1959 to 2010.

Canon is a great system. I own some nice Canon stuff, but for people who want to be able to buy and use low-cost lenses and tubes and do macro on the cheap, the entry-level Nikons are very adaptable. Like gsgary suggests--the higher-level Canon bodies are pretty nice too. If you go Canon, buy their middle or higher-level models and you'll be very happy. If yuo only want a body,kit zoom,and a flash, and one other lens, buy anything you like--Pentax,Sony,Canon,Nikon, Olympus.

PhotoXopher · Feb 4, 2010

I'd like more info on the $5 extension tube and $10 135 f/2.8 please

Derrel · Feb 4, 2010

PhotoXopher said:
I'd like more info on the $5 extension tube and $10 135 f/2.8 please

eBay is filled with $9.99, 3-tube sets. Typical is a set with 9mm, 16mm,and 30mm tubes. Here's an auction ending in 16 minutes' time.
3 Ring Macro Extension Tube for NIKON D700 D80 D200 D70 - eBay (item 380201889331 end time Feb-04-10 16:55:56 PST)

The Nikon M-2 extension ring or extension tube is sold used for around $10-$12. it has NO COUPLINGS of ANY kind--not Ai,not Ai-S, no AF contacts, nothing. It falls into the sub-category of "non-meter-coupled" Nikon equipment. it will fit onto any Nikon camera. It can be bought used from many dealers like KEH. It is almost the perfect length of extension for most uses.

For $10 135mm f/2.8 lenses, look at old Nikon manual focus kits from the 70's and 80's. Names like Sears, Sigma,Quantaray,Albinar, etc. As far as other cheapie deals, look at old Nikon manual focus bodies that include a Sigma or other wide-angle lens on a Nikon EM or FG or FG-20 or even two- and three- and four-lens Nikkormat outfits from the 1960's. The "baby" Nikons will use the 50mm f/2, 55mm f/3.5 macro lenses, as well as the 135/3.5 and 135/2.8 and 85mm 1.8 Nikkor primes that can often be picked uop with a cheap old Nikkormat SLR from the 60's to early 70's.

Nikon's earliest AF bodies like the N20/20, and N4004 and N6006, often sell with camera, and one or two or three genuine Nikon lenses for $50 on Craigslist. The "baby Nikons" can mount and shoot with *anything* in F-mount, including boatloads of 3rd party 135's and 28mm primes sold throughout the 70's and early 1980's.