Need ur opinion for camera choices

Lizocain

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I know its one more boring "what camera" thread but id really need some advice and i got non else to ask.Till now i had a fixed lense olympus 560 uz camera and wanna upgrade badly to some real dslr but i have no knowledge on lenses.So i went looking in the stores.In the beggining i focused mostly on Nikon and Canon cause thats the 2 best brands.Then i saw an offer for the Sony a500 Sony A500 Review - Specifications | PhotographyBLOGfor 523dollars with the 18-55mm lense.Should i go for it?Anyone has experience with it?Any other suggestions for good cameras between 600-900$?What about the lenses ill buy later?Which company has good lenses but no so expensive? Im so lost :shock:

Thanks
 
Photography is an expensive hobby as I'm quickly finding out. If you want nice, sharp photos, you'll need good glass apparently. And good lenses are not cheap what-so-ever...

But then of course...you can save money all you want...I just wanted to get out and shoot with something better than I have now, so I went with a cheapie 1000D...which was a HUGE improvement over my Powershot...
 
Well, it's totally up to you, but if you're looking for cheaper lenses all the way down the road, Sony can use the older minolta lenses. Look for them on ebay for a500. Just remember that a lot of the time, you get what you pay for. That's not to say they're all bad, though.
 
Canon and Nikon aren't the two best brands, they're the two biggest brands. Sony is definitely worth considering and so is the oft-overlooked Pentax. Pentax, IMO, is one of the best choices for the hobby shooter for two reasons: (1) I believe you get more 'bang for your buck' in terms of features and a better consumer-grade quality level than you do from Nikon or Canon.

They also have the benefit of a HUGE range of legacy glass. Some of the older Pentax glass is truly excellent and you can get some amazing deals on eBay and Craig's List. Your best bet is to go into a REAL camera store (NOT a big-box store that sells cameras) and tell the clerk what your budget is, and what you want in a camera. A lot of times, ergonomics play a big part in the decision.
 
I have to somewhat disagree with this - yes they are the biggest but they are the best as well; at least in the 35mm format. Pentax is a nice camera and I almost bought one but they are much less well know and with disappearing companies may not be around after a while. Whenever I see photos of professionals in the news or paper they usually are using either Nikon or Canon. Sony, I believe is geared to the consumer although they do make a full frame version DSLR.

I can't speak for Canon glass but from the research I did Nikon has some good (possibly great) consumer level glass. And if your willing to go to higher level glass then it's got a lot of that as well. As far as buying used or legacy glass ... I would be skeptical of buying anything from a Craig's list or ebay to get a "bargain" since I am not knowledgeable enough and I assume most newbies or just hobbyists may not know enough. Maybe for $50 but certainly not $100's but that is my opinion. Also, as far as used I believe a lot of older Nikon lenses work on the newer Nikons (again don't know about Canon) with some lenses having limited functionality.

With Canon and Nikon being the biggest and best we will be able to purchase lenses for them for years to come, that may not be true with a defunct manufacturer. I would imagine that both Canon and Nikon will make their lenses and other accessories backward compatible for quite a while.

Sad thing is Pentax could certainly be in there as well had they did some better marketing ... after all that's what it's all about in the end. That and giving NASA a few camera and lenses to keep on the space station! ;)


Canon and Nikon aren't the two best brands, they're the two biggest brands. Sony is definitely worth considering and so is the oft-overlooked Pentax. Pentax, IMO, is one of the best choices for the hobby shooter for two reasons: (1) I believe you get more 'bang for your buck' in terms of features and a better consumer-grade quality level than you do from Nikon or Canon.

They also have the benefit of a HUGE range of legacy glass. Some of the older Pentax glass is truly excellent and you can get some amazing deals on eBay and Craig's List. Your best bet is to go into a REAL camera store (NOT a big-box store that sells cameras) and tell the clerk what your budget is, and what you want in a camera. A lot of times, ergonomics play a big part in the decision.
 
Canon and Nikon aren't the two best brands, they're the two biggest brands. Sony is definitely worth considering and so is the oft-overlooked Pentax. Pentax, IMO, is one of the best choices for the hobby shooter for two reasons: (1) I believe you get more 'bang for your buck' in terms of features and a better consumer-grade quality level than you do from Nikon or Canon.

They also have the benefit of a HUGE range of legacy glass. Some of the older Pentax glass is truly excellent and you can get some amazing deals on eBay and Craig's List. Your best bet is to go into a REAL camera store (NOT a big-box store that sells cameras) and tell the clerk what your budget is, and what you want in a camera. A lot of times, ergonomics play a big part in the decision.

Pentax and Sony make good cameras and lenses...but neither of them can compete with CaNikon in terms of number of lenses, ranges of lenses, legacy glass, or even camera quality beyond basic hobbyist.

The thing is you really need to pick a company you'll stick with. In photography you'll probably end up keeping glass for YEARS (many professional photographers keep certain lenses for 10-20 years or longer) and you'll end up buying glass that is fairly old for still-high prices.

Truth be told, one of the reasons Canon and Nikon are the best are *BECAUSE* they're the biggest. It affords them the ability to make the vast number of lenses they produce and to make higher-quality bodies, as well (I don't mean that evenly-priced bodies will be better, but that they have better higher-priced bodies that Pentax/Sony can't compete with).

If you ever hope to progress beyond mere Hobbyist it's usually advantageous to stick with one of the 2 main brands.
 
I like the K-7. I've even considered buying it. The D90 isn't considered an entry camera even now. It's considered consumer or prosumer, as is the K-7, but awesome build quality is something that I'm not totally concerned with. It is something that's nice to have, but I want better image quality.
 
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I like the K-7. I've even considered buying it. The D90 isn't considered an entry camera even now. It's considered consumer or prosumer, as is the K-7, but awesome build quality is something that I'm totally concerned with. It is something that's nice to have, but I want better image quality.

Blake got yah! I want your opinion too since your the 1st one here I know in the forum who wants an upgrade too...

what is ur opinion about the d7000?
 
I don't think it will be out by October, but if it were, I'd probably get it, or maybe not. It just depends on the exact specs when they're released. The camera that I am getting for sure, unless the 7000 is much better, which I doubt it will be, I'm getting the D300s.
 

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