New to DSLR and looking for some insight

[Wicked Jester]

Hey everyone just signed up here as im looking to get a DLSR. My current camera is a Canon AE-1. The cost of buying film is just getting to cost prohibitive for me to keep shooting. Also I want to start messing around with photoshop more so I believe a digital camera would be much better for this, atleast in the ease of getting it to the computer.

Now onto my question. I am looking mainly at older DLSRs. I happened upon some older Canon cameras. I was looking at mostly the D30 and 10D cameras. I understand that Megapixels are not everything and I should be concerned with sensor size.

But will the lower MPs of the D30 affect my pictures?

I am thinking the largest my pictures will be are around the size of printer paper. But that will be rare.

Thank You
Wicked Jester

 

[tirediron]

By printer paper I assume you mean letter (8 1/2 x 11 / A4) which would translate to a photo size of 8x10. Pretty much any camera with 6Mp or more will produce an 8x10 nicely. As far as DSLRs go, there are three common sensor sizes: Full-frame (24x36mm, or the same as 35mm film - highest end, most expensive cameras) Nikon D700, D3, 3S, 3X, Canon 5D, 5D Mk II, and 1D series, APS-C size, or aprox 25x16mm, which is almost all consumer and "semi-pro" DSLRs. Lastly is 4/3 format which is 18x13mm.

 

[Wicked Jester]

So your saying the canon d30 is just to low of MPs to be useful? I know I can not afford the high price cameras thats why im trying to get opinions on which low priced used cameras to look at.

 

[benlonghair]

One thing to remember, WJ, is that ISO performance is limited by the sensor, not the film you're using. Older cameras will have poor performance in the higher ISO ranges. Mine becomes pretty noisy at ISO 800. It's usable, but you have to be super careful with exposure.

 

[Wicked Jester]

Okay, well I think im going to go for a used canon 10d. Its right around my price range. If anyone has any other suggestions let me know.

Thanks!

 

[Idahophoto]

The 30D has great quality. I have been tossing up buying one to have converted to info red. Nice thing about it is there fairly cheap in price so getting a real good deal on one should not be hard. Think the ones I was checking out on Amazon.com were in the 350 range.