Newbie Looking for HELP!

[jdh313]

I am in the market for my first dslr and i have brought it down to three options. A canon rebel xs, a nikon d40 or the Olympus E520. I was wandering also if someone could help explain teh four-thirds system. I am currently using the advanced features on my Kodak z1285 but have grown out of it. All of the cameras above are refurbished. The xs and the d40 are the same price but the e520 is about $60 cheaper. I like to do landscapes and live right under the holding pattern of Newark Liberty so i was also looking to get a telephoto lens later on for that. Any help would be really appreciated and all of the cameras are found on Adorama.com.
P.S. I love reading long answers so write as much as you want.

 

[Tulsa]

I say the Canon, I bet if you asked that Koffman dude he would say the Olympus was engineered with a flaw... must be the camera.:lmao:

 

[KmH]

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

I vote for Other. :thumbup:

Actually, at that level it really doesn't matter which you get. The key is to get one, period.

 

[jdh313]

Thanks for you advise on the canon.
KMH what other are you thinking of?

 

[KmH]

Thanks for you advise on the canon.
KMH what other are you thinking of?

I added some to my post.

Here's the deal: 85% of all the dSLR's sold in the world are either a Canon or a Nikon.

That means more accessories and a very much broader used gear market for both sellers and buyers.

The D40 has an electronic shutter and can sync with a flash all the way to it's max shutter speed of 1/4000. But the Canon has slightly better ISO performance. The Olympus hads a 4:3 image sensor which gives it a 2X crop factor and the aspect ratio makes cropping to the various print sizes easier.

In other words each has strong points and weak points and none are a magic bullet solution. Flipping a coin would be more efffective than your poll.

I shoot Nikon gear, for various reasons, but the main one is, I think their cameras look more manly than any others.

 

[jdh313]

I am personally more of a Nikon fan myself but i didn't want the brand name to restrict me from getting the best camera. I think i will go with the d40. Does anyone know if there is any other place i could get one refurbished, possible even cheaper?

 

[Jacki]

My advice would be to make sure you take into account the price of lenses in your choice. I know when I get a DSLR I'm going to always be wanting another lens. :roll:

 

[jdh313]

My advice would be to make sure you take into account the price of lenses in your choice. I know when I get a DSLR I'm going to always be wanting another lens. :roll:

Same here, i think for the time being the kit lens will be fine but i will eventually get the 55-200 lens and hopefully larger.
what size filters go on these lenses?

 

[tdiprincess]

I just got my D70s off ebay. You can generally find a bunch of used and refurbed for pretty good prices and sometimes decent lenses to start with. Mine came with a crap lens, but it was still cheaper than going new....

 

[KmH]

My advice would be to make sure you take into account the price of lenses in your choice. I know when I get a DSLR I'm going to always be wanting another lens. :roll:

Same here, i think for the time being the kit lens will be fine but i will eventually get the 55-200 lens and hopefully larger.
what size filters go on these lenses?

Each lens shows the filter size on it like, Ø 52. Which means 52mm filter. It's usually on the front underside of Nikon lenses. Yesterday, I bought lens #10 for me.

I will be selling a lightly used Nikon AF-S 55-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G VR in about a week. I have the original box, users manual, etc., for the lens.
For getting shots of landing aircraft you'll need:

 

[jdh313]

It is not of landing aircraft as i actually live far away, they fly right over my house and i think that it would be an interesting subject to photograph.

 

[altitude604]

depending on how far from their point of departure you are, you're going to need something longer than a 200mm lens.

 

[jdh313]

depending on how far from their point of departure you are, you're going to need something longer than a 200mm lens.

thanks, the airplane photography is not my first priority but it is definitively something else i want to do.
Would you suggest i eventually get the 55-200 or the 70-300?

 

[KmH]

depending on how far from their point of departure you are, you're going to need something longer than a 200mm lens.

thanks, the airplane photography is not my first priority but it is definitively something else i want to do.
Would you suggest i eventually get the 55-200 or the 70-300?

It depends how much reach you need.

That 500 mm I posted is used for soccer. A 300 will work for soccer if you crop a lot of the images, but a 200 comes up a bit short.

The 55-200 would work as a portraiture lens but it's not a lot of reach.

You might also consider, photos of the underbellies of airplanes aren't really very interesting, unless they're on fire or something.

 

[jdh313]

You might also consider, photos of the underbellies of airplanes aren't really very interesting, unless they're on fire or something.

very true!:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao: