Lets talk SLRs

[MikeFlynn74]

Im looking to buy a new cam and a telephoto lense.

Im looking at either

Olympus e-520
Nikon d60
Sony A300

From what Ive read on Steves Digicams I cant seem to really find a good pro/con for me to make a decision on.

Any advice?

 

[dataz722]

If you don't have a problem with used check ebay and craigslist for a D70s or D80. They are hundreds of times better than the D60. Or if it could possibly be in your budget take a look at the D90. The features and options of those are tons and tons better than what you listed.

 

[dataz722]

I guess I should also add
1) What do you plan on using it for
2) How much do you know or want to learn about photography
3) Are you interested in even using the features that you would get from an SLR that you couldn't with a high end point and shoot
4) Are you going to shoot in manual mode?

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Hrmm... I really didnt want to spend too much as this would be my first.

I have a point and shoot but some of the pictures I took while hunting are lose so much in depth and color.

here are a few of those pics

 

[hal2814]

We ended up with the Sony A300. It was not our first choice at the time but my wife had a lot of cash invested in Minolta lenses and Sony is the current carrier of the Minolta base. It's a nice camera and we don't at all regret buying it though. I can't really compare since I'm the novice who points and clicks while my wife does all the shutter speed adjusting and manual focusing and stuff but she claims she can do everything she wants to do with that camera and we were happy with the price.

 

[chainsawbrewing]

i shoot semi pro. model photography mostly, some weddings, bands, and other crap that i don't really like to do, but pays, lol. i've shot nikon exclusively for over 15 years.
get a nikon d80, get a couple nikkor prime/fixed lenses for what your needs are, and never look back. plenty big enough, plenty of everything. there's way more expensive cameras out there, way more pixels, blah, blah, it's not needed. it's just ub3r camera geeks flexing their sensor muscles.

 

[Elfmaze]

i liked the pentax cameras for their weather proofing. But ended up with an A100 because the price was right. then found out the image stabalization was busted and sony wanted $250 to fix it. f' them. So now half the pictures get taken off frame. Be very carefull with used, and even new for that matter. They cant really be fixed apparently.

www.cameralabs.com has great video reviews

 

[northernlad]

Buy a camera from a camera company. That narrows your list to two. Personally I would pick the Nikon over the Olympus, and a Canon over both. If you are just usnig it for general photos 8mp is more than enough.

 

[dataz722]

Buy a camera from a camera company. That narrows your list to two. Personally I would pick the Nikon over the Olympus, and a Canon over both. If you are just usnig it for general photos 8mp is more than enough.

I am a Nikon guy but don't overlook Sony or Olympus. They both make really good cameras. Sony uses Carl Zeiss glass which in my opinion is the only resonably priced lenses that can compare to Nikkor.

 

[dataz722]

Hrmm... I really didnt want to spend too much as this would be my first.

I have a point and shoot but some of the pictures I took while hunting are lose so much in depth and color.

here are a few of those pics

In that case you might want to look into a higher end point and shoot. Many people just think that SLRs take better pictures. That is not entirely true. If you just take both of them out of the box and shoot in auto settings then you will be much happier with a point and shoot. On the other hand though if you are interested in learning about photography and another hoppy then by all means go SLR.

 

[Recusit8m]

I just bought my wife a D5000 package and its great...She has the 90 as well but wanted something easier to drag around on family trips and the technology is the same...All in all a great camera for the money

 

[dataz722]

I just bought my wife a D5000 package and its great...She has the 90 as well but wanted something easier to drag around on family trips and the technology is the same...All in all a great camera for the money

Same technology in that they both use the same sensor but the cameras are very different. The D90 offers more featurs than the D5000 but at the same time I would take a D5000 over a D60 in a heartbeat.

How well does the flip down LCD work on it?

 

[Recusit8m]

My wife is pretty much old fashioned when it comes to her photography, so she opts not to use the LCD as much but it seems very versatile and flips around really easy...She misses her medium format Leica (sp?)...and the transition to digital took her a bit...

 

[dataz722]

My wife is pretty much old fashioned when it comes to her photography, so she opts not to use the LCD as much but it seems very versatile and flips around really easy...She misses her medium format Leica (sp?)...and the transition to digital took her a bit...

I very rarely use the LCD when shooting but I do a lot with bands and bars and clubs and I would use it for overhead shots. I could see something instead of just blindly shooting and hoping I get something usable. I never got into medium format but would have loved to.

 

[dataz722]

Oh and to the OP, don't pay any attention to megapixels. Unless you are doing a ton of detailed editing or printing huge anything over 6 will all be the same quality.

 

[JVD_X]

I have a Nikon D80 - I don't believe the optics are as good as Canon's.

 

[Elfmaze]

In that case you might want to look into a higher end point and shoot. Many people just think that SLRs take better pictures. That is not entirely true. If you just take both of them out of the box and shoot in auto settings then you will be much happier with a point and shoot. On the other hand though if you are interested in learning about photography and another hoppy then by all means go SLR.

The point and shoots can take nice if not better metered pictures in Auto mode in good lighting. BUT, Its when the lights go down and the grain comes out or you try setting more than a 16 second exposure. Also when trying to track a bird in flight you start having problems in life.

I really fought getting the DSLR but eventually went for it.

 

[dataz722]

The point and shoots can take nice if not better metered pictures in Auto mode in good lighting. BUT, Its when the lights go down and the grain comes out or you try setting more than a 16 second exposure. Also when trying to track a bird in flight you start having problems in life.

I really fought getting the DSLR but eventually went for it.

I agree completly but if you don't know how to shoot in manual then you still have the same problem if not worse. I just wanted to make sure that just because its a higher end camera doesn't mean it will always take better pictures.

For example, I have a full semi-pro setup with a D90, vertical grip, numerous lenses and full lighting setup but my wife can take better pictures with her $150 sony p&s than she can with my camera. Put my camera in my hands and it is hundreds of times better though. Difference is those damn auto settings.

 

[Beerrific]

My sister recently bought a D60 and I have gotten to use it off an on. I really like it, I am planning on getting a DSLR for myself in the near future.

About the D60: I guess it is officially discontinued (same with D40) it has been replaced with the D3000. When I comes time (when I have the cash) for me, I am going to look for deals on one of these 2. If there are no deals to be found I will probably get the D3000 or save up a bit more cash and get the D5000.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Well since it took me about a year an a half... I ended up with the Nikon D3100. So far I have no idea what I am doing. Yet im still taking better pics than I ever have

 

[mr_goodwrench]

I just bought SWMBO a Canon T1i on Monday. This is our first dSLR and she is planning on learning more about photography. She is a scrapbooker and takes lots of pictures. One of the biggest reasons we wanted an SLR was to take photos of my daughter playing soccer: we were looking for speed and capability for longer lenses.

I looked at a lot of entry level cameras and the price for the T1i at Costco was pretty good ($850 for the body and 2 lenses.) I had looked at the D3100 and thought I would get that for about $100 less but SWMBO has had bad experiences with Nikon point & shoots in the past and didn't want another Nikon.

 

[Rick91981]

I just bought SWMBO a Canon T1i on Monday. This is our first dSLR and she is planning on learning more about photography. She is a scrapbooker and takes lots of pictures. One of the biggest reasons we wanted an SLR was to take photos of my daughter playing soccer: we were looking for speed and capability for longer lenses.

I looked at a lot of entry level cameras and the price for the T1i at Costco was pretty good ($850 for the body and 2 lenses.) I had looked at the D3100 and thought I would get that for about $100 less but SWMBO has had bad experiences with Nikon point & shoots in the past and didn't want another Nikon.

The canon EOS line is great. I have an older model, the XSi, and I love it. If you are going to be using it for soccer events, invest in high quality lenses.

 

[jafo28]

I own a Nikon D300S, my wife has a D90. They are great. Canons are really good too, you can't go wrong either way. Goodwrench, I totally agree about Nikons point and shoots they don't compare to the slrs, my sister had one and the picture quality was horrible even after getting in the menus and trying to make adjustments.

 

[mr_goodwrench]

The kit came with a 55-250mm lens along with the 18-55mm one. I figure that that should give her a pretty good start. I definitely plan on investing in some other really good lenses at some point.

The Nikon we has was 12MP p&s and no matter what we did, we couldn't get it to take decent pictures. SWMBO finally gave up and went back to our 5 year old Kodak P880. Of course, I don't doubt that Nikon's SLRs are a different breed altogether.

 

[tbel]

edit....OK so I didn't realize the OP had revived this thread. But I still stand by my advice....

I agree completly but if you don't know how to shoot in manual then you still have the same problem if not worse. I just wanted to make sure that just because its a higher end camera doesn't mean it will always take better pictures.

For example, I have a full semi-pro setup with a D90, vertical grip, numerous lenses and full lighting setup but my wife can take better pictures with her $150 sony p&s than she can with my camera. Put my camera in my hands and it is hundreds of times better though. Difference is those damn auto settings.

I agree completely here, I've had a D50 for years and it works great for me. I lust after the newer "better" cameras but mine gives me the results I need. My wife absolutely hates it though, can't take a good pic to save her soul, so I bought her a Nikon S8100 for Christmas and she loves it.

I haven't finished reading this thread yet so forgive me if this has been brought up. Remember that what ever you get you are buying into a system.
If you go with Nikon and load up on lenses you aren't likely to pickup a Canon for your next piece of kit. Be sure it's a company you have faith in. The only other thing I will suggest is absolutely don't buy anything you haven't held in your hands. Even within the same brand cameras will feel different, and if you aren't comfortable holding it you won't be likely to use it often.
When I was shopping for mine I was down to the Rebel and the D50. At that time they were fairly equally matched. I knew as soon as I had the two next to each other that the Rebel wasn't going to work. unfortunately I have a large nose and when I looked through the eye piece on the rebel I left a big grease mark on the lcd . The D50 had the eye piece just shifted just a little left and it worked great. Sounds silly but to this day I am glad I mad the comparison.

 

[jafo28]

I started shooting with a Nikon in the late 90's, film, this is why I stayed with Nikon. The D90 my wife has was mine. She has increasingly gotten more into photography, and always wanted me to leave the camera home so she could use it. I work at an airport and there is usually a lot to photograph so I always bring it with me. This power struggle between us gave me the excuse to upgrade to the D300s. I still have and use lenses from my first film slr so what tbel said is true you're probably gonna stay with the brand you start with.

 

[cinderbike]

I shoot Canon, but this applies for Nikon too:

Get an entry-level SLR, as they are more than adequate enough. Fullframe vs cropped is not as big an issue as some people make it out to be.

Use the money you save and invest it in glass, you won't regret it.