Digital SLR Cameras

[Bonegavel]

There have to be shutter bugs in here that can recommend a decent DSLR camera. Pros/cons, eperience, hearsay, rumor, twatever.

What I've been eyeing lately is the Olympus Evolt E-300. A local store has it in a kit for $999, that contains the camera and 2 lenses. The niftiest thing I see about this camera is that it has a dust-free mode where the CCD shakes off any/all particles at startup or at the touch of a button.

I didn't realize that dust was a big deal but makes sense when you think about changing lenses.

I think I would be willing to spend a bit more, Nikon D70 for instance, if there was a HUGE reason to.

I am not very versed in camera-lore but I do own a Canon Elan II 35 mm which I really love but the lure of digital is too strong and it hasn't seen much use since I purchased my current digital which is an olympus C-4000 which is decent, but not an SLR.

[Castlerock]

Do you have any Canon lenses for the Elan? That might make a Canon DSLR more attractive than say a Nikon.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Castlerock

Do you have any Canon lenses for the Elan? That might make a Canon DSLR more attractive than say a Nikon.

Very true, this is a great point. The new EOS 20D is getting great reviews, and it is around the $1K price point you mentioned. If you already have lenses you can use, all the better.

Sorry, but I can't help with any first hand knowledge or experiences. All of my digital cameras have been of the point-and-shoot variety. My next one will be a digital SLR, however.

[Bonegavel]

Originally Posted by Castlerock

Do you have any Canon lenses for the Elan? That might make a Canon DSLR more attractive than say a Nikon.

Just the lense that came with it. I didn't go crazy with lenses because I wanted to learn more first (which never really happened) and they are damn expensive.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Bonegavel

Just the lense that came with it. I didn't go crazy with lenses because I wanted to learn more first (which never really happened) and they are damn expensive.

That they are. I nearly lost it when I saw that just the telephoto lens for Canon Digital SLRs was $1500!!!

[Bonegavel]

To me, what sucked about buying a decent 35 mm SLR (my EOS) was that I took all these pics and messed with this and that setting, blurred the background, tried this and that, read the manual, tweaked this setting, and then ... take the rolls to the photolab. Wait or pay through the anus for quick processing.

Killed the joy for my gnat-like attention span.

Digital has obviously bypassed that wait and if I want them on paper I can pay $.19 per pic at Walmart to have them ready in an hour (their prints are nice) or use my Canon i960 photo printer which is damn good.

The DSLR technology has come a long way in a short time, but they still have their issues. Though, I know Photoshop can fix many sins of the fathers.

[terpkristin]

HAHA.
I lust for the Nikon D-70 or one of their other soon to be released entry-level digital SLR's but that's only because I have 2 Nikon 35mm SLR's so I already have a slew of lenses.

I must say, if you already have compatible lenses for the Canon, I'd get it...though personally I think the optic quality in the Nikon will be better. I have the Canon A95 PowerShot point-and-shoot digital, and I love it, so maybe they've improved things, though, in their digital line...

The big downside to the Nikon, from what I know, is that you can't access the RAW image file. Of course, check what formats the Canon digital cam can shoot in. If it only shoots in JPG, screw it. I would LOVE a camera that can shoot in say TIFF, so I can do any editing I need to without worrying for loss of quality (jpg's lose quality each time they're saved..).

So, um.
Without doing much research into things, I'd recommend the Canon, mostly because you already have lenses for it. But, if it's like my point and shoot and only takes jpg's I'd say avoid it.

/tk

[Kam]

I own a Nikon D70 and am incredibly happy. You can check out my online gallery to see what the D70 can do.

You should also spend some time at dpreview and peruse the forums. You will find that each camera has its fanbase, but more importantly you will be able to see what can be done with each camera.

Then choose the camera that meets your needs based on what you plan on shooting.

[terpkristin]

I confess I don't know much about Olympus digital SLR's but my family owns 2 others Olmpus 35 mm SLR's and I love them as much as I love my Nikons. I say if that's what you're leaning towards, it's a fine choice. Better optics IMO than Canon. But see above statement about the file format...

/tk

[rafini]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

HAHA.
The big downside to the Nikon, from what I know, is that you can't access the RAW image file./tk

I have a D70 and you can shoot in RAW format. You just need to download an update to Photoshop to be able to open the D70 RAW files (.NEF).

[Craptacular]

FYI, the lens that comes with the Canon kits is junk. If you have some nice Canon SLR lenses already, then go for the 20D. A friend of mine with his own photography business loves it. I have a Nikon D70, mainly because my family has always had good luck with Nikon, and my Dad was able to give me a few lenses. They're manual focus, but I can still use them for specific shots until I can afford some decent AF lenses. However, the kit lens for the D70 is very good by itself ... much better than the Canon.

[JimboJ]

OK, I know this is a dumb question, but what is the benefit of a digital SLR camera over a regular digital camera? From my limited knowledge of photography, I know that a 35mm SLR camera allows you to see exactly what you are photographing in the viewfinder. Since digicams have the little screen to show you what's in the frame, aren't you getting that benefit whether its an SLR or not?

[cartman]

Originally Posted by JimboJ

OK, I know this is a dumb question, but what is the benefit of a digital SLR camera over a regular digital camera? From my limited knowledge of photography, I know that a 35mm SLR camera allows you to see exactly what you are photographing in the viewfinder. Since digicams have the little screen to show you what's in the frame, aren't you getting that benefit whether its an SLR or not?

Here's a breakdown a found comparing the different types of digital cameras:

http://www.vividlight.com/articles/4016a.htm

About Digital Cameras

1. The Point and Shoot digital cameras ($100 - $400) (2.5-4 megapixels): Automatic Operation is very similar to your current point-and-shoot film cameras. They are generally very lightweight, compact, and for the most part, quite easy to use. The LCD screen on the back makes it easy to review your images, and most should have a built in flash. Their advantage is their size being easy to take just about anywhere, great for family outings, hiking, vacations etc. As the quality and mega pixels increase, so does the price. There are also more menu selections, options, and with an increase in quality comes the ability to make larger high-quality prints. Figure that the low-end cameras will be fine for emailing images to friends, but making 4x6 prints will be about the limit. At the other end of this price and pixel range, you should be able to make a nice 8x10, if you did your part of capturing a good image.

The downside to the cameras in this range can be Lag Time. There can be significant time lag between the time you press the shutter release and the actual capture of the image. People will often want a digital camera to record their children in sporting events at school, not realizing that this can be an issue. You can plan on spending more money for the higher-end digital cameras to help with this problem.

2. Full-featured Point and Shoots ($400-$650) (4-7 megapixels): The point-and-shoot cameras in this range are nothing short of amazing, considering their size. These cameras are usually very compact, sturdy and full featured. Most have metal bodies and a respectable 3-4X zoom range (28-100mm approx.). My Nikon CoolPix 5200 for example is a 5.1 mega pixel camera with a 3x zoom range (38-110mm). It has Macro for close-ups, multiple flash settings, continuous shooting sports mode, best shot selection, automatic in-camera red eye fix, panorama and landscape settings and the list goes on. Quality is outstanding as well, with Nikon claiming that it can produce up to a 15 megabite file and 16x20 print. That is stretching things a bit but it is still very nice.

Don't be fooled: Just because these cameras have some very high mega pixel ratings doesn't mean that they will match the quality of a digital SLR with the mega pixel count. Why? Because the sensors on the point-and shoots, are smaller, so quality can suffer when compared the larger sensors on the SLRs.

3. Compact Digital Cameras ($500-$750 or higher) ( 5-8 mgapixels): These digital cameras come close to a digital SLR in both mega pixels and in features, yet are a little more compact, have a fixed zoom lens (no interchangeability) usually in the 28 - 200, 35- 300mm range). In the case of the Nikon and Canon versions, these lenses are equipped with very high quality optics. The new Nikon CoolPix 8800 even has their VR (built in Vibration Reduction) feature. This is probably the one area where I would tell you to think hard about your particular digital camera needs before dropping that kind of money considering the latest digital SLRs now start at around $899. If you want a do-it-all digital camera for vacations and travel and have no interest in carrying a camera bag full of additional lenses, then this could be the way to go.

4. Full Size Digital SLRs ($899-$5000, some even higher) (6-14 megapixels): If you are serious about adding to, or replacing your current film SLR with a digital SLR, you've come to the right place. Providing you have the more recent film SLRs, your existing lenses should work fine on these digital SLRs. As you might expect, digital SLRs are similar in size, feel, and features as film SLRs, plus they have the additional LCD screen, various custom menu selections and features. These full-size SLRs are more than capable of producing excellent prints up to 16x20, again depending on you using good photographic technique.