The camera should give the ability to manually set the apperature and shutter speed. It depends on a few items -- most notably do you have any existing lenses and is your price range for a lens or body only?
I would start by looking at two brands -- Nikon and Canon. In the end, SLRs are ultimately about the lens. As digital camera bodies will tend to improve significantly over time, I would focus on whose set of lenses will best meet your short term (and long term) needs. But the lenses will have a very long life indeed.
If you already have a nice selection of lenses (or a friend or family member or a school) has some primo glass in either Nikon or Canon, that probably answers your question right there. For example, I went Nikon has my brother already had over $2,000 worth of Nikon glass. While there are pros and cons to each brand, I think they both produce very good products.
A few other considerations: The Canon offers more megapixels although I am not sure that is especially significant (insert your favorite flame war here) as doubling resolution requires quadrupling the number of megapixels. I like the Nikon pro glass over Canon (personal preference) but I would note that Canon has some very nice niche lenses (i.e., a 70-200 or similar but at a constant f4 rather than at a constant f2.8)
I would look at these products from Nikon: D50 (around $600 + lenses); D70s (around $900 plus lenses -- $1,200 gets you the body, decent zoom lens, and a compact flash card) and, if anyone is selling them, the original D70 (the difference from the D70 to D70s was not huge beyond the firmware upgrade you can do yourself).
I would look at these products from Canon: Digital Rebel XT (also called the 350d) at about $715 for the body and about $960 with a lends and storage card. In both the Nikon and Canon cameras, the "kit" lens are a decent initial purchase as they tend to not add much to the purchase price. That said, I think the Nikon D70s kit lenses are better than the ones Canon tends to include with the Rebel.
Next step: Get your hands on one. See how they feel in your hand. Look thru the viewfinder. Do you see one brighter than the other? Is one easier to use?
Read the reviews:
This site offers great user reviews as well as complete reviews from the owner of the site: http://www.dpreview.com/ . There are detailed photo comparisons and the abiolity to download picture samples. The forums area is also very good. Other sites include: http://www.imaging-resource.com/ and http://www.dcviews.com/ and http://www.dcresource.com/ .
Finally, decide where you are going to buy your camera from. If you are in the NYC area, I would suggest checking out B&H (they also offer great mail order service). I like developing a relationship with a pro level photo shop so I tend to buy from there as well (Glazers in Seattle) even knowing they cost a bit more. When you make the choice, think about price and after purchase support. I would tend to stay away from places that want to both charge a premium and seem to always have to order everything in. Ditto with places that encourage you to buy thier "house brand" lens by saying they are the equal of the Nikon/Canon but only cost half as much. Costco can be an attractive alternative because of their generous return policies and decent prices. This is where it depends on what features you are looking for (beyond the ones you listed). I highly recommend that you look at the Editors top rated cameras over at Cnet and go from there. If they have one that suits your needs check out user reviews at Epinions. Note that Epinions will not always have the camera (or other product) you are looking at listed. What kind of photography are you going to do? If you need interchangable lens 35 MM digital camera! You can go with Nikon D50 or Canon Rebel XT or you want fixed
lens but advance digital Camera with all the controls,go with Canon G6 wich is under $600 and don't foreget to get rechargable batter at least 8
batteries and one charger,it will save you money in the long run . Check out the review on
this site : Steve's Digital camera review,it give you the best information. the eos is your best bet. it is relatively inexpensive, and awesome. |
