Camera Recommendations

[Hmac]

@Hmac

No, it's just that they aren't sold in Walmart and Shopko; you can only get them from dedicated photography retailers. Canon and Nikon are #1 and #2 (sales wise) because they sell an XTi or D40 to every soccermom with too much money to blow on a point and shoot camera. Even though those DSLR's end up getting used exactly like a P&S and never see anything but the kit lens and "P" mode.

Pentax hasn't aimed a camera at the Professional market since the 90's when they had the "LX" which is still considered by many to be the best 35 mm camera of it's time. Since then they have marketed to the enthusiast segment with products that are professional quality but midlevel price. They aren't going anywhere, but don't count on them mass-marketing or opening up a pocket calculator division any time soon!

SLC

I agree, Pentax' marketing plan is baffling, and apparently not working very well for them. Clearly they don't have the resources to address the market in a financially sound way. That's not so good for their long-term outlook. Olympus was in far better shape financially when they decided to dump their entire line of film SLRs and lenses, and concentrate only on the broader point-and-shoot market. I think it's pretty clear that they're on the bubble.

If Pentax made a better camera than Nikon or Canon, I could see taking a chance. But...they don't.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

If Pentax made a better camera than Nikon or Canon, I could see taking a chance. But...they don't.

Well we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one won't we!

 

[CrackedButter]

I disagree, but I see your point. To me, it makes little sense to invest in cheap glass. Most of the current bodies (since 2004, at least) are capable to top notch images, though there are clear leaders in IQ (5D being amongst the best), or speed (1dmkIII) or noise (Nikon D3), or other features. So buy the body you need to get the job done; dont worry about IQ unless you're really finicky (you're getting good quality from all DSLRs).

But the glass is different. The CA, sharpness, and contrast from most consumer glass is simply poorer than top quality (i.e. L) lenses; you will notice. The exceptions are most Canon non-L primes, which are fast and of high quality.

So my advice remains: if you're going with Canon (and you don't have to), skip the XTi, buy a used 10D/20D, a 50/1.8, and save for good glass. Avoid Canon consumer zooms (the only exception to this I can see is the EF-S 17-55 F2.8, which deserves to wear the red stripe).

BTW, are you really going from a 5D to an Olympus? You might find the difference between FF and 2x crop (i.e. four-thirds) to be very large.

By the way, I agree on the types of lenses you're recommending, just not the brands for the moment.

Yes I am moving away, I just bought it off one of my Canon mad friends, he needed the money to go on a month visit to Freetown and I thought why not, now I regret buying it because I want something discrete and not expensive so I want to make my money back by selling it on. It also means I get to sell my 50mm F1.4 prime. Yay!

There are a few other features in the E-420 besides the physical ones that interest me as well.

 

[Hmac]

Well we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one won't we!

Yup.


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[ChrisA]

It would be cheaper to go with an Olympus E-410 and in my opinion better than either of the cameras recommended. I saw a shoot out with all 3 cameras and the Olympus did very well.

With three cameras but with what lenses. What were the subjects. If you pick easy subjects and make small prints any camera will do as good as any other.

I'd be interesred to see the results of a "soot off" if the subject were harder like say "Brds of Prey in Flight".

The reason so many people go with The "big two" is for the lens selection. Camera bodies hardly matter in terms of final image quality