D40 vs K100d Differences Buying Guide

[rondha]

Yes, but you pay a lot less for the Pentax reduction.

IMO high ISO is more important -- low light shake can always be worked around by using a tripod. As Abstract said, high ISO is more useful for action shots. Really VR is an "emergency" situation. "Oh #$*^ I want this shot and I forgot to pack my tripod"

That said, there is so little difference these days up to ISO 800 that it isn't a factor anymore. I've seen ISO 800 shots on a K100, and it is very good. As is my D80, and my wife's D40. I might be able to tell a difference at 100% crop, if I'm looking for differences. But that's not how we normally look at photos.

The how to make the decision is very simple: LENSES

Look at the shooting you would like to do, and what lenses are available. Which company offers lenses you can afford in that range? Wander around the local camera stores and see in you area which system has the best availability of used lenses.

Then go, hold a camera, fire some test shots in the store and see what you like to hold.

That is the _only_ way to decide, and nobody in an internet forum can tell you what you need.

I had the same experience buying a tripod yesterday, I spent two hours browsing and researching, walked in the store, and ended up spending twice what I expected because once I strapped my camera on there was no longer any choice, and there was no way I could have made that decision reading about it.

Thank's
I realised that.

sorry a noob question,
why would you want to change so many lenses?

would 3 types (short medium and long) be fairly okay for any occasion?

for "entry level" IQ would 2 or 3 types be more than enough?




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[termina3]

would 3 types (short medium and long) be fairly okay for any occasion?

that's what most pros do–a wide-angle, a zoom, and a longer telephone (zoom optional).

I usually know exactly what I want to do when I go in, so I'll for example only take a 105-300 to a football game, because I know I won't get close enough to need anything wider.

Of course weddings, etc. you may need more variety.

 

[rondha]

Okay bank holiday really got me.
I need to decide tonight.

It was mentioned here about ISO clearness vs SR.

I search the internet to look at loads of examples.

Yes some cameras were really bad at ISO 800 and above, even start to have noise at ISO 400, although the pictures were sharp.

I think I can not bear this kind of noise,

But then that I will be sacrificing the flexibility and ease of taking pictures by using a tripod to get the best ISO capable camera,
but thinking that the beautiful moments will be captured in digital pictures data for the long-long years, I am willing to sacrifice that.

ATM I am not concerned about the lens, it would be a long investment in the future anyway. What I am concerned most is that people said I will be buying a system, not just a camera.

Adding to my confusions I found some examples on D40 and D40X with very bad noise.
Now I am thinking to push a little bit of the budget to look at EOS 400D and 350D, and a lot of their samples are better than Nikon D40 and D40X,
and yet in some reviews EOS 400D was compared to Nikon D80.

I know Nikon lens and Pentax lens are the best in this class camera, but Pentax ISO is not as good as D40, and D40 is almost better than D40X in term of ISO, but seems 400D and 350D are better than them.

Maybe pro will chose Nikon, but for me, and entry level, I am thinking about EOS 400D now, or maybe 350D.
Should I sacrifice the SR and the possible VR with this limited budget?


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[66217]

Maybe pro will chose Nikon, but for me, and entry level, I am thinking about EOS 400D now, or maybe 350D.
Should I sacrifice the SR and the possible VR with this limited budget?
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I think the 400D is a very good camera. It do has it's advantages over the D40 or D40x, but I don't think that they are that big to make one or the other much better.

Take the decision based on how you feel the camera and the lenses. The price difference between the D40x and the 400D is not much ($100 I think).

As for the 350D, I think the D40 or D40x are better cameras.

 

[FunkyGuitarGirl]

My online research had me leaning towards the Pentax k100 BUT when I held each.. the Nikon D40 just FELT better.. and I love it.

Not sure about Pentax glass... but Nikon primes are cheap and plentiful on ebay and yield magnificent results.

 

[66217]

My online research had me leaning towards the Pentax k100 BUT when I held each.. the Nikon D40 just FELT better.. and I love it.

Not sure about Pentax glass... but Nikon primes are cheap and plentiful on ebay and yield magnificent results.

Before buying a D40 or D40x just check what lenses you would really like to buy.
The D40/D40x does not have an auto-focus motor built in, so you would want to stay within AF-S lenses.

 

[FunkyGuitarGirl]

Before buying a D40 or D40x just check what lenses you would really like to buy.
The D40/D40x does not have an auto-focus motor built in, so you would want to stay within AF-S lenses.

Frankly auto focus takes some of the creativity out of picture taking for me. They have their uses..but I like the manual primes too!

 

[jpfisher]

My online research had me leaning towards the Pentax k100 BUT when I held each.. the Nikon D40 just FELT better.. and I love it.

Not sure about Pentax glass... but Nikon primes are cheap and plentiful on ebay and yield magnificent results.

Be careful with some of those Nikon eBay purchases -- I was recently looking at some manual focus primes on eBay for my father's D50 -- I discovered that the D50 will only meter on AI-P lenses, not the more common AI-S. And, according to this reference -- http://www.nikonians.org/nikon/slr-lens.html -- the D40 and D40x cannot meter on AI-P lenses either. You need to move up to a D200 to get metering on that cheap eBay glass.

I went Pentax when I made the DSLR plunge, based soley on a big case full of 1970's vintage lenses that I had available to me. The K100 can automatically meter on A series lenses, and manually meter on any Pentax lens -- set the aperture, and hit a button before each shot.

Just an FYI for you... I've used both systems and don't have a lot of bad things to say about either, but I'd hate for you to buy a D40/x under the impression that you can eBay old glass, and then find yourself carrying a light meter with you all the time.

Jim

 

[FunkyGuitarGirl]

Thanks for the warnings!

What happened was.. I bought a Nikon D40 and the next day an associate of mine gifted me some of his old Nikon Glass ( Nikon series e 50mm and 28mm) I had already purchased a nikkor 55-200 VR and of course had the 18-55mm kit (both AF-S).

I have taken some pictures with all the lenses and enjoy them all for different reasons.

The primes tho.. I love the challenge of them.. even WITHOUT metering... so much so that I intend to purchase a 105mm when I get some extra funds.

(AFTER recuperating from purchasing a new macbook this week)

 

[rondha]

Nice samples:

K100D: http://search.pbase.com/search?q=k100d&c=sp
D40: http://search.pbase.com/search?q=d40&c=sp
D40X: http://search.pbase.com/search?q=d40x&b=Search+Photos&c=sp
350D: http://search.pbase.com/search?q=350d&c=sp
400D: http://search.pbase.com/search?q=400d&c=sp


although seems not a fair comparison because some been taken by semi-pro hobbyist and others taken by noob, but those samples gave me unpredicted motivation....


any comment on the picture ??

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