Digital SLR

[madmaxmedia]

Probably everyone on this thread spent the same time comparing cameras, and different people came up with different choices. Which is why I purposely did not try to steer him one way or the other. I'm offering him lens suggestions since he said he was getting a Canon, but if he had chosen a Nikon I would wished him well with his choice.

Is the Canon body THAT damage prone? I don't recall hearing any such complaints on DPReview or places like that. The inside of the body isn't much different than other models, they went with a plastic outer shell to save costs and put the money into the actual imager. The Rebel was truly a revolutionary DSLR because of the price- it offered the same imager as the 10D for a much lower price. Other companies have followed suit and expanded the low-price DSLR category. (But the Canon rebate is also extremely attractive.)

I doubt there is a significant difference in pricing between really equal Nikon and Canon lenses, as the 2 are strong competitors and there are good 3rd party options too. Relatively speaking, there are going to be good deals and bad deals likely with both. There are very few people that are actually qualified to give such an opinion, as only someone who has really shot a lot with both Canon and Nikon would be able to provide a serious opinion as to the quality and pricing between the 2.

As far as buying a camera that feels better or worse, I picked my camera because of the images it produces. The Canon CMOS sensor is really, really great and has great ISO latitude. But I wouldn't tell someone else to pick Canon for that, because they should really look at straight-out-the-camera images from Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Sigma, etc. and make their own judgement.

I spent about 2 moths deciding on a digital SLR so i think i can help you out here. I ended up buying a D70 over the Canon Rebel, Rebel XT and 20D for a few reasons. The first being i didnt want to spend about $2000 for a 20D with a good lens. I got the D70 because every camera store employee recommended it to me over the Canon as well as the fact that the canon has possibly the most damage prone body ever. The fact that i would have to spend about $500 more just to get a lens comparable to the nikon version. The lens that comes iwth the rebel is basically crap. You can throw it away. Generally nikon and canon lenses are equally good. The one difference was price. If money is somewhat an issue i really suggest Nikon. Their lenses usually cost less than Canon. When buying nice lenses even a small percent difference could mean a lot of money. Also, i know a few professional photographers who actually use a nikon D70 as backup to the D2X's. You dont see any Canon pros using a rebel. It just looks and feels cheep. I am extremely pleased with my purchase of a D70 and i think if you are entering the market without a real collection of lenses in canon you would be better off with a nikon.