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Looking into an affordable DSLR camera.
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PENTAX!!! K20D.
I own a pentax myself (as do all my photoshooting friends). Its a great 'serious amateur' body with lots of pro features you wont get in similar ni-canon models. This including things like built in wireless flash support and a fully weather sealed body ( you can drop it in a puddle and it would be fine). They have actually done experiments where they put a K10D (the K20D predecessor) in a weather ballon to get pictures of the upper atmosphere. Even after taking a hard landing and dropping 50000+ feet to the ground, the camera with all the condensation on it was still perfectly function. Pentax builds solid cameras that are built to last. In most circumstances, they will take better pictures than the comparable ni-canons and pictures that will compare to 3 grand bodies from time to time. The only downside to pentax (excluding the new K7) is a slow low light autofocus and somewhat of a loud shudder. Other than that, outside of the internal camera menus, its a very easy camera to use and great for amateurs thanks to a green button that sets shudder speed for you (a good place to start when trying to expose a photo correctly). Everything can be done from the view finder (changing ISO, Aperture, and shudder) you never have to take the camera off your eye when adjusting settings.
Pentax also does crazy things like in camera shake reduction so that ALLL lenses that pentax has ever made (for the last few decades, they have never changed their mount) works with them. Crazy things that Canon and Nikon who just want you to buy new equipment would never do.
Bottom line ... The K20D is for you.
I own a pentax myself (as do all my photoshooting friends). Its a great 'serious amateur' body with lots of pro features you wont get in similar ni-canon models. This including things like built in wireless flash support and a fully weather sealed body ( you can drop it in a puddle and it would be fine). They have actually done experiments where they put a K10D (the K20D predecessor) in a weather ballon to get pictures of the upper atmosphere. Even after taking a hard landing and dropping 50000+ feet to the ground, the camera with all the condensation on it was still perfectly function. Pentax builds solid cameras that are built to last. In most circumstances, they will take better pictures than the comparable ni-canons and pictures that will compare to 3 grand bodies from time to time. The only downside to pentax (excluding the new K7) is a slow low light autofocus and somewhat of a loud shudder. Other than that, outside of the internal camera menus, its a very easy camera to use and great for amateurs thanks to a green button that sets shudder speed for you (a good place to start when trying to expose a photo correctly). Everything can be done from the view finder (changing ISO, Aperture, and shudder) you never have to take the camera off your eye when adjusting settings.
Pentax also does crazy things like in camera shake reduction so that ALLL lenses that pentax has ever made (for the last few decades, they have never changed their mount) works with them. Crazy things that Canon and Nikon who just want you to buy new equipment would never do.
Bottom line ... The K20D is for you.
Almost nothing... however I'm amazed by how many people I see with Alphas out there and in the UK at any rate the prices on the Sony Alpha range has been very competitive.
I don't think Sony are going to make a massive dent in the market as a whole but I see them attacking the first timer market.
That's the only market they really can attack, as K-M took too long to get out of the gate with a DSLR. However, I think it's a losing battle overall- the low-end Nikon and Canon bodies are going to keep momentum. Samsung's NX looks like a bridge/entry killer category (APS-C sensor in a small portable body) and I think Canon and Nikon are going to enter the mini-APS-C EVF market with a vengeance- though it'll take a minor miracle to make Nikon produce an interesting CoolPix line camera.
We're still in a growing market, but that won't last for much longer if the analysts are correct and Sony, Pentax and Olympus are not doing well in their camera businesses (notice how Alpha got left out of the last Annual Report?) and the ancillary businesses which normally give them a lot of leeway are sucking wind too.
I think I've seen one Alpha in the wild in the last two months here- Sony's doing well in a few markets and not so well everywhere else- which is why they tried to load their numbers by market a couple of years ago. However, if they can do better at processing, they may do very well in the entry level FF arena- right now, Nikon's kicking their butts in "after it leaves the sensor" but that could easily change with the right two engineers.
Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm looking into purchasing a refurbished D40 body and I was wondering what the difference between the 50mm and 35mm lenses were?
Is there an article explaining what the millimeter difference does, or if one has less depth of field than the other?
On 35mm format, a 50mm lens is called a standard lens, which is the most general purpose focal.
Only the most expensive cameras are full frame (ie, 35-mm format-sized sensor), the others are "crop", in a variety of sizes. This difference in size gives you what is called a crop factor, a number by which you have to multiply the actual focal length of a lens to get what the resulting image would correspond to in 35mm format.
All Nikon crop cameras have a factor of 1.5, so a standard lens for these cameras would have a focal length of 50mm/1.5 = 33.333mm
But that 33.333mm lens would have the DOF of a 33.333mm lens, not 50mm
difference is 15mm
here is something to read to explain in more detail about the focal length
http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/focal-length.html
difference is 15mm
here is something to read to explain in more detail about the focal length
http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/focal-length.html
Thank you for that link to the website. It had just about the perfect information with easy to understand speak in there! Good stuff!
G
I've just recently bought a new Sony A200 for about $400. This is my first DSLR and I love it. I'm an amateur photographer and the photos I get out of the camera are excellent.
Sony seem to be doing good deals on the A200 since bringing out new models.
Sony seem to be doing good deals on the A200 since bringing out new models.
I'm looking at getting the A200 too. I noticed you're in the UK too...where did you get it from if you don't mind me asking. £200 ($400) is a great price.
It was £250 at that well know camera retailer Argos
I looked around various retailers (including online) and they seemed the cheapest.
I'm loving this camera and am really glad I bought it.
I just got my D60 and charged it and took a few quick pics with it( please don't critique it. Wasn't really trying to get a good shot. Just taking pics to test it out. ).
These were done in auto mode so the camera did all the work. I am impressed on the photo quality coming from my point and shoot Pentax Optio S6. And it definitely feels more solid compared to the Canon XS.
).
These were done in auto mode so the camera did all the work. I am impressed on the photo quality coming from my point and shoot Pentax Optio S6. And it definitely feels more solid compared to the Canon XS.
Pick up a photography book or two if you have the chance, or check out the library.<--not a criticism but just advice as a fellow newb to DSLRs. I just picked up a used D80 and the best investment I have ever made was time in photography books. I chose the D80 over a Cannon Xti because the Cannon just didn't feel solid and the grip was so small. BTW you should take the first 1k shots with it on auto, get used to framing shots and understanding how the camera sets up the shot. Then mess around in the other modes. Which lens did the D60 come with? The newer 18-55mm VR? Don't worry about lenses, third party groups are adding motors to most of their lines just for the D60 and D40 users. Tamron has changed their 18-200mm so it now has a motor so it can be used with the D60. Also do your self a favor and be on the look out for SD cards, I got two 8GB Class six cards for 12 bucks each. Have fun.
Yeah, it came with the 18-55 mm VR lens. It will be awhile before I can get better lenses for it( done with spending money right now. Split the cost of my new 47" TV with my parents and paying for the camera. So need to recover from my big purchases
).
Glad it wasn't the old AF-D 70-30. That one is subpar at best. The 70-300 is good, particularly when stopped down a bit.