What's a good, affordable DSLR?

[ChrisA]

Hello,

Right now I have a Sony point and shoot, I think it's 8.1 MP. It's a good digital camera for bringing to parties and whatnot but I want to get into DLSR cameras. I have about $300 to spend as of right now and ~$75 more if I sell the point and shoot. (WTF I just Amazon searched it (DSC W 150) and it's +$300 in the color I have.) I don't remember spending that much on it... Whatever...

First choose the brand. Nikon or Canon. It will be expensive to switch later so plan ahead five or more years. Look at the lenses and so on from each company.

So, let's say you like Nikon. The best $300 deal will be a used D50 with the "kit" 18-55mm lens. Pretty easy to find one of these for $300. Later you can buy another lens and so day later another body.

You will get the most bang per buck with used gear untill you have about twice or 3X your current budget

 

[SaSaSushi]

It can focus pretty close and you'll get near macro shots with the 18-55mm although it is not a true macro lens. You get about 1/3 life size shots with that lens, so it should satisfy most macro needs.

I took this shot the other day using the 18-55mm on my XSi. I do want a telephoto lens badly. It's my next purchase.

 

[JosephBergdoll]

Go used. http://www.Keh.com

 

[cube]

Nothing offers so much for such a low price as the Pentax K200D (weather sealing), or the Olympus E-620 (autofocus fine tuning).

 

[xIGmanIx]

It does, with that budget I would get the Canon Digital Rebel XSi which is a nice camera for right around that price range. The D5000 goes for about $750 or so and it would be a better camera, but it is a lot more than your initial budget so only get it if you really wanted to go all out.

i would go with the Canon, although i am partial because i use their products, but the rebel is solid. I have a 20D and i love it

 

[HBOC]

I am thinking of getting the XSi, but am looking at Pentax, as i have always liked their gear. Remember, Pentax has been in the game for many a decades. Many established Pro's used the Pentax K1000 Akashi for film. It is still highly recommended as a camera to use to learn on. Pentax has amazing pancake lenses that are sharp as s&*t!!

 

[basura!]

+1 for Pentax.
Any old Pentax (or compatible) lens will work because shake reduction is built into their bodies, not the lenses. You can find incredible deals on high quality old lenses in shops (not to mention Craigslist, eBay, garage sales...), and the selection is huge. Be sure to get an f/1.4 prime lens.
The K2000 is small and light, and if you're just getting into SLRs it has a neat 'learn' feature. If you look around, you can find one for under $400.

 

[dubels]

I picked up a used D80 with only 5k actuations today for $450 with a 35-70mm Nikkor lens and remote.

 

[luminosity]

The K20D is just a stellar camera, with in-body stabilization.

Pentax's color rendition is better than either Nikon or Canon's to my eyes.

 

[dubels]

Holy double post

 

[compuwar]

I'm barely ever on this section anymore but WOW I'm surprised to see this comment!

Any lens that's ever been made for a Pentax camera can mount on a Pentax camera. What's this mean? There is a CRAPLOAD of glass available for Pentax, and at great prices as well due to the extremely high amounts of supply.

While I think the other poster overstated it- but it depends a lot on what your long-term shooting goals are. I regularly shoot with a 400mm f/2.8 lens, and I haven't seen either a "crapload" of them, nor "great prices" on one- I'm not even sure if Pentax made one with autofocus, so small is the selection. For a 300/2.8 for a sports shooter, KEH shows *one* used lens at $4119- for another $130, you can buy a shiny new Canon 300/2.8.)

Now, granted someone scraping together $350 isn't going to run out and get a supertelephoto prime- but if their long-term goals potentially include selling bird, sports or wildlife shots, then they're going to have more issues down the road finding appropriate lenses if they go outside the Canon/Nikon envelope.

 

[compuwar]

The K20D is just a stellar camera, with in-body stabilization.

Pentax's color rendition is better than either Nikon or Canon's to my eyes.

That's odd- CNet revised their review because the K20D's color rendition was worse than that of their competitors:

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cam...nly/4505-6501_7-32825568.html?tag=api&subj=re

Editors' note: The competitive landscape for this camera has changed since our review, and we've updated the text and ratings to reflect that. After looking at subsequent reviews we've decided that we were overly forgiving of the color inaccuracy problems in the K20D's photos; given the increase in the number of competitors at the K20D's price, which produce more consistent, high-quality photos, we've dropped the image quality rating from 8 to 7. Text changes include comparisons to newer models.

 

[gkarris]

That's odd- CNet revised their review because the K20D's color rendition was worse than that of their competitors:

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cam...nly/4505-6501_7-32825568.html?tag=api&subj=re

K20D - older model anyways?

 

[spaceboots06]

Thanks for the replies guys! I'm honestly eyeing the D40 even though it's outdated (?) and the lowest of the low. The XTi too. (I think that's the cheaper one of the Canon Rebel whatevers)

I was looking at a bunch of shots online that people have taken with these cameras and I was impressed with both.

 

[gkarris]

^^^ I prefer Canon over Nikon, but the Nikon with the ED glass is pretty nice.

Definitely go with the least expensive body and get the nicer glass in that case.

 

[fiercetiger224]

Grab a Canon XS for $530:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-USA-Canon-E...trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1234|293:1|294:50

I know, it's Ebay, but a couple of my friends have gotten these packages, and they are all brand new, and come with lots of goodies! They're probably not the highest quality goodies, but at least you can sell them and make some of that money back! Then you can grab a better lens! I'd check the sellers other items, if you're interested in getting a higher end model. The XSi from the same seller is going for about $500 I believe, body only, but with a couple of extra goodies.

 

[spaceboots06]

Grab a Canon XS for $530:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-USA-Canon-E...trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1234|293:1|294:50

I know, it's Ebay, but a couple of my friends have gotten these packages, and they are all brand new, and come with lots of goodies! They're probably not the highest quality goodies, but at least you can sell them and make some of that money back! Then you can grab a better lens! I'd check the sellers other items, if you're interested in getting a higher end model. The XSi from the same seller is going for about $500 I believe, body only, but with a couple of extra goodies.

3 extra lens and tripods and all that extra good stuff for $530... Too good to be true?

 

[ArtandStructure]

I picked up a used D80 with only 5k actuations today for $450 with a 35-70mm Nikkor lens and remote.

The D80 slipped my mind, strangely, but if you can find a used one for a good price that is another excellent suggestion. It is at least in the same league as the XSi/XTi.

n the Nikon camp: Their product selection is weak. The severely outdated D40 is their only option. The D60 is not worth the extra cost. The D90 is out of your price range. The D5000 is their latest model but still out of range.

Canon: they have a more robust selection to pick from. I personally use the XSi. But you can go find a XTi or XS for cheaper.

Canon's selection is no more "robust" than Nikons, or vice versa. On the Nikon side I agree the D60 is not worth the extra money, nor frankly is the D5000 IMHO, just as I don't think the Canon XSi is worth the extra money over an XTi. However that still leaves the D40 which is $200 cheaper than Canon's lowest offering, which can be spent on glass, and the D40 is not "severely outdated" however you analyze it since it is a current model and takes excellent quality photos.

Sure the XTi or XSi has more bells and whistles (of course that is part of why you pay $200 more), but then a used Nikon D80 is as much camera as either of those (D80 can remotely control external flashes out of the box, something the Rebels can not do, has dual command dials, more buttons/switches for manual control and a top LCD..does that make the Canons less "robust"?), and if one is looking at an XSi, a D90 is a couple hundred more and is in a whole other league.

Canon and Nikon cameras do not line up tier for tier. They stagger their product offerings. It would look something like this: Nikon D40 => Nikon D60, Canon XTi => Canon XSi => Nikon D80 => Nikon D90 => Canon 50D => Nikon D300....etc...a subjective ranking, but close to that.

Both systems are plenty "robust".


All the best,


Jesse Widener
Art and Structure

 

[ArtandStructure]

3 extra lens and tripods and all that extra good stuff for $530... Too good to be true?

It looks possible but perhaps just not as good a deal as it seems. Amazon.com seems to have the XS new with Canon 18-55mm lens for $509. So here they've basically taken the Canon lens, replaced it with a Tamron and thrown in generally a bunch of useless junk. Those two extra "lenses" are really hack pieces of glass acting as a 2x teleconverter and some sort of wide converter. 2x teleconverters regularly get poor reviews for optical quality. I would expect no different here. Note the auction has been up for almost 18 days, has 2 hours left and no bids.

That said, the specs of the XS don't look bad either. You might consider it as well. At this point you would probably find it helpful to go to a retail store or photo shop and hold both the Canons and Nikons in your hands, play with them a bit and see if one or another jumps out at you because between the Nikon D40, Nikon D80, Canon XS and Canon XTi, you have 4 camera choices for $400-600.


All the best,


Jesse Widener
Art and Structure

 

[HBOC]

Also, i don't know if you are set on a new camera, or a used one. The 20D/30D are basically the same and I would pick one over an XT, XTi and XS. I WOULD NOT pick a 30D over an XSi. I know, because that is what I am doing. I had both the 30 and 20Ds, (which i already most likely stated), and while they are great cameras, the extra MPs' alone are worth it. It has the same AF as the 20/30/40D (9 pt) and 35 evaluative TTl metering, and also has spot metering.

While it may not be a speed freak (only 3.5 fps, upto 6 RAW), i don't care. A used 20D can be had for like $300-$350 and a 30D for a little more. So many options, i have been looking and researching all day, and i am tired.

 

[fiercetiger224]

3 extra lens and tripods and all that extra good stuff for $530... Too good to be true?

It is true.

Like I said, a couple of my friends have bought cameras from that same seller. Yes, they throw in crappy lenses; you can sell those off for fairly cheap to someone if you wanted. You probably won't be able to get rid of them, but at least you'll have something to use until you grab a decent quality lens. As far as quality of the Canon kit lens, it's not much better than even crappy 3rd party lenses.

As someone suggested, you can grab the camera from somewhere like Amazon, BUT, that doesn't include tripod, etc. You can grab a cheap tripod, for anywhere from $15 and up. So it evens the price out if you grabbed it from Amazon, but you still have to grab a memory card, etc. At least from the Ebay seller, it comes with pretty much everything you need to get started with, instead of going out and getting everything separately, and can even cost more. The stuff that comes included with the package is actually pretty decent, considering how much extra cheap crap that they throw in there. Carrying bag, memory card, tripods, etc. Trust me, if you get everything separately, it'll cost more. You can sell this cheap crap off later, once you decide to get higher quality stuff down the line.

 

[HBOC]

It is true.

Like I said, a couple of my friends have bought cameras from that same seller. Yes, they throw in crappy lenses; you can sell those off for fairly cheap to someone if you wanted. You probably won't be able to get rid of them, but at least you'll have something to use until you grab a decent quality lens. As far as quality of the Canon kit lens, it's not much better than even crappy 3rd party lenses.

As someone suggested, you can grab the camera from somewhere like Amazon, BUT, that doesn't include tripod, etc. You can grab a cheap tripod, for anywhere from $15 and up. So it evens the price out if you grabbed it from Amazon, but you still have to grab a memory card, etc. At least from the Ebay seller, it comes with pretty much everything you need to get started with, instead of going out and getting everything separately, and can even cost more. The stuff that comes included with the package is actually pretty decent, considering how much extra cheap crap that they throw in there. Carrying bag, memory card, tripods, etc. Trust me, if you get everything separately, it'll cost more. You can sell this cheap crap off later, once you decide to get higher quality stuff down the line.

Personally i avoid these sellers. The optics are a joke. I mean this is an SLR, not a P&S. I have been looking on ebay as well, as i need to pick up my camera soon.

A decent tripod is going to cost money. A cheap vivatar hollow aluminum legs you can get from walmart or target, stay away from! they tip over, are so light and flimsy. I bought Bogen legs and a Bogen head 6 years ago, and they both are amazing. I believe i have the "pistol grip" head and the 3001 PRO legs, but they could be the 3021... In any case, the setup cost me about $350, but ofcourse prices drop. It is worth the investment. I have been super harsh on my legs. I use them as walking sticks, a depth finder, etc...

 

[cube]

3 extra lens and tripods and all that extra good stuff for $530... Too good to be true?

Don't buy from sellers offering such junk bundles.

 

[compuwar]

K20D - older model anyways?

Sure, but my point was that if luminosity's "eye" and opinions were to be given any weight, it'd perhaps be negatively biased since it seems to be directly contradicted by at least one review.