Digital SLR Camera....Am I ready?

x3 on B&H

Like Fletchaka & TDM156 said its a great idea to visit a good photo store to hold the camera in your hands before spending $$. You want it to feel intuitive even if the features far exceed your capability at first. If it doesn't feel good ergonomically, buttons, weight, etc., it won't matter what the camera can do.

I was a photojournalist for the first part of my army career before moving into commo & our kits were Canon. I do own a Nikon F90x that had so much it was overkill and found out I preferred Canon's simplier interface.

Now I use smaller, less expensive equipment (Canon & Sony) for on the trail & outdoors because it usually rides in my pocket or pack for quick shots plus they fit my little hands better. The Nikons are super nice & will admit if I had extra money would love to add one to my collection but right now it aint happening!

Have fun, its a great, rewarding hobby. Post up your shots when you finally settle on a kit, & don't forget a tripod. I'm using a Bogen Manfrotto modo & love it for its versitility. It can be used tall or down low even on the flat ground. Check it out.

 

all this talk about incompatibility of lenses with the d40 made me hesitant to get it. I said fuck it and went with it. I've found that certain nikon lenses don't work with it, but for the most part aftermarket ones do. I was surprised with i tried my dads 80-400 sigma and it worked. I like the d40 but it lacks a lot of neat tricks (like the ability to take multiple exposure values by holding down the shutter release and a fast shutter cycle speed) If you like nikon, check out this site. tons of information

www.kenrockwell.com

 

I have the Pentax K100 Super, I love it but I was thinking about selling it to get the new K2000 in white!

 

Thanks for the link and the heads up about the D40's lens issue.

 

Now back when I was in school and had to walk both ways in the snow, up hill we used SlR Cameras, the ones with the 35mm "FILM" in them. If you don't know what film is then google it...j/k I did 2 years of photography, starting in slide production, Black and white, all using 35 mm. I would have loved to have a DSLR back in those days, it would have saved me sooooo much money., I just like the slr for the things you can do with it to manipulate the final image. I even contemplated a dark room in my garage for a while but the funds weren't there.I had a Nikon a Cannon but my go to was a Pentax K1000, the workingmans camera, I still use it some to this day, either way buy something that you can dumb down and have fun with, play with the depth of field, shutter speed, and lense size, I almost always used a wide angle (55 mm). You can do some really good shots when you get used to it.

 

Also with the pentax, you can use any pentax lens ever made!

 

Ok guys. What do you think about this kit? http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Digital...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1236982162&sr=1-2
Would I be better off just getting the camera and putting the pieces together myself?

 

seems a bit high even for Cameta....here is one link and I am checking out a few other packages.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-D60-Digit...hZ022QQcategoryZ31388QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

 

I think this is the same kit as shown on Amazon
http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-D60-Digit...hZ010QQcategoryZ31388QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

 

Well I think I have decided to get the D90. Only thing is my wife made a deal with me that once we have a kid I could get the camera. Now we wait.

 

Jolayiv,

I would venture to say that if you have the urge to take the next step in photography, then that is all you need to give the green light! I too recently had that urge and fed it by going out and purchasing myself a DSLR.

Let me begin by saying that I am not a Pro nor an expert. That said I believe that I have a good basic knowledge coupled with extensive amounts of research.

After months of research I finally splurged and bought myself the Nikon D300. I paid $2000 for it, but it came with everything you could possibly need. It came with 7 lenses, extra batteries, grip, bag, hard case, tripod, filters, flash, 2 x 8GB SD Cards, cleaning kit, and more. I will tell you that the lenses themselves are worth the cost, let alone the camera and all the accessories.

One of those lenses is the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX VR lens. The lens alone is a $700 lens and can cover pretty much all of your photography needs. From what I read, that lense is a highly rated lense.

The camera is also a top contender. It has been out for a few years now, but it still hangs with the newer big dogs on the street.

Like I said, I did quite a bit of research prior to purchasing my camera, so I could go into all the features of everything that was inlcuded in my package, but I will let you do that on your own. I will give you the sites I checked out though...

I initially started with www.fotoconnection.com. The site has a huge selection of cameras, and camera packages. Great prices as well. After spending weeks searching their inventory and finally getting an idea of what I wanted. I just googled the product and read up on the consumer reports. If I remember right, they rated the Nikon D300 a very high 8 or low 9, out of 10. After confirming my selection, I went bargain hunting. I probably searched over 30 sites, and found that ebay was the best site with fotoconnection following closely behind. Ebay has almost every camera I reaserached complete with any package you could possibly need.

I do not want to sound biased because I bought the D300, but I will say that based on the time I spent researching the camera, it is probably one of the better ones on the market. That is taking into consideration the versitility, price, funtion, quality, and name brand.

Anyways, I hope I was able to help some rather than just brag about my find. If you have any further questions, I would be glad to help in any way I can. Good luck!

- Heezey

 

Great site! Thanks for all of the info. They def. have good deals on there. I need to check ebay sometime.

 

A D 40 and a D 60 is basically the same camera. Nikon quit making the 40 and started making the 60. The same with the 80 & 90.

With that said look at Costco Costco Nikon DSLR

I bought my D80 there. I have had it for about a 8 months and still don't know all the features. But I don't shoot auto. I think any nikon is the way to go.



All my pics are with my Nikon.

 

x4 on B&H, EVERYONE I know shops there and they have the best service!!

I just started into DSLR as well and am so glad I went with the Canon Rebel XSi, great into/intermediate camera! digitalphotographyschool.com is another great place for info and learning tips! Explore and practice, takes time!

 

Thanks for the input. I have held all of the major names, and seem to like the feel of the Nikon over the others. The Canon did feel good to though. Thanks for that website good stuff.

 

I have Canon but I'll try to be generic in my advice:

To ease your way into learning, start with TV mode, were the F stops are controlled by the camera and you manually adjust the shutter speed. Once you feel comfy, move into AV mode, where the shutter speed is controlled and you adjust f-stops. Finally, hop to manual. Note that it's OK to stay in AV mode to try getting a tough room figured out (such as light changes) before switching to manual.

You can buy good used equipment on craigslist and have it analyzed by a photo shop before buying. This can save lots of money.

I bought from beachcamera.com, their prices are usually amazing.

 

Thanks man. I will have to check that site out.

 

x2 on the D60

thats what i have i say go for that it takes amazing photos

 

Thanks man. Since I have done more reading and looking I'm leaning towards the D90.