Which budget DSLR?

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 6:03 am

I'm looking to update my kit for general photography (Landscape, portrait, candid, still life, architecture etc) but three kids and a mortgage restrict the budget, so my options are as follows

Canon EOS350D plus std lens
Nikon D50 plus std lens
Olympus E500 plus std lens
Pentax ist DL plus std lens

If any-one can point me in the direction of links / posts that show what these cameras are capable of and also point out any of the main problems you've encountered with them, I'd appreciate it

Thanks
PRB

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 11:17 am

I'll of course recommend the XT(350D) As I love mine for all around photography it is a really nice camera, plus I prefer the Compact Flash media that is uses over the D50. The Voly 500 is a nice camera also but I have no input on the Pentax..

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:33 pm

Thanks

I had read in some reviews that the XT had some fiddly button placement and the screen wasn't too good, what's your experience?

PRB

Joined: 25 Dec 2005 Posts: 1106 Location: London, Ontario

they all are about equal when it comes to quality of pictures.........what you really have to worry about is the feel of the camera to you. Go to a camera store, get all of them in front of you and play with them.
How do they feel in you hand (I found the Canon to small), the button placement, the wieght (lighter isnt always better).

Also you want to look at the accessories that you can buy for which camera, and what kind of lens sellection you have for a camera.

Myself, I have the D50 and love it, but you may not

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 8:17 pm

Finalstand wrote:

Myself, I have the D50 and love it, but you may not

I notice you have the 18-70 rather than the std kit lens and have seen a few posts around the site that suggest it's worth the extra money, what do you think? Also, am I right in thinking it only takes SD cards and if so is there any disadvantage in this compared to CF cards?

PRB

Joined: 25 Dec 2005 Posts: 1106 Location: London, Ontario

PeterRoweBlackman wrote:

Finalstand wrote:

Myself, I have the D50 and love it, but you may not

I notice you have the 18-70 rather than the std kit lens and have seen a few posts around the site that suggest it's worth the extra money, what do you think? Also, am I right in thinking it only takes SD cards and if so is there any disadvantage in this compared to CF cards?

PRB

It was $200 CDN more for the FAR better lens, so I thought it was worth it. There really isnt much difference between CF and SD, other then price. CF is a little cheaper, and I have read that CF may have a faster transfer rate then SD, but I don't notice it. The D50 has a large buffer memory built into the camera, so it hasnt slowed me down one bit. My finger can't move fast enough to fill the buffer. As for the "card to computer" tranfer speed. I quite happy with the speed that I can get all my crappy picture on to my hard drive :P

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:12 am

Oh, I would have to go with the Olympus E-500 hands down. Here it was 830 for the two lens kit that includes a 14-45 and a 40-150. As a student that wanted a cheap and excellent quality dSLR, the two lens kit was by far the way to go. I can go reallly wide for the landscape pictures I love, or shoot the goalie as he lets one by from the upper bowl of our hockey arena.

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 3:51 pm

Cid wrote:

Oh, I would have to go with the Olympus E-500 hands down. Here it was 830 for the two lens kit that includes a 14-45 and a 40-150. As a student that wanted a cheap and excellent quality dSLR, the two lens kit was by far the way to go. I can go reallly wide for the landscape pictures I love, or shoot the goalie as he lets one by from the upper bowl of our hockey arena.

Certainly looks a good buy.

I had read that the viewfinder's a bit small to look though. What do you think?

PRB

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 10:22 pm

PeterRoweBlackman wrote:

Thanks

I had read in some reviews that the XT had some fiddly button placement and the screen wasn't too good, what's your experience?

PRB

As I read this thread, I'm thinking that most of your additional questions have to do with the "experience of the camera", how the photographer is able to interact with the camera and whether or not it gets in his/her way. This is very subjective, the best way to find out is to hold the actual camera in a shop and fiddle around with it.

As for ne, I love the XT, perfect size for my small hands. (Although I know people with bigger hands that are perfectly happy with it, too.) The button placement is very intuitive for me, but then again I upgraded from another Canon camera so I'm used to their controls/layout. I don't have any problems with the LCD screen, except in harsh sunlight, but that's pretty much true for all brands.

Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Melbourne, Australia

I'm shopping for a DSLR at the moment and like nearly everyone else have narrowed it down to the D50 or 350D (XT). At first I thought the Canon was too small, but after playing around with it for a little while I got used to it and think its smaller size will be ideal for my big trip around Europe at the end of the year. However whenever I pick up the D50 it feels 'right'. Larger, but far easier to hold. But then I looked at the features and it forced me to find the Canon more comfortable. The 8mp resolution would be much better for making poster sized prints, and most importantly of all it has a DOF preview, the Nikon does not.

Still, I'm going to take my time before I spend my $$

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:55 am

PeterRoweBlackman wrote:

Thanks

I had read in some reviews that the XT had some fiddly button placement and the screen wasn't too good, what's your experience?

PRB

I find it excellent in every respect. The LCD screen is excellent. Yeah, bigger would be nicer, but it's not lacking in any way that ever bothers me.

The ergonomics of the 20D/30D would be nicer, but not so much nicer that I want to upgrade or anything (I could afford it if I wanted to). The only thing that bothers me is going through menus and custom functions to change mirror lock-up (which I use a lot), but that's no different on the 20D/30D level canon SLRs, and some (most? all? I'm not sure) of the others don't even offer mirror lock-up, so I'm not too upset over the 2 extra seconds it costs me to turn it off when I pull my camera off the tripod or whatever.

Oops, that was an older post. Oh well.

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:58 am

nick505 wrote:

I'm shopping for a DSLR at the moment and like nearly everyone else have narrowed it down to the D50 or 350D (XT). At first I thought the Canon was too small, but after playing around with it for a little while I got used to it and think its smaller size will be ideal for my big trip around Europe at the end of the year. However whenever I pick up the D50 it feels 'right'. Larger, but far easier to hold. But then I looked at the features and it forced me to find the Canon more comfortable. The 8mp resolution would be much better for making poster sized prints, and most importantly of all it has a DOF preview, the Nikon does not.

Still, I'm going to take my time before I spend my $$

You can add the portrait orientation grip (part # BG-E3) to the rebel XT to totally change its handling. I got one a couple of months ago and I don't think I could ever live without one. It gives the best of both worlds - a chunky camera with pretty good ergonomics when attached, and a tiny portable camera when removed. I don't think there's one available for the nikon D50.

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:43 am

PeterRoweBlackman wrote:

Finalstand wrote:

Myself, I have the D50 and love it, but you may not

I notice you have the 18-70 rather than the std kit lens and have seen a few posts around the site that suggest it's worth the extra money, what do you think? Also, am I right in thinking it only takes SD cards and if so is there any disadvantage in this compared to CF cards?

PRB

Peter, I use the Pentax istDS, which is a bit different from the DL, but in many respects very similar. The viewfinder is one big PLUS, because it is much bigger and easier to oversee than with almost any other APS-C sized DSLR. Personaly I find the ergonomics of Pentax very convincing, I can use it basically as my latest Pentax film cameras and of course I can use any K/KA/KAF or M42-mount lens without problems. The build-quality is remarkable better then the RebelXT or EOS 300/350 and the menues are easier to navigate than Nikon's.
There is one BUT, that is the Pentax AF-system, which simply isn't as fast as Canon's or Nikon's. So, if a fast AF is a top priority for you, the Pentax is not the best choice. On the other hand, use manual focus most often with any of my cameras - and the big viewfinder makes this enjoyable.
I could go on and on.

There is another recent thread which collects many intersting notions on the same topic:

http://www.phototakers.com/forum/ftopic43968.html&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

It is a long thread, but you will find some valuable infos and discussion.

regards
René

Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Melbourne, Australia

I've been looking at the Pentax *ist DL2 (I've already got some Pentax lenses), however thought it looked a bit plasticky, seemed to have more features hidden within menus, and does't have nearly as good in-camera JPEG quality as the Nikon and Canon. Normally I wouldn't mind and just shoot in RAW, however I plan to spend months traveling so need to be able to fit as many high quality shots as possible per memory card.

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:56 am

nick505 wrote:

I've been looking at the Pentax *ist DL2 (I've already got some Pentax lenses), however thought it looked a bit plasticky, seemed to have more features hidden within menus, and does't have nearly as good in-camera JPEG quality as the Nikon and Canon. Normally I wouldn't mind and just shoot in RAW, however I plan to spend months traveling so need to be able to fit as many high quality shots as possible per memory card.

"Plasticky" is probably a matter of personal taste, but I found the istDS (never used the DL) to be much more solidly build than the EOS 300/350. Also many functions can be used without menues. But may be the DL, which is the cheaper modell is a bit behind there. Nevertheless the Nikon cameras I used so far have a much more complicated menue structure.
If you already own good Pentax lenses, I would definitely think about the istDS, which is a superb little camera. JPG-quality is said to lag behind, which may be so. I only use RAW and when travelling have a little hard disc/card reader with me transfer the pics from the SD card onto the hd immediately. With three 1 GB (total of 270 RAWs) cards I usually get along over a whole day and can transfer the pics in the evenings. Anyway as most people only make standard sized prints of 4x6 or at least not more than DIN A4, I don't expect to have visble differences in JPG quality resolution-wise.

regards
René