In the Market at the Moment

Joined: 29 Dec 2006 Posts: 56

I'm in the market for a new camera. I've been hitting a few limits with my Powershot S3, and I'm curious about what would be recommended as a good upgrade for it.

I've looked at the Rebel XTi, which seems pretty good. Does anyone have any suggestions besides that? Anything below $1500 would be good.

I hope I have the right forum for this.

Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 3:44 am

I'm fairly partial to Canon, so I'd say that the Xti is a very good upgrade, but both Pentax and Nikon offer very good options in your price range, also don't forget about the Sony (Minolta) aplha 100, but get out to a camera store and handle a few of them to see what feels best in your hands.

Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 6:01 am

Take a look at the Pentax K10D, it has built in shake reduction which works very well indeed and an excellent pentaprism viewfinder.

The Nikon D80 is also well worth a look, but for my money the K10D outshines both D80 and XTi, in some respects it's even superior to the D200 and 30D.

Of course camera selection is very much a matter of personal tastes and requirements, so Lionello's suggestion of getting down to a camera shop and holding the ones you are interested in is a very good one. Trust your feelings, they all take great photographs and they all have great lenses available, so if you like the feel of camera A better than camera B, even if you can't say why, Camera A is probably the one for you.

Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:06 am

If you are just coming to SLR's I would suggest look to the lenses you may want and investigate the options and pricing the differing makers offer of the lenses. I went with Canon because of my interest in wildlife and the prevelance of Canon lenses used in the genre. Particularly when getting to the 400mm + lengths, the quality, pricing and availablity is much better than many.

Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 8:19 am

The pentax k10d is a very nice package for anyone looking to step into dSLR photography. The only drawback I see with it is the somewhat limited selection of lenses from pentax... but you can always get tamron and sigma lenses that will cover whatever you require.

The Canon XTi is probably a pretty good choice as well, but the drawbacks to that (as I know first hand from having the XT), are that it is pretty darn small in your hand... so plan on buying the battery grip as well, and that the 18-55mm lens that is included with the kit from canon is... well, let's just say there are much better lenses out there that I would have chosen. Canon's lens lineup is top notch and ranges from fairly affordable to full pro.

The Nikon offerings are also in play... the d80 has been mentioned. Nikon makes very good cameras, has a good lens lineup (par with Canon, IMO). This is just personal taste/preference, but I found that Nikon's user-friendliness to be lacking behind the Pentax K10D (Very friendly) and the Canon XTi (pretty friendly).

I do agree that putting them in your hands will be the best way to decide. Look for one that you feel comfortable driving... both in it's physical shape and dimension, and in it's controls and usability. All will take good pictures, if you learn how to use it well, and you'll want to use it more and more if you feel more comfortable with it.

Joined: 29 Dec 2006 Posts: 56

Ok, so I'm looking more at the Rebel XTi now, what kind of lenses should I get? I like the 12x zoom that I have with my S3, but, obviously, something like that would cost a fortune for an SLR.

These are the 2 lenses that I'm looking at, at the moment. If anyone has any better recommendations, let me know.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart&A=details&Q=&sku=12059&is=USA

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=cart&A=details&Q=&sku=397592&is=USA

Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 7:29 am

The combo of lenses you listed should be adequate in quality, but I would recommend getting some overlap in your lenses.

That 70-100mm gap is right in the range of the most commonly used focal lengths (at least for me).
Another thing to consider, and I only just recently discovered this, is that the tamron and sigma lenses zoom by turning one direction, and the canon lenses zoom by turning the other direction. This may not be a problem for you, but I have always had canon lenses and I was considering buying a tamron. When I put it on the camera at the store, I immediately noticed that I had to turn the other direction... this, as well as the noisy autofocus, was enough to push me away from the tamron.
.... fyi, sigma is the same way.

If you go with the XTi, plan on buying the battery grip... I didn't think I would need it with my XT, but it was (after a telephoto lens and a bag, which are essential with any camera) the first real upgrade that I purchased, and I have never taken it off in 2 years.

Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 12:14 pm

will you be getting the kit 18-55 with your XT? if not then you might want to consider something with a little bit more wide angle, 28mm on a Canon crop sensor will give you an angle of view equivalent to a 45mm lens on film.

Joined: 29 Dec 2006 Posts: 56

I wasn't looking at the kit lens since I've heard a lot of bad about it.

I was looking at the grip for the same reason...

What would be a better combination of lenses?

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 4:34 am

I'm pretty happy with my 28-105mm Canon USM...
Pair that with a 75-300 and you're golden...
especially if you also get the Kit lens

These aren't top of the line quality, but they are adequate.

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 12:29 pm

thegpfury wrote:

I'm in the market for a new camera. I've been hitting a few limits with my Powershot S3, and I'm curious about what would be recommended as a good upgrade for it.

I've looked at the Rebel XTi, which seems pretty good. Does anyone have any suggestions besides that? Anything below $1500 would be good.

I hope I have the right forum for this.

It's a nice camera. So are the Pentaxes, and the Nikons (I think the D40 has a couple of limitations you would want to shy away from though, e.g. it takes a limited subset of Nikon's lenses), Olympus is good, the Sony alphas are probably nice, etc.

It's really not a big deal at all. If you're leaning towards the XTi just go out and buy one. You'll not be disappointed.

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 179 Location: Lubbock, TX

I would really REALLY suggest backing off a bit on the camera body and putting your money into good glass. As much as I like the XTi for sheer original image size, I would more readily recommend stepping back to ann original Digital Rebel (300D) and putting your money into a 24-70 f/2.8L lens. The 300D bodies can be had for around $300-350 on evilbay (if you're lucky you migh even still find one NIB). With a little patience and some judicious web-work you can pick up both the body and the better glass while staying within your $1500 limit.

It may sound bass-ackwards but it will get you the best glass while retaining all the pixel-power you need for anything but the biggest enlargements. Plus, it puts you in a lens that will keep up with any camera body that Canon makes and gives you a firm foundation for later body upgrades, should you so choose.

When I first got into the game I made the mistake of going all-out on the body and slapping on the cheapest glass I could find (hey, it transmitted light and that's all I cared about). When I wised up and invested in a good lens, well..., it's like night and day. The pics don't even look like they were taken with the same camera.

Brad

Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 9:37 am

It's true that good glass vs. cheap glass can make a camera take totally different pictures... to the point that they look significantly different.

HOWEVER-

The 300D lacks a lot of the OTHER upgrades that have been made since it's inception besides more pixels; most of which have a lot more to do with ease of use than the image.

Ease of use and physical comfort are the most important things to consider when choosing a camera body... They will all take good pictures, and as long as you have 6MP you should have plenty of pixels for most applications.

The 300D just has too many adjustments that have to be made by using menu driven controls instead of direct buttons. Also, (if I remember correctly) the ISO range is much smaller.

I'm not knocking the 300D, it was a great camera for it's time, but when there are bodies out there which will make shooting so much more enjoyable, I think that going back to the 300D would be a mistake in judgment.

Just my .02, FWIW.

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 179 Location: Lubbock, TX

Once you get the basic menu setting dialed in, everything else you need for 90+ percent of shots is at your fingertips (ISO, aperture, etc). I was suggesting it as an inexpensive way to get into SLR digital, maintain image quality, have a lens that will support more camera when the time comes to upgrade, and still stay within the given $1500 budget.

Brad