help needed to buy digital SLR camera...

[sagardani]

hi folks there... im planning to buy a dSLR camera. well, im not professional but serious amateur photographer or u can say prosumer. so i don't need a very high-end dSLR camera. i need a basic dSLR that's more advanced than a normal, consumer digital camera. don't even need video feature really. and my budget is 30-35k for body. but im very confused. there are so many companies.. Nikon, Olympus, Canon, etc. i searched on ebay.in & saw 90% are from Nikon. what the hell happened to other companies??? is Nikon only the best?? im not quiet sure but i think other companies too have some good products in the required range of money. but i couldn't find them. on ebay.in i only saw Nikon, Olympus & Canon. out of them Nikon D40 i found good, suiting my budget. but still there can be some more products from other comanies. what the hell Sony, Panasonic, Kodak are doing?? don't they have digital SLR cameras??? im so confused ppl.... i need info. pls help me..

one more point....

is there any photographer using dSLR here???? whats the review of Nikon D50? hows Olympus E-500?? what about Canon EOS 350D?? which is best in Nikon D40 or D50?? is here anyone using these cameras???

reply karo yaar pls.....

 

[Ch@0s]

Get either a Canon 350D/400D or Nikon D50/70s as the body and you won't go wrong. Olympus is pretty sad. However what matters more than the body is the lenses you get. If you get the Nikon D50, the kit 18-55 AF-S is a pretty decent lens though the 18-70 is much better. That plus a prime 50mm is a good starter kit. If you want canon, then avoid the 18-55 kit lens as its pretty bad. You are better off getting something better. If you can spare 500$, get the 17-85 IS lens. Its a pretty okay lens though you are probably better off with a separate wide angle and another one with wider reach. I carry a 19-35 Tokina f/3.5-4.5 and 28-105 canon f/3.5-4.5 alongwith a 50mm f/1.8 prime for low light. I also just ordered a 70-200 f/4L for tele. I went with canon cos of better low light performance. It has far less grain at higher ISOs of around 800/1600.

 

[ranjan2001]

Canon all the way if u shoot in low light conditions, nikon has improved a lot but still shooting 400 above u will see a noticeable difference.

350D prices crashed after 400D was launched & it will suit ur needs perfectly, get some gud lenses as suggested by Ch@0s

 

[sagardani]

ok guys. seems Canon350D is better than NikonD40..... but anyways as im a newbie to dSLRs i wanna know somethings. what does 18-70, 19-35, 70-200 they stand for??

@ch@os:
why did u say If you want canon, then avoid the 18-55 kit lens as its pretty bad.??? i didn't understand....

and how much those Canon 350D & 400D body will cost me??

 

[ranjan2001]

18-70 wide, 19-35 wide, 70-200 tele, they all are range of zoom lens which you can buy separately as per ur shooting requirements.

Kit lens which comes with the camera is of low quality, but it saves u some cash as its shipped with the camera.

 

[Ch@0s]

^^The 350D body has dropped to 32k or so with papers and warranty. 350D is way better than D40. Its infact better than D70s. 18-70 is the focal length. 18mm is the wide angle end and 70mm is the tele end. The kit lens is bad cos its really soft at anything below f/8.0 which makes it usable strictly in very sunny conditions. You'd not be able to take photos indoors without significant loss of detail and softening.

 

[sagardani]

thanks.. how do we come to know which lens has how much zoom???? i mean how do u measure zoom????? by the way, it only deals with zoom?? which are other features of lens except zooming?

 

[Ch@0s]

Well the zoom level is the tele end divided by the wide end... so 18-55 is roughly 3x zoom... But don't buy a lens by what level of zoom it has. Its of no use... Infact other than the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens , there are no good quality super zooms. The higher the zoom ratio, generally poorer will be the quality of the lens and the optics associated with it. Buy a lens depending on what you really need. Zoom is only one type of lens... Zoom means variable focal length. Fixed focal length lenses are called primes and they generally have better optical quality than zooms. The big thing zooms offer is convenience... of not having to change lenses.

Read this doc before you buy... its excellent.

*photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/

 

[sagardani]

thanks buddy....