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        New Message Board Archives >> 2006 General Board Posts >> Digital SLR
        
(Message started by: Tom K on May 2nd, 2006, 9:48am)
Title: Digital SLR
Post by Tom K on May 2nd, 2006, 9:48am
Ok, I'm in the market for a Digital SLR, if you couldn't guess by the subject line.  Anyone use the Nikon D70 and or the Canon 20D?  I can't decide between the two of them.  I have always used Canon cameras but the Nikon looks pretty nice, too.  If anyone has any feedback, that would be awesome.  The bonus is that if I get it now, I can use it at Convention!
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Paul98 on May 2nd, 2006, 10:16am
I have the Cannon 20D and love it.  Very versital, good battery life.  Sigma makes some nice lenses for this camera and they are a lot less expensive that the Cannon lenses.  

When I bought mine It was between the Cannon and Nikon.  Price and versatility were on Cannon's side.  

If you go with the 20D, I'd get a min. 500MB-1gig high speed falsh card.  

-P.
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by clarence on May 2nd, 2006, 10:38am
My wife has the Canon Digital Rebel.  She pretty much loves it.  And she pretty much loves me for buying it for her.  Its pretty much the best gift I've ever given her.

Casey
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by floridian on May 2nd, 2006, 11:51am
I have a Nikon D100, no complaints.  Canon might be a better value - features are great for a lower price.  Nikon bodies are sturdier.  A friend who is a pro photographer convinced me to switch from Cannon to Nikon by offering to let me use his lenses, flashes, etc.   But if you have narrowed it down so far, you won't make a bad decision.
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by ..Danielle.. on May 2nd, 2006, 3:04pm
20D

great pics, easy to use

go for the 1 gig card though, they fill up fast if you shoot RAW

Nikon and Canon are pretty equal at that level, but if your used to shooting Canon, stick with Canon

I bought the additional battery pack/grip. Can shoot a whole wedding without worrying about the battery.

Danielle
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Opus on May 2nd, 2006, 4:37pm
If you have EF Cannon lenses they will fit the 20D. Yes get the grip, it holds 2 batteries and gives you controls on the bottom for portrait shooting.

Opus/Paul
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by fubar on May 2nd, 2006, 4:58pm
I hear that Canon is great, but I have too much money invested in my Nikon lenses to consider switching from my Nikon D1.  I would never switch brands at this point.  Besides, Nikor lenses kick ass (not that most people would notice for general purpose photography).

-Fu
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by deltadarlin on May 2nd, 2006, 5:11pm
Canon, canon, canon  ;;D.  I have the 300D and I love it .  Unless you're into buying *L* lenses, the Canon lenses aren't too terribly pricey (I have two Canon lenses, a micro and a zoom and both cost together I spent under $500.00 for the both of them).   For ease of use, I'd go with the Canon, it's much more user friendly (this according to a person at a camera shop) and it's also easier to get Canon's repaired in a timely manner (as opposed to Nikon).

This is a link to the Canon digital photography forum.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/


'darlin
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by TomM on May 2nd, 2006, 5:42pm

on 05/02/06 at 10:38:05, clarence wrote:
 Its pretty much the best gift I've ever given her.
Casey

My wife claims the best gift I ever gave her was the clap...b/c she got rid of the clap and I'm still around!  ;;D

Yahoo groups also has forums to read about it. Check those out.

I'm jealous about you getting a digital SLR but I'm still addicted to my Graflex Graphics http://www.graflex.org/ camera and prefer to shoot and process my B&W.

http://www.graflex.org/images/speed-no-rf.jpg

http://www.graflex.org/images/pcm.gif

TomM  8)
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by superhawk2300 on May 2nd, 2006, 6:44pm
I traded most of my "analog" cameras, including my Mamyia Medium Format  in for a Digital Rebel. Not as high tech as the 20d or 30d but it has great bang for the buck value, and I like not having to buy new lenses, where ther real expense it. For every penny I have into cameras I got dollars in lenses.

Jamey
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Woobie on May 2nd, 2006, 7:09pm

on 05/02/06 at 10:38:05, clarence wrote:
My wife has the Canon Digital Rebel.  She pretty much loves it.  And she pretty much loves me for buying it for her.  Its pretty much the best gift I've ever given her.

Casey



LMAO  [smiley=laugh.gif]

that pretty much says it all, eh??

LMAO
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Jonny on May 2nd, 2006, 8:25pm
I just bought a Kodak P850..... its three times the camera that I did have......can anyone of you shutterbugs tell me if its a good cam?
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Opus on May 2nd, 2006, 10:21pm

on 05/02/06 at 20:25:29, Jonny wrote:
I just bought a Kodak P850..... its three times the camera that I did have......can anyone of you shutterbugs tell me if its a good cam?



Jonny,

  It really depends on what you like. I can't seem to determine if it is a SLR, so I am assuming you use the LCD in the back to frame your shot. For me that would be useless, but a lot of people like it. Not being able to change lenses is also bad for me, but for you, it might make life simpler. It saves in RAW format which is great, do that and get very large cards and you will have great originals to work with. Jpeg is probably fine for you though. It has digital zoom which is useless. Much better to disable it if you can and do the zooming with photo software.

Read this review (http://www.digitalcamera-hq.com/kodak-easyshare-p850-reviews.html) but not what the reviewer says, scroll down to the everyday people that actually used the camera.


Opus/Paul
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by tommyD on May 3rd, 2006, 7:02am
Don't own one, but I've been told...

Check out the Panasonic Lumix, got the image stabilization, great for hand-holding telephoto shots, and one helluva lens, a 12X zoom by Leica. Good price, too.

Was hoping to finally go digital this year, and this was going to be the camera, but it wasn't in the budget (would also need a new computer, Photoshop, etc)
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by deltadarlin on May 3rd, 2006, 8:24am
Jonny,
It looks like a nifty little camera.  It should *do* whatever you want it to, depending on what you want to shoot.

One tip for taking pictures~do NOT use the LCD display when you are taking pictures, use your viewfinder (a friend of mine who is a progessional photographer told me that one way to differentiate between a hobbyist and someone who is serious about photography is that the hobbyist uses the display to set up their pics and the serious person uses the viewfinder).

'darlin
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Opus on May 3rd, 2006, 9:13am

on 05/03/06 at 07:02:27, tommyD wrote:
Was hoping to finally go digital this year, and this was going to be the camera, but it wasn't in the budget (would also need a new computer, Photoshop, etc)


Do you really need a new computer? I started digital on a 400 MHz processor and it was no problem. It did take 30 seconds to export a large project to jpeg, and it was best to shut down all the other programs while running it. I am now running at 800MHz and having no delays. If you get a camera with removable cards, then you never have to install the (usually horrible) drivers that come with the cameras. If you need more hard drive space, get a USB drive. It is better to have data you don't want to loose on a partition that the OS isn't on. Make sure you have a backup scheme, off site backups are particularly helpful in case of a fire.

Do you really need Photoshop? There are many free photo programs that will do basic touch up, cropping and resizing. Irfanview is one I have used in the past (http://www.irfanview.com/) It even does batch resizing to reduce a whole folder for web upload. If you need the power of Photoshop try the GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) If you are used to Photoshop then try GIMPshop (http://plasticbugs.com/?page_id=294) I have never used it but I have heard good things about it.

Opus/Paul
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Jonny on May 3rd, 2006, 2:48pm
Thanks, Paul and Darlin.

Yeah, it does everything I need it to do and I never use that screen thingy...I dont trust it....LOL ;;D
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by deltadarlin on May 3rd, 2006, 6:20pm
I believe that most Canons will come with CS 2 Elements (at least my Rebel did).

'darlin
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by superhawk2300 on May 5th, 2006, 6:49pm
Jonny - along with my better cameras I got a "everyday use" Sony Cybershot something something. It isn't a SLR but the same thing everyone has been buying. Using "the screen thingy" is perfectly OK for this tpye of photography, in fact it may be more accurate than the view finder in cheaper digital cameras.

Besides that when you use the screen thingy you can move the camera more easily into better position to make a better composition, becasue your head doesn't have to be stuck to the camera and yo ucan still see what you are shooting.
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by floridian on May 5th, 2006, 7:04pm

on 05/03/06 at 09:13:52, Opus wrote:
Do you really need a new computer? ...

Do you really need Photoshop? There are many free photo programs that will do basic touch up, cropping and resizing.  ...

Opus/Paul


Google's free Picasa is great for cropping, resizing, normalization and contrast enhancement, red-eye reduction,  special effects and exporting to 'gift CD.'  Its very easy to use - it isn't the tool to use for collages or heavy duty editing, but for people who want to manage their photos, it can be very handy.

Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Marc on May 6th, 2006, 10:28am
Tom,

You can't go wrong either way. Folks who loudly claim that one of the two brands is clearly better, simply don't have the experience with both.  I'm Nikon based with D2x, D200 and D70 but I have tremendous respect for Canon also.

Choose the system based on the glass. Your lenses will far outlast any body that you buy now and will in fact become a far larger investment over time.

You are FAR better off with a bottom end D50 or 300D with good glass than an $8,000. body and lousy glass.  It doesn't always have to be  hyper expensive "L" or "ED" glass, but lenses should be selected with care. (I've got a lot of strong opinions and they are free if you want them  :))

Because of your experience, you already know rule #1: It's the person behind the camera - not the hardware.

Marc
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Jonny on May 6th, 2006, 11:31am
Thanks for the info, Jamey.

Hi Marc....nice to see ya bro!
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by clarence on May 6th, 2006, 5:31pm

on 05/02/06 at 17:42:13, TomM wrote:
My wife claims the best gift I ever gave her was the clap...b/c she got rid of the clap and I'm still around!  ;;D

Yahoo groups also has forums to read about it. Check those out.



Yeah, those are the Yahoo Groups that I tend to stay away from. ;;D

Casey
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by superhawk2300 on May 6th, 2006, 6:12pm
No prob Jonny,

Yeah I agree with you Marc 100%. Lenses should play a big part of any camera purchase, if not biggest of all.

And I also agree about people perceptions. Every really good picture I've taken I've had people ask "What kind of camera do you have?" - like the camera does all the work or something. I often felt like answering "The kind that apparently takes plenty of crappy pictures too".

Jamey
Title: Re: Digital SLR
Post by Opus on May 6th, 2006, 9:29pm

on 05/06/06 at 10:28:19, Marc wrote:
T
Because of your experience, you already know rule #1: It's the person behind the camera - not the hardware.


I know all about that.

This gallery I took with a super cheap digital camera. (http://www.pbase.com/pjbgravely/you_get_what_you_pay_for) When I was young and strong, about 3 years ago.


This one I took with a digital rebel, (http://www.pbase.com/pjbgravely/gatp) now that I am old and week.

The one with the cheap camera has gotten 10x the hits as the one with the expensive camera. The only thing that made the difference is me.

Opus/Paul


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