Premier Rock Forum

Sock OR Muffin? wrote:

geiginni wrote:

Sock OR Muffin? wrote:If you're going the SLR route, check ou the Nikon D50. It's a very good entry level kit. Has its own battery and takes SD cards.

My girlfriend has one and loves it. No problems in the year she's had it.

Whoops, looks like they replaced that wih the D40, same difference.

If you're going to spend the money on a digital SLR, I would strongly recommend you get one with a CMOS (or MMOS) sensor (instead of the typical CCD sensor type). The CMOS sensors are much more sensitive and give much lower noise performance in the 800-3200 ISO range. This translates roughly to grain and non-lens dependent sharpness.

Again, get a CMOS type camera. Canon and Olympus both make CMOS DSLR bodies.

But is there a major price difference? I was just recommending entry level stuff which the Nikons do well enough at 1600 ISO. Granted 3200 would be nice but not everyone needs the highest falutin' tech available. Most people wouldn't notice the difference. Where I work we have a D200 and even though it's a CCD, it does really well in low-light conditions which is what we use it for at least 50% of the time. Thanks for the info though! Good to know.

I'd say if you're entertaining the purchase of a digital SLR, it is not an "entry-level" investment and the buyer is not a "novice" shooter. The slight increase in cost is well worth it, considering an SLR is something you could get 10-15 years or more use from.

(PS - I detest built-in flash, so much of my shooting is low/existing light and I find I regularly use 400/800/1600, and yes, sometimes the 3200 ISO settings. Noise sucks. Shoot a grey-card at ISO 800 with a CCD camera sometime and tell me it's not a problem.

I bought my wife a Nikon D40, I bought a used D70s.

The D40 rocks for just about everything. High ISO performance is good (not quite there w/ Canon though) and the ergonomics and weight are amazing.

The price is also dropping on these fast. They go for under $500 for a kit on amazon now.

The D40x has more pixels (10mp) but slower flash sync speed and a few other differences. (3 fps vs 2.5 fps, etc) but it's not really worth the extra money IMHO. For most prints that are 13x19 or smaller the D40's 6mp is perfect.

One major drawback to the D40 (and the D40x) is it's lack of focus motor in the body. This means it will only auto focus with lenses that have an internal focus motor. (Nikkor AF-S and Sigma HSM lenses for now)

All other Nikon bodies have a focus motor coupling in the body.

Not a big deal really. Manual focusing is fun.

One major advantage is the D40 can accept ANY Nikon compatible lens that has been made since 1959, albeit manually focused. This means there is a HUGE selection of excellent glass on ebay.

I use a D70s because it has more buttons for quicker access to features and it's bigger for big hands. These can be had for about $600 on CL or eBay.



If I were to pick any point and shoot today though it would be the Canon G9. Excellent pic quality and it can accept external strobes.


My $0.02

BTW -

D70s with a $30 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 (circa 1986) I got off ebay:
(bounced Sunpak strobe)



D40 with the same lens:



I love the slice of focus that f/2.0 gives.



Ok, I'm done pimpin Nikon.

get one of these:



with a grip of lenses. I recommend the 21, 50, and 75mm lenses.

Its pretty much the utmost in uncompromised image quality.


Or the Canon 1Ds-MkIII. 21 Megapixels, 5 frames per second.
Only $7999, no lens included!

I was wondering which kinds of rechargable batteries would be good for a dig cam, Sanyo 2500 mah? Sony 2700 mah?

Sebastian J. wrote:I was wondering which kinds of rechargable batteries would be good for a dig cam, Sanyo 2500 mah? Sony 2700 mah?

Are you referring to NIMH AA's? Is this for a specific camera?

newberry wrote:Are you referring to NIMH AA's? Is this for a specific camera?

yeah, for a Canon A550

Sebastian J. wrote:

newberry wrote:Are you referring to NIMH AA's? Is this for a specific camera?

yeah, for a Canon A550

Either of those would work well I think. Here's a comparison of many different brands of NIMH AA's, showing how long they lasted:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM

(scroll down to see the comparison table)

More NIMH battery info:
http://www.thomas-distributing.com/maha ... teries.htm
http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimh_batteries.html

wow newberry, thanks a bunch!

Anyone used a Panasonic Lumix? If so, are they good? I like the look of the FX33.