Digital SLR's ?

[RobStubbs]

I'm contemplating getting a digital SLR in the new year and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations ? Not too worried about price as long as it isn't silly money. I seem to recall some of the Canon models getting good feedback, any others ?

 

Cheers,

 

Rob.

[Dan]

I think you can get a decent one from £6-800 the mags have recommendations, best advice is to go with a decent make, but do you really need a SLR? I was thinking of it but the quality of some of the smaller Digi cameras is so good it doesnt seem to be worth it, I certainly dont need anything over 6 megapixels, at that resolution you can blow up a pic big enough for a professional poster! One of the models I was looking at had a fully manual option (apperture and shutter speed ... Olympus?) for about £250, One thing I would do is check the memory size, speed of saving pics and battery life.

 

Dan

[chesters1]

ah but digital slr's can take different lenses ,dont they,i kinda like fuji no complaints over my now dated 4800z except the poor zoom ,the S2 pro looks a fine beast but purly a camera on my wish list by the time i could save for it it would be obselete

 

[ 30. November 2004, 10:46 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Gillies]

I use a Canon 300D digital SLR - use it very very heavily in numerous scenarios, and it does me fine, I do lots of landscape shots which I sell some of, candid shots, football, portratit shots, and some shots for the local press. Its a great camera!

 

I would say depends on what you want to photograph though - the 300D has dropped alot in price, you can get it with the 18-55 lens for around £700 (plus Canon have £100 rebate just now) .... and all the major gripes anyone had with it are dealt with using what is known as the "wasia hack", a firmware upgrade.

 

BUT if I was going to recommend a camera, I would suggest the Canon 20D ... it is a superb camera, 8 megapixels, fast, AI Servo etc ............ its almost comparible to the pro camera - Canon 1D Mk2, which has a similar spec and comes in around £3000, where as the 20D is around £1200.

 

Im going to upragde to the 1D Mk2 in the near future, but my only reason for choosing the 1D instead of the 20D is that the 1D has a good weatherproofing body, and I prefer a heavier camera for handheld shots.

 

Lenes I currently use with the 300D, are the 18-55, 28-135 IS, 17-40 L, 50mm 1.8 prime, and Sigma 70-300. Have found getting the camera was the easiest part ... all else soon builds up, such as lenses, proper tripod, bag, filters, flashgun etc.

 

With the 300D, I have made prints slightly bigger than A3 size and they have been tack sharp ... I'd recommend the 20D, though you will not be dissapointed, but the 300D will do a great job for you also.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Gillies

 

Gillies

[Lid]

You can apparently get the Canon 10D from here for £699 (without lenses).

 

It's a great camera and has a better viewfinder than the 20D which supersedes it. I borrowed one for a day which the owner had bought earlier in the year for £1200 and was amazed.

[RobStubbs]

Cheers for the info, I'll keep an eye on the Canons and see how the price drops in the next few months. I already use SLR's and have a few different models and I much prefer them to compacts. Plus I do need to use different lenses for different ocassions (fishing, lanscape, wildlife etc).

 

Rob.

 

[ 01. December 2004, 08:45 AM: Message edited by: RobStubbs ]

[Jim Roper]

There's never a right time to buy new technology.

Our first television cost £98 in about 1955, 17" screen and a case about the size of a tea chest. How much is B & W tele now?

I like the idea of being able to use long lens's on a digital camera, though!

[Chippy]

If i had to buy a new one right now, it'd have to be a Nikon D70. An excellent camera for sensible money. If you haven't already got cash tied up in lenses, then the whole Canon/Nikon argument isn't really going to matter.

 

I've been using an S2 for the past year and it has been awesome.

 

I'm currently saving for a Nikon D2X, but that's BIG money

[Norrie]

Gillies, When you say the Cannon is fast, I take it you mean fast in between pics, unlike my Digi (Kodak) camera, that takes about a second to take and set up for the next one....this year I was at Ardnamurchan ...watching Minkie Whales feeding, tried to get a pic of them coming out the water mouths agape feeding on herring, took about 50-60 pics, none were any good, click the camera, then wait while it decided to take the pic...have now gone to 35mmm film.....

[Gillies]

Norrie - In fast I mean a combination of things - autofocusing on a subject, the shutter speed at ISO levels which do not show to much noise, plus the number of these shots you can take in quick succesion. With a 20D managing to take 5 shots per second for a total of 23 shots, and a 1D taking 8 per second for 40 shots (like a machine gun when you hold down the shutter button)

 

Thats a real bummer about the photos that didnt come out, would of been really great shots, have only seen that display from the Minkies once ... and didnt have a camera. Any of the the shots that you can post? or were none worth keeping at all.

 

Sounds like your camera was not set up with a fast enough shutter speed, and it takes a moment to write the image to the memory card. On some point & shoot cameras there is a preset sports mode that may have helped, also if the camera has creative modes on it (av, tv, m etc) ... and depending on how bright/dull the day was .. setting the camera to tv mode, ISO level of around 400/800 with a shutter speed of around 1/500 to 1/1000 may have managed to pull some acceptable shots out.

 

Chippy - thats a very veryt nice piece of kit your looking at ..."pricey".

 

Gillies