DSLR advice for a friend.

[Keith]

From what you write any camera should be fine for her, like asking which shoes would have made Herb Helliot faster...

GLF

'Nike' ... I thought everyone knew that! 😀

 

[Keith]

In my experience people that take great photos with a point and shoot do so because they use a point and shoot.
Also - and I apologize if that sounds rude, I mean no offense - if somebody is not interested enough to do their own research will never really use a DSLR! I have been asked for advice so many times by friends and colleagues about what DSLR to buy and every single time the DSLR ends up unused in a dusty bag in a corner somewhere after the initial excitement is over (usually after three months).
If she insists in a DSLR but is not interested in full frame, it absolutely doesn't matter what she buys. All crop sensor DSLRs on the market do roughly the same thing for roughly the same price. So just tell her any Canon, Nikon or Pentax offering will do great. Sony is good, too.

Except I've seen through a few of her photo albums from when her SLR was still working and they were full of photos I would have been very proud to have taken.

I agree she will take good images with whatever winds up in her hands but it's nice to be able to help her make the choice. 🙂

 

[f16sunshine]

Canon
50D if she can find one or 60D.
Great menu, live view, sensor cleaning, and a real Prism. Super sensor and rendering. Love the 3 sizes of RAW available.
Mounts nearly all of the SLR lenses of the past via cheap adapters.
I had 40D's for a while before trading one for a 5D and then the other up to a 5Dii.
They are great Cameras.

OK, that's eos. I had a play with the Nikon D7000 and that also would be a great candidate on the Canon side. (especially if she has Nikkor lenses by chance).
The Pentax Cameras are great too. Hell most all of the big 3 or 4 have good DSLR offerings. I like the Canons 😀

 

[Contarama]

Nikon D5000 and Sigma 50-150...hey you asked... 🙂

 

[Chris101]

Nikon D5200 with the 18-55mm kitlens would be my recommendation.

 

[thegman]

I used to have a Nikon D7000, really good camera, and as Keith knows the Nikon system, he'll be able to help her out with it, should there be issues.

If I had my time again though, I'd consider Pentax, weather sealed and some beautiful primes lenses available.

 

[daveleo]

Many options will work for her.
The Nikon DX bodies are excellent. Their 35mm/f1.8G is superb, and the kit zoom
is surprisingly good.

 

[Michalm]

K5 are really cheap this days

K5 are really cheap this days

If I was buying APS dslr i would go for Pentax k5. They are really cheap these days , excellent build quality, best sensor , dynamic range .

 

[Addy101]

We can mention every DSLR in the market I guess. Most, maybe even all, are great. You didn't mention what SLR lenses she already has (assuming they're still useable), that might be a good starting point.

Also, what is she missing in her P&S besides interchangeable lenses?

If she wants a DSLR, any will do, but some remarks:
Pentax has amazing bang for your buck cameras.
Nikon at the moment is the market leader
Canon's 100D is small and the 70D will be interesting
Sony's EVF will be great for video, and the better life view AF is fantastic

 

[leicapixie]

Using a Point and shoot, for me, a wonderful liberating experience!
The idea of carrying a DSLR would not appeal. No sirree.
What lenses has the lady for her film SLR?
Why not actually buy an old SLR and some film..
We are talking under $50 these days..
I've bought Canon Ae-1v,Ae-1P,
all with a Canon FD 50mm lens.
Occasionally i drag out an SLR, but P/S is the way for me.
PS Retired Photojournalist/Editorial/Advertising.

 

[Godfrey]

I have a friend who is in the market for a new camera. She normally uses a little Canon pocket point and shoot digicam and produces images from it that are jaw droppingly (embarrasingly so in fact) good ... she is an artist and has a very, very good eye! She dropped the toy camera recently while on holiday overseas and it's now dead.

A smallish DSLR would suit her I'm sure but which one and what lens? She would like to spend not too much more than a thousand dollars and from what I've seen of her photography a focal length of between 28 and 120mm would suit her eye with possible macro. I've suggested she look at DPreview or similar but the problem is she really knows nothing about cameras and the information there means little to her.

Any suggestions? I've also agreed to help her with whatever she gets regarding shooting in raw etc and teaching her some basic post processing skills.

Thanks in advance. 🙂

I think she, and you, should do a bit more research and refine what she wants a bit more. Is new a given, or is she also interested in used? What lenses does she have and is there a digital body that can use them? Does she want all the modern conveniences or is something simpler more to her liking? Picking a camera is a very personal endeavor, and there's not enough information to go on here to provide advice.

I've owned and used a bunch of different DSLRs over the past decade and some. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Panasonic, and Olympus.

Of the bunch, the one that I've kept is one of the oldest: the Olympus E-1. It's ancient, will be ten years old in October of this year. It's a professional grade model, originally cost over $2000 for the body. I bought it in 2008 for less than $300 in mint condition, this one had less than 3000 actuations on it when I bought it. I often see them now for as little as $150-250 in comparable shape. The sensor has only 5 Mpixels and works best between ISO 100 and 800, but they are great pixels. It takes forever to write to the card, but is quite responsive when taking photos. It's quiet and not too large. The in-camera JPEGs are to die for. The raw files are superb quality, and modern raw processors like Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw extend the usable sensitivity range all the way up to ISO 3200.

The Olympus high-grade and super-high-grade series lenses are superb performers, amongst the best in the industry; even their consumer lenses are excellent. The ultra-wide to wide-normal high-grade ZD 11-22mm f/2.8-3.5 is available used for around $350. The consumer grade ZD 35mm f/3.5 Macro is $229 new. Just these two lenses and an E-1 body can be a complete kit for many uses. Some examples:

Things :: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdgphoto/sets/72157603958074232/
Street :: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdgphoto/sets/72157603952303189/

It's also very adaptable to other lens mounts due to a short mount register. I have adapters for Pentax K and M42 thread, Nikon F, Olympus OM, Contax/Yashica, and Leica R lenses. I use it mostly with the two Olympus ZD lenses mentioned above and a couple of Nikkors at present, just got the R lenses so I'll be taking it out for a spin with them.

So ... An E-1, the 11-22 and the 35 Macro: that's under $1000, a professional grade camera with no-nonsense features and controls that is weather sealed, built like a tank, yet light and reasonably compact. A terrific shooting experience. Adapt her existing lenses to it if she cares to.

Waiting for Sunrise - Santa Cruz Wharf 2008
Olympus E-1 + ZD 50-200



Olympus E-1 + Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 AF-D​

There are many possible choices. 🙂

G

 

[Pablito]

All crop sensor DSLRs on the market do roughly the same thing for roughly the same price. So just tell her any Canon, Nikon or Pentax offering will do great. Sony is good, too.

For the most part, in terms of image quality that is true. But there are some real differences in usability. For instance, in the Nikon line, you get two control wheels when you make the jump up from the D5xxx series to the D7xxx series - that makes a huge difference at least for me - maybe not to her. Or with Canon, you get the various sizes of RAW files. Also, while there may be way too much emphasis place in some circles on the pixel count of cameras, it can be really useful to have more resolution. All the new Nikon DSLRs are now 24 MP. So these differences do matter..

 

[Addy101]

For the most part, in terms of image quality that is true. But there are some real differences in usability. For instance, in the Nikon line, you get two control wheels when you make the jump up from the D5xxx series to the D7xxx series - that makes a huge difference at least for me - maybe not to her. Or with Canon, you get the various sizes of RAW files. Also, while there may be way too much emphasis place in some circles on the pixel count of cameras, it can be really useful to have more resolution. All the new Nikon DSLRs are now 24 MP. So these differences do matter..

Well, with Canon you get two control wheels when you go up from xxxD to xxD. With Sony you get a second wheel with the A77. Sony has 24mpx in the A65 and A77 cameras. Cameras at the same pricepoint do about the same.

 

[Aristophanes]

In Pentax you get 2 control wheel in the K-30 or K-50/500 for a lot less than the other brands.

One of the customer's criteria was "small", and that is NOT a D7000. That's almost D600 size and is a relatively large camera in....camera history.

 

[Fraser]

5d classic and 50mm 1.4

 

[furbs]

D3200, 18-whatever zoom and she's set. Use the money saved towards a dedicated macro lens, tripods, flashes, bags, etc. The D3200 is a quite tiny DSLR, has great image quality, and is only really at a disadvantage when trying to autofocus 10-20 year old lenses. If I got a DSLR again I'd probably just get a D3200 because they're so compact. I love my rangefinders, but so many people benefit from the TTL view and convenience of a DSLR.

 

[Murchu]

I'm a nikon guy (D50/D80/D200/D300), but if doing it all over again, would look at the Fuji X range instead, purely for better carryability.

 

[doolittle]

Would she consider buying used? D90 are going for not much these days. Coupled with a 35mm and 50mm (or 40mm 2.8 macro lens), would be in budget. Second hand D7000 aren't that much more either.

 

[Fraser]

one benefit of full frame is the there is a much bigger choice of compact zoom lenses and they are very cheap,

 

[Chris101]

one benefit of full frame is the there is a much bigger choice of compact zoom lenses and they are very cheap,

Isn't the choice (at least in the Nikon system) larger for DX cameras? For example all the 18-X lenses will work on DX only, but (nearly) all lenses for FX cameras will also work on DX cameras.