need digital slr advice...look away if this offends...

Toby said:
Joe


I would recommend canon - I've always found their cameras the best ergonomically and being the biggest sellers there are more second hand options floating around. I predict you'll have an EOS 1DS II within six months :D :D
Click to expand...


there are lots more accessories for the canon, too. Like the mounts for all different breeds of glass.
 
Joe, I lurk here nearly daily although this may be my first post. I moved from an FZ20>FZ30>Pentax DS. I already had a few Pentax lenses which helped me make up my mind. But I have been totally satisfied with the Pentax results over a nearly two-year period. I shoot about a 50:50 mix of RAW to JPEG and use the Adobe raw converter. My "ain true love" was my M2 but I find the DS almost as satisfactory to use.
 
Id go ith the D200 or D100 reccomendations in the Nikon area.

20D is a lovely canon and are a steal 2nd hand now.
 
If you find one (of any brand) without a kit lens you should check out the Tamron 17mm-35mm f2.8-f4 can be had for $200 and I think it is a great lens for the price.
 
my vote is for any of the Canon DSLRs. I have the 10D and have been very pleased with it.

recommended lenses: 50/1.4 USM, 28/1.8 USM (that should cover most of your shooting opportunities) the 50/1.4 has one of the most pleasing OOF signatures of any lens I use (Leicas included).

The other benefit of Canon DSLRs is that with a EF mount adapter, you can use any Nikon glass as well
 
If you can afford it ... the D200 with the 17-50 Tamron 2.8

D200 you can use all the great AIS lenses

or the D80 if you already have SD cards...

I am partial to Nikon... but I don't think you can go wrong really

I would avoid 4/3rds cameras as their lens selection is incredibly limited and much more expensive than the competitors

Pentax as the 10D will have image stabilization and the ability to meter with almost any k mount... plus a weather sealed body
 
The top three in my opinion, if not in sales, are Nikon, Canon and Pentax. I'd play with each in the store and see what one has the best ergonomics for you.

I switched from Nikon to Canon because I prefferred the Canon ergonomics. Pentax has so many nice lenses, that I'm considering switching again but Canon's sensors are clearly the best so I'm stick with them. I think a rangefinder shooter starting from scratch would be happiness with Pentax.

All of the kit lenses are trash IMO.
 
Joe, I think you'd fit right in with a Pentax. I have a DS, and my wife a DL, and we love them. I've even put in a pre-order for the new K10D that should be released in the next month or so. Ampguy has pointed you to the Pentax forum on DPR - good people there and they even suffer from something akin to GAS - watch out for LBA (Lens Buying Addiction). No-one has mentioned the K100D, which has been out for several months now, and has in-the-body shake-reduction, which works with any lens fitted, even those old M42 screw-mount lenses. The K100Ds are starting to trickle onto the second-hand market, and being marked down in the shops. With the issue you mentioned, steady hand-held exposures, I reckon shake-reduction will be a real boon; that's one of the reasons I'm going for the new model myself.
 
Joe:

I have a 20D and would agree with a previous poster that they are a steal after the recent introduction of the 30D. It's a great camera and handles the high ISO's cleanly requiring little, if any, post-processing. I will admit though that it has seen little use since my RD1 arrived! In any case I have seen them go for as low as $450 on the auction site. Good luck with your decision!
 
Where did you get your RD1? I have been looking around and can't find many. It seems when people do find them though, they often get a good deal.

More on-topic:
I recently traded an M2 (backup body) for a Canon 10D, to get into DSLR land. Wasn't sure it was the best DSLR for me, but it got the transaction moving. I picked up a 30mm f1.4 Sigma (roughly 50mm equiv.), and have been shooting that for about a month.

A few things became clear to me.
-DSLRs are big, SLR lenses are big
-DSLRs are real nice at high-ISO, especially Canons
-I wish I had IS.. but most in-lens IS solutions are $$$
-On a DSLR, I like zooms, unlike on my old film SLR

So I compiled a list of lenses that were of interest to me from the following systems: Pentax, Canon, Nikon, Olympus. I was interested in a 'fast enough' 28-70ish equiv. zoom IS prefered, a fast 35 equiv prime and a fast 50 equiv prime, in each system..

I think I want Pentax K10d or K100d.. why?
-I can buy a $400 28-75 f2.8 equiv zoom, and it will have IS from the body
-All my other lenses will get the body IS
-Pentax makes small DSLR bodies
-Pentax has great VF's, especially for their size/price class
-Pentax makes EXCELLENT pancake lenses, for compact street shooting

Thats my take, I can show you the list I compiled of lenses if you are interested.
 
My best digital camera thus far, which I bought used...a Kodak DCS 760. It's a beast, and only six megapixels, but I like it. I'm still not totally comfortable with it, and I don't yet have a lens that I really like in my favorite focal length, but I'm workin' on that. Anyway, nobody else is probably gonna recommend these cameras, so I thought I'd speak up...Kodak DCS 760, or the Kodak SLR/n, or SLR/c. And how about the Sigma Foveon...any Foveon fans out there? Yeah...like you said, it's confusing.
 
Joe:

I'll come out of the closet here and admit to owning a DSLR. It's a Pentax istDS. It may be the smallest DSLR body out there, which I like. I carried my son's huge Canon around for a week and promptly gave it back to him.

I've had the DS for over a year, have used it constantly, beat the hell out of it backpacking, carrying it while riding dirtbikes along the Mexican border, shot weddings with it, did streetshooting, portraits, product photography, etc. Nary a problem.

Image results? Quite good with the kit lens (18-55) which is something like 27mm to about 70-75mm. It's an OK lens, but when I screw on one of my many M42 Super Takumar lenses ($20 adapter) life gets much better. They turn into manual presets, but so what. You set the DS on aperture preferred, focus at maximum aperture, then stop down to what you think you want, release the shutter.

My Takumar SMC 300 turns into a 450 on the DS and gets me into respectable bird photography. The very nice 50/1.4 turns into a 75 and does surprisingly good portraits, but the 105/2.8 (you have to step back a bit) works well also.
My point here is that all of this wonderful old glass is readily available and at small price (perhaps not for much longer, though, as folks figure it out).

Pentax currently has a great pancake 40 and the reviews suggest the 16-45 and 50-200 are worth owning.

Last October I bought the Pentax DS and kit lens from Willoughby's delivered to the door for $748, which wasn't a lot money in the DSLR world at the time..

The new, about-to-be-released 10D (about $900) has in-body shake reduction, so I would assume any lens will benefit from it, and might also solve your problem. No one likes to look around for something to brace oneself against in order to take a picture.

Regards,

Ted
 
I'm of the opinion that the best digital camera is a good scanner. Doesn't have to be pricey- just a good flatbed scanner to get contacts of my film and scan prints of the best shots. This way I get the best of both worlds; negatives and the archive of film, and the prints I can get in the wet darkroom, and digital ease. The only thing I sacrifce is speed, but I'm not a press photog. so that's fine. Digital equipment needs regualar upgrade; film is cheap- even now. Good document scanners are cheap and getting cheaper, so as long as I can process and upgrade my scanners and other computer hardware and software, I'm good.
 
Joe, I'm primarily a DSLR action shooter that prefers Nikon (D1 and D70s, probably a D2hs before too long). That said, it's hard to go bad with Nikon, Canon or Pentax.

Since you're coming from the RF fold, I suggest you look at a Nikon D50 if you want to keep it cheap or a D80 if you don't mind spending a few more Loonies. Both are compact bodies, and will not seem overly jarring coming from a RF.

As mentioned by others, I think the new Pentax K10D is going to be worth a *very* serious look. Pentax glass is great, and it has great legacy support.

Bottom line recommendation - find a D50 and a 35/2 Nikkor or a 30/1.4 Sigma. Get a nice prime first before you start messing with zooms.
 
wow

wow

you've done your homework!!

If only the pancake lens were a stop or 2 faster ...:

http://www.pentaximaging.com/produc...ID--6635729/subsection--Digital_35mm_standard

The 50/1.4 (turns into ~75) also nice and about $150 w/rebate.

Then again, I get usable 1600, and rarely have faster than 400 in my film bodies, but the 1.x DOF would be lacking in that pancake 40 (60 equiv).

Now if they could just rid of that mirror clack and slap, that might spell the demise of rf cameras ...






tedwhite said:
Joe:

I'll come out of the closet here and admit to owning a DSLR. It's a Pentax istDS. It may be the smallest DSLR body out there, which I like. I carried my son's huge Canon around for a week and promptly gave it back to him.

I've had the DS for over a year, have used it constantly, beat the hell out of it backpacking, carrying it while riding dirtbikes along the Mexican border, shot weddings with it, did streetshooting, portraits, product photography, etc. Nary a problem.

Image results? Quite good with the kit lens (18-55) which is something like 27mm to about 70-75mm. It's an OK lens, but when I screw on one of my many M42 Super Takumar lenses ($20 adapter) life gets much better. They turn into manual presets, but so what. You set the DS on aperture preferred, focus at maximum aperture, then stop down to what you think you want, release the shutter.

My Takumar SMC 300 turns into a 450 on the DS and gets me into respectable bird photography. The very nice 50/1.4 turns into a 75 and does surprisingly good portraits, but the 105/2.8 (you have to step back a bit) works well also.
My point here is that all of this wonderful old glass is readily available and at small price (perhaps not for much longer, though, as folks figure it out).

Pentax currently has a great pancake 40 and the reviews suggest the 16-45 and 50-200 are worth owning.

Last October I bought the Pentax DS and kit lens from Willoughby's delivered to the door for $748, which wasn't a lot money in the DSLR world at the time..

The new, about-to-be-released 10D (about $900) has in-body shake reduction, so I would assume any lens will benefit from it, and might also solve your problem. No one likes to look around for something to brace oneself against in order to take a picture.

Regards,

Ted
Click to expand...
 
Ken Ford said:
Bottom line recommendation - find a D50 and a 35/2 Nikkor or a 30/1.4 Sigma. Get a nice prime first before you start messing with zooms.
Click to expand...

This is what I did, Joe. I had not been planning on jumping on the DSLR bandwagon for another year, but a friend of mine upgraded to a D80, and I got my hands on his hardly-used D50 for a good price. My inkjet printer only goes to 8x10 and I thought the 6MP was good enough for my use. It is small and light, and build quality I felt was better than most entry-level brands I tried. My only complaint is the small VF. I got a DK-21M magnifier eyepiece, which has made a big difference in improving the tunnel vision (I don't wear eyeglasses when shooting).

I have been playing with the Sigma 30/1.4 (45mm/1.4) and I like it a lot. I have added a Tokina 12-24/4 from Tony Rose.

One advantage of Nikon over many other brands is the huge surplus of used AF lenses in the used market. I started out with a 24/2.8 and 50/1.8 for an inexpensive, lightweight 35/75 kit, of very high optical quality.
 
The hardest part of your requirement is the good kit lens.
There just about isn't any DSLR made at this point that won't give you good results...within design limits.
I'm partial to Canon because of the sensor quality and noise levels. Even so, the gap is narrowing and lots of good products are coming out.
The new Pentax (K10D) looks great, as far as the spec is concerned. If it lives up, it should be a winner, and give you maximum compatibility with a huge range of old manual lenses.
 
Joe:
1: Why used? I think it's still tricky to buy used dslr's unless you get some kind of warranty.
2: WHy a kit zoom? If you're happy with fixed focals for your rf's, you should be very happy with the cheap fixed-focal slr lenses.

3: Get something with antishake if this blur thing bothers you.

Honestly, i would try to find a discontinued Minolta Dynax 5D or 7D, or buy a new Sony alpha 100 or what it is called, and buy a few used Minolta fixed focals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom