Camera Newbie - help!

[Mehen]

A friend of mine is looking at getting a digital SLR, somewhere around the 800-1000 CAD range.

I have no idea what I should be looking for (brands, features etc)

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks

[az]

dpreview.com

i don't like canon, but just because I tend to go for the underdog. I can't really see what would be better about a Nikon. I'd have a long hard look at pentaxes, because they are good cameras and have built-in image stabilization (some). I think Olympuses are interesting but not good enough yet. The sony is unfortunately only quite good, which is not really enough to compete with the excellent competition. The rest is uninteresting for various reasons.

The lens is as important as the camera!

[Wulfman]

I was told that the lower-end Nikons tend to have the better kit-lenses (18-70mm), but otherwise the choice between Canon & Nikon is kind of moot.

as az said: dpreview, or, for Nikon, bythom.com

mfg
wulfman

[VJ]

Nikon or Canon...

I personally use (and like Nikon); friends of mine have Nikons, other have Canon; and all are pleased with it.

The other manufacturers will also produce great cameras, but are IMO a bit more risky when it comes to longevity (a professional photographer I know used Minolta, but ever since it was bought up by Sony, the prospects for them releasing new models in the professional range are looking grim). But even this is for most end-users a moot point.


Jörg

[The PIT]

Nikon D80 is nice bar the LCD display which you can't see in bright sunlight. It also tends to steam up very easily. Apart from that nit takes very good Photos has a very good usable iso range.

[ND66]

For a budget buy, did you look at the Nikon D40 yet? Also Pentax K100D under $450 looks good.


If you need more Mega's, Nikon D40X or Canon EOS 400D (Digital Rebel XTi).

And wulfman is right,

lower-end Nikons tend to have the better kit-lenses

.

[Mehen]

Thanks a TON guys, I'm gonna check out the D40/D40X, not sure how many MP she will need.

[Nappe1]

Thanks a TON guys, I'm gonna check out the D40/D40X, not sure how many MP she will need.

as for direct competitor for that, you should also check Olympus E-410 (or Evolt 410 in america) and Pentax K100D should be priced quite close same price point as well.

for D40(x)
pros are:
- Nikon known quality.
- Low noise CMOS panel
- many accessories available
cons are:
- does not have own focus motor, so only higher priced AF-S and AF-I lenses work with auto focus.
- less focus points than it's big brother. (but not less than the competition in same price class)
- some missing features compared to competition.
- lossy compressed RAW files (in some situations loss in dynamics are a bit problem in raw development.)
- Stabilization as lens based (and VR lenses cost bit more than normal ones. This again, is a bit of matter of user own preference.)


and as for a knowledge, I am using Olympus E-400 which was released in europe only last year. E/Evolt-410 again is update for that and main differences are losslessly compressed raw (in mine one raw file takes whopping 20Megbytes.), Matsushita's nMOS panel (instead of CCD from Kodak) and Live View functionality.

AZ: hold on your horses for Oly E-510... It looks quite good prosumer DSLR.