PDA

View Full Version : Digital SLR cameras



Speedin' Ian
07-29-2007, 06:49 PM
Thinking about getting a nice digital SLR. Any advice?
Would like to find one for less than $1000, but closer to $700 would be great. I want to be ale to take photos that I can I turn into posters.

uvindex
07-29-2007, 07:02 PM
I just bought one Friday. I got the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. Got it with the 18-55 kit lens at Amazon for $718. I love it. (You'll have to buy a CF card. Since the camera's images can be pretty big, bigger is better for the memory card (got a 4-GB also from Amazon for $60.)
For the sub-$1K price point, the Canon XTi and the Nikon D80 are very well-reviewed. Check out the customer reviews on Amazon for the Canon -- pretty much every person who bought one says they love their camera. I do too.
Good luck and have fun! :)

Boatcop
07-29-2007, 07:03 PM
Thinking about getting a nice digital SLR. Any advice?
Would like to find one for less than $1000, but closer to $700 would be great. I want to be ale to take photos that I can I turn into posters.
Nikon D40. Got mine with the 200mm lens for around $700. Do a search on the internet for the best deal. Prices run from around $500 - $700 for the camera alone.Shop around.
Takes awesome pictures and is very user friendly. I took these through the french doors in my family room. Automatic setting.
http://boatcop.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=53&g2_serialNumber=2
http://boatcop.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=42&g2_serialNumber=1
http://boatcop.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=44&g2_serialNumber=1

77charger
07-29-2007, 07:31 PM
pick up a canon xti body then buy an L lens to go with it.or you can just get the basic canon kit with the 18-55mm lens for about that 800 bucks.The only thing i dont like about the xti is its size(too small) but it still has good features and will go along ways and is more capable than what most users can do.But there are some who will say just get the 30d funny thing is i see alot of people who will buy the better stuff only to use the camera in auto mode(green square)and nothing else.
I have a eos rebel 6.3mp(also good camera)main use is a back up now and just got a 20d also have a 70-200F4L and a 17-40F4L both cameras have no problem printing out 13x19 pics the 20d can easily go bigger i use a canon pixma pro9000 printer too.The xti will have no problems but need to have good glass that is what makes the picture.

TheCarDudes
07-29-2007, 07:35 PM
I've had the Canon Digital Rebel EOS for about 4 or 5 years. It is a GREAT camera. Since it was one one of the first digital SLR's, lots of support and accessories out there. Here is a photo I took while driving the Howard at about 55mph. Tell me that this is not user friendly!
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/16594TonySeadoo.jpg

V-DRIVE VIDEO
07-29-2007, 07:53 PM
Sony A-100 and a sigma 55-200 zoom. Camera kit is around $700 zoom lens add on $200 more.
Billy B.
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00280.JPG
Your dad.:D
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00359.JPG
My Brother, the infamous UCLAHATER!
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00290.JPG
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00184.JPG
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00347.JPG

SnoC653
07-29-2007, 08:00 PM
I was originally leaning toward the Cannon series, but wound up buying a Pentax K-10D. The thing I liked about the Petax was the 10 megapixel and the built in Shake Reduction. 10 meg is definately nice if you want to blow the image up to poster size, and the Shake Reduction helps tremendously if you are using long range lenses to take boating shots or shots from a boat. With the cannon you have to buy lenses with the shake reduction in them and that makes each lens a lot more pricey. Just my .02 worth.

lawbreaker2
07-30-2007, 05:28 AM
I was originally leaning toward the Cannon series, but wound up buying a Pentax K-10D. The thing I liked about the Petax was the 10 megapixel and the built in Shake Reduction. 10 meg is definately nice if you want to blow the image up to poster size, and the Shake Reduction helps tremendously if you are using long range lenses to take boating shots or shots from a boat. With the cannon you have to buy lenses with the shake reduction in them and that makes each lens a lot more pricey. Just my .02 worth.
I have an old 35mm pentax, are the zoom lenses interchangeable with the new pentax K-10D, I heard they were.:idea:

Beer-30
07-30-2007, 06:36 AM
I went with the Canon Rebel EOS. Over 50 different lenses available. Mine is 8.1 megapixel, which is bigger than I wanted. But, it's nice to have it when you need it. Also, it has the full-auto mode that sets itself / or / you can shoot full custom on all settings. I keep it on the lowest setting to keep from filling up my hard drive. Pretty easy to take 1 gig of picture at holiday time.

GoCiggie31
07-30-2007, 09:01 AM
Sony A-100 and a sigma 55-200 zoom. Camera kit is around $700 zoom lens add on $200 more.
Billy B.
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00280.JPG
Your dad.:D
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00359.JPG
My Brother, the infamous UCLAHATER!
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00290.JPG
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00184.JPG
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC00347.JPG
nice pics there !

socalmoney
07-30-2007, 09:27 AM
I have a Canon 20D and 5D and love them both. I switched from Nikon. The XTi is a good start. Get good glass you will be happy. The kit lens is kind of crappy.

Beer-30
07-30-2007, 09:41 AM
I have a Canon 20D and 5D and love them both. I switched from Nikon. The XTi is a good start. Get good glass you will be happy. The kit lens is kind of crappy.
I agree on the lens. I still have the OE lens and it's not that good at all.

TahitiTiger
07-30-2007, 11:19 AM
when I was shopping for a digital SLR I saved up extra, and got the Nikon D70. $900 with the kit, and an extra 200 for 2 gig extreme 3 mem cards. The Nikon is a really good choice, and is the choice of many pros.
http://www.dpreview.com/
your best source on the net for a digi cam :D

rivercrazy
07-30-2007, 11:41 AM
Big Nikon fan here as well. The D70 with a good lense produces outstanding quality photos. Its hard to match Nikon's metering system.

Baja Big Dog
07-30-2007, 11:45 AM
pick up a canon xti body then buy an L lens to go with it.or you can just get the basic canon kit with the 18-55mm lens for about that 800 bucks.The only thing i dont like about the xti is its size(too small) but it still has good features and will go along ways and is more capable than what most users can do.But there are some who will say just get the 30d funny thing is i see alot of people who will buy the better stuff only to use the camera in auto mode(green square)and nothing else.
I have a eos rebel 6.3mp(also good camera)main use is a back up now and just got a 20d also have a 70-200F4L and a 17-40F4L both cameras have no problem printing out 13x19 pics the 20d can easily go bigger i use a canon pixma pro9000 printer too.The xti will have no problems but need to have good glass that is what makes the picture.
Ive got 30D's a 5 series Canons, the camera you buy depends on what you want to do.
The Rebel camera's have higher Pix count than the 30D, are you gonna take poster sized pictures? No....it doesnt matter if you use the camera in auto mode or not, Ill bet that 98% of all digital pictures taken from a SLR based camera are taken on auto mode...and why not?
Ill bet another 99% of the people that buy SLR based digital's dont know how to use a manual camera...and again it doesnt matter.
The advantage of the 30D is the turn on speed, leave the camera on all the time and when your ready to shoot, pull it up and shoot, no time waiting for the camera to cycle. Another feature of the motor drive speed and capibility, you can pull the trigger and shoot motor speeds for a lot of pictures, depending on how fast the card is.

spectras only
07-30-2007, 01:03 PM
Don't let the name Kodak scare you . I'm an ex Canon tech so I'm unbiased ;) I work for Kodak now [:) ], since they bought our [ Creo's ] technology .They have some pretty good products on the low end digital cameras now that equipped with German lenses etc....! The high end Kodak digi cameras were based on Nikon bodies and lenses for less than the true Nikon and Canon digital SLR's. Here's one model that uses Nikon lenses and s would be adeqate for posters .
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/14N/14NA.HTM
The pros use our digital backs [ 22.5 MP] for commercial
purposes , like posters and magazines.
Read feedbacks on cameras at www.dpreview.com , before deciding on a model .They have resolution charts
for the higher end models .

socalmoney
07-30-2007, 01:16 PM
Read feedbacks on cameras at www.dpreview.com , before deciding on a model .They have resolution charts
for the higher end models .
Great site for any camera purchase. Lots of info.

intense
10-13-2007, 01:10 PM
Just bought the Rebel XTI having a ball with it. Takes great pics so far.

DeltaSigBoater
10-13-2007, 01:16 PM
I have a Cannon Rebel XT, it took great pictures till it droped on the deak of a boat :(
I'm hoping its just the 18-55 lense that is outta wack, and not any internal components
Still love the camera though

Tom Brown
10-13-2007, 02:01 PM
For those of you who like your Canon or Nikon 18-55 kit lenses, go to a camera store and check out the Sigma 17-70. It's a cheap but excellent lens that will introduce you to a whole new level of photography.
Oh... and V-Drive Video, try knocking your EV back 1/2, to 2/3. Every one of those wonderfully composed images you posted feature badly blown out whites. You are badly over exposing. You have terrible over sharpening artifacts there too. That Alpha can do much better if you back off on the processing a bit. Your composition is first rate, though.
Technically, the shots Alan posted with his D40 are extremely impressive. Check out the whites in on the wings of the birds in Alan's second image. They are very bright but not blown out. The dark material in the feeder is black but retains image detail. There's not a single sharpening artifact on any of his images. My guess is, those images have received no additional sharpening or white balance out of the camera. Very impressive.
Your images distinguish themselves, Alan. :cool:
Here's an image that impresses me. Check out the hill on the far side of the valley.... it is dark but retains detail despite including the sun in the frame. That is what I like to call dynamic range. No HDR techniques were used in taking or processing this shot, BTW. I would say the dynamic range is pretty well optimized in this shot, though. lol!
Notice any flare?
Notice the clouds, close to the sun, aren't blown out... they still have detail.
You're not going to take this shot, or anything like it, with a 10 megapixel pocket camera.
Please excuse the JPEG artifacts. I compressed the image heavily to make it a reasonable size for the web. One of the problems with a camera that produces tremendous detail is the images, by nature of their extreme detail, do not compress well.
http://www.carlsonspeed.com/~tombrown/QuickLink/pano-20070705katepwa1.jpg

SpectraJoel
10-13-2007, 02:21 PM
Lenses are very important to taking a great picture. Know what the prices of the lenses are before you dive in. Other than that...have fun! :D :D

gramps
10-13-2007, 02:34 PM
Canon 20D, 30D or 40D and buy some of the L glass.

Tom Brown
10-13-2007, 02:36 PM
Would like to find one for less than $1000, but closer to $700 would be great.
Canon 20D, 30D or 40D and buy some of the L glass.
Trouble with those trifocals, gramps?

2Driver
10-13-2007, 02:54 PM
This pic is cut down by 65% in quality for posting so imagine what the ful res looks like. Point and shoot auto focus.
http://***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41046&stc=1&d=1192314815

Tom Brown
10-13-2007, 03:00 PM
This pic is cut down by 65% in quality for posting so imagine what the ful res looks like. Point and shoot auto focus.
That's a nice shot and certainly captures a sense of the energy of the moment but what does that shot demonstrate that can't be done with a point and shoot? It doesn't have particularly large dynamic range (auto WB did not serve that shot well), it looks to have slight camera shake (or was taken with the kit lens), and it doesn't demonstrate any narrow depth of field characteristics, so cherrised by dSLR shooters (shooters other than myself, that is).
I don't wish to dump on your shot but that shot could easily have been taken with any number of point and shoot cameras.

intense
10-13-2007, 03:41 PM
That's a nice shot and certainly captures a sense of the energy of the moment but what does that shot demonstrate that can't be done with a point and shoot? It doesn't have particularly large dynamic range (auto WB did not serve that shot well), it looks to have slight camera shake (or was taken with the kit lens), and it doesn't demonstrate any narrow depth of field characteristics, so cherrised by dSLR shooters (shooters other than myself, that is).
I don't wish to dump on your shot but that shot could easily have been taken with any number of point and shoot cameras.
Tell em how you really feel

Tom Brown
10-13-2007, 04:31 PM
Tell em how you really feel
Actually, now that I look closer at the first two images Alan posted, I notice some sharpening artifacts. They don't look to be straight out of the camera.
.... but I figure I've pretty much aired out plenty of opinion on cameras for now. :D
For what it's worth, I haven't processed an image with a sharpening filter in years. Once you learn to look for sharpening noise at the corners of high contrast objects in an image, it can be very irritating to know that noise is there, even if uneducated viewers don't notice it and enjoy the cartoon like contrast and over-cooked color and image brightness.

77charger
10-13-2007, 04:39 PM
damn once again by a body and put the money into glass!!!!.
i now have a 20d since first post i made on this topic and a 17-40 f4l lens.But still love the rebel 6.3 mp body too it does a hell of a job cause it has good glass.........
I laugh at the ones who
'think they need" the better camera bodies only to not know how use them nice cameras only to use them on auto settings!and get a normal picture and it never fails
nikon does have good cameras i just prefer canons vs other who prefer nikons either way good lens you cant go wrong.

Jbb
10-13-2007, 06:14 PM
I got a Fuji.....:p
http://www.***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41057&stc=1&d=1192328217

2Driver
10-13-2007, 06:19 PM
it looks to have slight camera shake .
The shake was when I $hit my pants and realized the truck may not be going to make the right turn :D
I’ve never captured flying rocks or stopped tire tread patterns with my point and shoots but I'm no photographer either. Just a picture taker. Here are 2 others just for grins. Again, 2 meg pic reduced to 200K.
http://***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41058&stc=1&d=1192328220
http://***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=41056&d=1192328176

V-DRIVE VIDEO
10-13-2007, 06:30 PM
Actually, now that I look closer at the first two images Alan posted, I notice some sharpening artifacts. They don't look to be straight out of the camera.
.... but I figure I've pretty much aired out plenty of opinion on cameras for now. :D
For what it's worth, I haven't processed an image with a sharpening filter in years. Once you learn to look for sharpening noise at the corners of high contrast objects in an image, it can be very irritating to know that noise is there, even if uneducated viewers don't notice it and enjoy the cartoon like contrast and over-cooked color and image brightness.
Hey Tom, how many sharpening artifacts do you see in this picture?
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC01020~0.JPG
thanks for the tips....:)

intense
10-13-2007, 07:33 PM
Hey Tom, how many sharpening artifacts do you see in this picture?
http://www.v-drivevideo.com/jerrysgallery/albums/userpics/DSC01020~0.JPG
thanks for the tips....:)
C'mon Tom give us the scoop on this one:D

BajaMike
10-13-2007, 07:52 PM
Nikon D40. Got mine with the 200mm lens for around $700. Do a search on the internet for the best deal. Prices run from around $500 - $700 for the camera alone.Shop around.
Takes awesome pictures and is very user friendly. I took these through the french doors in my family room. Automatic setting.
http://boatcop.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=53&g2_serialNumber=2
http://boatcop.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=42&g2_serialNumber=1
http://boatcop.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=44&g2_serialNumber=1
Those pictures are great.......:idea:

Tom Brown
10-13-2007, 09:14 PM
C'mon Tom give us the scoop on this one:D
It's a little over exposed for my taste.

SpectraJoel
10-14-2007, 09:09 AM
Forgot to add that, just because you have an expensive lens you will not automatically take better pictures. The more expensive lenses are just sharper, faster to focus, and generally work better in lower light conditions.