Camera Advice

[Resolute 14]

I've been looking at getting a new camera as well. Been looking at the G9 Powershot, as well as a Nikon Coolpix P80 Anyone have experience with this model, or Nikon's in general?

I've been toying with the idea of taking a photography course, but from what I've seen at MRC and the U of C, their courses require you to have a 35mm or DSLR camera. With that in mind, I'm wondering if I should just go the DSLR route, but I'm not sure if I want to spend $800+ for one at this point. Future Shop has an Olympus E-420 DSLR for $499 right now, which I would be willing to pay, but I'm always leary about buying the lower end stuff.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Future Shop has an Olympus E-420 DSLR for $499 right now, which I would be willing to pay, but I'm always leary about buying the lower end stuff.

The Olympus SLR cameras fair well, but when it comes to purchasing lens and what not, it's a little bit harder. With Canon, Nikon and Pentax, you can look beyond their name and find accessories made by Sigma, Tamron, Optex and such. Also, Canon and Nikon also sell some very high quality lenses if you're looking for something with a larger aperture or better optics. As far as I know, Olympus has yet to even release an IS lens.

From my experience of selling the E-420, I found it significantly slower than the Canon, Nikon and Pentax models with similar specs.

If you're not going to be cropping and blowing up your photos to large sizes, you don't need to focus on the megapixels and should look toward a Nikon D40, Nikon D60, and the Canon Rebel XT, or XTi.

Do you have a film SLR? If so, there's also back wards compatibility on Nikon, Canon and Pentax. If they have auto focus motors, they'll work completely and if they are manual, you'll still be able to use them manually.

[Resolute 14]

Haven't had a film camera in years. And my current camera is an Olympus that I haven't been overly impressed with. But, that's what I got for walking into Future Shop and going "that one".

I have been looking at the Nikon D40 as well. Looks like a decent "entry level" DSLR camera. I'm tempting myself with this D60 package at Future Shop, but I also realize that I'm hardly the type of photographer where I need that much of a kit. Especially to spend an extra $400 over a D40.

Seeing as how you know about cameras, one more question, Mango. I'd like to get a camera with a fairly significant zoom. Some of the high-zoom cameras I was looking at have 10x-18x optical zoom. What kind of lens would I be wanting with a DSLR to get a similar ability? Thanks!

[REDVAN]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I've been looking at getting a new camera as well. Been looking at the G9 Powershot, as well as a Nikon Coolpix P80 Anyone have experience with this model, or Nikon's in general?

To be honest, this is twice now (XTi, PowerShot SD1100IS) that I have chosen Canon over Nikon.

I chose the DSLR XTi over D40x because it seemed like a better camera for the price, and I heard that Nikon was just not as good.

This time, for the point-and-shoot, I was told the Nikon takes forever to re-load the flash. That isn't a huge deal, but my previous point-and-shoot had a similar issue (Fuji Finepix ES510), and that annoyed the hell out of me.

But, TBQH, it just depends on the person. It's the same as saying, "do you prefer Pepsi or Coke" because there's really no way to PROOVE one brand is better than the other especially with Canon/Nikon

[Mango]

The D40 is an outstanding starter camera. Now, the D60 is a great camera too. In comparison with the D40, the D60 would give you:
3 frames/sec (the D40 is slightly slower)
18-55mm 3.5 lens with image stabilization
10 mega pixels.
A 55-200mm lens would be a great start as well, giving you a great zoom. That would give you similar to about a 12x optical zoom.

I have a D40x. It was replaced with the D60, the only difference being you get a lens with the stabilization. If I were buying a zoom lens, I think I'd rather go for the D40 kit and go for a 18-200 lens with image stabilization. This way, you get the zoom, but you also get the width. With the 50-200, you lose that width. And I think if you get the 18-200 lens, you can replace the 18-55 kit camera you get all together.

There's also a great 70-300mm stabilized lens that Nikon offers if you want true optical zoom.

But after I've told you all that If you're really looking to just start out, the Futureshop deal on the D60 is a great buy! You get the two lens kit, plus a tripod and memory card. If you were purchasing all of the components on your own, it would be over $1200.

Also, it's nice having those extra megapixels if you're prone to doing a lot of cropping and enlarging. I never thought I was, but after taking my camera to a sporting event where I was sitting far away, the extra quality really came in handy. But, I would leave that decision up to you, as it really depends on the photography you're going to do. Remember, the higher the megapixel, the larger the file size, so it takes smidgen longer to process (upload/download) and they take up more space on your memory card, especially if you are shooting in raw format.

[Resolute 14]

Hmmm. Your good advice is really not helping me resist the urge to spend $1k on a camera.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

This time, for the point-and-shoot, I was told the Nikon takes forever to re-load the flash. That isn't a huge deal, but my previous point-and-shoot had a similar issue (Fuji Finepix ES510), and that annoyed the hell out of me.

I recently recieved a Nikon Coolpix L14 as a gift and the flash reloading is a royal pain in the behind. the image qualty is crap also as it doesn't take very sharp pictures.

[Flaming Choy]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I've been looking at getting a new camera as well. Been looking at the G9 Powershot, as well as a Nikon Coolpix P80 Anyone have experience with this model, or Nikon's in general?

I've been toying with the idea of taking a photography course, but from what I've seen at MRC and the U of C, their courses require you to have a 35mm or DSLR camera. With that in mind, I'm wondering if I should just go the DSLR route, but I'm not sure if I want to spend $800+ for one at this point. Future Shop has an Olympus E-420 DSLR for $499 right now, which I would be willing to pay, but I'm always leary about buying the lower end stuff.

the g9 is an excellent camera. does most of the stuff i want it to do. I'm used to the canon menus so i tend to go for them over nikon.

Also been toying the idea of selling the g9 to upgrade to an SLR, but like you, i don't know if I want to spend so much.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by Mango

The Olympus SLR cameras fair well, but when it comes to purchasing lens and what not, it's a little bit harder. With Canon, Nikon and Pentax, you can look beyond their name and find accessories made by Sigma, Tamron, Optex and such. Also, Canon and Nikon also sell some very high quality lenses if you're looking for something with a larger aperture or better optics. As far as I know, Olympus has yet to even release an IS lens.

From my experience of selling the E-420, I found it significantly slower than the Canon, Nikon and Pentax models with similar specs.

If you're not going to be cropping and blowing up your photos to large sizes, you don't need to focus on the megapixels and should look toward a Nikon D40, Nikon D60, and the Canon Rebel XT, or XTi.

Do you have a film SLR? If so, there's also back wards compatibility on Nikon, Canon and Pentax. If they have auto focus motors, they'll work completely and if they are manual, you'll still be able to use them manually.

I don't think you'll ever see Olympus IS lenses. Olympus has gone the route of in-body IS instead of in-lens IS. Their argument is that this will make lenses cheaper because there are less mechanics in the lens. Canon and Nikon think that IS works better in the lens as the IS system is optimized for the focal length and lens elements.

I think I agree with the in-lens viewpoint as the amount of compensation required would be lss at the end of the lens than it would be in the body especially on longer length lenses at higher zoom levels. I've got the XTi with a sigma 18-200 OS lens and frankly, you can treat it like a point-and-shoot or a DSLR. That's the beauty of the variety of modes you have on a DSLR. I had a Film SLR, then went to a FujiS5200, now back to a digital SLR. While I still have a softspot for the film SLR, I don't think I could go back to a point and shoot or hybrird D cam.

[dissentowner]

I just got a Fuji S1000fd, not too pricey at $300 at Wal-Mart and this thing has been amazing so far.

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/dig...0fd/index.html

[Flaming Choy]

hey guys, i just bought a canon XSi and i was wondering if people know of any good places to buy used lenses.

thanks

[Resolute 14]

You might try Cash Converters.

[ah123]

Originally Posted by Flaming Choy

hey guys, i just bought a canon XSi and i was wondering if people know of any good places to buy used lenses.

thanks

Both Vistek and the CameraStore sell used lenses -- I would check these places before going anywhere else. There is also PhotoWorld (a used camera store) on 11th Avenue. They might be worth a visit as well

[The Ditch]

Originally Posted by ah123

Both Vistek and the CameraStore sell used lenses -- I would check these places before going anywhere else. There is also PhotoWorld (a used camera store) on 11th Avenue. They might be worth a visit as well

I would ask them about providing their own warranty as Canon warranties are NOT TRANSFERABLE no matter what someone tells you, I have been burned on it before.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

FWIW...we have a Olympus E-500 and while it was a great deal and takes great pictures, the viewfinder is fiendishly small...other than that it is great...if the price was the same as the Canon or Nikon I would have gone that route.

Also, there is a camera store on Ebay cametacamera that offers very good prices and I believe that cameras are duty free (not sure about accessories/lenses though).

[Flaming Choy]

Awesome, thanks guys.

One more quick question. What's a good lens to compliment my 18-55 mm lens? I'm thinking of something with more zoom but don't want to spend too much.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by Flaming Choy

Awesome, thanks guys.

One more quick question. What's a good lens to compliment my 18-55 mm lens? I'm thinking of something with more zoom but don't want to spend too much.

A great lens if you don't want to spend too much is the Canon 50mm F/1.4. It's about $250 brand new. Now you're probably thinking you've probably got the 50mm focal length covered, but this lens has a couple advantages that the 18-55 kit lens does not.

First and foremost is the F/1.4. You can get really narrow-depth of fields with beautiful bokeh by taking advantage of the aperature, and you can shoot in low light conditions with no flash. It makes the lens especially fantastic for shooting portraits because you're usually indoors and you usually want to blur the distracting background out.

The other advantage I find with this lens is that because its a prime its tack sharp. All my photos are so crisp and clear. It's also very small and light, which makes it easy to carry around.

You may want to go with a zoom first depending on what you're going to be shooting, but I'd certainly recommend picking this one up eventually.

[Flaming Choy]

awesome, a lens for low light conditions would be perfect. thanks.

[REDVAN]

I have an XTi, does anyone have any suggestions for lenses? I currently have the kit lens (18-55?) and a 75-300mm.

I am into landscape stuff, and macros, so a lens along those lines would be good. I'm just somewhat confused as to where to look. I am not sure I care about brand name.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

I have an XTi, does anyone have any suggestions for lenses? I currently have the kit lens (18-55?) and a 75-300mm.

I am into landscape stuff, and macros, so a lens along those lines would be good. I'm just somewhat confused as to where to look. I am not sure I care about brand name.

How much are you looking to spend?