Beginner DSLR recommendations

[drteming]

What beginner camera would you kind folks recommend? I had some experiences with photography in the dark days (film), but haven't done any serious work for the past 20 years or so. I would like to get my feet wet again and move away from the P&S gadget that I currently use. Budget depends on if you are asking me or the wife, but she doesn't have to know. I'm looking about $750 for everything to get started. Thanks.

[itznfb]

Nikon D5000 could be a good starter. It's a pain in the butt menu based control system though.
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-D5000-18...2743446&sr=1-2

If you prefer Canon I think you could find a Rebel T1i kit in your range.

[ripken204]

as itznfb said, the D5000 or the T1i, if possible, go to a local camera shop and test both of them out, see which you prefer.

[lkiller123]

What do you want to shoot?

[drteming]

Landscape and wildlife. I live in North Carolina and go up into the Applachian mountains quite often.

[lkiller123]

You need more glass?

[drteming]

I would like to keep things as simple/light as possible as I do a lot of backcountry (and mountainous) backpacking.

[strange|ife]

have you considered a bridge camera with long zoom? IF you just plan to shoot during daylight condtiions, the image quality will be more than fine. Not DSLR quality, but when you want to get some reach. You are gonna have to throw some serious bucks for telephoto lens or two.

just a thought. For wildlife, and landscapes a bridge is pretty good. Check out the Panasonic FZ35 or canon sx20is. The panasonic has it beat in image quality+it shoots RAW. The canon has a hotshoe though, and flip out screen.


just giving ideas here.

here is a gallery of FZ35 photos, alot of birds and stuff.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/fz35/pool/

[Kallenator]

I would look at something like this:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicGF1/

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/OlympusEP1/

The glass is pretty small and so is the body, compared to the amount of fuctions.
You could probably even pick up the EP1 second hand for smaller amount of money.

[Boissez]

I would like to keep things as simple/light as possible as I do a lot of backcountry (and mountainous) backpacking.

I'd second the bridge camera idea. That is unless you're serious about photographing and you don't mind schlepping 5 pounds worth of gear. Just don't pick a model that's not wide enough for landscapes - pick one that starts at 28mm or preferably 24mm. Having RAW capability is also very nice as you can correct a lot in post when you come back. And remember to get that extra battery and memory card.

BTW wildlife photography is a very expensive hobby as it requires serious glass to get good results. The cheapest lens that can be used for serious work costs about 500$ - and even then you're compromising in terms of autofocus speed. If you wan't better AF and speed you're looking at 1500$-10000$ lenses.

But a bridge camera won't ever be able to take pictures like this one:

Canon 10D, 70-300/4-5.6IS@300mm, 1/200@f5,6 ISO 800

[Mescalamba]

G-series from Panasonic (G1 if you don´t need movies, GH1 if you need). If you get 70-300 from Olympus and reduction, you can shoot from very far distance.. tough, problem will be high-iso capabilites, which are not exactly best, but they are much better than any compact. Plus it behaves exactly like you want - either full-manual dSLR or very "smart" P&S dSLR.

And it has one nice feature.. via adapters you can mount almost every existing lens, tough only manual focus.

Downside for shooting landscape is, that widest setting is as 28mm full-frame camera (Panasonic kit zooms start at 14mm, but as it is m4/3 camera, it doubles mm - which means those 28mm, there are few - wide lens, but not exactly cheap). On other hand, APS-C isn´t best for this either.. for really wide you need full-frame, which means loads of money.

Yea and its very lightweight.

As I owned G1 (and blamed it for lots of things) it learned me a lot about shooting pics. And I´m pretty sure that this format has future..

I wouldn´t recommand GF1 or E-P1. First isn´t best format for shooting with long lens and second has horrible slow autofocus.

G1 cost 640 USD on Adorama + you need DMW-MA1 mount adapter to use classic 4/3 lens - 127 USD + Olympus 70-300 cost around 280 USD refurbished. Around 1040 USD total.. And for long distance wildlife shooting, I don´t think it will get any cheaper than this.. Maybe Pentax K-X system + some Sigma telephoto zoom.. but final quality will be much worse than from G1.

[lkiller123]

G-series from Panasonic (G1 if you don´t need movies, GH1 if you need). If you get 70-300 from Olympus and reduction, you can shoot from very far distance.. tough, problem will be high-iso capabilites, which are not exactly best, but they are much better than any compact. Plus it behaves exactly like you want - either full-manual dSLR or very "smart" P&S dSLR.

And it has one nice feature.. via adapters you can mount almost every existing lens, tough only manual focus.

Downside for shooting landscape is, that widest setting is as 28mm full-frame camera (Panasonic kit zooms start at 14mm, but as it is m4/3 camera, it doubles mm - which means those 28mm, there are few - wide lens, but not exactly cheap). On other hand, APS-C isn´t best for this either.. for really wide you need full-frame, which means loads of money.

Yea and its very lightweight.

As I owned G1 (and blamed it for lots of things) it learned me a lot about shooting pics. And I´m pretty sure that this format has future..

I wouldn´t recommand GF1 or E-P1. First isn´t best format for shooting with long lens and second has horrible slow autofocus.

G1 cost 640 USD on Adorama + you need DMW-MA1 mount adapter to use classic 4/3 lens - 127 USD + Olympus 70-300 cost around 280 USD refurbished. Around 1040 USD total.. And for long distance wildlife shooting, I don´t think it will get any cheaper than this.. Maybe Pentax K-X system + some Sigma telephoto zoom.. but final quality will be much worse than from G1.

If you are slapping this much money ($1040), you can just spend a little bit more and go for used market.

A used Canon 30D/40D and a 70-200f/4L can be around 1k, if you are lucky, it can be around 800 dollars.

[drteming]

That Panasonic FZ35 looks good. The weight is right at 13 oz, good for backpacking up and down mountains. The price looks good too--if I get serious, I won't feel bad about buying a new setup, conversely, if my 20 year-old itch fades away, I won't be out a lot of money.

[strange|ife]

the Olympus E-420 is a DSLR 4/3 system. Walmart carries them for under 400 with kit 14-42mm lens. The kit lens is very good on this camera. There is less selection of lenses for these cameras, but most ranges are covered. I'm considering getting one of these little guys, they are lightweight and have a good sized sensor. Check it out maybe also

oh it also has liveview, which is really cool for such a cheap dslr. the sensor isn't quite as large as a APS-C on canons, but its big enough for lowlight and more than enough for general photography. Plus you can also use panasonic glass on it