Help buying a Camera

TrueHereticX

I need some help buying a camera (obviously) and so i thought this would be the best place to look...

I've narrowed it down to 5 possibilities...

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/483c910b01ae9f402740c0a87f9c06e8/Product/View/XG3218

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/483c910b01ae9f402740c0a87f9c06e8/Product/View/XG4315

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/483c910b01ae9f402740c0a87f9c06e8/Product/View/XG3033

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/483c910b01ae9f402740c0a87f9c06e8/Product/View/XG3037

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/483c910b01ae9f402740c0a87f9c06e8/Product/View/XG3643

I'll be using it to get into Amatuer(sp?) Photography and hopefully to become a professional (or at least do professional quality photos as a hobby)

Can anyone help me here?

P.S These are the only ones i can afford, kinda on a low wage right now

Dark Moon

If you want to get into photography, save up and buy a DSLR or buy a film SLR now. Please supply an exact budget (between $300 and $600 seems to be hinted by your links, but that seems a bit broad) and I'll break out some body and lense suggestions. If you absolutely must have a camera right this moment or your life and the lives of all your loved ones may end, buy a $100 Canon A570IS. You get full manual controls and can shoot in RAW with some wacky custom firmware. The number of megapixels means nothing if you're not a commercial photog doing billboards, so start disregarding them now.

I am also updating your list of sites you are allowed to buy cameras and lenses from: They are Amazon.com, B&H Photo Video, and Adorama Camera. Any site that can beat all three of those in prices is, almost as a rule, a scam - be extra wary and run everything through Resellerratings.

TrueHereticX

My budgets up to $600, since i'll be laybuying the camera instead of buying it outright (my brother works at a Dick Smith Powerhouse, so he's going to help me out with it).

It isn't essential that i need it i just want a a camera that looks like that (call me vain) and that i can take professional looking photos with.

Thanks for the help Dark Moon

Dark Moon

Ah, okay, I didn't notice your location. As you're in Australia, I'm afraid I don't have any good recommendations on stores. Luckily it seems you already have that sorted out. On to the actual advice.

You definitely want a DSLR if you want to really get into photography. $600 is plenty to buy a decent body and some hot lenses. The important thing to remember when looking at DSLR bodies is: You are buying into a system. Your lenses are infinitely more important than the body you're buying. Excellent lenses can make up for a mediocre body, while crappy lenses look terrible on everything. Each system has various positive and negative points to it. I'm going to outline the major three manufacturers of DSLR bodies and lenses these days. Those not included either lack anything nearing a reasonably affordable complete lense lineup (Sony), are probably okay but about which I know very little (Olympus - though they don't have any real wide angle lenses), or a healthy combination of the above (everyone else). The major three players are currently Canon, Nikon and Pentax.

Canon and Nikon, as systems, are a very safe bet. They have essentially every focal lengths covered with both mid-range and high end glass in both prime lenses (fixed focal length) and zoom lenses (variable focal length). Both have excellent flash systems and are well supported in the photographic community. If you have no idea about photography and want to buy a camera without having to do any research because you're an idiot, it's hard to miss with Canon or Nikon's amateur offerings. In your price range, I'd consider a Canon XT. The XTi is also available, but offers little advantage over the XT and would cut into your lense budget as it's a bit more expensive. For lenses, the new kit lense (Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, the version with image stabilization, IS) is pretty damn decent and cheap as hell. It's a bit slow, though, so you might also pick up a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 - which is around $90 new and a fantastic deal. With an XT running you around $400 on the outside, the kit lense being around $100 and the 50mm $90, you're in $10 under budget and that's on the expensive end.

My Nikon suggestion is a bit different. Do not buy a Nikon D40, D40x or a D60. They have no autofocus motor on the camera body, meaning you only have autofocus with a select few lenses. Good manual focussing requires you buy a special focussing screen and be good at manually focussing, and is in general not very beginner friendly. It's doable, but it's not ideal at all. In your budget, look at picking up a used D50 or D70. They're no longer in production, so you're definitely buying used, but both are excellent cameras and cheap as hell. For lenses, again I recommend the Nikon kit lense offering (Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, whichever of the two versions is cheaper and available) and a cheap 50mm (Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8). You should be able to stay in budget if you are a decent bargainer and buy a used body.

My third suggestion is a Pentax system. You can get a Pentax K100D for very cheap ($300ish) that can compete with a Canon XT any day. The big deal with Pentax is their wonderful prime lenses. They make good zooms as well, but the best reasons for buying Pentax is prime lenses and old lenses - the new bodies support every lense Pentax has made since the early 1980s when they switched to the K-mount. If you want to shoot sports or anything that requires fantastically quick auto focus systems professionally, go Canon or Nikon. For everything else, try a Pentax out. If you do decide on it, pick up an old Pentax M 50mm f/1.7, which is a manual focus lense but will only run you about $50 on the expensive side. As you'd still have about $250 to play with at this point, pick up the kit lense (which is excellent - Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6) for around $100 and put the rest towards saving up for another lense, either longer or shorter depending on how you end up using the kit lense. If your'e always at 55mm wishing for more reach, get a 100mm or 135mm prime. If you spend a great deal of time at 18mm, take a look at the Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8 or the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6, which I just picked up and is wonderful.

To help you make your decision, go to a local camera store and pick up the bodies. Having a body that fits your hand really well is extremely important. The Pentax is a bit bigger, while the Nikon and Canon bodies are puny by comparison.

Lastly, you mentioned "professional looking photos." Professional looking photos do not come because the photographer has an expensive camera, but because the photographer has a great eye and works well in Photoshop. A great photographer can take good photos with a lesser camera, but a poor photographer won't take a decent shot even with an $8000 body and L glass (Canon's high end lenses are called "L"s). Being a good photographer comes from taking lots of well thought out photos and looking at lots of excellent photos critically, so don't be disappointed with your results when you first start out. Take a gander at the photo thread in the Artist's Corner subforum here to see a few of our excellent local talents or to ask about improving your own photography (the gurus there will have some great tips for you, I'm sure).

Best of luck!

Mephistopheles

Dark Moon wrote: »

LIME

Dark Moon's post is spot on everything. I actually think that should be the default advice for anyone seeking to buy a DSLR. I don't even have anything to add, as he covered everything. Take it to heart.

TrueHereticX

Thanks you guys!

I'll be laybuying my stuff this weekend and should have it within 2-3 weeks

Then i'll take a buncha pics and post them here (maybe, i think i'll be a bit nervous at first)