Dreaming/drooling over getting a new camera - preferably DSLR

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TinysMom

TinysMom

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Joined
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Location
, Texas, USA
Long story short....hubby and I have pulled money from his 401K towards our new bunny barn / possible rabbitry office (small separate building), getting his motorcycle registered & his license and a few other things - like upgrading computers.

Since my birthday is coming up in September - I'm thinking about asking for a new camera. The ones I have are "ok" but I think I would enjoy working with different lenses and learning about photography.

I'm looking for recommendations on both cameras - and perhaps a book (or two?) on "cameras for dummies" which will explain things like aperatures and all that sorta stuff I know nothing about.

My main pictures are going to be of bunnies (of course) - hopefully in show positions and at play in the back yard in the playground area.

I want good clear photos that I can post on my rabbitry websites - I'd love to get some of binkies in mid-binky, etc.

I'd say I want to do photos like Stan and Mike...but I understand that takes not only a great camera - but some knowledge and practice also.

I find I like the Nikons and I do have a Canon that is fairly nice.

In fact - here are my cameras thus far:

Canon PowerShot SX100 - I use it a lot and it is nice - but there is a lot about it I can't find or figure out

FujiFilm FinePix S1500 - my favorite in some ways because it has a function that allows me to put a box in the viewfinder and whatever is in that box is the center of the photo (or pretty much ALL the photo)...I have two squarish boxes and two longer rectangles. I LOVE that feature. The camera is VERY VERY noisy when taking videos.

My old Nikon which isn't in its normal place right now

I've had Kodaks - not fond of them. I like that one feature on the FujiFilm - but wish I'd held out for a Nikon or Canon. (I bought my Canon used at a pawnshop just so I could try a Canon after being ho-hum about the Fuji).

I would like to stay under $1,000 - preferably around $500 - $650 or so. Something I'll need to consider is how much the additional lenses will cost so I can ask for them for Christmas, Mother's Day, etc - and how easy they are to get and use.

I'm really a horrid photographer (or so it feels) - it takes me 30 shots to get a decent photo - if I'm lucky. I'd like something that would make it more enjoyable.

Also - we have some beautiful Texas weather/sunshine in the fall/winter/spring and I want something that is gonna be able to capture that - the green grass looks so pretty against the bunnies and the lighting can be so nice. I don't know how to use that to my advantage.

Here are some of Tiny to show what I mean...

Tinyandrabbitsoutside019.jpg


Tinyandrabbitsoutside014.jpg


BunfatherVideosandpics007.jpg


April42007b.jpg



I also realize that part of getting those great photos - is the after-photo part where you "enhance" the photos. But I suspect that will be another thread for later.


 
Whether you go for a Nikon or a Canon DSLR is more a matter of personal preference than anything else. They're equal in quality, but once you get into a line you tend to stick there, especially if you start accumulating lenses and accessories.

Most of the time, all of the cameras in a given brand will share a design philosophy, so if you're familiar with, say the Nikon D3000, you could move up to a D90 or D300 (or, if you win the lottery, a D3S), and just start using the better camera. It becomes just a matter of figuring out the new features rather than learning a whole new system.

The best approach is to find a camera store who will let you try both brands, and see which better fits you. I find Nikon's menu systems to be very intuitive, others prefer Canon. Personally, I've never found an Olympus digital I could use without looking at the book.

As I've said before, I like Nikon and have used their cameras for 30+ years, so my advice will be limited to their models.

The entry-level Nikon DSLR is the D3000, which uses Nikon's smallest, lightest body. You can get a nice "kit" of the camera with one or two lenses for the low end of your range - say $650, plus or minus. Usually it comes with an 18-55mm zoom, and the two-lens kit adds a 55-200mm. (See my thread on focal lengths in the Camera Corner forum for explanations of focal length). The D3000 (or the slightly more expensive D5000, which adds a movie mode I wouldn't use) has two drawbacks in my estimation - you can only use lenses with focus motors in them, which limits your choice to some degree (while Nikon's latest consumer lenses tend to have motors, most Nikon older and "pro" lenses lack the motor, and many aftermarket lenses do, as well), and they lack an LCD readout for camera settings on the top of the camera, so you have to run the big display on the back to see how the camera is set.

The next level up is the D90. It uses the next larger body style which has the camera-top LCD. The D90 will work with all Nikon lenses which have the built-in CPU. That means that you can use any autofocus Nikon lens, and most third-party lenses as well (Tokina, Tamron, Sigma). The D90 with an 18-105mm zoom would be toward the top of your range in price.

From there, you'd go up to the D300, which I have (the current version is the D300s). That's much more expensive (about $1,200 for the body alone), but it's a much heavier-duty, larger body, with features oriented to the serious amateur or lower-tier professional. The autofocus is better (51 focus points) and faster, the internal processing is better and faster, and there are a number of nice extras like programmable buttons, etc. It can use almost any Nikon lens made since the late 1970's, including fully manual lenses. After that, double the price for the full-frame D700, and double it again for the top of the line D3s.

For detailed reviews and comparisons of the Nikon DSLRs, see Ken Rockwell's website.

As to books, Ken Rockwell has downloadable guides to most of the current Nikon DSLR's which explain the features very well. For more basic stuff there are "dummies" books, but I don't think you can beat Andreas Feininger's "The Creative Photographer", which was written back in the 50's or 60's.

And, of course, there's always the Rabbits Online Camera Corner for any questions about apertures and suchlike stuff.
 
Oh, Peg, just in the last 2-3 weeks I was repeatedly being floored by the deals going on for the Nikon D5000. 2 lens kits were going for about $600, brand new. For that price I've typically only seen the D5000 body + 1 zoom lens, and that was already on sale.

I check techbargains.com in the Cameras section to see if there are any deals. Entry level DSLR deals are hard to come by because most people find deals on point-and-shoots. But when they do go on sale it's usually pretty phenomenal!

What I will say is, since you take a lot of photos before taking a "good one", a DSLR will allow you to very quickly snap lots of pictures. I love that! :biggrin:
 
I live 3 hours from any camera store. I can look at the ones in Walmart to get a feel for them...but any sort of Best Buy / Camera store, etc. - minimum 3 hour drive (about 200 miles).

At least I'm not in my son's town...he's 60 miles from Walmart!
 
TinysMom wrote:
I can look at the ones in Walmart to get a feel for them...
Click to expand...
That would have to do, then. They should have the entry level DSLRs from Nikon and Canon.

The other suggestion is to see what your friends have that you can try out - that's how I got into Nikon in the first place. My friends had Nikons, and that let me borrow lenses and whatnot, so Nikon was the way to go.
 
Yeah, the reason I have a canon is that my brother had canons. I used his, and then bought his XTi off of him when he upgraded to the T2i.
 
I don't have any friends into cameras - so I'm sorta an oddball in that factor.

For those who have used both Nikon and Canon - any input on what you liked and/or disliked about them both?

And what would be the smallest "aka cheapest" camera you would go with - like at what point is it worth it to cough up the extra $100 - $200 to get something nicer.
 
I am a Nikon man, as I grew up using Nikons. I would love to get the Nikon D3S (almost) but am waitingto see what Nikon will come out with in August. If you can wait, theNikon D90should come down in price if it is replaced by a new model. The Nikon D3S is the ultimate sports/action, low light camera.

Other people do haveCanons. You might want to check out Sonys (a new player in the DSLR) as an alternate brand, as they will have a lower price point.

Choose which camerafeels good to you. Hold them in your hands and see how the controls fit you.You can learn to useeach brand and they will have their own advantages.
I have no problems carrying a heavy camera with a motor drive and large zoom lens. And I prefer the build and quality of a Nikon.
 
Pet_Bunny wrote:
You might want to check out Sony (a new player in the DSLR) as an alternate brand, as they will have a lower price point.
Click to expand...
Actually, although the Sony brand is new to DSLR, the cameras are Konica/Minolta, a merger of two companies who made SLR's for years. Konica and Minolta got together to make DLSR's a few years ago, and then Sony bought them last year.

I'd still stick with Nikon or Canon, as there is a much wider range of lenses and accessories both from the manufacturers and from third parties. If a third party makes lenses in only a few mounts (as most do), those mounts are Canon and Nikon.
 
TinysMom wrote:
I don't have any friends into cameras - so I'm sorta an oddball in that factor.

For those who have used both Nikon and Canon - any input on what you liked and/or disliked about them both?

And what would be the smallest "aka cheapest" camera you would go with - like at what point is it worth it to cough up the extra $100 - $200 to get something nicer.
Click to expand...

Peg, I am a kind of smaller woman with small hands, and I felt like the entry level Nikons felt more sturdy. The plastic that the body is made of has a little more grip, and I do have butterfingers! The body felt slightly smaller and steadier in my hands than the Canon.

I was fiercely debating with myself among the Nikon D3000, D5000 and D90. After a few weeks of price research, I went with the D5000 but to be quite honest, I would have been perfectly happy with the D3000 as well as a camera. The D90 is somewhat of a different animal, at a nice entry-level price but more pricey than both D5000 and D3000.

I'll say that if you don't care for movie mode in your DSLR, you might as well get the D3000 if you decide to go entry-level Nikon. The Live Mode/movie mode on the D5000 is frustrating to use, super slow.
 
Oh man......I looked at the cameras tonight at Walmart. I'm in love with the Nikon D5000. Of course - they didn't have the two others.

I feel like the D90 is out of my price range....and from what I've read the D3000 isn't as good as the D5000.

Now to watch for the prices to start dropping - in August? First week? Last Week?

How long do I have to sit here drooling over this?

And not spend my money while waiting????
 
TinysMom wrote:
....and from what I've read the D3000 isn't as good as the D5000.
Click to expand...
Ken Rockwell seems to think the D5000 is a pretty good camera. It's got the same image sensor as my D300, so the image quality should be very good. I suspect you'd be very happy with it.

I don't know about waiting for the price to drop. Nikon doesn't usually do that, they'll just introduce a new camera in a few years with more features at the same price point. The D5000 came out last year, so I wouldn't expect it to be replaced until next year or the year after.

In the meanwhile, you could be out using the camera and having fun!
 
I'm getting the feeling that the D90 is too far above me and while the D5000 is gonna be a big stretch from my point and shoot....it is more of an entry-level that I could handle.

Now to wait for the prices to drop....
 
If I remember correctly, the censor on the D5000 is better than the 3000, but I believe Mike advised me when I was pondering my purchase that it wouldn't be a very visible difference. The MP count is higher on the D5000 but again, MP simply doesn't matter much when you get into the 8MP+ level unless you're thinking about printing mega blowups.

The D5000's major leg up for me was the existence of the Live Mode. With the D3000 apparently there's no way to see what you are "shooting" with the LCD screen (though I believe it does display the pic on playback). I thought having Live mode would really help me since I am used to point-and-shoot digital cameras and am used to seeing the subject through a screen. Big mistake. The Live Mode is virtually unusable for taking pics of moving objects (like rabbits!). When in live mode, the camera's auto-focus is so incredibly slow that the bun has come and gone by the time the camera is ready to take the shot. I'm not talking about slight lag. I'm talking about 3-5 seconds to autofocus every shot, no matter how good the lighting is. I have *completely* given up using Live Mode and now use the viewfinder like a good photographer should LOL! AF is fast and painless with the traditional viewfinder.

Shooting HD quality movie clips with the D5000 is something that you can do but I seldom do because the unit is just so heavy that it doesn't lend itself very well to moving around and shooting a steady clip.

The 5000 also has the swiveling LCD screen for you to easily shoot at weird angles (useful on a tripod).

All that said, I don't regret buying the D5000 over the 3000 because I still like to have the option to use Live Mode and movie clips, but would you pay the extra $200 or so to move up from the 3000 to the 5000 -- that's a question you should ask yourself. Touch-and-feel-wise, I felt the 3000 and 5000 were about the same. The 3000 may be slightly lighter.
 
Pet_Bunny wrote:
I am a Nikon man, as I grew up using Nikons. I would love to get the Nikon D3S (almost) but am waitingto see what Nikon will come out with in August. If you can wait, theNikon D90should come down in price if it is replaced by a new model. The Nikon D3S is the ultimate sports/action, low light camera.

Other people do haveCanons. You might want to check out Sonys (a new player in the DSLR) as an alternate brand, as they will have a lower price point.

Choose which camerafeels good to you. Hold them in your hands and see how the controls fit you.You can learn to useeach brand and they will have their own advantages.
I have no problems carrying a heavy camera with a motor drive and large zoom lens. And I prefer the build and quality of a Nikon.
Click to expand...
I knew someone had mentioned the price dropping - but in my wee little mind - I was thinking it was the price of the D5000.

oh well....maybe I'll see where I can find the best deal - I'm thinking the two lens kit is generally the best deal - right?


 
The prices I'm looking at are so high - I don't think I've ever gone over $250 or so for a camera - maybe I have.

The thing is - this is sorta my combination 31st anniversary/ 50th birthday present.

So I really want something that will be NICE and that I could enjoy.

But then part of me keeps wimping out and going, "just go practice with the camera you have and be happy...".
 
Coming from someone also new to DSLRs and not a professional...

Personally, 5 lenses sounds like a LOT of lenses for someone new to DSLRs. Between my brother and I we have three. One telephoto, which is his, and two others, one is 50-128 I think and the other is something like 28-100 (I'm certain those numbers are off though). He's deciding which of the two wider lenses I'll keep, then I'll add to my collection from there.

I really like the polarizers, especially when taking pictures with water in them.
We have several of those "mini travel tripods" lying around. They're about 5 inches tall and will not support a DSLR. They will hold up a light point and shoot, but basically they're of no use.

I don't know much about Nikon lenses, so I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in, but in my experience, those kits with lenses often come with pretty cheap lenses, and you really want to invest in your lenses, because should you upgrade your camera body later, you've still got that whole army of lenses.
 
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