Need gift ideas for an entry level DSLR camera
 

I'm not a camera expert, so any input would be great!

This would be used for general amateur photography (nature, family, buildings, etc...). At first I was looking at models with fixed lenses since you get 10x zoom on the cheap, but now I am thinking a mid-range DSLR is the way to go. (can someome tell why point and shoot zooms cost so much less? Do the interchangable lenses retain better quality at full zoom?)

I'm leaning towards the Nikon D40... 6MP w/ 55mm lens for a little over $500 at Circuit City, or $650 with a 200mm also.

What about the Nikon D40x, I guess the only differance is 10MP? That's about $200 more. Do you think the ability to crop with better results is worth that?

The Canon Rebel XTi 10MP w/ 55mm is $700. Again, more than the D40, but if the quality is going to be better I am open to it.

You can't go wrong with either of Nikon or Canon. For what you say it will be used for, any of those should work.

I prefer Canon for my digital cameras as far as the picture quality but I prefer the feel of a Nikon.

I've been watching some of these model and photography based reality shows and have not seen one single Nikon being used. Mostly Canon and a few medium format cameras but no Nikons. Not really sure why that is but if it's good enough to be seen with that many high end pro shooters then it is good enough for me.

Serious Business :)

The best thing to do is look at lenses first.

You need to get the best you can afford.

Then look for a body.

While tjhe body may last a few years of regular use, the lense should last longer.

There are basicly two types of dlsr's.. these are full frame chips and smaller chips. for web use i am not sure its worth the extra cost unless you can afford it. if you plan on prining them say in a magazine the full frame is probablly better.

rebel is nice

if you want an entry slr rebel (its the 400d here make sure you get the latest version) is not bad at all, repair policy on a rebel is so so imho but if youre not shooting 100k pics a year then thats np

Iv got a Nikon D50 with 28-55, 70-300 and im very happy with it as an amateur shooter. The D40/x is too small for my hands. The D80 is the smaller then the D50, but the D200 is nice and solid.
Im looking forward to getting a D300 soon. :)

100k a year?

I probably shoot 2.5 times that each year. Finally wore out one 20D and it cost me $216 or so to have it repaired by Canon.

Weve got a studio in Prague, Canon CZ sucks. They returned our 10D which we used with a est of $900, so we got a 30D now. 10D was already repaired twice and it took like 2 months, wouldnt surprise me if they send it to Germany or so.

What was that 216? Shutter stuck as well?

It's important to bear in mind that the sensor in a low end DSLR can probably resolve more detail than the kit lenses typically supplied with them. No one is saying that you have to fork out for the pro lenses from day 1, but perhaps think twice before building up a set of cheap lenses.

Compact zooms are cheaper because their sensors are smaller (which also simplifies the lenses). DSLRs have larger sensors which usually means better sensitivity and/or less noise.

I honestly don't know WTF the issue was...It was giving strange error codes so I dropped it off at Calumet and they shipped it to Canon for repair.

As for the 10D......That should have been retired to the shelf as a backup and replaced a few years ago.

That's what I do.

Hmm... if you're producing a fair amount of content then a camera body would almost be a consumable? $1k to continue production rather than waiting for a repair seems cheap in that case. :upsidedow

yeah we still got the 10d sometimes its ok but most of the times its the shutter half in the pic like one half being black, Ive seen that lots on Rebels too.

Cant complain though we used that cam over and over. Photographer wanted a 5d showed me the pics but I said nah. Nuts. He always gets the really really expensive lenses as well. Im just an amat photographer but imho a surfer doesnt give shit if a pic is taken with a 30d or 5d. Maybe Im wrong.

While point and shoots do have dslr megapixels nowadays they are trying to cram all that info on a very small sensor, often 2/3rds the size of a dslr's sensor. Almost everything else is inferior too, from the optics to the write speed.

As said allanuk, have a look at the ranges of lens that each company offers and provided all equal with the other features (or near enough) go with that companies body.

The lens is a more important component of a camera, not the body. I mean try and get the same DOF with a POS as you can with a dslr and a 1.2 lens lol.

we didnt wait the next day we bought the 30d cant wait when you shoot every week, you know how models are they flake as hell, you ask them monday and they turn up friday 11pm, you cant say hey my cam is in repair. So we got the 30d and its nice, pics are nice n crispy. Better colors imho.

Nah, not wrong at all - surfers would have no clue which camera shot the photo.

There was one guy on here complaining that the Rebel was crap because he kept buying them and they kept dying, then it came out that he was shooting 20,000 pics a week. :1orglaugh Even the 1 series shutter until recently was only rated for something like 100k-150k shots... shooting on a consumer cam at that rate he'd be lucky to have it last a couple of weeks.

I do think the 30D has a nicer and crispier touch to the pics, stunned me when I saw the first pics. But a 5D is just overkill imho for surfer pics.