Looking to buy SLR camera - opinions appreciated
 

Okay, so here within the next month and a half or two I'll probably be buying an SLR camera FINALLY. But I'm torn between the XTI and D40. Please don't vote unless you know something about photography.

Thanks guys/gals

I'm going to say D40 out of experience with one, all of my friends with DSLRs all have nikons and I think they're a great, easy to learn camera.

Nikon hands down, all are great but nikon is very user friendly as welll... w/e money allows, 40, 60, 80,90 if u want to save money either get a 40 or 80 b/c they do the same as the next model pretty much

I have a D60 and I love it. The pictures it takes is incredible.

That being said, the D40 is almost the same exact camera so I would wholeheartedly recommend it.

Ive got a Canon XT and like it a lot, no complaints. Id love to upgrade to the Canon 40D.

Canon rebel. To be quite honest, the sensor in the rebel is a step above the nikon. The rebel has a great user-friendly interface, and it shoots faster than the nikon.

canon, it's what I use(well the xt is) and I love it. And in comparison of xt vs d40 the xt has more features than the nikon and in my opinion is a great DSLR to learn with.

Nikon is a great camera, but all of my photography buddies absolutely love Canon's. From what I understand the Canon cameras are a bit more professional and supposedly have a little more versatility. (keep in mind this isn't from first hand use, but from my friends comments.)

i have used a cannon for several years, and love it...
my friend also has a cannon, and they are incredible.
the guy that is our teams professional photographer recommends cannon also.. plus you can use some of the Nikon lenses and accessories with the cannon to have more fun...

That makes no sense whatsoever. Please explain. lol

Here is a link explaining canon vs nikon:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/nikon-vs-canon.htm

Summary: Nikon and Canon are as good as each other. Each are multi-billion dollar optical companies who have been making some of the world's best optics for numerous consumer, military and industrial applications for decades and decades.

Nikon.

Forget the more expencive Canon, the extra features it has are not really anything to pay more money for, with 6.1mp you can print 11x17in pics with no hint of pixelization. Plus with the money saved you can also get a 55-200m vr lens.

Nikons have superior metering capabilities. I have one and it never ceases to amaze me how well it performs.

Also, a Nikon D40 can take just as good of a photograph as a Nikon D80

Either way you are going to be pleased, i have a friend with a Canon and he gets excellent shots.


Also, sign up for a class or something. Check around see if any local camera stores are doing workshops. The best camera in the world is still useless if the person does not know how to operate it.

I dunno. I have a Rebel XT and the fucking aperture is useless. I'm very pissed.

+1 on the class suggestion bro. My wife signed up for digital photography class at our local tech school. She starts this week and we have a Lumix DMC-FZ20, 5 megapixels ( which at the time we bought it was almost all you could get for a $500 camera). But we still find ourselves looking at the Cannon rebel, and the Nikon D-60/ D-90. There getting cheaper.

You can get a D-90 and extra 300 zoom lense package for a pretty good price. but we will wait to see if it will go under a grand for that.. 12 megapixels would be nice IMHO..:smokin:

I voted for the Nikon D40 for two reasons; 1) The pics and talk about it from Jack TheRipper. 2) I bought one for my wife for Christmas, and we both absolutely love it.

I guess a pic really is worth a thousand words.

Here are a couple Nikon D40 pics with the Kit lens.

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I love my Sony A100 DSLR. Sony has started to make some good DSLRs. The price is very good and I've had good luck with it so far.

The Nikon D40's are the easiest SLR for beginners. I think they are easier to figure out than Canons and the ergonomics of Nikon's are much better than Canon. Canon may have a little better chip, but to the naked eye you will never notice a difference between the two. The d40 will probably be a bit more compact in size as well. It is a small body for an slr camera which helps make it more portable than bigger slr's. I say go with the d40. Good pictures start with knowing how to use the functions on the camera, not how many megapixels it is, just remember that. Do some research, learn how to use whatever camera you chose. You can have a 6,000 dollar camera, but if you don't know how to use it, I will own you with a 100 dollar point and shoot :)

I have shot with both cameras, but I have bids up to win a Nikon d40x and d200. I currently have a fujifilm slr and am going to try out Nikon after hearing lots of good stuff about them.

Very true. These can be used as P&S cameras, they are also full of enough potential for any other kinf of pro-work out there, with exception of high speed action shots as the burst mode only cranks out 2.5 pics per second.

I see many photogs in forums that just rave about the D40 because it is so easy to use, it is a featherweight compared to other DSLR cameras, and they find themselves buying a D40 just as a backup camera body then find themselves using it more than thier higher end camera unless specific conditions require something with better ISO or a faster burst mode.

A LOT of what i see for the more expencive cameras is the ability to high lower light situations with less noise and the ability to crank out 8 pics per second for those sports shooters. The pic quality of the D40 is every bit as good as the much higher priced D90, however the D90 has 8fps and can shoot beautifully at an insane 6400 iso.

Very True. Canon and Nikon are really on the same playing field. While canon uses a superior chip there is nothing wrong with the Nikons. Also, the Nikon has better metering than the Canons do and thier flash system is superior and less expencive than the equal counterparts in the canon lineup.

its like comparing Mustangs and Camaros. lol. They have thier trade-offs


Also, when looking for a camera the LENS is what REALLY makes a difference.

I appreciate the opinions guys, keep 'em coming

my vote goes for Nikon D40 if yer on a budget.

If you can afford a bit more, try to find a Nikon D80 body and get a decent lens for it.

what is your price range?

I've been bidding on gently used d80's with lenses. Keep getting outbid at last minute. I'm gonna keep trying till I get one though :)

Well there isn't much of a price range actually...just changes when I'd be able to get one. The thing here at my college is that on my loan they're paying me $360/mo on top of paying for my dorm to help me with living expenses. Good thing is that before I came up here to Laramie, I put enough money away to pay for my car for an entire year and still give me enough living money for months. So I play on using one whole months check at least (duh, like $360 will buy me an SLR...seriously)....so maybe anywhere between $500-$700. I'm sure I could afford more, but I'd like some fun money because Laramie, Wyoming sucks. There is nothing to do here, seriously. So having some extra money might help me buy a skydiving ticket or something fun like that...

Go with the D40, then.

Definalty. Get the D40.

Also grab a Nikon 55-200mm AF-S lens, you can buy the VR (vibration reduction) version online for about 150 or so. Sometimes you see package deals with the D40 + 18-55mm lens + 55-200mm lens.

that is the setup i have and i love it.


Be CAREFUL when buying online if you choose to buy online. Anytime you see a bargain that looks like a killer deal forget about it. lol. There are a LOT of online photo stores that operate out of brooklyn that are run by assholes who try to sell you "grey market" cameras.

"Grey market" cameras are not US Nikon cameras, they are the same cameras but the warranty is no good in the US, plus the instructions and everything are not in english.

They will also tell you that you need filters (nope) and the battery sucks so you need batterys (nikon batterry is good for like 800 shots) and they will feed you all kinds of bullshit trying to Up-Sell you like crazy. Then when you DONT agree to buy all the other stuff THEN they tell you the camera is a Grey Market camera, and ask if you want the U.S. Version for an extra $200 bucks(even though the one you ordered on thier website specifically said it is a US Nikon camera with 1 year US nikon warranty)

they are fucking criminals to the extreme. False advetizing assholes.

Stick to reputable sites like Adorama( they sell grey market stuff but they list it as grey market online), Wolf Camera, B&Photo, and such.

you should be able to get a Nikon D40 + the 55-200mm lens for roughly 500 bucks.

Oh yeah, look on Amazon.com for batteries. They EL-9 batteries from Nikon are 50 bucks each. There is a shop on Amazon.com caller cheapbatteris or batteriesforless that sell the exact same batters for 2-3 bucks each. lol. i bought 2 and they work great.

And do yourself a favor and get an SD Extreme III card. a 4g card will give you over 1,100 photos at the highest jpeg quality. Dont buy from circut city or best buy or you will pay WAY too much. Buy from amazon and save a fortune.

I definitely like the D40 from what I've seen. Thing is, I think it might be "too easy" for me, if that makes sense. My brother is a freelance photographer and has a Rebel XTI and he loves it and it's made him quite a bit of money. I'm just wondering specifically what are some of the differences other than ease of use between the D40 and XTI because I'm not looking for a fast, easy pictures that look good. If I'm going to pay that much money, I want to get the best bang for the buck.

the nikon is definately nice, but my vote still goes with the canon. It's not like it's not user friendly or truly huge and bulky, its still fairly compact. I had used nothing but point and shoots up to the point I got my xt and it took my less than a few days to figure out all the menu's and buttons and that was with just going out and playing with it. Furthermore I started out just using it where it set the parameters and I just adjusted focus and zoom, and now I have been venturing into full M mode, where I set up every aspect of the shot, so it's a great camera to learn on and is very easy.
Here are a few sample shots, nothing real special. Some are slightly touched up(brightness/contrast) and some are just out of the camera. As you can see it will capture incredible detail and can be used in a variety of situations for capturing different shots.
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...x/IMG_0449.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...x/IMG_0444.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...x/IMG_0095.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...x/IMG_0448.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...ix/lizard1.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...angvsix/F1.jpg
http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...bra%202/11.jpg

Its easy if you want good pics, if you want great pics like any other DSLR you will have to learn how to use it. The automatic modes produce better pics than any P&S, however once you figure out to use the camera you will find yourself never relying on the other modes.

Tyhe Nikon D40 IS a relativly easy camera to work. It is very easy to make changes on the fly.
With the 2way mine is setup, i can cane flashmodes, White Balance, Exposure, and Autofocus system without taking my eye from the viewfinder. I have to go into the menu to change ISO (normally i leave it on auto it does a real good job)

If that is what you are worried about, well.... what would you rather do, have a $450 camera that is easy to work with and get the changes made? or a $3,000 camera that is clkunky to operate and by the time you get the settings done the moment for the pic is gone?

The Canon has a CMOS chip, which means better low light pics. It is a better sensor over the Nikon D40's CCD sensor, but not so much better that you could actually see a difference. In fact, it can take the exact same quality of pics as the much more expencive Nikon D80.

Nikon really hit a home run with the D40. it is defaintly not the end-all camera by any means by it performs with other cameras from other brands in the $1000 price range.


If you like and trust the Canon Rebel, you certainly will get a fantastic camera. I dont feel the Canon has much over the Nikon when it comes to results, and i am a big fan of Nikons lighting systems.


Here i think is going to be your BEST advise on this.

Dont look at it as a Canon Camera, or a Nikon Camera. The camera BODY is one of the less important parts of the entire System. Remember, you can always buy a different camera body further down the road, and everything you have will be compatibly with the new camera body.

Look at the whole product range, look at what types of lenses you will be interested in buying, take a look at the flash systems (nikons CLS is awesome) and think about the typee of photography you will be wanting to do.

The Cammera itself is just a small part of a whole "Photography System". The Nikon System really seemed to nail it on the head for what im interested in. I am building a studio in the spare room of my masement and plan to learn how to use dramatic forms of lighting (see the sock monkey pic) and the Nikons CLS Lighting system to me is better than what canon has to offer and it is less expencive.

If you plan to do a lot of lower light shooting, the Canon's CMOS sensor is defaintly a big hit.

I am a huge proponent of the Nikon system,. i think the D40 is about the best camera you can buy for the price hands down. It is easy to use but that does not mean it is a simple camera, it just means it is very intuitive to figure out and in no time you will be shooting in A, S, or M mode almost consistantly and never messing with the other modes.

just pulled the trigger on a D60 last night for $400 shipped.

I love that camera :D

Nice! :D