Which DSLR

[bolide]

Nikon makes an 18-200 VR Zoom that has had great reviews. Just add the appropriate Nikon body to get near your budget (or perhaps spend a lot less) and I think you'll be happy

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[laf]

I'm a Happy Canon myself with a 40D so I would vote for the 50D without question.

Apart from my nifty fifty lense, I go for L series only now as the quality of these are enough to justify the cost.

 

[Niks]

I think more than ever it's about the photographer. There are so many images being generated now and the kit is so good in general that its down to the eye and brain of the person pushing the shutter button and processing with Photoshop.

I totally agree with that. If your really getting into it and want to be recognised, its all down to creativity, imagination and how you can make the camera work for you to make you achieve what you visualise.

I can only speak for myself but when I started out, I was moreless "finding" myself by trying out different types of photography but as the months and years go by, you end up liking some and not others. For example, some people like shooting weddings and sports, some hate it and end up taking a liking to landscapes. I ended up having a keen interest in landscape, night photography and a little of macro photography in the end.

This narrows down your choice of equipment available to you, so you end up purchasing something that works for you and what your interested in rather than steering towards what everyone else has. What works for them, may not work for you.

 

[RoseTattoo]

I think Niks (or should that be Dryce) has it right - most of it is down to you. Everybody now is going vibration reduction zoom and so I am going the other way. I have sold my 18-200 VR and bought a couple of primes with 1.4 and F2 maximum aperture. These completely override the need for F5.6 VR. Digital sensors give the capability to experiment much more as you can see results immediately and so I am experimenting in different conditions with different light or lack of light looking for various effects. Thus my photography is going more esoteric, especially when I get home and can start the post processing. Whereas at one time I defaulted to the auto focus and auto exposure, almost everything I do now is manual. I get a lot of wasted shots but that is the nature of experimentation.
Incidentally Ken Rockwell (www.kenrockwell.com) is pushing the use of film and HD scans. Although a lot of people dismiss Ken, he has a point and as someone who has a whole pile of film cameras I sometimes would like to get more use out of them.
Much of my work ends up as black and white on my HP B9180 printer. I particularly like the effect of HP's Smooth Fine Art paper.

 

[BTB 500]

In my 35mm days I never went anywhere without a camera bag containing 2 or 3 bodies, a load of prime lenses from 17mm to 400mm (my favourite was a razor sharp 180 F2.5), flash heads, TTL cords, filters, motor drive, etc.

Now I travel light with the EOS 20D plus 17-85 IS, which is a fraction of the bulk & weight. The only other lens I own is the 70-200 F4 L (for action shots), and the only accessory a cable shutter release (I kept a monopod and a couple of tripods from the 'old days').

My old kit was better (more flexible), but the new is much more convenient. Swings & roundabouts!

 

[RoseTattoo]

Only down side is the white lens draw attention and you get people staring at you as its less discrete! one guy made a comment to me "it looks like a mini rocket launcher!"

Niks

I was once attacked by a woman as I was taking a photo across a river of a cityscape with my big old Pentacon. For no reason at all she accused me of using a telphoto lens to photograph women (it was a wide angle fish-eye and any women in the shot were complete miniatures). I offered her a look through the viewfinder but she declined. She started to get violent and there was not a lot I could do. Thankfully my wife called and I told her what was happening and I asked her to call the Police. At this the woman walked off but continued hurling abuse. You could tell from the looks of passers by that it was me who was judged to be the aggressor and her the victim. I understand from other photographers that this type of incident is becoming more common.

 

[andrewcliffe]

Yes, as soon as you have a camera around your neck, you're either a paedophile or a terrorist! Its ridiculous!

 

[BTB 500]

I was stopped by the police in London for carrying a monopod. Not sure whether they thought it was a gun or a baton, but they were happy after a quick look in my camera bag. My initial explanation of "it's like a one-legged tripod" was met with considerable suspicion!

 

[crockers]

Well many thanks for all your input - today I took the plunge and bought a Nikon D90 with the 18-200 VR lens....it felt better in my hands than the Canon - so I hope I have made the right decision....

Nice sunny week ahead - so will be out playing with my new toy....

Thanks once again..

 

[Niks]

I was once attacked by a woman as I was taking a photo across a river of a cityscape with my big old Pentacon. For no reason at all she accused me of using a telphoto lens to photograph women (it was a wide angle fish-eye and any women in the shot were complete miniatures). I offered her a look through the viewfinder but she declined. She started to get violent and there was not a lot I could do. Thankfully my wife called and I told her what was happening and I asked her to call the Police. At this the woman walked off but continued hurling abuse. You could tell from the looks of passers by that it was me who was judged to be the aggressor and her the victim. I understand from other photographers that this type of incident is becoming more common.

Worst one for me was whilst I was at heathrow airport taking pictures of planes landing. It was a sporadic moment but I was really excited as to how close the planes were to me when landing standing from the perimeter road barriers. I completely forgot about asking for permission and I ended up wondering into one of the car parks to get real close clean shots of these beauties landing.

I could see in the distance a cathay pacific 747-400 was coming into land and I really wanted to snap it close up. This lady then approaches me and asks what I am doing, and I tell her im just photographing planes landing. She then walks off looking a bit concerned. As this 747 is coming closer, which seemed about 5 mins later... I hear a bunch of sirens in the background getting louder. Next thing I know, 3 police cars (2 BMW 5 Series and one Land Rover) comes roaring with blazing sirens towards me!!!!! They got out telling me to stand still and not move...Needless to say i got searched head to toe and even had to prove from the photos I had already taken that I was actually taking pictures of the plane itself and no buildings!

Talk about a hair raising moment!

 

[crockers]

Yes those air to ground Cannons are a devil.......oops Canons..

 

[fyonn]

Well many thanks for all your input - today I took the plunge and bought a Nikon D90 with the 18-200 VR lens....it felt better in my hands than the Canon - so I hope I have made the right decision....

Nice sunny week ahead - so will be out playing with my new toy....

Thanks once again..

great, I'm sure you'll love it. I've just upgraded from my old D50 to a shiny new D300

 

[tudu]

Well many thanks for all your input - today I took the plunge and bought a Nikon D90 with the 18-200 VR lens....it felt better in my hands than the Canon - so I hope I have made the right decision....

Nice sunny week ahead - so will be out playing with my new toy....

Thanks once again..

Well done. I'm going to stick with the K20D for a while getting used to using a semi-pro camera, then will probably look at a Nikon.

Let us know how you get on with it.

 

[RoseTattoo]

Well done. I'm going to stick with the K20D for a while getting used to using a semi-pro camera, then will probably look at a Nikon.
.

I took a look at the K20D last weekend. Fine camera. Remember that Asahi Pentax were probably the initiators of the SLR movement and their lenses defined the standard for some time. They certainly haven't deteriorated since then. Nikon took over as the 'pro' system but Pentax was always in the frame. Canon made all the running in digital until Nikon recently started putting a lot more thought into how to produce quality systems that could be marketed. If I had to pick one besides Canon and Nikon that had the pedigree to make it back to the top it would be Pentax.
I am now using a D700 and I have a couple of zooms but I am picking up older primes for a song and getting some good interesting results. They force me into manual and manual focus modes and this makes me think more. There are two sides to this argument; one that says as I just did and the other taht says the automation frees you to concentrate on teh artistic aspect and getting the shot. Perhaps a bit of both is called for. I am also looking at how I can get some non-standard lenses on the camera ( I have a large collection of camears and lenses); Schneiders from a Linhof and one lens about a 100 years old from an old wooden field camera.
BTW here's a link to some Pentax info on PhotoNet, an excellent site:
http://photo.net/equipment/pentax/

 

[crockers]

Well done. I'm going to stick with the K20D for a while getting used to using a semi-pro camera, then will probably look at a Nikon.

Let us know how you get on with it.

Damn manual is so long.......so just snapping in auto mode at the moment...will spend some time reading it later..

 

[Parrotman]

Well many thanks for all your input - today I took the plunge and bought a Nikon D90 with the 18-200 VR lens....it felt better in my hands than the Canon - so I hope I have made the right decision....

Nice sunny week ahead - so will be out playing with my new toy....

Thanks once again..

Welcome to the Nikon club. Have a look at www.nikoncafe.com. If you need any help you'll find it there. Great Bunch.

You've bought at the right time. Lenses have already started to go up in price with cameras' about to follow suit.

Unfortunately, if you suffer from MB lust then after a short period of time you'll be suffering also from lens lust, hankering after those 2.8 lenses.

John

 

[RoseTattoo]

Nikoncafe looks useful and I have added it to my favourites. Thanks, Parrotman.