Expert opinon?

spuddy

Taking the plunge and buying my first dSLR :-)
But, what to buy?

After spending about €50 in Easons on mags and scouring the internet I've made a short list. In the running are (all with kit lenses):

• Nikon D80
• Canon 400D
• Nikon D40/X
• Pentax K10D

Each has their own strengths and weaknesses & TBH, based on what I'd read, the Canon clearly looked like the best option (price/feature/quality) UNTIL I held one yesterday in a camera shop... I just didn't find it comfortable.

I think the D80 is overkill for a novice like me, I also find it a bit bulky. While I've read good reviews about the Pentax, I'm not sure about it, it seems more closely matched to the D80, but Nikon/Canon seem to command the most respect in this category, has anyone got the Pentax?

This kind of leads me back to the D40/X. If I go for the D40 model, although it has only 6 megapixels, the reviews I've read suggest if anything, the picture quality is better than the X model, the kit lens has also had better reviews than the Canon, it's also it's now considerably cheaper than all the others. The only disadvantage is having to stick with AF-S/AF-I lenses in the future, is this really going to be a big disadvantage?

I suppose my question boils down to if I'm making a mistake buying the Nikon D40 over the Canon 400D?

City-Exile

400D is a great design, because you can actually hold in one hand and take pictures. It might take some getting used to, if you haven't used a Canon before, but after a few hours, it will feel as natural as anything.

It's compact & solid, with all the style of you'd normally associate with Canon.
But, if it's not your thing, it's not your thing.

Fajitas!

Comfort is what matters really.

I really don't like the D40 though.

If you wanted to get the Canon, you could always get a battery grip to go with it, changes the camera.

The Pentax is a really nice camera. Out of that list, since you don't like the Canon, I'd be going Pentax.

pete4130

The D80 would be a far superior camera t othe D40/x for sure but like you said it might be a bit overkill for you at this stage. You could save some money and get smoething else cheaper and when the time comes that you feel you might want to upgrade to something a bit more advanced you'll be able to know what exactly you want.

I personally use Nikon as I went from 35mm Nikon to Nikon digital. Don't buy into the Nikon/Canon debate though. Either brand isn't really all that better than the other even though similar models on each side would have their differences. Nikon has better flash capabilities while Canon would win out on noise/grain at higher ISO's. Again it comes down to what your comfortable with in your hands.

I've heard really good things about the Pentax K10D with regard to build quality and image quality too. I think the only downside to Pentax could be that the selection of lenses wouldn't be as broad as with Canon or Nikon. There would still be all the 3rd party lenses such as Sigma that would work with the K10D though.

You said the Canon didn't feel comfortable in your hands. With time you will instinctively get to know the camera you use. See if you could borrow some cameras (easier said than done!) to get a better feel for them maybe?

Pete.

elven

You're right to try holding them, because as Al says it's comfort that you need to pay most attention to. I know it's an extra cost but a lot of people really like the canon with the battery grip to give it a bit more bulk. The main difference between the Canon & Nikon apart from that is that Nikon have buttons for everything, all over the place, where you might need to use a combination of buttons or select a menu option to do the same thing on a Canon - or the 400D, anyway.

Try not to place too much stock on kit lens quality. You're likely to upgrade your lens within a year or so at least, anyway, so don't let that limit your choice of body.

I'm not sure if anyone round here has a pentax? There are a couple of Olympus users, though, who are very happy with their kit... have you thought of that one?

pete4130

I know a few people (or at least 1 person) has them on another well known Irish photography forum (not sure if I'm allowed mention it or is that breaking rules?) and they said they loved it and the image quality was fantastic. Isn't the K10D dust/weathersealed too?

spuddy

wow fast replies....
It seems there are as many views are there are posters, but I wasn't expecting this to be clear cut

If everyone has heard such good things about the Pentax, why has nobody here bought one?

pete4130, may be you could PM me the link to that site?

Borderfox

I seen the Olympus E400 for €529 in Dixons. In todays Irish Independant

Fajitas!

Because we're already stuck into our Canon and Nikon from older generations pretty much!

I guess the website is www.photographyireland.net - No rules broken with linking to other sites though.

Yeah, the Pentax is dust sealed too afaik.

ladgie353

A friend of mine with no previous lens "baggage" (except MF Olympus) went for the Pentax and is delighted with it.

magicbastarder

Borderfox wrote:

I seen the Olympus E400 for €529 in Dixons. In todays Irish Independant

it's at this price because it's going to be discontinued soon. it's the smallest of the current crop of DSLRs, if their ads are anything to go by - possibly pertinent, if you've found some of the competitors bulky.

pete4130

Fajitas,

Yes, it was the Photogrpahy Ireland site! I wasn't sure if it was againt the rules to link to "rival" forums I'd already sent the PM by the time I saw your post.

I'm pretty sure everyone is a member of both anyway!

Fajitas!

Ah yeah, I don't really think it's seen as a rival forum, just another forum

www.fredmiranda.com has an excellent forum too.

melekalikimaka

d80 is an excellent camera, worth the cash, the lack of motor in the d40 is a serious gripe for me, means that if you try get into photography more, your up poo creek lens wise, as even though there is a huge range of lenses to choose from by nikon, not all are motorised and some are very use specific so you'll miss out at some point EVENTUALLY. Pentax looks mneh, bit like backing a losing horse in the long run. What about a d50/d70s, both seem ideal and are a inbetween 40-80, and cheap as chips

Fajitas!

I wouldn't say it's like backing a losing horse. Pentax are well known for sharp lenses, and there's more than enough of them!

The lack of the motor in the d40, I think, is it's biggest shortfall.

pete4130

I was just joking about it being a rival forum

We're all good friends!

melekalikimaka

i like the forum, just not very light humoured

spuddy

Looks like I'll need another trip to the camera shop to compare the Pentax with the others...

nilhg

Borderfox wrote:

I seen the Olympus E400 for €529 in Dixons. In todays Irish Independant

Be careful of that, it has the 17-45 lens which is a really cut price job. If you were interested in an cheap Oly dslr this would seem to be much better value at less than €440. It is a soon to be discontinued model but a good camera with lots of features.

magicbastarder

don't forget that the lens mount on the olympus is an open standard, too.

Borderfox

Just seemed like a good deal if somebody was starting and didnt want to break the bank, its only being replaced by the E410. Just an option anyway.

amcinroy

You should really take the time to hold them all in your hand and see which one works best for you.

Performance wise they are all very similar.

If you are going with the kit lens then the Pentax one seems to be the best of the bunch. Many have also tested it favourably against the much more expensive 16-45mm DA

Andy

Huggy Bear

If you are thinking of the Pentax K10D, you may as well buy the Samsung GX-10 same camera but €100 cheaper!!!

Pentax and Samsung producted the cameras together ...
Samsung rebadges Pentax K10D as GX-10

Fajitas!

Aye, but afaik, they don't share the same mount...

Huggy Bear

I can only go by the reviews as I don't own one, but here you go ...

"Besides several sharp Schneider-branded kit lenses, the Samsung can of course accept current and past Pentax-mount optics, which is a lot of lenses."

www.popphoto.com

sineadw

Pentax lenses can be a bit thin on the ground I found. Canon and Nikon are the big boys at the moment. I was Pentax with my film and I was always jealous of the range One reason I switched. From all I've heard the Pentax is a great camera. It was that or the Canon for me. I went Canon because I knew more people with one, and I like being fashionable

ThOnda

Fajitas! - What dust?!?!?!????

I have two Pentax film SLRs and I am going to buy K10D after christmas (if I have money to buy it).

Pentax is compatible with all their older lenses. And Pentax lenses belong to the best lenses in the world.

I have found Pentax very comfortable, easy to control and very practical.

Fajitas!

http://www.dcviews.com/lenses/Pentax-lenses.htm

Don't seem to be too bad there tbh (Not being argumentitive)

sineadw

ThOnda wrote:

Pentax lenses belong to the best lenses in the world.

I miss my Asahi 50mm:(

mathias

Pentax are very good , no denying it , and so are Olympus , but if availibility of lens is a concern for you then stick with the Canons or the Nikons ,

Because of their popularity , most shops stock lens for the Canons/Nikons , a specific Olympus / Pentax lens at the moment may be very hard to find in a high street shop , no problem online , but can be extremely difficult to find a shop stocking them.

Most concentrate on Canon /Nikon , and their equivalent Sigma/tamron lens.These are the top sellers.

sineadw

Fajitas! wrote:

http://www.dcviews.com/lenses/Pentax-lenses.htm

Don't seem to be too bad there tbh (Not being argumentitive)

Online is ok, but yep - not in the shops. Especially if you're talking used ones.

Fajitas!

True true, but when do I ever buy camera gear in shops

richieg

I was in the same boat up until a couple of weeks ago and took the plunge. I had a looka t the 400D but didn't like to feel in hand either.
I went to Argos and bought the D40 with 18-55 kit lens, 55-200 telefoto, 1 GB mem card and nikon bag for 800 euro.
Used it last weekend down in fota island wildlife park and must say the pics are miles ahead of my old kodak point and shoot. Being albe to capture animals in flight or moving with no bluring is brilliant.
Colour quality etc are fantastic.
I don't regret shelling out for 1 second.
Battery life is brilliant as well by the way, I still haven't had to put it back on charge

ThOnda

Sineadw: Oh yes. I had it in my hands - Asahi 50mm/1.2. Unbelieavble. However the price was unreachable for me that time. I have 50mm/2 and it's just great. More than 15 years old but better than new set lenses.

By the way - I have found some minilab in the city, so I could have scans from 15 rolls of film on saturday. I hope that there'll be at least 2 pictures suitable for exhibition.

sineadw

Oh mine is the 2 as well! I think mine's 1970 odd? Bought in Sweden last year for about 25 quid. Have to say (sorry!) waaay better than the canon 1.8

I still have those rolls of pro pan 50. I'm getting all misty-eyed here...

ThOnda

I bought that lense with some others and P30 camera last year on e-bay from england for 100 Euro.
I don't know how to find exact age of the lense. Do they have list of production numbers?
My favourite is KODAK BW400CN.

sineadw

Mine's the manual focus one:



Mmmmm.. metal...

Thonda, try http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/lenses/

sorry about the threadery-hijackery

ThOnda

That's the one I have! Lovely lense :-)

melekalikimaka

1.2, bloomin heck, try buy a nikon one of them and your paying a tad more than 25euro

City-Exile

I started out with an EOS 300, then moved to the 300D & subsequently, the 400D.
For me, the 400D is worlds apart!
It's so superior to the 300D, it's like they're from a different manufacturer.
It feels so natural to hold and is so much better balanced than the 300D.

There are little things that I absolutely love about it.
Thankfully, I got the "Black" model, which is so much more cool looking than the silver.

Out of interest, do others that use the 400D prefer to shoot in Monochrome mode or colour, then modify the image later?

TJM

I have the Pentax k100d (v. similar to k10d but 6mp and without the weather sealing). Superb camera with very good low light performance. In body image stabilisation is a godsend. I tried it head to head with the 350d and the Sony Alpha and for me it came out on top. Having said that - all the current crop of dslrs are very capable cameras, and it really comes down to personal preference and what you're going to do with the camera. (But I wouldn't touch the d40/x - lack of inbody af motor is a false economy.)

sionnach

City-Exile wrote:

Out of interest, do others that use the 400D prefer to shoot in Monochrome mode or colour, then modify the image later?

I always shoot in colour then modify later. If you take it in B&W in-camera you're losing tons of information straightaway that you could use to make a better B&W conversion yourself. Have you tried B&W conversion using the channel mixer? You really have to

City-Exile

sionnach wrote:

Have you tried B&W conversion using the channel mixer? You really have to

I rarely use B&W at all.
Most of what I do is football, so colour is preferred.
Have changed some colour images to B&W, but only while messing around on PSE.
Never taken any picture of note, using the Monochrome function.

spuddy

Well I got the new camera!!

Believe me, I changed my mind more times than I can remember now, but I finally made my choice, and in the end it was largely based on the price / specification ratio....

And despite my inital misgiving, I came round full circle and got the Canon 400D. Picked it up here in Swiss for 999chf (€605) and I'll get another €80 back with the current rebates Canon are offering, so €525, not a bad price I think and no need to wait for delivery

City-Exile

You wont regret it. Welcome to our world!

latchiko

Great choice! Best of luck with it.

spuddy

City-Exile wrote:

You wont regret it. Welcome to our world!

Thanks! ...I've got a lot to learn now

Fajitas!

80 quid back?

Buy the 50mm 1.8 on Keaphoto on eBay and you're set!

spuddy

Fajitas! wrote:

80 quid back?

Yep
http://canonlensacc2007.onlinerebates.com/howtoclaim.aspx

Fajitas!

More importantly:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Canon-EF-50mm-f-1-8-f1-8-Mk-II-Lens-NEW-SALE-0U_W0QQitemZ200112942053QQihZ010QQcategoryZ4687QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

There's your 80 quid well spent

City-Exile

I think every Canon SLR user, on this forum, will have that lens.
I bought it from this guy, on Wednesday.