How this Lense would get rated

[Mir96TA]

I am thinking about going in Dslr.
I mostly do point and shooting. I sure like some good results
I have been using my Good'ol faithfull Canon A40.
Right now I have a choice to pick where I want to go.
Either it would be Nikon D80 or some thing. May be Sony
If I have good lense I like to use it.
When I say point and shoot it would be like this
Pic for Shooting I do Sample 1
Sample 2

 

[Jawo]

The Canon A40 was my first digital camera. It served me well, until my parents got me a new one years later. If you enjoy taking candid pictures easily, you might want to look at getting a high end point and shoot like the Canon G9 (~$450) or S5 IS (~$300) or at least the popular and well recommended Canon SD800 IS ($250). It has all the features you could possibly want, and even a hot shoe for an external flash. Both cameras are small can can fit in a shirt pocket so you can carry it anywhere.

dSLRs have gotten drastically cheaper....the cheapest bodies go for less than $400, with lenses starting at $80 and going into the thousands of dollars for the high end. Good lenses are about $200 - $600 each. All dSLRs have automatic modes so anyone can take good pictures. You can get better lenses as you improve and photography grows on you. Theres endless ways to accessorize. Irreguardless of the form factor you would upgrade from 2MP to 8-12MP depending on camera.

With your description, (and without a budget) I would recommend a new point and shoot so you don't have to spend hundreds/thousands to get started.

 

[Mir96TA]

Pic2Let me add I have Minolta 5x1 (35 mm)
I am using more Digital Camara due to Cost factor and eaisyness
I looked into S5 IS almost bought one ......
Now I am thinking I already have a lense off Minolta might as well use that with Sony ?
Pic of lense
Pic 3

 

[Zenmervolt]

Well, with the crop factor the 35-70mm lens will give a field of view equivalent to a 52-105mm lens when mounted on a DSLR, so you'd lose a lot of wide-angle possibility unless you have other lenses.

If you have liked using the 5xi, then I might recommend the Sony A200 which will be released soon and will come in at just under $700 with the 18-70mm lens (field of view equivalent to 27-105mm). That would let you keep the wide-angle range without really breaking the bank. The 18-70 lens included with the A200 is a decent lens, nothing special by DSLR standards, but certainly on-par with the lens on almost any point-and-shoot in terms of quality. For a basic lens, the 18-70 does a good job.

That said, images from a DSLR are often less sharp and less saturated (straight from the camera) than images from point-and-shoots and a DSLR used only in "Auto" mode will generally give results that most people consider to be "worse" than images from a good point-and-shoot. Unless you have a strong, specific reason that you want a DSLR, my suggestion would be something along the lines of a high-end point-and-shoot. Something like a Fuji S9100 or S6000.

ZV

 

[Cstefan]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
That said, images from a DSLR are often less sharp and less saturated (straight from the camera) than images from point-and-shoots and a DSLR used only in "Auto" mode will generally give results that most people consider to be "worse" than images from a good point-and-shoot.

I have absolutely NEVER found this to be the case. Well, except a Lecia. But that is a point and shoot unto it's own class.

 

[corkyg]

Agree with Cstefan. DSLRs have menus that allow you to precisely adjust all of those parameters. I have had 6 P&S cameras since 1997, and 4 DSLRs since 2002, and have never found their product inferior in any way to the P&S family.

As for Auto mode with a DSLR, seems like a waste of time. "P" mode is my workhorse.

BTW - Leica digicams are rebadged Panasonic Lumixes.

The Canon S5 IS will give you DSLR performance in a small inexpensive package. With two DSLRs on hand, I use my S3 IS for those times when I need something pocketable. The tilt LCD is very useful.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Cstefan

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
That said, images from a DSLR are often less sharp and less saturated (straight from the camera) than images from point-and-shoots and a DSLR used only in "Auto" mode will generally give results that most people consider to be "worse" than images from a good point-and-shoot.

I have absolutely NEVER found this to be the case. Well, except a Lecia. But that is a point and shoot unto it's own class.

I'm not talking about detail rendering. I'm talking about sharpening that is applied as part of the JPG conversion process in camera.

With the settings zeroed, DSLRs apply far less sharpening than almost all P&S cameras and P&S cameras also increase saturation above the default levels of DSLR cameras. These are really not disputable. DSLRs are set up this way because once sharpening has been applied, it can never be un-done. It is better to apply less sharpening by default and allow the photographer to choose in post-processing or through adjusting the camera's settings, and this is what DSLRs offer.

Now, when the settings are adjusted, or when RAW is used and images are adjusted through post-processing, the results of DSLRs can be vastly superior to results from P&S cameras. But that assumes user adjustment. A DSLR is not something that someone can just take out of the box, switch on "Auto" mode, and use. It requires some adjustment of the default settings for the best possible results.

In my experience, people who are accustomed to the over-saturated and over-sharpened images that are produced by P&S cameras are initially disappointed by default DSLR output because they want the bright colors and high sharpening and contrast that P&S cameras default to. I certainly didn't mean to imply that P&S cameras make better photos, only that for most "family snapshot" photographers, the over-saturated and over-sharpened images from P&S cameras are initially more attractive than the more conservative default outputs of a DSLR even though the latter offers higher quality.

ZV

EDIT: Excellent example posted by Corpsy in this thread. The image without sharpening is what will typically come out of a DSLR on default settings, while the image with very high sharpening is what will typically come out of a P&S camera on default settings. Many people will initially prefer the highly-sharpened version even though it has had more manipulation done to it.

 

[corkyg]

"In my experience, people who are accustomed to the over-saturated and over-sharpened images that are produced by P&S cameras are initially disappointed by default DSLR output because they want the bright colors and high sharpening and contrast that P&S cameras default to."

It all depends on how you say things - I agree 100% with that statement.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Yeah, I need to work on my phraseology. It's something I know isn't the greatest. :-

ZV