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Sony Alpha, Pentax K10D, Nikon D40X..Olympus?

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I don't know who has the best kit lens, but my take is that any of the above is more than adequate for most amateur photographers. Just get one that feel comfortable on your hand, with the control lay out that you prefer. Pick out a system with a line of lens that you might like to use once you are more advance in photography.

Good luck!

 
Originally posted by: dug777
Cheers for the comments folks 🙂

I am leaning towards the twin lense Sony kit :beer:
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Looks like a good choice 🙂
Just make sure you get a fast prime on top of it.
Something like a fast fifty.
 
Originally posted by: astroidea
Originally posted by: dug777
Cheers for the comments folks 🙂

I am leaning towards the twin lense Sony kit :beer:
Click to expand...

Looks like a good choice 🙂
Just make sure you get a fast prime on top of it.
Something like a fast fifty.
Click to expand...

Suggestions?

Not too expensive 😉
 
Originally posted by: astroidea
Originally posted by: Jawo
I recently was looking around for a dSLR. I have used several P&S from Canon and Nikon and wanted more flexability. I looked at Nikon's D40, Sony's Alpha, and Canon's 400D (XTi) and 30D. I liked the 30D the best, but it was out of my price range. I ended up with the XTi and got the battery grip. The camera feels more "fleshed out" with the base since I have big hands. I would get a Nikon or Canon; as others have said they are both very established and have many upgrade paths to chose from. Pentax and Sony only have one dSLR out, not a whole line (limiting upgrade options).

The reason why Canons are so popular is the glass. The Image Stabilization is amazing and many, many, many professionals use it. From my research Nikon was the camera to have with Film, but Canon surpassed them in the transition to Digital. Interesting thread to read along the lines of this with this as a special point of interest (theres a 99% chance that every white lens is a Canon L, a 400mm f/2.8 is probably a popular choice.)
Another site (scroll half way down).

Photozone has a great list of all lenses they have reviewed (and for the most part available). Nikon and Canon are established and will continue to produce new glass for way into the future; Pentax, Sony, et al, may not.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm sure the $5000 400mm F/2.8L would be a selling point for dug to get Canon. :roll:
The fact is, while Canon may have a fuller lineup of glass, most DSLR users only gets one or two zooms.
And as for Pentax not being established, that's a load of bull. Pentax is by far Japan's oldest optical company, older than both canon and nikon. They may not be as big, but they're not going anywhere.
Click to expand...

I have the EF 70-300mm IS USM lens, its not L glass, but can take some damn fine photos with it. While at the airshow, I saw more Canon dSLRs than any other brand. I doubt I saw any pros, just people passionate about photos. I like to know that if I want, I could get an awesome camera and still use the same lenses I have now...with 100% compatibility.
 
I am not a SLR user, but when i was playing with the A100, D80, and XTi, the first 2 felt much better in my hands than the XTi. Have you checked out dpreview.com's indepth review on each camera?
 
Originally posted by: dug777
Nobody?
Click to expand...

sorry i was busy scrolling through your big signature with all those huge spaces in it


the pentax due to its weather sealed parts. and it comes down to really the person taking them not the camera. but my votes for the kd10
 
Originally posted by: Aharami
I am not a SLR user, but when i was playing with the A100, D80, and XTi, the first 2 felt much better in my hands than the XTi. Have you checked out dpreview.com's indepth review on each camera?
Click to expand...

Given that I have developed a burning desire to stab the designers of that site to death with a spork, yeah i've had a read :|

Seriously, how can a site possibly be that badly designed and laid out? I'm convinced they actually tried to make it the least user friendly website in the world :|



 
Originally posted by: blurredvision
dpreview.com just posted their D40x review if anyone is interested.
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From said review:

I may be getting a bit repetitive but with the D40/D40X design Nikon have proved that it is possible to make a compact digital SLR with a comfortable grip. Nikon may have a slight real estate advantage over Canon because of their smaller lens mount but whatever the case it's clear that they weren't going to compromise comfort, the D40X's grip is smaller than that found on the D50 but is considerably better than that found on the EOS 400D (Digital Rebel XTi). A plastic body is par for the course at this price point but there's a range of different plastics and that used by Nikon feels more robust and higher quality.
Click to expand...
 
I bought a Nikon D50 in Dec 2005 without the kit lens since my wife tami already had several lenses to go along with her D70. I only added a Sigma 50mm f1.4 for low-light (subway) photography. I think the D40/D40X's lack of the top LCD status screen would really make me mad, though I'd love to have its smaller size.
 
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Originally posted by: GarfieldtheCat
It's pretty much a wash, and mostly I would go with whatever looks/feels/ the best to YOU, since you will be using it. Everything is so close together nowadays, it comes down to what you like more.

Having said that, I would tend to the Nikon 40X, since they are an established SLR company with lots of lenses and flashes, and a good upgrade path for bodies if you want something better in a few years. Sony and Pentax are not as big as nikon or Canon (for cameras), and I would rather stick with a company that has a wide range of equipment.

For a lens, it's not cheap, but the Nikon 18-200VR is a great all-in-one lens, and with the VR, it really helps keeping the pics sharp. It is expensive, but many people love it, and Nikon hasn't kept up with the demand for the past year for it
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I largely agree except for the comments about Sony and Pentax. Pentax isn't going anywhere and they've been in the camera business as long as Nikon and Canon and while they may not have the same exotic glass available, I rather doubt that a person looking at a basic DSLR is going to ever encounter an issue because of the lack of some $5,000 lens in Pentax's lineup.

As for Sony, they aren't going anywhere either. As fashionable as it currently is in the geek world right now to hate Sony, it's not like the company is even close to being in danger. They've committed to two new bodies coming out soon, and I don't see any reason to expect that they'll abandon the market. There are plenty of used lenses available as well since Sony uses the Minolta A-Mount, and the fact that Sony has kept the 135mm STF lens in production shows a strong committment to the mount. If Sony wasn't planning to be in this for the long run, there's no way they would have continued the production of such an exotic, low-volume, lens. The lens has the best bokeh of any lens on the market, period, and is arguably the best portrait lens ever produced. And then, of course, there are the Zeiss lenses and the G-Series lenses which are every bit a match for (if not better than) Canon's L-Series lenses.

In reality, you can't go wrong with any of the DSLRs on the market right now. Every company has solid bodies, good to great lenses (depending on how much you spend), and no company is likely to leave the market.

Buy the camera that suits you best.

My personal recommendation is Sony or Pentax, I'm a fan of the in-body IS (which absolutely does work very well with long lenses despite some claims to the contrary from the Canon and Nikon camps), and the kit lenses of both the Sony and Pentax are a little bit above the Nikon and Canon kit lenses.

ZV
Click to expand...

Great post, personally I own a K100D and love it, had I not gone Pentax I would have gone Nikon just to avoid buying Canon.

 
Originally posted by: Jawo
I recently was looking around for a dSLR. I have used several P&S from Canon and Nikon and wanted more flexability. I looked at Nikon's D40, Sony's Alpha, and Canon's 400D (XTi) and 30D. I liked the 30D the best, but it was out of my price range. I ended up with the XTi and got the battery grip. The camera feels more "fleshed out" with the base since I have big hands. I would get a Nikon or Canon; as others have said they are both very established and have many upgrade paths to chose from. Pentax and Sony only have one dSLR out, not a whole line (limiting upgrade options).

The reason why Canons are so popular is the glass. The Image Stabilization is amazing and many, many, many professionals use it. From my research Nikon was the camera to have with Film, but Canon surpassed them in the transition to Digital. Interesting thread to read along the lines of this with this as a special point of interest (theres a 99% chance that every white lens is a Canon L, a 400mm f/2.8 is probably a popular choice.)
Another site (scroll half way down).

Photozone has a great list of all lenses they have reviewed (and for the most part available). Nikon and Canon are established and will continue to produce new glass for way into the future; Pentax, Sony, et al, may not.
Click to expand...

Pentax Currently have three DSLR's on the market right now, the K10 which is their high end amateur at 10mp with fully weather sealed body, the K100 which is their entry level with shake reduction and a steal after rebate for around $430 with Kit lens, and the K110 which is their base model without anti shake features.

They also share technology with Samsung, who have two DSLRs out I believe, one based on the K110 and the other on the K100.
 
Originally posted by: dug777
Cheers for the comments folks 🙂

I am leaning towards the twin lense Sony kit :beer:
Click to expand...

Good luck! Be sure to post a review on it. I'm especially interested since it'll come down between the Alpha and the D40 for me.
 
pentax will have the best kit lens. and pentax only has two DSLRs currently being made, the K110D has been dropped due to lack of interest (only difference between it and the K100D was the IS in the 100, which people would rather have). pentax also has great compatibility with their older lenses. they also have very good viewfinders and good ergonomics.

a lot of people claim the 400D is uncomfortable, but i think they're holding the camera wrong. the kit lens is pretty middling, though. i haven't used mine. as for the breadth of canon's lens lineup, canon has a lot of overlap. they have no less than 4 70-200 mm luxury series lenses. 4! and there seem to be 2 of every other lens length, and then a lot of overlap in the zoom ranges.

nikon, i wouldn't go with a D40 or D40X. part of the point of buying nikon, to me, is the extensive F mount lens capability, and the D40 is one of the least compatible cameras in the F mount series. D80 is nice, though.

olympus has made their kit lens slower, but smaller, for the E-410/510 series cameras. the E-410 is ridiculously small (late 70s gripless and winderless SLR small). though it has an annoying feature in it's grip, there is a strap lug right where you want to put your middle finger. you'd think they'd have figured that out with the E-400 and fixed it. i guess japanese people have small hands. the E-510 is a bit bigger, doesn't have the lug problem, has a bigger battery, and has IS.

sony i know little about.



what happened to the used OM? OM2 is very nice looking.
 
Originally posted by: Jawo
Originally posted by: astroidea
Originally posted by: Jawo
I recently was looking around for a dSLR. I have used several P&S from Canon and Nikon and wanted more flexability. I looked at Nikon's D40, Sony's Alpha, and Canon's 400D (XTi) and 30D. I liked the 30D the best, but it was out of my price range. I ended up with the XTi and got the battery grip. The camera feels more "fleshed out" with the base since I have big hands. I would get a Nikon or Canon; as others have said they are both very established and have many upgrade paths to chose from. Pentax and Sony only have one dSLR out, not a whole line (limiting upgrade options).

The reason why Canons are so popular is the glass. The Image Stabilization is amazing and many, many, many professionals use it. From my research Nikon was the camera to have with Film, but Canon surpassed them in the transition to Digital. Interesting thread to read along the lines of this with this as a special point of interest (theres a 99% chance that every white lens is a Canon L, a 400mm f/2.8 is probably a popular choice.)
Another site (scroll half way down).

Photozone has a great list of all lenses they have reviewed (and for the most part available). Nikon and Canon are established and will continue to produce new glass for way into the future; Pentax, Sony, et al, may not.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm sure the $5000 400mm F/2.8L would be a selling point for dug to get Canon. :roll:
The fact is, while Canon may have a fuller lineup of glass, most DSLR users only gets one or two zooms.
And as for Pentax not being established, that's a load of bull. Pentax is by far Japan's oldest optical company, older than both canon and nikon. They may not be as big, but they're not going anywhere.
Click to expand...

I have the EF 70-300mm IS USM lens, its not L glass, but can take some damn fine photos with it. While at the airshow, I saw more Canon dSLRs than any other brand. I doubt I saw any pros, just people passionate about photos. I like to know that if I want, I could get an awesome camera and still use the same lenses I have now...with 100% compatibility.
Click to expand...

Canon is the most popular brand, but that doesn't neccessarily mean it's the best. Pizza Hut is the most popular pizza chain, but it certainly isn't the best.

And if you want compatibility, Pentax probably has the highest guarantee of compatibility, as they kept their mount backwards compatible with every single lens made since the 1960s. Canon, on the other hand, can't use any of their old lenses. But on the bright side, Canon's EOS mount is the most versatile mount out to date, supporting the fastest lenses.

But either way, it doesn't really matter all that much what gear you get. As you said, even with your consumer 70-300mm lens, you still take great photos. What's behind the camera matters most.
 
Originally posted by: astroidea
As you said, even with your consumer 70-300mm lens, you still take great photos. What's behind the camera matters most.
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Amen :thumbsup: I've seen stunning photos taken with Holgas, disposable cameras, old 2MP digicams, etc.
 
I currently have a D50, and I love the feel and function of it. If there's ever an error in a shot, it's always my fault, not the camera's, and it feels so much more well-built than the Canon Digital Rebel line.
I started with the kit lenses: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and 55-200mm f/4-5.6. I've been adding to my collection, with a 50mm f/1.8, 24-85mm f/2.8-4, and 18-200mm in my bag now. I love the feel of the D50, and 6 megapixels is fine if you don't need to do much cropping. But if you need to crop away most of the picture, then it's easy to go beyond the resolution of the sensor, especially if you like 8x10 prints.

If you have the cash, I would go for the D80 and the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR lens. That combo is very hard to beat. The D80 is a phenomenal camera, and the 18-200mm is the beyond the ultimate kit lens, the only areas that are less than perfect are distortion and maximum aperatures, but fixing those would require more money and more size/weight. And that VR really does work, it's quite amazing; you can literally see it working as you peer through the viewfinder, which matters for shot composition as you get to 200mm and beyond, something you'll lose if you go with in-body stabilization like the Sony has.

IMHO, Nikon has the best flash system and the best metering.
I have an SB-800, and good gawd do I love that flash. Don't fool around with the SB-400 or SB-600, just get the SB-800 and be done with it. It's a bloody powerful flash, and the head rotates every which way for any imaginable bounce flash.
The Nikon "3D Matrix Metering" is amazingly good, as well (though sadly, it's not telepathic, yet). If it's "missing" the exposure a bit, it's always for a reason (i.e. half the frame is dark) and by the same amount, and usually by less than a stop, which is recoverable in post-processing. It even handles flash taken through a window, or reflected back in a mirror.

If you don't have the cash, I would get the D40 (or D40x, which is the exact same camera but with a 10MP sensor) with the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and a 55-200mm or 70-300mm.

Bah, if you want Nikon recommendations, start a new thread about it or PM me.
 
Originally posted by: AmigaMan
Originally posted by: dug777
Cheers for the comments folks 🙂

I am leaning towards the twin lense Sony kit :beer:
Click to expand...

Good luck! Be sure to post a review on it. I'm especially interested since it'll come down between the Alpha and the D40 for me.
Click to expand...

My bru has a D40, so when we go over to visit them on holiday in a couple of months i'll be able to do a direct comparison.

He's taken some amazing shots with that puppy :beer:
 
Originally posted by: ElFenix
pentax will have the best kit lens. and pentax only has two DSLRs currently being made, the K110D has been dropped due to lack of interest (only difference between it and the K100D was the IS in the 100, which people would rather have). pentax also has great compatibility with their older lenses. they also have very good viewfinders and good ergonomics.
Click to expand...

I have only seen one obscure post referencing this, then again I haven't looked too hard, and even from that I have read that the K110 has been pulled from the US market, meaning that it is still made, just not sold here.
 
Originally posted by: bozack
Originally posted by: ElFenix
pentax will have the best kit lens. and pentax only has two DSLRs currently being made, the K110D has been dropped due to lack of interest (only difference between it and the K100D was the IS in the 100, which people would rather have). pentax also has great compatibility with their older lenses. they also have very good viewfinders and good ergonomics.
Click to expand...

I have only seen one obscure post referencing this, then again I haven't looked too hard, and even from that I have read that the K110 has been pulled from the US market, meaning that it is still made, just not sold here.
Click to expand...

maybe our oz friend can still get one then.
 
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