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Which entry level DSLR to get?

S

Slap

Golden Member
I am looking at buying my first DSLR and would like a recommendation. I have narrowed it to the following cameras.

Nikon D50 or D40
Canon XT or maybe the XTi
Pentax K100D

I have been leaning toward the Pentax. I tried searching for similar posts, but had no luck with the search function.

I decided to get the XTi with Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro
 
Originally posted by: tfinch2
Pentax K100D without a doubt.
Click to expand...
If I go with the Pentax, should I get the kit lens or just the body and buy a good all around lens. What would be a good all around lens?

 
D50 is the best bang for the buck, from what I've read. As long as you get a kit with a couple lenses, this should be adequate for someone starting out.
 
Originally posted by: Slap
Originally posted by: tfinch2
Pentax K100D without a doubt.
Click to expand...
If I go with the Pentax, should I get the kit lens or just the body and buy a good all around lens. What would be a good all around lens?
Click to expand...

The 18-55 kit lens is a great lens. You could get the 16-45 but it's quite a bit bigger and heavier, I'm not a huge fan of it anymore (had it for 2years).
 
the pentax probably has the best kit lens. and it stabilizes any lens. and it has an ISO 3200 sensitivity, though i'm not sure how useful it is. so, if you wanted, you could have the pentax and the sigma 18-200 and be in the same ballpark as a D50 and the 18-200VR, for less money.


whatever you do, don't get the E500. i'm not sure how anyone can use that camera. i guess it's for the people who are used to using live preview on their cameras only, and not the viewfinder.
 
The D50 is a pretty damn nice camera. The D40 does not have nearly the lens selection, as it only uses afs lenses (new ones).
 
The Pentax is a great camera. Personally, I went with a Sony A100 and I am quite happy with it, but the Pentax was not available at the time. Pentax is a well-respected name in cameras and I cannot think of a reason why one would want to avoid them.

In truth, my recommendation is to find which camera fits best in your hand and buy that one. There really aren't any "dud" cameras out there right now.

ZV
 
Originally posted by: Slap
If I went with Pentax, is it worth the money to move up to the K10D or will the K100D suffice?
Click to expand...

k100D will suffice. get it over at ZZF for ~475 and spend the money saved on glass.



that said, you really need to get out and actually hold the things, look through the viewfinder, focus some lenses, etc. i hold the weight of the camera in my left hand, so the retarded grip on my XTi doesn't affect me much. and i prefer the xti's big, bright status screen to those tiny LCDs that all the others (except sony) use. but you might hate the grip and the status screen.
 
So from what everyone is saying, I really can't go wrong with the D50, XTi, or the K100D. The SR on the Pentax seems like it would be very useful. How often would you really need it?
 
Wow, you could get that pentax for close to the same price that I paid for my FujiFilm S5200 and it isn't SLR. Wow, I'm all the sudden tempted...
 
Originally posted by: Slap
So from what everyone is saying, I really can't go wrong with the D50, XTi, or the K100D. The SR on the Pentax seems like it would be very useful. How often would you really need it?
Click to expand...

in bright light with short lenses? not much. in low light, or with longer lenses? any time you don't have a tripod. iirc, they claim two stops. which means that, rather than 1/125, F/2.0, and ISO3200 (which would get you a noisy image), you could use 1/30, F2.0, and ISO800 (which would get you a much cleaner image). that's for EV4, which is good for typical nighttime outdoor city scenes
 
Just keep in mind that you're tying yourself to a family of lenses, no matter what brand SLR you buy. If you have a photography buddy with a ton of Canon or Nikon lenses that you could borrow, the Pentax would be a bad choice.
 
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
The Pentax is a great camera. Personally, I went with a Sony A100 and I am quite happy with it, but the Pentax was not available at the time. Pentax is a well-respected name in cameras and I cannot think of a reason why one would want to avoid them.

In truth, my recommendation is to find which camera fits best in your hand and buy that one. There really aren't any "dud" cameras out there right now.

ZV
Click to expand...

I like the K10D... but from what I have seen the biggest gripe is the availability of a variety of lenses, new or old. I just recently bought a new canon 30D that was not much more than the k10D, thanks to double rebates. I would have waited for the K10D but the canon did have some advantages such as better fps and buffer performance (which I use alot), less noice at higher ISO settings, and tons of available lenses (a few of which I already had from my 35mm rebel).

The weatherproofing and anti dust feature are two things I really wish the 30D had though.
 
Originally posted by: glen
What does Fuzzy recommend? The Rebel or the Nikon or what?
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He didn't have a specific recommendation. He stated the lack of lenses for the Pentax as a con.
 
You may as well stick with Canon or Nikon for the versatility of the system. I shot with a D50 this year, and was very happy with it. When I wanted to upgrade I made a tough decision to get in to the Canon system and I've had a 30D for about a week. You can really get a nice deal on a gently used D50, XT, and to a lesser extent XTi if you look around the sell forums at fredmiranda, nikonians, or canon potn.
 
Originally posted by: Slap
Originally posted by: glen
What does Fuzzy recommend? The Rebel or the Nikon or what?
Click to expand...
He didn't have a specific recommendation. He stated the lack of lenses for the Pentax as a con.
Click to expand...

Yup. This conclusion was brought about because I was seriously toying with the idea of switching to Pentax because of the excellent K10D, but realized that it would be MUCH more expensive for me to get the same lens lineup as I currently have with the Canon. I had a discussion with virtualgames0, who is a Pentax user, and he admits that Pentax's strengths are on (old) primes. Zoom lenses are a lot harder to find.

Even though I use a Canon body, ALL of my lenses are either Sigma or Tamron (excluding the $40 Canon 50mm which is negligible). All of my lenses I bought used at a really good price because of the current Canon lens market; there are a lot of lenses, a lot of selection, and a lot of competition, so sellers often sell lenses at pretty significant discounts. I've gotten all of my lenses at pretty good deals.

Pentax on the other hand, still does not have a large seller base for current used AF lenses. The used selection is weak, there's not much price competition, and I KNOW that if I rebought my Canon lenses in Pentax mount I'd be spending a couple or more extra hundred dollars by going used or even new if the lens I want can't be found on the used market.

Just for example:

Sigma 10-20mm in Pentax mount: I can't find a used one, not even on eBay. The cheapest elsewhere is for $468.22. I bought my Canon mount Sigma for $400 even.

Sigma 50-500mm in Pentax mount: Again, I can't find a used one. The cheapest new lens is $950. I got my Canon mount version for $650.

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 in Pentax mount: Not on eBay, can't find a used one. The cheapest new lens is $899.00. These regularly sell used for $500 even in Canon mount.

If I were to switch my lenses to Pentax, I'd probably be spending $1500+ for this upgrade, which would more than make up for the improved (though not perfect) K10D body. With this money I could go for a full frame 12MP 5D, or even a weathersealed 1DMKII

But hey, if you're perfectly fine with shooting with primes, Pentax will get you excellent quality on the cheap.
 
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