Digital SLR help needed

That's a tough decision Steve. Having a Canon EOS300D I'd have to say I'm biased towards Canon. Looking at the reviews I'd say the Canon is the slightly better camera. The Canon has a CMOS sensor too. Whether the price difference is worth it I do not know. I know what you mean with superceded models. 2 Weeks after I bought the 300D its successor was previewed in the magazines. As I say - a tough decision.

Hi Steve,

I have the Eos350D (it has some mental other name over your side). Dude, that camera even makes photo's I take look good.

I also have the Cannon Ixus, another great camera...

Hope that helps :)

You want the Canon. but you might want to look at the Eos 5d. The full frame cmos sensor is the deal maker for me.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/canoneos5d/

The bad part is that it will not accept the EF-S lenses, and the burst is slower.

Hi Steve,



as Robert and Nick I'm also biased towards Canon SLRs nevertheless I think all current SLRs will deliver quite appealing pics (if you are not one of those curious guys who find their satisfaction at taking photos just to zoom them all up to the size of an average warehouse wall, so they can find every iota of distortion *g*).



One rather important point when buying a SLR is: You commit yourself (read: your money) to a particular manufacturer's system. Lenses, flashes, accu packs, filters, you-name-it. And all that investment in a particular system will make the switch-over to an other manufacturer's system a real pain in the wallet.



And there's (IMHO) one of the advantages of buying a SLR from one of the "big 2" (Canon and Nikon). You 'll find almost every add-on you can imagine in all price ranges between 30$ and 30,000$ from Canon, a huge bunch of third-parties or a vast second-hand market, so that the urge to switch the system will most probably not arise.



I've seen quite a few people who went through the pain and switched from Olympus, Minolta or other manufacturers to Canon or Nikon as their demands rose, just to have access to the wider range of accessories. Personally I've never regretted my choice for the Canon EOS System (except when looking at my bank account *gg*).



On the other side and to be honest: I've yet to see a photographer whose photos got instantly better when he upgraded to a more expensive SLR. ;-)

It's a bit like software development: You won't improve the code you write just by buying a nicer keyboard. But the comfort and thus the fun can increase significantly when you get a tool that fits.



Two Tips to end this rather lengthy comment:



Tip #1) The lens is at least as important as the camera body. An slightly older digital SLR body (eg. 10D) combined with a good lens will be the better bang for the buck compared to investing all your budget into the camera body and buying a mediocre lens from what is left.



Tip #2) If you get the chance: try both cameras and buy the one which fits and feels better. That will be the one which helps you to take the "better" pictures.



So I'm looking forward to see some of your photos in your blog some day ...taken with the Canon or "the other one" ;-))

What do you guys think of the Nikon D200?

Thanks for the comments so far, I've pretty much discounted the Olympus now...

Nikon have a reputation for ruggedness and reliabilty as do Canon of course... but Nikon more so. Last year I intended to buy the Nikon D100 but the sales assistants in various shops all steered me to the Canon, making me aware of the benefits of sticking with a Canon system and pointing out that I'd get more value for my dollar, with the deals going at that time. [I moved to Canon after using Pentax for 27 years. Most of my Pentax gear was either worn out or very obsolete so it was easy to make the change and start over with a new system.]

As Marc says once you have commited yourself to a system stick with the one manufacturer. It also depends on your budget and what you are going to use the camera for.

BTW to confuse you even further, on paper, the Canon EOS 5D looks very nice too :) [Though I notice it does not use EF-S lenses] Whether it suits you price wise I don't know?

Anyway take your time and check out everything you can possibly think of.

Looking forward to seeing some of your photos too.

Canon all the way. I own the 20D and have also owned the 10D in the past. I shoot about 500 images per month with the 20D.

Reasons:

Better glass...canon has an incredible range of lenses for SLR Lineup. The L series are difficult to beat in terms of overall performance. (expensive however)

Speed...very fast Camera, perhaps only beaten by the Canon D1 series (more than twice the price). If you like taking pictures of airplanes, it's a good fit.

CMOS sensor...good image quality, nice neutral tones. Also LOW noise...800ISO images are very clean, 1600 quite usable.

Cool factor...it's a Canon. Look at the photog bullpens at sporting events..almost all are using big white lenses...CANON!

I'm obviously a little biased towards Canon, but I've used Canon Cameras for 35 years. They never disappoint.

The new 5D is making waves as well...full frame sensor (12MP)...users are saying it's very "film like" and perhaps the best Digital SLR so far.

For Reference, I have 20D images at www.pbase.com/mucker. Good luck.

Craig

Add me to the Cannon side.

My next D-SLR will likly be the 20d or the EOS 5d. With the 5d you get the full frame CMOS. With the 20d you get a faster Burst and the ablity to use EF-S lenses.

I ended up with an enthusiast level camera, casio ex-P700 and hope to add a DSLR to my bag in the future.

I found the consistent reviews at http://www.steves-digicams.com/
most helpful while I was shopping for a new camera.

After reading through the reviews and learning some of the functions/menus about the cameras I was considering it made hands-on testing that much better since I didn't have to rely on the salesman's knowledge or lack there of.

It won't matter if the camera you buy has the greatest optics in the world if the controls are counter-intuitive, the image on the lcd isn't clear to you or the electronic viewfinder doesn't have enough eye relief for your glasses because then it'll get left at home or in the bag as shooting with it won't be enjoyable.

Get your hands on the cameras and find one that fits your shooting modes.
Good luck!

Hi all,

Continued over here in a new post. Most of you might not like it ;-)

- Steve

Bush is forever saying that democracies do not invade other countries and start wars. Well, he did just that. He invaded Iraq, started a war, and killed people. What do you think? How does that work in a democracy again? How does being more threatening make us more likeable?Isn't the country with
the most weapons the biggest threat to the rest of the world? When one country is the biggest threat to the rest of the world, isn't that likely to be the most hated country?
If ever there was ever a time in our nation's history that called for a change, this is it!
We have lost friends and influenced no one. No wonder most of the world thinks we suck. Thanks to what george bush has done to our country during the past three years, we do!