with a baby on the way, i've been wanting to upgrade my point and shoot digi cam
was thinking about getting a dslr and a dv
if i had it my way, i would get both but the wifey said i can only get one
hey, gotta listen to the wife!
after much consideration and mainly because i can already take video with my current point & shoot digi cam, i decided i want to get a dslr
but which one?
definitely nothing too professional and/nor too expensive
so, looking at a few of the "beginners" dslr's in the market it's come down to two choices
the canon 400d and the nikon d80
but which one?
i really don't know for sure yet but the bushman wrote a very informative and helpful post on the subject
Sunday, August 05, 2007
canon 400d or nikon d80?
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10 comments:
they both look like nice...
nikon has a better rep. are they priced about the same?
i am sure they are both excellent...the nikon is prettier...lol
Now there are three Taiwan bloggers in the market for a dslr camera, you, Carrie, and myself...
david... i think nikon and canon are like bmw and benz. both great quality products and priced similarly. basically, u can't go wrong either way.
todd... maybe we should all pick the same cam and go buy it together in the same store and try to get a group discount??? hahaha
Andres, have you considered the Nikon D40? truthfully i haven't seen a Nikon that took _bad_ photos, and many people have the older D70 and take excellent photos with it. The D40 is a new model you may want to check out.
michael... i did consider the D40, but after doing some research on the net and asking a friend who actually owns a D40, it seems a lot of people feel the D40 is a bit too "basic" and is missing a lot of features and options, therefore having to upgrade to a "better" dslr after a while.
i do also like the D70. another friend of mine owns one and i got to play around with it a bit, however i believe the D70 is no longer in production.
yes Andres, you are right: the D70 is out of production.
i wouldn't describe either of the candidates you are currently considering as "beginner" DSLRs by any stretch. i know professional journalists with lesser cameras. there isn't that much difference between a D80 and the higer models (price notwithstanding), and the D80 software is more sophisticated because its later generation. this is what eventually swayed me to the D80:
"Nikon 3D Color Matrix Metering II, plus Variable Center-Weighted and Spot Metering: Substantially more sophisticated than traditional multi-pattern metering systems, Nikon's 3D Color Matrix Metering II instantly and accurately evaluates brightness, color, contrast, selected focus area and subject-to-camera distance information, referencing the results against an onboard database of 30,000 scenes from actual photography. Vary the size of the center-weighted area reading and spot metering readings correspond to 11 focusing points."
those 11 zones light up in red and you know the exposure and focus is dead on.
i suggest that you go to the camera store and ask to see both cameras side-by-side. check out the menus and the feel, etc.. take some test shots using your own SD card, so you can save the photos and take them home for review.
michael... thanks again for your usual insightful information. i really need to go buy a book or read up some more on the net about photography. i really don't know all that much about it and all these technical terms really just sounds like a bunch gibberish to me.
i hear you! i have a long history and background in photography.
i took a photography course in high school. my dad's friends were Honeywell guys who all had Pentax cameras. one of them helped me to set up a darkroom when i was 17 and taking that course. i recall going to concerts and taking photos to sell at school (back when you could take photos at concerts). those were cool times. my teacher told me that he figured i did 60% of the school's yearbook photo processing that year. between school and home it seemed that i was always in the darkroom.
from the beginning my teacher introduced me to nude and glamor photography. he had me do his darkroom work at school for his shots he did after hours. when i think about that now, he was taking a huge risk, but to me it was just photographic work. you could never do that today, but at that time it was good experience for me. i still enjoy doing that kind of photography and DSLRs make it so much easier because you can see if what you are doing is working or not, right away.
in those days we didn't get instant feedback like we do today with digital technology. it forced one to be a better photographer i think. one would be forced to compose shots very carefully and also to record the camera settings for future reference.
michael... thanks for the advice. i will do that. just like i would not buy a car without test driving it first or a shoe without trying them on first.
I'd say 400D or 450D.. I prefer Canon :) 400D is an great camera.
well Im upgrading to 40D now :)
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