Camera Lust

July 10, 2006

Photography

After getting to play with Melissa’s Nikon D50, I’m now really interested in buying a Digital SLR. I’ll admit that I don’t know much about photography, and while I do enjoy taking photos, my camera is limited in what it can do. I’d like to start taking some better quality photos, and given how much SLR cameras have dropped in price ($530, no tax, including shipping and a 28-80 lens) over the last few years, I just might start thinking about saving my pennies to get one of these.

Comments (7)

BWJones says:

July 10, 2006 at 9:01 pm

Cyrus,

I am shooting with a Canon 20d. I’ve been pretty happy with the images and color handling and have no real outstanding complaints. Overall, I like what Canon has done with their line. They make the whole thing from the lenses (including the glass) to the camera image processing chips, and their Digic imaging chips handle color very well. There is a new 30d that has replaced the 20d. Not much has changed, but the LCD viewer in back is much bigger and there are some software changes as well. I’d say you really cannot go wrong with Canon, but Nikon also makes some seriously nice stuff too with their new D200 and the D50 and D70 lines. If I were starting out fresh right now, it would probably be close between the Canon 30d and the Nikon D70, but I’d probably lean towards the Canon for their color handling even though the Nikon has more pixels. Color is kinda a funny thing. Some folks like more color saturation and others hate it. Personally, my guess is that it comes down to how people see. It may be that some folks see (or pay attention to) color better than others for physiologic or genetic reasons…… So, to my eye…. the Canon’s “see” color closer to the way “I” see color, thus the preference.
cfarivar says:

July 10, 2006 at 9:27 pm

It seems that the Canon 30D is a bit more expensive than this Nikon D50, no?
BWJones says:

July 11, 2006 at 5:27 am

Yeah, the 30D is really competing with the D70, so the appropriate pairing for the D50 would be the 350D which is also an amazing deal for the money. Essentially much of the electronics of the 30D in the 350Ds body.
cfarivar says:

July 11, 2006 at 9:01 am

Any reason why I should consider the 350D over the D50?
BWJones says:

July 11, 2006 at 7:17 pm

I have shot both the 350D and the D50 and they are fine cameras, especially for the money. Never before in history could you get this kind of performance as affordably. I don’t really think you can go wrong with either one though. Like I said, it comes down to history and color management preference. I happen to think that Canon does a better job with color management than Nikon does, but again, that is a personal preference. Even though I shoot and prefer Canon, I have a good friend that shoots Nikon and I would be more than satisfied with images from the Nikon, but I also like the fact that Canon builds the whole widget as opposed to Nikon who outsources some of their camera tech.
cfarivar says:

July 11, 2006 at 11:23 pm

It seems there are more entry-level packages for the Nikon. Or am I wrong?
BWJones says:

July 12, 2006 at 10:56 pm

In terms of the entry level DSLRs, the 350D from Canon is the one that is going head to head with the D50 from Nikon. Both camera bodies can be had with a variety of kit lenses that will alter the price a bit and among a variety of other small differences. Probably the best place to look and compare them all is DPReview http://www.dpreview.com.

But like I said, it really is about preference and you will not get hosed with either Canon or Nikon. Both are good short term and long term investments, but be aware that lenses are different between the two models and as one accumulates lenses, they tend to get “locked in” to a particular line simply due to lens investments.