so, photographers, my spousal unit is a great photographer, but works wholly in film (35mm, APS, medium format). I want to get a ground-floor SLR that has

- both a traditional and LCD viewfinder
- behaves like analog camera for advanced amateur / novice professional
- able to change lenses
- same flash mount as analog
- rechargable battery
- removable memory device that won't become immediately obsolete

and a flash to match this new camera and her older pentax.

i am a camera retard, so go easy on the jargon. and, in addition, i want to spend less than $600, because she is going to have a stroke when she sees my Christmas bill. am i on crack for thinking i can do this?

-santa

unfortunately you are on crack if you want a Digital SLR camera for less than $600. Digital SLR bodies alone start around $1000. If your wife really likes the Pentax and has a lot of different lenses for her 35mm pentax they are interchangable with a Pentax Digital SLR body.

For under $600 I'm currently looking at a Nikon 5700 which is considered a "prosumer" camera. I shoot 35mm and medium format.

shitmonkeys. really?

i just got my nikon d70 for $1200. it's awesome. i can use all of my lenses from my old nikon n70. i am loving this camera so much, and i was skeptical moving from film to digtital.
body-only is around $1000.

i believe the canon digital eos (or rebel) is the cheapest digitial slr around, priced at around $800-$900 (with lens). not sure if there is a body only option.

whoa.

i'm going to have to sit down and think about this one. thanks for the advice, though, folks. keep it coming. what about a good pro/am flash?

btw, i know the price is crazy, but you can get decent financing deals (if you don't mind doing monthly payments). i got mine at best buy for 0% apr for 24 months, so i'm just making ~$60 payments + some larger chunks here and there.

oh, yeah - good call on that one, I didn't think about that.

flash?

i don't know nuttin' 'bout flashes. sorry.

yep - the dreb is available as body only BUT you'd be kinda nuts not to get the kit, the 18-55mm EF-S is actually a fairly decent wide angle. i bought a rebel about at year and a half ago, at nearly 18,000 exposures it was by far the best decision i could've made. you could check ebay and camera shops for a used dreb body - you might get lucky and find one cheap. if i were looking at something new today i'd consider the Canon D20 or Nikon D70. both retail for around $2000 with lens in canada. for flash i use a speedlight 420ex. it does what it's suppose to do i guess? i wanna get a 580ex and slave the two - that'd be fun.

also--i'm not sure if this is true with the canon's or others--with nikon, my old lenses aren't the same. i.e. my 35-80 lens became a 52-120 (so i needed to buy the 18-80 lense package instead of body-only). my 50-300 became a 75-450 which is sweet. i forget the reason why old lenses change by 1.5 though.
just something to keep in mind if you are considering using old lenses.

yeah, basically this has to do with the area the digital sensor captures being smaller than the area a 35mm exposure captures. this explains it far better than i ever could:

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossar ... ier_01.htm

the dreb has a 1.6 multplier i think.

thanks, peoples.

i go comparison shopping shortly.

The canon rebel digital is fucking sweet. It's especially good for someone like myself who already has an assload of canon lenses, as they work with the rebelD. It's about $900 for the body and a lense if you look for the deals. 6 or 8 mp, I can't remember.

6 MP, the new D20 does 8MP as well 3200 iso, 5 fps shooting, 9 pt AF, has a magnesium body and the new digic II chip. i love my rebel but i want a d20 BAD!

How can you spend $1200 on a camera and not know anything about flashes?
Doesn't this kind of investment require lots of knowledge?

Have you tried grand theft?

Another point, digital SLR's won't let you use the LCD as a viewfinder. Its the nature of the beast, the shutter is closed... at least that's what they said about my 10d

as for a flash, the canon 550ex is quite nice... if she has a flash, it should still work.

depending on what gear she has, its nice to go with the same stuff, I have my canon eos 10s and a few lenses, I just got a Digital Eos 10d, and everything works great, though its not totally compatible with my flash, a 430ez, it only works on manual

I am another DRebel owner. (Digital Rebel) I have loved it since I bought it last February. (Nearly 6000 images taken so far) The 6mp DRebel and Nikon D70 are more than enough Camera for any sort of outputs that she might need. I also lust for the Canon 20D but cant justify the gains for the money.

A good guide is: 6mp can print 8x10 prints at 300dpi. 8mp print 11x14 at 300dpi. If you think about how often you actually print larger then 8x10 you can imagine the usefulness of larger than 6mp. The public is duped into thinking that more and more megapixels are better. If you dont print large outputs (8x10 or larger) the size of the files increases, while needing more memory, with no gain in clarity. All of these cameras use memory cards. I have 2 x 1Gb cards that I shoot onto. So she will need at least a 512mb card.

And another thing, sounds like its endless huh? She may need to post process her photos. Much like her time in a darkroom or sending prints out for printing via photo lab. Most digital photography can require some time with Photoshop to get the desired output. Digital SLRs do very little in camera processing versus point and shoot cameras. Thus they need work before printing. Typically I will adjust the color curves a bit, work with lighting levels, and fiddle with sharpness, exposure and color saturation. Whew~!

It is an investment, but one that is very rewarding.

good luck !

It's not so much that the shutter is closed as it is that it's a mirror and can only reflect one direction. Given the traditional use of the viewfinder, that's where it points.

not really. i don't have much of a need for flash (other than the one included on the body). 90% of my subject is landscape photography, no flash necessary (usually).
one day i will get into flash photography more...portraits, etc. but right now, i don't have much need for an external flash.

I'm a natural light snob, none of that artificial light...lol

everybody rocks, i want you to know that.

laura is a natural light snob, too, but i am thinking of flashes for indoor/portait photography - but with how much i am spending, it will probably have to wait.

as for digital manipulation - she's a snob there, too, but she definitely has the skills (with a graphic design degree).

Here's where I need the brains, folks

I can get financing at the big corporate whore store . . .
1) Canon Digital Rebel, 6.3 megapixel, 18-55mm lens = 999.99
2) Canon Eos 20D, 8.2 megapixel, 18-55mm lens = 1599.99
3) Nikon D70, 6.1 megapixel, 18-70 dx lens = 1299.99

I would have to load up a credit card (gulp!) at the local mom & pop stores . . .
1) Canon Rebel, as above, but I can get a $100 rebate = 999.99
2) Canon 20D, as above, no rebate = 1599.99
3) Nikon D70, as above, $100 rebate = $1299.99 (forgot to write the lens)
4) Nikon D100, $100 rebate = $1489.99 (forgot to write the lens)
5) Pentax *ist DS = $999.99 (forgot to write the lens)
6) Pentax *ist D = $1399.99 (forgot to write the lens)
7) used Nikon D100 body = $1200
lenses:
- Nikon 18-35mm $99.99
- Tamron 19-35mm $249.99
- used Nikon 28-105mm $275.00
- Nikon 28-80mm starter lens $90.00

suggestions?

Dude - Just go with a nice 35mm...
Analog is the new digital..

THATS NOT HELPFULER;OIESFH DCFJVHG FVV DOFJNIV !!!!!!!!!!

but would save on money.

the thing is, she has analog, she will use all of her cameras. it's what she does.

I know a certain princess who has been very happy with her Rebel D as well. When she got it (a few months ago), it seemed to be generally rated better than any digital SLR under $1500 or so. Comes with a pretty nice lens, too, if I remember.