$400 Sony DSLR a230...keep or return it?

[aa521490]

I got the above camera at my frys store. I have never own a slr camera and have been wanting to make the jump from point and shoot.

I have been reading about aperture, shutter speed, white balance, etc. so I have a little knowledge of how they work.

I currently own a canon powershot sd850is. Will the sony camera be enough to shoot say family, candid wedding, kids on the playground, road trip type shots?
I plan on visiting relatives in HI, going to the golden gate bridge in SF, Bryce Canyon, UT, and maybe a trip to the Grand Canyon. Also will this camera work say at a child's soccer and t-ball game?

Thanks.

 

[jampat]

What lens/lenses did you get? Any camera is capable of shooting all of the above situations, the lens is the primary factor in how good it will be in any situation. For a lot of vacation shots, wide angle is popular as it allows you to take in a whole scene (wide angle is normally less than 20mm on your camera), for kids playing and weddings, telephoto (ie longer than 70mm on your camera) are helpful. Any entry level DSLR will have trouble taking amazing shots in bad light (ie weddings), but should be much better than your SD850.

Did you get a camera that will take amazing pictures in every situation for $400? No. Did you get a camera that will take better pictures than your SD850 in challenging situations? Very likely yes. Only you can decide if the improvement is worth the money.

Personally for that kind of money, I would recommend the D40 (and I am a Canon guy). I have never heard of anyone regretting Nikon, I have talked to a number of people that wish they had not chosen Sony. Not that there is anything majorly wrong, you just become invested in a system and in my view Canon, Nikon and Olympus all have better systems than Sony (for various reasons and I'm sure other people will disagree, this is just one persons opinion based on my experiences).