Please help me pick my first DSLR!

[tedmcardle]

I used to own a Nikon D40 and just upgraded to a D5000. I would recommend either of them. If you have the extra cash, go for the newer model.

 

[object88]

I own a D40, and am very happy with the body. I got it with the kit glass, and am... mostly happy with it. Frankly, I wish it was faster, but this is only after about 6 months. I am going to pick up more glass before I upgrade the body.

I bought it as a refurb very close to the end of its lifespan, so I saved a little extra money.

One thing I didn't see, and maybe I missed it, but have you held both Nikons and Canons in your hand, used the menu system, etc? It does help to have friends with the same lens system (and that helped me make my decision), but if you don't like the feel of the camera in your hand, I would wager that you're less likely to use it.

 

[makismagoo99]

I was in your exact situation, I had the money for an upgraded body but didn't exactly know if I should spend all of it on the body and which body to get or who to go with. I do bird photography so for me it was easier because most bird photographers get canon because of the lens lineup. I went with a canon xsi for a few reasons:
-TLi wasn't out yet
-much better than XS for very little money
-at a certain level without a very high end setup it will be very difficult to detect the difference of megapixels
-much cheaper
-more important than ANYTHING else in image quality is 1) experience and 2) lens. I didn't have either but knew that body was much less important. Now that I have both I completely agree

Thanks for your feedback! It's far more helpful to me to hear why other people decided on the camera they chose, as opposed to "Pick Camera X. It is good." (Not that that's the kind of advice most of you have offered here, but that's not my point 😛). I actually think the XSi is what I'm going to get. Costco has the XSi 2-lens kit with a bag and a 4GB card for $679....seems like a pretty fantastic deal.

One thing I didn't see, and maybe I missed it, but have you held both Nikons and Canons in your hand, used the menu system, etc? It does help to have friends with the same lens system (and that helped me make my decision), but if you don't like the feel of the camera in your hand, I would wager that you're less likely to use it.

I have, in fact done that. I've played with both Nikon and Canon bodies, but don't really have a huge preference either way. While I do think the Nikons are slightly more comfortable, I don't have giant hands, so neither body is particularly bad. I like how Canon bodies have a lot of shortcut hard-wired buttons to things like ISO, White Balance, etc. The Nikon seemed more intuitive at first, but I think that after spending more than 5 minutes with the camera, either one will work just fine.

Long story short, I don't really have much of a brand preference, I was just seeking the advice of the photo community on the advantages and disadvantages of both brands.

 

[Pib]

tedmcardle and object88 both mention Nikon D40. My wife owns the D40x which is very similar to the D40. I would recommend it but I think a newer D3000 has "replaced" the D40/D40x as the Nikon entry-level DSLR. I would suggest you review the following websites - http://www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm and http://www.dpreview.com/. Both of these sites helped me make an informed buying decision for my wife when she made the leap from point-and-shoot to DSLR. Good luck!

 

[194567]

4, 5 months ago I was in exactly the same boat as you!! I was moving up from an 10 year old Nikon F4 (still using it though 🙂). My first thought was getting a new one too. I didn't bought a new one and went with a second-hand D80. It was in perfect condition with 2 years additional warranty and less than 10k on the shutter. I got it for an amazing deal. This meant I had some money left for a new lens!! (I already had a some nice glass from the F4) So I saved some money the month after that and picked up a Tokina 12 24.

Seriously I'm so glad I didn't went with the D90. I learned so much with the D80 for far less money and I'm still learning with that super wide angle I got. Also having a built in AF screwdriver was very convenient for me because good lenses with dedicated AFS are a little bit more expensive and I saved some money with that. In the future I would like to buy a nikon AF 80-200 f/2.8 2-ring and with a dedicated "screw-driver" I save almost $750 on the 70-200 AFS. (the 70-200 is superior but it's not worth an extra 750 for me)

Really, The D90 has superior technology but a cheaper camera with real good glass is just in my opinion better compared to a D90 with kit lens for roughly the same price. (actually I came out cheaper as a D90 kit because I got some great deals)

All in all, If you're on a budget, go secondhand!! It just takes some time before you encounter a nice deal, same goes for the glass. You will not regret it.

 

[jbg232]

4, 5 months ago I was in exactly the same boat as you!! I was moving up from an 10 year old Nikon F4 (still using it though 🙂). My first thought was getting a new one too. I didn't bought a new one and went with a second-hand D80. It was in perfect condition with 2 years additional warranty and less than 10k on the shutter. I got it for an amazing deal. This meant I had some money left for a new lens!! (I already had a some nice glass from the F4) So I saved some money the month after that and picked up a Tokina 12 24.

Seriously I'm so glad I didn't went with the D90. I learned so much with the D80 for far less money and I'm still learning with that super wide angle I got. Also having a built in AF screwdriver was very convenient for me because good lenses with dedicated AFS are a little bit more expensive and I saved some money with that. In the future I would like to buy a nikon AF 80-200 f/2.8 2-ring and with a dedicated "screw-driver" I save almost $750 on the 70-200 AFS. (the 70-200 is superior but it's not worth an extra 750 for me)

Really, The D90 has superior technology but a cheaper camera with real good glass is just in my opinion better compared to a D90 with kit lens for roughly the same price. (actually I came out cheaper as a D90 kit because I got some great deals)

All in all, If you're on a budget, go secondhand!! It just takes some time before you encounter a nice deal, same goes for the glass. You will not regret it.

I agree, you can great some great deals on basically new XSi's or other mid ranges from either:
1) People upgrading to TLi's
2) People who didn't realize what they were getting into and don't want their basically unused DSLRs anymore

Either way, most importantly you need to learn the basics and get good lenses more than anything else at this stage.