Advice on buying budget DSLR


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seeyf

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Oct 17, 2004
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Hi, i'm going to buy a dslr but not sure which one is better...
So far, these are the ones i've been considering:
Nikon D50
Nikon D70s
Canon 350D
Minolta Dynax 5D

So far the 5D looks like the best choice due to the low price ($1280 at MS Color) and the antishake which the others don't have. However, Minolta has a smaller number of lenses compared to Canon and Nikon. Is this a disadvantage in any way? Or is it better to go with a Canon/Nikon dslr?
 

ARe u going to buy all the lens from Canon/Nikon? If not then the answer is NO. Basically Minolta covers most of the range and even the kit lens can produce great image quality as compare to the competition. Basically even the same range of 3rd party lens is cheaper eg.. a Tamron 17-35 is selling $880 for both Canon and Nikon but it is selling at $660 or lesser for Minolta. These goes the same for cheaper Minolta Prime Lens. Optically, I think Minolta lens is very good even for kits lens. Among them also, KM 5D has the best and most vivid colors as well.

Like what I said, buy whatever u need u think is good for you because in the end, you are the one using it..;)
 

would recomend the oly e300 or e500 kits ... relatively low price and covers your whole range ... (28mm~300mm) they got really good consumer lenses .. but the pro lenses are damn ex ... then again there are sigma alternatives ...
 

Not going to consider Olympus?

The problem lies with lens <28mm. The "cheapest" seems to be the 11-22mm (22-44mm) which is 1k+ :(

And it seems unlikely that e500 comes with 2 lens.
 

ahsosl1e8 said:
The problem lies with lens <28mm. The "cheapest" seems to be the 11-22mm (22-44mm) which is 1k+ :(

And it seems unlikely that e500 comes with 2 lens.

So inevitably, availability of lens selection should be a point for consideration as well?

If lens availability is not an issue, why go DSLR/SLR? Single Reflex Lens camera offers the option of lens interchangeability. Availability of range, quality and price, is naturally a factor for consideration.

However, to each his/her own. If a shooter decides that a limited range of lens, or the kit lens, is "good enough", I proposed taking a look at Olympus, which, like KM, is disadvantaged by the limited range of lens. Strengths wise, Oly and KM offer different things, which is why I brought it up for consideration.

If a shooter has future upgradabilty in mind, the thread starter already is aware that Nikon and Canon offers more options in terms of choices.

Having said that, Canon and Nikon's strengths are not merely in the range of lens alone.
 

There are some special deal for KM 5D at B&S:

$1265.00 +1GB + bag

$1265.00 + 1GB

It actually depend on where you have enough money to invest in high end lens or not. KM got quite a comprehensive range of normal price good quality consumer lens (but lack of USM) and cheaper than Nikon or Canon generally.

Because of popularity of 5D (especially) and 7D, now it's hard to get some top end G lens (like Canon "L" lens) due to demand overwhelm the supply, KM will need to take some time to catch up on this.

And KM do seem to pay more attention on more lens development lately, but still need some time.
 

You can also consider a 2nd hand DSLR like D70 or 300D ... think that it is cheaper yet already v good ... no need to always go for "the best in the market now" ...

my 2cents ...
 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I didn't consider Olympus at first because it seems to have even less available lenses than Minolta.

A few more questions:
What about the image quality of the camera body itself? E.g. does Canon's CMOS technology and the 8MP CCD give much better images? Or is the choice of lens more important?

Also, is Minolta's Anti-Shake technology useful or can the same effect be obtained using higher ISO or wider aperture?
 

Canon develops their own CMOS for the DSLRs. So image quality definitely :thumbsup:, but as you've highlighted, their EF series of lenses (non Ls) somehow can't quite cut it in certain aspects.

If you're not those that zoom-magnify to 100% to see someone's hair/eyeball/eye lash is sharp or not... you'll be happy. But if you do, then the "L" virus will start to bite :bsmilie: for "L" gives a strange new world of vibrancy in your pictures and little or not post processing is needed.

As for Minolta's AS, yes why not? I've got a couple of friends using the D7D with huge lenses and a basic 5D as well, somehow, i still love minolta colours.
 

seeyf said:
Thanks for all the suggestions. I didn't consider Olympus at first because it seems to have even less available lenses than Minolta.

A few more questions:
What about the image quality of the camera body itself? E.g. does Canon's CMOS technology and the 8MP CCD give much better images? Or is the choice of lens more important?

Also, is Minolta's Anti-Shake technology useful or can the same effect be obtained using higher ISO or wider aperture?


Maybe these pics will convince you..

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1035&message=15331365

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1035&message=14981041

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1035&message=14813766


All the pics in the threads were taken with only KIT LENSE and sharpened by S/w (meaning USMed) (not taken by me though. haha). Pic Quality Amazing right?

Btw to answer your Question about 8mp,

1) Higher Resolution only gives you more area to crop your pic but not higher quality picture.

2) Yes AntiShake helps in 2 or 3 stops of shutterspeed. Meaning you can shoot low light objects with output sharp images at longer focal length too without use of tripod or shaky hands. ;)

Btw IMHO, an Antishake, coupled with Low-noise High ISO shooting and wider aperture are totally awesome... U gonna try it to feel it.. ;)
 

u must take note that olympus' noise control technology is still someway behind canon and nikon and minolta.

if i were u (and i dont ahve any previous lenses), i wld go for the minolta 5d, get 3rd party lens. think carefully before u buy, dont anyhow jump in rashly and purchase.

u may want to consider the following

tamron 28-75
sigma 24-60 (i don suggest 24-70 cos its a blooming 800grams, plus not as sharp)
KM 28-75

or if ur satisfied with the KM 5D's kit lens (which you should be cos its good enough), just shoot wiht that first. save money. buy a flash. if u need more later on, get a 70-300 or upgrade to a constant f/2.8 lens. the KM's kit lens is capable of producing very very decent pictures.

don get caught up by the canon/nikon craze (altho im a 350D user myself). see the benefits of 5D, the greatest of which is the anti shake. saves u money, gets u sharper pics. the processing engine is also well known for vivid colour and low noise rendition. i remember one CSer in the minolta forum saying that ISO3200 on the 5D = ISO1600 on 350D.

dont bother abt 6.1 or 8mp. its marketing. u want to print big? shoot raw.

in the end: make ur choice, live with it, and enjoy ur hobby. :)
 

get a used 10d

cheaper than new 350d
 

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