Sorry - i obviously know nothing about minolta
Hmmm.... well I will try to be more specific in my requirements and hoepfully you guys can help in deciding what to buy...
I am looking for a DSLR:
1. Minimum 6megapixial
2. Auto ISO ( up to ISO1600 )
3. lens 18-55mm, or something which is recommended for general usage
4. budget: no more than $1.5k for both body and lens
well maybe its overkill but I am trying to take more pics of my growing son, he is 2.5mths old. I do not wish to use the flash but babies being babies tend to move a lot, my present basic digital camera usually gives me blurry pics as once the flash is off, the shutter spd is slower thus blur pics... I am hoping that a DSLR with auto ISO( up to ISO 1600) can help me in that department, well correct me if i am right or even better give me suggestions = )
Thks in advance for the help...
Ok. (and it's not overkill. That's a great reason.)
The only choices with AutoISO (afaik, please correct if i'm wrong) are pentax and nikon. This is an extremely useful feature, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary. It's definitely useful though.
The D50 does not have it, but the new D40 and the slightly older D50 do. On the pentax side, the current K100D and K110D have it. All these cameras should also be in your general price range.
Actually, given your price range, I think the only other option is the Canon 350D. Since you want available light shots, I would dismiss olympus immediately, as it's smaller sensors mean that high iso shots have worse noise. Since you want to shoot indoors, this is a no-no. The Olympus system also suffers from a lack of fast lenses, which is important, as you'll see. I'll discuss the canon as well.
As for lenses, whatever you get, I think you should get the kit lens. It's useful to have a "general" zoom, and it's generally pretty cheap.
However, given that you want to take available light photography, you probably want a fast lens in addition to the kit lens. A "fast" lens is a lens with a large aperture (i.e. small "f" number. For example, f4 is slow, f1.4 is faster.) Fast lenses let you use higher shutter speeds in lower light, which is probably important if you want to snap pictures of a 3 year old kid.
The most affordable fast lenses have a focal length of 50mm. On these cameras, the "effective" focal length will be something like 75mm. This is probably not the best for landscape shots and the like, but it should be -alright- indoors. (and if you want a cheap fast lens there's not much other choice.)
Pentax has the cheapest (new) 50mm f1.4. Unfortunately, it's not available easily in singapore, although if you have friends in the us or will visit the us, it's fairly trivial to acquire. I happened to get mine today for SGD 285
The Nikon 50 f1.4 is available in singapore (more easily, anyhow) and costs something like SGD 400 (again, correct me if i'm wrong.) Unfortunately, I don't think it'll be supported by the D40 (correct me if i'm wrong), so you're stuck with the D50. The Canon 50mm f1.4 is about the same price and is also available in singapore. (please add prices for the canon)
This is where it becomes a little difficult.
The choices you have are the Pentax, the Canon, and the Nikon. For pentax, because I never see the K110D in the shops, let's just say that you'll select the K100D. Lets compare them:
The Canon 350D will probably cost about SGD 1350 with the kit. If you get the fast lens as well, it'll cost SGD 1750. Advantages/disadvantages: You get more megapixels. 8MP instead of 6MP. You also get the best burst mode, the camera can about 25 shots before it's buffer runs out. Unfortunately, many people don't like the grip of this camera. You'll have to go try it to find out what -you- think. This camera also arguably has the worst controls - to change settings like ISO and White balance, you have to press "ok" after making the selection. If you forget - the camera doesn't change the selection. This can be a little bit of a PITA. The camera also does not have a spot meter. (which is useful in certain circumstances, especially if you know how to use it, but it's absence is probably not fatal.) Uses CF cards.
further reading:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/EXT/EXTA.HTM
The Nikon D50 will probably cost about SGD 1250 with the kit. If you get the fast lens as well, it'll cost SGD 1650. Advantages:disadvantages. This has the best ISO 1600 shots. (you want to use higher ISOs when there is less light). It also has the best control system - you can press and hold a button and spin a wheel to change wb/iso/drive mode. It can take 12 jpg shots before it's buffer runs out. Disadvantages - nothing really serious enough to mention, although note that the "advantages" of other cameras are disadvantages of this one. Uses SD cards.
further reading:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D50/D50A.HTM
The final choice is the K100D. I'm probably slightly biased because I made this choice and I picked this one. It will cost about SGD 1150 with the kit, but expect to pay a little more for couple of sets of nimh battries and a charger. Advantages/disadvantages: This has the best viewfinder of the three (according to stats). It also has the largest screen (2.5" instead of 2"), probably because it's also the most recently released. It is also the only one with in-camera shake reduction. What shake reduction does it that it helps to prevent camera shake, and is useful to shooting "still" objects when indoors.
Nikon and Canon have similar stabilization (arguably slightly better) in their DSLRS, but only if you buy particular lenses (which are expensive - the cheapest is probably around SGD 800, please correct this if i'm wrong). The pentax gives every single lens stabilization. While it's ISO 1600 shots are not generally as good as the Nikon's, it has a ISO 3200 mode which is quite usable. the ISO 3200 is not that pretty on-screen, but if you're printing 4R shots you probably will be satisfied.
The main disadvantage is lens availability. Because pentax has become a somewhat niche player (even though, i think, it made the first SLR) certain lenses are hard to find in Singapore. Unfortunately, this includes the 50mm f1.4. The fastest similar lens you can get is probably a 40 f2.8, which runs around SGD 450 (and AFAIk is available right now from cathy photo) but in exchange is very very physically small. For reference, it's smaller that the lens shown here :
http://www.pbase.com/equipment/image/60729308 This is probably the smallest dslr-lens combination on the market right now. Unfortunately, f2.8 is on the edge of being usable indoors. the K100D with the 40 costs around 1600. with a 50mm for the price I got mine, it's around 1500.
You might also not appreciate the camera using AA batteries. Other things about it are that the shutter noise is slightly louder than the other two, the focussing noise is slightly louder than the other two, and the focus speed indoors -might- be slightly slower than the others. It can only take 5 JPG shots before it's buffer runs out. The ISO/WB control system is inbetween the D50 and the 350D. Finally, it's status LCD does not light up.
further reading:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/K100D/K100DA.HTM
I think before you decide any further, and after reading the links above, you should go visit a camera shop and try all of them out. This is important. It's even better if you have friends which each of these cameras.