Need opinions...

Need opinions...

I tried searching for the thread where everyone was talking about the SLR camera's but I can't find it..

Anyways, I'm looking into possibly getting a SLR. I see that the Nikon's are pretty popular. However, here's the thing.

-This will be my first SLR.
-I need something that does good in dark and bright situations (clubs, concerts, portraits, landscape shots, etc)
-Something thats resonably priced. No 4500.00 cameras or anything..lol.
-What type of camera and MP's. I got told that after a certain MP, you can't really tell the difference in pics so is it really worth getting the 10MP camera over a 7 or 8MP? or is it BS what I'm being told.
-What stores should I stay clear from and which ones should I actually look into?
-What to look for in a SLR?

Like I said, this would be my first so I don't really need anything outragous. Just something I can use for "work" and on my own time.

i saw the D80 but I remember someone saying that it wasn't much of a difference between the D80, D70 and/or the D40..I can't remember (reason why i tried to look for the other thread). I mean, if the main difference is some features from the D80 and D40, then would the D40 be a better buy?

This is what has me stuck...

so far that looks like good info. especially since its coming from actual users. I'm going to read more into it when I get home. Thanks for the links!

D80 FTW!

Isn't the D40x out already?

I saw the D40x listed on best buy and circuit city sites.

Canon 20D and 30D kick total ass! I've been using the 20D for about 2 years now and have a 50mm prime lens, 75-300 telephoto and 25-55 zoom. I absolutly love it, the only reason I dont have the 30D is because 8.2MP is already huge and I usually downsize the photos a lot for everything I do. SLR is defiantly the way to go though.

e_andree nailed it if your looking at a nikon. i have a d50 also and wouldn't even think about the d40. i ordered mine a while back from http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ which is a reputable place to buy from. you will want to look at a nice flash and possible lens for the club and concert pics. you won't need a lens if you can use a tripod, but people won't be able to hold still for 10-30 seconds

Nikon has been known for excellent ISO ranges with virtually no picture noise. In your case, this would be a definite plus since higher ISO ranges usually help out in dark, low-light situations but typically with most other camera's, the higher the ISO, the higher the picture noise (grain). So i'd say Nikon...D80 is just a really good investment. Personally, if it were me, i'd go with the Nikon D80 or D200....i'll tell ya now, those are the only two i'm gonna choose from when I make the leap into SLR unless they make something else that I find better in that time....

I actually went to look at the D40 and D40x. Just cause I was in Best Buy. After much reading on that forum and looking through the online store on ebay, the D50 seems to be the way to go. And for the price, its not bad at all.

E..did you get the camera already? if so, how do you like it so far?

So you're gonna go with Nikon eh? Lemme tell ya that the D40 is just a cheaper version of the D80. The D80 is slightly better than the D40 but you get more outta your money for the D40. The D50 and D70 are practically the same too. I think the D50 and D70 are probably a little better than the D40 and D80 but they have smaller screens too. Once again, Nikons, in general, work great at night, whether or not you use flash. But I am only assuming that you don't know how to use the manual settings on an SLR yet and I am assuming that you would be using the camera on Auto mode most of the time. If that's the case, the D50 isn't a bad buy. But if you want virtually perfect shots everytime, spend the extra money and get the D200. The D200 has an awesome auto metering that adjusts everything to turn out some equally awesome pictures. But it's all in preference. D200 is a camera for someone that knows what they're doing. D50s and all that, are for the enthusiast and amateurs that want great pictures. D50s have a pretty good auto metering too. Best bang for your buck and you get D50>D40>D70>D80.

I wouldn't buy a SLR to keep it on auto settings. I'd mess with it to see whats best for me. Thats what I did with a friends SLR when I borrowed it for a show one time. If I were to keep it on auto, then I'd stick with a P&S camera.

But for a beginner, I don't want to spend 1300 or 1700.00 on a camera. I rather work my way up. If i would of had more expierence with a camera then i'd go with something better but as of now, I rather stick with something like the D50. Plus it'll be for when i work at the club or do concerts and do things here and there. Its not like I'm doing this as a main job..its more of a hobby I guess you can say.

I'm not gonna deny that the D80 and D200 are good cameras, cause they are. But it has more then what I'm looking for at this point and the price is double of what I'm trying to spend.

E..now that i know you had a good expierence with that ebay store and the camera, I'm gonna wait til my extra paycheck in august to buy one. Then I can work on buying a flash and so on.

Well, I did a 360 and got a Cannon instead of a Nikon. I was playing around with a friend's cannon and I liked the features and feel to it. I gotta admit the Nikon feels better in my hand but the Cannon didn't feel bad either. I went to best buy cause they had a sale going on and I got the Cannon Rebel XTi. It came with a 18-55mm lens and a 75-300mm lens. It also came with an extra battery, carrying case (has a whole bunch of pockets for lenses and other things) and a UV filter lens. All for about 898.00. The Nikon would of ran me a bit more.

I also got a Sony HDD camcorder. I got the Panasonic HDD at first cause of the good reviews but after playing with it, I was not satisfied. So I returned it to Best Buy and got the Sony (I was at best buy at 10:30pm last night doing all this..lol).

With the camera, I was playing with the settings and so far I learned a bit about the AV settings. Got some nice pics but I wanna try it in daylight. I like the whole blurred background feature and what not. I also played with the ISO settings.

Question, the ISO, the higher the number is better for darker shots, correct? I saw the different results but wasn't too sure. I'm still learning cause I've only had it for like half a day..lol. Are there any other settings I should tryout?

I already got it set to save RAW and High Quality pics. Working with RAW pics is insane! I took one of my dog and adjusted the settings and brought out his color! It was unbelievable! When I looked at the original, I was like DAMN!, big difference! lol.

I was going to get a flash to add to the camera but I wanted to work with what I had first to see if I even need it.

see, i have a 35mm slr camera, so usually the there is a combination for which ISO and f-stop would work great for the lighting situation, but because you have a digital its a whole different story because of auto system sooooooo....yeah, a bigger ISO for manual's and most likely digital slr's means that its a a faster shutter speed..if i remember correctly

Nathan and I have a Canon Rebel XTi and :heart: it!!!