glass is where its at. the body doesnt matter, to an extent.

 

admen to that!!!!!

 

C'mon, guys -- Nikon D3 w/ 24-70 2.8 AF-S! You won't have to buy another camera for years.

Seriously though, you may want to check out the Canon XS (not XSi) -- 529.95 w/ free shipping from B&H. It's kind of like a stripped down XTi.

Canon | EOS Rebel XS (a.k.a. 1000D) SLR Digital | 2762B003 | B&H

 

pssh d3 nothing!!!!!! junk The Eos-1Ds Mark III!!!!! hahaha

 

is the Fuji Film S1000fd a decent camera?

 

^anyone know???

 

Hmm, most point and shoots are pretty much all the same to me. That Fuji just has a big lens (not interchangeable). Seems to have good reviews though.

 

ehh, reviews seem to say it's kinda mediocre. Here's one that's pretty thorough:

Steves Digicams - FujiFilm FinePix S1000fd - Hands on Review

If you go to look at the sample pics it'll give you a decent idea of what you're looking at. Personally, I think they look pretty bad -- the noise reduction applied to them wipes almost all the small details away and makes everything look like a watercolor painting, plus adds a fair amount of artifacts. And that's at a low ISO of 64; just wait until you get into higher ISO's, it'll only get worse. It's probably OK for 4x6 snaps, but if you want anything bigger than that you probably won't be happy w/ the quality. It is cheap though.

 

On that note, don't you feel a bit sad for the guys that plopped their $8k down for that thing right before the 5D2 was announced, only to find it with a revised sensor, better ISO, at about a third of the price? Granted no pro body, sealing, etc., (although the autofocus is probably more reliable), but still . . .

At least I knew about the D700 when I got my D3, and could opt for the better body fully knowing what was available.

 

If you're looking to explore photography with a DSLR, the Nikon D40 is a fine choice. Don't spend too much getting started; get a basic lens, basic camera. The most important tool for a photographer is the photographer, not the camera. Some of the most awesome photos come from cheap shit. The nice thing with the SLRs with interchangeable lenses is that you can generally keep all your lenses when you upgrade to a new body later.

That said, I have a Nikon D50 which I got with the kit lens (18-55mm 3.5-5.6, basic general purpose shooting, not much zoom), and have since gotten three mores lenses:

* 50mm, 1.8... This has no zoom, fixed distance (50mm). But what's great about it is that it is fast and can let in a lot of light (f/1.8 aperture). Which is great for two things: dark environments, and creative depth of field blur.

* Lensbaby just for fun.

* My latest (haven't even used it yet!) is a 55-200mm 4-5.6 VR. Not terribly fast, but has good amount of zoom, vibration reduction, and picks up where my 18-55mm leaves off. (Note: There is an almost exact lens, cheaper, but without VR. Still a good lens, but if you can afford the VR version, do so. Then again, you're better off getting used to the base kit before you start buying more lenses.)

I like Nikon because you can do almost any important change from the camera dials and buttons, without having to start diving through the menus. Once you get the hang of it, you can take a shot, see if the exposure is off, and make adjustments quickly and retake the shot. (Hopefully, of course, you begin to learn to have the settings right the first time around.)

If you want to see some of my photos, check out Flickr: matthew_moss' Photostream. In particular, look at the Chinese New Year set, which I think turned out rather well for running around with fireworks in yer face. The St. Louis Cathedral shots, some came out well, others not so well. I wasn't prepared when I shot there, because when Mass isn't in session, they tend to dim the lights -- I would have needed to bring my tripod. Still, some came out rather well.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a photo expert, and I only know about Nikon, so I'm just providing my experience; I can't comment/compare to the others. But Nikon is nice.

Oh, one other note... If you look at the largest size (1512x999) of these photos, realize that that is only 25% of the actual image data I shot (on a 6MP camera). I generally don't post the full size images, both for IP issues and also because it would just take too long to upload.