Looking to buy my girl a camera for xmas. She takes pictures of every dam thing! The only problem is the camera we have is old and sucks. I want to get her something nice, but not too difficult to shoot with. Maybe something for starters. No real price range just trying to get a clue. I guess 400?? Could be more or less. I just need to know where to begin. Thanks, Clarke
kind of partial to Canon DSLR because everything I have uses SD and all my old 35mm stuff can be used with it.
Rebel XSi, or the new(er) T1is. T1s are still well above 400 with kit lens, but you can try for the XSi's. Pretty decent camera. Tons better than any P&S any day.
I just got the GoPro HD Hero and it's pretty awesome. I'm not sure if she'd have a need for something this video oriented, but it took really good pictures, too. It's definitely not something you can P&S as it has no LCD screen (you can get one as an add-on). You can get them for less than $300
I'm a Nikon fan myself, but shoot both nikon and canon at work. At the end of the day the image quality out of both brands is the best and fairly indistinguishable for the most part. I personally prefer nikons button layout and lenses, also their menu system is in more of a 'plain english' and a little more user friendly feeling. These days it really comes down to price and Canon will always come out arond 10-15% cheaper in cost, its just the nature of build materials. I agree with Alex's recommendation of a used d70 or maybe a d80 if 400bux is your price range, and also the canon 40d may be around that price range also. If you're looking at point and shoots, a great one is the canon s95 but its still a newish model and might be over 400bux. I've also seen some good performance out of Lumix (Panasonic?) p&s's and they're more in the 200-300 dollar range. Guess it depends on if you think she wants to deal with a bulkier but expandable form of a dslr or if she wants the low profile, carry in the purse convenience of a point and shoot.
40Ds still go for a good bit over 400$. (With a kit lens. My bad) You can always try for an older 20D or 30D, which is an updated 20D without too many differences. The 40D's LCD screen is a piece of shit though. Uncalibrated, makes you think pictures clean and focused, but it's a TRAP. The only thing I know about Nikon's advantage over Canon is the over-all reusability for ALL of their lenses. Canon requires an adapter. But, Canon's newer stuff, ie 7D, is capable of 128000, which is ridiculous, but even 1600 is useable in that pictures come out really good, and not as noisy as it should be. http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/pho/2104923715.html This guy is selling a 40D body only for 400$ with a 2GB CF card.
Great info guys! She wants kinda point and shoot. Kind of " the camera does all the work". She probally will put it in her purse if possible. I dont really care about the price, just dont want to get her to much camera for her needs.
Yeah. Most if not all cameras in the low-mid range DSLRs have an auto function that does exactly that; act as a P&S without any sort of hassle. The T1i, I think, was the first of the DSLRs to have video in 1080p while also being reasonably priced. Nikon had their D90, and Canon had their 5D Mk II, which is like a 2500$ camera lulz. With cameras like the T1i, or even the XSi (No video capability), anyone has the option to use it as a point and shoot, while also having the OTHER available option of going full manual and trying out different things to maker their pictures look the way they want it to.
Don't ever rely on the built in LCD screen to determine whether or not your photo is well composed. You can/should look at the histogram of the image if that's what you're interested in. The LCDs usually make all photos appear more bright / illuminated than they actually are.
Nikon D70 guy here. I've shot over 100,000 pics with it and finally gave out on me this past june while I was in Dallas in that really hot and humid weather. I'll probably get a D700 b/c I like shooting low light conditions. D700 is def out of the $400 price range. LOL!
Yeah. Huge mistake when I was using the 40D. The camera that I learned on, with a crappy screen. The 40D was actually notorious for the horrible LCD, and even the Rebel's had much better ones that were tons more reliable in letting you determine if it's sharp enough/focused enough. Basically, if you want to lie to yourself, the 40D is perfect. Lol
If you don't plan on investing in lenses in the future, buy a nice P&S, like a Canon G12 or S95. Yes, the image quality out of a DSLR will be better than a P&S because of the larger sensor, but the glass is really what brings images to life with a DSLR.
Ok Ill look into those. Key work here is beginner not best. She needs to get an idea of what she is doing before we move into the heavy equipment!!lol
Yeah. Hahah. I don't know anything about the P&S field. As you can tell, my knowledge is very limited anyway in the field of photography. Lol.
I have a VERY good condition Pentax Kx (DSLR) for sale with the 18-50mm kit lens and a Pentax camera bag for $325. This was one of the best rated entry level DSLRs from last year and is among the smallest SLRs on the market. Shoot me a message if you would like pics/more details. One of the pluses of the Pentax brand is that the image stabilization is sensor based, so no matter which lens you throw on, it will be stabilized.
I use a Canon Rebel XTi and love it. I have about 7,000 shots on it and have not had any problems at all.
I have the original box, cd, wires, and manual. This camera is in perfect condition. I'll post some pics tonight.