What to look for when buying a DSLR

[DarkSideAccord]

Roy, what made you want to buy a Pentax? You were looking a while back as I recall.

lens availability/ interchangeability is my number one priority... good luck with tht canon and nikon owners

all the lenses u want from whatever year.. tht's the selling point... i mean, a nifty fifty for $50? find me another brand tht does tht

also, i like the built-in shake reduction.. nikon needs the VR lenses to do tht :roy: not sure abt canon since i dun care much abt tht brand

 

[ryan s]

yeah, built-in shake reduction is huge. it doesnt do anything for moving objects with slow shutter speeds. but all your lenses are IS/VR/OIS.

now i type the rest of this having started with the first consumer digital SLR, then went to a mid-level camera, and now have a "prosumer" one...

the thing about entry level cameras is the viewfinder is too dim to manually focus...but they always have fewer AF points and less accurate focus than a higher-model camera big and bright matters. its the difference between eyes in focus or "hmm, i guess the eyes werent in focus now that i cant retake the picture..."

Raw quality is pretty much dependent on the sensor itself. some can take 14-bit images, others only 12. you wont notice a ton of difference until you print in foot by foot sizes high ISO handling, though, is essential. older cameras just cant keep up. ISO 400 max is seriously limiting and frustrating. the takeaway from this paragraph is be prepared to do some post processing...

shutter lag is non-existent and manual controls are pretty universal. what you will notice, however, is how different brands handle manual mode. with pentax cameras, you can use digital preview after pressing the green button to see if your exposure is close. the others, you need to guess, take the picture, then adjust exposure. some cameras have focus confirm without a modern AF lens hooked to it, most dont.

so a quick rundown on lens compatibility if you want to use legacy lenses...

-canon...lots of brands and mounts can be used with adapters. no focus confirm without an adapter with a chip (somewhat flaky). pretty much M and Av modes only.
-nikon...usable with most nikkor lenses made since like the early 70s. only nikon (and lenses made for the F mount) lenses reach infinity focus.
-pentax...every K mount ever made, M42 and M39 with adapter(s). focus confirm, shake reduction, digital preview, auto aperture.

of course i'm a fan of pentax because it has the most value for the features. i would take a look at a K-7...i saw one posted on pentaxforums for $385. from there, the sky is the limit for lenses.

 

[CrosCntryAccord]

I think, given my limited budget, Pentax may be the way for me to go.

was this the camera you saw? http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/photographic-equipment-sale/192213-sale-pentax-k7.html

 

[ryan s]

indeed. and i was also thinking how bad that screen protector looks on the K-7/5 bodies but ive had that same brand on my K10D and its great

 

[CrosCntryAccord]

okay, got the go-ahead from the wife last night. I would be getting the K-X since I'd prefer to get a more affordable body and lens kit but with that listing on PF, I'm going to get the K7.

My reasoning is that you can find TONS of lenses for pentax at prices that don't compare to Canon or Nikon. I'd rather spend time learning about different lens companies than spending hundreds of extra dollars buying only Canon lenses.

Hope this helps Lemmie.

 

[ryan s]

canon can utilize more different mounts than pentax via adapters--but none have focus confirm without a chipped adapter nor do any of them have auto aperture available. using older lenses is just easier with pentax, even if you're limited to only the hundreds of millions of M39, M42, and K mount lenses out there

if you come across a lightly used genuine battery grip for that camera and you're not going to use it, let me know...i need one

 

[CrosCntryAccord]

canon can utilize more different mounts than pentax via adapters--but none have focus confirm without a chipped adapter nor do any of them have auto aperture available. using older lenses is just easier with pentax, even if you're limited to only the hundreds of millions of M39, M42, and K mount lenses out there

if you come across a lightly used genuine battery grip for that camera and you're not going to use it, let me know...i need one

haha, i think the biggest thing for me is to find which aftermarket lenses are worth buying.

and you know I have no problem using older lenses

 

[ryan s]

theres so much shit out there and lots of people still ask $250 for a lens they paid that much for in 1984

 

[cyen008]

not a pro or anything but just my opinion since i kind of just got started as well

i would buy like something like this
and get a polarizing lense filter for that lense (which i think makes a big diff)

and then with a canon you have a wide range of options for lenses (any canon lense with a red dot) even some of the old SLR lenses will work on it, what i did was buy alot of old slr lenses which were cheap just to get a feel of them all. you want some room in your 1000$ budget to spend on a good external flash as well.

 

[SABStable]

Just throwing this out there: buying a circular polarizer might be a good idea once you get a camera. Its cheap, and it helps get rid of reflections in pictures. Plus it shouldn't be too expensive for a good one, my girlfriend's was only $15 for her T2i and according to her, its the best investment shes made for her camera.