dSLR's

[rhythmicfire]

Was just wondering how much people were selling decent used digital SLR's for now a days... was considering possibly purchasing one, but want to get a feel for the market first

[vapormd]

I recently sold my Canon Rebel XT on ebay for about $400 (for just the camera body, no lenses). With the Rebel XTi and the Nikon D40, and upcoming Christmas sales and/or rebates (Canon does one every year around this time), buying a new DSLR may not be that much more than a mint used one.

[rhythmicfire]

Originally posted by vapormd
I recently sold my Canon Rebel XT on ebay for about $400 (for just the camera body, no lenses). With the Rebel XTi and the Nikon D40, and upcoming Christmas sales and/or rebates (Canon does one every year around this time), buying a new DSLR may not be that much more than a mint used one.

I think I may have seen your ad on Craigslist
What is the rough price someone would spend on an "okay" new dSLR?

[ianiwane]

It all depends on what you want to do with it. The camera body is just a small part of the cost. ie. macro lens, zoom lenses, flashes.

[rhythmicfire]

I wanted to get into photography a little. I am not looking for a professional grade camera I suppose. Wanted to get into "regular" photography, and macro photography to capture all those kodak moments. Like Kinetics pictures, haha. His are awesome. I'll wait for him to stumble upon this thread

[jellygeee]

Costco has some pretty good deal on Canon XTi at the moment.
Try checking out slickdeals.net and sometimes you see good deals on Digital SLRs

[raddogz]

Fortunately unfortunately Art uses the camera equipment before selling. LOL j/k Art.

If you want new, Canon usually runs rebates around January coinciding with Superbowl

[ianiwane]

Eric is also a good one for this thread. Ok so as for lenses you would want a macro lens either a 105 nikon or canon (depending on what body you get) or 90mm tamron or 105 sigma. The 105 macro nikon (nikon calls it a micro) has vibration reduction built into the lens. Its a nice feature but the lens is like 800 dollars. The 90mm tamron and 105 sigma will run around 400 dollars.

For an everyday lens you could probably find a decent lens for 200ish. ie. Nikon makes a 18-70mm lens that people normally let go used for about 200.

You probably are also going to want a 50mm 1.8 lens for indoor shots. You could get this one cheap. ~100

[Kinetic]

Originally posted by raddogz
Fortunately unfortunately Art uses the camera equipment before selling. LOL j/k Art.

If you want new, Canon usually runs rebates around January coinciding with Superbowl

Hah! that's one thing I do use before I sell Actually I've yet to sell any of my camera equipment. Buying smart gets you equipment that will basically last you forever (given you take good care of it and don't drop your stuff).

When buying camera equipment, just know that if you do get the high quality stuff, it is a one time investment that could potentially last you your whole career as a hobbyist photographer. Unlike cars, pumps for our tanks, etc, it doesn't really wear out that badly. Especially lenses. So I'd recommend getting something in the higher end consumer / prosumer range. Even if you're starting off, eventually you'll want better.

I find that if you go with an "OK" camera, you'll be less inclined to learn and less motivated to go out. But say you got an awesome package that has tons of potential, you'll really want to dive into that and see what you can get.

With that said, even the lowest of the well known brands are actually quite fine at what they do. I can get very good pictures on point and shoot cameras, as well as my SLR. It just may be easier on a SLR since I have more options to control what I need.

It's impossible to predict how much you're going to get into photography, and it's even more difficult to invest in something like a high end camera without even knowing how far into it you will get. But I think with a few of the suggestions that everyone has mentioned so far, you could get a very good starting point. Though expect to become addicted like me and upgrade soon

I know Nikon brand cameras the best, but not to say other brands are not good, so here's a Nikon suggestion if you want to go this route:

D40x - good entry level SLR. It's as difficult to learn as a D80, or a D2X. So don't think that an entry level body will be easier to understand. You are only limited to certain versions of Nikon's newest lenses, and very few third party (though that list may be getting bigger). In my honest opinion, this camera is a tad hard to use compared to my D80. Smaller viewfinder, smaller LCD to preview, sensor does not provide as good of detail and saturation (but negligible).

D80 - I would highly recommend a D80. It's as easy as any other camera, and can be used to get AMAZING pictures that not too long ago were at the level of the pro-sumer D200 and comparable cameras. It doesn't have a lot of fluff, it's pretty light, and a bit smaller than the old D70 it succeeded.

If your pockets are a bit deep and you think you'll definitely play around with the camera for a long time, I'd go for a D300 at least =)


I'd suggest reading some articles on KenRockwell.com. He's kind of like the chuck norris of the photography world though, so take all his recommendations with a grain of salt, but he does give good, basic english, information.


dpreview also gives some good articles.

And lastly, just goto the store, pickup a few models and try them out, come back here and ask us. There are a ton of people on this forum who are very good at photography and gear review =)

[Kinetic]

Originally posted by ianiwane
You probably are also going to want a 50mm 1.8 lens for indoor shots. You could get this one cheap. ~100

A friend of mine had been using the nikon 50mm f/1.8d that he bought new for $90 + shipping on his SLR exclusively. Up until a year after he bought his D80 did he finally get any other kind of lenses.

All of my portrait shots recently were all shot with the 50mm f/1.8d =) Mostly because I can't afford the 85 f1.8 and other fine portrait lenses.

[clownfish2020]

I bught a canon rebel digital SLR , photo printer and 2 lenses package at Costco.com - it was only available on their website not through local costcos about 2 years ago with a $200 or $300 rebate but It took abot 5 months to get my rebate back from canon

[Kinetic]

rebates are always really slow regardless of what it is =( but hey, you eventually get it back! =)

[rhythmicfire]

Originally posted by clownfish2020
I bught a canon rebel digital SLR , photo printer and 2 lenses package at Costco.com - it was only available on their website not through local costcos about 2 years ago with a $200 or $300 rebate but It took abot 5 months to get my rebate back from canon

If you don't mind my asking, how much was it after the rebate? Sounds like a pretty sweet deal you nabbed there.

Thanks for the feedback and advice Kinetic (Art?)! Much appreciated. Definitely made a lot of good points about photography and the such.

[TikiDan]

I prefer Canons for the sensor, and nikons for the quality of lenses. So its really up to what your looking for. So on that note, here are my 2 choices.

1) Nikon D40
http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/Produ...C=&GCC=&KW=d40

or

2) Canon 20D http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/Produ...BCL=&GBC=&GCC=