Purchase questions

[jim44305]

After going through countless reviews and price shopping I've narrowed my final purchase decisions down to two cameras. As I have no notions of brand loyalty when it comes to cameras I hope to get some non-biased thoughts from those of you here. My choices are the Canon Rebel XT or the Nikon D40. Both are priced within $10 of each other. The one standout I've found is that the rebel is an 8 megapixel compared to the D40's 6.1. I want to stay in the SLR family and was wondering if anyone here has had experience with either or (even better) both of these models to give me their feedback and help an indecisive soul make a big purchase. Or rather, more importantly, the right purchase.

--Jim

[BytePhoto]

Hi,

A difficult decision... a good question you need to ask yourself is what style of photography will you be aiming at.
Also this sort of question will help others help you with your choice.

[Tiger]

Hi Jim, I went through the same thing just over a year ago, having to make a decision between two digital DSLR's. I to was looking at a Nikon and a Canon eos350d. In the end I went for the Canon and I have found it to be a great camera. I am only an amature (and yes things can be a bit confusing beyond the point and shot mode) but I have learned a lot using the 350d. If you have been using a SLR film camera and are changing over to digital you will find it easy to pick up. The 8 megapixel image from this camera is brilliant.

Hope this helps a little, make your choice and have fun.

keith.

[airbrushjohn]

i agree with, RVB Pix! you need to have some idea of want you mainly want to shoot! and if you are new to the dslr market or photography, thats a hard answer! remember one thing megapixels are nice, but thats not the whole story.
example, i work for a photographer, and we use canon 10d, 20d, and 30d, we would probably still use 10d if they were available, thats a 5megapixel, i have seen some of the photos taken with this camera that was blown up to fit your door in your house, and were very sharp. if you are going to shoot alot of low light sports, i.e. basketball, nightime soccer or football, you will need the biggest sensor you can afford, because at a high iso you will get alot of noise or grain in your photos, some you can get out with noise ninja, and some just really ruin your work. there are alot of questions to be answered! actually sometimes too many. my friend has the d50, and i can tell you, this camera can take some really nice photos, and is easy to use for folks that have no idea about photography, put that baby on auto and you get some really great shots! i am sure the d40 will probably just as good because of technology! he doesn't have a high end lens so i can't really compare it to the canon, i have no expirence with the xt. so i can't give any info on that! sorry i got a little long winded, hope this helps! john

[SMcEvoy]

General experience and studying of reviews led me to choose Nikon over Canon because the kit lenses with Nikon were much higher quality. You had to upgrade on the Canons to get the same quality. I've had my Nikon D50 for 2 and a half years and can tell you 'it sings'. I love it. And if you want evidence, you can view my website at www.photoswithfinesse.com - 99% of the photos taken there were taken with it.

It came with this lens: AF-S Nikkor 18-55 3.5-5.6 G ED Lens. I still use it as a key lens for many of my scenic shots.

And I gradually added these two:
AF-S Nikkor 70-300 4.5-5.6 D ED Lens (I had tried the 55-200 designed for it but it didn't have the focal length I was looking for - the 300 worked better for my needs but the 55-200 was still a really nice lens.)

Tamron SP AF90mm F/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 - this is the one I use for my floral shots and a lot of my portraits.

The D50 is 6.1 megapixel and enlarges beautifully. I regularly sell 12 x 18's and know they go a lot larger without resolution loss - especially if you shoot RAW, save as TIFF and use the TIFF file to get the printing done. JPG'S are equally as high quality. I use RAW + JPG - the 6.1 megapixels means I get about 240 shots to a 2GB card. If you go 8mp, that's another thing you have to consider - higher card capacity because you'll get fewer shots per card.

Hope that helps. Coming from a Nikon user, I'd lean towards the Nikon.