Re: Which DSLR system to buy into?


"Fred Anonymous" <anon@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Andy Hewitt" <wildrover.andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Hi all,

I'm currently in a position to consider doing photography in a semi-pro
way, and hope to maybe sell a few pics in various formats.

I already have a Panasonic DMC-FZ7, which is a great Prosumer camera.
However, I have recently been out and about and found the real
limitations of a compact digital camera. It's certainly not the choice
of camera, the images are great, it's the technical limitations of the
type.

I'm planning to specialise in landscapes and scenery shots, and wildlife
as and when opportunity presents itself. So, a good wild angle and a
good long zoom lens would be essential.

The limitations that have become evident with the FZ7 have been the lack
of control over field of view (a well known issue with compacts), and
the limitations of the aperture range.

For example, I recently went out to see the High Force water fall in
Weardale, and wanted to try and get some shots of the water at both
extremes of shutter speed - one to capture the water in action, and one
to get the motion effect. I couldn't get a satisfactory result in either
case, I either got bad under exposure when using a slow shutter speed to
get the motion effect, or serious over exposure when trying to freeze
the motion at high shutter speed. Getting an acceptable exposure didn't
produce the effects I was after.

I do have an old Olympus OM40 and a good selection of lenses, as well as
motordrive and TTL flash. It's usable and produces good results still,
but there's no telling when or if the camera will fail on me (it's
knocking on for 20 years old, and full of electronics).

So, I'm looking at a DSLR, with one good wide angle lens and zoom up to
at least 300mm. I do occasionally do a little macro stuff, but mostly
scenery.

I was hoping to use my existing Olympus lens collection (28mm, 50mm,
70-210 and a 75-300), but forums I've read suggest these don't work that
well with a DSLR.

I've had a good look around at what there is, but don't seem to have any
real conclusions as to which system is best. It also needs to be rugged,
as I tend to go out in all kinds of weather and terrains. I'd like to
keep this under £1000 as a kit as well, and for my purposes the low to
mid range models are more than adequate - I won't need to print much
above 10x8, and most of my images are viewed on a monitor or TV.

In short really, if you had these needs, and had to start again from
scratch, what lens system would you buy into?

--
Andy Hewitt
<http://www.thehewitts.eclipse.co.uk/>
<http://web.mac.com/andrewhewitt1/>

Hello Andy.

May I suggest you look at the Canon EOS350D and EOS400D (if it is
available
yet) and the Nikon D50 and D70.
Canon and Nikon usually score sa high as, or slightly higher than, the
competitors. The usual comment is that "if you have a Canon film body then
get a Canon DSLR; there's no point in dropping Canon in favour of Nikon"
and
vice versa. They do seem to be (almost) equal. I'll leave it to others to
express preferences for one or the other make.

Doubtless others will recommend the Pentax, Sony (who bought the Konica
Minolta DSLR system) or Olympus systems). There's a thought - have a look
at
the Olympus E330 because some of its lenses are (if I remember correctly)
bargains compared with Canon and Nikon.

Regards, Ian

If your going semi-pro I'd stick to film mate, as your going to need top
class gear to get the results, plus a powerfull computer
with lots of memory, Photoshop programme another £500 plus a really good
printer if your trying to sell prints. and all the other
digital gismo's people say are needed.
Your computer will need to be calibrated to your printer etc. A very
expensive outlay is needed if you are expecting to make a
living out of it, as there are a lot of pro's and semi pro's with top class
gear and you will have to compete not only on price but
also on quality.
Upgrade your film camera body, and try things out first before spending all
your hard earned cash.
In my opinion film beats digital evry time.

Good luck with your choice

Lofty






.

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