SLR Digital camera

[derrick]

:) Hi all am after a digital SLR camera, have narrowed it down to a choice of three,
Nikon D3000

Canon EOS 1000D

Olympus E450


Has anyone used any of these and how good or bad did you find them.
Any comments appreciated.
:cheers2: Del.

[J-S-Q]

I've used a Nikon D5000 which is very good although I'm hardly a photography expert!

[sacko]

Nikon FTW :)

[URL]http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z313/sacko_vit/03-01-2010/27-12-2009/[/URL]

[URL]http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z313/sacko_vit/03-01-2010/[/URL]

All taken with a budget D3000.

[Mart61]

Without looking at the specs, I'd say go down to your nearest retailer and get each of these cameras in your hand, play with them and see how they feel to you.

I am an avid Nikon fanboy, as I'm guessing Tim is for Canon. However, I wouldn't steer you in either direction.

Sometimes something just feels right in your hands - a bit like feeling the difference between a DX7 and a DX6i - both good radios but, for some reason, the DX7 just feels "right".

For me the Nikon D80 felt much better than the Canon EOS450. It was a little larger and fit into my grubby mitts a bit better.

I know nothing at all about Olympus so I can't comment there.

:D

[adieuk]

hi m8,
i use a Olympus E420 which is a very nice camera when we was looking for a camera
alot of them you have to look through the view finder and not on screen
but its a very nice camera

[JohnJ]

Derrick I've been an Olympus fan all my life and used the E series with good results, however I recently swapped to a Canon 450D and have to admit it's a little more user friendly than the Olympus range!

At the top end of the market I don't think you can go far wrong with any of the models you mentioned.

I spent some time in a Jessops outlet and they went to great lengths letting me feel and try out the different cameras, of course they tried to get me to buy the Rolls Royce model but my budget and needs wouldent stretch that far!

John

[Steve]

I've got a Canon EOS 1000D

Had it since last October and it's my first digital SLR. I'm really interested in getting good portrait shots of the kids, but it can seem like a bottomless pit of equipment sometimes. So far I've added a Canon 430EX flash which has proven to give excellent results with a little know-how. I've also done lots of Googling and reading on settings, and am just trying to take as many pics as I can all the time to try different things out.

It would be easy to say i recommend this camera, just because I've got one, but I haven't used any of the others on your shortlist. However, this camera seems to work well for me and is starting to give good results. Even on day one, when I just set it in full auto mode and pointed and shot, it worked well.

Next thing I'm considering getting is a photo backdrop to improve my portraits to the next step. They're about £35 on Amazon so no way near as expensive as other bits and bobs, but will remove all the background blurb and concentrate the viewer onto the subject...... I hope. :)

I'll PM you a link to a few gallery of my kids and you'll see what I mean - there are some staged portraits in the 2nd half of the gallery against a magnolia background.

[J-S-Q]

When I was choosing a camera, I found this website quite helpful:

[url=http://www.cameralabs.com/]Camera Labs: Digital Camera, DSLR, and Lens Reviews. Recommended cameras[/url]

It's got video reviews and comparisons of most of the major brand's cameras.

[Photosbykev]

I don't know a lot about helis but cameras I do know :) Personally I'm a Canon man, always have been right back to the early 70's. Having said that you can compare the specs of cameras, like helis, until the cows come home but until you actually have them in your hands you shouldn't make a decision.

All of the manufacturers you've mentioned will produce good images but if the camera doesn't feel right you will end up taking less and less photographs and blame the camera for the faults. You should seriously consider the glassware over number of pixels etc, if the lens is low quality then regardless of the camera body you won't get the quality.

I use the Canon 1D MkIII for wildlife and the 7D and 40D for general photography and I can't tell the difference between them just looking at the images they produce but I could tell the difference when I used a cheap lens lol. I now use mainly Canon prime lens from 10mm all the way upto the 600mm f4 prime lens.

If you get serious about photography you should also consider off camera flashguns, tripods, camera bags, editing software and the list goes on.

[David Drew]

[quote=J-S-Q;407288]When I was choosing a camera, I found this website quite helpful:

[url=http://www.cameralabs.com/]Camera Labs: Digital Camera, DSLR, and Lens Reviews. Recommended cameras[/url]

It's got video reviews and comparisons of most of the major brand's cameras.[/quote]

Just looked at that site.

Excellent!!!

Thanks

David

[choppertastic]

[quote=J-S-Q;407288]When I was choosing a camera, I found this website quite helpful:

[url=http://www.cameralabs.com/]Camera Labs: Digital Camera, DSLR, and Lens Reviews. Recommended cameras[/url]

It's got video reviews and comparisons of most of the major brand's cameras.[/quote]

Quality website... Just what I'm after as I'm thinking of a D500.

[jiberjaber]

What Mart said, get yourself down to a camera shop and paw them all if you havent already. You will be supprised how you react to the different layouts of all three cameras. I found the canon to feel clunky and large but the nikon to feel right, but that is personal preference... its a lot of dosh so you need to be sure ;)

If you have been and felt them all up ;)then it's Nikon for me LOL

[Mart61]

Here's another good site: [URL="http://www.cameras.co.uk/"]Digital cameras, digital camera reviews and best price search[/URL]

And for price comparison: [url]http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/[/url]

[David Drew]

[quote=Mart61;407356]Here's another good site: [URL="http://www.cameras.co.uk/"]Digital cameras, digital camera reviews and best price search[/URL]

And for price comparison: [url=http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/]Camera Price Buster - UKs cheapest camera gear[/url][/quote]

That second site is superb! ---- until Martin sent me a review on the lowest price seller. PriceBusters, forget it:(

[shikari_chaos]

Some valuable advice in this thread for sure!
The "glass" is indeed by far one of the biggest image quality parameters and you should deffinately think about what you are wanting to take photos of which will lead you to what lenses you will be wanting or atleast dreaming of ;) (once your over 10mp the glass quality will really start to be noticeable IMO) this also depends on what your intending to do with the finished images. Research RAW image processing and software to
deal with them but use it wisely and really hone those photography skills without having to apply much post processing. Whatever you shoot, try to enjoy it :)

PS I'm a canon boy at heart but nikon are great tooo!
Love my canon 5D mkII :D