Which One Is Better?

[teenfish-E]

HI, i was planning on buying an SLR camera and wanted to know which camera would be better. THe two i have picked are either a CANON REBEL XTi EOS 400D CAMERA or a Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera. Do you have any other suggestions? I'm probably going to purchase the camera off of ebay. I would like one with macro mode. WHat type of digital cameras have you used with good results. Thanks

 

[Davo86]

I have the 350D and had it since it came out, and i'd say 100% go for the 400D
what price is it selling for on ebay?

 

[Colin_T]

SLR cameras normally need a macro lens and don't have a macro setting like the happy snap point and shoot cameras. However, you can get good close up pics with a 18-50mm zoom lens and both of those models come with something similar to that.
Canons feel a bit lighter and more plasticy (sorry it's not a real word but it is how they feel) and the Nikon usually feels a bit more solid.
They are both good brands, Canon has cheaper lenses from recollection. Have a look at lenses that are available for both models. Often you will spend more on the lens than the actual camera body.
You might want to send the lens off to be calibrated as they sometimes get knocked out of alignment. Try it for a few weeks and see what you think. if the pictures don't look sharp then it could be the lens.
Check the sensor for dust. If the lens has been removed a lot then there might be some dust inside the camera body and this will cause little dots to appear on the pictures.

 

[Davo86]

There is a 60mm and 100mm Macro available for the canon, both of which you will be more than satisfied with

 

[teenfish-E]

Ok, Thanks

The 400D is going for about $75 dollars, including shipping, and tons of accesories, and has the self cleaning sensor unit, incase of dust on lense.

Also, is the camera body a digital camera that i can use? This might be a dumb question but i was just wondering, Is it the same thing as saying digital camera.

to find out more about the Canon go to ebay and type/or copy paste in "CANON REBEL XTi EOS 400D CAMERA+ LENS (4GB~6 BONUS)~BLK"
for the Nikon type in "Nikon D40 Digital SLR Camera+18-55mm 1yr warr."

Omg, i didn't see the prices of the ones that have almost ended. I might have to wait on it. lol

 

[Davo86]

If its just the body then no you can't use it as there is no lense, with SLR's you can purchase seperate lenses that do specific jobs, i.e. macro lense, portrait lense, zoom lense, etc.

edit: when i got mine (body and one lense) it cost me £700, approx $1400 so I'm not sure you'd be able to get one for $75 (£38)

 

[teenfish-E]

Then il probably get a cheaper one just for hobby for now. So the body can't take pictures unless you put a lense on it, right? Like the canon comes with the body and an 18-55mm lense so i would be able to take pictures with it.

 

[Davo86]

yep all SLRs are pretty heavy duty cameras and are the types used by all professional photographers,
Most canons come with the 'standard' 18-55mm lense which is great for taking images of objects that are between say 1 and 4 foot away but for close ups the lense simply can't focus

 

[teenfish-E]

Do you have a preferance for a hobby digital camera, type wise that will take nice quality pics? What brand? Are the cheap nikons and canons better than pentax, olympus, kodac, or fuji? Thanks for your help

 

[Davo86]

Do you have a preferance for a hobby digital camera, type wise that will take nice quality pics? What brand? Are the cheap nikons and canons better than pentax, olympus, kodac, or fuji? Thanks for your help

I don't really know whats on the market in terms of non SLR's, i.e. standard digital cameras but I'd say the most important thing to look at is how many megapixel the camera has, you don't really want anything less than 7 IMO, but the higher you go, the better quality your images will come out

As far as recommending a brand from the ones you've given i'd honestly say it doesn't really matter, they all have large fanbases and all have some quality camers, I will say though that nikon, canon, and olympus are probably the three front runners in terms of quality, so it may be worth going for one of those

have a look here for details of whats available and pricing (pricing is for UK)

 

[gaz gun man]

actually you dont need 10 million pixels or something stupid like that in a compact camera.

Because the sensor is so small, squashing 10 million pixels as opposed to 6 or 7 actually creates noise (ISO) problems, so your image quality will suffer.

You wont see this of course unless you print out at A3 sizes, but its pretty pointless having all those pixels.

Good things to look for are, a good ISO range of about 100-800, a good optical zoom (ignore any digital zooms because they rapidly degrade the image quality) and if you're buying a compact, a macro setting.

Personally I prefer Nikon, but any big name brand will do.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

First off, run as far from that Canon deal as you can. Those cameras go for $500 minimum in stores and anyone who's trying to sell you one for $75 is just going to rip you off.

Second, it doesn't matter at all which brand you choose, they'll all be about the same. With DSLR's I shoot Pentax right now, but I'm considering a new Nikon D700 (just announced). If Pentax get's a Full frame DSLR this year I'll buy that so the lenses will line up.

With Compact/hobb cameras I prefer Fuji or Sony. The Nikon's I've evaluated left a lot to be desired, and I can't personally stand anything by Canon (just a personal call, I don't like the feel or menu's).

A good place to go for reviews is popphoto.com, or dpreview.com. No matter what you do, don't get suckered into thinking that Nikon and Canon are the only way to go, many less informed people will try and tell you it is so.

A fun camera that I'm seriously thinking of buying soon is the Pentax Optio W30 or Olympus Stylus SW series. They are super durable and waterproof. You could actually put it inside your fish tank and take photos of your fish from the inside. That's cool right!

OH and Gaz Gun man is spot on when he says to stay under 8 mega pixels in a compact camera. Unless you are getting an interchangeable lens SLR you will lose image quality with anything more than 8 million pixels, and for the exact reason he describes. I'd try to stay closer to 6 megapixels if it were me, that's more than enough to print a good 8.5 x 11 inch print, and 3 megapixels is sufficient to display on your monitor as a wallpaper.

SLC

 

[Da_One]

nikon d40x if you can stretch the budget.

 

[Bubblenester]

I recently got the Canon Rebel XT (not XTi) and I LOVE this thing. I got it primarily to take photos of fish and I already have a ton of great shots. I've just been using the 18-55mm zoom lens that came with it, on macro mode. You can find it for about $550-600 with that lens included. It's really easy to use, lightweight, and super fast.