need help choosing dSLR

By mealies
in Digital Camera Lab

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mealies

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I have been browsing for a new Digital Camera for a while. I have been using the canon ixus 60. Whilst its a excellent point & shoot, i want to move upto a SLR. I have played with the Canon 350D with Canon 17-300 lens which was awesome but its a bit too expensive at the moment.

I looked at the D50 and now the D40 has come out and has got good reviews. i found this review on another post. D40 Review

Now one thing i found is that the d40 has no Autofocus on lenses without AF motors, unlike the d50. The review goes on to say under Cons: "Limited selection of AF-S lenses means that many Nikkor lenses (mostly primes) will not support autofocus "

Does this matter? Do people use this feature a lot or is it a gimmick? and what does he mean by primes??

Finally what lens would you reccomend i get to go with the camera. I want a general purpose lens which can also zoom in for detailed shots

Thanks

Andrew

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Grand Master

Pink Floyd Veteran

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It means also that you wont be able to use any third party lens such as Tamron, Sigma nor Tokina lenses.

The D40 is a very good entry level camera but you will find quickly the limitations.

Remember that Body will always drop price as soon as you buy one. Lenses in the other hand, is a big value and will stay there in the future if you change/upgrade body.

I suggest buying D50 as the price dropped lately because of the release of D40

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mealies

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Pink Floyd Thanks for the info on the lenses i think with that in mind the D50 is the better choice for me. I will go buy it in the Jan sales :)

Whats the best option by the Kit option with 18-55 or buy body only with another lens. If so Which lens would you recommend. I would prefer to spend less than ?150 on the lens,

Grand Master

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Well, the Nikkor 18-70 AF-S is a litle bit better compared to the 18-55mm. Does the price difference worth the upgrade?... IMO, no.

Now, there is also the new Nikkor 18-135mm AF-S that came newly in kit with the D80. It is around the same price as the 18-70mm but has longer zooming range.

Now it all depend on the price you can get over there in UK, which I have no idea. Many new DSLR users will buy the 18-55mm and buy the 55-200mm later to get better zoom.

Remember that optically, a 18-55 + 55-200 lenses will often be better compared to a 18-200 lens. But in practice, having only one lens to do all is what some ppl wants! It's a personal preference.

Gimme some choices with price you can get and we'll give you more advice

Mentor

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You could probably find the Pentax k100D/110D for a similar price to the D40 online. I got the K100D and 18-55 kit lens for $519 US after $50 rebate (free shipping too). The K110D with kit lens was $100 cheaper.

But if you were going to go the Nikon route, I would suggest the D50.

All of these cameras use the same 6 MP Sony sensor. so if you shot RAW, you would essentially get the same picture, only difference would be the lens mount. I went with the Pentax, as it's readily adaptable to use m42 screwmount lenses and has shake reduction that will also work with any lens attached to the camera, Nikon was my second choice, but doesn't work as well with those lenses, other than that, I found the D50 superior to the Canon Rebels in build quality.

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