For me, the Nikon vs Canon could have been handled with looking at the lens offerings first. Also, a friend was going to give me a lens of his if I went with Canon so I was sort of influenced. Thinking back, I should have looked into what lens dimensions were available and went from there.

Gagan - I didn't know that about Nikon vs. Canon. I prefer indoor type stuff as well. Do you know of any articles that explain that in a little more detail? I might have to change up!

 

the 18-55 is a good starter lens, but i'd suggest a different macro lens, as the nikon lenses are $$, so i'd say 150mm sigma lens instead (it will focus with a d40) but that is just my opinion...

 

Hmmmm very interesting, this is exactly the type of things I wanted to find out! Though this probably complicates things because I have done equal amount of indoor and outdoor stuff in the past

 

if you have minolta lens, then you should look into a sony dslr since it is capatible with those lenses.

 

This link shows you images taken with different Canon lens.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...play.php?f=107

I sure there's gotta be a Nikon Forum with something similar!??

 

Good to know! But my Minolta cameras and lenses are from 1940's...They are 100% mechanical film cameras that I only use with B&W film...It would be interesting trying to mount those lenses onto current SLRs

 

Ken came out of the cuts with this hehe...Sup Ken, how goes it?

 

Mostly experience.

Look at outdoor photos I shoot with my d80, and then compared to others who own XTi/XSi/40D and outdoor photos are much better on canon. IN terms of indoor photos with anything other than L lenses on the canon will get you weird shadows, and incomplete lighting, even with a 580EX flash, it was stupid hard to get photos to look good on my cousin's XTi. He's had much better success with his 40D and flash, especially with using diffuser and light bowl.

On the other hand, I've had very good photos with my built in flash, but once I bought my SB-800 flash, it was all over. I can pretty much take picture perfect indoor shots, and i'm so lazy now, i just shoot auto, cause it pretty much looks great everytime i'm in a home, or small hall.

Large rooms still take effort to produce good shots, but it's not so hard with the nikon, whereas my cousin (and I) struggled with the XTi.

If you consider the canon, please pass up the XSi, and get a 40D or 50D.

-Gagan

 

I chose my used Canon 20D over any used Nikon because it offered more for my $500 price range.

CMOS sensor which doesnt collect debris as much as others.
5fps to Nikons 3fps...so action shots almost look like high quality movie clips...almost
Canon is on 90% of the sidelines at football games so that's saying something.
I used to think Nikons Lens variety was better and less confusing, but then i realized Canons selection was better IMO.

Plus with the 20D i got a weather resistent metal body or whatever, not plastic at least. so that was cool.

I had a D70s before my 20D. I liked the D70's bracketing, only to find 20D has so many bracketing options i still dont know how to use all of them.

D70 was nice too, since you press delete twice and it deletes, none of that "are you sure?" scroll over and hit yes BS.

But i love the dial on my 20D, its set up more like a pro camera. When they say the D40 and such are user friendly, they must be talking about cavemen, because my 20D and D70 were the most user friendly ever.

I can say whatever you get, get a camera with 2 dials for f and shutter, and one with a cheap info screen on top.

 

Just took this one on friday in a large hall, that's mostly dim lit. Nikon just makes flash photography work. This is shot in auto, cause I was attending, and not getting paid to be there, so I just wanted to snap off shots and not try to tweak the settings. Besides, lighting changed drastically in that place, i was being lazy

 

Gagan, I think he said his budget was under 1K (but we all know it's just a matter of time, like saying I'm done modding my car)! He may be able to pick up a used D80 and a some starter lens. He would spill into the over 1K with a used 40D a starter some lens.

I personally like my XSi, but if I was able to afford it the 40D would have been on the list.

 

True, but I'd look for a used body on craigslist and buy new glass. It should be under $1k. It's just that the 40D is just such a better camera that I can't really personally recommend the XSi to someone who knows his way around camera already. He will be much happier and better off with something more powerful and more complex, Nikon D40/D60 and the canon XTi/XSi are just way to entry level for a guy who can shoot film on a manual camera

Save up, and get the better middle level body.

 

One thing to look out for with the D80 or similar is ISO performance and noise. See the above picture for an example of ISO 800 with a SB-400 flash. Their faces are very good, but the back ground suffers cause the D80 can't crunch the numbers as well as a D300 or D700/D3. But over all, you get the performance a mid range camera should give you. The D40 suffered much worse noise when I owned it, for the month i owned it

 

Another suggestion is buy Sigma Lens if you can't afford Canon/Nikon lenses. It will be good performance on a budget until one can afford super nice L lenses or the high end nikkors.

I've dropped my 18-200VR for a sigma 24-70 2.8 and couldn't be happier for the kinds of pictures I tend to take. eventually i'll own more bad *** lenses, but I like what I own right now.

Pic with the girls is the D80 on the 18-200 VR with SB-400 flash.

Pic with the guy is the D80 on the 24-70 2.8 with SB-800 Flash and dome diffuser.

 

lol, youre like...yeah no thanks *tosses in mini garbage can*