Home Forums Gear Photography Which entry level digital SLR ?

I want to take the step up to a nice camera (my first SLR) for a my first huntng trip to South Africa next year. I have been reading the reviews online, fondling them in the stores, etc. So far the Nikon D60 and the Olympus E-410(or 420) seem to be the leaders. What do you guys say? Any recommendations for a photo newbie?

Any entry level digital SLR camera from Canon or Nikon should be good.

the lens selection will be best with Canon or Nikon. What you'll find is that after you have a couple lenses (and you will have a couple lenses), you're "stuck" with that mount system.

Really the body is an accessory to the lens collection. stick with the most versatile lens availability (see above)

we have two Canon digital rebels.....mine is seven years old, my daughters is two years old, and about five lenses between us, from a wide angle to a 300mm telephoto. Could not be more pleased....the newer one is more compact and better in some ways, but both are fine cameras.

+1 -- UtahLefty really nailed it there. The lens selection is really the foundation of whatever system you choose. The SLR's come and go all the time, but the glass is what will define your collection.

I personally use and like Canon, but right now you really can't possibly go wrong with either Canon or Nikon. Buy the best kit you can afford with either system, and your images can't help but be great.

Canon and Nikon get all the airtime and both are excellent products. That being said, don't discount the Olympus cameras--if you check through the various sites that rate cameras and lenses you will find that the Oly's have very good ratings. The glass may not be as plentiful as the other two but it covers the range that most of us actually use quite nicely. (CameraLand has some good buys on Oly lenses.)

I started out with an E-500 kit and later bought an E510 and several lenses to go with them. I am quite happy with their performance and the results that I get. I have used all 3 brands and like the "feel" of the Oly's better--this is a purely subjective thing though. If you can, try them all in your hand and see what you like.

If you are concerned with potential resale then the Canon or Nikon would be better--if you want the best combo of price/features/performance I would seriously consider the Oly.

FWIW, LawMan.

What Matt said 100%. Go with Canon or Nikon. Not only will you have a much better re-sale value but there is a lot of information (forums) dedicated to the major brands. If you choose one of the others then decide you want a specific use lens later on the munting systems other than Canon or Nikon can be very limiting and more expensive. Choose the body around the glass you want.

They are right. It's all about the lenses and no company has more digital lenses, with the best F stops then Olympus!!
The basic E410 kit lens is a great lens but they offer a 70-300 that acts like a 140-600 (Nobody else does) that is amazing and the perfect lens for your trip.
The E510 add's built in image stabilization, so every lens you put on the camera will be stabilized. We are closed today but I would be happy to speak with you Saturday or Monday. Feel free to call or PM me

I hope every one here does their home work before they hop on that ship. While Oly may have several "digitaly interchangeable" lenses (18 at B+H Vs 10 for Canon and over 20 for Nikon) what you will want to consider is how many digital/film interchangeable lenses there are available (Zero for Olympus at B+H Vs over 100 for Canon and about the same for Nikon). Third party availability should also be considered as some mounts can be difficult to find Vs Nikon or Canon. As always it's personal choice but be sure to consider long term options. A canon 70-200L f2.8 IS runs around $1750 Vs the 90-250 f2.8 Olympus at a whopping $5,349!




http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/8454/Digital_Film_SLR_Interchangeable_Lenses_for_Canon.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/8456/Digital_Film_SLR_Interchangeable_Lenses_for_Nikon.html


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/shop/8457/Digital_SLR_Interchangeable_Lenses_for_Olympus.html

I don't know where you are getting your links from because being 5 minutes from B and H, and the same price or better for 24 hour members, I have to deal with them on all of the Olympus lenses every day. They carry them all and if you look at www.olympusamerica.com, you will see that there are quite a few of them. Not to take anything away from Canon and Nikon, because they are terrific, but the Olympus digital lens lineup is the most extensive.

I am confused I guess. I can't see how the Olympus digital lens lineup is the most extensive -- it looks quite restricted, based on what I have found so far. If they do have so many lenses, I want to know more because I am about to buy a digital camera system.

I followd the link you posted, and found the lenses at Olympus where you can find a small page of 20 lenses.

And then I went to Canon, and found this link:

Canon digital lenses

where there a seven pages of digital lenses, and it looks like a lot of these pages have more lenses on each than the Olympus link showing all their lenses.

I learned on Olympus and Pentax many decades ago, and I still have a warm spot in my heart for both of them. I am looking to buy a new digital camera system, so if there is some link showing dozens of additional Olympus lenses that I have missed please post the links. I didn't find their web page so great, so perhaps I missed additional lenses?

For example, I can see no Olympus lenses that approach the super telephoto's that can be found on the Canon link above, nor any tilt-and-shift lens at all. I have lenses like this for my current film camera (and I do know what these new lenses will cost me) but I use them enough now that I can't imagine buying a system that does not offer choices in these categories.

Hope to hear from you,

John

Not all Canon lenses are made digital specific. Only the ones that are EF-S. There are 5 of them. A digital specific lens directs the light to the entire chip. The traditional lens sends the majority of the image to the center of the chip. The pictures will still be good, but the digital lenses, of which EVERY Olympus lens is, will be better.
Not looking to cause trouble, as we sell a tremendous amount of Canon and Nikon, but Olympus is the ONLY company to design a dgital SLR system from scratch. The others made theirs backward compatable for the most part. The Nikon and Canon digital lenses can't be used on film cameras and do not work on canon full frame cameras and work partially on the Nikon full frame model.
Call me with any questions

As far as the super telephoto nobody offers what Olympus has. The 90-250 2.8 is really a 180-500. Try to get that F stop on the focal length from anyone else. The 70-300 is really a 140-600, again no luck getting that anywhere else. Again the others make great systems, but people who own canon and Nikon treat the Olympus as the step child when they are really Cinderella!!

Thanks for the clarification Joel. I was equating the electronic focusing lenses with the term "digital". I'm learning a lot here.

I'm still unclear on one thing now though: Every lens test that I've ever read (including tests of Olympus lenses) show them usually sharper in the centre of the field than at the edges.

How could the fact that the Canon, Nikon, etc. lenses use only the (sharper) centre of the image produced by the lens be any disadvantage? I suspect a more tailored lens/sensor combo could be smaller/lighter, but that just does not seem to born out by comparing Canon vs Olympus lens weights as far as I can see.

I have a hard time seeing how the centre part of a Nikon or Canon lens could be less sharp than the edges of an Olympus lens. However, I have been away from serious photography since about the start of the digital revolution, so I'm here to learn!

I've done a bit of Googling on this aspect, but I didn't find any clarification on this.

Sincerely,

John

As you can plainly see the links are direct to B+H. I'm no fan of B+H and I'm not pushing them but clearly they show other brands (Nikon) with more digital lenses. It matters very little if a company makes a lens but it's difficult if not impossible to find like some of the Sigs and Tamron glass in mounts other than Nikon and Canon.

RUBBISH! Who really cares if a Digital lens can not be used on a film body? However many people have existing Nikon and Canon film lenses that can be utilized on digital bodies. That's not the case with Oly.

Now this is just pure sales non sense. True enough no one else offers a 90-250. (whoopie). As far as the range/F stop of the 90-250 Canon offers a f2.8 in a 70-200L IS and Nikon has similar offerings. And for the price of that olympus I can buy a 500L f4IS!
A 90-250 is a 90-250 so lets not try to baffle every one with non sense. The fact that Oly uses a 2/3 system or 2x crop factor Vs the 1.6 or 1.5 of the others can be viewed as far less than desireable by many.
Crop factors are not a mystery and I'll attach a link so others can follow up if they want.
BTW Canon lenses (except the five EF-S) out of the hundreds made can be used on Film, Full Frame and crop cams. Try that with the small handfull of digital OLY lenses!
When you choose a system choose the one that's right for you not because it gets pushed on the forum.
I'd also strongly consider re-sale value. I have had several members here PM me after buying a Cinderella brand instead of Canon or Nikon and express regret due to lens selection and price. You can use a Nikon or Canon for a year and then sell for $50-$100 less than new. You will be lucky to recover a small fraction of the purchase price on many of the other brands.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_factor

Not to beat a dead horse but a 90-250 acts like a 180-500 2.8, period. This is a fact not an opinion. The 500 F4 mentioned is just that an F4, not a 2.8.
I'm not taking anything away from Canon or Nikon, they are both great systems, but Olympus makes an awesome product and at the entry level thier features are unmatched by anybody.
All three will take great pictures

The 35mm equivalent of a 90-250 on a 2X crop body will be 180-500. The equivalent on a 1.6 crop body would be 144-400. The fact remains that the lens is still a 90-250. I can crop my photos as easy as logging on to the internet in post processing. Most companies are working towards going full frame, not away from it. Since the link you posted earlier with the small handfull of Olympus lenses does not seem to be working I'll attach that again.
I have no issue with Olympus but some of your statements on this thread are far less than accurate or at best misleading.

Statements like this are just inane and show brand bias;

"people who own canon and Nikon treat the Olympus as the step child"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"being 5 minutes from B and H, I have to deal with them on all of the Olympus lenses every day"

So you buy your lenses from B+H?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The Canon digital lenses can't be used on film cameras and do not work on canon full frame cameras"

Canon offers over a hundred plus lenses and five EF-S lenses. The five EF-S lenses will not function on film or Full Frame bodies. The remaining lenses work on digital, Full frame and film. Not a claim Olympus can make as none of their film lenses mount on their digital bodies and Oly does not offer a full frame body yet.


"It's all about the lenses and no company has more digital lenses, with the best F stops then Olympus!!"

Are you sure about that? Canon offers the EFS 17-55 f2.8, Does Olympus offer a single fixed aperature standard zoom lens? No! Not one.
Does Olympus offer a single lens that mere mortals can afford with a fixed apperature in the 70-200 range? NO! Just the 90-250 that's pushing $6,000! Canon offers four! Including the 70-200L f4IS at around $1,000, the f2.8 at around $1100 and the f2.8 IS approx $1750.
Olympus also suffers in their offerings of Primes.
No matter what brand you buy do your own homework and don't rely solely on the opinion of a sales person. There are several members at the fire and on this thread that I'm certain will always be glad to help. I have spoken to numerous members that have purchased from Doug and while all of them have been very pleased with the service and price they received several have regretted purchasing brands other than Canon or Nikon for the reasons echoed here by so many.



http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/lens/dea/products/lens/index.asp


http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=111


http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Camera-Lenses/index.page

The Canon EF-S lenses will NOT even fit on the film or EOS 5d properly, if forced on. They have a slightly different mount. Try to put one on like many people who walk into our store everyday looking how to get them off. They can be removed, by Canon, after a costly repair. No, I don't buy from B and H, we set our pricing to compete with them and have to deal with people looking to make purchases all day long comparing the two of us.
Not looking to argue with you. The facts are that if the manufacturers did not feel a digital specific lens would be better on the non full frame cameras, they would not invest the money and research making them.
You are correct in stating that full frame cameras are going to become more popular as we move forward. It will be a while before you see a consumer priced, 599-799, camera that is full frame.
I really have enjoyed this debate and at the end of the day any of the major brands would be great.
We never even discussed the new Pentax K20d, which, for the money is an amazing choice.