New Camera questions for the "Pro's"

[jyerxa]

Your lens. I would be fearful of screwing it up. That is a nice lens!

[quadrafire]

IB
I was in your shoes last summer. I bought the rebel kit and it was too small for my hands. I took it back for the 7D kit and the body was awsome. The lenses not so much. I purchased a used 70-200 f4 about 1/2 the price of JohnVH 2.8. Still gets great pics in good light. My used lens was about $1K.

IF I was to do it over again. I would probably try to find a good used body and spend my money on a good lens or 2.  You hear all the time it is all about the glass. I didn't think that was serious until I started shooting. It is all about the glass.
Another option would be to buy the kit, get experience with the camera then sell them and upgrade eventually?

[grandpawrichard]

Your lens. I would be fearful of screwing it up. That is a nice lens!

DOH! What a dunderhead I am! My wife made the Camo lens coats for me!

Dick

[grandpawrichard]

IB
I was in your shoes last summer. I bought the rebel kit and it was too small for my hands. I took it back for the 7D kit and the body was awsome. The lenses not so much. I purchased a used 70-200 f4 about 1/2 the price of JohnVH 2.8. Still gets great pics in good light. My used lens was about $1K.

IF I was to do it over again. I would probably try to find a good used body and spend my money on a good lens or 2.  You hear all the time it is all about the glass. I didn't think that was serious until I started shooting. It is all about the glass.
Another option would be to buy the kit, get experience with the camera then sell them and upgrade eventually?

  Great Advise quad! 

Dick

[jyerxa]

Your lens. I would be fearful of screwing it up. That is a nice lens!

DOH! What a dunderhead I am! My wife made the Camo lens coats for me!

Dick

Wow!!! that is pretty snazzy. You got quite a little lady Dick. 

[grundy53]

Has anyone had any experience with a Nikon D3100? Would it be a decent starting point? Or would I be wasting my money?

[grundy53]

Costco has the Rebel T3i packages on sale for $879.00

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=11760020&whse=BC&topnav=&cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-searchpageHorizontalTop-_-SolrSearchToProduct&cm_vc=searchpageHorizontalTop|SolrSearchToProduct

That's what I originally went to look at but then I saw they had the Nikon D3100 on sale for $650
 http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11622027&search=D3100&topnav=&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=D3100&Ntt=D3100&No=0&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial

and since I'm just getting started and know nothing about cameras I figured I would ask the more experianced folks. Sorry for thread jacking but I figured it was along the same lines...

[Wazukie]

Has anyone had any experience with a Nikon D3100? Would it be a decent starting point? Or would I be wasting my money?

The D3100 does its job but if you are looking to buy a new Nikon consumer grade DSLR I would go with the D5100 as it has a much better sensor in it(same as the D7000) and it's High ISO capability is awesome.

[sirfunkeybut]

I might add that there's a "hack" for most canons that's called chdk or something like that. It's a file you upload on your card and insert it in the camera, it won't void warranty because once a card is put in after that one that doesn't have the software on it, it will go back to stock. I did it on my 350d and it will tell me total shutter count, give me 3200 Iso in 1/3 increments, and a time lapse option  there's other options but those are the main things I use