What Digital SLR would you buy?

[jrebel]

I am looking at getting a good camera for taking wildlife photos.  Which one would you buy the Nikon or the Cannon?  What model (under 1000 dollars), and most importantly WHY??? 

Thanks in advance for any and all input on this info. 

jrebel

[boneaddict]

I'd buy a Canon.  Have always loved it.  Nikon is as good I am sure.  i would look at a 40D.  20D would work as well and save you some cash, but really a 40D has really come down in price.  bodies are the cheap part.  Then I'd suggest the 300 F4 lens.  its about a 1000 right now and I'd pick up a 1.4 extender.   That will give you the reach you need.  or the 100-400 lens.

[jrebel]

thanks boneaddict

How do these slr's do in sub freezing weather?  I will be taking pictures year around, but for obvious reasons winter seems to be the best time in the area I live.

[boneaddict]

Fine, they just aren't waterproof.

[jrebel]

  good thing I don't live on the west side of the state. 

[halflife65]

I'd buy a Canon.  Have always loved it.  Nikon is as good I am sure.  i would look at a 40D.  20D would work as well and save you some cash, but really a 40D has really come down in price.  bodies are the cheap part.  Then I'd suggest the 300 F4 lens.  its about a 1000 right now and I'd pick up a 1.4 extender.   That will give you the reach you need.  or the 100-400 lens.

I just did some searching for a new camera and ended up with a 30d.  The 30d with a 18 -55mm lens was $422 out the door but the 40d (body only) was about $650.  Mostly, I wanted to save my money for lenses.  I found a couple of deals on fredmiranda.com and, if you're willing to take a little bit of risk (by that I mean that you don't know if the people are telling you the truth or not), there are a million of them on eBay.  I just followed some of them on eBay so that I could get an idea of the average price that they were selling for...$600 to $650 seems right.  I saw a couple of people getting in a bidding war and go a little higher, but that's foolish since it looks like it is pretty easy to buy one.

[bucklucky]

Where did you buy your 30d, craigslist ? Ive been having a hard time pulling the trigger on a camera.

[olsy]

I picked up a 30D off of Ebay for $650 a few months ago.  It came with a 28-135mm IS lens w/ a lens hood.  I was really worried about getting one off Ebay, but when it showed up it was in the original packaging and the camera was in excellent condition, and I have been very happy with it so far.

[huntnphool]

eBay is a good source if you ask questions and check feedback. You can always ask for RAW images from the camera to check actuations if you are worried and getting a 3 day satisfaction guarantee from people is common.

 I prefer Canon as well and I know there are a few guys on here that prefer Nikon. Hard to go wrong with either but one thing you might consider is the feedback and help. Not a knock on them at all but for some reason the Nikon guys don't post as much as the Canon guys, again not a knock but its true. You are likely going to have questions answered quicker from a Canon shooter for the simple fact that there are more of us and we post more info and pics. Another factor you might consider is if you get together with a group from here for a photo trip, swapping lenses to try them out is nice. Sure general questions can be answered but when it comes to specific operation of your camera, its not as easy when not familiar with the brand/model.

 Once you pic one up, try to get together with someone that is familiar with the workings, you will learn more in a day of shooting with someone like that than you will with a dozen books.

 All this being said, dont be affraid to pull the trigger on a Nikon if its a good deal, there is a lot of nice glass to be had with either.

 This is just MHO, YMMV.

[jrebel]

How do these compare to the D30 for the guys that have the D30.  Both of these seem like a good package.  Which of the following packages would you buy?


Right now Costco has a cannon $669.99 after $100 OFF
Canon EOS Rebel XS
Up to 3 Frames per Second
Rechargeable Battery
7-point AF w/ Center Cross Type
Auto Lighting Optimizer
SD/SDHC Compatible
Plus Shipping & Handling
Come with an 18-55 lense and a 75-300 lense
10.2 megapixel and 2.5" LCD



They also have a Nikon
$649.99 after $100 Savings
Nikon D3000
Up to 3 Frames per Second
ISO up to 1600
11 Autofocus Areas
In-Camera Image Editing
Item # 448261
two lenses 18-55 and 75-200

The Nikon D4000 is about 200 dollars more.


 

[halflife65]

Where did you buy your 30d, craigslist ? Ive been having a hard time pulling the trigger on a camera.

Just need to keep looking around - you'll find one.  I just found this in Yakima:

http://yakima.craigslist.org/pho/1521175321.html

I have a Canon 20D in great shape with under 3000 actuations. It comes with the battery, charger, box, software, and Sigma 70-300 digitally stabalized lens. I used the camera to shoot weddings and portraits mainly. It is a great camera. I am only selling because I recently upgraded. Please email me if you are interested.

The guy wants $450, so I might work on the price with him a little bit.  He is probably thinking that the lens is worth a few hundred bucks (brand new they seem to be around $200 if it is the same lens that I just did a quick search on.)  Some others (good photographers on this site) have suggested NOT going with that particular lens, but if you could get the price down slightly, sell the lens, add a few hundred bucks, and buy a good one.  After you sell it, if you want to wait a bit and collect some more money, just buy a standard 18 - 55mm to get you by for under $100.

[halflife65]

Another 20d in Seattle:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/for/1536241582.html

Wants $350, body only, and has no charger but it does look like it comes with the box, manuals, etc.  I looked to make sure that it had all of the original stuff when I bought one because I wanted to do my best to make sure that it wasn't stolen.  This one is probably ok - maybe the guy wanted to keep an extra charger for his new setup.

[Tom Reichner]

I'd buy a Canon.  Have always loved it.  Nikon is as good I am sure.  i would look at a 40D.  20D would work as well and save you some cash, but really a 40D has really come down in price.  bodies are the cheap part.  Then I'd suggest the 300 F4 lens.  its about a 1000 right now and I'd pick up a 1.4 extender.   That will give you the reach you need.  or the 100-400 lens.

 

 I prefer Canon as well and I know there are a few guys on here that prefer Nikon. Hard to go wrong with either but one thing you might consider is the feedback and help. Not a knock on them at all but for some reason the Nikon guys don't post as much as the Canon guys, again not a knock but its true. You are likely going to have questions answered quicker from a Canon shooter for the simple fact that there are more of us and we post more info and pics.

Another factor you might consider is if you get together with a group from here for a photo trip, swapping lenses to try them out is nice. Sure general questions can be answered but when it comes to specific operation of your camera, its not as easy when not familiar with the brand/model.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[elksnout]

So those of us new to the digital slr thing. What do you look for in a used camera ? I mean, how do you know you are buying a decent working camera and not a pc of junk ?

[jrebel]

Elksnout

Really good question...I get really nervous when I buy anything electronic used, especially something that is very delicate.  I used to shoot with a nikon N65, I treated and carried that thing like it was my third child.  I know a lot of people don't treat their stuff as nice.