Board index Photography Technical Questions Finally moving to digital -- what camera should I get?

Technical Questions

Finally moving to digital -- what camera should I get?

Discuss technical aspects of photography
sociologist
 
Posts: 1

Finally moving to digital -- what camera should I get?

Post Thu Jun 07, 2007 9:11 pm


I'm sure this has been asked many times, but I'm new to this board so please bear with me! I used to be quite the serious amateur with film photography. I had a Nikon6006, then moved up to an F100, both got stolen and I replaced them with an N70 (which I've been happy with because it's simple and lightweight, but produces great pics). I've got a couple Nikon AF lenses for it, but mainly stick to the 28-80 as I do a lot of urban photography and like the wide angles.

Anyway, I've been in grad school for many years and all my outside interests have gone by the wayside, including photography. But I am now finished and want to take up photography again. My goal is to do some photojournalistic projects and perhaps get them published or shown in a gallery. However, I'm really inexperienced with digital photography.

I am considering either the Nikon D40x or the D80. I will be doing a lot of traveling in Asia over the next year, so I want something that's relatively durable and not too heavy. I prefer an SLR because I'd like to use different lenses (including the ones I already have) and have more control over the images. I'm pretty convinced that digital is what I want at this point, since I already have a decent film SLR. Any suggestions about which Nikon I should get?

By the way, the D200 is way out of my budget.

jdepould
 
Posts: 540


Post Fri Jun 08, 2007 5:29 pm


D80, D40 is short on some features and if you plan on growing the D80 will be more useful.
Nikon D300, D200
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D, 55mm f/1.4 micro, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G DX, 80-200 f/2.8D
Apple PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro
Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop CS3

madlights
 
Posts: 914


Post Fri Jun 08, 2007 6:25 pm


jdepould wrote:D80, D40 is short on some features and if you plan on growing the D80 will be more useful.

Even though ny DSLR is a Canon I quite agree. The D80 seems a great camera as the D200 is too. Might think of getting a good editing program also..since post processing to one degree or another is almost a necessity. Lightroom and CS series of Photoshop are great...but there are some free ones that do quite well. Irfanview and Gimp (especially if running Linux). One word of advice that I didn't take at first but later have found the hard way. Start out shooting in RAW..it gives much more latitude as your experience in post-processing develops. Have fun.

dang
 
Posts: 3780


Post Fri Jun 08, 2007 7:06 pm


Like madlights, I shoot Canon now also, but advise you check about lens compatibility with the newer bodies. You'll find the D40 is only manual focusing with many of their lenses, if I recall correctly. While this may not be an issue to you, I wanted to make sure you were aware. I usually get catalogs from most of the major stores, and I've noticed they overlook mentioning this point in several of them. Like everyone else, I feel the D80 would be a much wiser, longer term investment which you'll have more room to grow into.

While bodies do get out dated very fast, your biggest investment should be in your lenses. I can't see spending money for D40 specific lenses, then find you need a body with better features later on. A good place to compare would be dpreview.com. :wink:

jdepould
 
Posts: 540


Post Sat Jun 09, 2007 2:57 pm


The thing with the D40 is that you have to use AF-S lenses, they aren't D40 specific though. Almost all of the lenses Nikon makes now have AF-S, so it doesn't totally kill the deal. One lens you wouldn't be able to use, however, would be the 50 1.8, which IMO is a must have. The D40 is the one exception to the "glass is more important than body" rule.
Nikon D300, D200
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D, 55mm f/1.4 micro, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G DX, 80-200 f/2.8D
Apple PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro
Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop CS3

jdepould
 
Posts: 540


Post Sat Jun 09, 2007 3:00 pm


Also, keep in mind the 1.5x crop factor, the 28-80 will be 42-120 in 35mm equivalents. If you need wide angle you'll need something with 12, 17, or 18 on the short end. The 18-200 VR has gotten a lot of good reviews as a lens to leave on the camera and not worry about.
Nikon D300, D200
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D, 55mm f/1.4 micro, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G DX, 80-200 f/2.8D
Apple PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro
Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop CS3


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