Camera & Lense Recommendation

[TheReefGeek]

Sensor size on the bunch of cameras we are looking at are identical I believe, or all very close. That is why I am not worried about the D70s haveing only 6 megapixel compared to the others with 8 or 10.

[Old Guy]

Notice the lenses that reeferaddict likes are 2.8L . A faster len's is what you will always want and need. 3.5 to 5.6 will only cut it for outdoor shots and especially on the long zoom at 5.6. The slower f4 L are nice but you will need high iso capabilities for indoor shots w/o flash. F2.0 and faster will kill the old pocket book in a hurry but I can garantee faster is better and anybody considering a DSLR should take this into consideration. Price what len's you need first. Body's will come and go.

[reeferaddict]

Originally Posted by Old Guy

Notice the lenses that reeferaddict likes are 2.8L . A faster len's is what you will always want and need. 3.5 to 5.6 will only cut it for outdoor shots and especially on the long zoom at 5.6. The slower f4 L are nice but you will need high iso capabilities for indoor shots w/o flash. F2.0 and faster will kill the old pocket book in a hurry but I can garantee faster is better and anybody considering a DSLR should take this into consideration. Price what len's you need first. Body's will come and go.

Exactly - and when you compare Canon's stable of lenses to Nikon's these days, it just doesn't come close. I can trade my 20D up and forward anytime now that I have the high quality fast glass. The other thing that 2.8 offers is lightning quick auto focus, even in low light... the difference between my Rebel with consumer glass and my 20D with Pro glass is hard to describe, you almost have to feel and see it for yourself to understand, which is really pronounced with the Image Stabilizing lenses. You frame your object and watch it in a shaky screen, push the shutter release button down halfway and the image miraculously "goes still" so to speak. It will be interesting to see how Sony's built in IS is going to work and what type of new lenses they will design. When I shot film I shot a Maxxum 9000 - Minolta used to make some pretty good gear, so it will be worth watching to see if Sony can extend that into the digital market.

[Ruth]

I agree that the faster lenses are definately superiour from my limited experience.
For a point and shoot camera I have ordered a Fuji Finepix S9000 9.0MP as there are times when I don't want to mess around with a larger camera.

[TheReefGeek]

The "pro" glass from Canon does seem to be a bit faster than the Nikon equivilents.

But the Canon "kit" lenses are weaker than Nikon's, so I am torn, because for quite a while I will only have kit lenses, but eventually want to invest in pro lenses, so what to do!

I could get the rebel XT, but it feels a bit small in my hands.

[TheReefGeek]

Hmmmm, researching a bit more, with a vertical/batter grip on the Rebel XT, that might be a nice camera.

If I was to buy two lenses of decent quality, would these be good choices:

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens
Canon EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens

I know these are not as fast as 2.8 or 3.5, but price is a problem.

These are very similar to the Nikon lenses I was going to get, but both of these have image stabilization in them, wheras the Nikon ones I was thinking of, do not.

[Ruth]

I have the 70-300 lens that you are referring to and would not recommend it. The picture quality is just not there.
I think you would be better off to go for one good all around lens with an F of 2.8 or lower. JMO

[reeferaddict]

Originally Posted by TheReefGeek

Hmmmm, researching a bit more, with a vertical/batter grip on the Rebel XT, that might be a nice camera.

If I was to buy two lenses of decent quality, would these be good choices:

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens
Canon EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens

I know these are not as fast as 2.8 or 3.5, but price is a problem.

These are very similar to the Nikon lenses I was going to get, but both of these have image stabilization in them, wheras the Nikon ones I was thinking of, do not.

I got my 20D with the 17-85 lens for $1500 landed off eBay - the deals are out there - just watch for positive feedback. IS gives you up to 3 stops more of hand held ability, and I notice a larger percentage of keepers. There's nothing wrong with the Rebel XT either... I had the original 300D and was quite satisfied with it - what I did wrong in that system was to buy cheap glass. I had the battery grip with the 300D, (as I do with my 20D), and coupled with that, the Rebel felt like a pro camera in my hands. I think they key is the glass, which is why I went this way, now when I want to upgrade to a full frame camera I have the lenses that will deliver image quality I demand.

I really think your decision is subjective. Analyze what you want to shoot - then buy accordingly. If you'll never shoot sports or in low light, then you won't need 2.8 lenses. The caveat of big aperature glass is the learning curve required to use them as the depth of field is paper thin, especially when the subject is close, making the lenses seem "soft" when the aperature is wide open. Once you use them and discover the "sweet spot" of the lens though, you won't be able to go back to consumer lenses. Primes are almost always faster and give much better image quality than zooms, even the 135 soft focus at $300 gives as sharp if not sharper images than my $1800 70-200 2.8L IS... all I can say is research research research... dpreview and Fred Miranda are probably the best two sites to do this.

*** A note about buying on eBay ***

I bought my whole system and never had a single problem. Don't use UPS for shipping across the border. Their brokerage fees are outrageous, $58.00 minimum... USPS charges $8.00... Hong Kong or Far East eBay retailers will mark your shipments as "gift" or "commercial sample" so you don't have to pay GST or PST, and there is no duty on digital cameras or accessories. I found that buying accessories like filters, remote shutters, and flash accessories was cheapest this way - close to 50% savings over even Adorama. Again I stress to watch for positive feedback, and don't buy anything without using Paypal.