Comparison shopping for Digital SLR's - Canon, Nikon, Olympus

Question

My old digital camera finally bit the dust. So now I've decided to buy a digital SLR. I used to be a fairly decent photographer with my old non-digital SLR.

I'm looking for a good quality but not too high priced model. I am considering:

- Canon EOS Rebel Xsi

- Nikon D60

- Olympus E-520

I was looking originally at the entry level models (e.g. the Rebel XT, D40) but kind of talked myself out of them.

Appreciate the thoughts of anyone who recently went through this entire comparison shop and what you chose.

btw - my photography tends to be of a "spontoneous" nature...e.g. My pup doing something cute, or suddenly a great sunset

Answer 1

I guess I'm wondering why you ruled out the "Entry Level" models such as the XT and D40? What features do you need from the XSi, D60, or E-520 that are not offered by these less expensive cameras? Or is it a matter of the label -- "Entry Model?" There's a lot of salesmen and measurebators out there that'll throw the white page specs at you for these various cameras, but when it comes down to it, they're going to take the same picture. Thus, I recommend that unless you know exactly what feature you'll find limiting in the quality of your photographs by choosing a less expensive model, go with the less expensive model.

As an example, if you're really into handheld macro photography of insects and other small critters, you may use the XT and find that the RAW depth (ie, continuous burst of up to 5-6 RAW images) is just too small. If you're hardcore about it, you may wait for hours for that one species of butterfly to land and position itself just right on that one flower, and then you'll only have a few seconds to make the composition that you're going for. If you can only shoot 5 RAW images before waiting an additional 10 seconds for the camera to write to your memory card, you may find yourself better suited with a camera that would remedy this problem. In this situation, I would understand upgrading to the EOS 30D, EOS 40D, or even the Rebel XTi/XSi. To give another example, I chose the EOS line of camreas because I had a plethora of wonderful manual focus Nikkor and Leica lenses that I really wanted to use on my camera. Because Canon EOS can mount these lenses with a simple adapter*, I chose Canon. To the point, if you can think of a situation where the camera will become the limiting factor in the quality of your images, then it's a good idea to spend the extra money -- if you can't, then I recommend you save your cash. Use that case that you save to buy instructional media or lenses, those will make the real impact on image quality.

Anyways, to finally answer your question, I'd go into your local camera store and try out the different models. The ultimate goal of a photographer's camera is to get out of the way and let you take pictures; if one camera feels more natural to you, then that's the camera you want. If a camera has a few more megapixels, some kind of dust-cleaning sensor, or even costs a bit less, but it feels wonky and obtrusive on your shooting, then it's not the camera for you. Any DSLR on the market today will take a good picture, find one that feels right and you're all set.

*Many Nikon cameras cannot work well with these older Nikon lenses.

Answer 2

my suggestion

go to yahoo shopping

digital cameras

digital camera GUIDE

be sure to check titles on the left side

the guide should answer your questions