What is the best between these three cameras?

Question

the Canon Rebel XTi

or

Nikon D40

or

NikonD40x

I know the nikon D40x is better than the D40, but it's not in my budget so i'm still thinking about it..but is the canon better or the nikon? I'm an ameture photographer who loves photography but like to get a good digital camera. Is it okay to buy the kit? becaues I'm not too familar with lenses yet so i want to buy a starting lense that comes with a kit

Answer 1

Even if you have a budget, I would still recommend getting the Canon Rebel XSi, instead of the XTi.  It is the newest Canon Rebel model and has some great improvements over the Xti and its still under $1,000.  Keep in mind though, once you decide on a brand, you'll probably have to stick with them throughout the following years.  This is because Canon and Nikon use different lenses so once you start purchasing lenses for either brand, you basically 'sign a contract' with them because the lenses that you buy will only fit the brand that you bought them for.  Since you are just starting though, I would recommend getting a kit simply because the company usually gives you a good price on a lens (rather than paying for it separately); usually the more you get in a kit, the better the deal.  Hope it helps, cheers.

Answer 2

Asking the question "What is better between Canon & Nikon?" is like asking "What religion is better, Christianity or Islam?" - it's one of those questions that is frowned upon in the world of digital photography because you're going to get a lot of biased opinions from one-eyed patriot supporters from both Canon & Nikon camps.

Have you checked out www.dpreview.com? It has some well controlled lab-test results from all the models you mentioned.

I was in your position once deciding between these exact cameras - I ended up going with the Canon because of it's better high-ISO performance. However if I were you, rather than comparing against the Canon Xti, i'd be considering the newer Canon Xsi or Canon D1000 (i think its called that?), basically the Xti has been outdated by these new models now and they offer the next generation of image processing and some value-added features - not just gimmicks so definitely worth a look.

My 'fantasy' camera would be a Nikon D3X with Canon 'L' lenses - the best of both worlds (in my opinion).

And yes, buying the Kit is okay - you're just an amateur at this stage so theres no need to splurge on $1000 lenses just yet, learn the ropes, get better and develop your own sense for what value you place on lenses and their quality rather than hearing it from someone else - not everyone has the same application in photography or are at the same level that would warrant expensive lenses. It all depends on what you want to do and how far you want to go.

At the end of the day you're still going to get decent results even with a kit lens than you would with a point & shoot / compact camera.

Good luck & don't let the islamists & christians confuse you... make up your own mind! :)