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cheap dslr's

Mizzle

Monkey
Nov 11, 2005
167
0
Reno and Vegas
The D40 was released on the first.

Write up in the current popular photography rag.
Gave it thumbs up and appears to be better than the 50.
And 100-200 cheaper.

It is also very light, and smaller than the 50, it also has a ginormous 2.5 lcd. 2.5fps, 1/4000th shutter speed.

It is my next camera, and i've seen it body only for 350:shocked: , and kit for 550.

Just need to take the point and shoot back to Sam's club and get some $.

Check dpreveiw and kenrockwell, for good online write ups.

Mizz
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Please don't visit Ken Rockwell's site for anything but amusement purposes. His information is so completely hit-or-miss (usually miss) that you shouldn't really take much of what he writes seriously. He occasionally makes a good point but is typically well off the mark in demonstrating why it's a good point.

Anyway... The only really limiting thing about the D40 is that you need AF-S lenses, since it doesn't have an internal focus mechanism. That means that all of the fast primes are unusable... not a big deal for the average consumer, maybe a big deal for the enthusiast.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
bv are most nikon lenses af? and would the 40 be good for sports photography
It's not just that the lenses have to be autofocus... they have to be AF-S, which means they have an internal focusing motor (the S stands for "silent wave" which is what they call their focusing mechanism). Nikon's webpage lists the AF-S lenses.

It's not really as simple as "good for sports" or "not good for sports."

What conditions? What sport? Do you just want to shoot with the stock lens? Do you want to try and do it professionally? There's a lot of variables. It's not a great professional sports camera. It could make a fine hobbiest sports camera in the right hands and for the right purpose. Depending on what lenses you want, it might make a terrible camera - if you shoot low light sports, you're eliminating all the fast primes that let you shoot in low light. You need to look at the feature set and decide for yourself.
 

Mizzle

Monkey
Nov 11, 2005
167
0
Reno and Vegas
After reveiwing the intraweb of info on the Camera I have seen as well that the lense system is going to be more than likely problematic. I think that there are about 16 lenses or so right now with the motors built in. It's going to piss a lot of people off......:poster_oops:

After I stumbled across this I'm going to have to go D50 although I love the size, weight, and lcd on the d40. In my expereice with cameras I always seem to find that I want more lense. And love to experiment with different lenses. The lack of a motor built into the camera is almost stunning.:disgust:

D50 it is.....interesting thing is there about the same price now on the web.

Binary:
thanks for the heads up on rockwell's site. I'll take his info with a grain of salt.

Mizzle
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
<snip>It's going to piss a lot of people off......

<snip>The lack of a motor built into the camera is almost stunning.:disgust:
Keep in mind the target market. Nikon wants to convince people who are on the fence about a digicam or a DSLR to take the plunge into SLR territory by making the SLR smaller, lighter and cheaper to compete.

A large majority of those people will either never take off the kit lens, or will have a kit lens and one long zoom. Thus, the lack of a built-in focus motor is a completely moot point - actually, it's a benefit since it allows the camera to be smaller, lighter and cheaper. 16 available AF-S lenses is about 14 more than a lot of purchasers of the D40 will ever touch ;)
 

skinny mike

Turbo Monkey
Jan 24, 2005
6,415
0
is the difference between the af and af-s lenses from nikon like the difference between the ef and ef-s lenses from canon?
 

Mizzle

Monkey
Nov 11, 2005
167
0
Reno and Vegas
I looked up a zoom lense for about $200....Not to horribly bad. It's 55-200mm. Does this though limit one to Nikor optics only though? Or can Tamron, quantaray be use as well....If so what are the designations of said lenses and compatibility?

Ideally i'd like to end up with about 4-5 lenses that can be transfered to a higher end camera down the line, as technology progresses. And almos tin a position to make th efirst Dslr purchase, and need to align myself with a brand. I'm liking Nikon more at the moment as i prefer the build.

standard
macro
fisheye
70-300
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
is the difference between the af and af-s lenses from nikon like the difference between the ef and ef-s lenses from canon?
No, "EF-S" is the designation given to lenses that only work with the smaller, digital sensor. They don't provide coverage for a full 35mm frame.

Or can Tamron, quantaray be use as well....If so what are the designations of said lenses and compatibility?
You can use any lens that has a built-in focus motor. I don't know the designations for all the brands, but if you visit the website there will be a key to tell you.
 

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
10,840
1
Orange County, CA
For the D40, any Nikon AF-S or AF-I lens should work. Regular AF-D lenses will meter, but will not autofocus.

HSM lenses from Sigma may work, but I haven't seen conformation of that yet. There are rumors that Nikon is going to start putting AF-S in some new primes...but I'd take those with a grain of salt until you see a press release.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
sorry to bump this, but any thoughts on the Canon XTi? it's gotten some good reviews out there, and can be had (as kit w/ lens) for a little over $700 on some of the discount websites... i've looked at some of the lower priced ones but there's always some little thing holding it back (small lcd on the XT, no body focus engine on the D40, etc). thoughts? budget is about 700, and would prefer to get a better body/intro lens and then upgrade the lens down the road.

would be sort of a do-all camera, some sports photography but also portraits, indoor, nature, etc.
 

sneakysnake

Monkey
Apr 2, 2006
875
1
NC
http://stores.ebay.com/Cameta-Camera

They sell demo cameras that stores are done with, they make sure that the cameras are in perfect working order before shipment; they'll tell you if it's scratched or something. My friend got his d50 from them and it looks and performs like a brand new camera.
 

Tmeyer

Monkey
Mar 26, 2005
585
1
SLC
The new XTi is a great camera. I just read a review in Outdoor Photographer and they had only good things to say. 10.1 MP, 2.5 LCD, self cleaning sensor(great feature if you're swapping lenses in the field a lot). I own the XT and have been very happy. I highly reccomend Canon. Remember that your pics really benefit from the quality of your glass. Cheap lenses= Cheap pictures. The L series lenses from Canon produce some of the most clean clear pics I have seen. Good luck!!
 

pinkshirtphotos

site moron
Jul 5, 2006
4,827
521
Vernon, NJ
i love my d40 its light not super huge and with the 55/200 lens as an extra i get some nice wild life shots. you can have the auto focus or the manual focus when you shoot. it uses the sd memory cards so most ppl coming over from point and shoots have them already and it has a nice big desplay to review your photos. only thing i dont like is you cant shoot a burst with the flash going off every frame unless i just havent figured it out yet. but its a really nice camera imo
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Image quality-wise, the XTi is very nice.

Frankly, though, I feel like the build quality is as bad as any camera I've handled. I've got an XT right next to me that I've probably taken a few hundred pictures with (not mine) and I really don't like the way it handles.

If you're buying into the Canon lens system, though, it's a great, cheap jumping off point to upgrade to something like a 20D or 30D later.

If you don't care what lens system you buy into, though, I'd say handle a couple cameras and see what one you like better. Sony's A100 gives you a pretty good assortment of every lens Konica-Minolta has produced in the last 20+ years. Pentax has some good lenses and their new DSLR is selling like hotcakes... and the image quality from all of those systems is great under ISO 800. Above ISO 800, Canon is the clear winner.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
interesting, for some reason I wasn't even considering the A100, but it's coming in right about the same price as the XTi. had a Minolta X-700 SLR way back in the day, but wasn't the most reliable so any nostalgia is pretty much gone. don't have any connection to either as far as lens go, but know that the most important thing is the glass anyway. not sure that I'd be able to get an intermediate lens off the bat, that's probably another birthday or christmas away. :)
 

narlus

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
just browsing the B&H site for lenses compatible w/ the sony, i don't like the lineup at all...mostly variable aperture lenses, and the best bet looks to be the 3rd party sigmas...it's also a first year product...

i'd stay XTi or D80 if i were you.