Best Digi SLR for the money.
 

I just bought a Sony Cybershot P200(7.2 MP). Don't get me wrong, it takes amazing pictures but i just cant use it any longer. Im taking it back tomorrow cause i cant deal without have a manual focus. Half of my pictures come out blurry and i cant afford to waste so many pictures due to focusing. I spent about 350 on it with a 256mb memory stick. I dont wanna spend to much but i was wondering where the most reliable place to get a cheap digital SLR would be. Preferablly a D50 cause there the cheapest ones i've come across. Anyone help?

The D50 is great, but I think the Canon Digital Rebel XT is the best for the money and it isn't much more.
Don't forget about lenses - the kit lenses are okay for begginers, but once you grow out of them, you'll want good lenses which can cost more than the camera itself. Let me know if you have any questions about either.

I recently upgraded from an Olympus c8080 to a DSLR Olympus E-500 and love it. You can't beat Costco's deal, 2 lenses + body for $799 + $100 rebate. Not to mention Costco's unbeatable warranty.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...v=&browse=&s=1

Kevin

I have the Nikon D50 and I totally love it--it is the best camera I've *ever* owned and worth every cent.

It's really affordable--now under $700 complete from B&H (I paid a bit more previously)...and you have all the great advantages that DSLR's offer.

Great controls, a beautiful big piece of glass[compared to the point and shoots] and did I mention FAST? You NEVER wait for the camera to write to the card. The battery lasts a long time too.

The best thing about using a DSLR is that I'm finally *learning* about photography.

You can go full automatic and use it as point and shoot.

You can go apperture priority. You can go shutter priority--or you can go full manual. [you can do this on some point-and-shoots--but it really works "correctly" on a DSLR]

The D50 feels great in your hand and I love the sensous sound of the shutter as the mirror flips up each time you fire. [I'm sounding like the guy selling the Steadicam Merlin].

One of my favorite sites to read up on Digital Cameras is

http://www.dpreview.com

Give it a go. I highly recommend the Nikon D50.

there's no such thing as a cheap dSLR, because once you own one, you'll want lenses. not cheap!

don't even bother with the stock lens on a canon digital rebel. get the body only and a good lens. the 50mm prime is a good first lens. if you want some range in one lens, you can't do much better than a tamron 24-135mm, for the price.

i use my canon lenses (not the tamron) on my XL2, as well. nice to have double duty.

I disagree. The stock lens add about 70 to 100$ on the camera, and while it's not a great lens by no means, It is still the cheapest wide lens you will find. Like you Meryem, I have bought the 50mm which I love, and the Tamron 24-135mm. This lens is really great, wonderful range, and is really sharp! But heavy!

I am perhaps using the 18-50 on 5 to 10 % of my pictures, so i am glad to have it, and it performs quite well for it's price.

You might consider the sony r1 , which is a 10mp aps sized digicam and nix the lens question altogether. Then there's the new olympus e330 which is the only dslr to have live preview. Of course the rebel is beautiful and if you need high iso then it's the choice. I recently purchased the sigma 18-125 for my original rebel walkaround and after a couple of days , am very happy. It's much better than the kit lens. As many have said the nikon is great too. I'd buy from a good online vendor.The cheapest often turn into bad scenarios. These choices are all more or less the same price.Kurth

good point about getting wide angle views on the 18-55mm, jean-phillipe. i had not considered that. i had played with one in a store and it seems like a pretty cheap build. but i've never shot actual photos with one, so perhaps its output is better than its build. but if i had limited funds, i would still wonder whether its better to sink $70-$100 additional into the 18-55mm or the $280 i paid for a good used tamron 24-135mm.

i guess it comes down to whether you want to put $$ into wider angles or longer telephoto. which isn't that easy to answer! since we all want both! the whole lens purchasing question is harder than the camera question, since most of the cameras in the Rebel's class are quite good. last month's issue of Digital Photography magazine reviewed the Rebel, the comparable Nikon, Minolta, and Olympus cameras (you might want to check that out, too, for opinions and feature comparisons, guisseppe), and basically concluded that the images are all very good, with the Rebel being considered best in class.

my point is, that i think choosing lenses from among the hundreds and hundreds available is way more challenging, more research-intensive, and more expensive than choosing the camera itself.

oh, and, by the way, there are tons of used, cheaper digital camera kits available at fredmiranda.com. you can save a ton of money buying used equipment. i almost never buy new equipment, because there is a lot of pristine used available. you take your chances, of course, but there are many reliable sellers there.

Well, after reading around and whatnot, I bought the D50 yesterday. I Love it so much. That sound John is talking about honestly is quite sexy. I'm in love, haha.

Anyone know of any good DSLR sites? Like this one but for photography?

dpreview.com is undoubtedly the biggest, but there will be arguments about how good it is - no moderators on the forums and things get out of hand and arguments break out over silly things, but if you ignore those threads, it's an awesome site, and the reviews are the most in depth ones around.

Indeed, DPREVIEW is considered the quintessential smorgasbord of info. for digital photographers.
Without a doubt, they offer some of the best, if not THE best digital photography reviews around.
As Andrew said, their boards get a little crazy, but that's mostly in the camera body sections.
When you go into the Nikon SLR lens section, it's much more peaceful.

Also, as a Nikon user, you should definitely familiarize yourself with these two sites.
http://www.bythom.com/
http://www.nikonians.com/

Rob Galbraith and Fred Miranda also have great information provided on their sites.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/index.asp
http://www.fredmiranda.com/

And here are just a handfull of others you can check out from time to time.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ [B&H actually plugs reviews from imaging resource into their site].

http://www.dcviews.com/
http://www.cameralabs.com/
http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/
http://www.steves-digicams.com/default.htm

Note: just as people have said that camcorderinfo.com favors Sony products, their digitalcamerainfo site tends to favor Canon products. So, just keep that in mind when reading any of their reviews.

"For the price"............. D50 is about the best thing going.

Regards
JohnG