Digital SLRs, what's the difference?

I actually don't know
In the time I had to write that review, I didn't do any a/b tests between 1/4000 and 1/8000. I just thought it was cool that I could go 1/8000th. :)

Thanks!
This is much more useful information than I expected.
Thanks everyone :)

pick them all up
Shutter speed should not be your main criteria for choosing a DSLR. Assuming you have no lenses already, have a look at the Digital Rebel and the Nikon D70 in a camera shop, and try to plan which lenses you can use with them, and how they feel in your hand/how you like the menus etc.

You really shouldn't worry too much over specifications like shutter speed or resolution as all the cameras are more than adequate in this respect. Also, the quality of your photos is far more likely to be influenced by the light conditions, aperture and lens rather than the shutter speed being above 4000 thousands of a second! ! !

The important thing to consider is which lenses you are going to purchase and which camera feels easier to use. As jwenting says above, try to get at least one fixed focal length lens, and a better quality zoom than the kit lens.

There are some good comparisons on the web of lenses and DSLRs - google 'D70 versus rebel' or '50mm vs zoom' for example.

pick them all up
forgot some shameless self promotion :)

http://www.usefilm.com/staff/duckman for some of my work

pick them all up
For the vast majority of users the difference is moot.

I have been photographing high speed aircraft (supersonic) for 20 years and I've never needed more than 1/1000 to get the shot I want.



Don't let feature lists drive you crazy.

Consider the market like you would the market for anything else.

Compile a list of realistic requirements, and set a budget.

Then go out and research which cameras meet those requirements while still being inside that budget.

If there are none, adjust either the budget and/or the requirements.

At the moment I'm still NOT using a DSLR for the simple reason that there are none that meet my requirements while being within my set budget.

My requirements and budget expectations though are shaped by those 20 years experience with ever more highend cameras until by now they are met by only the most expensive professional DSLR bodies which are way too much for the average user.

I won't use most of those features but those I do have hard requirements for are such that there is for me no way to scrap those requirements and still be content with the product I'd get. If you have no experience with professional level cameras in the past you're not going to miss those things though.

I'd indeed if I were you go out and compare the Nikon D70s and Canon 20d on ergonomic grounds (stay away from the 350d, it's too light and especially small, and extremely fragile. It's NOT a camera I'd recommend to anyone).

Does the control layout work for you? Are you comfortable holding the camera and operating it? How is the weight and ballance with the lenses you're going to start out with attached? (more on that later).

Only you can answer those questions, and you should not let yourself be talked into buying one over the other by marketing talk from sales brochures or store staff.



As to lenses: the kit lenses that ship with most of these cameras are somewhere between very poor and marginably acceptable. If you accept those kits you're like someone buying a $5000 computer and then putting a $100 screen on it and complaining about the poor image quality.

If you go for the Nikon (which would be my choice, given a long history of using their products, I tend to consider them the more ergonomic designs with more logical control layout) opt for the 28-105/3.5-4.5 IF D Nikkor instead of the kit lens. If you have money enough, add a 20mm f/2.8 AF-D Nikkor to that. It's a relatively cheap lens which yields exceptional results (since getting one earlier this year it's been used more than any other lens I own)

It will save you money in the medium term as you're going to get unhappy with the kitlens shortly and will want to replace it after a year or so.

Similarly you'll want better lenses with a Canon as well, but I can't tell you what those will be as I don't know their lineup well enough to give such advise.

Stay far away from any offer of a camera complete with 3rd party lenses like Sigma or Tamron.

While both brands (and Tokina too) offer quality optics in their highend lines, their lowend offerings (which are the ones shipped with cameras as sets) are very poor indeed.



So my advise for a beginner's set would be:

• Nikon D70s


• 28-105/3.5-4.5 IF D Nikkor


• 20mm f/2.8 AF-D Nikkor

This set will set you back (over here) about €1800, about half of which is the camera body. Do remember that you should always get at least one, preferably 2, spare batteries and a charger, plus several of the fastest compact flash cards you can get (don't skimp on those, slow ones really slow you down and can mean the difference between getting an action shot or loosing it). My advise in this is Sandisk CF-II Ultra cards of at least 512MB, and enough of those to store everything you're likely to shoot on a day in the field (which means 3-4 cards if you think to shoot a few hundred frames a day at times).


Currently I own a Nikon F80, an F100, a Minolta X300, and a Nikon Coolpix 5000.

For the Nikons I have 5 lenses (with a 6th on order), for the Minolta another 3.

My main gripe with the CURRENT line of DSLRs (I've been following the industry for about 5 years) is the price/performance curve. A DSLR with the same featureset and performance as the equivalent film-based camera costs between 3 and 4 times as much as that film-based camera. For an amateur that's a margin that's too large to make it worth while (especially given the short technical lifespan of a digital camera as compared to a film-based camera of the same relative point in the system lineup).

Were I to purchase a DSLR at this moment, the choice would be between a Nikon D2hs, D2x, and Fuji S3Pro (with the S3Pro being an outside contender as I've had some disturbing reports about its poor performance).

Those are cameras in the 3-5000 Euro range, both over my budget and outside what I consider an amount to spend on a hobby in a lump sum.

pick them all up
I've got the Canon Digital Rebel and I've gotten shots that clear with water. I don't have any good ones up online at the moment or I'd send you a link. You should be able to do what you're looking to do with one of the "cheaper" DSLRs. I've been perfectly happy with mine.

pick them all up
Thanks.
Surely I'll do this too, but my main concern is with shutter speed and performance.

I'm hoping someone can talk a bit about 1/4000 shutter speeds, since I'm hoping to get performance similar to the 1/8000 speed pictures here:
http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/digitalmedia/2004/10/06/canon20d.html?page=2
Most newer (cheaper) DSLRs only have 1/4000 shutter speeds ...

pick them all up
Research all over the internet. You'll find that it will quickly get down to a pretty narrow list. I got my list down to the Nikon D70 or a Canon Digital Rebel. I went to the store and held each one in my hand. The D70 felt like it fit better, so I went with it.

Narrow it down to several choices you could live with and then go with what feels like a good camera in your hands.