Digital SLR cameras

[Jonesy]

I know this topic has been touched upon, but not in any depth that I have seen. So in any case I'm looking at upgrading to a SLR digital camera. I have looked around a few places to get an idea of what cameras are out there and the price ranges. Now I have a few questions.

I don't know much about lenses so the difference between an 18-55mm lens and a 55-200mm lens is lost upon me. I am looking to only spend around $6-800 for a body and a basic lens to get started.

As far as card types go is one style of card faster than another. Everything I've had has been SD and it seems fast enough but I haven't had any dealings with the other types.

Any one brand that much better than the others. Been kinda looking at Pentax, Konica Minolta, Canon, and Nikon along with a few others.

Anything else I should look for, or ask about when buying a camera? Any help, comments, personal experiences are greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Jonesy

[Pappy]

For that budget, I would look seriously at the Canon Rebel. They have a few different packages available with different lens sizes. For ATV work, a 70-200 zoom works well.


The better the card, the better the camera performance, I use all 1 gig and higher cards so i am not sure how the lower end cards work.

[Jonesy]

Is a 70-200mm lens a good all around lens to have? I shoot a lot of atv/dirt bikes but also I take a lot of shots at car shows and the like.

As far as cards, I use a 1 gb scandisk SD card in my cameras right now and it works well. But I've seen "high speed" cards for twice the price of normal cards and was wondering if they were worth the money. I was also refering to differences (if any) between SD, compact flash, memory sticks, and the other card types.

Thanks
Jonesy

[Pappy]

Im not your man when it comes to the technical side of the cards.


A good pair of lenses to keep on hand would be a 28mm-70mm zoom, and a 80-200mm zoom. That will cover pretty much most everything you would have a need for. If you buy a kit that contains a lens with your camera, try and get the best lens you can, it means as much as the camera for good pictures.

[Ralph]

you will probably need to buy a compact flash card or c/f microdrive

[DezSled]

The Olympus E 500 comes w/ two lens, short and long range. Plus a mirror cleaner that works everytime you turn on the camera(what i looked for). It's on your upper range $ wise. Check it out against the others in that range. Takes a high speed chip for fast squence shots, no lag between pics (important).

[Ralph]

Originally posted by DezSled
The Olympus E 500 comes w/ two lens, short and long range. Plus a mirror cleaner that works everytime you turn on the camera(what i looked for). It's on your upper range $ wise. Check it out against the others in that range. Takes a high speed chip for fast squence shots, no lag between pics (important).

How does that compare to the E1??