Entry Level Digital SLR Buyer’s Guide 2005 If you already have some SLR lenses that are of good quality (total value over $500 and are less than 5 years old) for a specific camera make then the decision is simple. All of the cameras that are suggested below have the following specifications: 6 Mega Pixels (unless noted otherwise) Compact Flash card storage for images. (Compact Flash memory cards are the fastest, cheapest and can hold the largest number of images. They are larger than most other types of memory which is good because most of the other types are so small that they can easily get lost.) 1.5X to 1.6X lens factor (which means that the a 35mm film negative is larger than the digital image sensor that captures the image by 1.5 to 1.6 times) Proprietary rechargeable batteries (This means in case of an emergency, you can not go to a grocery store and get more batteries for your camera – an unfortunate thing) They all save images as JPEG, RAW and RAW + JPEG. (JPEG can be viewed with any program but the image quality is not the best that the camera can produce. RAW is the best image that the camera can produce but it must be opened by special programs that can read the RAW file for your camera. All cameras will ship with a RAW file reader.) Built in flash Auto-focus Compatible with lenses for the manufacture’s 35 mm SLR cameras Advanced light metering Automatic settings for shutter speed, aperture and white balance All of these cameras are faster than regular digital point and shoot cameras and nearly as fast as a low end SLR All of them have excellent image quality up to at least ISO 200  The Candidates Canon Digital Rebel XT Pro: 8 Mega pixels Great upgrade path with cameras ranging from under $1000 to $8000 Great selection of lenses from a number of manufactures Con: Image quality not excellent at 400 ISO and higher Nikon D70s Pro: Excellent image quality up to 1600 ISO Very good image quality Smaller than average RAW file size which means you can fit more images on a memory card Con: Camera is a bit old at this point. Technology is over a year old. Minolta 5D Pro: Vibration control Very good image quality Con: Minolta is not as well supported and established as Nikon and Canon with limited digital SLR product line Pentax *ist DS Pro: Very small and light weight camera Excellent image quality up to 1600 ISO Con: Pentax is not as well supported and established as Nikon and Canon with a limited digital SLR product line Starting New: There is also a good argument for starting fresh without regard for existing lenses and other accessories that you may have. Lenses: Amateur digital cameras capture the image on a digital image sensor that is smaller than a 35 mm film negative. The advantage to this is that they can use smaller and lighter lenses. The lenses that are made specifically for digital cameras are designed to shine the light at nearly 90 degrees to the digital image sensor which is required for an optimal image (this is not an important requirement for film). Digital lenses are designed to minimized the reflection of light off the digital image sensor which is much more reflective than film Flash: Some manufactures (most notably Nikon) have created new flash systems that are optimized for digital photography so you may want to get a new flash anyways All of the cameras that I have suggested have built in flashes that work very well Most amateurs spend little money on a flash so it is best not to make a camera purchase decision based on the flash that you have. Nearly all other accessories in your camera bag are either less than $50 or are universal and can be used with any camera which means you should not make your purchase decision based on them. Suggested Cameras: I would shy away from Nikon. They have good cameras and great quality but they are behind the technology curve in the entry level dSLR and most armatures will not benefit from the things that make Nikon great. (This is coming from someone who is a huge Nikon fan so it says a lot). Canon Digital Rebel XT or Minolta 5D. At this point Canon makes the best digital SLRs and they have little competition. The digital rebel is going to work for you for a long time and any accessory that exists will be available for a Canon. The only problem with it is that lenses for a Canon cost a few dollars more and if you want vibration control you will need to get it on the lens which is costly (See below for info on Vibration Control). The camera that I am suggesting to armatures at this point is the Minolta 5D because the vibration control is built into the camera. The image is very good and it is simple to use. The only problem with Minolta is that it is not a Nikon or Canon. Not all accessories are made for Minolta and they have only been in the DSL business for a year or so. Both are things that I would not worry about as an amateur. If you think you will be moving on to bigger, better cameras in the near future go with the Canons that have digital cameras in nearly every price range. Vibration Control – This technology has many names and ways of solving the problem of camera shake. (Canon calls it IS, Nikon calls it VR, Minolta calls it AS). The basic idea is the same, find a way to eliminate the hand/camera vibration of the photographer so the image does not come out blurry. For example if you take a picture from a moving car the image may be blurry because your hand shook. With vibration control, the lens or the camera compensates for the vibration and the image is not blurry. It can let you take photos without a tripod and does make you a better photographer because you will have less blurry images. What it will not do is remove the blur of a moving object. So if you take a photo of a moving car that is going really fast the vibration control will not remove the blur because it is not caused by the camera motion. This is a very cool piece of technology. Canon, Nikon and Sigma have the vibration control built into the lenses that they sell. Minolta has it built into the camera so it will work regardless of the lens that you have, which makes it a lot cheaper. My suggestion would be to go with the Minolta 5D and the Tamron Zoom 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) Macro Lens Digital SLRs with a UV or skylight filter to protect the lens (Given a lens factor of 1.5X the Tamron is equivalent to a 28 mm – 300 mm lens on a film camera). Get a 1Gig (x12 or higher) compact flash card and expect to pay about $100. I would suggest you take a look at the camera at a store and decide if you want to buy it there or on line at a place like www.bhphotovideo.com. A good camera store will give you help and support that is well worth the extra price that you will pay over an on-line retailer. Other Options: If the reason you want a digital SLR is to have a fast digital camera with great image quality and a good lens then you may find out that you do not actually need an SLR for that. After all, most people who own an SLR never change the lens or they change the lens because their zoom lens does not have wide angel apx 28 mm or go up to a zoom 300 mm.  If that describes you then you may want to reconsider the idea of a digital SLR because they are larger and heavier than the alternative and cost more. Welcome to the world of ZLR which are cameras that look like an SLR but have an integrated zoom lens that range between 28mm to 300mm zooms (35mm film equivalent). Most of these cameras can also accept lens attachments to get a wider angel image or a larger zoom so in some ways you can still get the benefits of an SLR without some of the hassles. Given that this is an article about dSLR cameras I will not go into too much detail but I suggest you take a look at the following ZLRs which may be exactly what you are looking for and more. Nikon Coolpix 8800 (Vibration control, 8 MP, 35-350 mm lens) Fujifilm S9000 (9 MP, 28-300 mm lens, and image quality as good as film) Minolta DiMAGE A200 (8 MP, 28-200 mm lens, vibration control)