Looking at this for my first SLR camera purchase. I've heard from a lot that this is a great "beginner" camera to learn with. A friend recommended that I get a 50mm lens as well.

 

I bought the same thing for my firt DSRL and I love everything about it, I also got the same lense! It is a very nice camera to learn on and it will not disappoint you!
Here are a few pics I've taken down at mexico. The resoluions kinda got screwed up by photobucket, but you get the idea.

 

I remember you posting those pictures - you boss paid for the trip right?

 

Yes ma'am, he paid for everything.

 

good camera. looks sharper then the nikon d40 in my eyes.

dpreview.com has a great review.

 

Olympus just gave me two cameras to play with--the E-500 and E-510

Personally my new favorite is the Olympus E-500, and I had have nearly every Nikon and Canon at one point in time.

Consider this one since the prices are close, I'll spare you my review and just tell you to read this
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse500/

For roughly the same price, you'll arguable get a better camera and some of the best lenses I've seen for digital, plus I love the 4/3 system. Also the ergonomics and build quality are much much better then nikon and canon.

Unless you need a wide lens, go for the 40-150mm f3.5-4.5 rather then the 14-56mm lens or both even. Both of these are rather cheap, the bad thing is anything faster then these will cost you $500 to $7K.

 

Canon cant be beat IMO. I would however, splurge and get the 50mm 1.4 vice the 1.8. Much better all around. Construction, speed, etc. B&H is great, although you may find it cheaper elsewhere you will always be satisfied with their service.

 

I <3 my XT. You won't be disappointed.

 

I'm a big Canon fan, and I had the rebel XT and loved it, but i'm not a great photographer and just didn't get around to taking a whole lot of photos after a while, so I sold it. If you are just getting started, i'd recommend getting a Nikon D40 w/ kit lens from www.bhphotovideo.com (if you go w/ the rebel or w/e, buy from this place anyway, they are great). The D40 costs $499 w/ lens and it takes very very nice photos, they seem a lot more vibrant and especially sharper than my XT did right out of the box.

You're going to hear a lot of specific model suggested, in the end, you have basically canon/nikon being the big boys, both have a whole slew of lenses, and either will be a great camera, especially for a beginner, and for $500, i dont think you can beat the D40, and i've had both.

also, i second getting the 50mm 1.8 to go along w/ the kit lens, for $75 it is an absolute STEAL.

D40 w/ kit lens on automatic (point n click mode) of my bosses beautiful blue russian:

 

That is a beautiful cat.

 

It's a beautiful photo... and has that wonderful detail. I'm a Nikon guy, and like Pie (above) I've owned every Nikon, Canon, Contax and Leica you can name. My favorite camera today: Nikon F6; the one that gets used: Nikon D70s.

 

Yeah, I"m a fan of Canon too. I should go out and shoot more often, I haven't touch mine in awhile due to work/family and whatnot. I love taking pics with shallow DOF.



My lil soilder.

 

One advantage of Nikon and Canon that people overlook is the sheer number of lenses and accessories, both new and used, that is available to the consumer. If you're like me and other photographers, we like to buy our lenses and bodies used to save 15-20% over buying new. Lenses are functional whether you take 10 shots or 10,000 shots so there's not much advantage in buying new other than the warranty, but, the high end lenses very rarely have any sort of failure.

I prefer Canon for 3 reasons, 1) market leader in dSLR (more abundant lens and accessory availability), 2) high ISO image quality, 3) superior AF system - Not a knock on Nikon but Canon has the edge on these three points. Nikon has made improvements on their high ISO image quality, though. It should be interesting to see how the new Nikon 51 point AF system will work on the D3 and D300, but until then, the 45 point AF system on the 1D MK bodies is still the best.

ISO 1600, 1D MKII, 70-200 f/2.8L IS - noise? what noise


20D, 70-200 f/2.8L IS - nothing special, just a shot of my niece since she's so cute

 

Cant argue with you there
The Olympus does fall short at high ISO, and lenses are less in variety and more expensive. However am a Leica lens *****, and they are doing the four-thirds system.

I think the one true advantage with the Olympus E-500 comes down to its menu based tuning ability that far exceeds anything well past its price range. IMO that alone takes was is basically a mid ranged semi-pro camera, to near pro-level.

Also ergonomics are important to me, in which case the design of the E-500 is better IMO.

Just throwing out some more considerations, too many people forget there are other great companies, then Nikon and Canon. However in the end, I would in most cases suggest Nikon or Canon

BTW the wedding ring photo is very nice

 

I'm hearing some good things about the D40 which is making me pretty happy right now. My gf's mom is looking to upgrade her body (camera) from a D40 to a D80 so I'll most likely get it from her. That thing takes some really good pics, can't wait to learn to use it properly.

 

omg thank you for that link....that just made getting a D40 100X faster.... thank you so much

 

I have a Canon Rebel XTi, and I love it. I got it as a beginner camera about a year ago. It's light and takes pretty good pictures. Here are a few I have taken with mine. The first one (the straws) was actually published in issue 12 of JPG Magazine (current issue) under the theme "Creative License".
The last one has a little scratch on it it looks like because I had a polarizer filer on it, and it was scratched. I didn't know it at the time, and I'm too lazy now to try to photoshop it.









I'm hoping to upgrade cameras soon :]

 

Fantastic shots of the mundane. I wish I had that type of creativity.

40D in your future? Pick one up and try it, you'll be walking out with one.

 

those are some amazing shots, what kinda of polarizer do you have? and where did you get it from? thanks.

 

Thanks! I've been considering buying myself a 40D in about the next couple of months. I really wanted a 5D, but that's a little out of my budget for now.

Thanks! It is a Quantaray Circular Polarizer