KyleR.
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Alf Beharie wrote:
As this is the "Alternative Gear & Lenses" forum can I suggest going for cheap used lenses on ebay rather than splashing the cash on new ones?....$2000 can get you a very good condition used DSLR and possibly dozens of good condition, high quality, lenses.
Personally, I avoid zoom lenses as they are bigger, heavier and nearly always exibit poorer optically quality compared to smaller, lighter and sharper prime lenses.
As for DSLR's, if you want the best digital image quality available (in good light) then you need a Sigma DSLR with the Foveon X3 sensor, like the Sigma SD14 (or the new SD15, if and when it eventually hits the market), else every other DSLR on the market is pretty much a muchness...The only big differences between various DSLR's are the speed, sensor size and the image size each produce...The ones with bigger sensors dont necessarily produce the better quality images, but they will give you shallower DOF which can be very important for portrait work...Having more pixels also does'nt guarentee better image quality but having more pixels does give you a bigger image which can look sharper when reduced in size, say to be shown on an internet forum like this one, and it can also be an advantage when wanting to make very large prints.
You dont necessarily need to go get a Canon DSLR at all, as most DSLR's use the same fundimental sensor technology and therefore they all offer very similar image quality, irrespective of the brand, though its true that if you do decide to get a Canon DSLR that will give you the largest choice of lenses to use without having to modify lenses first, including Nikon, Leica R, Olympus OM, Canon FL/FD, Pentax K, M42 etc...Adapters are usually quite cheap and readily available.
Not all Canon DSLR's are so forgiving though, the Canon 5D MkII for instance, where you may have to perform a drastic mirror "shaving" job to allow some lenses to fit properly without the risk of hitting and potentially damaging the flip up mirror!
The latest Nikon DSLR's arguably offer better high ISO performance than the latest Canon DSLR's so if that is important to you then you might decide Nikon is the way to go but be aware you will be much more restricted on what lenses you can use compared to with a Canon DSLR. As far as I am aware Nikon mount DSLR users are pretty much restricted to Nikon mount and M42 mount lenses and similarly Pentax mount DSLR users are pretty much restricted to Pentax K mount and M42 mount lenses and Konica/Minolta mount DSLR users are pretty much restricted to Minolta MC/MD/MM mount lenses and possibly M42 lenses as well, but thats about it.
Sigma DSLR users can use SA mount lenses, Nikon mount lenses, Pentax K mount lenses, M42 mount lenses and Canon EF mount lenses that have been converted to SA mount (all functions work except IS).
Another option is a 4/3rds mount DSLR....They are small and light and as with Canon DSLR's, adapters for many different mount lenses are cheap and readily available...The biggest drawback is their tiny image sensor which makes it more difficult to obtain images with a shallow DOF, say for pro portrait work and aggressive noise cancelling algorithms have to be employed, in-camera, which can restrict low light/high ISO image quality.
There are other choices available but you only have a limited budget so I'll leave it up to you....Show more →
Thanks Alf.
I was looking at the sigma and thinking about it cause it looks so esay to use and doesnt have all those modes except for the standard shutter priority, etc.
It also has an easy mirror lock up for sharper shots.
Anyways, what makes you think that sigmas are the best quality?
Also, I was thinking about buying my lenses used, but is that something that you guys do?
Won't they usually have scratches etc. over time?
I would like to spend around 500 on a body so then i could spend the rest on lenses?
Also, does this seem like too much for my second camera and lenses?
Right now i only use one lens and i feel like a lot of others could come in handy, but is it spoiled to start out with 3, 4 lenses?
Thanks,
Kyle
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