help me out

[enfield]

Hey guys

I am going to be buying my first DSLR soon and I want your help.I have budget of $2k incl lenses and would prefer to buy the camera body brand new.

I am undecided between Canon 500D & Nikon D90 . Somewhat more inclined towards D90 after reading some reviews last night.But I read somewhere canon has more lense choices and is cheaper than nikon ? is that true ?

From pricespy the cheapest price for body only for 500d is $1029 and Nikon D90 $1199.Then i could get a 1.8 50mm and could you guys suggest me some good general purpose lense (good fun lense :P) that I can get in my budget.

I also found some package with kit lenses but after reading some comments on here about not buying kit lenses i am not sure.Anyways here are the packages i have searched from pricespy are any of them worth buying ?
Canon EOS 500D + 18-55/3.5-5.6 IS + 55-250/4.0-5.6 IS for 1630
Canon EOS 500D + 18-200/3.5-5.6 IS $1700
Nikon D90 + 18-55/3.5-5.6 VR $1778
Nikon D90 + 18-105/3.5-5.6 VR $1852

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks
Gary

[drspangle]

Originally Posted by enfield

Hey guys

I am going to be buying my first DSLR soon and I want your help.I have budget of $2k incl lenses and would prefer to buy the camera body brand new.

I am undecided between Canon 500D & Nikon D90 . Somewhat more inclined towards D90 after reading some reviews last night.But I read somewhere canon has more lense choices and is cheaper than nikon ? is that true ?

From pricespy the cheapest price for body only for 500d is $1029 and Nikon D90 $1199.Then i could get a 1.8 50mm and could you guys suggest me some good general purpose lense (good fun lense :P) that I can get in my budget.

I also found some package with kit lenses but after reading some comments on here about not buying kit lenses i am not sure.Anyways here are the packages i have searched from pricespy are any of them worth buying ?
Canon EOS 500D + 18-55/3.5-5.6 IS + 55-250/4.0-5.6 IS for 1630
Canon EOS 500D + 18-200/3.5-5.6 IS $1700
Nikon D90 + 18-55/3.5-5.6 VR $1778
Nikon D90 + 18-105/3.5-5.6 VR $1852

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks
Gary

I'm on the nikon side of things, and I wouldn't have thought the 500D would even be feature competitive with the D90. I would have thought the D90 was up with the canon 40D or is that the 50D these days?

Big differences as far as I know will be (in favour of the D90):

• bigger and better viewfinder - Pentaprism viewfinder versus the Pentamirror
• two command wheels
• wireless speedlight control
• dedicated button's on top of camera allowing to adjust metering, exposure compensation, continuous shooting and autofocus settings on the fly without having to go into the menus
• Better Focusing, Metering and White Balance Control
• Just generally better AF - better points, tracking etc
• AF illumination lamp
• Much Better battery life
• The Nikon is bigger and arguably better made, as the canon is basically an entry level camera. YOu may appreciate the smaller size, though for my hands bigger has generally been better a my d300s is only just big enough for my shooting style/preferences

Personally, I don't consider them in the same 'level'. I'm sure you can take similar photos with each, but the D90 is a step up.

In saying all that, I don't follow the canon announcements _that_ closely, so if I've made a mistake please point it out, and of course someone will have to go to the effort of pointing out the 500D pros

---------- Post added at 08:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:51 PM ----------

regarding lenses, buying a kit lens (18-55 at least, I dont know much about the 18-105) is almost always a waste of money if you plan to be at all serious about it.

Or not. It depends on what you will do with it. Unlikely to keep under 2k though unless you do.

[fokker]

If it was me I'd flag the kit lenses altogether and just buy the body and one or two good quality lenses (you may want to look 2nd hand here).

[drspangle]

Something to keep in mind is that lenses willl outlast any body you buy, provided you buy good ones

[enfield]

After reading some more reviews D90 it is that I am going to buy.
For the other lense should i go for Nikon Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200/3.5-5.6 G IF-ED VR ($1100 from pricespy) and then there is Nikon Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200/3.5-5.6 G IF-ED VR II which $1799 (quite over my budget).Whats the difference between the two and is the first one good for a beginner like me ?

Anymore recommendations on lenses would be appreciated

Thanks
Gary

[drspangle]

Originally Posted by enfield

After reading some more reviews D90 it is that I am going to buy.
For the other lense should i go for Nikon Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200/3.5-5.6 G IF-ED VR ($1100 from pricespy) and then there is Nikon Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200/3.5-5.6 G IF-ED VR II which $1799 (quite over my budget).Whats the difference between the two and is the first one good for a beginner like me ?

Anymore recommendations on lenses would be appreciated

Thanks
Gary

There is only one version of the 18-200 Get whichever store has it cheapest

And it's great for people that only want 1 lens and travelers. It will be beaten by high end lenses and primes at all focal lengths and wider apertures, but as a compromise it can't be beat Not for that price!

[enfield]

http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=s45018238 < There is VR and VRII(the expensive one)

[drspangle]

Originally Posted by enfield

http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=s45018238 < There is VR and VRII(the expensive one)

yeah I've just had a look around. It is confusing: Nikon has VR and VRII (which all 18-200s have), but then they also release version 'II' lenses such as the 70-200 and also it appears the 18-200. Just seeing what differences are. Sorry for confusion...

---------- Post added at 11:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 PM ----------

From what I can tell it just has a slightly tighter zoom ring to prevent zoom creep and a zoom lock to hold it at 18mm. VR is the same, optically i don't know of any differences...

[enfield]

would it be good for portraits and a bit of landscape photography ?

[drspangle]

Originally Posted by enfield

would it be good for portraits and a bit of landscape photography ?

85-200 range will be decent for portraits, aperture is pretty small by then so not a great amount of DoF control, but the length will help out here anyway.

I'v never used one myself, but 18mm is wide enough for landscapes generally. It does have some fairly complicated distortion that you will notice with straight edges though, eg architechture and whatnot Best bet is to go to a cam shop you intend to buy it from and take some shots (taking your time, I always feel so rushed when I do that) and see if they are good enough.