What Camera? Help!

[Ramedge]

Hey guys, Havent posted here for a while but could really do with some advice.

I am going to get myself a Digital SLR this month - But i really cant choose what camera to go for,

Basically it has come down to two:

The Nikon D40X and the Cannon EOS 400D

both of them have their ups and downs. The D40x has a wider ISO range smaller body and apperntly a better lens out of the box.

the Cannon has a good DOF and macro modes and i have used one before and quite liked it. The lens isnt any thing special.

I am not going to be buying a new lens to start with, so i would like something fairly decent which makes me want to go with the nikon but it doesnt have an AF motor so some lenses cant be used on it.

Its really doing my head in.

Can any one help point me in the right direction?

Cheers.

EDIT: Just thought i would ask if there are any other makes of camera that you guys recomend? I ve got a few Pentax lesnes from a old film slr which are quite expensive. I know there are a few problems with using old lenses on new cameras but if there is a pentax dslr that is good i might go for that just so try out the lesnes.

[IBM]

There seems to be more Canon supportors in here than Nikon, but I've heard a lot of good things said about the Nikon. Saying that, the Canon seems to sit well in people's hands, and comfort has a lot to do with eventual decisions. Get yourself down to Jessops and try one out. Ask for a charged up one and wander round the store and actually take some shots.

What's the price difference? I'd say just buy a body only and pick up a couple of cheap lenses if you can afford it. The Canon 28-135 can be had for £200ish, or a really cheap Canon 50mm prime (which is an awesome lens for the money) for £50 if you don't mind being limited by the focal length.

Saying that, as you've got Pentax lenses, I haven't got a clue what camera body takes that fitting, so hopefully someone else can fill in the blanks. Or you could see how much they're going for on Ebay and put the cash towards a new lens.

I love my Canon 10D. I've used other brands, and nothing feels as comfortable as the Canon. I've been delighted with the quality of the images since I got it, and to tell the truth, to amateur or Semi Pro photographers, I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between standards or features between two different brands. It's almost like 3DMark scores....only the calculator can tell the difference.

[Bobster]

if you buy a Nikon, make sure you purchase a copy of noise ninja, you'll need it

ISO 800 on a D200 is like ISO1600 on a 20D, 350/400D, so if you ever want to push the ISO on a Nikon D40X, be prepared for alot of noise..

[Hans Voralberg]

Fairly sure the noise level on the D40x is not that horrible

[Bobster]

yeah your right its not as bad as the Olympus E-410, but its still bad!

[Fabula]

What pentax lenses do you have?
All the current gen DSLRs are fairly decent, so if you can keep the use of some decent though manual lenses, that might be a deciding factor.

Personally I would push for a Nikon D50 rather than the D40. And out of the 400D and D50 I would still go for the canon.
Try to get it body only and with a slightly better walkaround lens from maybe sigma or tamron.

[Ramedge]

Thanks for the fast responce.
When i am home i will go see what the pentax lenses i've got, I know they are the K fitting but thats about it.
I will get down to Jessops in the next couple of hours to have a play. One of my mates recently brought a Cannon 400D he does get some fairly good results but nothing special and i also know some one with a Nikon D40 ( the 6mpixel version ) And i have seem some very impressive pictures from it.
I am thinking i will swing towards the cannon if i can get a decent lens that isnt going to break my budget.

Cheers, Will let you know what i think.

[this_is_gav]

Of those 2 I'd go for the D40x, and did in fact. Love it to bits frankly.

But the sensible choice would be the D40. If you can cope with 6mp rather than 10mp (which allows more room when cropping pics) then you can save a hell of a lot of cash for a very good camera. And you save £110 too for what is essentially the same camera.

[Ramedge]

Of those 2 I'd go for the D40x, and did in fact. Love it to bits frankly.

But the sensible choice would be the D40. If you can cope with 6mp rather than 10mp (which allows more room when cropping pics) then you can save a hell of a lot of cash for a very good camera. And you save £110 too for what is essentially the same camera.

Yes i have heard lots of good things about the D40. Still i would like something around the 10mp area.
Apperntly the lens that the D40x comes with is a big improvement on the D40lens so thats one reason to go for it i suppose.

Any way. Went down to Jessops today which wasnt exactly to helpful. They got the cameras out for me and said have a go and had a play with them both. Ive used the Cannon 400d before so i knew what that was going to be like! And no real suprises.

The D40x was very nice to use and nice and small too. Didnt really get to play with it a great deal as they couldnt get their SD card to work in the camera! Which was a bit annoying.


So still has not made my decission any easier.

I do like the D40x but have seen how noisey it can be and that has put me off. The cannon is a bit bulky and would need a new lens straight away as the one it comes with is pretty rubish.

Help?!

[merdat]

I was speaking to a collegue recently and he told me that he had bought a nixon D80 . In fact he said ,I bought 2. I asked him why he bought 2 and he replied that he did not want to be changing lenses all the time as the nixon suffered from a problem in as much that if you get and dust on the sensors whilst changing lenses then it can show up as a big white blotch on the pictures, and it costs sometime like 45 quid a go to get the camera cleaned. I have not heard of this before so don't know if it is only the nixons that suffer from this prob. Better check that the D40 is not affected by this if you are going to be changing lenses a lot.

[RavenNight]

I was speaking to a collegue recently and he told me that he had bought a nixon D80 . In fact he said ,I bought 2. I asked him why he bought 2 and he replied that he did not want to be changing lenses all the time as the nixon suffered from a problem in as much that if you get and dust on the sensors whilst changing lenses then it can show up as a big white blotch on the pictures, and it costs sometime like 45 quid a go to get the camera cleaned. I have not heard of this before so don't know if it is only the nixons that suffer from this prob. Better check that the D40 is not affected by this if you are going to be changing lenses a lot.

Given that they are SLRs I'd think it would be unusual for dust to get past the mirror

And if it did, just lock the mirror up and give it a squirt of compressed air.

[Ramedge]

two D80's! i am sure for the life of the camera it probably works out cheaper to get a cover plan or just pay to get it fixed every now and then than to buy two cameras!

oh well.

any more suggestions people?

[merdat]

Bairn got a wee spec of dust on the inside of his canon 400d and I just gave it a wee blow -certainly displaced it from view -don't think he has had any further trouble. This guy with the nixons is not the sort of guy that would buy 2 bodies unless he had read up about the problem of getting dust on the sensors . He has been around SLR's for a long time .

[Bobster]

And if it did, just lock the mirror up and give it a squirt of compressed air.

just use a rocket blower, much less likely to damage the sensor..

[Rhyth]

At the end of the day you couldnt go wrong with either of those cameras. I'd go woth which ever is chaeper at the end of the day tbh, although they seem to be much the same currently.

I will say as someone who has both cameras at thier disposal (sister has D40X & I the 400D) I prefere the EOS400D because of the extra buttons which alow quick adjustment of ISO,WB, AF and metering modes amoung other things (you can program the Fn button on the D40x to be ISO). Also you have a depth of field preview button, hold this and the lens stops down to the indicated aperture to give a preview of the depth of field through the viewfinder. Not an amazing feature, but one I've used a few times now. Another good feature the D40X doesnt have is the option to shoot RAW+Fine,JPG. Also the D40X doesnt alow exposure bracketing for JPG, again not a biggy especially as I only shoot raw now mostly.

Enjoy your new camera fella whichever you choose

[timread]

If you want to look at some really thorough reviews of the D40X, 400D (etc), take a look www.dpreview.com. They call it a draw between the two models, but there a pros and cons of either choice, obviously.

My GF's gone from a 35mm Canon EOS 300v to a Nikon D70 (but I use them more than she does!!), and I do like the rather more solid-feeling build quality of the Nikon. But I guess most importantly, I've had great pictures from both so I've no brand preference.

Don't forget that the D40X and 400D don't have separate status LCDs - this might not bother you but I really like having it on the D70.

One other thing - it would appear that the stock lens on the 400D isn't fantastic, so you could consider getting a body and better lens kit. And against the D40X is that it doesn't have its own AF motor, so you need to get AF-S/AF-I lenses to autofocus.

I think the 400D has the price edge, if you compare the stock kits.

Sorry, not sure if any of that has helped. Decisions, decisions!