New camera musings

Have been pondering moving from my pentax 35mm slr to a digital setup for a couple of months. Made my mind up recently when I found the flash on my compact digi to be rather half arsed, and got a tad fed up with the amount of 35mm kit i was carting about (lots of primes). So its either lens upgrade time, or make the change to digital slr.

Preference would be to get a pentax dsl but they are apparently rather crap, and difficult to find in budget. Soo have been hunting ebay and the shops for deals. Options are

1) Canon D300 + 18-55. From canon refurb on ebay £420 ish.

2) Nikon D50 + 18-55. £509, but Nikon give £50 cashback so £459.

3) Nikon D50, sort out a lens myself. £400 (with cashback removed)

Would probably get either the nikon/canon or sigma 70-300 to complemet the man lens. Anything over that would proANybody got any comments or ideas? I was going to aim at getting a prosumer, but I want to couple the camera to some telescopes, it can be done with a prosumer but is a pain to do right.

I wouldn't say that Pentax *ist is crap - remember that according to the adherents of the Churches of Canon & Nikon anything else is crap even when it is better ;)
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxistds/
Unfortunately the rumour is that the recently announced, upgraded *ist DS2 isn't coming to Europe.

A quick look suggests Pentax body & 18-55mm at ~£530 though but if you are happy with your existing lenses & wouldn't have to replace (bearing in mind crop factor of going DSLR)then it's cheaper in the long run. Might want to go & handle 1.

Another possible candidate would be new Minolta Dynax 5D (body only £530) with in body AS.

Update time

Went up to london camera exchange in err London strangely on Monday to play with the current dslr in my price range. Tried Nikon d50, Canon 350d, konica minolta 5D, pentax ist d whatever its called. Tried a few lenses on each as well. Great shop to go to, loads of kits, printed examples with a wide range of bodys and lenses and the bods working there seem to know their kit. Ended up setting my heart on a D50, although I wanted the dogs danglies AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED lens that the D70 comes with. Went home for a ponder and spotted a new D70 with that lens on ebay for around the same price as a D50, and its from an electrical retailer. Should be getting it this week, will flash it with the new firmware so it should be very similar to a £200 more expensive D70s :)

I've currently got a KM Dynax 5D on loan, and think it's brilliant - so much so I'd love to move over to DSLR - but price wise the Nikon D50 is around the same, with kit lens, but I can't decide which I would be best going for...

Nikon D50 - 18-55 or
KM Dynax 5D - 18-70

The Dynax 5D is appealing due to the longer range zoom lens, and the anti-shake, also the 5D has ISO upto 3200 (D50/70 upto 1600).

Deffinetely go and have a play with all the options before spending any ££££ Best thing about the Nikon is the availability of lenses, huge backwards compatabilty, am keeping my eyes open for a fast 400mm. 7dayshop are doing the D50 with lens for £499 and you can claim £50 back through Nikon. Theres a couple of places on ebay doing import lenses with guaranteed no vat / duty, if you get caught they pay you back. They also do some bodys as well. To find them search ebay for nikon or minolta or canon + vat or tax. Also check ebay shops as they dont appear in general listings.

congrats mate, hope you enjoy it.

i know its not that fast but have a look at the sigma 70-300 DG II APO for £170 as its a great lens. ive just got it and i find it sharp throughout the range as long as you have it at f8 or so when at the extremes, i looked at a lot of secondhand 210mm f2.8 sigmas and nikors but due to the size they didnt fit my bill, i guess you'll have to put up with it tho if you need the speed.

Had a bit of luck on ebay the other day, picked up a slik pro tripod with a pistol grip head for £8.50 deliverd, looked in a shop and the head was £99 on its own.