I want to get fantastic quality pics from this camera. I want to be able to get different lenses for this camera. What are the excellent brands vs. not so excellent brands?? Thanks ya’ll!
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Every person you talk to will give you a different answer. Go to a camera shop and try out all of the different brands.
Sony Cybershot is the best.
I LOVE my Nikon D40x. 10.2 megapixels earnings huge, detailed images with fantastic clarity, and the Nikon optics are first-rate. It’s also got a fantastic user interface, though if your photo store offers an introductory seminar (the Nikon rep in my city gives one about every month to new purchasers), it’s well worth the time.
The D40x is a above all excellent choice if you’re a newcomer to photography as a leisure activity; if you just leave it in “auto” mode and let it do all the thinking about set alight, speed, etc., it’ll take the best-looking snapshots you’ve ever seen. If you want to start learning a small about photography as a leisure activity, the D40x will let you exchange its settings in key areas that make a variation in how your photos will look, especially in “special” situations (low set alight, high-speed action shots, super-close macro shots, etc.)
For an model of how simple it is to use, take a look at this photo set on my Flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfisher71/sets/72157600287588436/
Many of those photos were taken by one or the other of my two kids, one 16 and the other 10 (check the tags for attribution). My 10-year-ancient had used the camera once prior to our visit to the Japanese garden, and some of his photos from his first day with the D40x are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightningcharlie/
Again, those are from a 10-year-ancient who had picked up the camera for the first time that day. The barrel of flowers, in particular, is stunning, and be sure not to miss the ladybug on the leaf in the closeup of the blackberry blossom.
Since you specifically mention lenses, the D40x has one limitation about the kind of autofocus lenses it accepts. Specifically, while some Nikon cameras include a built-in autofocus guide motor (with a pin that goes into the lens), the D40 and D40x do not. Consequently they can only use their autofocus mode with lenses that have their own built-in guide motors, meaning lenses in the AF-S and AF-I series. You can also of course use other Nikon lenses but you’ll need to focus them manually, which is a worthwhile skill to develop for any photographer.
The link in the Sources field is a very detailed review of the D40x, with a list of the controls, the show elements, and much more information, including a comparison with some of its competitors (notably the Canon EOS, another excellent choice).
As a closing observation, the “kit” price for the D40x with an 18-55mm zoom lens is $799, well within your price range. The lens I chose, an 18-135mm zoom, bumps the price just over your limit to $1029, but the flexibility of the additional 80mm was valuable to me as I do a lot of motorsports photography and am not always in a position to get right up close to the action. If you’re really looking to save money, the camera body itself is $729, and you can shop for exactly the lens you want for the price variation. But if you can squeeze another thirty bucks out of your budget and you even occasionally take pictures from a distance, I highly urge the 18-135 as a excellent all-nearly lens for everything from closeup to mild telephoto work.
Besides a camera capable of using interchangeable lenses, you may want to make sure that the body is capable of handling the shake factor when a long telephoto lense is used. The current term for controlling the “shake” is “shake saving” which is a mechanical device offered by Sony and Pentax who have chosen to house this “shake saving” mechanism within their camera bodies. On the other hand, other DSLRs offered by Canon and Nikon have chosen to incorporate the “anti-shake” mechanism within their lenses. So, the more lenses you point out to keep in your arsenal, the more it is likely that you will be spending lots of money to cover the various ranges of lenses.
Your best bet is to go with the in-the-camera-body “shake saving” offered by Pentax since it has the widest range of shake control versus the restricted up and down system offered by Sony. And the add-on Pentax lenses do not cost an arm and a leg.
You may want to check out the Pentax K100D 6.1 megapixel DSLR with a 15-55mm lense that sells for nearly $550. And there’s subdue another donation which adds a 75-200mm lense that will bring up the total price to $650. Check out Samy’s Camera at http://www.samys.com for further info.
Excellent luck!
my suggestion
go to yahoo shopping
digital cameras
digital camera GUIDE
be sure to check titles on the left side
the guide should answer your questions
I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a camera from any of the larger camera companies. These include in no particular order Nikon, Canon, Olympus, and Pentax. There are some others including Sony, Fujifilm, and Panasonic which makes excellent cameras, but the first four I mention offer better value.
Also note that when you buy the camera you are also investing in a lens system. That earnings the lens from different manufacturer are not interchangeable so you can only use Nikon lenses for Nikon cameras. Nikon and Canon are the leaders in making lenses with a large following from pro photographers. But, this doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t buy the ultra expensive lenses that the pros use which expenditure upwards of $1000 a piece. The consumer lens that most people buy are really on par linking the brands, so do not dismiss Olympus and Pentax just because fewer pros use their lenses. I keep hearing the arguments that so and so company makes the best lenses, but if you can’t afford them what’s the point?
Finally some recommended cameras for you:
Nikon D40
Canon XTi
Olympus E410
Pentax K10D
I suggest buy the camera kit which includes a kit lens. Its a excellent way to start out straight away, and you can always upgrade your lens when you’ve outgrown it.