More camera advice wtd.

[soundbeltfarm]

i've had a fuji 5600 since christmas and have been doing heaps with it since i've had it. But i think i want to take the next step up to an SLR camera.
I have become acustomed to using most of the usual modes ( eg. shutter priorty and aperture priorty etc )
I'm shooting in RAW format now also.
The camera's im looking at are the Cannon eos350D or the Nikon D50 or D70.
as i think these may be a good upgrade from what i've read.
Has anyone here got one of these or anyone have any recomendations.
My price range is up to about $1600.
Cheers for any help.

[N4CR]

Second hand 300d would be good and cheap, they last forever. Dad has done.... 35+gb worth of pics on his, and that's after sorting and chucking out heaps of them.. 35gb OF GOOD photos, roughly 10,000+. Has had no problems apart from getting sand into it changing lenses in the gobi desert once. Was covered under warranty, so canon does look after you. Easy enough to learn on (hell I can use it fine enough and adjust aperture/iso and all that other fancy stuff).

350d would be similar just a bigger photo size. The stock lenses are nice, very little distortion.

But yeah.. good luck I'd pick the Canon but I have heard good things about the D50/70 too, probably better cameras for more pro level? The 300/350d are prosumer afaik.

edit check this site out for all reviews, very good.
http://www.dpreview.com/

[Genesismatrix]

I own a Canon 350D purchased arround a year ago I used to use a Nikon D100 similar to a D50 or D70. I would high recomend the Canon 350D its a great camera i focus much faster than the Nikon and captures image in a high resolution.

I have printed 350D images up to SRA2 450 x 640mm and they still looked great. If you want to see some sample images check me out my webpage www.clarityonline.net

Any questions drop me a message i did a diploma in photography so I should be able to help you out.

[far queue]

What's the story with getting dust in the camera body when changing lenses on a D SLR?

I've got a Nikon F65 (film SLR) and a cheap and basic kodak digital compact. Looking at upgrading to a D SLR (possibly Nikon D50) or Fuji S9500 prosumer, but the dust issue is swaying me towards the Fuji. A guy at work who has a D SLR is forever cleaning it and also removing dust spots from his pictures.

I understand it's caused by a positively charged CCD thingy attracting the dust particals. Is there an easy way around this as I can't really be bothered shagging around with dust problems.

soundbeltfarm, I hope you don't mind me jumping in on your thread, but I figured you would want to know the answer to this too.

[soundbeltfarm]

sweet as far que.
there's a camera (olympus i think) that when you turn it on it has a system which vibrates just in front of the CCD at supersonic wave lengths which vibrates any dust off.
i've heard good reviews about it.

[N4CR]

Gobi desert sand is very very fine, we assume it just got in that way after being in suspension in the air, it could have come in some other way but I cannot be sure. it was VERY small on the camera and you could only see it in some colours/lighting conditions mainly photos of the blue sky. The dunes look awesome in orange.. do you want me to post a pic or two up ;) Big suckers too....

[Genesismatrix]

I been runing the canon 350D for over a year now and i have had only had one dust spot on the reflex mirror. Never on the sensor. I guess it comes down to how careful you are when swapping lens.

I think their is a konica monolta with a inbuilt function to remove dust spots.

[Hitcher]

My price range is up to about $1600.
Etown (www.etown.co.nz) will do you a brand new Nikon D50 AND flash for $1599.99 GST inclusive. I've just bought one of these for work. Doesn't come with an SD card for that price though...

[bungbung]

I have had a Nikon D70 for a couple of years and added a D70s (no real difference) about a year ago. I swap lenses round all the time and haven't had any trouble with dust on the ccd. (I haven't been to a desert of course).

I went with Nikon because of my existing lens collection, and find the D70(s) just fine. If you aren't tied into one system or another, the Canon 350 is well regarded. I haven't heard much about the D50.

[soundbeltfarm]

thanks for all the help everyone.
cheers

[Beemer]

Check out back copies of D-Photo at the library if you have one nearby - they have done reviews on all of them. I have heard good things about the D70 and the 350D but I didn't like the feel of either camera when I picked them up - but then I'm used to handling a Nikon F5. I ended up going for the Nikon D200 which is fantastic.

If you haven't been using a pro-style SLR film camera, either the D70 or the 350D would probably suit you quite nicely. I wanted something a bit stronger because mine does get a fair bit of use.

As for dust, I used digital years ago when I was a newspaper photographer and I never struck any problems. Just be careful when changing lenses, especially in dusty conditions. The real test for mine will be when I take it car rallying in dry conditions.

There is an online site that sells memory cards really cheaply too - haven't got it with me here at work but they had a 1G SanDisk Extreme III for $143 - I had just paid $299 for one locally!