Im lookin at the
Olympus E-volt 500
Panasonic
fuji film
and others....

Im seein some really good deal on 8.0 mp's.
I wanna take pics of scenery (city, Landscapes)
human models, animals, jewelry
I wanna shoot action shots as well.
Im seein that the Oly e500 doesnt do rapid fire shots. Do i need 8.0mp??? Someone toss me a frickin bone here on what type of Digi-Slr I should get...y'know...., a good all around camera (under $800). Keep in mind Im pretty Photshop savvy.
2nd question....
Is there any photoshop tricks to up megapixels on a pic?? I have theories but havent quite tried em out yet. been bussy doin other things.

Hi Alfonzo,
On the camera, my 1st choice would be Nikon D200, but that exceeds your limit. You could also look at a Nikon D70 and D100. If you want some excellent reviews, go to http://www.dpreview.com
As for increasing pixels, depends what you want to do with the output. More pixels is better if you plan to print very large prints. If you are doing 8 x 10 and lower, you would get more benefit out of shooting and editing in RAW (16 Bit) with 6 megapixels, than getting a larger array and saving in jpg mode.
You can upsize in Photoshop but upsizing just manufactures pixels by interpolation. You can also get some great plugins to upsize images with no noticeable loss. I use Genuine Fractals for very large upsizing.
Good luck with the camera choice.
Regards,
Murray

Hi Alfonzo
Just an opinion, I have a Nikon d50 with a 512meg hi speed card that meets
all of my needs. I am satisfied with the speed and handling although I don't shoot many in RAW (Nikon NEF) if my primary concern was RAW I would get a
1-gig card. The d50 should come in under your price line.
Good luck.....Tom :happy:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

Is another good review site, pictures of the cameras from every angle, a good written review and then a bunch of sample pics from every camera and all the sample pics are of the same things for each camera so it's easy to compare them.

T

For about 800.00 you can get a Canon 350 Rebel XT with a crappy 18-55 lens.
I suggest instead the Nikon D50 body (500.00) with the Nikon 18-70mm for arount 300 to 340 for a total of 800 - 840.00.
The Olympus E-500 can be had with 2 lenses for 800.00.

The Canon is 8 megapixels, and the Nikon Body is 6.1 megapixels. The Olympus is 8 megapixels.

However, I should point out, that more pixels does not equate to more resolution and thus better pictures. The 8 megapixel has no advantage over the 6.1 megapixel even upto 18 x 19 printing.

I should point out, that there are far more important issues, than pixel counts, namely:

The way the Camera processes the image you take, is far more important than the pixel count of a camera.
The pixel count and sensor size are only important upto a point only. The size of the pixel and the pitch are also significant.
The quality of the lens is far more important than all of the items combined. Buy the best lens you can afford, and buy the least body you can get away with. The lens is the one, that determines the color saturation, contrast and even whether you can even take the picture.
Finally individual light gathering sensors can be better on one camera than another.
The above factors determine the quality of the image produced.
Finally, you need to have quality, so that the camera and the lens will stand up for at least 5 years of usage, this obviously has nothing to do with the quality of the image produced.

I believe, the Nikon, has always had a reputation for better quality both in the bodies, and in their lenses. I believe, the NIkons have a 5 year warranty on their lenses, and the Canon's have a 1 year warranty. I would not recommend the Olympus.

In any case, you would not be disappointed with the picutres, no matter which camera you choose, provided you get the best lens.

Regarding the lenses, imo, you should use prime lenses with f/2.8 or faster. Primes are much better than the zooms in sharpness, and at the moment, they can be gotten for very low prices, which is totally unbelievable. For example, the 50 mm 1.8 is less than 100.00; the 20 mm f2.8 is about 300.00, and the 85.00 f1.8 is also about 300.00. This cover the wide angle, portrait and medium telephoto.
If you cannot afford all of them, just add them one at a time, and I can confident, your images will be much sharper, than the most expensive, latest zoom you can find which generally costs around 1400.00 but cannot give the quality of images as the primes. The only advantage of the zooms, is the lazy method, or composing images, which amateurs do ! With primes, you use your legs to do the zooming, which after a few attempts, you can compose the image in your head, and knowing the angle of view of the lens you
have, you can compose the image pretty easily, and if nothing else, the sharpness will be outstanding.
The only lens that can beat the Nikon Nikkor Primes, are the large format (4 x 5) Hasselblad's, and the 35mm Leica F1.4 Summilux and F2.0 Summicron Lenses.

Good luck in your search, and welcome to the digital world.

Chance

THANX GUYS!!! I am considering a nikon d50. Hear alot of great reviews about them in magazines comparing them w/ other models. plus I see an ad in a mag for a body w/ kit (whatever the hell is included w/ that)lol. As far as the f/2.8 prime lens, thats definately what Im trying to go for as far a color, sharpness and contrast, but that will have to wait. Ill just try to emulate those hi res camera feature effects in photoshop cs2 for now. Heheheheheheee!! Thanks alot though. PEACE!!!!

I always use this (http://www.imaging-resource.com/CAMDB/compare_cameras.php) for my camera buying advice.

My Next digicam will be the Olympus E500 (especially now the e550 is released). I never buy new cameras, always reconditioned/factory refurbished. The main reason for this is that they will work - they have been checked, tested, etc. etc., covered by a full factory warranty and are usually 20-50% cheaper. The other reason is no matter what you buy - in 2 weeks the camera you have will be superceeded, so youre not really losing that much...........

Just a word of advise, I too am looking into the D-SLR's and I settled on a nikon d50... just be sure you dont get scammed by some of those online companys selling imported junk (if you get it) I saw the D50's at bestbuy for 670 and some change with the stock lens, also www.abesofmaine.com has a good deal on the camera body, as well as www.bhphotovideo.com

Hope this helps

Nikon D50. It's in your price range and there are all those great Nikkor lenses.

I find that mine corrects my mistakes at times also. 8-) And I am only about a third of the way into all the settings that this camera is capable of.

Steve

Fascinating thread because I'm saving like crazy to get one of these cameras you're discussing, haven't settled on the ONE yet, but this helps. I'll keep watching. Chance, your explanations simplified some things for me, thanks.

just be sure you dont get scammed by some of those online companys selling imported junk (if you get it) I saw the D50's at bestbuy for 670 and some change with the stock lens, also


Arent all Nikons available in the USA imported? I assume they are all made in China. The only reason to avoid non-USA cameras in the US is

1: the Warranty

2: the movies wont work with your crap NTSC standard :tongue:

Its exactly the same reason we in the UK avoid US cameras like the plague :evil:

Dear Murray, I take your advice and get the Genuine Fractal software.

But I have Photoshop 7,0 only, Does it work on this?

Also, if it does... Where should I find it? Or put it, cauze I have tried every folders on Plugins and I can´t see it anywhere in Photoshop

Arent all Nikons available in the USA imported? I assume they are all made in China. The only reason to avoid non-USA cameras in the US is

1: the Warranty

2: the movies wont work with your crap NTSC standard :tongue:

Its exactly the same reason we in the UK avoid US cameras like the plague :evil:

Of course, Nikons lenses are made all over the place, including China, Japan and Thailand.

However, when we are talking about US Warranty, what that means is that there is a 5 year warranty covered by Nikon, USA, meaning you mail it locally.
If you buy an imported lens (much cheaper), than you cannot mail to Nikon, USA for warranty work. However, I am told, that BHPhoto, which sells both the USA Model with 5 year warranty, and the imported model with a 1 year warranty, honors the imported warranty in house (which is not Nikon factory). I do not see any point in buying an imported model for a saving of a few dollars.

Also you should exercise extreme caution when ordering from mail order, as many of them selling at very low prices are non usa models (both bodies and lenses). Make sure that you are getting a usa model, unless of course, you are foreign based.

Originally Posted by Photografit
"Aren't all Nikons available in the USA imported? I assume they are all made in China. The only reason to avoid non-USA cameras in the US is

1: the Warranty

2: the movies wont work with your crap NTSC standard

Its exactly the same reason we in the UK avoid US cameras like the plague ".

I doubt the D50 takes movies so a discussion of the PAL vs NTSC is kind of pointless. However, the point and shoot Nikon 5200 that I gave my wife does and I think it can be set for either standard. Remember that the NTSC is far older as standards go then PAL and also it is now being replaced in the US by HDTV which I doubt will give you the same carping ability.

I shoot D100's and will soon be selling both to move to the D200. I think I'd like to have a go at Canon but have way too much tied up in Nikon lenses and stuff.

As a senior Nikon fellow told me about a year ago, "one week Nikon is the best and the next, Canon is.". So I doubt you could screw up in your choice and having a camera makes it oh so much easier to take a picture. [wish I knew who said that first and the actual quote]

Actually - my point was that ALL cameras available in the US will be so called "imported junk".

It was the xenophobia of "imported junk" that provoked the smartarsed comment about NTSC :grin:

As far as chosing cameras is concerned, try to hire the cameras for a week (a good specialist shops should let you if they know you are buying.) It's the relationship between the photographer's eyes, brain and camera which is most important in getting a good shot.