Help Buying : Sony Vs Canon Vs Nikon
398735
What about the Pentax K20D? You'd be well served to take a look at that one also.
1770760
Wow, thanks David!That was an incredibly informative post, and I'm sure others will benefit from it as well. Based on what you said, and pending reviews of course, I'm going for the M300. Low light performance is important, but the sony would have to take extremely better video in low light to be $120 better. The other sony features aren't all that important to me, though I am glad to see them finally move to sdhc. I have several of those on hand already.So it looks like the M300 for me unless it tanks in reviews, which I don't see happening.Thanks again David!
1026443
I too have wanted to buy a T2i for a while, ever since I noticed the announcement in February. Then, it was seemingly always out of stock at Amazon. Perhaps I haven't waited long enough, or maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Although I have bought 5 Canon cameras over the years, and I considered myself a Canon loyalist, I am beginning to wonder if maybe I should buy a Nikon as my first digital SLR.
220164
This is just my thoughts. If you have to buy Nikon, then get J1.If you want to get the best among all compact system cameras, then I would go with Sony Nex 5N or Pana G3 for the price range.If you can spend more than $1000, Sony Nex 7 or Fuji X100 is nice.If you want to save money but get better Image Quality than J1, I recommend Olympus E-PM1.I prefer Canon S100 over Nikon P7100
163823
Like you, I wanted a good camera for a fair price. I found a site that does side by side comparisons, you just bring up the ones you want from the list. I went for the Sony, for a couple of reasons: Long battery Life ( a friend of mine has one and he told me of that) and the other is the Zeiss lenses in it. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sidebyside.asp
1935412
Hello Kathy I love the sony camera. It is a great value for an intro camera. The ability to interchange the lens is great and will be where a lot of the money will go in terms of accessories. Sony also offers carl zeiss lenses which is amazing. And they are very affordable at $100-300 a piece Although sony does lack a lot of the lens options that nikon and canon offers, it is more than enough for a novice like myself. If you are looking to step up, this camera will not give you that ability. You will need to change camera body and maybe lenses. I am not too familiar with the nikon but from a cursory review online it doesnt seem people are very enamored with it. But i am biased since i love my camera. I have used a wide angle lens to take pictures of nature (flowers). With blurred background as well as pictures of my newborn daughter. Blowing them up to poster size (20" x 30") the resolution is more than enough to take great photos. And the body and lenses are small enough to be travel friendly. Hope that helps. Congrats on this (future) purchase and have fun. Wil
1274617
Thanks for the response. In the interim from posting and now I actually purchased a Canon as the gift, but I found a lot of solid information about photo formats and more at CNet.
365186
nikon makes D40 and D40x, if there is a camera 40d it would be a ladies brand known as canon! just go with the D40, but it only autofocuses with the latest AF-S lenses, and also the the older, professional, AF-I lenses. good luck
227599
I have been looking at these two as well and it seems pretty much a toss up. I have read some decent reviews touting both. It seems that the lack of an internal motor for AF is an issue with the Nikon, but it is 100 cheaper than the Canon.
166892
Thanks for the info on a potential new Canon with autofocus, DigitalHecht. I'll hold off as well to see what comes available. No rush, although I intend to purchase my first SLR in the next few months. The video autofocus is a must for me.
1786440
Thanks so much for the response. After much research, I know I want this camera. What a great deal, I'll order mine tonight!
298202
Canon, Nikon, Sony, Oly, Pentax all make good dSLRs. You just have to find the one that fits you. I think Oly probably leads the pack in features in the entry level market with the 510. Noise is not quite as good at higher ISO as Nikon (speaking of my D50) or the Canons I have seen but you only can judge if it is good enough for your use. I think the colors and metering are quite good in the Oly.
390692
Sam, We had a Sony for a few months then the kid lost it. We've had a Canon for two years, and during that time it went back to Canon twice for warranty service, for the same problem. When I wanted to upgrade, I bought a Sony DSC-N2. From the looks of things, it will even be almost as versatile as my 35mm Exakta SLR film camera. If you really want a slim camera, there are even slimmer Sony's than the DSC-N2, such as the DSC T10, that are comparable with the Canon for pixels.
589710
Nikon and Panasonic both make nice cameras in this range but for the price of the XQ1right now and the image quality I'd say get the XQ1. Especially if you'll be taking a lot of shots of people. The Fujifilm processor seems to be biased toward beautiful images of faces and skin tones.
490818
I am also looking at these two cameras. My needs are a good low light performance as well as action sport shots. I had purchased the Panasonic FZ8 but have returned it because the inside low light pictures were very noisy and grainy. It took great outside pictures and was responsibly fast. I'm currently wanting to try the Sony but don't like the idea of having to buy a memory stick for it, I have a few sd cards that the Canon takes.
858726
If you want a DSLR that you can initially use as if it were a point and shoot digicam, the A300 probably wins. It has the best live view implementation for that purpose. The built-in image stabilization is also a big plus. I'm not sure I'd say "Sony's lenses are cheaper" as a blanket statement, but you can definitely spend less and still benefit from the in-camera image stabilization rather than having to buy more expensive lenses with optical IS to get it. The D60 also lacks a focus drive motor, so you must either buy lenses with their own motors (AF-S, AF-I) or manual focus. As such, if it were me, I'd be somewhat inclined to skip the D60 and look at other Nikon models (including the D80 you mentioned) to compare to the Sony. I'd also take a look at Canon as well if you haven't already, at least for comparison, perhaps including some low-light shots with each. The A300 would make a very good first DSLR for a lot of folks, and it can also hold its own quite well against the competetion for more advanced users too, but much of the decision depends on personal preference, so it's never a bad idea to wander over to a local shop and get a feel for a few different models to see what you prefer.
326234
Thanks. My only thought about the Canon A590IS is that I probably will not want to get involved in anything other than a full-auto camera, and therefore would it make sense to even consider the Canon A590IS? For myself, the simpler the better, and that being the case, I would probably tend to use the camera more often, though the Canon is such a good deal. Also, should I really be that concerned about the lens issue I have been reading about?