Ask The Photographer

QUESTION: Hey, I'm in the market for a digital SLR camera...i am totally ignorant and know nothing, but have been looking at a nikon D40 and a Canon Digital Rebel XT 8.0MP ..any thoughts? Or is there another type you would suggest?

ANSWER: It is good to see a growing number of photo enthusiasts! And with quality D-SLR cameras descending to the consumer's price range, this is a really good time to upgrade from a digital point-and-shoot.

As far as which company to go with, you can't go wrong with Canon or Nikon. They both consistently produce quality digital SLRs. Each company offers a wide variety of lenses and accessories so that you have a lot of room to grow. And, perhaps most importantly, each company has financial motivation to stay at the top of the digital photography world, so you don't have to worry about either company discontinuing its products any time soon.

(Note: Sony and Konica Minolta have merged, and it is likely to compete with Canon and Nikon. But going with Sony/Minolta would be a little risky for a serious enthusiast.)

I'll focus on Canon D-SLRs, because I have had a lot more experience with Canon. Nikon also has some solid candidates.

The Rebel XT series is great. They have most of the same features as the 20D/30D/40D series, and they can be had at less than half the price. The 20D has three potentially substantial advantages over the XT: (1) the controls are a little easier to use (2) the body is a little more solid and (3) the grip is larger. The shortcomings would bother a professional who is taking 2000 pictures in one day, but for an enthusiast who tops off at 300 or 400 over the course of a day, an XT will be great. If your hands are small-medium, it's the way to go. You're much better off using the $500+ that you save to buy a high quality lens. Lenses affect image quality more than the camera. I'll go into Canon lenses in a later post, but generally you get what you pay for. The 18-55mm lens that Canon often packages with its D-SLRs is a fine one to start with. It does have limitations, so my advice would be to see which limitation bothers you the most and then buy a lens to address that.

As far as megapixels are concerned, 8 megapixels is plenty. If you plan to make a lot of 16+ inch prints, it may make sense to buy a camera with more megapixels. More megapixels will not improve the image quality of any typical-sized print. In fact, the extra megapixels can have a negative effect in certain situations.

Most importantly, when you do have your D-SLR, get out there, experiment, and have fun!