Looking to buy a DSLR?

[dutchess85]

I am wanting to get a DSLR camera but not sure which one to get. I am currently using a Nikon Cool Pix L3 (first digital camera) and wanting something new and more professional.

Any recommendations?

[Almond.Butterscotch]

what's your budget and how serious are you?

[yrot.tory]

how high is your budget?

if it's not that high, then you could try the D90, D3000, D5000 or D40... they're not the most expensive SLR cameras for Nikon, they are more of like for beginners, with budgets not high and still learning... then you could move on

[bono]

Yes - tell us the budget and what pictures you want to take. This makes it more easy to recommend something.

[dutchess85]

My budget is about $800 or less. I like to take all kinds of photos. Mostly of plants and nature but I want to start taking portraits. I am very serious about this.

[inkista]

Ok, just a couple of points to make before the specific camera recommendations start pouring in.

1) When you move from a P&S to a dSLR, you are going to be moving from a camera to a camera system. Buying the camera alone is just the start of the purchase stream. A P&S camera is like a swiss army knife. A dSLR is like a big red tool box--you have to buy the tools to put in the box to make it useful, it's a lot bigger, heavier, and much more expensive. Be sure you're aware of what it really means to "upgrade". This is not a 1:1 tradeup kind of deal. Most people will eventually spend two to three times the amount they did on the camera body on lenses and other additional equipment (flash, tripod, filters, bags) before they're sufficiently equipped. And then upgrade bodies....

In short: this is going to be a lot more expensive than perhaps you are prepared for. In $US, if you're buying your lenses new a "cheap" lens is one that's $300 or less. A moderately expensive lens is one that's $300-$600. And "expensive" tends to start around $1000. And most people have at least three to four lenses.

2) When you get your shiny new dSLR and 18-55 kit lens, chances are good you will be disappointed that your photos aren't instantly better. This is normal, and there are several reasons for it. The first is that your 18-55 kit lens, while good, can't do nearly the effective focal length range a superzoom lens on a P&S camera can, won't do macro close-focusing, and is relatively slow. You're actually going to lose some capability--that you're going to have to spend $$$ to get back with additional lenses.

Secondly, you should learn to post-process for yourself. This generally requires investing in software and learning time. While P&S cameras cook files to what the camera manufacturers feel is customer taste, generally adding sharpening and color saturation, dSLRS assume you would rather cook each individual image to taste, rather than jam everything through a one-size-fits-all mill. While you CAN still let the camera do what your P&S did (JPEG processing, bumping the colors and sharpness), your dSLR won't be set by default to do that. So the upshot is that initially photos are going to look a little greyer and fuzzier than you're used to. Again, you'll be wondering why you spent all that money.

There's a learning curve. This also ties in with:

3) You can shoot yourself in the foot with a dSLR a lot more easily.

The nanny guard rails are off. You want to misfocus? You can misfocus. You want to underexpose or overexpose? You can do that, too. Believe it or not, there are times you're actually going to want to. But again, you're going to have to invest some time in learning photography. You're going to need to know iso, aperture, and shutter speed like never before.

You move to a dSLR to get more control of your image-making, and you will get that in spades. But that also means the camera's going to do exactly what you tell it to do, which may not be what you want it to do.

4) You need to learn about lenses before you buy the camera.

Do not put this step off until after you've bought your camera. Once you buy the camera, you're locked into its mount system. While an Olympus, Pentax, or Sony body may lure you with its in-body stabilization, or cheaper body price tag, you can also mostly kiss goodbye to shooting with <$1000 fast telephoto lenses. Learn about the focus motor issue on entry-level Nikons. And the Minolta-proprietary hotshoe on the Sony Alphas. And seriously consider where you might be ten years from now as a shooter.

ALL the entry level dSLRs are good cameras and worthy purchases. Everybody has the basic lenses for landscape and portrait shooting covered. Where the biggest differences are going to show up is in the exotic lenses (or lack of them). Be sure you won't need them, or that Sigma/Tokina/Tamron will cover you before grabbing a brand that doesn't offer them.

[dutchess85]

Thank you for the input and information inkista. I do plan on getting all kinds of lenses and such for my camera. This is a hobby of mine and I plan on getting things slowly (a little at a time). I am all for learning about the different types of lenses and such before making a purchase. It will be at least 6 months or more before I actually get my new camera.