Best digital SLR

[Ralph]

I'm thinking of getting a Pentax *ist DL2 Digital SLR with an 18-55mm lens for £349.99. Has anyone had any experience with this camera and if so would they recommend it? Also, would a T2 mount and a mirror lens fit on a digital autofocus camera? Sorry, not very bushcrafty at all, but I din't know anywhere else to ask and some people seem to have knowledge of virtually anything on here.

 

[ArkAngel]

Well right again as i work in a sort of photo type shop and sell people printers and cameras on a daily basis.

I don't have any experience of the model itself, but i do know we as a store stopped selling the smaller pentax range of cameras because the quality of picture the camera took was poor and build quality questionable.

Again i'm afraid not sure about the lens mount but if the 500mm lens you are talking about came off a film SLR camera then the focal length would change to 650mm. Using non dedicated lenses designed for film cameras on digital bodies increases the focal length by a factor of 1.5.

Unless you are set on the Pentax i would have a look around for a second hand Canon EOS 300 or similar. The build and picture quality is excellent plus the massive range of Canon accessories. The digital market has followed in the footsteps of the film market with Nikon and Canon producing the best equipment by far.

I sold my Canon EOS1 film camera last year after many years of faithful service and bought a Nikon coolpix 8800 digital. Not an SLR as i got fed up of curvature of the spine when i carried my olf film equipment everywhere . I can recommend either of those brands.

Hope that helps

 

[RovingArcher]

I'm thinking of getting a Pentax *ist DL2 Digital SLR with an 18-55mm lens for £349.99. Has anyone had any experience with this camera and if so would they recommend it? Also, would a T2 mount and a mirror lens fit on a digital autofocus camera? Sorry, not very bushcrafty at all, but I din't know anywhere else to ask and some people seem to have knowledge of virtually anything on here.

You might have a look at this review site. They just did a review on the new Sony D-SLR that caught my attention.

http://dpreview.com/

 

[Rebel]

www.dpreview.com is definitely the place to check out before making a decision.

Personally I'd avoid the Pentax. The Sony is a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment but my initial reaction from what I've seen and read is that they haven't quite got it right yet.

My recommendations in the lower price range are first the Nikon D50 or D70s then the Canon EOS 350D.

After that the Fuji S3 Pro which can be got at a bargain price right now; it uses Nikon lenses.

Remember you are buying into an entire system so you need to think about what each manufacturer (or third party vendor) offers in the way of lenses, after sales service, accessories, etc, etc. You might not want to buy those things now but you will eventually.

Your title said the "Best Digital SLR" in which case you're looking at the Nikon D2Xs or the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II.

 

[tomtom]

take a look at this thread by squidders its got some good info..

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=11357

 

[Rebel]

About the T2 mount. If it fits a Pentax KAF2, KAF or KA mount then it should work but with some restrictions. You'll probably lose your metering or something like that and the auto focus of course. I don't know enough about the system to say for sure what the limitations are but if its just the metering you can bracket for the correct exposure.

 

[Mikey P]

Hi,

Here's my two penny worth: I have recently 'upgraded' from a Nikon F80 (35mm) to the Nikon D50. I have found it to be an outstanding piece of kit and - best of all - I could keep all of my old lenses.

The quality is excellent, the camera is robustly built, but it is not heavy and it is not large (compared to other digital SLRs).

You know that with Nikon, you are getting a well-supported, great quality camera. I think the price is very good (approx 330 quid, body only) and it is well supported by third-party manufacturers if you don't want to spend the extra money for Nikon add-ons.

I have been very pleased with this camera but I can't really compare it to the Canon ES 300D as I've always been a Nikon man. I guess it's a bit like Leatherman/Gerber tools - you tend to stick with the one you start off with.

Have a look at both of them in the shops: I have heard that the Canon has a slightly bigger sensor but the Nikon has more features and handles better.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ralph]

The quality of the image on the pentax seems to be the same (6.1 megapixels) as the Nikon D50. About the build quality, what do you mean by 'questionable'?
Is it very fragile or bombproof until I drop it out of a tree (which I did with my film SLR, a centon) , so to speak.

 

[mikehill]

Be careful, megapixels doesn't directly equate to picture quality no matter what the advertising blurb says Spend a few hours on the review websites and buy either a Canon or Nikon. You won't go wrong either way
Mike.

 

[ArkAngel]

The megapixel rating is only one small part of the end result of a good camera.

To be truthfull only Nikon or Canon have got the 'breeding' and technical know-how to produce good cameras. All other brands IMO have at least one major flaw in their package.

I tried loads of cameras before i settled on my Nikon and i already knew roughly what i was looking for having done a HND (Higher National Diploma) in photography at college in my youth!

Most other brands have not had the opportunity to iron out some major defects in their packages. Build quality is one major problem, buttons and dials feel slack and flimsy, buttons are in places that mean they are accidentally activated or can be caught and broken off. Lens design is totally different to film cameras and only the "big 2" have yet acheived good quality lenses.

Pentax was a good brand and many of my fellow students had their film SLR's when i was at college, but this was after 30 years of development and catchup from when SLR's started to become popular in the late 60's and 70's. By then Nikon and Canon were still the established benchmark cameras.

With regards to 'bombproof' no modern SLR digital or film is that. The older manual SLR's were very rugged (indeed there is a Nikon FM2 in the museam of film and tv in bradford that stopped a 7.62mm bullet in Vietnam!!! ) but no modern camera would benifit from being dropped.

To get excellent results, fantastic range of accessories (original and third party) a reliable dependable camera there is really only 2 choices Nikon or Canon. I have owned both over the years film and digital and the only thing that should influence your choice of either is the range of features, price you can afford and which 'feels' best in your hands.

PS just to confuse matters some cameras megapixel rating is "interpolated" (do a google on that it would take too long to explain and there are better people than me who can do it) so 6.1 megapixels could in reality mean 4 megapixels. Nikon and Canon are "true" megapixel rated.

Sorry to confuse you further

 

[outdoorgirl]

Another good review source is http://www.imagingresource.com - I've used them several times in the past and although it's a Yank site so any prices quoted are US dollars, the info and experience is great. I'm using a Sony DSC F808 these days, although not getting much time in with them just now...

ODG

 

[Rebel]

The megapixel count is a poor indicator of quality at the DSLR level.

There are other factors that go into making a quality image like noise, colour, etc.

The other quality to consider is build quality, including ergonomics, ease of use etc.

I must admit that £349.99 with an 18-55mm lens is cheap and at that price it could be a great introduction to digital SLR photography. I think that that is Jessops price at the moment.

I haven't had experience with Pentax cameras for a long long time but at one time in the film days there were quite a few pros using them. It's probably a decent enough camera but look at the entire Pentax SLR system and see if there are the lenses and accessories available that you might want to purchase in the future. Also check to see if they are readily available from various retailers in the country.

I've been a photographer now for around 30 years and I personally would only buy Nikon or Canon in the DSLR format. I use Nikon from personal preference, it's one of the few brands that I have been loyal to and that's for a reason.

 

[SEREO]

Just my 10 Peneth worth like al ot of the others above ive been shooting photography for over 10 years now. Like many they have there loyal brands mine is cannon. Ive just recently bit the bullet and gone digital away from wet film. Most of my photography has been sports photography around the sport of skydiving. Ive stuck with cannon because its the one ive stayed loyal to. Like many Nik lovers too. The Eos 350D is a decent entry level digital SLR but beware the body can be a little small in big hands. If you got small hands all the better. cannon and Nik have a pletheter of suppliers who'm supply lenses all trying to beat each other on price so shop around. DPreview again i can endorse as avery good site.

 

[Marts]

I use a Nikon D2X and D100 and would recommend both of them if that's any help

 

[AJB]

I’ve not got much to add apart from that I’m always amazed how many pro or ex pro Photographers there are on this site. I’m sadly an ex (as the kind of stuff I did doesn’t happen in this country anymore) but I wonder if there is some sort of correlation between our common interest and photography (kit fetish?) or is it just happenstance!

 

[Beech Nut]

I Agree that DPreview is the place to look.
I use a Nikon D200 and realy cant fault it.
Build quality is fantastic and the pictures it produces are amazing, even compared to the d100 I had before.

Mind you its a fair bit more expensive than the Pentax.

Jon