1/27    Anyone have a recommendation for a decent digital SLR camera?
        A colleague told me about a decent Nikon (D2H) but the lenses
        seem to be pretty expensive.  I've also had a Canon (10D, 30D, 60D)
        but I saw an article a while back about blurry color quality
        around the edges of digital SLR pix, or is that dependent on
        the lens?  -John
        \_ Canon Digital Rebel...under $1k with lens.
           \_ seconded
        \_ The price of the lens should NEVER be part of the consideration
           for choosing a SLR of any kind.  Canon and Nikon and all other
           major camera makers make good products.  All their camera's
           capability is way beyond average user who can master it.  If you
           have Nikon lenses, then, choose a Nikon F-mount camera (which
           include Nikon, Fuji, and Kodak).  If you have Canon lenses, then,
           stick with Canon.  If you have neither, and got cash to burn,
           then, I would reluctant to suggest you get a Canon's digital rebel.
           If you are willing to wait a month or two, Nikon's D70 should be
           about the same price as Canon's Digital Rebel.
           The general rule of thumb is that if you are into photography,
           you will spend more money on lenses than camera body.  If you
           *REALY* into photography, you will spend even more money on
           lighting equipment than the lenses.  If you have more
           questions, email me  -- kngharv
           \_ well some pricing rules have changed with Digital.
              With film, yes, spend more on the lens.  But with digital,
              the lens bodies are pretty expensive.
              \_ digital Rebel is about 1000 USD.  I've bought lenses,
                 USED, on average, about $250 per lens.  Price of lenes
                 EASILY surpass price of camera.
                                   -owner of 7 lenses
                 \_ I'm talking about one lens vs. one camera body.
                    \_ Just get crayons.
                    \_ Then you're not into photography.  Most people into
                       photography have more lenses than bodies.   --- owner of
                       4 lenses, 1 2x converter, 2 bodies.
                       \_ I'm talking about the OP.  At first, you usually
                          start with one lens.  Later, you buy more.
                 \_ do you have a Nikon?  Canon?
                    \_ Nikon.  Mostly because I inheirted couple manual lenses
                       and a body from my father.  I have a Nikon FE
                       which my father bought at 1979, and a Nikkon N2020,
                       which is *MY* solution for auto-focused body without
                       spending $1000 on F100 which doesn't improve the
                       photographs directly.  N2020 was the first true
                       AF body from Nikon, discontinued in 1986 or something
                       like that.  Canon is much successful commercialy, but
                       I personally like Nikon because it's more rugged, and
                       that manual-focused lens can be mounted on Auto-focused
                       camera and vice versa.  I have bought manual 20mm f/4
                       and manual 500 f/4 reflex for REALLY cheap price
                       (AF equivalent would cost you price of an used Civic
                        for 500mm).   I want D2H because it can meter with
                        manual lenses, but I am not willing to spend $3500
                        for it just yet :p              -kngharv
           \_ Is the D70 based on the N70?  Does it have the same control
              layout?
              \_ don't know.  the only info i got is from Nikon's japanese
                 page and I don't read Japanese.
        \_ http://dpreview.com
        \_ Excellent advice, guys, appreciate it.  It turns out I may
           be able to get a good quality used D30 from someone I trust, which
           is probably preferable for getting into it.  -John
           \_ A D30 is ancient by today's standards. It's like buying an
              8086 computer when the pentiums are out, except the digital
              camera biz is going through their evolution much quicker.
              Better and cheaper days are already here.
                \_ "learn to walk before you can run".  It'd be a cheap
                   way to for me to learn the basics before I shell out $$
                   for something fancier.  And I assume any lenses I buy
                   will fit newer cameras.  -John
                   \_ Any digital camera is ok for making your own net.pr0n.
                      Remember people still have to download the stuff and
                      no one wants to wait or needs an image bigger than a
                      full single screen.
                      \_ A point well taken, but I am reminded of a photo-
                         journalist story of taking the perfect cover shot
                         for a magazine using a digital camera. By the time
                         they got thru readying the image, there has too
                         many artifacts (jaggies, etc.) for it to be used
                         for the cover, so they went with a regular film
                         image. Even with practice photography, you will
                         take some photo's near and dear to your heart, but
                         the possible detail you could have had will be lost.
                         Part of learning, is also using photoshop or whatever
                         to do cropping and other image enhancements, and you
                         *will* notice the lack of quality then.
                \_ be careful.  the new EF-S lenses will only fit
                   the digital rebel!
                \_ beware of the D30.  It may have some problems.
                   And you'll have to buy a lense as well.
                   The Digital Rebel is a much better deal.
                \_ John, I actually disagree with above.  Digital Rebel
                   has some serious user-interface issue as a pedagogic
                   tool to move user beyond point-n-shoot (that is why I
                   was RELUCTANT to recommend Digital Rebel at first place.)
                   If you are THINKING about moving beyond point&shoot,
                   an used D30 is a much better choice.  The lens you buy for
                   that camera would last a lot longer than the camera body,
                   and the lens tend to hold its value very well in case you
                   want to sell it in http://ebay.com / http://keh.com.  Having said that,
                   D30 is an older technology and CCD/CMOS photo sensors is
                   evolving very fast.  What you sacrafice is little things
                   such as much higher noise level at low-light, white fringes
                   on bright subject against dark background, and less flexible
                   auto white-balancing.  Check out sample photo at
                   http://dpreview.com and <DEAD>steves-digitcam.com<DEAD> and decide rather you
                   can tolerate that or not.    -kngharv
                                                 (7 lenses, 2 body, macro
                                                  rings, filters, etc)