Which camera should I buy ?

[RocketRod]

Budget

* I'm looking at spending between $1000-$2000 AUD

Size

* Most probably an SLR

Features

10 Mega Pixels

* Ultrazoom = 10x-12x
* Image quality is the most important....10

Manual controls are important as I do a lot of indoor shots and this is usually the only way I can get anything decent.

General Usage

* Apart from the usual holiday and family shots, I take lots of shots of my daughter at cheerleading competitions. Mostly indoor from 20+ metres.
* I would love to print large photos but my current camera a Fuji S602 fails with indoor shots.

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos? YES PLEASE

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? YES

Miscellaneous

No brands in particular.

No models.

The Fuji has a hotshoe but it doesn't control the flash exposure. This may be a requirement if low light shooting is difficult to achieve for my price bracket.
I also sometimes use the video mode, although I do have a digital VC. My biggest problem with digital cameras is with shutter latency. To get around this I usually take multiple frames and then choose the best. Again this may be because the Fuji is slow.

[raven15]

I came up with three (maybe five) setups that might work, though I don't know exact prices in Oz. They all assume your maximum budget of course.


My top three:
Canon 40D + 17-55mm IS lens + Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
-best high ISO performance of the lot, though there is no IS in the telephoto lens, use a tripod for certain.

Pentax K20D + 17-55mm lens + Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
-I don't know much about it, except it is a very good camera that may be in your price range. The lenses would be stabilized ! yay! Upgrade the kit lens to a Tamron 18-50mm f/2.8 lens if budget allows.

Olympus E-520 + 14-42mm lens + 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 lens
The 50-200mm lens has the same zoom range as a 70-200 with a swapable teleconverter, and is the best lens of the lot. Also the smallest and most portable of the lot. They would both be stabilized! Yay! Upgrade the kit lens to the 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 lens if budget allows.

Maybe:
Nikon D80 + 18-55mm IS lens + Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 lens (surprise)
Also very good, but the reason for "maybe" is that I think the 40D would get better high ISO performance.

Sony A700 + Tamron 18-50 f/2.8 lens + Sigma (you guessed it.)
All lenses would be stabilized! Yay! But it will not be in your price bracket, hence "maybe." But it can't hurt to look.

At least, these are what I'd be looking at if I was in your shoes.

[SpecialK]

K20D - $727, today at least
Sigma 18-50 f2.8 (older version from Cameta Camera) $279
Tamron 70-200 f 2.8 about $699.

Still have something left for a card, bag and rocket blower. Perhaps a monopod as well.

[RocketRod]

Thank You for the quick responses. I will do some research now.:)

[raven15]

Sigma, Tamron, whatever. I choose the slightly more expensive sigma telephoto deliberately because the better focusing would be useful.

[RocketRod]

I spent a few hours last night looking over your suggestions and you certainly gave me some good ones.
I think the 40D is the best as I really need that low light quality. Priced at about $1500AUD.
I managed to wander into the Nikon D300 which seems to be just a little better but the price now approaches $2k.
I've looked at a lot of the pictures on this (and other) sites and not many have taken photos of people in doors without flash. As i said in my first post, the main purpose for this is to take photos at my daughters cheerleading competitions. Generally they are indoor and we can't use flash.
Can anyone comment on which of the two (40D or D300) would perform best for this.

[Rooz]

d300 has better AF and slightly better iso performance...it does come at a cost though. given you have a limited budget it may make more sense to use that cash on a cheaper body and better glass.

[TheWengler]

My top three:
Canon 40D + 17-55mm IS lens + Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
-best high ISO performance of the lot, though there is no IS in the telephoto lens, use a tripod for certain.

Pentax K20D + 17-55mm lens + Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
-I don't know much about it, except it is a very good camera that may be in your price range. The lenses would be stabilized ! yay! Upgrade the kit lens to a Tamron 18-50mm f/2.8 lens if budget allows.

Just to be clear, the kit lenses for Canon and Pentax are 18-55. There is no 17-55 lens for Pentax and the 17-55 lens for Canon is a f/2.8. I think it goes for about 900 USD.

I like the Canon option the best. The Nikon D300 is the best cropped DSLR but it will eat up too much of your budget.

[RocketRod]

Can anyone please tell me what model Sigma lense this is for the d300 ?
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
Is it fixed 2.8 or that's it minimum ?
Also is it fully compatible with the d300 ie. are there "features" in the d300 that won't work ?