dslr - which kit is best

[automodejim]

im looking to make the leap to dslr. tired of waiting for camera to take picture
use- mostly indoor, vary active 15 month son with a daughter less than 3 months away
after reading reviews and searching forums - i have narrowed it to 3
olympus e500 nikon d50 and konica minolta maxxuum 5d

e500 - i think 4/3 shots crop better to potrait without having to turn camera but not sure if high iso noise may be problem for indoor shots

maxuum 5d - image stabalization a real plus - worry about support

d50 - only 6 mp compared to other two

i usually set the camera to auto - try to fix pictures after
money tight so kits look like best way to go for now .. better lenses r way down the road

canon xt and pentax ist feels to small - have larger hands

i have not been able to locate maxuum in area to try feel yet

any help in choosing greatly appreciated

[jeisner]

e500 - i think 4/3 shots crop better to potrait without having to turn camera but not sure if high iso noise may be problem for indoor shots

If you want to do indoor high ISO without flash (so 1600+) then I share your concern.. If you are going to use a flash then don't worry about it... If you are not going to use a flash and just the kit lens (which isn't so bright) then good ISO 800 and 1600, will be an issue for you I imagine..

maxuum 5d - image stabalization a real plus - worry about support

Yes AS will help, I think Sony will support the mount as time goes on. So as long as you have no problem with Sony ;-) I think it should be safe enough.. Sony also owns a decent share of Tamron, so at the very least I would expect to see continued rebadging of Tamron lenses (which IME are pretty decent lenses, better QC thn Sigma)..

d50 - only 6 mp compared to other two

I don't think 6mp is an issue at all...

i usually set the camera to auto - try to fix pictures

you might want to try shooting RAW then

canon xt and pentax ist feels to small - have larger hands

valid points, I have large hands too, so I bought the battery grip for my Pentax ist D, makes a big difference, but that is just added cost and you said you didn't want that ;-)

any help in choosing greatly appreciated

The choice is yours, you don't need our help ;-) They will all take great photos, I suggest you go try them all out and see which one feels best for you... Based on your description of your needs, I doubt any of them will be missing features you really need...

[Norm in Fujino]

im looking to make the leap to dslr. tired of waiting for camera to take picture
use- mostly indoor, vary active 15 month son with a daughter less than 3 months away
after reading reviews and searching forums - i have narrowed it to 3
olympus e500 nikon d50 and konica minolta maxxuum 5d

e500 - i think 4/3 shots crop better to potrait without having to turn camera but not sure if high iso noise may be problem for indoor shots

I'm not trying to convince you one way or the other, but how big you figuring on printing? At ordinary printing sizes (<8x10), the high ISO noise problem is virtually non-existent, particularly with the E-500--and potentially even more with the new E-330.
To each his/her own, but I find the noise issue obviated with a bit of Neatimage or Noise Ninja.
Even on the now-ancient E-300 (a whole 15 months since first going on market!) the high-ISO problems are far less than what they've often been made out to be.
Here's a couple of my "example" pictures--and yes, noise is reduced automatically by reducing the size of photos for the net, but it's really not consequential here; the same effect is gained if you print out at these sizes.


(E-300 + ED50mm f2 (f2 @ 1/50s), ISO 800, white balance preset 3000; shot in RAW, dev with Silkypix + native NR)


(E-300 + ED50-200 (200mm), 1/40s @ f4.0, ISO1600 (handheld, so a bit of camera shake at this speed!)


(E-300 + ED50-200 (96mm), 1/60s @f2.9, ISO1600)
(This whole series, shot in a dark cafe-restaurant, is available at BISON KATAYAMA.


(E-300 + ED50mm, ISO 1600)

[timmciglobal]

Why buy a dSLR then if money short and going with kit lens? Can get better glass in a P&S.

Tim

[cdifoto]

I suggest going with whatever body you want and skipping the kit lens. Buy a 35mm or 50mm prime or something similiar instead. It'll be faster and you'll do better indoors without flash. Just make sure whatever camera system you buy into has the prime available first. Don't buy, for example, the Konica Minolta if there isn't a prime available!

(I shoot Canon so I'm only familiar with their lenses. But I do know Nikon also has primes. Just have no idea about the others.)

[coldrain]

KM has some "prime" lenses, a 20mm, 24mm, 2 50mm, a 85mm, a 200mm, 400mm and some others. Not as big a selection, but some good lenses among them. The newer DT zoom lenses (11-18mm and 18-200mm) seem to be Tamron clones.

The Pentax line-up has quite a few new primes of good quality, some better than others. Again not a huge a selection, but more than KM and Olympus, some are really worthwhile.

It is Olympus that has a very limitted selection of "primes", a 35mm f3.5(!) macro, a 50mm f2 macro, 8mm fish eye, 150mm and 300mm. They do have a good zoom lens range. Some hope that because of the partnership with Panasonic, Leica would start to offer primes for Olympus 4/3's, but to me that seems a rather odd pairing considering their current camera line up.

[cdifoto]

Thanks for clearing that up, coldrain. I knew there was at least one that suffered in the prime lineup but I didn't know which one(s).


Truth be told, since I'm fairly heavily invested in Canon, I tend to pretty much ignore the others. It's probably not wise but that's just the way I am at the moment. heh.

[coldrain]

Well, there is not much wrong with Canon's lens and camera lineup, so why would you look at others.

[cdifoto]

Well, there is not much wrong with Canon's lens and camera lineup, so why would you look at others.

Well that's kind of my point. Already into Canon, pretty heavily (at least for MY wallet lol), so no real reason to look at others. Even if I did, the only one I would consider worthwhile would be Nikon....but even they don't have anything super appealing to me. Cheaper entry level bodies, but I already have 2 entry levels and I only want to move up at this point, not sideways. heh.