Hi,
I have spent the last several weeks browsing through reviews and pondering over which digital camera to buy. I am a very quality conscious person, and want the best even if at a cost.
I am a novice, with experience of only casual photography with ordinary autofocus film cameras. However, I am interesting in getting into some serious part-time amateur photography.
Since I would like to be in maximum control of what I shoot, I am not interested in ordinary point-and-shoot digicams, but prefer one with lots of manual controls.
While I would like to view most of the pictures I take, on a computer, I might also take prints (7" X 5") of say about 20 % of them, and would like take large prints of some of them once a while.
I am thus looking at atleast a 5 mega pixel camera. I am also not interested in compact cameras, as they tend to look like toys. I pefer the SLR look and size.
As such, I am in a dilemma whether to go for one of the higher end 8 MP fixed-lens digi-cameras or for either of the entry level digital SLRs (Nikon D70 or Canon Digital Rebel).
The D-SLRs are tempting, but bear in mind that they are both larger in size (less convenient for travel photography) and more sophisticated, requiring more learning.
The middle-ground for you might be a top-notch 5MP camera like the Olympus 5060 Wide Zoom. With a price roughly half (or less) than a D-SLR, you have a great camera with lots of manual controls and available accessories.
Since dSLR's have the same Auto mode (and the D70 has preprogrammed scene modes as well) a dSLR is no more difficult to use than a point-n-shoot. I use my D70 in auto when I just want some quick shots, and they turn out great. AND they are no harder to tote around than the 8MP Super zooms on the market.
Don't go for it, run for it! the most expensive 8MP high end, as you call them, will loose to a dSLR in the major and most important ways.
There is a learning curve, and yes, a steep one from P&S if you want to shoot full manual with a dSLR, or get into the quirks and details. However, the D70, what I have also, offers a fine auto mode, and other present modes. What's different that you'll feel right away? Focus speed, shutter lag, write times! Focus speed is instant, shutter lag doesn't exist, and there's a large-ish buffer, which will let you shoot continously for quite a while provided you have a fast or in the middle card.
Also, as your needs and interests grow, so can your camera. Add on accesories abound, and many, many lenses. Also, if you get the D70, naturally, you buy lenses that use the Nikon F mount. Say, four years after, your dog eats your D70 and it's gone - the lenses will last a very very long time, and will work with any other Nikon dSLR that you buy.
If you are serious about persuing your photography interests I don't think you will regret picking up a DSLR like the D70 (mentioned) or a Digital Rebel. That said, there is a learning curve going from fully auto to fully manual so it is likely you won't be able to take full advantage of the advanced controls at the beginning, though with something entry-level professional like the D70 it shouldn't matter. It is a rewarding interest.
Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I should then be going for the D70. One concern I have, is regarding the problem of dust on the sensor of dSLR's. I understand dSLR's are prone to dust settling on the sensors. While I don't plan to change lenses quite often, I am still concerned, since I have no experience with changing lenses or cleaning sensors.
Changing lenses is no hassle. To quote someone from another forum, in regards to dust:
Quote:
There are so many scare stories about the sensor getting dust and dirt on it that like many others I've been reluctant to change lenses often in "hostile" environments. Specifically, I mean windy and dusty environments.
Thursday I took the D70 out into the Mt. St. Helens National Monument on a windy day, but it wasn't so windy that it was kicking up a lot of dust like it does sometimes. I took three lenses with me:
12-24mm DX Nikkor
18-70mm kit lens
Sigma 70-300 APO SMII
This scenery is so rich, with opportunities from macro to infinity, from extreme wide angle to telephoto, that I could not resist changing lenses almost with impunity, even in a stiff wind you could not get away from. I just hoped for the best and turned the camera opening down and away from the wind.
The air seemed clean and clear. It didn't seem as if there was dust in the air. Yet, by the time I got back to the car nine hours later, everything was coated in dust, and I had fears for the worst.
Yet, after processing the 172 images I took, not a single piece of dust seemed to have got onto the sensor from this trip. I wouldn't think of opening the camera like this in the kind of dust storms that can kick up on the volcanoes of the Northwest, but if the air seems clear, even if it isn't as witness to the dust that got all over everything, it is probably clean enough to risk fast, reasonably protected lens switches as I did all day long Thursday.
If something does get on, you can get one of these, and probably blow it away:
And at some point, you'll have to clean the CCD, believe me, it's not that hard. You can buy premade stick-wipe-things, just swipe softly, and you're done. Tons of links anout CCD cleaning. In fact, the first time, you'll probably swipe so softly that you'll need to do it once again
Before I got my D70, I never cleaned a CCD before. My Pentax was covered in dust on the inside and I liked it like that; it produced old looking photographs
It varies from camera to camera, person to person, but it's really not that much of a big deal.
You'll need to buy something like this: sensor swabs although you can get them cheaper, these seem a bit expensive. You can also get a small changing bag if you're worried about dust getting in while you change lenses.
Changing lenses is no problem, you push a button, twist, and pull to take one off, and line up the red dots on lens and body, insert, and twist to put one on. I've heard that cleaning sensors is a bother (I don't own a DSLR), if you don't want to deal with it you may want to spring for the Oly E1 as it does this automatically and has many other high-tech features that no film/digital hybrid system can match.
dSLR : To buy or not to buy
the most expensive 8MP high end, as you call them, will loose to a dSLR in the major and most important ways. 
Linear Mode
