Digital Cam's - Dreaming Vividly

[techie]

My gosh I just found the dream camera...
The only problem is I don't have around $40,000+ USD to spend on a DSLR...

Anyway, if you really want to have an "orgasmic" experience in the technical department, this has to be the "Sora Aoi" of digital cameras.

Hasselblad H3DII-50

http://hasselblad.se/promotions/50-to-60-campaign.aspx

Now also upgradable to shoot full RAW 60 Megapixels
Picture included below...

(not sure I like the idea they have Kodak sensors on it though but could be better since I last saw a Kodak camera. I doubt Hasselblad would risk their name on half measures)
---
So for the regular stuff...

I have been eying a Sony Alpha 200 series for a while, just to have something with decent resolution to shoot hobby stuff with.
I doubt I'll go for the later 3xx series as they will range from £450 and up.

The Alpha 2xx series are obtainable for about £250 with a std. 18-70 lens and you can add another £75 and get a lens of 100-300 on top of this.
Decent size LCD of 2.7" too. Not crummy for a 10.2 Mpxl set

I looked at Canon as well but for the same resolutions you seem to get less value for it, and I also heard Minolta, when facing financial problems for bailing out Kyocera, sold it's lens dept. to Sony, I started liking Sony for some reason.

Could be I always used to work with Minolta cameras before it all went digital.
(Always regretted selling my 7000 Dynax-I)

Otherwise I've ony worked with Sony DCR-VX cams like the DCR-VX1500 before it got outdated by 2100 E. Great for video work, but a little bit slow on pan shots, but that didn't matter as we mostly did stills from DV tapes.

So, does anyone else have a good suggestion for DSLR's to consider, pricing, place to buy them. Is it possible to get certain models cheaper in some other country, or will they lock you out in favor of their local retailers in your own country/region?

Any hints and tips are welcome.

 

[porkar]

Damn it Hasselblad, drool.

In Australia some products are not always supplied due to our small population and market base.

 

[guy]

Yes Hasselblads are an absolute dream. Keep in mind though that when it comes to digital medium format, the digital back, camera body, and lens are all separate parts that you need to purchase. Hasselblad may kit them in their promos, which means you could purchase the digital back separately from the body/lens, but that only means the cost is going to go up.

But in reality, you'll also need to shell out for an equivalent studio set up (lighting, panels, various calibration tools, etc); otherwise you're paying for a 60Mp camera when you're still taking photos of mediocre scenes.

I'm personally partial to Canon. Their L series lenses aren't quite as legendary as Nikkor lenses, but Canon has had the best digital sensors hands down for quite a while. But there are two caveats: 1) as soon as you drop down to the mid-range (and below) DSLRs, the sensors just aren't that special; and 2) a lot of other DSLR manu's have caught up and are comparable in quality to Canon's sensors in the mid-to-high-end range, and often for a better value.

But you will still have to consider which lens system you buy into, and as a reminder, if you choose a 35mm format, any non-35mm-size sensor will crop your image. In particular, only the Canon 1Ds and 5D cameras have full-frame sensors; the rest have sensors that only cover 75% (1.3x) or 63% (1.6x) of the full 35mm frame, meaning a wide-angle 28mm shot will be "framed" (cropped) to an equivalent of 36mm or 45mm. So you'd have to buy a ultra-wide ($$$) angle lens capable of 21mm or 18mm just to be able to frame 28mm shots.

There are of course other formats, like Canon's EF-S format or the new 4/3 format, which have lenses custom-designed for the sensor size. But then your lens and body selection are strictly limited as well, and Canon DSLRs that are compatible with EF-S have uninspiring sensors. But as long as you're not looking for ultimate quality, the 4/3 and EF-S systems are actually still quite good, with a notably better price tag. EF-S does have one strong merit: the DSLRs still work with Canon's full range of 35mm lenses, meaning you can gradually upgrade your lenses, and will then be prepared if you decide one day to jump to a full-frame DSLR.

More to the point, if you're starting from scratch, you really should get to a store that will let you test out some display models. I recently went to one and tried out some of the latest models, and despite being a Canon fan, I was sorely disappointed with their latest midrange offerings. I was delightfully surprised with the Nikon D900, but then that's in a different class anyway. I tried some of the Sony α (alpha) units, but to me they felt cheap to the touch when compared to Canon and Nikon tanks.



Regardless of what you choose, I would recommend reviewing what exactly your needs are. I've worked with a Canon 1D before, and while its 8fps burst mode was amazing for capturing fast-motion scenes, I eventually found it extremely cumbersome to carry around considering that I actually seldom needed continuous shooting. A 5D is a much better fit in that regard. And yet I personally still found juggling multiple lenses to be a hassle for my day-to-day shooting. And pocket digicams simply don't give me nearly enough control of the lens and image settings.

I'm now sitting on a prosumer Leica D-LUX 3, and it has been an absolute joy to use, giving me both broad control of my imaging settings and a top quality lens (in its class). The only thing I could ask for is more manual control of the lens itself, since the D-LUX 3 uses a fixed, electronically-driven lens. Which means my next camera will be:

Leica M8.2

 

[techie]

Quite informative Guy... thank you.

I was more thinking of getting something that will be good enough to shoot some pictures for my web work for now. When it grows I may invest in something bigger and for sure the alpha may fall off as you say.

I was looking at Canon as well, but for the prices when you start adding on lenses and stuff, I think you're better off with other stuff.

On the "low end" DSLR I've even heard from users of Olympus 5-7 mpxl users they beat a Kodak 10 Mpxl.
I've personally shot better photos with a 5.2 Mpxl handy little pocket camera than some things I've seen from both Alpha and Kodak but I think it depends on the "entity behind the camera" more than the camera itself.

You're absolutely right on the "other equipment" too.
Light is probably the one thing I look the most at, whereas all other things can be improvised for my needs. Backdrops and more are collected when I need them depending on the event at hand more or less.

Since most things started going digital it changed the playing field on the sensors and gadgets scene a bit. It's just as easy to snap some shots without measuring, and immediately see and delete failed results, as it would be to run back and forth and measure light indexes and other factors.

As I said before, when shooting for simple development and the web, it's unlikely you'll need 110% foolproof measures, as in the end, the human eye isn't capable of picking up on all of it after editing.

On Canon, I got an offer a long time back to get a relatively cheap Canon 10DS I believe it was. I found it to be a bit of an overkill for my use unfortunately and didn't go for it.

 

[guy]

If you don't need interchangable lenses, prosumer is an option worth considering. Something like the Canon Powershot G10, because it has the same DiGiC-4 image processor (which is what makes images produced from Canon cameras so clean/crisp) as found in the top-end Canons like the 1Ds and 5D -- although of course the sensor is different. It's true you could get a full DSLR setup for the same price as a G10 (or maybe even a little cheaper), but the G10 is built like a tank, whereas entry-level DSLRs feel like toys (at least to me).

Here's DPReview's take on the G10:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonG10/page24.asp

Link points to conclusions page, be sure to check the sample page and also the rest of the review for more details and comparisons. Oh, and dpreview in general is a great site for in-depth camera reviews for (almost) any other camera you might be considering.