Need advice on digital slr camera

[MattKellett]

I'm thinking of going digital and replacing my old film slr. My film camera is a minolta maxxum (can't remember the number). Could anyone recommend a digital camera for me, or let me know the experiences, positive or negative, that you've had with your digital slr. I have a budget of up to about $1500. I will be usung this camera mainly for motorsport photography, mostly at Laguna Seca. So I would need a couple of lens also. I will more than likely purchase online as that's where the best deals seem to be.

Any ideas received with thanks.

Matt

[nostatic]

The conventional wisdom is that for sport Canon lenses are first choice. For dSLR, imho it is between Nikon and Canon. For your budget, I'd go with a Canon EOS 350D or 20D. 20D is "better" but you can afford more lense with the 350D and likely still get what you want.

And no, I'm not a Canon snob...I actually have a Nikon D70. I like my Nikon, especially shooting raw. But I prefer macro photography, and I think that Nikon is stronger there. If I were shooting sports and buying out of the gate, I'd go Canon.

[Steve Carlton]

Try sniffing around at http://www.dpreview.com/

If you have Minolta lenses that would be useable on a Konica Minolta camera, that could help a lot.

Nikon D70. It's a much better camera than I am photographer.

[MattKellett]

Many thanks for the suggestions. I had thought about the Canon and Nikon, and saw the Nikon in Circuit City one evening while the Nikon rep was there. That's what prompted me to think about a digital SLR. I will look into the Canon more, as I will be using mainly for action. I had heard that Minolta were no longer making cameras, so thought that buying one of the last cameras made might not be a good idea. I guess the largest pixel camera the better? or does this not make too much difference now they are all fairly high.

Thanks again for your comments. Hopefully I will be able to post some results in the near future.

Matt

[928ram]

I've always had very good dealings with B&H photo out of NYC, you're going to find better prices than the local TV box-mart.

I think their add. is bhphotovideo.com

[Steve Carlton]

www.pricegrabber.com is good, too.

[slodave]

My dad has the Nikon D100 and D2x. Both are great cameras, although out of your price range. Lenses are an important thing to consider. They can make or break a photo regardless of the camera body. I have been around Nikon cameras all of my life and like them very much. I have a friend that shoots wildlife with a Canon and has very good results. Anyway, that is what I can contribute.

Dave

[StevoRocket]

Have a look at www.steves-digicams.com.

I have a Nikon D70, they also make a cheaper D50 which is well rated.

I got a 18-70mm lens with the D70 and bought others off ebay for a third of retail prices. Dont be put off non-Nikon lenses - for motorsport Tokina, Sigma and Tamron are fine in my opinion and much cheaper too. A standard film 100mm lens gives 150mm on a Nikon Digital due to the size of the image chip.

The Nikon D200 has just been released which is pro level - might be a better long term bet because of its higher megapixels and fast overall action.

[VaSteve]

I have the D70. I bought it the day after my son was born while my wife was in the hospital and couldn't stop me. Great camera. I had a 6006 before so the lenses fit without issue and the controls were set up like I expected them to be.

Check out www.imaging-resource.com for the most comprehensive reveiw of digital cameras I have ever seen.

[masraum]

Originally posted by 928ram
I've always had very good dealings with B&H photo out of NYC, you're going to find better prices than the local TV box-mart.

I think their add. is bhphotovideo.com

Ditto, http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home/ is the place to go online. You can find a few places online with radically cheaper prices on some cameras, but most of those have really, REALLY bad reputations. I'd avoid them like the plague, but B&H is great.

I second the Canon. I have the Rebel XT/350D. You should be fine with either the XT/350D or the 20D. If you want to do action photography you will want fast lenses. The faster the better. If you aren't familiar, "fast" means large max aperture or low f-stop number. A good fast lense that's not too pricey for the Canon is the EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM Lens. It's about $600, but even better for action photography would be the 70-200L f2.8, but it's $1100.

[MattKellett]

I knew this was the right place to ask. Thanks everyone for some great ideas. I think I now need to go out and look at the Canon and Nikon up close. I will also check out B&H, looks like a good recommendation.

Matt

One of the best info sites I've seen -

http://www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

What about the Pentax Digital versus the Nikon? I have really old but nice Nikkor lenses that will "work" with the D50, but I have newer Pentax lenses that will work with the Pentax. I'm really torn between the two...

[nostatic]

Nikon and Canon seem to be far ahead of the pack wrt dSLR. I don't think I'd go with any other brand unless I had a *lot* of money in glass in the other ones. But due to the difference in chip size v. film size, older lenses are going to have different focal lengths than you're used to.

[gassy]

I love my D70.

[techweenie]

Everything I read pointed me to the Canon Digital, but I'm frankly underwhelmed. I was getting better results from an older Olympus E100 RS despite the much lower resolution of the Olympus. I'm not sure what the current Olympus range offers, but read up and visit a few camera stores.

[nostatic]

I had the same experience when I got my D70. I was getting much better shots with my SD400 point and shoot. But after awhile I got used to the dSLR, and starting messing around with it. Once you shoot RAW and see how you can "fix" things afterwards, you never go back to the compression issues of JPG or other formats...

[K.B.]

If you have any worthwhile Minolta lenses you can probably find a 7D digital for 6-700 bucks. Minolta just sold out to Sony. Sony is now set to be a player. Minolta just had too many court cases where they lost and basically had to pay for copyright infringement of things they invented and didn't realize somebody had a coyright on them. It is anybodies guess as to what is to transpire next but Sony has said they will support the older AF lenses Minolta made. If your best Minolta lens isn't over $400 you might as well consider makeing a switch. The big 2 as stated above is Cannon and Nikon. Nikon gets skin tones better and Cannon has faster lenses for sports. If you are staying under $1500 total you have some pretty severe limitations. It depends how serious you are or if you plan to expand your collection of lenses etc. For motorsports I would figure a 300 or 400 prime, big glass, would be the cats a$$. We're talking $2k on up for the lens alone.

There are many Minolta addicts out there that will not switch over to Nikon or Cannon as they really like the knobs and dials that Minolta has instead of stuff burried 3 menus deep. Minolta glass is pretty good and has always been bargain priced too. A recent ebay auction for a 70-200 APO G SSM went for $2200 when it originally listed for $1999 and sold at B&H 3 months ago for $1749.

The next big phase for low end digital cameras may well be a full size CCD. Current lower priced digital models have a 1.5 or 1.6 correction factor as the part that takes in the light is smaller than an 35mm negative was. If CCD's are made full size you will use the full aperature of the glass you have mounted.

Figure whatever you buy, your camera will be out of date in 3 years or so, but the lenses will likely be fine for 10. The lenses can cost many times what the camera does.

[Brian 162]

I just bought a D70. I was able to use my old SLR auto focus lenses. Took a class on how to use it. The camera has lots of options for different conditions, more than I can ever begin to grasp.