Camera Recommendation

[Vermilion]

I want a digital SLR camera.

I like doing portraiture and macro shots of plants.

I want the possiblity of having it fully or semi automatic or manual

I would like an automatic focus that I can turn off sometimes (if that exists)

I would like some suggestions...

x
V

 

[drksideofthemoon]

I want a digital SLR camera.

I like doing portraiture and macro shots of plants.

I want the possiblity of having it fully or semi automatic or manual

I would like an automatic focus that I can turn off sometimes (if that exists)

I would like some suggestions...

x
V

If you are doing a lot of portraits and macro stuff, why not go to a larger format Hasselblad or Mamiya....

 

[tolyk]

Vermillion, the most important question is, what is your price range?

If you'll looking for something in the 1000 dollar range, there's a few recommendations, for 1-2000 there's a lot more..

It's not so much the body that you need to look at for macro or portrait either, it's the lenses. Different bodies are pretty much just preference. Some feel better in your hand. Personally I use a Canon (film) SLR and I find it very comfortable.

Oh, and you might not even need a D-SLR, a digital SLR-Like might give you everything you need, for half the price. Depends on how extreme you want your macro shots really.

 

[tolyk]

If you are doing a lot of portraits and macro stuff, why not go to a larger format Hasselblad or Mamiya....

Do they make fully digital yet? I thought they just had Backs to convert film to digital.. Those run a pretty penny do they not?

 

[naamplao]

Vermillion, the most important question is, what is your price range?

Oh, and you might not even need a D-SLR, a digital SLR-Like might give you everything you need, for half the price. Depends on how extreme you want your macro shots really.

Tolyk is correct with his first remark....How much do you intend to spend on this hobby?

My camera is a Pentax iSTDL which is a 5 mega pixel camera

Originally Posted by Vermilion
I want a digital SLR camera.

I like doing portraiture and macro shots of plants.

I want the possiblity of having it fully or semi automatic or manual

I would like an automatic focus that I can turn off sometimes (if that exists)

This is an older model now (I've had it one year) and Pentax is considered as an entry level Digital SLR. In Canada you can find this camera in the stores for roughly $700 including their 28-55mm lens.

I have gone through quite a learning curve with this camera but it would be the same with any digital SLR. I started using all the automatic selections and found them useless...if you want a fully automatic camera, don't waste your money....buy a point/shoot.

It has auto focus, semi-automatic as you say (priority to aperature or shutter speed) and manual. It has autofocus that can be turned on/off. I do a lot of nature photography and sometimes autofocus is a pain as it locks onto a twig....not the bird I want so I turn it off.

I have another lens I use with this camera which is my workhorse. It is a Tamron 70-300mm tel zoom with a built-in 1:2 macro mode.(about $250cdn) I take a lot of butterfly pics as well as birds on the wing and this lens does it all. I am getting a 1.4 telzoom extender to see if I can push the zoom further to get bird shots that I am missing.

The newer Pentax DLSLR's have an "anti-shake" function which I could probably use for my bird shots But I haven't tried it yet.

Things that sold me on the camera are:

1. ease of access to the menu functions (they do a poor job of the manual IMHO but access to the functions is easy.
2. the large LCD view screen 2.5" so you can see the results of your pictures easily
3. It does not use a propriaty battery pack This was big to me....It uses 4 AA batteries...I use rechargeable Ni Metal Hydride 2600 mAH batteries and can take 200-400 pics depending on how much I use the auto-focus, LCD display and flash. I take an extra set with me and change them out easily. If worse comes to worse...I can go to a convenience store for a set of Alkaline AA's and take another 200 shots. 10-20 years from now, I'll bet AA's will still be around....I don't like to depend on a propriaty battery pack being around

It has a range of picture quality in the best JPeg mode on a 1GB chip I can take 340 pics...and on a bird shoot I will take that many....ahhhh the beauty of digital...Nowadays I take my pics in RAW format...they have software to process their verson of RAW and the results are outstanding IMHO. I doubt I'll shoot any other mode. now.

Here are a couple of sample pics that I think are types you would take.

I hope this helps your decision