Well, I *was* thinking of buying a DSLR...

[highlandsflyer]

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/crop-factor.htm

That explains the crop factors pretty well.

Sigma do make some nice lenses.

What is the 35mm equivalence for those shots?

I have a 10mm Nikkor, but was once lucky enough to shoot through a 6mm!

I think they run to the price of a nice car!

 

[MikeD]

About 19mm for the top one and probably 200ish for the bottom one - no idea what focal length I was at for that one off the top of my head, I'll have to check the original.

 

[highlandsflyer]

It is not you in the frame?

They are very good captures.

Pro level.

 

[MikeD]

My pics, not me in them

 

[Shire]

Another vote for the Pentax K-x here. I've been using my old 35mm lenses on the camera and it's great! Also, as said the supplied kit lenses are also very good

720p video recording is also an added bonus

 

[spike3]

Canon or nikon is what you want to go for as once you start with one manufacturer you rarely change in the DSLR world due to compatibility.

The 1000d is a good camera but the 550d is a very worthy investment over it, I would go for a second hand 500d (or new) if You can find a mint one as they have hd video ( I use mine more than I ever thought I would) and a much larger megapixel than the 1000d along with better focusing and various other things the 550d trumps it though.

Basicly get a canon as they're really easy to understand and use and every canon ef lens back to the early 90's is 100% compatible so there are 1000's of possible lenses.

Also a wide range of adapters means that any old M42 manual lens's and olympus om lenses as well as others will work perfectly as well, the old olympus zuikio primes are superb.

 

[gump]

I have Canons, have done for years, before digi too.

Just upgraded from a 300D to a 60D, and it is an amazing piece of kit.

re lenses, the standard kit lense varies a lot, luck of the draw. Some good, some not so.. but the £80 new F1.8 50mm is a great lense for the cash. Will far exceed the kit for quality.

Go for the L lenses though, and they will astound you. Pure sex in glass.

The 500/550/600 are great cameras. Not sure why you getting hung up on the viewfinder size, just get a cam and get on with taking photos!

 

[djoptix]

Like I said, Canon fanboys

Spike3 is right though - I wouldn't bother with the 1000D. If you go Canon then get at least a 450D or better. And one thing I will say for Canon is that I think their image stabilisation works a bit better than that on the K-X. Of course the stabilisation on the Canons we're talking about is in the lenses, so with old lenses you won't get any stabilisation at all, whereas the K-X will give you reasonable stabilisation on older manual lenses. We were pretty set on the 450D until finding out how good the K-X was with my K mount lenses, and that it was £100 cheaper for the twin lens kit. Oh - and there is a non-stabilised 18-55 kit lens that comes with some Canons - watch out for it, you want the stabilised ones.

Obviously I like my camera but I'm not suggesting that Pentax is the only way. You get fantastic cameras from most makes these days. They do still have their differences - just do lots of research and try before you buy. Having recently been in the "DSLR with kit lenses for around £400" market I'm happy to expand my research there if you like?

Nice pics Mike. I haven't even started experimenting with off-camera flash yet. I think some of those cheapo wireless flash triggers are next on the list

 

[JohnH]

Thanks for the recommendations and the advice, guys.

I'm happy to take a look at any of the suggested brands/models -- Canon, Nikon or Pentax. Crikey I'll even check out the Sony DSLRs, even though they do look like a stottie cake (below) with a lens attached.

If my LCS can show me a DSLR that doesn't have a "postage stamp viewed thru a loo roll" viewfinder, I'll be interested.

 

[JohnH]

I was lying in bed last night, thinking about what the guy in the LCS said: the size of the sensor determines the size of the mirror which determines the size of the viewfinder image.

Then something struck me: cameras with an electronic viewfinder (EVF) shouldn't have this problem, because there is no mirror.

So this morning, I typed "Lumix viewfinder" into Google Images and sure enough, the view down a "long black tunnel" has gone....

So there is now some hope on the DSLR front...