If even the Nikon D80 is too big and too expensive a digital SLR for you, you should take a look at the spanking new Nikon D40. I can't believe it's selling for $600. And it is super-compact, something I always had a weak spot for. (I must have owned like fifteen compact cameras over the years.)
It also reportedly has excellent low-light performance. So if you combine it with for example Nikon's lovely 18-200mm zoom with Vibration Reduction, you will have a camera you can use hand-held in almost any light, even indoors, so combined with the small size this should be a wonderful travel and walk-about camera.
(Take note that not all Nikon lenses will have autofocus on this camera. If you have or buy any lenses for it, they must be "AF-S" or "AF-i" lenses for the autofocus to work. Those have built-in autofocus motor.)
I am so impressed with general developments in digital photography. Just five years ago you had to pay tens of thousands of dollars for performance like this. (And they weighed three times as much.)
30 comments:
I guess it's ok. But Mr Stobblehouse you can get a great camera at Mao-Mart (Wall-Mart) for about 100 to 200 dollars that have between 3 and 5 pixels. They take great photos too.
Just a mention, but each to their own. Good day.
Yeah, yeah. Technology getting better and cheaper. Sure.
Sounds a bit cliché to me. ;o)
Ah, they young are so blase these days.
Karla,
For the experienced user, there are many, many differences between a cheap and small camera, and the more advanced ones. Of course the casual snapper might well not care, and shouldn't.
"The manufacturers will just keep adding more bells and whistles."
Seems a bit unpractical to take wildlife photographs. I mean, quietness is usually the rule...
Not everybody limits their animal photo-taking to Santa's reindeers!
Technology getting better and cheaper.
Really? In digicams, yes. But in many other fields I don't think so.
Example: In 2004 President Bush announced a plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. The 16-year-long venture to the moon will take twice as long as NASA's first trip there took in planning.
You would think that 36 years later, using today's technology, putting a man on the moon would be a piece of cake. Not so. Apparently it costs more now than it did back then.
...and this explains why they can put a man on the Moon, but they still can't put them ALL there! Sorry, sistas. ;-)
I think this camera is sexy.
However I don't like it's Vibration Reduction.
Eolake you're making me like things.
Thanks, dear.
Rest assured you don't need to have the vibration reduction if you like shaken images. (In any case it is not built into this camera.)
And you can always buy other vibrating products if you like.
Signal: I think this camera is sexy.
I think it is rather underendowed compared to my D80.
Ya, I meant to ask, how's it going with that?
This is way off topic, not about cameras at all, but it is about a large round vibrator.
Last year in Santa Fe, at the home of an artist out there, William Barra, we were enjoying our visit with him. His house is gorgeous, mostly glass and adobe overlooking the mesa. I was nosing around in other rooms, (his studio was FANTASTICALLY inspiring with paintings in progress on every surface, a jumbled creative colorful mess.) In one room I heard a soft, gentle but strange whirring sound. I heard bumps too, like someone tumbling against a wall, then the whirring again. I thought, What the heck?
I eased open the door, and it was a small round (size of a bowling ball) vibrating robotic vacuum cleaner! It was going around the whole room, dutifully vacuuming up dust, hitting every corner, bumping into things, then turning its little body around and vibrating elsewhere. It had face-like eyes, and I thought it was cute. I put my foot out and it whirred up my leg!
Eolake, you of all people simply must aquire one of these. It could be a pet and dustbuster in one.
laurie
"And you can always buy other vibrating products if you like."
Sony removed the vibration function from the PlayStation3 controller. It interfered with the new tilt detection feature.
So I suggest going for a PS2 controller and console. Best known vibrating toy on the market. And it has a USB camera accessory too! (Rather low-rez, though. But lots of fun. It's not the strength, it's how you use it that makes the difference!)
Eolake said: Ya, I meant to ask, how's it going with [the D80]?
Couldn't be happier with my purchase. This is my first DSLR and I am quite in awe of how well everything works and is thought out.
I will post photos after I have actually used it for something. :-)
I use both many brands of cameras, and I am *very* impressed with Nikon's present lineup. I think the D40, the D80, and D200 are fantastic deals each in its class. They are very very well thought out and produced, and is a step up in build quality at each prince level.
Seeing that you have now obtained the D40 too, you come across almost as a collector of cameras. Which is cool. How many cameras do you have?
Oh, maybe a dozen, if you count little oddities and old steel SLRs from the seventies which I bought on eBay for decoration.
Heh... At school, the other students used to always ask me that same question : "Man, how many books have you read?"
They just couldn't imagine a person who would've lost count a long time ago!
Then it changed to : "Man, how many books do you read in a single day?" (^_^)
It's nice that Eolake is well-endowed, but the important thing is, he knows how to masterfully use it all.
Thanks for the 411 on the D40. I'm brand new, but I want to get a camera that is not "entry level" but also not so compicated that I get tied up in it's details rather than the subject. Is the D80 best for someone like myself? (People are my focus)
Thanks,
Craig
The D80 clearly has advantages.
I recommend reading reviews on sites like imaging-resource.com and dpreview.com
"They just couldn't imagine a person who would've lost count a long time ago!"
You're kidding. If I'd ever counted, I'd have lost count in the second grade, if not the first.
Seriously.
Me too, incidentally. First grade.
Shucks, I've been in this apartment for four years, and I've already bought new floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Twice. (OK, half of that is DVDs.)
Please, quit titillating my phantasms, you're making me drool!
I'm still making do with stacked cardboard boxes in the basement and attic, and overflowing drawers. Oh, and piles on my bedroom floor, of course. The spiders love me.
It sucks not daring to plan for the future. ):-P
If I were you, I'd just move to France in 2007.
OK, that was glib, sorry. I can't advice on something like that, obviously.
Correction : you don't need to advise me that, because I already know. Moving is a genuine probability. Anyway, 2007 won't end without Lebanon's future becoming very clear, one way or the other.
I say to myself : home is where the heart is. And my roots may be in this country (in part), but my heart isn't chained to it. Especially if the country chooses to sever the link by rear-ending the iceberg.
Besides, when you're from more than one origin like me, you'll always be part at home and part alien. And 100% citizen of the world.
What was this slogan again?
"Nikon: just do it?" :-/
P.S.: The name "Nike" is that of the Greek goddess of Victory. Absolutely.
"Nikon: just do it?"
Funny, fellow Nikon user Laurie Jeffery still does commercial photography in addition to his beautiful nudes, and occasionally I tease him with working "for Nike".
Ha!
"Nike" should be so lucky to have me shoot for them!!
Indeed, Nike might be very successful if you worked for them.
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