I know most everyone on here uses D-SLR's but they're sort of out of my budget and I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to taking professional level pictures. So with that said I'm looking to buy a new camera. I had a Canon SD110 that I purchased several years ago and really loved it (3.2mp was almost top of the line back then!) Unfortunately it died this spring and would really like to take the next step in cameras because I was very limited with the poor zoom on the mini point and shoots. So that leaded me to start looking at megazoom point and shoots. I found the Canon SX10IS which seems to be a pretty nice camera and I can get it around $350 which is about half of a lower priced DSLR. I wanted to know what the camera experts on here thought about it....its features etc. Any advice from the pro's would be very much appreciated. Thanks in adavance.

Steve

 

Steve, for only $100 more you can buy a Nikon D40 DSLR. It's $449. at Ritz camera.

 

I don't want a DSLR, I had a nice film SLR setup, it got left at home a lot. When I went digital I got a nice small compact which gets taken most places I go.

My problem is I found a really nice compact, with all the creative controls I wanted. That's the Olympus C-7000, but Olympus have stopped making anything like it.

 

For a nice compact with a lot of DSLR like controls look at the Nikon P6000 or the Canon G10. Both may be a bit larger than you want. The smaller of the two is the P6000.

I like compacts too. I always have one with me, Canon SD1000. Sometimes the DSLR does get left behind because of it's size & weight.

 

Steve

Please check out the following website:

http://www.dpreview.com/

They have very detailed reviews and you can also compare cameras.

 

Yeah I have gone there in the past...very informative website that introduces the basics of photography (iso etc)

The D40 is on sale at Best Buy for $449 as well but its only 6.1 mp. So my question to you is: what is the cutoff for megapixels as far as what is needed for the average user. The SX10IS is 10mp but the Nikon D40 is 6.1 but with the capabilities of a DSLR so which weighs out better in the end. I"m not looking to really get into the hobby of photography, just want to pick up a better camera than your typical point and shoot compact run of the mill. Whaddya think??

 

The mega pixels matter only when you want to print larger sizes. If the maximum you will print is about 8x10, then 6.1 mp is more than enough.

If you are interested in snap shots and family memoirs, a P&S will suit your purpose admirably. The Canon SX10IS you have selected is pretty capable.

If you want more flexibility and anticipate shooting fast subjects (sports, kids, pets etc., ) and/or interested in making photography as your hobby, I would recommend a DSLR. The entry level DSLRs from many brands (Canon/Nikon/Sony/Olympus etc) are all capable beasts. You can pick a camera based on your anticipated style of shooting.

Otherwise, P&S is the no-hassle-pretty-good-pictures way to go!!

 

Yeah that's what I thought...like I said I had 3.2mp and it printed 8x10's quite well. So they continue to increase megapixels for what reason? So you can print 4'x3' murals on your wall???? LOL I mean obviously I would love to have a D-SLR just for the fact that I had one...but as i stated before I really have no knowledge of advanced photography and wouldn't know where to start as far as lenses needed for different situations etc. I really do enjoy capturing great shots on my camera and I think I do have a little bit of an eye for recognizing a great shot but never really pursued the hobby any farther....guess I have a crossroad that I need to decide on before making any purchases in the near future. Thanks for the quick response!

Steve

 

I'm still using my Nikon D50 (only 6 MP), but I've made quite a few 11" x 14" enlargements from it that look great.

Part of the problem with high-MP point-and-shoot cameras is that the small physical size of the sensor gives you bad noise at even moderate ISO settings. I also have a P&S Nikon S3 that's a 6 MP camera, but because of the sensor noise, it has a *maximum* ISO of 400, and even that looks pretty crappy.

It wouldn't be as bad if the S3 had a large-aperture lens, but that's another thing you give up with most P&S cameras. The S3's lens is a 35-105mm equivalent, and the aperture varies from f/3.0 to f/5.4 depending on where you set the zoom. So unless you're shooting in really bright light (or are within a dozen feet of your subject so that the built-in flash has a chance), you're stuck with either long shutter times or one of the noisier ISO settings (or both).

 

Thanks Scott for the reply and that reply is exactly why I think I have no business purchasing a D-SLR I have read up on apertures and ISO's and have a very vague understanding of what those are and how they work but really I got completely lost reading your post! I think its just too advanced for me and I have no business dropping money on a D-SLR and not being able to use all the great features to my advantage cuz I dont understand how it works. Maybe its just best if I let a little computer chip inside decide what looks good and what doesn't...hehehe

 

As strange as it seems, the less you understand about things like ISO and aperture, the *better off* you are with a DSLR. The reason is, any of the DSLRs out there have a "fully automatic" mode that makes all of the shutter speed/aperture/ISO choices for you, and the fact that the DSLRs have physically larger sensors mean that they have a wider range of usable ISOs to choose from. Also, since they have larger lenses, the camera generally has a wider range of apertures to choose from. The selection of available shutter speeds is usually wider for a DSLR as well.

So while you're still learning, you can leave the standard "kit lens" on the camera and leave the mode selector in "full auto", and the wider variety of aperture/ISO/shutter speed settings means that camera will have a better chance of producing a good picture given the available light and subject motion.

In short, you can treat any of the current crop of DSLR cameras as a point-and-shoot, except that you'll get *much* better pictures out of them.

 

And here's a quick primer on ISO, aperture and shutter speed. It's brief, but it will help you understand a lot of the specs and reviews you see.

Taking a picture that's neither too bright nor too dark requires that a certain amount of light falls on the sensor. This is called "exposure". The three camera settings that control the exposure are ISO (how sensitive the sensor is), aperture (how wide the diaphragm inside the lens opens up), and shutter speed (how long the sensor is exposed to the light).

ISO numbers are linear, so an ISO setting of 100 means that the sensor requires twice as much light to make a properly-exposed image as an ISO setting of 200. The drawback to higher ISO settings is that you begin to get sensor noise (speckles, muddy/indistinct areas in the picture, etcetera). The more pixels the sensor has, the faster you'll get noise at any particular ISO setting. You can offset this by using a camera with a physically-larger sensor. That's why DX-format DSLRs can look good up to ISO 800 or 1600, while most P&S cameras with their smaller sensors max out around ISO 400. With the larger sensors in the FX-format DSLRs, you can get great results even up to ISO 6400.

Shutter speed - the longer the shutter is open, the more light hits the sensor. These numbers are linear as well - a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second allows twice as much light to hit the sensor as a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second. If your shutter speed is too long, like 1/5th of a second, you'll get blurring if your subject's moving.

Aperture - the wider the aperture, the more light hits the sensor while the shutter's open. These numbers are a little stranger, since they're not linear. A difference of one "f-stop" in either direction means that either double the light will pass through, or half the light will pass through, depending on whether you're increasing or decreasing the aperture. The common aperture sizes (in increments of one f-stop, larger numbers indicate smaller apertures) are:

f/22 (tiny aperture)
f/16
f/11
f/8
f/5.6
f/4
f/2.8
f/2
f/1.4
f/1.0 (huge aperture)

So, a setting of f/8 will allow twice as much light to hit the sensor as a setting of f/11. You can easily find SLR lenses with big apertures such as f/2.8, f/1.8, and f/1.4 (although some of them are expensive). With P&S cameras, it's not uncommon for the largest aperture setting to be f/3.5 or f/3.0. Not having a large-enough aperture means that the camera has to compensate by either selecting a higher ISO (possibly adding noise) or using a slower shutter speed (possibly causing blurring).

As you go to large apertures (smaller f/ numbers), you'll often get sharper pictures, although you won't have as much "depth of field" - (your subject will be in sharp focus, but objects in front of or behind the subject will be blurry.) At smaller apertures (larger f/ numbers), more of the picture will be in focus (both your subject *and* objects in front of and behind the subject). Using a large aperture also means that you can use faster shutter speeds and lower ISO settings while still ensuring that an adequate amount of light reaches the sensor.

Let's say that settings of ISO 200, f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second will yield a properly-exposed image under your particular lighting situation.

You could double both the ISO and the shutter speed (ISO 400, f/8 and 1/500th sec) and still get a properly exposed image. (The faster shutter speed only admits half as much light, but the sensor is now twice as sensitive, so the overall exposure stays the same.)

Or you could instead enlarge the aperture by one stop and double the shutter speed (ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/500th). In this case, the faster shutter speed only admits light for half as long, but the opening in the lens is twice as big, so again, the overall exposure stays the same.

The possibilities are almost endless, and allow for shooting in a wide variety of conditions and obtaining a variety of artistic effects. For example, if you wanted to take a sharp picture of a fast-moving race car and have the background out-of-focus, you could use a fast shutter speed to "freeze" the motion, and use a large aperture to throw the background out of focus. The combination of a fast shutter speed (less light on the sensor) and a large aperture (more light on the sensor) ensures that enough light reaches the sensor.

It's not as complicated as it sounds, and a DSLR will also let you manually vary just the parameters you want to play with, and will adjust the rest automatically to ensure proper exposure. If you want to play around with different apertures, you can put the camera in "aperture priority" mode and select the aperture manually. The camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed and ISO as needed to obtain the proper exposure. Likewise, you can use "shutter priority" mode to adjust the shutter speed manually, and the camera will take care of the ISO and aperture automatically.

Then if you want to, you can go "full-manual" and select ISO, aperture and shutter speed on your own in order to obtain whatever artistic result you're going for.

Okay, maybe it wasn't that brief, but I hope it was useful.

 

I shoot with a Nikon D200 10MP. I bought the D40 as a knock about camera that can live in my car. I find myself using it more than the D200 lately. For me the 6mp is not an issue. You will get a better quality image from the 6mp of the D40 than you will from the 10mp of the SX10 IS. The reason being that the sensor in the SX10 is smaller than the sensor of the D40. More pixels on a smaller sensor does not equal a better photo.

You can learn & grow with a D40. Add lenses & really learn photography. With the SX10 you are stuck with what the camera has & it will be hard to grow & learn on it. The D40 is a basic camera, but you will learn a lot buy using one. You can start off & use it as a point & shoot. As you learn you will be able to use it's other functions. With digital you learn fast, don't be afraid of a DSLR. The D40 is very user friendly. Eventually you will out grow it, but it will remain a good back up camera.

I hope this has helped you some. It's not all about pixels.

 

WOW Scott that is amazing! I would have read it last night but it was around 3:00 here in NY so I had to go to bed, but wow that information is great!! I know I'm not going to get it all in one reading and it does take time but explanations like yours really can start to help understand how photography really works. www.dpreview.com really has some great information as well. Do the DSLR's auto focus and basically do everything you need to take a picture? I'm only concerned that I might miss a moment because of my lack of skill. The other thing was the megepixels. I guess 6mp is enough for the average person but I just dont want to fall short again. When I purchased my old compact canon point and shoot with 3.2mp I had told myself back then that 3.2 was more than enough for me and I didn't need a 4 or 5 which were top of the line back then. I then regretted it only a year or so later. I just want to make sure that I wont be regretting only getting a 6 mp when there are 10 to 14 mp available right now.

 

oh wow ok Crashton that's great to hear....you were answering my question as we were typing at the same time! LOL I think you hit the nail on the head. I think deep down I'm sort of afraid of a d-slr. As long as I can use it as a normal point and shoot for the time being and then slowly switch over to a more manual mode then I guess you almost have to get a d-slr. The SX10IS is $350 with no options to advance while the D40 is $100 more with all the options available to me so I guess its a no brainer in the end no? How limited will I be with the standard lens that the D40 comes with compared to what the SX10IS comes equipped with. I know you have to buy new lenses wiht a D-SLR to take advantage of different lighting situations and to obtain different effect so I just wanted to know what the original lens is actually capable of?

 

The lens that comes with the D40 is an 18-55 mm zoom. It is not a bad starter lens & will work fine for you. It is wide at the 18mm end & a short telephoto at the 55mm end. IMO you need to learn that lens & how it works before you consider getting another one.

There is a very good book about the D40 that you will find helpful "Nikon D40/D40x Digital Field Guide" by David D. Busch. I'd recommend picking a copy up. I got mine at Amazon. Loads better than the owners manual.

 

That's great to hear, thank you everyone for contributing and your willingness to help me out. Much appreciated.....trust me

 

I have 12"x18" prints all around me in my cube taken with my 4mp DSLR. The 6mp in the D40 will have no problem printing that large.

Ditto to all the great info other experts have posted in this thread already. Really, the only reason not to get the D40 is if you want a easy to pocket camera. Otherwise, the image sensor built into the D40 is leaps and bounds better than the ones found in the best advanced compact cameras on the market right now (Panasonic LX3, Canon G10, and Nikon P6000). With the D40, you have a more capable camera to grow into as you learn more about photography. Regarding ease of use for a beginner, the D40 is just as simple as a point and shoot. However, spend an hour and actually read the camera's owners manual. Don't worry about understanding everything, just read the basics.
Cheers!

 

I was reading some reviews on different sites and they are all very very positive but one thing I noticed was that a lot of people went out and purchased a VR lens. That's an anti-vibration lens correct? That's the same as a stabilization feature found now on most point and shoots right? That really is an important feature for me because its that and a lack of zoom that drove me nuts the most about my old point and shoot.

 

VR is a nice feature, but really not needed on a lens the focal length of the kit lens on the D40. If you learn good camera holding technique you won't need VR. It surprises me how many folks I see who don't know how to properly hold a camera. Maybe VR is for them. While it is nice to have in some situations it's not a must have.

Like has been said before, learn to use the camera & lens. Only then move on to other lenses. At least that is how I learned. Started with a 50mm, learned that, then moved to a 28mm & then added a 135mm. That was in the old days before zooms were around. While I was learning those lenses & how they worked I was also learning how to develop & print my photos. It really is so much easier these days.

 

Ok well I'm hoping that some of you that so generously contributed to my questions before will step forward again and help me make my final decision. So I'm pretty much decided on getting a SLR and as many of you have stated the D40 is a great starter camera. So I was going to go pick it up today at my local BestBuy and I see that they are running a special instore for the Sony A300K which includes the body, a 18-70 anti-vibration lens as well as a 75-300 telephoto zoom lens for $599. Seems like a pretty good deal. Unfortunately they aren't running a deal with the Nikon right now or I'd probably just go with it. But the camera with the standard lens normally goes for $549 and they're giving you a $229 zoom lens for basically $50! I know we said it doesn't really matter but this features 10mp and a swivel live view lcd screen which I thought was pretty cool to make point and shoot users a little more comfortable to a SLR. Anyways just wanted to know if anyone had seen this thing in use or even has one and what you think about it and Sony in general as a camera maker.
Thanks and I look forward very much to hearing from you all.

Steve

 

I don't know what Best Buy's price on the D40 was, but Amazon has it with the 18-55mm kit lens for $410. They also have the 55-200mm Nikon zoom lens for $123, if you wanted to add that.

But the Sony doesn't look like a bad camera. It has a hot shoe in addition to the built-in flash, so you can use an external flash, and it looks like Sony has a wide variety of lenses for their Alpha cameras.

If you think you'll just buy a camera along with two or three lenses and be done with it, the Sony would work fine. But if you start buying a lot of lenses, especially the more-expensive ones, it sort of financially locks you into one particular brand, and in the long run, I'd rather be locked into Nikon than Sony. I have a 22-year old Nikon autofocus lens that works perfectly with my Nikon DSLR, and you can even use most 50-year old Nikon lenses with the newest Nikon DSLRs by performing a cheap/easy machining modification to the lens.

One other note - if you look at lenses for the D40, keep in mind that you're limited to the "AF-S" lenses if you want them to autofocus. (The D40 doesn't have a built-in focusing motor, so if you want autofocus, you have to use lenses that have their own focusing motors, i.e. the AF-S models).

 

Here is your answer. ^

Learn the D40 & then move on to a higher end Nikon down the road. Once you buy a Sony you are stuck in their system unless you want to jump to another maker later.

The reason I shoot Nikon digital is that I have a background in Nikon film cameras. My lenses from my film cameras are usable on the Nikon digital cameras. It costs a lot to change camera makes & systems once you are up & running.

 

Nobody has ever made a mistake getting into Canon or Nikon SLR cameras; they are the easy and safe choice, plus you know they'll be around for the long haul. Sony bought out the Minolta line when they were struggling. Will Sony stay in the DSLR camera game for long? Will they release better pro oriented lenses for users to grow into? Will they be able to compete with Canon & Nikon on something other than price?

Always remember that the camera body is the "cheap" part. The glass is what locks you into a particular brand and makes it harder to switch brands later due to the large investment. Nikon and Canon have more lenses than you'll know what to do with now and in the future.

 

ok well I should have mentioned to you guys that the local Best Buy here offers a 10% discount to fire, police, and ems personnel and I'm a rewards member so I have a $10 coupon so I'm looking at some significant savings by going through Best Buy. The D40 is $449 right now and that includes the 18-55 lens. The discount and coupon puts it at $395. The Sony package with the two lenses is $599 and with the discounts would be $530. Like Scott said I'm probably not going to be the person who spends tons of money on different lenses. I think I just really like the Sony because of the live view and tilt lcd screen. I just think it would make taking photos for a DSLR newbie a little easier.