For how small it is and what it costs, the Canon S5 is amazing. But I am wanting a DSLR for lower noise at higher ISO, better dynamic range, and sharper pictures (i.e. good lens and sensor).
Last weekend I picked up on impulse a Sony A700 body on clearance at Best Buy. It is basically a modernized Minolta 7D with the same sensor used in the Nikon D300, along with the 3" high resolution LCD, a great and very intuitive user interface, and decent built quality. It doesn't have live view like Sony's new lower end models, but I still have the Canon for times when P&S is appropriate. It is still in the box and unopened.
I plan on starting out with a single general purpose zoom lens that covers wide to tele and reasonable close up work (not true macro). Primary subjects will be the reef tank of course, also family/portrait, landscape, and interior/architectural. Yes, I know that eventually I will need several different lenses to get good results with each type of photography!
On paper the Sony/Tamron 18-250mm f:3.5-6.3 is perfect. Optically it tests very well out to at least 200mm. But typical for variable aperture zooms, it looses speed fast with focal length hence my concern that it may not be a good choice for reef tank photography. Would it be wiser to opt for a zoom with more restricted range but fixed aperture of f:2.8 ? Sony makes a wonderful 24-70mm f:2.8 Zeiss lens, but a lot of range (particularly wide angle) is lost on a crop sensor camera and their full frame model is not out yet. It is supposed to be released later in the year and I potentially would upgrade to it, as it promises medium format quality at a reasonable price point ~ $3000-3500.
If even a fixed f:2.8 zoom will be suboptimal for reef tank photography, I could (for about the same overall price) buy the 18-250mm for outdoors work, and a 135mm f:1.8 Zeiss for the tank. My last two cameras (Olympsu E-20N & the Canon S5) have spoiled me with zoom lenses, so I am little hesitant to go back to a prime. Last time I used one was in college, Nikon 50mm f:1.8 with FE body! Sony/Zeiss also has an 85mm f:1.4 lens, which would be a better choice than the 135mm except it has rather poor maximum magnification of 0.13x, versus 0.24-0.33x of the 135mm and most zooms.
For much less money, Sigma also makes 24-70 f:2.8 and 18-50 f:2.8 (crop sensor only) zooms. They lack the silent and fast autofocus motor in the lens, however, at least for Sony versions.
Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions.
PS -- I have not opened the A700 box yet and can return it to Best Buy for a full refund. So if there is a particularly great lens/body offering available from another brand, I could go that route. [Just don't suggest the Nikon D3, I'm not a pro and won't drop $10k on a my camera rig!] I was tempted by the Olympus E-3 as they have a 14-35 f:2.0 zoom but it is really expensive, and the camera body/sensor is a bit lacking in dynamic range and ISO noise compared to the A700, D300, etc.. Of course the E-3 is far beyod any P&S in these areas, but still they were reasons why I was upgrading to DSLR in the first place and didn't want to buy a body that wasn't state of the art in these features.
Last weekend I picked up on impulse a Sony A700 body on clearance at Best Buy. It is basically a modernized Minolta 7D with the same sensor used in the Nikon D300, along with the 3" high resolution LCD, a great and very intuitive user interface, and decent built quality. It doesn't have live view like Sony's new lower end models, but I still have the Canon for times when P&S is appropriate. It is still in the box and unopened.
I plan on starting out with a single general purpose zoom lens that covers wide to tele and reasonable close up work (not true macro). Primary subjects will be the reef tank of course, also family/portrait, landscape, and interior/architectural. Yes, I know that eventually I will need several different lenses to get good results with each type of photography!
On paper the Sony/Tamron 18-250mm f:3.5-6.3 is perfect. Optically it tests very well out to at least 200mm. But typical for variable aperture zooms, it looses speed fast with focal length hence my concern that it may not be a good choice for reef tank photography. Would it be wiser to opt for a zoom with more restricted range but fixed aperture of f:2.8 ? Sony makes a wonderful 24-70mm f:2.8 Zeiss lens, but a lot of range (particularly wide angle) is lost on a crop sensor camera and their full frame model is not out yet. It is supposed to be released later in the year and I potentially would upgrade to it, as it promises medium format quality at a reasonable price point ~ $3000-3500.
If even a fixed f:2.8 zoom will be suboptimal for reef tank photography, I could (for about the same overall price) buy the 18-250mm for outdoors work, and a 135mm f:1.8 Zeiss for the tank. My last two cameras (Olympsu E-20N & the Canon S5) have spoiled me with zoom lenses, so I am little hesitant to go back to a prime. Last time I used one was in college, Nikon 50mm f:1.8 with FE body! Sony/Zeiss also has an 85mm f:1.4 lens, which would be a better choice than the 135mm except it has rather poor maximum magnification of 0.13x, versus 0.24-0.33x of the 135mm and most zooms.
For much less money, Sigma also makes 24-70 f:2.8 and 18-50 f:2.8 (crop sensor only) zooms. They lack the silent and fast autofocus motor in the lens, however, at least for Sony versions.
Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions.
PS -- I have not opened the A700 box yet and can return it to Best Buy for a full refund. So if there is a particularly great lens/body offering available from another brand, I could go that route. [Just don't suggest the Nikon D3, I'm not a pro and won't drop $10k on a my camera rig!] I was tempted by the Olympus E-3 as they have a 14-35 f:2.0 zoom but it is really expensive, and the camera body/sensor is a bit lacking in dynamic range and ISO noise compared to the A700, D300, etc.. Of course the E-3 is far beyod any P&S in these areas, but still they were reasons why I was upgrading to DSLR in the first place and didn't want to buy a body that wasn't state of the art in these features.
