XMas Shopping - Advice Needed!

[mickyfin]

Cannon XTI vs NIKON D80

Is the difference in price relative to the quality of pictures? I'm lloking for a camera for both aquaria and family photography.

Macro Lens - My friend recommended the Tamron 90 Macro Lens, but it is about 529.99 locally... a little too dear for my tastes.

Can anyone reccomend a couple of good lenses - one for Macro and one fo regular everyday use?

I'm looking to spend about $1000 total for a couple of decent lenses and the body itself. Not sure if that is possible but would love your input!

Thanks!

 

[BlueCorn]

I'd be willing to put money on the fact that you can't tell the difference between the two in regard to image quality.

The Canon will have lower noise when using high ISO. Nikon's consumer grade lenses tend to be better than Canon's consumer lenses.

Buy the one that feels the best in your hand.

 

[Phyl]

I would buy a body and one really good (read: expensive) lens. Don't buy a kit lens. Skip the macro for now. Any macro worth its weight in salt is going to be at least 500$. If you get a really good lens and an extension tube (or close up filters) you'll be able to mimick macro shots with a good lens.

Buy an average/low qual lens and you're going to get average low qual pictures, no matter how great the camera is.

 

[gregr]

The Canon 100mm macro lens, which is as good as it gets, is going for $435 right now because there's a $35 rebate- normally $470

 

[Stan N.]

I have two cameras at the moment that take very nice pictures.

A Canon 30D and a Canon rebel xti. Both bodies are under $1000.
I am sure you would be able to find a 30D lens kit for around $1000 since the 40D has just been released.

 

[mickyfin]

Thanks for the advice guys!

I'm going to go with the XTI and grab a lens in the 400-500 price range as I've been recommended. I've heard good things about the Tamrons...

I'm sure you'll see the results posted shortly

Thanks again.

 

[gregr]

Regarding the Tamron macro lens- as Beerguy said it is just as sharp as the Canon but the Canon focuses internally and the Tamron does not (unless they changed the design recently). What that means is the barrel of the lens extends out the closer you focus so that at the minimum focus distance it's nearly twice as long as normal. The Canon focuses internally and also focuses faster (in autofocus mode) than the Tamron-- the Tamron will be very slow. For close-ups the slow focus isn't much of an issue since most people focus manually but for any other type of photography this may be a little frustrating for you.
Maybe not a deal breaker but I thought you might want to know.

 

[mickyfin]

Great info, thanks!

 

[gregr]

I checked- the Tamron doesn't focus internally. The extending barrel also makes it difficult to get good flash coverage on extreme close-ups.

 

[BlueCorn]

My only other advice would be to spend a lot of time learning the camera and how it works. You need to understand what is happening when you change settings. Setting the thing to automatic and firing away seldom gives you the best results.

Cheers

 

[mickyfin]

Good advice Beerguy.

This is my first Digital SLR purchase but I've had a top end PS camera for years. I've also used a Canon XT and Nikon d40 a few times. I've got a pretty decent working knowledge of the fundamentals