How to get started with a DSLR.

In honor of my friend Andy who has asked the fateful question: "what should I look for", I'm going to do a series on what to do to get started. To that end, I'll throw some philosophical though for you to chew on. By all means though, take it with a grain of salt! Most of my decision-making has layers of factors, but I'll try to keep my personal biases out of it or point out the cases where it is that.

My personal experience over the years with film cameras have mostly been with Canon and Pentax. Although I must say that I've had and used Olympus, Exacta and Minolta camera as well. My experience with digital right up until I bought the Nikon 8800 was with Kodak point-and-shoot cameras. So I'm fairly certain that don't have a lot of brand-oriented biases.

Much of my thought process has to do with costs. The logic is based on the assumption that the "top dogs" were pretty much even as far as an amateur was concerned. I've read that some 80% of the Digital SLR market is swallowed up by Canon, Sony(previously Konica/Minolta) and Nikon leaving 20% for Olympus, Pentax, Fuji, Sigma, etc. So by sheer logic those would be the camera that'd be cheapest both to acquire and to buy lenses for in the future. Since Sony is a late-comer and by far the smallest of the big 3, and therefore it was eliminated for the same reason.

This leaves Canon and Nikon. The reality is that they are both pretty much going to give indistinguishable results with comparable models. Before I get into the convoluted logic as to how I decided, I'd encourage you to go and find either a couple of friends with competing models that you can lay-hands on or a fairly good sized camera store that has a good stock of used cameras so you can hold both. It'll give you a chance to see what feels better in your hands and how the menu system makes sense. There may simple be something about one brand or another that you either like or dislike, so it's best to find this out early on.

A good place to start is with the Nikon D40, D50, D70(s) and Canon Rebel XT or XTi. All those models can do a decent job as a starter camera that won't cost too much. You might also throw in the Olympus E-410 or 510 as well if you can find it, although it's not really "apple-to-apples" since it's a four/thirds system vs. APS-C in sensor size.

Why is it a big deal with brand with they are all pretty much just alike? Well, the best analogy that I can come up with is that getting into a "system" with a DSLR is like getting married. Once you getting connected with on, it's hard to just into a different one. Oh yeah, you can do it, but it'll cost you....sound familiar?

The fact of the matter is that although, the camera body might seem expensive; in the long run, most of us have way more invested in glass (lenses), flashes and other items than the body itself and all that other stuff is virtually NEVER compatible!

Next episode, I'll get into all the little stuff.