Best DSLR Camera

[jsscuba]

Hey guys, thanks for your comments and advise. I think that I'll take a trip to my local camera shop and compare the D80 and D200. I also read the article on the E-330 by Jeff Mullins at Wetpixel and I may take a second look at the E-330 since the live-view is a good feature for underwater photography.

 

[CUunderH2O]

Just wondering, why are you not looking at the Olympus E-500 instead of the E-330?

 

[victor]

Just wondering, why are you not looking at the Olympus E-500 instead of the E-330?

Just guessing but liveview is the big difference.
I am looking at a DSLR for this year and stepping from an 8080 with liveview to a camera without seems like a retrograde step.

By preference I would go for a Nikon but no liveview.

Oh well maybe soon I don't have to make up my mind for a few months yet.

 

[Larry C]

Who knows, maybe by next year there will be more live view DSLRs on the market. A choice of more than one would be nice.

 

[RonFrank]

Hi,
I got some Christmas money and I'm looking to buy a new DSLR camera that would also make an excellent underwater camera with an Ikelite Housing. So far I've looked at...Nikon D200..Pentax K10D...Olympus E-330 and Sony A-100
Does anyone have an opinnion on these models or any other DSLR that would also double as a good underwater camera? Thanks
Joe

ps..Planning on using my new camera on a trip to the Galapagos Islands in March. Santa was really good to me this year!

I shoot Nikon, and I am using the D200 for both topside, and UW (more topside).

I did a short writeup a while back on the differences between the D80, and the D200. People like to think that they are the same camera in a different body, and the feature set is very similar, but there are some major differences including build quality, and a big one for me, buffer size and speed.

Another niggle on the D80, the matrix metering on the D80 is more biased towards the center of the frame. That has resulted in OVEREXPOSURE of dark subject, and has been the topic of much discussion (read Nikon Flames) on other boards. This does impact D80 users, and is one of the difference between the D80 and D200, i.e., the different metering sensor referenced in the below post.

I would agree most are not going to be deal breakers for UW shooting.

HERE is the thread.

IMO this decision is more about picking a system, not just a camera. I LOVE the Nikon CLS system for topside, allowing multiple wireless remote iTTL flash control, it is SOO cool, and you know how much wireless flash control systems cost? If that could go UW, look out, but it's a powerful tool for topside flash shooting.

I'm not commenting on Canon as I don't use them, but Canon is IMO the other option.

 

[JackConnick]

I've been shooting my D80 for about a month now.

I have to say, it's a great camera with few faults. The over-exposure issue is certainly one of them, but is easily worked around when shooting more contrasty shots by adding -1/3ev. Actually it isn't the center-weighted area that's the problem (and that area can be adjusted btw), it's the dynamic AE that's more the issue, putting it on center weighted improves it. At least that's how I deal with it, YMMV.

I have a feeling (strong hope) that Nikon will address this in a firmware release.

But for a $900 body, it rocks.

Jack

 

[RonFrank]

The over-exposure issue is certainly one of them.... Actually it isn't the center-weighted area that's the problem (and that area can be adjusted btw), it's the dynamic AE that's more the issue, putting it on center weighted improves it. At least that's how I deal with it, YMMV.

But for a $900 body, it rocks.

Jack

Yeah, it's certainly not a huge issue. I don't have the D80, but here is a quote from Thom Hogan, the Nikon Hardware guru,

That's because all those other bodies are remarkably good at not being coerced into changing exposure based upon smallish non-middle gray things in the central area of the frame. The D50 was prone to changing exposure in those situations, and the D80 is even more prone to changing exposure due to middle subject tonal value.

So what he is saying is that say you have a three subjects, and the one in the middle is wearing white, the other two grey. Rather than the meter evaluating the entire scene, the D80 biases the exposure towards the white subject (underexposure). That is not a big issue, but when the middle subject is wearing Black, the exposure is biased towards overexposure, and can result in blown highlights which is a problem in digital. If your middle subject was black, and the the other two were wearing white (think Bride/Groom), the white will be blown out.

I'm not sure it is easily fixed in firmware as it seems a side effect of using the 420-pixel matrix meter vs. the 1005-pixel matrix meter that the D200 and other cameras use (IOW's hardware). I am also not an expert on Nikon's implementation of their matrix metering in DSLR, so maybe it can be done in firmware. Nikon has not committed to doing anything at this point.

 

[jsscuba]

I'm looking at the E-330 because of the live-view feature and I believe the E-500 doesn't have it. They are obviously many advantages to the live-view for underwater photography however, I'm not sure if the E-330 is not just a step above a point and shoot camera and it only has 7.5 mega pixels. That's why I'm hesitating until I can do some more research at the local camera shop. I have an extensive collection of point and shoot cameras starting from 3 and up to 8 mega pixels. So, I would like to add a more professional model where I can learn how to be more creative with my underwater photos. I think the D-80 or D-200 is the way to go for me unless someone else can convince me otherwise Thanks for the comments and suggestions.
Joe

 

[Warren_L]

I'm looking at the E-330 because of the live-view feature and I believe the E-500 doesn't have it. They are obviously many advantages to the live-view for underwater photography however, I'm not sure if the E-330 is not just a step above a point and shoot camera and it only has 7.5 mega pixels. That's why I'm hesitating until I can do some more research at the local camera shop. I have an extensive collection of point and shoot cameras starting from 3 and up to 8 mega pixels. So, I would like to add a more professional model where I can learn how to be more creative with my underwater photos. I think the D-80 or D-200 is the way to go for me unless someone else can convince me otherwise Thanks for the comments and suggestions.
Joe

There are varying thoughts on live-view. For those coming from point and shoot systems, live view probably seems like a great idea, since it's what you're used to. And it may very well work out fine for them. For me, it's not something I would use. I switched over from an Oly C5050 a couple of years ago and thought at first no live view on my Nikon D70 and now my Nikon D200 would be a drawback, but I've not missed it one bit. The viewfinder is no problem to use at all, I get better results when focusing doing macro work, and there's no additional power drain from having the screen on all the time. And I don't know if live-view has improved much since I had my C5050, but I found that the movement of the camera was hard to watch as I was framing my shot due to the jerkiness of the image. With the viewfinder, it's as smooth as can be. Some like the live view - nothing wrong with that. Me, don't want it. Don't need it.

 

[stu_in_fl]

Nikon D200 .....no additional power drain from having the screen on all the time.

what sort of time do you get from the bateries in the D200 (shots, dives or time)

or for anyone with a D80 - how many shots or dives (or time) can your batteries generally last ?

i know with my S80 at present I'm getting about 3 dives in iwth a full battery (but with an LCD on all the time)...would be nice to have 4 and not need to open up to change battery between dives....


thanks