Canon EOS 30D?

[tbag47]

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I'm taking a digital photography course later this summer at the local community college and well... I need a digital camera. I'm not sure exactly what the scope of the class is except that it is an introductory class and there is computer lab time. This is a what would you recommend kinda post.

I don't plan on going into professional photography but I would like to do more than P&S.

So I'm looking at the low end SLR cameras with bases around $500. Probably a 18-50mm lens for every day use.

I was doing my review research for the Canon EOS 30D at http://www.viewscore.com/product_pag...on EOS 30D and all the reviews made me uncertain.

I'll be happy to hear your professional opinion about thus camera!

Thanks!

 

[Rob Williams]

I'm a little confused already, as the 30D costs closer to $800 (Body-Only), so pair one up with a cheap ~18-50 and it might hit $950. Then you might have to worry about a speedlight, unless you don't plan to shoot many in-door photos.

I recommend any new SLR buyer to hit up a photo store and ask them to try out some of their cameras on display. The first thing you want to do is find out which camera brand you like the most.. probably Canon or Nikon will be the main choices. Sony's SLRs are apparently good as well, but I find them incredibly strange to use/hold, personally.

Both Canon and Nikon SLRs have a different feel, so you can use each and see what feels more comfortable. You don't really want to pick up a Canon now and then years down the road decide to use a Nikon, since you've already acquired (probably) a few Canon lenses. The good thing is that if you take good care of the lenses though, their values do not go down that quickly, if at all.

For the $500 SLR mark, I'd go to the store and test out a Nikon D40 and see if you like it. For a solid SLR that offers a variety of options though, you will be getting closer to the $1000 mark. You can check out my review of the D40x here:

http://techgage.com/article/nikon_d40x_102mp_digital-slr_camera/ (Similar to D40, but less expensive)