Digital cameras forum: best entry digital SLR

That just shows the point of which is the best DSLR questions. For what most of us are going to do with a camera, you will never be able to tell the difference. If you can not tell the difference between those two cameras in moderate sized prints, what chance to you have of telling the difference between the images from two similar priced DSLRs?

As is usually recommended. Try them all out. Hold them in your hands. Try out the menus. See how easy it is to use the featurers you will use most often. Buy what feels best to you. You will get excellent results with all of them.

Being best is a relative thing,
since all of the DSLR cameras produce excellent photographs.

The December issue of Consumer Reports Magazine has a rating of DSLR cameras and they show that all of the DSLR cameras (that they tested) in the under $1,000 bracket are rated between 54 and 67 points (all Good).
All DSLR cameras (they tested) in the $1,000 and $2,000 bracket are rated from 69 to 78 points (all Very Good).

Being popular is easier to judge.
That would be the Canon Rebel XSi and the Nikon D90.
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It is very wonderful that you want to surprise your daughter with this most excellent gift. And I can only imagine how excited she would be to unwrap such a gift and thus make her Christmas quite lovely.

However, my very first bit of advice is going to be a bit tough: don't buy one for her without getting her input. If she has both talent and the desire to spend lots of time with her impending dSLR gift, then it stands to reason that she should help select the one for her. A camera can be a very personal item, which at first sounds odd. Camera? Personal? Really? Well I say yes. It is very important that controls and such fall readily to finger for the user. Real users don't want to have to feel around or look for the correct controls so that they might make changes. They need to be able to do it as if it were second nature. The only way to do this is for the end-user to actually handle the camera and see how it fits their hand, how the controls fall to finger tip, etc. Comfort is paramount and the only way you can achieve this is if she actually shops with you. I cannot too strongly suggest that you bring her in on your desire.

There is a second reason to include her: only she knows what is important to her in regards to equipment. She may, for example, be interested in a camera that is more compact than even an entry-level dSLR. She may prefer a more compact camera (but with the capability of shooting in RAW) such as the Canon G10, Leica Lux-4, or any other similar cameras. Or, she may indeed want a dSLR, but she may want to spend less money on the camera body such that she might obtain a better lens or lenses or vice versa. She may wish to try and incorporate a separate flash unit into your budget by sticking with only one lens for the time being. You see....as it will be her making use of the equipment she probably should have a say in what she is getting. I know it isn't as exciting as purchasing something for her and having her open it on Christmas morning, but I sincerely believe she will be even more happy to be involved in the process and will walk away with precisely what she wants within your budget (or she may opt to contribute if she can).

All that said, it would be hard to go wrong with a dSLR from either Canon or Nikon. They both make very good cameras, but more importantly they make complete camera systems (camera bodies, lenses, flash units, accessories, etc.) and have been doing so for a very long time. There are other companies in the dSLR marketplace (Olympus, Pentax, Samsung, Sony, etc.), who also make fine cameras, but there is a reason why you see professionals using Canon & Nikon: they work and have vast experience making cameras and lenses. I won't go so far as to say that Canon & Nikon should be your only choices, but they are likely easier bets for a variety of reasons. However, those persons I know who have non-Canon and non-Nikon cameras are not dissatisfied with their choices.

I imagine it would be easier for you if those of us responding to your request for help simply told you to buy camera X or camera Y and then list reasons why, but I believe this would be doing both you and your daughter a disservice. Most any dSLR from a recognized name will provide her with great service, but I strongly urge you to include her in the process so that she can obtain precisely what will work best for her particular talents and interests.

Whatever you do I wish you and yours the best this holiday season.

I would happily shoot a Sony A700, but I think the lower models are behind the curve. Now, Pentax has some fine cameras out, and the Olympus have great kit lens(but lack in high iso/low noise). The problem with the Pentax is that you can't find hardly anyone that sells it to see how it fits in your hand. I live in a town of 400,000 and nobody carries anything but Canon, Nikon, and the lower end Sonys.

My wife bought a Nikon D40. She loves the camera. It is very user friendly and fits her hand. I like a little more mass to my camera and I am a tec nut. I ended up getting the D80.
We both use our cameras differently. I do a lot of scenic and wildlife shooting. My wife shoots weddings and stuff like that and thousands of pics of our daughters. Just kidding, maybe only hundreds.

We both love our camera's and do not enjoy using each others when we have to. Hers wont do the little tweaks that I want it to do and mine wont do what she wants it to do without her having to stop and figure out what settings are needed. We both have basically the same lenses, but we use them differently. The same location, same time of day, we will end up with totally different pictures.

She picked her camera because it fit what she wants it to do, and I picked my camera for my own reasons. If I had gone out and bought her the camera that I thought she wanted, I would have bought a camera that she would not have enjoyed as much as the one she picked.

I guess what I am trying to say is I agree with forkboy I think she should be brought in on the purchase of her gift.

I wish you and your family the best this holiday season.

I've found this useful for deciding which DSLR to buy: http://www.spectackler.com/categories/1406-Digital-SLRs

You can filter on lots of things like optical zoom, min/max focal length etc.

You're probably right on a few things, I know the developers of the site and I've sent them an email with your comments.

Anyway, back to helping Gadost!