Considering Nikon D50 + Nikkor 18-70 and Olympus E-500

[gaggu]

Hi,

Sorry if this goes off-topic.

But, in the same price range I could also consider
Sony A-100.

Somehow I never gave it a thought since I believe
that Nikon and Canon are the 'traditional' camera makers.

Although, I do have a Sony T9 digicam ... but I never really
gave Sony A-100 a serious thought.

Though with Sony I will only get an 18-70 lense, but I think
the in-body IS could be of some value at least.


--
Gaggu

[gaggu]

-BenjaminXYZ

Shooting at high ISO will definitely be a help where I dont want to do away with the DOF and am also
not in a situation to handhold the camera for a long time. Maybe some difficult landscape shots ... and I
am particularly looking forward to do landscapes.

--
Gaggu

[BenjaminXYZ]

gaggu, the Nikon D50 or the Nikon D70s will be a great choice for you. (Your D50 kit will do well)

[Edvinas]

gaggu wrote:

But, in the same price range I could also consider
Sony A-100.
[...]
Though with Sony I will only get an 18-70 lense, but I think
the in-body IS could be of some value at least.

Well, Sony a100 isn't the same price range, it's competitor of Canon 400D, Nikon D80 and Pentax K10D.

If you want in body stabilisation, Pentax K100D is a competitor for Nikon D50 (the same price for body only). In my opinion K100D as a body is better than Nikon D50, but you can get good deal for Nikon 18-70 lense and that makes the difference. Sony's 18-70 is really low quality cheap lense, while Nikons 18-70 is one of the best out there. Sony's 10Mpix noisy sensor won't help it to beat D50+18-70 in image quality.

[gaggu]

-Edvinas,

Yes A-100 is expensive. But for 600£ I am getting the 18-70 lense ... compared to D50 ... for 650£ I am
getting the earlier mentioned kit.

But, sure ... I agree as I just saw the reviews. D50 is coming out better in the high ISO shots.


--
Gaggu

[gaggu]

-Edvinas

There is also some issue with Pentax K100D/110D bodies.
That it ... slow autofocus some times.

Nikon autofocuses like ... zook ... focus locked.

I actually tried this with Pentax K110D.

The Pentax goes like.. zooooooooo ... wait ... zeeeeeeeh ... wait ... no focus.
Shift the camera a little to show it some contrast. Focus now ... zook .. locked.
Keep the focus lock ... show the camera the actuall subject you wanted to
shoot ... shutter ... snap. You have the picture.

Thats cute ... but not desireable.

What do you think ?

--
Gaggu

[kenbalbari]

I think the thing that makes Olympus tempting is their lenses. The Nikon kit lenses may be about as good, if you count the Nikon 55-200 f4-5.6 vs the Zukio 40-150 f3.5-4.5. But when you look at the next step up, the Olympus zooms look really good.

The 14-54 f2.8-3.5, which was the kit lens for their pro series, is a nice step up from the Nikon 18-70 f3.5-4.5(with a similar effective range), for only about $100 more. And they have a 55-200mm for about $850 that ranks with the best lense made in the photozone user survey. With a 400mm reach in 35mm equivalent, I think you might have to pay 2-3x as much in Canon or Nikon glass to match it.

Where I think they're lacking is in enough good prime offerings. There are a couple of good affordable Sigma f2.8 primes, a 105mm and a 150mm-two of Sigma's better offerings. These are available in other mounts--though with the 2x crop factor they give effective ranges of 210mm and 300mm on the Olympus. But there still aren't quite enough low to mid priced primes available in wide to short-tele focal lengths.

But I think for a shooting style that leans toward more telephoto, the Olympus system is very attractive. On the wide telephoto end, they get a bit more expensive if you want to go beyond 28mm equivalent (and there are only a few lens oprtions to do so). It sounds as though performance is more average (including autofocus), and where that's a major issue, maybe Canon or Nikon might be better. But for features, the Olympus cameras are very competive.

Some good lens review links:
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/index.html
http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/index.php

[BenjaminXYZ]

Here is apresentation video clip of the Sony Alpha A100 dSLR from cnet, see whether you like it. (I personally think thatit is a great camera)

http://www.cnetasia.com/reviews/digi...260060p,00.htm?