My wife is looking to get into photography,like to get her a camera, have $1,000 budget any suggestions?

Question

I would like to get a camera with interchangable lens, and a camera we can add components as she gets better at it.

Answer 1

Circuit City has Nikon D80 with a AF-S DX Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF Zoom for $1255.

Answer 2

For $1,000, I'd consider a Nikon D40 or D50. I am using a D200 and we got the D50 so my wife could "keep up" with me. We have no regrets as it is an excellent camera. It has a few "consumer friendly" automatic modes that make it very easy to use, but still offers total photographic control when you are ready to take charge. The "kit" lens is a decent lens optically, but you might want to upgrade to the Nikkor AF-S 18-70 f/3.5-4.5G ED DX lens for a bit more range and a lot more durability. When you are ready to add lenses, the sky is the limit with Nikon. Then, when you upgrade your camera, you will have a nice, useful collection of lenses. If she buys a few lenses and then wants to upgrade to a D80, D200 or whatever is the latest and greatest, the lenses will all work with the new camera.

The D40 is a bit smaller and has most of the features of the D50, plus a couple of newer features that the D50 lacks. The D40 only has 3 autofocus zones and, therefore, only 3 spot meter zones. The D50 has 5 zones. The D50 also lets you define the size of your center-weighted metering zone and the D40 does not.

The D40 will not autofocus with anything other than the newer AF-S and AF-I lenses, while the D50 will autofocus many older AF lenses, including G and D lenses as well as most other CPU lenses. If you do not own any lenses, this will not present a problem, but if you want to expand your lens collection (and who doesn't want to eventually?), you will have to bear this in mind before you make your purchase. There are MANY older lenses that are excellent and still available new.

Get at least a 1 GB memory card, such as the Sandisk "Ultra II" or Lexar Platinum 80X for decent write speed. Both Lexar and Sandisk come with image recovery software and limited lifetime warranties. 2 GB is only a little more money and you may as well get that instead.

A D50, the 18-70 lens I mentioned and a 2 GB Sandisk card will cost about $830, plus shipping from B&H, so you come in under budget.

Nikon D50: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/nikon_d50.html
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d50.htm
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Nikon/nikon_d50.asp

Nikon D40: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40/d40-recommendations.htm
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/nikon_d40.html
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond40/

Answer 3

I know your question included interchangeable lenses. However I found a multi purpose camera with such a large focal length 35-mm to 420, It seems more convenient to have it all in one then to lug around extra lenses. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 is vertically the same but I opted for The Leica V- LUX 1. It's a few hundred bucks more But as the old adage says, you get what you pay for. It has a slightly wider image resolution still a impressive 10.4 magapixel with a 12 X Optical Zoom. It's slightly heaver but I equate that to sturdiness. The V-LUX came in at $800.00 + tax which gives you a little spending cash for peripherals like a tripod for time exposures and tote bag. The best thing to go to LEICA.com and check the stats. Leica earned It's repation for quality German engineering so It's what I recommend.

Answer 4

Really just depends on what your used to. I am used to Canon so I went with the Rebel XTi. I didnt like Nikon either because the higher end SLRs did not have a full frame sensor nor are they fast as the Canon Mark-IIs, which I plan to upgrade to at least the 5D level. I also chose Canon over nikon because the lenses auto focus faster than Nikon's because Canon has USM (Ultra Silent Motors) inside the lenses which allow for a fast and silent autofocus. Not only does the Canon have faster auto focus than Nikon, they have a greater variety of IS or Imagine Stablization lenses. Nikon I believe only has 3. The debate about which is better can go on, but for sure the best camera under $1000 is the Canon Rebel XTi for the price. Of coruse you can spend a few extra hundrend on the 30D or the Nikon D80 but the XTi give you the most bang for your buck.

Answer 5

I can't recomend a brand, but I can tell you to get her a manual camera. I've seen what eh digital ones can do, but it'll never add up to a manual one. I used to have one and it was great. It's so much better when you focus in on a picture and it turns out great. You can always buy different lenses as far as zoom goes.You can also take "ghost" pictures without haveing to edit it on a computer. They have endless possibilities. But the feeling you get from knowing that it was all you that took a great picture and is wasn't the camera that did all the work is great. On brand I would recomend that you go to a local studio or something and ask them what they use. Most of those places have a couple of people that are old school and into the manual cameras.Sorry I couldn't be of any help with a brand.

Answer 6

When buying a digital point and shoot camera, stick with the manufacturers of actual cameras (Canon, FujiFilm, Konica-Minolta, Pentax, Nikon and Olympus). Canon and Nikon are the two who make about 80% of the professional digital cameras sold today. They have the knowledge and expertise that give their cameras the edge over the ones made by electronics companies (except perhaps Panasonic whose cameras are built under the guiding eyes and hands of Leica and use Leica lenses). Take a look at the link below and have fun finding your new camera.

Answer 7

I just bought my first slr camera. I asked for advice from several forums and found that a lot of people really loved the canon digital rebel, so that is what I have and I love it!

Answer 8

Pentax K10D is the current king of 10 meg sub $1,000 cameras.

http://neocamera.com/feature_compare_10mp_dslr.html

as good of lenses as Leica

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-05-02.shtml

Winning awards for design and engineering

http://www.slrtoday.com/articles/117/1/Pentax-Receives-Innovations-Award-for-the-Pentax-K10-dSLR/Pentax-Named-Innovations-2007-Design-and-Engineering-Award-for-Pentax-K10-dSLR.html

PLUS:
better wether sealing then any other sub $1,000 camera
better compatibility with older lenses (over 24 million lenses)
22 bit ADC sensor (compared to everyone else's 12 bit)
In body Shake Reduction (no need to spend extra on special lenses)

Answer 9

You can't go wrong with a digital Canon Rebel. You'll even have a few hundred left over to get her a nice high zoom lense to go with it.

Answer 10

I just got a Kodak EasyShare Z612. It's digital. Looks like an SLR not one of those sleek ones you put in your back bocket. 12x zoom, 6 megapixel and 2.5" LCD screen