DSLR Experts... get in here

I've had great luck with our Digital Rebel. It's a first gen and has been beat to hell but it still cranks out great photos.

 

I have the Canon Digital Rebel XT 8MP EOS and it has worked great for me. Amazing pictures and of course, the immense amount of control you have over the pictures you take. I recommend it, unless you want to go for the 10mp model. But believe me 8mp is more than enough.

 

I bought a 10D when they first came out, and I've taken some great pictures with it. Truly a wonderful piece of equipment, and it is certainly better than the "photographer" behind it.

That being said, I regret buying it. I spent many thousands on it and the lenses to go with it (make no mistake........you will constantly think of the lenses you "need to buy" to take full advantage of your new camera), and I just don't get enough use out of it. I'm always coming up with reasons to not bring it on great photo ops because the camera and lenses and bags and tripod and monopod and all that crap is just too heavy to lug around.

I also truly question just how long DSLR's will last in their current form. They are built around equipment designed for 35mm film cameras. Most of them........including all that you are considering........don't even take advantage of the full frame size the lens can produce. Film will eventually just go away from a viable market standpoint, and I wonder just how many camera designers are thinking "does 35mm really make sense for digital?"

Anyway, if I could do it over, I'm not so sure I would have made such a heavy committment. A good point and shoot will take GREAT pictures of your new baby, and as cheap as they are, you could save a ton of money to replace it with a DSLR in a few years............assuming there hasn't been a paradigm shift in professional digital photography in that span of time.

......just wanted to give you a counterpoint to think about........

Regardless, www.dpreview.com is always your friend.

 

Another thing........I can't imagine owning a DSLR and NOT having a good point and shoot as part of the household as well.

 

Don't get caught up in megapixels anymore.

The 400D and maybe the other one you mentioned has the sensor cleaning if I'm not mistaken. That is a VERY good feature and should be taken into consideration.

I own a Canon 20D and love it. You'll get some great photos of your kid, but for some things it's overkill. We still take a lot of pics with our point and shoot Canon.

 

Are you considering buying a lens in addition to what it comes with? That should be one of your determining factors. Just FYI, some can let you use an adapter to add a lens, and others do a lens directly, and others don't even let you add any lenses.

Good luck, and let us know what you buy, man.

I have a Fuji Finepix S5100, not to shabby, but an SLR isn't for me.

 

I just got a sony a100 (for the same reason as you - my daughter was born two weeks ago). Works great. I got it used from a buddy of mine who upgraded to the new sony a700.

The image stabilization from sony is VERY handy...

 

every pro i've ever talked to while looking for one for my wedding used a Canon. dont know about nikon

 

i know its not a dslr but i use my canon powershot s5... really good starter camera has 12 x zoom and u can customize the lens... only about 350.

 

A great buy for Canon dslr users is a fixed 50mm 1.8. I got mine for less than 100 bucks. Takes GREAT portraits.

 

Man I am in the same position as you, minus wife and baby...congrats though!

I've been doing much research and came up with the same options, plus the Pentax K10D, and Olympus E-410/E510.

Ultimately, what I've read is that as a first time SLR user you will grow into any
"pro-sumer" SLR you get. All four have got great reviews with each its pros and cons. Some that I can recall...

Nikon D40 has no focus drive motor which means you only get auto focus with certain lenses (AF-S and AF-I). This shouldn't be much of a problem unless you will be shooting continuously. You will find yourself manually focusing much of the time.

Canon XT/XTi has no spot metering. Not sure how important this is really...but I read about metering in photography books (Understanding Exposure).

Olympus and Pentax won't have as many lens choices (according to many forums) but the Pentax has Image Stabilzation. But lenses also have IS/VR (vibration reduction). These lenses are pretty expensive (again from what I read). IS shouldn't be huge factor except in low light situations and long zoom (telephoto) situations. Tripods have always helped solve this.

I am still stuck just as you are, but I really don't you can go wrong with any of your choices. I am leaning towards a Canon for my first SLR because I am used to Canon through their point and shoot cameras. The debate will go on forever, Canon vs. Nikon, but just remember the camera is only one part and can grow with all these cameras.

Hope this helped.

 

They pretty much covered it.

One thing I would like to point out is that if you are just going to use it for basic stuff. Think about lenses. If you not willing to spend another chunk of money on lenses, then take look at pentax K10D. The kit lenses came with K10D is one of the best of all the kit lenses in DSLR.

 

What is DSLR?