[PLUG] off-topic: digital camera recommendation

[Rogan Creswick]

On 6/19/06, Chris Dawson <xrdawson at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is not Linux related, but I feel like asking this in the company
> of other geeks, so sorry for the off topic posting.  I am looking into
> buying a digital SLR.  I stopped at Camera World today.  I want a
> basic camera with removable lenses.  I liked the Nikon D50.  Does
> anyone have strong feelings for or against this?  Does anyone have
> other cameras between $500-$1000 that they would recommend?  Does
> anyone have a store locally in Portland, or a Internet vendor which
> they recommend?

I like ProPhoto supply on 19th and ..... the M street in NW Portland
(one block north of lovejoy).

I've been using a D70 for about 2 years and love it -- I wish it had a
splitprism or was a rangefinder, but thoes options aren't around in
the digital camera world yet.

The kit lens on the D70 is really nice, although it does vignette a
bit around the edges at the extreme focal lengths.  Batter life is
fantastic -- I've probably shot over 1k pictures on one charge +
downloaded them straight from the camera.  The D50 probably fixes
this, but despite advertising USB 2.0, the D70 only downloads at USB
1.1 speeds (easily fixed with a pcmcia cf card reader.)  I'm also much
happier with the controll layout on the nikons than the cannon's I've
used, that may just be me though -- I'm left-eyed, but right-handed,
so my cheek often gets in the way of controlls that may be easily
accessed by others.

I'm not a serious enough photographer to talk about color and noise,
so I'll stop here :)

dpreview.com is a great place to look, if you haven't read their reviews yet.

--Rogan