It wasn’t long ago that I set up my fancy Google Profile. If you haven’t set up your own, it’s a privacy advocate’s nightmare. This is a system whereby you willingly inject Google with your personal information to “improve search results” when people search for you. I didn’t give them the Full Monty, but you can find own everywhere I’ve lived, which may or may not be useful for … whatever.
The point is, last night, for the first time, I received an email through my Google profile from a friend. A friend who didn’t know my email address, and found me through Google. Profile. Man, this system is rock solid. He wanted to know if I had any thoughts on picking up his first digital-SLR camera. Well, I’ll let him tell you.
I want to get a DSLR camera for Christmas, but I do not know much about them. I was hoping that you could shed some light on what would be a good first DSLR camera for a first time user. I am interested in Nikon or Canon, but that is only because of name brand recognition. I am looking to keep the cost around $500.00 for body and lens. Any thoughts?
Do I have some thoughts? Sure I do. This one’s for you, Dave.
I’m a Nikon shooter myself, but haven’t always been so. My first DSLR was a Canon Digital Rebel XT. It was a terrific camera. Lightweight. Soft to the touch. Gentle on the wrists. It was a budding photographer’s dream. I’d been shooting Canon for years prior in the high-end point and shoot range, so the move to the XT was a piece of cake.
When I made the move myself, the ProPhoto guys were so gentle with me. And still, they left me with brochures about competing cameras, camera lines, lens availability, features out the yin-yang, too much stuff. Now that I’ve been shooting in more of a professional capacity for a few years, I’ve boiled my needs down to a simple 4-point system that can be summed up in two gorgeous words: User Experience.
Here are the two things that don’t matter at all when searching for your first DSLR camera.
- Brand religion. Nikon. Sony. Canon. Panasonic. Unless you’re on the market for a Hasselblad, the brand matters very little. See, all these camera guys do is spend their time trying to figure out how to get the upper hand on one another. That’s it. Low light? They’re all great. Noise reduction? Terrific. Lens speed? Damn near zippy. Every camera is leaps and bounds better than the nearest competitor for all of about 32 days on the market. It’s just something we get used to.
- Megapixels. Let this go, too. Unless you’re spending gobs of money on a camera with a giant sensor in it, all you’re getting in an entry-level DSLR with high megapixel count is a company jamming more pixels on the same sized sensor and trading off quality of image for the right to impress their dates. You are their dates. You should be unimpressed. A good 6-8 megapixel camera will give you more than enough picture for your buck once you learn the ropes, and you’ll have trouble finding one of those these days. Don’t be fooled.
But there are things that set cameras apart. This gets us back to my handy 4-point system. See, the single most important thing that you are buying in a DSLR camera is your ability to interact with it quickly. You have to be able to plug in to the thing, to make it bow down to you, to do your bidding when you think about what you want to do with it, not when you bend over in the shade so you can read some obscure dial or nob and pull out the instructions. By then, he’s already kissed the bride, left for the honeymoon, and secured their second mortgage on the family home.
What you’re buying is speed, and speed is in the User Experience. Some manufacturers get it, others don’t. So here’s the test, in four points. If you can look at the back of the camera and find these four features quickly, you’re in good shape.
- Camera Mode. On most DSLRs the camera mode is on a dial that offers some wee heiroglyphics along with cryptic alpha-numeric combinations. If you hit the right pattern, you’ll open a Stargate to Isis. Otherwise, you’re asking the camera to get itself all ready for shooting in certain preset conditions. Portrait, Landscape, Night, Action/Sports… those are pretty reliable, but most shooters I know spend the vast amount of their shooting time on “Aperture Priority,” which allows them to set the aperture setting manually, but let the camera get all the other settings just right given that aperture. Aperture determines how much light you’re letting through the lens — the lower the aperture, the more light; the higher the aperture, the less light. If you can figure out how to set your camera to Aperture Priority (usually marked by an “A” or “A1”, you’re in good shape.
- ISO. This is what sets the speed equivalent to film. ISO 100-400 for outdoor shooting — nice and fast, low noise, great for bright lights. ISO 600-800 for darker, indoor environments. Today’s DSLRs have insane low-light sensitivity; even the lower end Canon X1i hits 12,800 in it’s highest mode. Taking pictures in the dark with that one.
- Aperture. Now that you’re in Aperture Priority, you have to set the aperture. On my Nikon D3, aperture is controlled by a lateral scroll-wheel under my index finger, right by the shutter release. It’s completely intuitive, and it has to be. Learn to set aperture appropriately and you’ll master Depth of Field — how to get the backgrounds fuzzy and your subjects crisp. You’ll be using it a lot.
- Exposure Compensation. Look for the little plus/minus symbol and the button that goes with it. That’s an important button. Can you press it when you hold the camera up to your mug? Exposure compensation is the “nudge” that you give the shutter to make your photo brighter or darker, given all the other settings you’ve fixed. It’s the last bit of nuance in shooting the perfect family photo, and one that will make you the photographic hero of the crazy side of the family that you only send cards to.
Simple, right? If you’re really looking for your very first DSLR, it might not sound simple, but take it from me: if you can walk into a camera store and find those four options on the camera, you’re well on your way to taking absolutely terrific pictures. But don’t just find them. Change them up. Dial aperture way up, then way down. See how quickly you can move from setting your ISO to setting your aperture. Can you really set exposure compensation with the camera up to your face?
The most important bit here is that the control scheme makes sense to you. Nikon makes sense to me. The menu system is clean and very linear. The buttons are spaced appropriately for my hands and, in the case of button-dial combinations, they’re well thought out and intuitive after just a few tries. For me, Canon made less sense, and even after years of shooting with Canon, the menus seemed to be getting even less transparent. I switched. It just wasn’t how my brain was wired.
Dude. What about the photos?
They all take great photos. That’s the beauty of this discussion. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be taking great pictures and expertly navigating your camera like a Japanese schoolgirl on her DoCoMo. Here are a few models to check out.
Canon EOS Rebel T1i
Here’s a gander at the back of the new Canon EOS Rebel T1i. It’s a bit out of the $500 range at $799 MSRP, but the overage may just be worth it when you consider needs and usability.
Images courtesy of CanonUSA
If you can get the buttons working, this baby brings you full HD (1080i) video recording onboard. If you haven’t seen some of the footage coming from video shot on DSLR cameras, check out “Reverie” by Vincent Laforet to get a feel for what you can do. New baby video has never looked so good, plus you get the bonus of shagging only one camera on diaper changes.
Nikon D5000
Image courtesy of Nikon USA.
The Nikon D5000 shoots video, gives you 12.3 megapixels, and has some of the most intuitive controls I’ve used in the line. This camera is wicked fast where it counts — when you press the shutter. Nikon’s new line of digital lenses — a concept most photographers have frowned on for many moons — are starting to get noticed as well, meaning you’ll have lots of options when it comes to kitting out your new D5000 with new glass as you get to know your own shooting style.
Both of these cameras are in the $600-$700 range and frankly, that’s where I’d be starting my search. The D40 is the $499 Nikon starter, and the EOS Rebel XS is the $569 starter for Canon. Both are good cameras, but with the features they’re jamming into the line up with only a few extra pennies, you’re getting pro-level equipment at a fraction of the price that will last you years.
There you go, Dave. My thoughts on getting your first DSLR. Wherever you go with this, make sure the buttons and the menus work for you. Test them. Go to the store and take lots of pictures on them. Make sure you can be one with your new camera. Because the real secret to great photography is this: no one cares what kind of camera you used, if you can take pictures that make grandma cry.