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Any professional photographers here?


LEVEL 75 PALADIN

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With recent graduation and Christmas coming up I was thinking of asking the rents for a for a DSLR.

 

Photography is one of the few things I still enjoy and I'm looking to make a career out of it as opposed to a desk job atm.

 

I feel that coupled with with good work, a nice camera will say "I'm serious" to employers.

 

I've been leaning towards the Nikon D300,

 

00298_nikon-d300-dslr.jpg

 

but at over 2000 dollars I thought I'd ask if any of you are in the field or knowledgeable enough to help me with my decision.

 

Do I make the plunge? Or are there equivalent cameras for cheaper?

 

Is the fact that the D300 has been discontinued a sign that I should wait? (The new model does video which I don't care about).

 

Name brands, for better or for worse, are important in the field of photography, so no Sanyo brands please!

 

Thanks in advance.

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My friend is all up on this stuff.

She has a DSLR but claims that although it is a great machine, you get most of the desired effect and such from shelling out the cash for good lenses.

 

Depth of field and bokeh type shit.

Maybe you should start out with one of their lower end models until you know for sure you will be doing this stuff long term. You can get some models for under $500. Still DSLR just not super pro models.

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I've got a Nikon d90 and it's a pretty good camera. I started out with a d40x a few years ago. Of course the d300 is a great camera but I would start with something a little less and then use the other money on filters, lenses and flash stuff etc. But really, you can't go wrong

 

I think this is a good idea.

 

Santa might be down with dropping 1k rather than 2 as well.

 

Good looks everyone.

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Go play with some nikons and canons. People are always going to argue that one is better than the other, but at the end of the day, they both make good products and its going to come down to which has an interface and options that you're more comfortable with. Also, if its your first dslr, definitely go with a slightly cheaper body and save some of that loot for some lenses. You can have the best body in the world, but if your lenses are garbage, it doesn't really matter.

 

The D80 is another one to consider. Slightly cheaper than the D90, but you'd have to go comparing stats on your own since its been awhile since i've looked at them both side by side. Those are both kinda in the high end of consumer, not quite into professional level gear in a lot of peoples' opinions, but couple them with a high quality lens or two, and you'll be fine for any sort of job short of top of the line professional shit.

 

Also, when buying bodies and lenses, keep in mind that if you stay with the same brand, your lenses will last forever. Thats the main reason people are going to suggest you get a cheaper body and spend the loot on the lenses. That way when you decide you want to upgrade to a nicer body a few years down the line, you already have all the lenses you need. If you spend that extra loot on the body right off the bat, you may be waiting those couple of years before you actually get the lenses you want, which isn't ideal at all.

 

Most importantly though, go to a camera store and fiddle around. I'm a Nikon user, but you very well could pick up a Canon and like the setup of it a lot more. They each have their pros and cons, but as i said, for most people its really just a matter of preference.

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If I ever own a leica I think it would have to be a film one. buying a hasseblad with a digi back would be one thing, because you could always upgrade it as you needed, but with a leica, you pay so much I would hate to put such a short span on it. with a film leica you're gonna own that bitch till you die. which will be long before the camera gives out.

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I use a Pentax K-7 and sell prints sometimes, although it's more of a hobby.

 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=canon_eos50d%2Cnikon_d300%2Cpentax_k7&show=all

 

If you do a comparison on the mid-range cameras from Nikon, Pentax, and Canon, they all kind of end up having features so near identical to each other that there isn't much of a difference except weird things that Pentax builds in... in body shake reduction, some weird resolution of HD video like 1538x1024 30fps.

 

Weather sealing was what drew me to the K10D which I had last. It survived at least 5 midwest ice storms and 2 Florida monsoons hanging around my neck without a bag even, no water inside, even turned it on in one of the storms once I got under cover... worked dripping wet. I don't really know where Nikon & Canon are at in this area right now so I can't comment on them.

 

Nikons are nice too, a D700 would have been my first choice had I had unlimited money to replace all the fast primes I'd be losing by switching companies.

 

Canon seems to be having a large series of bad quality control issues throughout their line in the past several years so I wouldn't really recommend them to anybody.

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