A friend of mine recently asked me about cameras and whether I thought buying such-and-such was a good idea. I’m really not one to tell people what to buy and not buy, but I do like to make them think about their options and their reason for wanting to buy anything in the first place. It’s a fair question though, and one that many people ask, so I wanted to share my response with my readers as well. Hopefully someone will find this information helpful in their own decision making process.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about the things I could say and what’s really important. The first thing to decide is if an SLR is right for you. You have already discovered one of the reasons to go to SLR, and that is the fine selection of lenses to choose from. The huge number of standardized lens options is really the biggest advantage of stepping up into an SLR camera. The big cameras typically have many more shooting options as well. (I’m not talking about preset “modes”, but actual settings and the ranges they cover.) Some smaller cameras do have most of the same adjustment capabilities, but the full SLR body allows for more intuitive control of those options. If you’re willing to tote the big camera and learn to use it, the big camera will treat you well.
Once you decide to go to SLR you need to choose a manufacturer’s camp. I choose Canon because I had a history with them and they were the first to market with the sub-$1K consumer DSLR. Still, there are plenty of people in the Nikon camp as well, and I don’t try convince anyone that either one is better then the other. There are others besides these big two, but I think going with one of these will give you the most options in the long run.
That being said, if this is your first SLR, you might want to go for the consumer-target model that fits your budget. You don’t need a lot of fancy stuff yet, and even the entry-level models have enough options to make your brain spin if you’re used to a point-and-shoot on full auto. You can always upgrade the camera body in the future once you understand the limitations of whatever model you went with. (To speak to that model that you asked about, the D90 looks great and I know a lot of people who have chosen this model. I saw few differences between that and the D5000 though just looking at the specs, and one is significantly less expensive than the other.)
The other thing you were (or will be) eying up is the nice zoom lens. The “glass” should be (or is going to be) a significant part of your camera investment. Lenses that are just OK aren’t too expensive, while good lenses will cost as much as the camera body or more. Provided you stay in one camp or another, the lenses you buy will last you through at least a few camera bodies. I picked up a long zoom lens early on to go past where the kit lens that came with the camera could take me. Much later a picked up a “prime” 50mm lens for nice light in portraits. It’s nice to have a few lenses to choose from depending on what kind of shooting you like to do. Zoom, macro, wide, prime… there are plenty of styles out there. I bought mine new, but plenty of glass moves through things like eBay as well.
Lastly, you’re going to want to consider off-camera flash too. Having a nice strobe to get the light up and off the camera will make a big difference with your photography. They have a lot more power than any on-camera flash, and also have the ability to tilt and twist so you can bounce the light off walls and ceilings. (I also recommend looking at flash cables too so that you can really have the flash off and away from the camera, but wait on that for now.) Some flashes also have a focus-assist option that puts out a faint red grid for the camera to focus on in low-light conditions. I was intimidated by the flash at first but now I don’t leave home without it.
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts. It’s a big camera with a lot of options, but if you’re going to use it then its a fine investment. Even if you leave it on “auto” most of the time you’ll still be very happy with it. Being able to swap out to a longer lens will really help with the soccer games, and being able to fire off a few shots quickly without waiting for the camera to decide how to take the shot is a nice feeling too. (I joke that I was frustrated with the point-and-shoot’s notorious “thinking” delay, and now the DSLR lets me take bad pictures as quickly as I can push the button.) If you just want snapshots, go for a pocket camera. If you want options and control over your pictures, go for the DSLR. And remember, it’s not all about the camera body… it’s about light and what you do with it.
-Josh
