Camera Labs

First , I very much appreciate your very unbaised and clear review on the cheap and light-weight Nikon lens , which I was interested in and probably buying very soon with the Nikon D40X or D80.

Currently, I am a Canon user and not ditching Canon or anything like that but I need a second body and interested in getting another brand with some bright future.

My system :
1 EOS400D
2 EF-S17-85IS and EF-S17-55IS
3 EF-S60
4 EF70-300DO IS USM
5 EF100 f2.8 USM
6 EF-S10-22USM

I love all of them but I often need to travel with just a couple of tiny lenses like these Nikon lenses you just reviewed here.

I also appreciated your excellent review on the Oly E510IS, which I am also interested in.

I am probably getting the 40D as soon as it comes to Thailand but it will be some times in December and so I am really want to buy a camera for travel in a week or so since I am sending my XTI in Canon(need the sensor cleaning).

Currently , I am thinking of 4 cameras and I would like you to help me decide or make it easier for me to decide which one to buy in next week.

1 E510IS with the tiny kit lens, I am interested in the crop factor of the Oly that makes the ED70-300 like 140-600 , but as you can probably tell it by my current lenses , I am more into super wide than super tele photo area. Also,I felt Oly's AF was horribly slow as I played with in low light at my friend's house but he did not let me play with it long enough , soI did not confirm it yet.

2 Nikon D40x with AF-S18-55 and 55-200VR with SB400 , I am really interested in Nikon system as the company introduced its new D-SLRs ,I think the D300 is much better camera than the 40D at least on paper and Nikon has excellent metering, custamizable auto ISO and dedicated AF assist beam , which actually is very important to me since many people hate the flash assisting AF in low light on my XTI.

3 Oly E410 with a couple of kit lenses, which I love the look and feel in my hands but I am afraid to use any camera without any kind of stabilizer at tele photo range of zoom ,almost all my Canon zooms are stabilzied.
And, to be honest , I prefer the lens stabilizer with the stabilized view finder effect. Also, I dont see the price differential between these lenses from Sony or Pentax and Canon Nikon , I think they have in-cmaera IS so their lenses should be cheaper than Canon equaivalent lenses but in reality, the Sony lenses are much more expensive than my Canon lenses without USM.

4 Pentax K 100D with Tamron 18-250, I used this lens once and is quite good IMO , especially for unserious kind of travel photography. But I do not really like Pentax brand or any lenses they offer , I am not a big fan of primes or pancake style slow focusing lenses.


So my main concerns are :

1 if I choose the D40X , I will feel the AF ssytem very very limited or much slower than that on my 400D?

2 if I choose the D40X , should I get the 18-70 or 18-135 instead of the double zoom kit (these nikon models are very reasonably priced in Thailand since all of them are made in Thailand).

3 even though the Oly 510IS with just the simple kit lens costs 150 USD more than the Nikon double zoom kit in Thailand , is it still worth it?

4 Do you think Oly has any future, in my home country Japan ,many people belive Oly will sell its cmaera division to Panasonic like Minolta did .........and Nikon now seems like leading the Market ...I just hate to see some brand I choose will die out in future very soon , I had Minolta bfore so.

5 how is Oly's metering ? I am very much concerned with it because the IR review on it described how often it blew out highlight and shadow details with its very limited DR range. did you find the same thing as you review it ? Was the Kodak sensor any better than new Panny ? The E500 costs only 400 US here with 2 zooms while the E510IS with the kit lens 14-42 costs about 850 US. I think the Nikon D40X with 2 zooms 18-55 and 55-200VR costs about 750US here.




I know I am asking some very odd questions and sorry for that.

I am interested in Nikon and Olympus , not much in Pentax , though.

Thanks in advance.

PS.I think my main camera will be the 40D unless I'll decide to seriously invest some serious money into Nikon system.

Have a good one to all.

_________________
best regards.

Hi Derek, with your existing investment in Canon lenses, I'd be tempted first of all to go for a Canon body.

Also it's crucial to work out if you are after something to complement or replace your existing system... If it's going to complement it and be used in different situations, like very light travel, then I'd be tempted to recommend the model with the biggest difference - the Oly E-410 - which can't be beaten for size and weight.

The Nikon D40x is also a wonderful camera, but I feel it's too similar to your existing kit to work as a complementary camera. You'll end up preferring one and not using the other. So feel free to change to Nikon if you like its system, but it would probably be as a replacement.

If you're fed up with swapping lenses, you may also be tempted by an 28-300mm (equivalent) superzoom. The obvious choice is the Nikkor 18-200mm VR, but now Panasonic has pencilled in November for the stabilised Leica 14-150mm for Four Thirds cameras, then that's something you may wish to consider.

So I'd say, Canon if you want to use your existing lenses. Nikon if you want to swap altogether. And Olympus if you want something nice and small for travel, although Panasonic's new L10 could also be a contender in this respect...

See: http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panas ... x_DMC-L10/

Gordon

I got back to the reality and I decided to get a lens instead and probably get the 40D, which is what I actually want to buy any way....

For now, I get a 400D( the 40D body only is not available in BKK, I will have to buy with the 17-85IS, which I already have had for a long time) to cover all area I need , this means I will use 2 body system , one 400D with 17-55IS on and the other with my 10-22 on.

This way, I can cover 10-55range without swapping.

As for a light weight tele zoom , I will add the EF-S55-250 since this lens is so cheap in HK.

I think your right , I will get more Cnaon lenses , I tried the Oly at a local store , I did not like it at all (I can not stand using a camera without the ring USM or Nikon SWM), it is slow and the primitive AF of it miss focus all the time, and I feel it over exposes all the time because of the smaller DR of the sesnor.

I also played with the D40X but I hated the 3 pt AF system , too slow compared to my Canon 30D and 400D.

The D80 was attractive with the huge VF but I do not want to spend that much on my second sytem that would be used only for travel light purpose.

And I was shocked how badly built the AF-S55-200VR is , the lens had a plastic mount.

Well, there is no free lunch as you always say in your reviews, and I think it is really true.


Thanks alot , I did not waste my money.

_________________
best regards.

Hi Derek, glad to hear you made your decision - sounds like a good one...