[Pauler]

i am wanting to get my first slr. i dont have a whole lot to spend on it, so i was wondering what i should get. a friend of mine said the canon rebel xt was a good starter camera. i dont know what the comparable nikon is, but either way...pros and cons of either camera...and where i could go about finding one. i have looked on ebay and they seem to be going for ~$200.

oh also, what accessories do i need? i know i will need a cf card...prob about 2gb. i am also assuming there will be a decent lens that comes with the body.

[Cam42]

My mom has a Sony a330 that she loves. It takes SD and Memory Stick, and has HDMI out. Photos are excellent..

[Rainer.]

The comparable Nikon is the D40. The lens that comes with these cameras is... workable. Again, rule of thumb is when you get to the pro-level, lens cost is gonna be way more than body cost.

That said, yeah the D40 or XT will be decent cameras. They're about as basic as it gets.

[Pauler]

a friend of mine is selling the below for $800...good deal?

Nikon D5000 body w/ neck strap
AF-S DX 18-55mm Lens
AF-S DX 55-200mm Lens
Polarizing Lens for taking pictures in sunlight
Battery and battery charger
USB cable for connecting to computer
2GB memory card
Nikon Bag

[Rainer.]

$900-950 is around what you would pay for that package brand new.

[Pauler]

the sd card is a class 6 8GB Promaster SDHC. will i really want a class 10?

[Rainer.]

Depends on what you want to do with it. If high speed high quality shooting is a priority to you, then higher speed cards are definitely a good thing to have. But if you're not, then it's not really too big of a deal. Events, sports, wildlife, things like that are nice to have fast cards for.

[Luder]

The reason for fast cards, is if you are shooting in burst you want the camera to write to the card fast enough to not slow down your shots. However, most cameras will have a buffer, say 8-10 frames or so, that it holds onto BEFORE it starts writing to your card. Unless you will be shooting a continuous burst that is more frames than your buffer, you will not notice any detrimental effects from a "slow" card.

I have a d5000, and it is an excellent entry camera, but I regret not getting a d90. See if you can get your hands on a d90, it has a focus motor in the body, allowing you to use older (and thus cheaper) AF Nikon lenses, instead of being limited to the newer (and more expensive) AF-S lenses if you want to have autofocus. d5000, along with the d40, d60, d3000, etc, all do not have a focus motor in the body, and rely on the lens to have one in itself.

[RipVanWinkle]

Hah... I have some cheapo card for my 7D (granted, its a different class of camera), and the buffer is something like 79 pictures. Even with 8 fps, I've never got close to filling it...

Paul, I wouldn't worry about that too much

[Luder]

Exactly, most people will never exceed the buffer, and really do not have the need for a faster card.

[bobthecockroach]

Originally Posted by Luder

Exactly, most people will never exceed the buffer, and really do not have the need for a faster card.

Man, this is just the most perfect timing ever: