Digital SLR Reviews: SLR Reviews

Simple Review
I'm not a professional photographer, I use my camera as a hobby. This is the first major upgrade in a digital camera for me in ten years. Yeah I know, I know. But I waited until the right camera, with the right amount of megapixels for the right price came out. I don't like buying gear every three or four years becuse I just want to have it.

So why I choose this the Nikon D90 camera?

I get a camera that is fast enough (very important for me) so I don't miss a shot.

I want to be creative with my photgraphy, and wanted lots of features.

When I need to do large poster prints, I can do that with the high 12.3MP count. (I had 3.5MP with a point and shoot before this!)

It's the right size for my hands! Very important. I never see anyone address this issue when shopping for a camera. I have large hands and long fingers, a small camera is very difficult to work with and is not very comfortable. Do yourself a favor go to any store and put the camera in your hands before you buy it! Does it feel solid in your hand? Are your fingers cramped? Is it to heavy or to light?

The Movie mode was the tie breaker that made the difference between Nikon D90 and the Canon 50D.

The Nikon D90 is more camera than I know how to useright now, but as you will notice from other users who have bought non prosumer cameras in the past they grow out of them fast. I'll have this camera until they come out with 36MP cameras (when ever that is). I'm looking forward to having this camera for many years and building my collection of lens slowly but shurly.

Nice camera....I recommend this but....
I wanted to put a few words in review about my recent Amazon purchase of the Canon XSi. I am not a hardcore amateur and consider myself more interested in documenting the growth of my two daughters with quality photographs then I am about the techinical art of photography. Throwing it up and there, shooting, and having a reasonable outcome is my primary objective. I am also fully aware that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I certainly do not want to take anything away not from those people who do. I appreciate and respect beautiful photographic work. For my situation however, I looked at several different cameras in this price range and settled on Canon. Primarily because I had a Canon A1 for years and always thought highly of their cameras and lenses. I looked at the Olympus E520 and probably would have bought the D90 if I had wanted to spend that much money. I think the XSi was ultimately the best value. I placed my order through Amazon and eargerly awaited its delivery. I received it in time for Christmas and out of the box was able to figure out enough about the camera to get some great Christmas shots of my two girls. Once I came inside however...there were problems immediately. When operating in lighting environments where the flash was required the camera failed alsmost continually. This was manifested by Err 99 messsages in the viewfinder. This as maddening especially with all the nieces and nephews over for Christmas morning gift unwrapping. I finally had to abandon the the XSi and revert back to my wife's point and click. A dubiouos beginning to say the least. Later, a little reserach on the internet and I found that many other XSi customers had similar issues with this camera. There are various remedies posted on various websites but mine was to return the camera to Amazon for a replacement. This part of the experience was outstanding. I requested a replacement on Friday and my new XSi arrived the following Monday. Amazon did not wait for the return of the broken camera and paid for the price of return shipping as well. Out of the box I see now that my new camera works much better. There is slight pause when you fire off multiple frames under flash. The camera will say BUSY but will not lock as the other one did and this passes in maybe 2 seconds. All in all..I am happy with the experience and was happy that Amazon did such a good job getting a working camera to me. Oh..one more thing....I bought the "Dummies Guide to the Canon XSi" ....that is a very nice companion to the purchase of this camera and possibly the most beautiful "Dummies Guide to ...." that I have ever seen.

Works for me
I agree with most of the reviews that I have read on this product. It is well worth the money. I don't have a bunch of lenses lying around so I can't compare it to any other lens. For the basic user (like me) here is what I found:
1) the basic lens that comes with the Canon cameras goes up to 55mm. This is not very much but I did notice when using this new lens that we had a hard time zooming out so we could get everything inside a room. I don't know as any lens can do it all but you will want to keep your old lens.
2) if you get a zoom lens, you will want IS. I talked to a couple of friends that went the cheap rout because they didn't know why the IS lens cost so much. They said that unless you are outside on a very sunny day, the non-IS lens is worthless.
3) If your wife wants it for Christmas (like mine) you will score major points with this lens :-)