Recommended SLR Camera Gear for the Uncompromising Beginner

So you want to put together an excellent camera kit without spending much money one gear. This is what I would recommend for general purpose shooting.

Camera bodies keep advancing at a very fast pace. What you get today will probably get replaced with a more feature rich model in 18 months. Therefore if you have a strict budget, it is not very advisable  to go for an expansive camera body. However lenses are almost made for ever. A good lens today would be just as useful 10-15 years from now. In my opinion, its better to invest in good glass than a pro body when u start with photography. You can always upgrade you body later and still use the same good lenses on it. I suggest some of the best affordable lenses that you can buy. Two of the three mentioned here are from the Canon's Luxury L series

 

• Canon EOS 400D / Rebel XTi

This is the best value for money when SLRs are considered. Plenty of features. The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi has a newly designed 10.1 MP Canon CMOS sensor plus a host of new features including a 2.5-inch LCD monitor, the exclusive EOS Integrated Cleaning System featuring a Self Cleaning Sensor and Canon's Picture Style technology, all in a lightweight, ergonomic body. The EOS Digital Rebel XTi is compatible with all Canon lenses in the EF lineup, ranging from ultra-wide angle to super telephoto lenses, and including Canon's EF-S series lenses, manufactured specifically for Canon's APS-C sized digital sensor. An EF-S 18-55mm is included in the EOS Digital Rebel XTi Lens Kit. 1.6x Lens Focal Length Conversion Factor Image Sensor Type - High-Sensitivity, high-resolution, single-plate, CMOS sensor 3 - 2 Aspect Ratio Recording Format - JPEG, RAW, and RAW+JPEG simultaneous recording provided USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Interface, mini-B port, NTSC/PAL for video output Viewfinder Type - Eye-level SLR with pentamirror Shutter Speeds - 1/4000 to 30 seconds Self-timer - 10 seconds delay, 2 seconds delay with C.Fn-7-1 (mirror lockup) Continuous Shooting Speed - Approx. 3 fps (at shutter speed of 1/250 sec. or faster)

 

• Canon EF 17-40 f4 L lens

Excellent for Wide Angle, General Purpose and Landscape photography. a bit short for portraits in my view.

• EF mount; ultra-wide zoom lens
• Super Ultra-low Dispersion glass; inner focusing; aspherical lens; full-time manual focus
• 17-40mm focal length
• f/4 constant maximum aperture
• Ring-type UltraSonic Motor (USM)

 

• Canon EF 50mm f 1.8 

Lightweight and affordable, this sharp lens with a fast f/1.8 aperture is an excellent first lens for those who prefer a fixed focal length, and makes an excellent addition to any photographer’s system for available-light shooting. A traditional Gauss-type optical design ensures sharp performance even wide open, and it focuses as close as 18 inches/0.45m.

A medium telephoto lens with a large aperture brings the subject closer, creates excellent background blur, gives a longer flash range, and affords a faster shutter speed to freeze the action. A standard zoom lens, with its natural angle of view and perspective, captures the subject plainly, with no special effects. However, you can use standard lenses in creative ways by varying the subject distance, aperture, and angle.

• Great general purpose lens for low light shooting. Also good for portraits. Excellent deal when you consider the price is only 80$.
• Strongly recommended for most general-purpose photography
• Designed exclusively for use with Canon SLR cameras

 

• Canon EF 70-200 4 L USM

This is Great telephoto lens for a great price. I often use it for outdoor portraits and even for landscapes.  This high performance L-series telephoto zoom lens ensures excellent image quality for every photographic situation and milieu. Filter Diameter - 67mm Lens Construction - 16 elements in 13 groups Minimum Aperture - f/32 Focus Drive - Ultrasonic 76mm x 172mm 705g

• EF mount; telephoto zoom lens
• Ultra-low Dispersion glass with Fluorite elements; inner focusing ring; full-time manual focus
• 70-200mm focal length
• f/4 constant maximum aperture
• Ring-type UltraSonic Motor (USM)

Canon EOS 40D Preview

This is the latest of Canon's Semi Pro Camera Offering. Offers a evolutionary upgrade to the popular Canon EOS 30D.
Some of the Key Features of this camera are

• 10.1-megapixel CMOS sensor captures enough detail for photo-quality poster-size prints
• Large 3.0-inch LCD display with enhanced Live View and broadened color gamut
• 6.5 frame-per-second continuous shooting capability (for bursts of up to 75 Large/Fine JPEGs or 17 RAW images). Excellent for Sport shooting
  
• sRAW mode; 35-zone metering system; integrated Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit

The camera has a 5 Star rating and Multiple great reviews at amazon and will be a hot seller for the holiday season.

Buy now from Amazon.com: Canon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera




Detailed Specifications
Display:
The most easily visible upgrade on the EOS 40D Digital SLR is the camera's larger 3.0-inch 230,000-pixel LCD screen (compared with the EOS 30D's 2.5-inch monitor). Canon broadened the color gamut, and narrowed the viewing angle from 170 degrees to a still wide 140-degree perspective in all directions. An added advantage of the larger-sized display is the ability to use a larger font size for text, making it easier to read setting and menu options on the screen. The camera's menu is organized in the same tabbed format as the EOS-1D Mark III Digital SLR.

Viewfinder increases optical magnification from 0.90x to 0.95x, expands the viewing angle from 251 degrees to 264 degrees and raises the eye point from 20mm to 22mm.

Durability
Camera is made of Magnesium Alloy
The EOS 40D SLR also retains many of the outstanding features of the EOS 30D model, such as its fast 0.15-second initial start-up, its extremely durable shutter (rated up to 100,000 cycles), its top shutter speed of 1/8000 second, and 1/250 maximum X-sync flash shutter speed setting.

Improved Image Quality
Although it is based on the image sensor used in the EOS Digital Rebel XTi, the EOS 40D Digital SLR's 10.1-megapixel CMOS APS-C size image sensor has been significantly improved thanks to the use of larger microlenses over each pixel to reduce noise and expand sensitivity up to ISO 3200. The EOS 40D retains the model 30D camera's 1.6x focal length conversion factor (compared to full-frame digital image sensors or 35mm film) and is compatible with the full line-up of Canon EF lenses as well as the Company's expanding selection of high-quality, affordable EF-S lenses created specifically for Canon digital SLRs with APS-C size image sensors.

Adding to the improved virtuosity of the images captured by the EOS 40D SLR is the camera's 14-bit Analog-to-Digital (A/D) conversion process. Able to recognize 16,384 colors per channel (four times the number of colors recognized by the EOS 30D SLR's 12-bit conversion capability), the EOS 40D camera is able to produce images with finer and more accurate gradations of tones and colors. The EOS 40D also incorporates the optional Highlight Tone Priority and High-ISO Noise Reduction functions first introduced earlier this year with the EOS-1D Mark III Professional Digital SLR.

DIGIC III
DIGIC III is the latest generation of Canon's proprietary image processing engine. DIGIC III technology ensures that the fine details and natural colors of the images are optimally recorded and, as an added bonus, is also responsible for the EOS 40D SLR's high-speed performance, faster signal processing, and even its efficient energy consumption.

sRAW
In addition to retaining the RAW image capture capabilities of its predecessors, the EOS 40D SLR now offers a more manageable "sRAW" recording format. In sRAW mode, the number of pixels is reduced to one-fourth that of a standard RAW image and the file size is cut in half, while retaining all of the flexibility and creative possibilities associated with full-size, conventional RAW images.

Other Hot features:

• Improved Autofocus and Exposure Control
• Live View
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System

This camera can be purchased from Amazon here

Preview - Canon EOS 400D / Rebel Xti

Canon EOS Rebel XTi - 400D

What's Hot about this ?

Canon's latest Entry level Digital SLR that packs a lot of punch

• 10 MP CMOS Sensor

• 3 point dust reduction technology

• dust shake off from the low pass filter

• construction from dust resistant materials

• software based dust mapping and removal

• 2.5 inch LCD

• RGB Histogram as well as Brightness Histogram

• Continuous shooting at 3 frames per second

• Large image buffer that holds 27 JPEG or 10 RAW images

• Nine point Auto Focus

• Picture Styles (previously available in 5D)

Recommended for

If you are serious about phtography and upgrading from a point and shoot camera.

One of the best entry level SLRs available.

If you want to learn photography and improve your pictures.

(The previous model of this camera Rebel XT is also still popular and really worth looking at as its available much cheaper than the XTi)

I have owned this camera for over an year. Checkout My Flickr Gallery for more sample pictures taken with it

Other cameras that you might want to consider

Nikon D40X, Canon Rebel XT (350D)

Buyer Beware: There are a lot of scam operators trying to sell cameras at a very low price. Keep away from them and buy from reliable dealers only. I recommend going to websites like http://welcome.bbb.org/ and http://resellerratings.com before making the purchase

Or buy it from a reputed store like Amazon