I'd like to know what equipment everyones got and why they love like hate it... Looking to buy a DSLR so what'd to suss out which I feel would be best...

Well My favorite is stil my 'ol Pentax ME mirrorreflected cam...with a bunch of changeable lences...widangle, normal, 2 tele (135mm)& (400mm) zoom (70 - 210) some filters & extention tubes... Love the flexibility :) Hate :( the veight - heavy to carry all the stuff & expencive to develope the pictures...but a compromiss is that I develove the negatives/diapositives & scann 'em into my computor. My digicam Konica Minolta Dimage A200.. It's light to carry. Can add external flash :)wich I think is great. allso iso between 50 - 800. Love the simplisity.. and it's able to shoot RAW as well. it's acquipped with a not removalbe/changeable lence a zoom 28 - 200mm. That is OK not extravagant.... But as I mentioned I can add those "adaptors" wich I only have experienced the tele...stil not impressed..when I compare to my old dito. Hate :( It's to slow!!! When I press the shutter...Very enoying!! RAW is timeconsuming and takes alot of memory. (I have 1 gigabyte memory) Autofocus is a bit disturbing.... Today I have choosed a "digicam" able to change lences..if I could afford it..and with a MUCH faster "shutterspeed" But I couldn't afford it then & I could'n now..so My old one & my new one they're a great team :) Good luck to U :) Puss & kram

Canon Powershot Pro1. I like: Its size. Its rather small for an 8MP "enthusiast compact". It produces incredible macros. And great pictures all together. Easy to operate. Fast in sequential shooting etc etc. Dont like: Its slow. The shutter takes forever to react. And the autofocus aint too quick either. Thats why i never ever use it. Only manual focus. And also the ISO could have been better. Reaches from 50 - 400....and it gets really noisy after 200. In conclusion....i LOVE my camera. Cant think of a better compact. And the day i get myself a DSLR i will still keep this one for macros etc. Good luck indeed!!!

Canon 350D love its instant start up, mirror lock up, very usable ISO from 100-400 hardly any noise, still very good results from 800-1600 using noise reduction plug-in in PS, produces RAW and Jpeg files at the same time, hardly have to adjust anything that much in PS after converting RAW in Phase Ones RAW converter.

Hates, Its plastic, probably wouldn't take that many knocks, very small for a DSLR, shutter is not instant almost but not quite and no weatherproofing.

Lenses. Canon 100-400mm L I actually like the push-pull zoom, razor sharp for a zoom but not as sharp as a "L" prime like Jimbo's 500mm "L". Hate, its white and you stick out like a sore thumb.

Canon 16-35mm L just like the above but its not white so no hates there.

Sigma 105mm macro sharp and contrasty, good value for money (which I always like) Hate, auto focus is piss poor, continually hunting so I always focus manually.

Sigma 14mm which I use for landscapes very very sharp if I'm at a location with a tripod I always use this lens for wide-angle landscapes. Hate nothing.

The best advice I can give you is if you buy a DSLR, it doesnt matter what body you get, always buy the best lenses you can afford even if you have to wait and save for it.

Hope this helps and it is only my opinion

I have a Canon G6 I like it because it is small enough to fit in a large pocket. It takes top quality pics. that will print big enough for most uses. It is versatile enough to give me creative control. I hadn't thought of it as a like but looking above it definitely is - it will focus on anything even in complete darkness and has a movable focus/metering point. Noise reduction is especially good on long exposures. It has multi swivel lcd so can be used in virtually any shooting situation eg above head in a crowd, pointing at you, etc. etc. (no way could I have caught my reflection in the simon image if I hadn't been able to see it). Dislike: The brand name. It doesn't have a bulb setting and I want to take pics. with exposures of longer than 15secs.

I have that Canon PowerShotA400. We have a love/hate relationship. Can't do action, no extreme macros, focus is slow and with 3.2 MP the quality aint so hot:) However i'v exposed it to water, fire and has been dropped many times. So it's mighty surdy!! However to make up for the lack of quality, I have to be creative with my shots and learn how to make use of those 3.2 MP:) Ohh it was also ultra cheap^^;

Canon 1D Mark ll Love: The pictures, instant on, usability of the settings, superb build in your hands...feels like a manly camera. Although a little bulky for smaller hands, it works well for me. At 8fps I can shoot sports, birds, and other action shots requiring sequential shots. Speed is a big advantage of this camera. With 8.5 fps burst mode and extremely fast shutter response plus big buffer you won't miss a shot. No shutter lag and a 24 image burst is always a plus. LCD is bright and sharp - zoom in and you can tell if shot is in focus and sharp. Has many custom functions built in that a quite usable with a little understanding. ISO up to 32oo and more shutter speed than you will need for any situation. Battery on this camera just doesn't seem to die...I can go a week of normal shooting and not kill it. Dual charger is good to have but seldom needed. This beast is built like a tank, and meant to be taken out and put through it's paces. Hate: Just a couple issues with me, but it comes with the territory...With a good size lens on, this camera can be heavy when hand holding for any length of time. (Nothing a monopod or tripod couldn't handle). But I have accepted that fact, and it really is a non-issue for me any more...in fact holding my old 10D makes it feel like a toy compared to the Mark ll. Price...lordy this camera can put you in the poor house especially if you have "L" fever like I do. Nothing you buy for this camera is cheap, but you certainly get what you pay for~ Hope this helps in some way... Aloha Dave~

Attached Link: Gary Ayton

I don't have a DSLR, but will add my 2 anyway. I've got an Olympus C8080 Wide Zoom. It is pretty close to having a DSLR without worrying about all the additional lenses. I love it's portability, image quality, many manual controls, and it's wide range of uses. Still, I wouldn't mind being able to interchange lenses and to have things like image stabilizing and such, but for now it does the job. Cost was certainly a factor for me. I have a hard time justifying spending thousands of dollars on something that is at this point only hobby, though lords know I would love to. ;o]

Check out the link. This guy uses a C8080 and lists why HE likes it. A neat site to visit anyway, especially for his IR work. He also gives tips for buying a digital camera.

Message edited on: 02/16/2006 10:55

Attached Link: http://people.zeelandnet.nl/picard/html/equipment.html

All my SLR's are Nikon here and I love it :) Only downside I can think of for my D70 is that the viewfinder is quite small compared to the F70.

I have a Canon 20D Various lenses all Canon some better than others (par for the course) Likes Love the 20D, instant start up 5 fps when I need it, fast write to card, metal body, very durable. (free upgrade from 10D via repair or replace) Grin, excellent image quality and noise handling, can produce superb large prints, Shutter lag, what does that mean? not much to fault it on. Canon T70: A real workhorse and still in perfect (but well worn) working order. 580 EX (superb cant fault it) 420 EX (lacks flash exposure compensation) apart from that cant really fault it. MR 14 EX (superb cant fault it) Manfroto 055 Pro tripod with Manfrotto 141RC head, very sturdy. Canon i9950 A3 Printer, superb print quality, economical on ink, single inks, fast and quiet (so the misses doesnt get annoyed when printing at 3am lol) Logan 301s matt cutter (almost idiot proof matt cutting system) Dislikes As DSLR's go I cant really fault it, if I was being really picky the one thing that is a little frustrating, is the mirror lock up being buried in the menus (come on canon how hard can it be to add a custom mirror lock up button?) Only 6 frame RAW buffer. (Not an issue most of the time) Didnt like the small viewfinder at first but used to it now. Its not a 1D or 5D lol Misc Toyota Yaris: Love it and it almost runs of vapor (its black too so it matches the 20D body lol)

Love : Fuji Finepix 4900z Ok, it's about 4 years old now, but it still does everything I want. More, actually. I admit it ain't as flexible as a DSLR, but at the time they were 3 grand..... so for only 550GBP it's totally been worth the money and has paid for itself at least twice over with developing costs. My previous camera was a Fuji point and shoot, my next camera will probably be a Fuji.... they've made quite an impression on me. My beloved Epson printers.... still sitting back in the UK sob..... the 220 that does my CD's and the scanner / printer / card reader combo.... both unbeleivably better than HP or anything else I've used. Oh, and the USA/Colorado...... people great, views great, can't wait to actually get into those mountains for some decent pics! Hate : Well, just dislike, not an actual hate..... the focus time is a little slow so it does make some fast moving spur-of-the-moment shots out of the question. That'll be solved when I get a DSLR ;-) And missing the UK...... being able to smell the sea.... walk along the beach..... have somewhere to fly a kite... (",)

Whacha gonna get? ;] Welcome back from your wanders Mike!

I have Canon 20D. Would have loved Canon 5D but the Canon 20D here in Australia is a third of the price of the 5D. Plus i think in another year or two another camera will come on the market with even better features then the Canon 5D. As you probably know from my lens thread that i am trying to work out the best tele photo lens. Cost so much but worth it in the end. With Canon you can use other cheaper lens with camera if needed. Choice is upto you. Once you know your price range have an exploration on the net. Work out what you need. Chris:)

Cant tell ya mine or my house will get burgled!!!

Attached Link: Spider

Well if you are interested in what the 20D can do I have just done a shot with the 100mm Macro, this lens is pin sharp and is a good example of the detail that the 20D can produce.

Mind you, if you dont like spiders DONT LOOK!

hmm... started with my Canon AE1, which got me real good slides once upon a time and had lots of possibilities because of the lenses to change.. but alas to heavy, to much to carry on me for alldays
Nowadays it's a Canon Powershot S40, a small compact digital camera with a lot of possibilities and a real good quality. Advatage is it fits in all pockets, disadvatage: battery unloads to quick and you have a lag, so snapshots are not easy to take
Last tries with a Nikon Coolpix S4 (my father bought it), which I love because of the good qualitiy closeups an its 6 million pixels. There also the batteries are to quick to go.
Now thinking of a Canon Powershot S2 IS to buy..but...well I will see...grin

Don't mind spiders at all... Tx for all the input... Now that I read everything and have lloked at lens prices I'm not so sure about a DSLR anymore maybe just the Panasonic FZ30 for a bigger print and manual controls. The biggest thing I hate about my cam is the auto focus (NO MANUAL OPTION) and the poor macro option look 5cm is okay. But I want more!!! Reading all of your burst modes and ISO's I suppose mine isn't bad at 3.6fps burst (memory dependant) and ISO of up to 400. Another peev is the noise in night shots and shot shutter range. Noise at ISO 400 in daylight too. I suppose it's a touch and go thing for me now... Maybe I'll just get a diff all in one compact... There's a new Sony out that's got excellent super macro... Argh, I hate thinking of it. I'm also scared to buy over the net coz of returns and equipment repairs...

I have Panasonic FZ20...very nice pics. Then I got a Konica-Minolta 5D SLR. Both cams hava anti-shake..built in so no special lens required...cool feature. My Minolta has a bigger CCD...much bigger than the Panasonic. This allows for larger censors that capture more light/greater tonal range/color...much better ;-) It is obvious when comparing similar photos...With SLR I have learned...a nice lens makes a big difference. I recently got a nice 100 mm Macro for the Minolta. Amazing how much sharper it is than kit zoom lens at equivelant focal length. Kit lens works well though...Many benifits of SLR...faster, many more accesories.....:-) I still don't know how to use my SLR as well as I would like to...but I realize it is very capable...and I do know enough that I feel comfortable recommending an slr as opposed to advanced compact.