Thanas wrote:DEATH wrote:I have no experience with the Pentax, from what I understand it's good value and has good weather sealing for its price, but I'd still avoid it in favour of a Canon, Nikon or Olympus.
Olympus is out for memory card reasons. But is there a specific reason for why you'd avoid the pentax?
Cheap 3d party lenses (Which you can't get easily with a pentax), or excellent first party lenses and flashes. Not to mention if you have support for the PEntax in your area (ISrael lacks it entirely).
If you want to do a lot of indoor stuff, then you'll want good high ISO (light sensitivity) capabilities. Do you intend to print a lot of your photos for museum purposes?
No, they get used in powerpoint presentations or as illustrations in books.
Illustrations? Awesome! At any rate, in that case you couldn't care less about MP count then.
As for the Nikon, are you aware of the upcoming
Nikon D5000? It's an upgrade to the D60, it has the same guts as the D90, and from what i've seen it's a good deal better than the Canon (unless you really need the MP for big prints, as in larger than A2). Nikon also has an awesome Macro lens, the 70-210 lens, which is also a zoom (though it isn't as good at light gathering as the Canon prime), you could have a lot of fun with that.
I'd recomend going with the Nikon D5000, if you really want the D60, then wait a bit, it's price is going to plummet. The D5000 also has movie making capabilities if that interests you. (Also, the 18-200 Lens is fucking convenient and sweet. I'd go with Nikon for that alone, let alone the ergonomics which are supposed to be better than Canon's).
I have handled both Nikon and Conan, there wasn't that much of a difference IMO.
I found myself enjoying Nikons far, far more (Though I have a Canon), but fair nuff'
But the D5000 costs me about 400 Euros more, and I don't really want to spend that much. The prices for the cameras listed were all about 450-600 EUR, whereas the D5000 costs as least 900€ according to the catalogue.
The D5000 is very good though, and has considerably better Autofocus capabilities, better low light sensitivity, etc'. Your call, but I'd go for the d5000 in your case, or i'd wait for the D60's price to drop (due to it being replaced).
Anything else about your needs?
Is there any difference in the focus quality? I noticed Conan using a five-point focus system, is there any benefit to that over the Nikon one?
More focus points are better, although the speed of the system also matters. (The d5000 has 11 points), A five point system is "better" but I don't know if it's faster or more accurate.
Canon has a superb (digital only) MAcro Lens, the EF-S 60mm 2.8, that would be perfect for your museum stuff, and would make a great portrait lense. Any decent zoom would work for people walking, a good Sigma or a Canon lens (What's your lens budget?).
My lens budget is about up to 150$ for an extra lens, the standard lens would be included in the deals offered to me.
Hmm, not enough for the 60mm macro, pity. You could get the Canon 50mm 1.8 Plastic fantastic for that price though.
You might want to try negotiating with the vendor to swap the kit lens for something a bit better, a standard 3.5-5.6 kit lens is going to be crap for indoor low light use without a flash.
If anything, would you recommend me getting a good lens for zoom or for wide angle? My old non-digital lens (28-70mm, made by Sigma) had a good zoom and that worked fine for me.
Get a good zoom. Much more fun, more convenient and the difference in optical quality isn't something to bother you overmuch. (But as I said, you'll want a prime for cheap low light work).
Intended use in detail? (Hobbyist or for work?)
Both. I'll mostly use it to photograph museum pieces and a few of my friends dancing ballet, with the first one being used for my work as lecture materials. Other than those two special uses, I'll just use it as a normal camera.
Ballet is...Ouch. (Moving objects, indoors, low levels of lighting). Does your museum allow the use of a flash? If not, then as I said, you might find yourself needing low light capabilities, and a macro prime lense would be ideal (and relatively cheap) for that purpose, while also being a cheap "sorta zoom".
I am also a bit confused as one salesman used to praise the pentax in great detail because apparently it is extra-special dust resistant. How much is dust a problem if the camera is probably locked away in the camera box? Is dust really that big of a problem and if it should happen, what are the costs of removing it from the sensor?
Dust resistant is what I meant by weather sealing, namely less moisture or dust creeping in over time. It's not a problem to clean a camera sensor from small amounts of dust, just get a "lenspen"/puffer to blow the dust, or take it to be cleaned, shouldn't cost you more than 20$. You'll be using it in moisture free environs though, and not a lot of sand/dust either, so weather sealing is irrelevant to you.
Dust is a problem, but not tricky to remove, and shouldn't be much of concern to you unless your museums are unbelievably dusty & dilapidated or your name's Indiana Jones
.