Obsession #1 continued: Digital SLR evaluation, continued

OK, this tiresome post will continue - skip it if you are not really into these things.

To reiterate, four cameras very worth considering. All have received very good reviews.

The first step, to contain the obsession, is to drop the field to two contenders. To do this, I used two techniques.

The first was to compare the camera features and performance against my requirements. The dropped only one camera - the Sony DSLR-A100. Although I would love to think of myself as some great, famous photographer climbing mountains in the west taking pictures, the truth is, that I end up taking as many pictures indoors and at parties than anything else. Compared with the other three cameras, the Sony, while perhaps giving the "best value for the dollar", fell short in ISO 800 and 1600 performance. The lens relief with me wearing glasses also cut off the edges of the viewfinder.

This got me down to three cameras. Time to apply another technique:

How? Well, I applied one of my lessons learned over the years - "if you are going to use and keep something for a number of years, don't sweat minor or even moderate differences in initial cost. When amortized over the useful life of the product, even hundreds of dollars (over 10 years +) make very little difference in the end. Buy what meets your real and psychological needs".

I really feel this is good advice, at least if you are not really short of money (in which case you immediately buy the Canon or Sony - you win either way).

It was hard to let go (because initially this had been my #1 choice, and, as it often happens, the camera that got me into this market, along with my price expectations) - but this dropped out the Canon XTi.

The Canon is a great camera, and a fantastic value. It's image quality is essentially tied for first place. However, it has several small drawbacks that I think would have bugged me at some low level once I had seen the Nikon (and the Pentax, which I have not yet touched). First is the viewfinder. The Canon viewfinder image, which uses a pentamirror instead of a pentaprism, is visibly smaller and a tad darker than the Nikon and (I am told) Pentax. The camera is also a bit on the small side for my hands, compared with the Nikon. These are still fairly minor nits, however - but there nevertheless.

Finally, lens choices for the Canon vs. the Nikon lean a bit away from the Canon. Both manufacturers have image stabilized lenses (see future post on this) that cover wide angle to telephoto. And both have ultrasonic focusing inside the lens. However, with comparable image quality, the Canon requires two lenses for this, while Nikon makes a single lens (if one can get a hold of one) that covers the full range, with similar max aperture and quality. In the portability realm, this could actually make a significant difference.

This puts Canon in the #3 position.

Then there is the Pentax. I have not yet got to touch this camera. The reviews, though not perfect, have many positive things to say about it. It has built-in image stabilization, which is a plus, even if it may under perform the Canon and Nikon in-lens stabilization by a bit. At the moment, it really is not a contender, although this could change in the future.

Why? Lenses. Once again, I return to a SLR principal - "Make sure you consider the lenses at least as much as the camera. The camera just records the image. The lens makes the image."

As I write this, Pentax does not have any lenses with the quiet, fast internal focusing based on ultrasonic motors. Instead, a motor inside of the camera body turns the focusing mechanism. This is a bit slower and noisier. In addition, the newer Pentax lenses tend more toward the professional market, with none being particularly "wide range" lenses. At best, the zoom range of these lenses is a bit less than Canon's, and no where near the Nikon 18-200 mm "miracle lens". Pentax will introduce several in 2007, but they are also going to be full weatherproof, and I expect not very cheap. Especially since I will eventually need 2.

This leaves the Nikon D80. This will get its own post, but for now the biggest problem is availability of the lens, and cost of the overall system. If we can overcome these, I think we have the right long-term solution for me.