Here is Part 2 of Basic Digital SLR, where I look at choice of brand and body.

• Part 1 -- Style: Compact digicam vs DSLR
• Brand and body choices
• Lens options, and why I picked what I own
  • Canon EF 35mm f/2.0
  • Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
  • Tamron 75-300mm  f/4-5.6 LD
  • others I'm interested in
• Shooting pics
• Development workflow
• High Dynamic Range imaging, or what to do when it's very bright and dark in one image.

Brand:  The big players for the pro-sumer DSLR market are really Canon and Nikon. Other choices are Pentax, Olympus, Sony and Fujifilm. This choice was easy. I've got 5 co-workers with Canon DSLR's, various models.  They like 'em. They can help me with the ins and outs of Canon, and we can sometimes share lenses and accessories (thanks Kevin!). If you don't have a brand loyalty, go for whichever brand offers a model with the features you want.

Body/Model: In a DSLR, you usually purchase the body and then lenses to go with it.  You can also get a "kit" lens, or a body and lens together as a package.  Usually the kit lenses aren't that great.  Once exception is the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.  More on that later.

Canon offers a wide line of DSLR's in their EOS line, from the entry level EOS 300D, through the 30D, 5D, and up to the awesome pro 1Ds mk II.  What are the differences?  Too many to list here.  I settled on the EOS 400D, also called the Rebel XTi.  Why?  Better features than the 250D and 300D, for very nearly the same price.  The next step up to a 20D or 30D was too expensive, and I didn't really need the features of those models.

What do I like about the EOS 400D/Rebel XTi?

• Size -- It's a bit smaller and the lightest EOS model.  Makes it not so bad when carrying around.
• Continuous shooting -- it can take 3 shots/sec for 27 JPEG or 10 RAW images.
• Dust-removal system and anti-dust materials in the body.
• LCD displays camera settings, and turns off automatically when you hold it up to take a pic
• 10 megapixel image. That had better be enough pixels.
• Histogram display on the LCD after shooting helps you adjust your exposure.

What don't I like about it?

• Size -- (heh).  The grip size is a bit small for my hands, so my hand cramps when holding the camera for extended periods.  Being a lighter body, larger lenses tend to overbalance it.
• Auto white-balance under incandescent light is poor.  I'm always adjusting indoor shots by hand. See workflow discussion, later.
• The optical viewfinder seems a bit small. I like the one on Kevin's (30D?) better.

Would I get it again?  Sure...it makes shots like this worth it:

Next article: Lenses!