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My first Film SLR
My first SLR camera was a VIVITAR V3600 with a Macro focusing Zoom 28-70mm, 1:3.4-4.8 KIT Lens. Me and my brother together bought this camera along with a SIGMA ZOOM 100-300mm, 1:4.5-6.7 DL Lens.
Which Camera
When I was young, I was fond of Assamese children magazine "Mouchaq" & "Natun Aviskar". Those two magazine impacted deeply in my life. From the publishing house of these two magazines there was a book for children named "Photography Xikoo Aaha" means "Come lets learn Photography" . That was my first learning lesson about photography but without having a camera in my hand.
The first camera I owned myself was a Fixed lens Kodak camera at the age of 14, which was the cheapest camera in the market at that time (INR 495 ). I took some photos with that camera, not any great photos, just some photos.
In the middle of the year 2001, I had the first opportunity to take a SLR camera in my hand as me and my brother bought one VIVITAR Film SLR camera kit with one extra Sigma lens. I will write about this camera later. It was a pleasant experience with this ALL MANUAL camera, but I could not afford much photography with this camera due to the film development and printing cost associated with it as I was only a student at that time. But my brother took lots of photos with this camera and he still use it.
My third camera was a Sony Cyber-shot DSC W35. I really do not appreciate this camera. Camera was good, no doubt, but only for kids or family persons to just keep some moments in frame.
Now, to the main point. Which one should be my next camera? I did a lot of search about D-SLR cameras for last couple of months. But could not decide till now. From my perspective it will not worth me to go to cameras beyond Nikon or Canon. So I got some limiting boundary. Next point -how much I can afford! I got my limit to 30000 INR after so many calculation about my budget for next one year. In that range there are only five cameras there, Nikon D5000, D3000 and Canon EOS 1000D, 450D, 500D. But I discarded Nikon D3000 from my list as it has a CCD sensor what I don't want at all (my electronics engineering degree comes into play in that decision). Left with one Nikon and three Canon. Canon EOS 450D is near extinction from the market & its features are almost same as EOS 1000D. So I have to compare last three cameras left in my list.
1. Canon EOS 1000D
2. Canon EOS 500D
3. Nikon D5000
After reading a few reviews in www.dpreview.com, I decided to look at what DXOMark (www.dxomark.com) say about this three. I am putting those graphs right below.
A) ISO Sensitivity
B) Signal to Noise Ratio
C) Tonal Range
D) Color Sensitivity
E) Dynamic Range
Below there are some pictures from http://www.digitalreview.ca .
| Nikon D5000 with AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR Manual Exposure Mode 1/15sec f/13, 6400 ISO | Canon Rebel T1i with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Manual Exposure Mode 1/15sec f/13, 6400 ISO |
| 6400 ISO Crop: Nikon D5000 with AF-S DX 18-55mm VR High ISO Noise Reduction On (Normal) | 6400 ISO Crop: Canon EOS Rebel T1i with EF-S 18-55mm IS High ISO Noise Reduction On (Standard) |
| Nikon D5000 with AF-S DX 18-55mm VR f/3.5-5.6G VR Nikon 420-pixel RGB 3D Colour Matrix Metering 'Close Up' Automatic Scene Mode | Canon Rebel T1i with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Canon 35-Zone TTL Evaluative Metering 'Close Up' Automatic Scene Mode |
| Nikon D5000 with AF-S DX 18-55mm VR f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens Av Exposure Mode f/8, ISO 200, 'Auto Active D-Lighting' On | Canon Rebel T1i with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens Av Exposure Mode f/8, ISO 200, 'Auto Lighting Optimizer On' |
| Nikon D5000 with AF-S DX 18-55mm VR f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens Built-in 'Automatic Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction' Feature | Canon Rebel T1i with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens Chromatic Aberration can be seen along roof edge (purplish line) |
From these tests I can now conclude that Canon EOS 500D is not value for money. Nikon D5000 is superb in this range. Canon EOS 1000D is good but main drawback is it don't come with IS lens kit in India.
So my next camera will be most probably a Nikon D5000 or a Canon EOS 1000D if I go for more value for money at the time of buying.
