ur budget can get both but then both wont do good for landscape

u got 18-55? okay already for landscape if dun have, u can juz get a secondhand non-VR version, landscape no need VR, tripod is the way to go. shud be ~rm350. thinking of selling mine but wanna wait until i got money for replacement lens ;P

once got enuf money can get tokina 11-16 or nikkor 10-24

well, we have to be realistic... 18-200 not in ur budget mah but wait a minute...u using D5000? if like that u cannot use 50mm f1.8D. can is can la, but have to manual focus. get 35mm f1.8G instead, shud be around rm850. for 1.5k u need to decide u want the tele lens or normal prime 1st...

can i be ur very good friend too?

1.5k i dun think can get anything brand new...2nd hand dslr can la but takkan wanna give 2nd hand stuff as birthday present rite...

1.5k can get a high-end compact, e.g. panasonic lumix LX3, canon S90 or canon G11. that way he can still learn about photography. all three got full manual control, LX3 n G11 can play with flash, filters and converter lenses if he wants... and equally important, he can learn the basics like ISO, aperture, shutter speed. even better, when he decides to get serious into photography...he can buy a good DSLR himself later but still can use the compact (sometimes bring DSLR too much of a hassle). if u give him entry level DSLR, then in the future he decides to buy expensive DSLR, the entry level one collect dust only....or sold

well not really...even for products, DSLR can take better pictures... better colour, more sharp, etc. if u can increase ur budget to rm1k, can get 2nd hand nikon D40 with 18-55 lens... can shoot much better products shots than any rm800 compact dy

550D is a good choice already. type of photography depends on lens. for your budget i think you can get 550D + 18-55 lens + 50mm 1.8 lens (for portrait n bokeh).

another good combo is nikon D90 + 18-105 lens + 50mm f1.8D lens (for portrait n bokeh)

between canon or nikon u decide urself, dun let anyone talk you into one brand, not even the salesperson. last time i survey dslr in kch, i rmember copal digital in spring bias towards sony, the branch in saberkas bias towards canon. both canon n nikon are very solid choice dy, it's really up to your preference. if u like the 550D then juz get it

1st thing u shud know, in order for AF to work, need focusing motor. this motor can be in the camera or lens. D3000 and D5000 dun have..so we can only AF with lenses that has the focusing motor. if the lens no focusing motor, AF won't work. the 50mm f1.8D dun have motor.

in the current nikon lineup, only D90 and above got focusing motor, so they can use the 50mm f1.8D

so as i said, for d3000 and d5000, need lens that has motor. for nikon lenses (nikkor), only the AF-S series got. so if u want to get something similar to the 50mm 1.8D, get the AF-S nikkor 35mm f1.8G (~rm850). most of the pics on my flickr are shot with that lens, u can have a look else u can get AF-S 50mm f1.4G (~rm1800). remember it's the 1.4G...the 1.4D is ~rm1k but wont AF too

This post has been edited by dvlzplayground: Apr 27 2010, 10:50 AM

if u shoot inanimate objects shud be okay. for people, make sure u get a patient model to wait for u to focus manually

bokeh is kinda like blur2 parts of a photo, purpose is to make the background less distracting n more 'dreamy' effect i suppose. go a google image search on Bokeh u'll see what i mean. there's a bokeh gallery in the photo gallery section too

about rm1.8k can get the cheapest DSLR.. nikon d3000 or canon 1000D. other brands i dunno

2k MAX no way u can get 500D, 550D or D5000. have to be realistic with ur budget. juz get nikon d3000 kit or canon 1000D kit unless u wanna save up more. buy the kit, normally comes with 18-55 lens. gud enuf to use until know what specific lens u need in the future. plus, it's cheap

calculate like this... 105 divide by 18 is 5.83.. meaning it has 5.83x zoom. 18-55 lens is 3x zoom. both quality are very similar, and both are suitable for landscape. the difference is the 18-105 can zoom further when u wanna shoot something else

D90 is better than 550D, which in turn is better than 500D. u dun need to get 2nd hand... rm5k is a lot! u might be able to get a 2nd hand nikon D300s too, much better than the D90 (and 50D i believe).

the cheaper camera u buy, the more u can spend on lenses n flash later

chill dude...that was a correct reply. he's saying both nikon D3000 and canon 1000D are great cameras already. nikon fanboys will say D3000 is better, canon fanboys will say 1000D is better. the truth is both are at the same level, that's why anyone reading every single reviews in the world could not make a decision. that's y u couldn't make a decision too.

it's a matter of personal preference, particularly the menu. so since you're buying for someone, it's pretty tough since you dunno either ur friend prefers nikon menu or canon menu. another thing is the feel... the cheaper canons tend to feel for smooth and light, compared to nikon which are rough and solid. about image quality, build quality, etc...they're really the same. that's the thing about canon vs nikon (entry level at least)...comparing performance etc wont do any good.

juz get either one, whichever u think u friend would like. there's really no way for you to pick one here unless u find out ur friend prefers nikon or canon. another idea is to get the brand her friends use (if she has any kaki-dslr friends)

lastly, mind your language

ppl need to stop comparing megapixels :S d90 is closer to the 50d than the 550d

both 550D and D90 are okay for beginners. u juz need to decide to go for canon or nikon. eventho d90 performance is better, some people still prefer 550D anyway cuz they like canon instead of nikon.

u can read more here: http://ninezerothree.wordpress.com/2010/03...amera-shopping/

u already got ur technical comparisons from those reviews u got. no one is going to waste time laying them out for u. this is a DSLR we're talking about. and if it's true that u mentioned u know how to operate a DSLR, u should know how important the menu n controls is, n how the difference between D3000 and 1000D are not that important when actually taking pictures.

there's really no way of saying d3000 is better or 1000d is better. a person who prefers a nikon menu would say d3000 is better, a person more comfortable with canon menu would say 1000D is better. you asked for our opinions, and this is our opinion. end of story

i've suggested that before. need to collaborate with other people too. i only know about nikon :S too many ppl asking about d3000/1000d, 500D/550D/D5000/D90 already here. so tired to reply :S

um not wise because it's hard to learn without having a camera last time i got buy a photography book, but my PnS no manual mode, whatever i read straightaway eject from my head since didnt to it practically heheh. maybe can borrow a camera with manual controls from someone n learn about the basics 1st la i guess hehe.

yup i agree. plus, if u get high-end compact, then one day suddenly decide to get D90/50D, the compact is still useful didnt regret buying LX3 hehe

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Added on May 2, 2010, 2:17 amif by D2000 u actually mean D200, then get D200 much better than D40x, plus got AF motor~



This post has been edited by dvlzplayground: May 2 2010, 02:17 AM

d200 was high end in 2006, a100 and d40x is entry level in 2007.

aiya.. haha personally i prefer D40x over D3000. the features are very similar (d3000 got 11 AF points instead of 3, got sensor cleaning) but d40x is much cheaper. if u can find a used d40x (or even d40, more worth it than d40x IMO) in a good condition for ~1.1k, that's a very nice price dy i have no idea about the alpha though

well, when using normal PnS sometimes no inspiration wanna improve also hahah. learning the dslr basics like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, WB, flash etc is easy la actually. i believe there are some very good photographers out there who probably cant even get good SPM results the hard part is creativity. this is a hobby after all, so either u want to explore or not, your call

LX3 and FZ35 are two different cameras for different purposes. LX3 has a bigger sensor, meaning wins for image quality and low-light. LX3 also has a faster lens, advantageous in low-light (again). LX3 has a wider lens, so it does landscape better than fz35 but not much difference lah. generally LX3 is the better camera, its reputation speaks for itself...see how many recommend dy

fz35 wins for zooming obviously. so for portrait, i suggest fz35.

both nikon D3000 and canon 1000D shud be around rm1700-1800 now. if u want high ISO then DSLR is ur best choice. kinda noisy at 1600 but tolerable la compared to compacts. LX3 ISO performance is pretty bad, i wont go above 800 (if i do use iso 800, it'll be for black n white only). S90 and G11 is slightly better.

n of course DSLR would give u better colours juz the size la, dunno u ok or not

picture quality is slightly less than s90, g11 n lx3. the only advantage is zoom

u guys dun read previous posts?

to those ASKING ABOUT ENTRY-LEVEL DSLRs budget of 1.5k-3k

you might wanna read up on the previous pages of this thread. this same question was asked so many times before, and you'll always get the same reply.

thx

This post has been edited by dvlzplayground: May 4 2010, 10:28 PM

picture quality sure the DSLR win

if u dont mind only 720p, i think canon 500D with 18-55 lens, plus 50mm f1.8 II lens is a better combo for rm3000.

not sure about camcorders

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Added on May 5, 2010, 1:56 ambtw for video, u shud get a tripod too

This post has been edited by dvlzplayground: May 5 2010, 01:56 AM

50D is out of ur budget. as u posted, body only is already rm3650, the rm350 balance can only get 50mm 1.8II lens. not wide angle at all

i suggest 550D + 18-135 lens

i have no model recommendations for u, but nikon point n shoot is not really good compared to panasonic / canon / fujifilm. anyway "digital camera" is very broad a description, u're looking for "point and shoot".

since u mentioned indoor and landscape, it's really weird for ppl to recommend u to skip the kit lens for the 50mm 1.8 it's good for portraits though. for indoor, quite hard to use in small rooms

i think for rm4000 u shud be able to get 550D + 18-135 + 50mm