Nikon, Olympus or Sony?

[Raycer]

welcome to new Nikonian

[Raycer]

congrats and welcome to fellow Nikonian.
Enjoy!

[Colin Southern]

Well, rightly or wrongly, I am now poorer and will shortly be batting for team Nikon in the monthly challenge.

Ahhhh - another soul forever lost

Congratulations Dave - looking forward to seeing the first shots!

[Bill44]

Congratulations Dave, a wise choice of brand. (Colin has been brainwashed)

On the subject of light for focusing, when you have a speedlight fitted (SB-600, 800, 900) there are a pair of focusing lamps fitted to the flash unit, they just throw a subtle red light for focusing just before the flash is taken. You will also find the Nikon flash system to be far more sophisticated than the Canon method.

[Mossy]

You will also find the Nikon flash system to be far more sophisticated than the Canon method.

Paying a caveman to dance around waving a torch around is more sophisticated than the Canon method </troll>

[Colin Southern]

Paying a caveman to dance around waving a torch around is more sophisticated than the Canon method </troll>

Canon EOS Flash is actually VERY sophisticated ... unfortunately not many understand it, and thus often get psudo-random results accordingly. Amongst (many) other considerations for EOS flash, people need to remember that white objects reflect more than dark objects -- and this needs to be taken into account with EOS flash exposure just as it would with normal exposure. Many don't take this into acount and get "the result they told the camera to give them" rather than "the result they thought they wanted". It's my understanding (which may be wrong) that the Nikon system isn't that smart - but often delivers a better result because of it (or put another way, the Canon EOS flash system is often too smart for it's own good - one that can "buck and kick" a bit if you don't know how to tame it).

I think that there are also differences in the basic philosophy - Nikon tend to emphasise flash exposure in a scene, whereas Canon tend to have a more neutral exposure -- or to put that another way, if you want the Canon EOS flash to look like Nikon, set FEC to +1 and the reverse is you want a more neutral flash out of a Nikon.

[Daniel Salazar]

Hi Dave, with a little bit of sorrow I would like to congratulate you, I'm sure that it wasn't an easy decision, however now I can say that you're another who follow the masses

....being serious, congratulations and hope we could see more pictures and that you enjoy taking them

Just one recommendation, when buying a flash, then buy a Metz!

[Bill44]

Just one recommendation, when buying a flash, then buy a Metz!

Only if you can afford the bits and pieces that will make it work on a Nikon, otherwise stick to Nikon.
Metz are great flashes, at the price they would want to be, and in my film days that's what I used. Now, with the Nikon CLS system I'll stick to Nikon.

[Felipe]

Mmmmmmm...

I see you already made up your mind but I'm not quite sure you are on the right path.

If you need a tilting screen so badly it's because you're gonna use live view. Am I right?

You also say that you want to use the video functions (poor on the D90, I don't think they are gonna be any better on the D500)

Then, I read you are choosing a do-it-all lens, to avoid shifting lenses, I guess.

My conclusion: you don't need a DSLR.

I own a D90. I NEVER use live view. I paid that amount of money, among other things, to focus fast and sharply, and to avoid shutter lag. You loose that using live view.

My recommendation: think it over. You need a Superzoom, maybe. I can make no recommendation on that matter, but I'm sure there are plenty of good cameras. And you'll save money.

Or... maybe you need the brand-new Panasonic Lumix GH1.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Felipe,

Unfortunately you're a week late, I got the D5000 last Saturday.

I had a superzoom, but the small sensor size, low quality, tiny buffer were the main bug bears.

I did get a superzoom equivalent lens though, and yes I know that compromises quality - but not as much as on a superzoom.

You are correct, the live view focusing is horribly slow on the D5000, even compared to the Fuji I had, but fortunately, having gone to a shop and tried it against a Sony A-350 and a Panasonic GH1, I still plumped for the D5000, primarily on lens range and (arguably) sensor size. Having tried them out, I knew the worst before I made the decision.

In the week since acquiring the D5000;
I do like the speed of viewfinder focussing of the D90/D5000, I can attempt birds in flight now, never possible on the Fuji without pre-focussing in blank space and waiting for a bird to fly past the right distance from me

I have used Live view to take a picture with the camera held above my head to frame and focus a subject against a better background than was possible at normal eye height.

The other thing that's proving a blessing and a curse in equal measure is depth of field, great for isolating subjects in many circumstances, but a pain for close up work.

Anyway, the sun's out so I better go and use it.

Regards,