Which Digital Camera is the Absolute Best Entry Level DSLR Camera?

Find the perfect camera for your needs!

Entry level DSLRs are the next step up from the best Compact Digital Cameras. The most obvious difference is the ability to change the lens. But there are some other advantages from a control standpoint that differ from the basic Compact Camera.

• Exposure control and exposure compensation - you can manually change the settings on a DSLR, giving you much more control over the output.
• Shutter lag is much less on a DSLR - pressing the button gives you almost instantaneous images. Shutter lag creates problems when trying to focus on a moving child or a sports scene when using a Point and Shoot camera.
• DSLRs have a view finder. This is becoming much more difficult to find on Point and Shoot cameras. The view finder gives the photographer a much better view of the subject, especially in very high lighted areas.
• DSLRs "look" very professional. You will always draw comments and envy from those around you when you hoist your DSLR to your eye.

Olympus E-620, Nikon D5000, or Digital Rebel T1i

Olympus E-620

The Olympus E-620 just entered the market in February, '09, yet it is making a big impact on the Consumer DSLR Market, especially with Olympus fans. Olympus has always produced reputable cameras, but they have not had the marketing clout of the Big Two (Canon and Nikon).

The two major things that bring the E-620 to this page are:

1. Superior Image Quality
2. Value for $$$

Here is quote from www.imaging-resource.com:

"As it has been from the advent of the SLR -- with the brief exception of the OM-10 -- Olympus SLR quality and unique utility remains the secret of the company's longtime fans. With each new camera, though, Olympus gets harder to ignore. Considering its features against its low price, the Olympus E-620 is easy to admire, and certainly worth a closer look."

So here are the particulars:

• 12.3 Megapixel Sensor
• Image Stabilization (in the camera body, not in the lens)
• Kit Lens - 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Lens
• ISO 100-3200
• LCD - 2.7" with "vari-angle" tilt and swing
• 4 fps continuous capture
• 16 Scene modes

Olympus has always been known to produce high quality cameras and lenses. The E-620 fits the Olympus mold. Plus you get a camera with the ability to add extremely high quality Zuiko lenses. The camera + the lenses make this a very desirable combination.

Nikon D5000

While the Nikon D5000 is not the newest in Nikon's entry level DSLR lineup now that the D3000 has been released, it is my recommendation as of this time. The tilt and swivel LCD, along with high quality video make this camera a winner in the entry level DSLR category.

Features and specs:

• 12.9 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor (effective pixels: 12.3 million)
• 2.7" tilt and swivel LCD monitor (230,000 dots)
• Movie capture at up to 1280 x 720 (720p) 24 fps with mono sound
• Live View with contrast-detect AF, face detection and subject tracking
• Image sensor cleaning (sensor shake)
• 11 AF points (with 3D tracking)
• IS0 200-3200 range (100-6400 expanded)
• 4 frames per second continuous shooting (buffer: 7 RAW, 25 JPEG fine, 100 JPEG Normal)
• Expeed image processing engine

The Nikon D5000 has taken on its Canon rival, the Rebel T1i, and the results are impressive. Nikon has a winner in the D5000 It is truly and awesome camera at a reasonable price.

Canon Digital Rebel T1i
(aka Rebel 500D)

This gem of a camera is a step up from the XSi in terms of development. You will notice that this camera name has a numeric representation of 500D while the XSi is a 450D. This only means that the 450D was released before the 500D.

Does that make sense? Good.

Canon has a series of cameras in the "professional" market that are considered by many as the top cameras on the market. Canon has taken many of the features of those cameras (the 50D the 5D) and incorporated them into the Canon Rebel 500D. The major difference in the upper end cameras is the sensor - a technical issue I will not discuss here, but suffice it to say that there is a major difference in price because of that one item.

Now for the features: (thanks to cnet.com}

• 15.1 megapixel sensor - capable of printing HUGE pictures
• 3" LCD panel, which has good quality even in high light.
• Digic 4 processor (this is how the camera processes the pictures. It is a much better processor than most point and shoot cameras, giving you a mega-advantage in the image quality)
• Kit lens is 18-55mm with IS (image stabilization - helps you take pictures that are not blurry because of camera shake). This kit lens has been a vast improvement over its predecessor.
• Plenty of shooting modes (see camera image), including Creative Auto Mode - a brand new feature for the 500D, which point and shoot owners will recognize as a feature in your better compact cameras. The camera makes creative decisions for the photographer.
• Video - a new feature for the 500D. It takes 720p at 30 fps(frames per second). It does take larger video at 1080p, but the speed drops to 20fps, which means the quality also drops. Use the 720p option when shooting video.

Recent prices for the Canon T1i have been dropping. Because of that, it is becoming much more attractive as an up scale Entry Level camera.

The Bottom Line:

This is a really tough call. Olympus has producing fine cameras for a long time, and their Olympus E-620, entry level DSLR has been very well received by the photo community. And the Canon Rebel T1i is piling up quality points in the entry level market as well. But I am going with the Nikon D5000 in this market category. The technology and features in the D5000 are impressing all the geek reviewers.