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I haven't had a digital slr for a few years now and miss taking pictures. I'm gonna get myself one next month. I was looking at the Pentax K20D, Canon EOS 40D & Nikon D90. I know the Pentax's live view is basically useless, but out of the 3 cameras, which has the best image quality straight out the camera? All I want is to just take it with me on holiday and also i'm going on a trip next year to somewhere like malaysia, brazil or maybe japan to get out there seeing the world and photographing it. I just wanna take pictures and then have to do as little editing as possible in adobe.
I used to have an Olympus E500, so are these 3 cameras a lot better than the E500? About 95% of the pictures i'll be taking will be landscapes.
Hi Richard,
I have not used either the canon or the Pentax, but as a Nikon D90 user I can stongly recommend this camera, it is well built, easy to use and it's 12mp delivers good quality images.
But i have to say that the image quality is down to having a good quality piece of glass in front of your sensor.
If I were you I would go to a local dealer and get a bit of hands on experience with each camera and choose which one you prefer the feel of and find easiest to use. Then, buy the best lens you can afford to go on front of it, a short tele photo would be a good choice if you wish to photograph landscapes.
Regards
Paul
I think you have asked a question too broad to give a specific answer. for what type of photography and with what lenses. All 3 are capable cameras, but each has different strengths and weaknesses. And all 3 will give there best when shooting RAW and post processing images. You may want to think lower down the range for your requirement.
Given your requirement stated so far, would a camera like Canons G10 be better?
Questions. what size will you be printing, low light or not, with or without tripod, what sort of battery life do you want???????
One of THE most important criteria for capturing an image is...
'How does this camera feel in my hands? Do the controls fall NATURALLY to hand? (or do I have to think about to much first? 
) Am I happy with the way the lenses come off? (assuming its an SLR)...
There are FAR more important things to consider BEFORE one starts to get to the 'last three' in terms of which particular camera...
Quote: has the best overall image quality
I think you will find it hard to get a definitive answer. Very few of us would have direct experience of all three - that's why reviews are useful.
I doubt that any of them would disappoint.
I have a 40D and love it but I couldn't comment on the straight out of the camera quality as I have rarely done it.
Starting from scratch I would follow the advice to go and try them.
Brett
Quote: so are these 3 cameras a lot better than
This type of question is very difficult to answer.
Each camera on your short list has enough resolution at "landscape apertures" (mainly f8-f16) to produce a good A3 prints of landscapes using most of each manufacturers lenses.
In that sense you cannot go wrong buying any of the three.
If you are going to concentrate on landscapes other factors such as been in the right location in the right light, use of tripod, and perhaps use of a polarizer or graduated neutral density filters can be, and often are, more important than the camera brand.
Basically I just want to just use a kit lense, i'm not after spending hundreds and hundreds more on a lens. I'm not after a telephoto really so a 18-55mm or 16-45mm lens will do. Live view is a definate good thing and so I guess the Canon is tops for that. I know the Pentax has pretty useless live view.
Is there much difference in image quality between the Canon 30D & 40D? I know you can buy the 30D now for as little as £300 used. I'd then have quite a bit of money left to buy a decent lens. Probably about £400.
You will get 3 different answers, there is not much to choose between any of the ones you mention really.
You would have to be super critical to say one is much better than the other.
As is often said its the lens that makes the difference anyway.
To answer your question about 30D & 40D, last year I changed from 30D to 40D- it was worth every penny because of image quality- they were punchier and sharper. Add to that the better handling and faster response times & there is no contest!
Quote: Live view is a definate good thing and so I guess the Canon is tops for that. I know the Pentax has pretty useless live view.
Nikon D90 also has live view... likewise my D300 but I could count on the fingers of one hand how often I've used it...
Amongst all the comments above, the most useful is to try them in a shop..if its Nikon then 18-70 or 16-85 for general use.
But I'd also agree with a suggestion above (considering your intended use) to have a glance at Canon's G10 (or G9)..a "compact" that's extremely robust, and the next best thing to a DSLR. More "pocketable" too... a G9 always travels with me, in addition to all the heavy stuff....!
I think the truth of the matter is you will get great pics from either of the cameras. I also doubt if anyone could tell you what images came from what camera so I would go with what feels best, is the best price and what allows growth if you want to later on. From your requirements you might also what to consider a good bridge camera.
I think i'll probably go for the Canon EOS 40D then. I've just seen the reviews on the camera labs.com website and watched the youtube videos of the cameras and from what the guy says, it seems that the EOS 40D is about the best, but obviously there's not that much difference between them. It seems to have the best live view feature, and for me live view would save time and help me get the image as focused as I can.
I remember when I had my old Olympus E500 it use to take me roughly 4 shots to get the exposure right. Mostly I used exposure bracketing, but then it annoyed me having to look through so many different exposures of the same image when editing. I love the fact that you can really get zoomed in when using live view on the EOS 40D to get a really sharp focus.
I dont really fancy going into the shop to test thgem because I wouldn't be buying it from the shop. You can get them online for a lot chepaer, and I need to save all the cash that I can.
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