Good Deal for first DLSR?

[jmbproject]

Hi guys I just wanted to ask if this is a good deal.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/dept.asp?logon=&langid=EN&catid=20221

I wanted to buy my first dslr and I wondering what to buy for starters.

Thanks!

[StevieSpeed3]

I would go into broadway camera and get them to throw in a UV filter when your present them with what bestbuy has it on special for.

Either that or Id check out buying used, can usually pic up a better camera...

[jmbproject]

^^ Thanks Stevie

[levitron]

http://estore.canon.ca/product_catalogue/refurbished.asp?category_id=3

^ Canon's refurb site has some pretty good deals too.

[w00tgasm]

I've noticed that Kerrisdale has lower prices in-store vs. Broadway...
Check them out too.

[rancid]

It all depends on what you like to shoot.  Also depends on how you like the pictures produced by the different manufacturers.  I personally use Nikon.  I have a D200 and D40 which I use on very regular basis.  I actually like the pictures that come out of my D40 over my D200 for portraits.  So a $360 body vs a $1200 body.  They both have their strengths.

If this is your first DSLR purchase a Nikon D40 is a good choice and you will have more than enough features to play around with and perfect your skills.  Canons are great as well but I didn't find the menus as easy to navigate through.  I also didn't like the way the pictures for portraits turned out....At that time I looked at the 40D and the rebel as well.  Both produced similiar pictures.  Play around with the different brands and see which one you like best and go from there.

I would recommend not looking at what's "the best" out there.  There really is no best IMO.  What is great for a camera for someone may not suit someone else.  Pick the system that's easy for you to use and one that produces the quality and results you like.  The only thing I would strongly advise is to invest in a good set of lens.  Bodies come and go but the lenses stay.  If you develop good photography skills you can use just about any camera to make good pictures.

If you want to test out the systems, bestbuy, futureshop or london drugs have a good return policy.  I tried out 3 different systems before I settled onto the nikon. 

[jmbproject]

Thanks a lot guys for all your inputs.

I saw a picture which all the background is black and white but the car is colored.
Is this one of the things you can do in photshop or is there any free online website that you can do that kind of editing?

[Ice-520]

why not get photoshop?
I would recommend any DSLR user to have it or any other photo editing software with the ability to read and process RAW photos

[melonvitara]

photoshop is all you need
you can do any photo manipulation with that

[StevieSpeed3]

Ya you do that in photoshop, I did that when I shot Petes car

[levitron]

.....or as I always say, Lightroom!

[Keiichi]

Lightroom is so good.

[melonvitara]

but it cannot do the effect he wanted

[jmbproject]

Would that "effect" that I wanted is just straight forward or it needs a lot of process.
My knowlegde re: photography/editing is below marianas trench

[StevieSpeed3]

Depends on the pic and the color of the car.  If the car stands out a lot from the background (Like red or magenta) then you can get away a lot of the time just desaturating every color except for the one you want.

If its not, then it makes a bit of time to mask off the car so you can just desaturate the background.

Something like this would not be fun for a beginner:

[jmbproject]

Ok maybe I'll start with the easy part for now.
Thanks!

[levitron]

but it cannot do the effect he wanted

That is right!   I didn't read the full thread.

[BLAM]

please dont buy a D40. they are terrible.

[rancid]

^^what's wrong with the D40?  I have one and it works great.  After a few moments setting up the camera with the white balance and exposure compensation it performed quite well.  Out of the box, the settings were ok.  I found that it tended to overexpose a little so I just adjusted accordingly.  It's no D200 but for a travel camera and for shots here and there I think it performs quite well.  I've gotten some pretty good pics out of the D40 and it'll continue to be a camera I take on trips as it's small and light.  If it matters, I'm on manual mode 95% of the time anyways.  I rarely go onto the camera's aperture and shutter priority modes....unless I'm desperate to get a quick shot off.

Versatility wise, it's not as feature packed as say the D80, D200, D300, etc, but it's a good camera to learn on....of course you could always jump to the D80 for a better camera.  Manual focus only lenses on the D40 is a bit of a pain and I have found that it does not produce the same quality of pics my D200 puts out.  I used my old manual focus Nikon 50mm F/1.4 lens to test out on both the cameras and the D200 put out sharper pictures.   

[BLAM]

^^what's wrong with the D40? 

Versatility wise, it's not as feature packed as say the D80, D200, D300, etc, the D80 is a better camera.  Manual focus only lenses on the D40 is a bit of a pain and and it does not produce the same quality of pics as any other entry level DSLR