Hiltz,

I am a Web Developer and I would not know what to do without my Canon 20D. That might be a bit too much of a camera if you do not plan on trying to make some money with it. Also, I would suggest picking up the 50mm Prime lens that Canon makes also. It is one of the best deals in the lens world. It is built kinda cheaply, but the optics are very good.....and if it galls apart you can always pick up another one for under $50.

Good Luck!

Erik

I get most of my equipment from B&H Photo in New York they have a good assortment of new and used equipment.

Sno

I love my Nikon D70s. It does everything you asked for. I bought it brand new, body only (US$800), and bought the 50mm f/1.8 lens (the sharpest and cheapest Nikon lens out there, $100). (Check out my website for samples, davevision.com)
Also check out the new D50 -- same camera with a slightly less professional interface, for a couple hundred bucks less.
I'm sure that whatever DSLR you get, you'll love it.. Remember that you'll eventually want to buy more lenses, so think ahead. Nikon lenses are generally more expensive than Canon, but might be higher quality too.
Good luck!

If you want to do exposurs longer than a minute or two, stick with Canon. Canon's CMOS sensors are great for long exposure night photography - I've done exposures up to 15 minutes without any noise reduction. The Nikon CCD chips get noisy after 30-60 seconds, and require noise reduction, which means if you take a 1 minute long photo, you have to wait another minute for noise reduction to run - every time.

I recently got a d-100 that i absolutly love...multiple image sizes, you can really tweak that thing to what ever your conditions are...picked it up off ebay for 1300 with a 18-70dx and a 55-200dx lenses...just search a round.. the lesser d-70 is nice also...

> I want to take pictures of the moon - control shutter speed manually would be nice
> Good performance in low light applications

I've never heard of a dSLR that *didn't* offer shutterspeed control; i.e. that's a non-issue.

Canon rules the night & low-light, in general; but pix *of* the moon are a whole 'nother ball o' wax -- close-ups of the (sunlit) moon effectively AREN'T "night time" shots!

> I want to take pictures of fire poi spinning - an option to use the flash right before the shutter closes on a long exposure is handy.

Hmmm. I can't answer this one off the top of my head, but in general Nikon's got the "best" flash-system.


> I want to be able to print decent quality 8x10 pics - what is the minimum MP required for this?

All the dSLR's will do just fine, here; again, a non issue. I believe 6MP is the lowest-resolution sensor going.

I'd avoid the new crop of 10MP APS-c sensors (Sony's a100, Canon's 400D, Nikon's D80, Pentax K10D); the on-chip pixels are too small, and suffer noise artifacts in low light.


> What about a good telephoto lens for a decent cost?

Just *HOW* tele are we talking here? 135mm? 600mm?

And, are you asking for a low-light tele? 'Cos 'THAT* just ain't happening at no "decent" cost -- prices on those puppies are absolutely *IN*decent.


- Steve

I recently picked up a low-use Canon 20D, 28-105mm F3.5-5.5 lens, and extended battery grip (doubles battery capacity) for US$800 from my wife's co-worker. This was a proverbial "screaming deal", but it shows deals like that are still out there. I do a lot of low-light photography and about half of it is of fire dancers (poi, staff, torches, hula hoops, etc). I try to avoid the flash as much as possible, which makes things a little difficult sometimes as my lens isn't very "fast" (light gathering). I've still had some very good results and have learned a lot about camera settings.

I only have the on-camera flash (at this point) and it tends to overwhelm the fire traces if I'm closer than ~7 yards/meters. A good external flash would improve this, I'm sure, but I also like not disturbing the performers with a flash if I can avoid it. Some of my pictures are in the Photo Fire Tribe.

An older dSLR would suit you well as they all have the controls you'll need. I'll let you in on a "secret": find a dSLR body that fits your hand and has the controls laid out in a way that makes sense to you, then buy it. The big expense, and the most important part of the camera, is in the lenses: the best lenses can be up to US$5000, sometimes more! You can worry about those lenses later after you get some experience and figure out what you need.

I'd say budget around CDN$400-$600 for a good "walk around" lens. The range on my zoom lens is pretty good for most things I've encountered, although I have wished for more reach on occasion. The 50mm lens others have suggested is next on my list.