Digital SLR camera advice

I know there are lots of people on here who have a variety of cameras so I would like to ask some questions.

As a sporadically keen photgrapher, I would like some advice from anyone who has a modern digital SLR. Such as NikonD40, PentaxK100D, CannonEOS-350D

My main questions are over low light performance as since I moved from using exclusively film cameras I have had trouble taking good live band shots inside dark venues as they come out blurred. With a film camera I can get very good traditional grainy band shots with an asa1600 film, and would like to know how easy this is to do with a Digital SLR.

I am looking at cameras around £400 and I already have a film Cannon EOS which I believe I could pinch the lens from if I just bought a Cannon digital body.

I am not interested in disgussing compact digital camearas, as I already have one of these.

Thanks

You can usually manually shift the CCD sensitivity. On my Canon I can set the 'film speed' to 100,200,400,800,1600,3200. The faster the speed, the noisier the image, but colour noise can be successfully reduced in something like Adobe Lightroom, without excess smoothing.

have a look at dpreview.com especially at the in depth reviews of dSLRs, frequently they will make noise level comparisons and show you the actual images.

Thanks phan,

that looks like it does just what I want.

When you mean colour noise, do you mean grainyness? because that is what I am happy with in general.

Is there a digital SLR that can be operated using the rings around the lens to manually focus and adjust aperture like an old film SLR?

I had a 300d and recently bought a 400d, you are correct that the lenses will fit but you may get problems with them. I had Canon fit zoom which only worked intermittently, apparently because it was old.

With the ISO turned up you get pretty good low light results and you have the advantage of being able to take loads of pictures without the cost. Buying better lenses will also help but they cost more than the camera. I have a 35-120 image stabilising lens that enables you to take lover light shots with less shake but you can spent a bloody fortune. I would say go for it, the 350d you can get cheap now and its a stunning camera with a fair saving over the 400d if you shop around. The 300d is older technology so even second hand I would spend the extra and get the 350 or 400.

Not sure about the Nikon but I expect they are very good.

All the Canon EF mounted lenses should fit and work on the Digital EOS bodies, so if you already have an investment in that lens system then the 350D or its successor the 400D may be worth going for. You should easily be able to get the 400D within your budget now I believe.

The low-light performance will be primarily affected by your lens choice and the ISO setting on the camera. High ISO performance out of the processor in the 400D should be pretty good.

Edited to add the Canon lenses that have USM will also offer full-time manual focus adjustments in auto-focus mode. Of course you can switch any of the lenses to complete manual focus but using AF and then being able to adjust is also useful.

Thanks phan,

that looks like it does just what I want.

When you mean colour noise, do you mean grainyness? because that is what I am happy with in general.

Yes, shadows particularly lose depth and end up with lots of purple and blue randomly distributed pixels. A good post processing package will selectively colorize noise, without changing the overall contrast value of the pixels involved. In other words something like Lightroom will turn your colour noise into graininess, and even at high speeds like 3200 you still get decent shots.

If you shoot in RAW format as well, you end up with much more information to play with, resulting in better post-processing opportunities.

You can reduce grain (monochrome noise) too, but this uses adaptive blurring techniques that can leave images looking posterised.

Canon DSLRs are generally accepted as offering before low light capabilities than offerings from the likes of Nikon, and Sony.

The 400d will come in just above your budget at approx £430 inc the dreaded VAT.

Canon IS lenses would be idea for shooting in low light conditions.

Have a look at the reviews on dpreview.com.

Don't think you will be disappointed.

350 is good for noise - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOS350D/Samples/ISO/lumi-graph.gif

I notice that the 20d is apparently the only one that offers ISO 3200, however the 300 and I expect the later models can be firmware hacked to enable this feature.

I certainly have it on my 300 at any rate (Thanks Pete!)

There is a rather good forum here on the Canon POTN forums that discusses all things performing arts related :

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=81

The good old nifty fifty (50mm 1.8 lens) gets used there a lot

I've got one of the 50mm 1.4 lenses and its amazing what it does in very low light

There is a good thread here where people have discussed what gear to get for concerts [and there are manyt others on that forum] : http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=296310

Here you go Muddy, bargain of the decade.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59676

I can lend you my IS lens to try at some point if you like to see if it helps you take good gig pictures.