Digital SLR Cameras > CompactFlash Digital SLR Cameras > 2.5 > CCD > $300 - $500

Advantages: user friendly, light weight
Disadvantages: a bit plasticy

...lenses from Minolta, and the Sony lenses are good too. Find the burst rate on RAW (6fps) wonderful for catching flying birds and wildlife in action. Autofocus is great, and will not allow out of focus shots when using burst...so, just set the autofocus on spot and use burst for spectacular shots of flying birds, etc. I also find the antishake setup very valuable as I am a senior citizen who is beginning to have some hand shake and the system compensates ...
...is bundled with the camera may not match those of Canon or Nikon's so some owners may want to buy those in Carl Zeiss range. Unfortunately they will be put off by the steep prices and Sony will make the camera even more attractive if they could lower their prices. ... Read review

Advantages: great camera
Disadvantages: price

...most jaded reviewer. The new Sony DSLR-A350 is one of them. I've watched for months as Sony tantalized the press with promises of a Live View for D-SLRs that actually works like the "live view" of point-and-shoot digicams where you pick the camera up, frame your shot through the LCD screen and snap the shutter. As DT readers well know, I feel Live View as implemented by other makers (Canon, Nikon, Olympus et al) is a joke. To work properly, the camera ...
...Power Sellers? Six, 16, 60? Sony felt the same way and decided to create a Live View for the rest of the world. Not only that, the new DSLR-A350 has a 14.2-megapixel imager, built-in sensor shift stabilization and loads of other goodies such as an articulating 2.7-inch screen. When this one arrived, the battery was quickly put in the charger so a test drive was just a few short hours away. ... Read review

Advantages: great camera
Disadvantages: price

...sure the pop-up flash will cause a few raised eyebrows), and gets you the full pro service from Nikon. And the pricing (around $2999) reflects this; anyone hoping for an 'affordable' semi-pro full frame Nikon SLR will have to wait until the cost of producing such large sensors falls considerably. ... Read review

Advantages: great camera
Disadvantages: price

...D40 (which replaced the first Nikon 'starter' model, the D50). The original D40 was a hugely important camera for Nikon and can be given a lot of the credit for the resurgence in Nikon's fortunes at the volume end of the SLR market (which had been totally dominated by Canon since the launch of the EOS 300D / Digital Rebel). The D40's success (which continued long after the D40X made its swift appearance only 6 months later) isn't hard to explain; ...
...of excellent results. It was also a camera that proved cameras do not sell on megapixels alone (even at launch its 6MP resolution was far from 'class leading'). As with the D40 and D40X, the new D60 doesn't have an built-in focus drive motor which means it can auto focus only with lenses which have their own drive motor (AF-S and AF-I lenses). The lack of a drive motor can be seen by the missing mechanical focus drive pin on the lens mount (see ... Read review

Advantages: great camera
Disadvantages: price

Canon has today announced a new compact digital SLR, the twelve megapixel EOS 450D (Digital Rebel XSi). On the surface a very similar camera to the EOS 400D, however there are a range of significant improvements; twelve megapixel CMOS sensor, 3.0" LCD monitor, Live View with both AF modes (contrast-detect and passive), 14-bit processing and RAW, spot metering, improved AF, 3.5 fps continuous shooting, a larger viewfinder, SD/SDHC storage and a new ...
..."The EOS 450D bears the fruits of more than 20 years of ongoing investment into EOS," said Mogens Jensen, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging, Europe. "This camera continues Canon's policy of taking technologies proven in the professional arena and putting them within reach of a wider market of amateur photographers." ... Read review