Choose a lens first, then a body to fit it.
ed365 said:
I am thinking of joining a new on-line digital photography business. Some of the work involves shooting small groups of people in bar and club environments. I used to be in the TV news business and did do some still work with Canon EOS cameras.
I need the equivalent digital camera now. Any ideas I will spend up to £1000. The camera must be able to frame the subject in very often dark conditions.
No doubt you will need a DSLR and a lens. I'm sure you know that the lens is the key item here. If you were doing family snapshot, I'd say buy the bundled kit lens but you have specialized needs. You are going to need a very fast and very wide lens. The DSLR frame size is smaller then 35mm frame size some so on a DSLR a 50mm acts liike a medium telephoto. You will want a zoom lens that starts in the mid teens and goes to about 50mm and (big AND here) opens up to f/2.8 over the whole zoom range.
Also you want a lens with a powerful and fast focus motor with a manual focus override option because AF systems tend to "hunt" in the dark so you may be using manual focus a lot. Make sure the lens has a wide and usable manual focus ring
Nikon makes a 17mm-35mm f/2.8 zoom and a 17-55 f/2.8
Canon make a 16mm-35mm f/2.8
The 17mm lens on a DSLR is like using a 24mm lens on a 35mm camers. About right for shooting in a bar
One other optin is to buy a fxed lens. Nikon make a 28mm f/1.4 A lens that fast can "see in the dark" but you have to use you feet for a zoom and 28mm is not that wide on a DSLR body.
After you choose the lens take whatever left over money you have and buy a camera body that will fit your (expensive) lens.
Basically you get to choose between a Canon and a Nikon with your budget you are looking at the low end of the camon and nikon lines, the D50 or the rebel 350D both are perfectly able to record the image that a lens projects onto the sensor,
