Moving from point and shoot to DSLR

[Charles Peter]

What a wonderful, sharing community this is. I have read many threads. I have a Canon Powershot SD970 IS 12 MP camera. I recently sold my Nikon D70 (6 mp) since I tended to take my Powershot everywhere (cruises, weddings, family gatherings etc.). I am thinking of buying a new camera. My goals are

18mp
want to be able to print at least 13x9
one lens, perhaps something like an 18-200 mm
low light capability would be a plus for zoomed indoor shots but a wide aperture lens seem very expensive

I was thinking of a Canon EOS 60D with an EOS 10-200mm lens

I am retired now and really want to carry around just one camera. While I was happy with the compact, I am hoping that a new DSLR will still be reasonably small and light yet provide better results - particularly when printing out larger images.

Are there other cameras, combinations, or suggestions that you might have?

thanks in advance.

[FrankMi]

Welcom to CiC! Can you please update your profile in Forum Actions, above to let us know your general loacation and what name you perfer to be called by? Thanks!

From your writeup you appear to want a single camera that has wide-angle and telephoto, is small and light but has a large sensor for making large prints? It looks like you are on track with the Canon EOS 60D. What is your budget?

[Charles Peter]

Budget of approximately $1,600?

[FrankMi]

Budget of approximately $1,600?

Is that just for the camera or for everything? In my case the camera and kit lens was about 20% of the entire photography investment over the first year. If that is just for the camera, then the 60D is well within range. Hopefully, within the next 24 hours most of the Canon users will chime in with their thoughts and recommendations.

[inkista]

Just me (coming down from the high of getting a Panasonic DMC-G3), but have you considered a mirrorless compact system instead of a dSLR? Considerably smaller/lighter than a dSLR, with many of the same strengths. And, depending on the system you choose, could have all the lens selections to do what you're considering. Given that you've already had a D70 and found it too big/heavy for your uses, I'm not sure the 60D is necessarily going to be any much better in that regard. Mirrorless may be what you want. Panasonic GX-1 size, compared to a Nikon D70s (check out the top view, too).

For example, I grabbed a Panasonic DMC-G3. This is a micro four-thirds camera. The lenses are size/weight comparable to old rangefinder lenses, rather than SLR ones. I can comfortably fit four lenses into a Think Tank Retrospective 5 (small shoulder bag). No way I could do that with an SLR. Micro four-thirds also offers a superzoom, and some fast prime lenses, so with, say a 14-140 or 14-150, you'd have a 10x zoom equivalent to a 28mm-300mm lens, and with the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, you'd have a wide/normal fast pancake prime in a package not too much larger than a chunky bridge camera. The main disadvantage is that the sensor size is smaller than APS-C (four-thirds has a 2x crop factor vs. APS-C's 1.5x).

Sony NEX, however, also offers small mirrorless cameras with APS-C sized sensors. Being a newer system than micro four-thirds, their lens selection is (at the moment) a bit more restricted, but they also offer an 18-200 superzoom (equiv. to 28-300mm on film), and a fast prime.

This dpreview article gives a good overview of mirrorless cameras as they stood in Dec. of 2011, but Jan. of 2012 has seen a few more options added to the list, like the Canon G1X (fixed lens, but nearly APS-C sensor), and the Fujifilm X-Pro 1 (APS-C sensor, interchangeable lenses). You may also want to look at the Fujifilm X100. Mirrorless larger-sensor camera options are busting out all over the place in a variety of configurations.

Also, I'm sure it's just a typo, but there is no Canon 10-200 lens. There is an 18-200 lens.

[BTW, my other cameras are all Canons: 5D Mark II, 50D, and a Powershot S90.]