Nikon D90 or Pentax k20d or Cannon 50d

[Lynnzora]

Ok I'm THINKING about the Nikon D90... I've seen deals on a site where the following lenses are included with the purchase of the camera... What do you guys think? Do these lenses suck??? Is that why they're free...

Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Vibration Reduction)
Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Zoom-Nikkor
Titanium .45x Wide Angle Lens
Titanium 2X Telephoto Lens

**You mentioned for the portraits, head-shots, and event photography that I should also invest in a
30-100 (18-70 APS equiv) and
50mm

***what do you think... any other lenses that I should look at for what I'm trying to do?"

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It also includes the following... What do you think about the type of flash? Good/bad?

3 Piece HIGH Resolution Filter Kit

Bower SFD728N TTL Zoom Shoe Mount Flash for Proffesional SLR Cameras

You all are grrrreat by the way!

[Dougjgreen]

Ok I'm THINKING about the Nikon D90... I've seen deals on a site where the following lenses are included with the purchase of the camera... What do you guys think? Do these lenses suck??? Is that why they're free...

Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Vibration Reduction)
Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Zoom-Nikkor
Titanium .45x Wide Angle Lens
Titanium 2X Telephoto Lens

Nothing is wrong, per se with the first 2 lenses, except that Nikon has replaced the 70-300 with a VR version, and for a lens that length, which is fairly slow, VR would be a very desirable feature. The 2 Titanium front converters are probably complete junk. The package with the 50mm f1.8 added is much more desirable. That lens is quite good, and you'll learn a lot of very useful stuff using a lens with a fast maximum aperture like that.

BTW, I wouldn't let the Megapixel issue concern me at all. 12 MP is plenty, even for most professional applications - In fact, 10 MP is plenty. A highly sensitive 12 MP sensor is more worthwhile than a 15 MP sensor that is noisy at high ISOs. In fact, quite a few folks believe that the less expensive Canon 40D and it's extremely sensitive 10 MP sensor, is a better camera for most applications than the Canon 50D and it's noisier at high ISOs 15 MP sensor.

The fact is, all of the cameras you are looking at are more than sufficient. But you need, I feel, to give more weight to the SYSTEM you are buying into than to the camera itself at that level, as all of those cameras are excellent tools. At the system level - and when one looks at the long term ability of the company to compete, I think Pentax drops off considerably compared to Nikon and Canon (Same issue with Olympus - and one reason I personally just switched from Olympus back to Nikon).

If you're seriously looking at the Canon 50D, you probably should also look seriously at the Nikon D300 which is the apples to apples competitor for it. But frankly, I think both of those cameras are overkill for you. You'd be much better off with either a Nikon D90 or a Canon 40D, and getting better lenses, not just kit-level lenses. Again, it's foolish to get carried away with Megapixels. Once you're looking at 10 MP or more, it's more than enough even for professionals. Nikon makes a $5K pro camera (the D3 - but trust me, you DON'T need it) that blows away all the ones you are looking at, and it's only 12 Megapixels. But it happens to be the most sensitive 12 MP camera in the world.

If I were you, I'd put my hands on the Nikon D90, and the Canon 40D, and decide which one I felt most comfortable with, and then I'd buy a couple of GOOD lenses for the one I picked, not the kit lenses. All of the brands make lenses that are better by a long ways than the lenses you're mainly looking at.