Which SLR is better to a newbie in gig conditions?

[Bramble]

Firstly apologies if this has already been asked and answered before. I have looked for it but couldn't find it anywhere and are new to the forum.

99.9% of my photo's are taken in indoor conditions at live rock concerts. Lighting can be from great to poor dependent on venue etc.

I'm wanting to move up from my 2 Olympus digi compacts to an SLR which is easy to work with. Never had any pro training and learning as I go. Female with quite small hands so don't want something huge, heavy and bulky to lug about.

My friend has a Canon 20D SLR which she swears is gods gift to camera's, however another friend with another entry level Canon SLR is still struggling to get to terms with it after 10 months.

My two compact digi's are both Olympus - C720 & C7000, although I find I migrate back to the C720 as it's easier to control the settings. I confess I have little patience with fiddling on with control settings ... at least I am honest about this! ... so anything that's going to need 20 clicks just to set it up for one shot is not going to be ideal for me.

Am I a lost cause before I start or can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance for all and any assistance given on this matter.

[Anbesol]

theyre easier to learn then people make them out to be, they all have an auto mode! Really all you need to know is how to use shutter and aperture priority, dont bother with manual if youre a novice. learn those things and learn ISO and youre good to go on any DSLR.

how tech savvy are you anyway? If you grew up playing and working with computers discovering how to work the camera will be cakewalk but if you grew up in an amish community then you might find it somewhat odd.

in any event - i CERTAINLY wouldnt put my focus on a specific camera because its "easier to use". The 20D is a great camera, a fantastic camera with a very rugged durability and very quick responsiveness - and the smallest color delta in its class if i remember correctly. more importantly, so many people have it - finding lenses and support for it is easy. plus - your friend has it, maybe she can help show you the ropes....

hope that helps.

[lidarman]

Canon cameras seem to have lower noise at high ISO settings which is what you will be using in low light of concerts (since most won't allow flash)

Make sure when you buy a lens, you get a really fast, f2.8 or better. f4.5 lense might be less expensive but in low light, it can be really hard to get a fast enough shutter speed to avoid blur.

[another view]

I'm not a Canon guy, but I'd guess that the EOS-1D might be worth looking at. Although they're big and heavy, a pro-grade body will have a much better auto focus system which will really be important with shooting concerts. I've used my Fuji S2 and it's not good for that kind of work - but my Nikon F5 was great.

With Nikon, the "digital equivalent" of the F5 is basically the D1X. It's not the current camera (D2X) but wouldn't be too bad although the high ISO noise probably isn't as good as Canon. Nikon has newer and better flash technology but I'm guessing that won't matter to you too much.

Fast lenses are at least as important - I don't really consider f2.8 fast for this kind of work. F1.4 is great, but f1.8 is close (yes, 2/3 of a stop can make a big difference!). This will be prime (non-zoom lenses).

[Bramble]

Thanks for the advice guys, really appreciate it. It's given me a bit more food for thought on the matter