The costs of a DSLR
A friend of mine inquired about getting a basic DSLR. What are the costs? More than one might realize at first:
- Nikon D40 with 18-55 zoom: $549
- Gitzo GT-0530 Mountaineer 6X Carbon Fiber Tripod legs: $349
- Really Right Stuff BH-25 ballhead: $149
- Camera plate for the D40x: $50
- 4GB SanDisk SD card: $100 (or 2GB at $40).
- card reader: $20
- computer: $?
This stuff adds up! That's $1220 for a basic setup, lacking a longer zoom and a fast prime. Yes, one can buy a cheaper tripod (which will be left at home because it’s a hassle). So...skip the tripod and become friends with rocks, walls, branches and the ISO setting.
Skipping the tripod, how does the D40 stack up? Very well indeed.
With the Nikon D40 at just $549, point-and-shoot digicams look like a very poor investment at $300-$700, considering their marginal image quality, sluggish response, slow focus, etc. But people love an LCD screen. How about a morphing a Nikon D40 into a point and shoot digicam with a fixed 18-135 zoom, while retaining the large sensor, fast focus, etc? All the offerings out there have miserably small sensors (“it’s the sensor size, stupid”). High image quality in a point-and-shoot. What a radical idea.
