Having a 1000$ usd budget will allow you to get a rather nice body and probably a give away lens. I would spend more $ on the body as you can always upgrade lenses later on in time. For around a grand you have alot of choices, the main one you have to make is what company to go with....as once you have chosen a body you are essentially stuck with the lenses produced for that lens mount, ie canon, nikon, sony alpha, fuji, sigma. I personally have always shot with Canon, for multiple reasons, but mainly being their choices of lenses. The pro lenses that canon produces dubbed the "L" lenses are truly phenomenal in terms of ease of use, quality, sharpness, and all other aspects.
The availability of a tool called image stabilization has been with canon for the longest, and they weren't only the pioneers of it but I believe have the best technology out of all companies using the tool. For example, on a new lens from canon the 70-200 F4.0L IS if you normally took a picture at say 1/125 of a second and had great sharp results, with the IS on you can get the same amount of clarity at a shutter speed of 1/15....handholding. I'd like to see a NIKON VR lens do that!
I think I may have gotten off track a bit.
Some bodies to take a look at are the Canon Rebel XT (8mp) or the newer XTi with 10mp and a infrasonic sensor cleaning tool, to remove dust particles off the sensor with no servicing needed.... The prices for these new are and can be found under 1000$ I would not go shopping for these cameras at your normal big box retailers, go to a pro camera shop or do it online from a reputable source like
www.bhphotovideo.com or
www.centralcamera.com or
www.calumetphoto.com they have some of the best prices that are 'trustworthy'
Another thing to keep in mind are used bodies which can be had from a reputable source like KEH
www.keh.com and I would take a look at the canon 20D or 30D same sensor as the rebel XT although the body is much better and more easy to use functionally, along with being much more sturdy and weather resistant.
If you happen to like the Nikon line, check out the D80 or D40 or if you find a great deal on a used D200 those are great bodies. The D80 I believe is the same sensor form the D200, just placed into a less pro body.
As far as teh Sony Alpha or Minolta..... I'm pretty sure that SOny bought out minolta and this is their first attempt at a camera after the buyout and merger.....I probably would not reccomend it. I have used it and played with it, but was not impressed at all. Sony as a company just loves money. When I used to sell cameras this was clearly apparent. Let me explain. While most camera companies use a standard usb to allow for transferring of pictures to a computer, sony has a proprietary cable which if damaged or lost, they charge double or more for their cable.....why? $$$$ Not only this, but their memory is also much more expensive as well!
I suppose some years ago the 'SONY' brand was infact better than others, but in this day in age it is just not so. (at least in cameras)
WIthout going into a memoir of info and dirt on sony I will leave it at that, if you have more detailed questions please let me know in a pm or reply.
I have been involved with photography and videography for most of my life, went to school for it and do it professionally. So theres much more info here but typing it all would be ridiculous, so if you have something in particular that you are wondering about, please let me know.
), weddings, portraits, landscapes, Sports, events, fine art, etc.?
