Dave's Picks

Good build, great speed, and excellent image quality from ISO 100 to 3,200... (more)

Good build, great speed, and excellent image quality from ISO 100 to 3,200
Many features stand out to make the Canon EOS 50D a great digital SLR camera. What will really catch and hold users is the impressive image quality they'll get from the Canon 50D across the standard ISO range of 100 to 3,200. The Canon 50D's new gapless microlenses allow greater light gathering ability, making for surprisingly detailed images, even at ISO 800 and 1,600. The Canon 50D's 14-bit analog-to-digital conversion doesn't slow the frame rate down, either, as the camera clicks along at 6.3 frames per second. UDMA support gives the Canon 50D the ability to write to the card at 45MB per second, with support for future cards that will allow writing at up to 133MB per second, making followup shots with the 50D quite fast. The addition of face detection gives the Canon 50D the most complete set of Live View features in an EOS camera, and other operational enhancements make the Canon 50D both easy to work with and provide more depth to explore than ever before. Canon offers more than one kit lens with the 50D, and one is definitely better than the other. Click here to read our full review of the Canon EOS 50D for more! (minimize)

The Nikon D3 is one of the finest digital SLR cameras ever made... (more)

The Nikon D3 is one of the finest digital SLR cameras ever made
As the the company's first full-frame digital SLR, the 12.1-megapixel Nikon D3 really turned a lot of heads, and brought quite a wave of former Nikon fans back into the fold. Though the full-frame story was big news and the 51-point AF system made folks take notice, it was the Nikon D3's incredible high ISO performance that drew the largest crowd of serious photography fans. Set the right ISO, and you can get usable handheld shots of scenes you could never capture with any other camera. Live View mode also figures big in the Nikon D3, allowing not just phase-detect autofocus, but contrast-detect as well. And though it's become more common, the Nikon D3's 640x480 LCD screen is a great place to view your images, and zoom in to check focus both before and after capture. The Nikon D3 is an incredible professional digital SLR camera. Click here to read more about the ground-breaking Nikon D3, one of the finest digital SLRs you can buy. (minimize)

A digital SLR for people who are serious about photography.... (more)

A digital SLR for people who are serious about photography.
Nikon's D300 is easily one of the finest digital SLR cameras on the market. Its 12.3-megapixel sensor delivers stunning images up to ISO 6,400, and its 14-bit A/D conversion means you can get better quality in your JPEG and RAW images with the Nikon D300. Out-of-the-box, the Nikon D300 will shoot six frames-per-second, and track a moving subject by combining data from its AF system with information from its metering system. The Nikon D300's big, bright viewfinder is easy to use and its LCD is gorgeous for both menu and photo viewing. Its Live View modes leave something to be desired, but they're nice to have nonetheless. The Nikon D300 feels solid, and is designed with the serious photographer in mind. In fact, being a serious photographer is a requirement with the D300, because there's a lot to learn, and no hand-holding mode to just let you shoot it like an instamatic. You have to think, you have to pay attention; and if you do, the D300 will reward you with terrific pictures. Click here to learn more about the Nikon D300, an extremely capable digital SLR camera. (minimize)

The Pentax K-7 is a strong contender in a field of good quality SLRs, with many features found nowhere else... (more)

The Pentax K-7 is a strong contender in a field of good quality SLRs, with many features found nowhere else
There are so many improved and unique features to cover that defining what's great about the Pentax K7 takes an entire review. We also run out of superlatives less than halfway through the Pentax K-7 review, what with excellent build quality, a great user experience, and impressive image quality to report. Some of the more interesting features of the Pentax K7 include an auto-leveling feature that actually rotates the sensor by up to one degree to straighten horizon lines in your images, or the Composition Adjustment feature that allows you to move the sensor around behind the lens to fine-tune your image before capture. One of our favorite features is the 100% viewfinder coverage, available only on considerably more expensive digital cameras. Of course, the Pentax K7 includes a new video mode, in addition to Live View, which we cover extensively. An absolute pleasure to use, the Pentax K7 impressed us from every angle. Click here to read the Pentax K7 review. (minimize)

The Sony A850: 24.6 megapixels of full-frame goodness for under $2,000... (more)

The Sony A850: 24.6 megapixels of full-frame goodness for under $2,000
Sony's Alpha A900 rocked the full-frame SLR world when it was announced, delivering the highest resolution in the DSLR market for an unprecedented price. Since then, the competition caught up a little, but now the Sony A850 lowers the boom on prices again, with a list price of under $2,000 for a full-frame camera with the same 24.6 megapixel resolution. The Sony A850 is a near-clone of the earlier Sony A900, giving up some shooting speed (3 frames/second vs 5) and a little viewfinder coverage (98% vs 100%) in exchange for a $700 drop in price. The Sony A850 retains the unique SteadyShot body-based image stabilization, so all your lenses effectively become image stabilized when attached to it. While it produces very usable images up to about ISO 1,600, this camera (again, like the A900) is really about maximum resolution at low ISOs. As such, it's a superb choice for landscape, studio, and portrait photographers, but wouldn't be the tool of choice for those shooting a lot of available-light work. At only 3 frames/second, it also wouldn't be a first pick for the sports photographer, either. All that said, though, the Sony A850 will open up the world of full-frame digital photography to a whole new host of users, thanks to its market-leading $2,000 price point. Read our Sony A850 review for all the details on this amazing beast, including full image analysis and 4.4 gigabytes of sample images! (minimize)

The Sony A900 is one impressive image maker... (more)

The Sony A900 is one impressive image maker
High resolution has a new standard bearer, as Sony announces their full-frame, 24.6-megapixel digital SLR camera, the Alpha A900. The sensor and its resolution aren't the only things that are big, the Sony A900 itself is quite a handful. Fitted with a fine Carl Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 constant aperture lens, the Sony A900 is a truly beautiful handful that makes some impressive images. As the only full-frame digital SLR with SteadyShot, all lenses become stabilized when fitted to the Sony A900. Though you won't see the stabilization when you look through the optical viewfinder, you'll at least get a 100% view of the scene through the big, bright, high-refractive-index pentaprism. You'd think that the Sony A900 would be slow at moving all those extra pixels, but it actually cranks along at an impressive five frames per second, thanks to a specially-designed mirror and shutter mechanism. There's a lot more to talk about, so click here to read our Sony Alpha A900 digital SLR review, complete with full image analysis and nearly 4GB of test shots. (minimize)