Every ametuer photographer wants to buy a SLR camera but they are always worried because of the costing of these cameras. They worried as to whether they will be able to justify the cost of the by using it effectively, Because of this they usually end up buying a point and shoot cameras.

All these people can chear up now. Most of the big brands in photography has started coming up with cheap SLR cameras which are nowadays cheaper than some of the point and shoot cameras.

List of SLR cameras (In order of costing, as on March 2008)

Canon 350D or Digital Rebel XT : $449.95

Year : August 2003
Body material : plastic (matte finish)
Image sizes :

• 3456 x 2304 (L)
• 2496 x 1664 (M)
• 1728 x 1152 (S)

Sensor :

• 22.2 x 14.8 mm CMOS sensor
• RGB Color Filter Array
• Built-in fixed low-pass filter
• 8.2 million total pixels
• 8.0 million effective pixels
• 3:2 aspect ratio

Output formats :

RAW
• RAW + JPEG Large/Fine *
• JPEG (EXIF 2.21) - Fine, Normal

Auto Focus :

• 7-point TTL
• CMOS sensor
• AF working range: -0.5 - 18 EV (at 20°C, ISO 100) *

Shooting modes :

• Auto
• Program AE (P)
• Shutter priority AE (Tv)
• Aperture priority AE (Av)
• Manual (M)
• Auto depth-of-field
• Portrait
• Landscape
• Close-up
• Sports
• Night portrait
• Flash off

Sensitivity :

• Auto (100 - 400)
• ISO 100
• ISO 200
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• ISO 1600

White balance :

• Auto
• Daylight
• Shade
• Cloudy
• Tungsten
• Fluorescent
• Flash
• Custom

LCD monitor :

•1.8″ TFT LCD
• 115,000 pixels *
• 5 brightness levels
• 10x zoom playback

Nikon D40 : $479.99

Year : December 2006
Body color : Black or Silver
Sensor :

• 23.7 x 15.6 mm CCD sensor
• Nikon DX format (1.5x FOV crop)
• 6.1 million effective pixels
• 6.2 million total pixels
• RGB Color Filter Array
• 12-bit A/D converter

Image sizes :

• 3008 x 2000 (Large, 6 MP)
• 2256 x 1496 (Medium, 3.4 MP)
• 1504 x 1000 (Small, 1.5 MP)

Image quality :

• NEF (12-bit compressed RAW)
• JPEG fine
• JPEG normal
• JPEG basic
• NEF (RAW) + JPEG basic

Autofocus :

• Three area TTL phase detection
• Nikon Multi-CAM530 autofocus module
• Only with AF-S or AF-I lenses
• Detection range: EV -1 to +19 (ISO 100 equivalent, at normal temperature)

Exposure mode :

• Digital Vari-program
- Auto
- Flash off *
- Portrait
- Landscape
- Child
- Sports
- Close up
- Night portrait
• Programmed auto (P) with flexible program
• Shutter-priority auto (S)
• Aperture priority auto (A)
• Manual (M)

Metering :

TTL full-aperture exposure metering system
• 3D color matrix metering II
• 420 segment RGB sensor
• Center-weighted: Weight of 75% given to a 8mm circle in center of frame
• Spot: Meters 3.5 mm circle (about 2.5% of frame) centered on active focus area

Sensitivity :

• Auto
• ISO 200
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• ISO 1600
• ISO 3200 equiv. (HI 1) *

White balance :

• Auto (TTL white-balance with 420 pixels RGB sensor)
• Six manual modes with fine-tuning
o Incandescent
o Fluorescent
o Direct sunlight
o Flash
o Cloudy
o Shade
• Preset white balance (immediate or from photo)

LCD monitor :

• 2.5″ TFT LCD
• 230,000 pixel

Among the two models mentions above Nikon D40 is the latest and has better features compared to the canon 350D. Accept for the image resolution where the Rebel XT scores above Nikon.

Other low cost cameras are:

Nikon D40X : Which is a makeover of D40 with 10 mega pixels and extra cost

Nikon D60 : Which again is a make over on D40X but has some new and latest improvements.

Canon 400D (Digital Rebel XTi): A variant of 350D.

• 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System
• Nine point Auto Focus sensor (same as EOS 30D) with F2.8 support
• Continuous shooting burst up to 27 JPEG and 10 RAW images
• Single large, bright, 2.5″ LCD monitor with 160° viewing angles (horizontal and vertical)
• Camera settings and adjustment on LCD monitor
• Proximity sensor below viewfinder eyepiece to disable the LCD during composition
• New viewfinder view includes 9 AF points as well as EOS 30D style status bar
• Picture Styles, larger range of image parameter adjustment (same as EOS 30D)
• Improved user interface
• Image magnification available in record review
• Histogram available as brightness (Luminance) or RGB (Red, Green, Blue)
• Three settings for long exposure noise reduction (adds Auto option)
• Auto rotation with three options (not recorded, record don’t rotate, record and rotate)
• Additional custom functions (magnified view in record review, LCD display at power on)
• Up to 9999 images per folder on storage card
• Automatic storage of setting adjustments (no longer requires a press of the SET button)
• Improved print / share / direct print features