Best Consumer SLR Digital Camera

Imaging Resource Picks section. They're well known for their exhaustive testing of digital cameras. They investigate various aspects of each digital camera to help you pick the best one for your needs. But they know that sometimes you just want someone with experience to tell you which digital camera to buy. To serve that need, they've revamped their Picks to get straight to the point, listing your top digital camera choices by category.


Best Consumer SLR Digital Camera


Nikon D40
6.1 megapixels, 3.00x zoom
$494.78



A surprisingly excellent SLR that will take the market by storm We've been pleasantly surprised with the Nikon D40's excellent performance in low light and its simple grace as a day-to-day shooter. The Nikon D40 is a natural fit in most hands. Its controls are where they should be for easy use, and the D40 is a well-behaved guest at parties with its soft shutter sound. A big, bright LCD is great for reviewing photos from a wide variety of angles. The Nikon D40's low light performance at ISO 1,600 is startling, even without noise reduction turned on. It's so good that we don't really feel like we're pushing the D40 until we jump into ISO 3,200. The Nikon D40 stands up well against the competition -- even those with higher resolution -- with great image quality at all speeds, and near-perfect utility as a family camera. It's tough to ask for more. The Nikon D40 lives up to our expectations, and even exceeds them.


Canon EOS 400D Rebel XTi
10.1 megapixels, 3.00x zoom
$620.64



Seriously excellent digital SLR with improved autofocus and a three-stage anti-dust system My first experience with the Canon Digital Rebel XTi was positive. It offers more of what you'd seek from a higher-end camera like the Canon EOS 30D at a much lower price. It's also smaller and easier to bring along, which is no small consideration when you want quality pictures on vacation. It can't quite reach to the EOS 30D's ISO 3,200 mode (it's limited to ISO 1600), nor does it have the benefit of 1/8,000 second shutter speed (it's limited to 1/4,000). But the Rebel XTi has something no other EOS has: automatic dust removal and abatement technology, plus a way to digitally subtract dust when a more thorough manual cleaning isn't possible. This important technology will doubtless make it into other EOS cameras, but for now the Canon Rebel XTi is the only self-dusting digital SLR available from Canon. From what I've seen the Canon Digital Rebel XTi will be an excellent take-anywhere all-purpose digital SLR, and will now better serve as a second camera for owners of Rebel XT, 20D, 30D, and 5D cameras who want to keep a second body with a different focal length strapped around their neck. More pixels, a bigger LCD, and dust reduction are great, but faster AF is the true benefit to the Rebel XTi


Olympus EVOLT E-510
10.0 megapixels, 3.00x zoom
$656.53



The E-510 is a well-rounded SLR with more than a few tricks up its sleeve With just the right combination of features and a mature set of lenses, the Olympus E-510 gives the Four-Thirds system a strong contender in the ongoing battle of the digital SLRs. No longer trying to forge new body shapes, Olympus has crafted the E-510 to fit the hand well and lead the pack with innovative features. While matching the competition's standard specs of a 10 megapixel sensor, 2.5 inch LCD, and 3.1 frames per second, they've included their second generation Live View technology and sweetened the deal with sensor-shift image stabilization. As the Olympus E-410 wooed us with is svelte figure, the E-510 set about making better quality images and proving itself a fit rival for a place in your bag. As with all cameras, there are a few issues, but we were most impressed with the Olympus E-510's edge-to-edge image sharpness, thanks to the good quality kit lens; and its high ISO shots fared well against larger sensor designs. Live View, for its part, can easily be misunderstood, but its virtues are worth discovering, and make the E-510 a compelling choice for the creative photographer