I’m not a serious “birder” in the sense that I go on trips for no other purpose than shooting birds. I do love to shoot birds, but I’m not looking to go pro, here.
I know I’m going to get a HUGE gain in speed just going to SLR from my (relatively slow) p&s.
Also, is Sony any good? Or do I need to stick to the 3 brands already discussed here? (Pentax, Canon, Nikon)
Heck, I’m another Pentax user. I have been putting off getting a DSLR but I do have a lot of lenses from my “film” days. So, would you folks think that the Pentax ist is a good camera?
Again, what kind of speed are you talking about? It means lots of different things when talking about cameras. It sounds like you mean shutter lag; that delay from the time you push the shutter release to the time the picture is taken. All DSLRs will give you that advantage over a P&S.
You can also throw in Olympus. Yes, Sony (and Olympus) produce some very nice cameras but getting big cheap glass will be the problem.
Yes, shutter lag, time to write to media, image-blackout, all that. I’m tired of getting half a cat in frame. 
I love my Nikon D50. They don’t make them anymore, the D40 took its place.
But glass is really where it’s at. I haven’t been able to afford new glass and I’m really limited with my kit lens. I’ve got a few friends with nice glass and it really makes a difference. Go check out the different brands and see what lenses they make that you’d like and see if one brand is more affordable for you maybe. I know Nikon has a fixed 50mm 1.8 lens for around $100 that people go crazy over, it’s my next purchase when I have some dough.
This Ricoh claims to have the fastest shutter response. This Canon claims to be the fastest digital SLR.
As for a tele, I would properly also look at the Sigma “Bigma” 50-500. It’s f/4-6.3, but you really do have to spend some serious bucks to get something with that reach and a better aperture. Something like a 300mm f/2.8 with a tele converter would do, but I think you’re looking at +2000 USD for that.
I have a cheap (£56) Tamron 70-300mm consumer lens for when I need long reach, it’s decent and good enough for my needs, especially at the price, but not excellent by any means.
There’s not that much significant variation in DSLRs for your needs. All will be similar, and all will be much better then your P&S. There is some variation among them, but it will be small compared to the problem of getting a big lens that is affordable and fast (meaning aperture).
The Sonys are excellent.
As far as any of them, the most common advice I’ve seen given on the photography web sites is to go handle the cameras. (with my ethical pet peeve being that you should then buy from that vendor, and not be a scumbag and buy it on the internet)
I handled the Nikon F100, and Minolta Maxxum 9 and chose the Maxxum 9. (film cameras) It was/is an outstanding camera. Then Minolta went belly up.
Sony bought the technology and so the new Sonys use Minolta’s bayonet mount lenses. Check out the A100, A200, A370 or A700. (some may be out of your price range though)
Here’s CNET’s dslr buying guide…
Interesting. So I’d be a scumbag if I checked them out at a Big Box store and then saved myself a couple-hundred buying them online? I’d agree if we’re talking the local camera store, but there’s only one of those around here, and the Big Boxes are more convenient…
It’s just my personal opinion, but yes in some circumstances. (and I agree with your reference to the local guy)
I have much less sympathy for the big box stores than the small mom and pop camera stores.
I know a couple independent camera stores and that is a common occurrence. Many people come in, handle the cameras, ask a thousand questions, and then go online to buy it. The final insult is that those same people bring the camera they bought online back to the local guy for repair, and even sometimes to be educated on how to use it.
When I bought the Maxxum 9 I did a fair amount of research and narrowed the search to the Maxxum and F100. But I needed to handle the cameras. Nobody stocked the Maxxum (it was expensive). I told the local guy I wanted to handle both cameras and asked him to bring in the Maxxum. I promised that if I bought, I’d buy from him.
He answered my questions and even told me to leave the store with the cameras and shoot a couple rolls. He spent easily over an hour with me. There is no doubt I could have saved a couple hundred bucks online. But it would have seemed scummy to go online after the service and education I received from him.
Since then, I’ve bought lots of gear from B&H, KEH, ebay, Adorama and others. It just seems to me, however, if you’re going to pick their brains, ask a million questions, and handle their merchandise, the right thing is to buy from them.
What do you think of this one? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V5QV4S/ref=dp_cp_ob_title_2
If you’re looking to economize, get the the entry level body (Rebel XTi, D40, K200D, whatever) and spend the difference on a reasonably good telephoto lens. The 40D is a lovely camera, but for a first-time dslr user the added features aren’t nearly as valuable as some decent glass.
Well, I’d agree about the questions/picking brains part. But if all I’m doing is handling the camera at the Big Box, then buying online, am I still a scumbag? (Serious question. I try to be as ethical as I possibly can–I don’t even have any software or songs or anything loaded on my laptop that I didn’t pay for.)
eta: lobobotomyboy, great resource!
I agree with you.
We don’t use pirated software, nor P2P songs. I think the big boxes have such purchasing power that they’re not being hurt. It’s the little guys that I think some consideration for their efforts.
Yes, I really like the way you can sort through it all in CNet. Narrow by price, and/or brand and/or megapixels etc. Plus they have both expert and user opinions. I thought machine this looked interesting:
It’s a fixed lens, but 31-465mm :eek:
And hey, thanks for the props in the other thread praising me!
300mm on a crop-sensor Canon (i.e., any you’d be buying) is 480mm equivalent. 
And here, I can top that. Get an Olympus E-510 plus an Olympus 70-300 f/4-5.6 for a total of $970. The Olympus 4/3 lens system gives you a 2x crop factor, so you’d be at 600mm in 35mm equivalent terms. The E-510 has in-body anti-shake, not quite as effective as the in-lens options from Canon and Nikon, but you don’t have to buy it with every lens, either. Olympus has a decent range of available lenses if you decide to expand your interest in photography.
You can get a Canon Rebel XT + 70-300IS or a Nikon D40 + 70-300VR for similar prices. The crop factors on Canon and Nikon are 1.6 and 1.5 respectively, though, so it’s not quite the same reach. You could save some money and get either body with the cheaper non-IS/VR 70-300 zooms for roughly $700, but I don’t really recommend that. The cheap 70-300 zooms are, well, cheap - poorer optical quality, and the lack of anti-shake would almost make a tripod a necessity.
I wouldn’t really recommend Pentax or Sony systems at the moment for someone who wants decent telephoto abilities at low-ish prices. Mid-grade telephoto zooms for either system are pretty slim pickings at the moment.
You won’t get into the same ballpark in terms of responsiveness and speed with that Sony superzoom, and if you want to bump the ISO up even a little bit the Sony will have ridiculous levels of noise in the images, while any dslr will sail along at ISO800, and some will make nice files even a couple stops above that. And let us not even discuss the difference between looking through the lens with a dslr viewfinder and the lcd viewfinder on a superzoom compact.
Ultrazooms (like the Sony H9 which isn’t a very good ultrazoom) are in a completely different league. Aside from the shutter lag and EVF, the high ISO noise would rule it out for this application.
IMO, if you need to go to a store to handle the cameras, then yes you owe them your business. It doesn’t matter (to me) if it’s a big box store or a mom and pop operation.
The 30D or 20D (the 20D is the same chip as the 30D, but has been discontinued; you can find a used one for a decent price) has great image quality, and shoots at 5 fps.