DSLR Photography » Comparing 5 low budget DSLR cameras in the market

Dan Richards and Michael J. McNamara from Popular Photography reviewed five low budget DSLR cameras in the market. The five cameras are Canon Digital Rebel XT, Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D, Nikon D50, Olympus Evolt E-500, and Pentax *ist DS2. They are reviewed based on four factors - Image Quality, Ease of Use, Control, and System Flexibility. Here’s the summary:

“We have a clear winner in the Rebel XT, with top honors in image quality and system flexibility, and ranking no lower than second in the other categories. But its image quality won by a margin evident only in blowups—you have to print big and look close to see a “pixel gap.” Such tight competition makes for high performance, but also for compromises. We’re fans of the Rebel XT, but we’d like a bigger LCD and more readable menus. Indeed, each model we tested needed a little more of something: larger screen, faster AF, two input dials instead of one…”

Ranking	Image Quality	Control	Ease of use	System Flexibility	Amazon Pricing
1	Canon	Olympus	Konica Minolta	Canon,Nikon (tie)	Pentax ($562.60)
2	Olympus	Canon	Canon		Nikon ($619.95)
3	Nikon	Nikon	Pentax	Konica Minolta	Konica ($649)
4	Konica Minolta	Konica Minolta	Nikon	Pentax	Canon ($669.99)
5	Pentax	Pentax	Olympus	Olympus	Olympus ($673.94)