DSLR Photography: Expensive DSLRs vs CHEAP?

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There are Ferraris, and there are Toyotas. There are entry level DSLR cameras, and there are medium format digital cameras costing $40,000 and more. If there is money to be made, manufacturers are going to produce the product to get the people who can afford it to part with their money.

You have basically answered you own question as to some of the factors that actually make a "pro" level body have some merit for some pro users. You are correct though, that in the great majority of cases, with good lenses on both cameras, an entry level camera can produce photos to equal the much more expensive bodies. The "full frame" cameras typically have better high ISO quality, so on that aspect, they usually will have an advantage, but if shooting at 6,000 ISO and up is not something you really need to be doing, just get a nice entry level body and spend money on good lenses, flashes, and above all else, .... skill development!

ADD: Looking at some other answers, there are a couple of points worth making.

@ Awfully Huffy, RIGHT! If we go to a doctor, we expect a certain professional look. We would quickly walk away if the doctor came in to examine you and he / she was wearing baggy shorts, a ragged t shirt, and a hat turned around backwards instead of a clean white coat. A pro photographer being paid big money cannot show up with an entry level camera, even though he may very well get results with it to equal the more expensive gear.

@ Bistro. You are also totally correct. I also use Holga and pinhole cameras, which are far from anything that produces a technically perfect photo. In many cases, however, they are the much better tool for what I am wanting to shoot from an artistic standpoint.

Since you have limited budget, I'm assuming you are not planning to buy more lenses in the future. Any dslr/slr camera, no matter how awesome, is limited by the lens in the end. If your camera body is saddled with a crap lens, you won't be able to make teh most out of any camera. The Panasonic FZ28 is a great camera. Aside from the obvious differences in size and weight, other advantages include a much more useful zoom range. The massive 18x zoom is sure to cover just about everything from wildlife to landscape shots, while with the kit lens, you probably only have 3x zoom; so anything beyond portraits is generally impossible. Of course, there are advantages of the DSLR system too. Operating speed is faster (faster reaction to button inputs), virtually no shutter lag, very fast autofocus system, much bigger sensor (results in cleaner images especially at higher iso settings), and the ability to customize the camera to your needs (which compatible accessories and lens). If you are getting the Canon 20D, I suggest you also spend an extra $300-$500 for additional lens. As it is, the lens on the camera will never match the usefulness of the ones on the panasonic.

Years before I got involved in photography back in the mid-60s, I took a snapshot of a family member standing by an open window; I had a plastic point-n'shoot camera that I received through the mail after sending in 3 ScottsTowels proof-of-purchase. How much could that have cost, eh? Something curious happened, though. I went to visit the elderly folks in the early '90s and there in the living room wall was the enlargement of the photo I had taken of the lady so many years earlier, and she proudly told me that everyone asks her if that was taken at a photo studio. A camera is a camera is a camera is a camera... the person holding the camera can either take a snapshot or a photograph, depending on the level of photographic background and level of artistic "vision." I'm still into photography, although not as I was decades ago, but I am also STILL painting portraits, and the "vision" for composition is still lurking around in my gray-haired head.

@Bistro...

My apologies...there isn't a flaw...it's rational.

Perspective is what dictates what equipment is 'expected'...are you married..? Did you hire a professional photographer..? What were your expectations..? Did you hire a photographer that covered the event with a Polaroid camera or an instamatic, OK then did they use a compact camera..?

Commercial photography is a business transaction...there is actually more of an expectation than art in this transaction, an expectation of a required standard, that's why a Pro invests in the best tool for the job...it's an investment.

Enjoying photography as an amateur or enthusiast doesn't require the same level of investment...either in time or financially. That would depend entirely on the individual and it's a choice.

@ Steve P...

If you are in an accident Steve and unconscious you don't have a choice...it might be a first aider who saves your life...I don't care what a doctor looks like if they are licensed to practice that's good enough for me...I'm actually from a medical background.

I actually know photographers who shoot with pinhole cameras and Polaroids at weddings in addition to the agreed service that is being paid for...you wouldn't book a photographer that has agreed to provide 20 'artistic' shots of your special occasion because art is 'subjective' you would have a very difficult time in court...the photographer think they delivered an artistic product...the customer doesn't agree...who is right..? Customers have an expectation of the product in commercial photography...that's my point.

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You can be like the masses of humanity and buy a camera you can afford that has auto this and that for worry free picture taking. And learn through trial and error how to use something like aperture or shutter priority auto modes or even attempt to use the thing on full manual mode.

You seem to know already there is some thinking to using a camera and to take pictures. A good place to start is by reading the owners manual that comes with a camera. Read the information and look at the illustrations with part names and look at the real camera. Handle the camera and take pictures. Let me rephrase that. Take pictures to learn how to use the camera and maybe even to keep some. Don't start with important stuff you cannot photograph over again such as birthdays, a toddlers first steps. That puts picture taking out of the learning phase and puts the pressure and emphasis to taking pictures for real and to keep.

These first pictures are for you to learn how to use your camera. And you have learned how to use your camera when you can take pictures with it and can teach others how to use it. Honest. You can also go to a college in your area and take a beginning photography course. There you will be taught the basics even a pro must learn and do in their work. Camera handling and use, taking exposures with film and/or digital cameras, and maybe even some photo assignments to get some real time learning. In this learning do not take serious pictures you must keep as that detracts from the learning aspect of the class. Do so only if you have mastered the use of your camera before class is over.

It's like growing up in a way. And I am happy you know there is a way to learn how to use a camera and take pictures. It's like learning how to drive I suppose. Someone can teach you or you can get taught at a driving school. Both will get you a drivers liscense. One though will really teach you the fundamentals you can use for the rest of your driving career.

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Its true that you can take great pictures with any camera if you know what you're doing. So, knowing how to shoot and understanding exposure and composition are more important than how much you spent on your camera. And its true that some lenses will give crisper shots and obviously some lenses are used for specific functions such as sports photography etc. I've got the same setup as you and have taken some really good shots. The lens can cost a lot more than the camera too-- I haven't tried any other lens so I can't say how much of a difference it makes.

Well done! You've understood that once you get into the manually controllable, interchangeable lens level of gear, that it becomes less about the camera body and more to do with the lens and the skill of the user.

Sure, higher level DSLRs may have build quality (eg weather sealing) and features (eg intervalometer) which are handy to have if you are taking certain types of image.

Many fall into the trap of thinking that buying a better DSLR (when they already have a basic model) will improve their photography. Wrong - you get better by learning not by spending.

I shot film with SLR's for about 50 years before buying a reasonably good digital - not an SLR because it only displayed on a screen with a rangefinder eyepiece - Nikon 995.

I loved having the pictures immediately available and the design permitted shooting overhead and down low. But I hated the fact that with any of the auto features in effect I could not "grab" photos quickly or repeatedly as I was used to, especially under low light conditions when it chose a slow shutter. Built in zoom suited me, didn't need the few lenses I carried with my film cameras - not zoom.

Watching people with higher quality DSLR's I notice that many of them do not use them as SLR's - they point and shoot many images (auto repeat) much faster than I ever could and then review the general view on the built in screen. A DSLR (and SLR) is supposed to give you the exact image seen through the lens then installed so you can compose perfectly or as close to perfect as you can manage. The composition to the level of at least being sure the content is in the shot and the rapid repeat of imaging is vital to any professional shooting rapidly changing scenes, whether it is vehicle races or moving dancers. Whether you need to have many images or have the time to take perfect ones can clearly lower the cost of your camera.