dSLR with the most manual override
 

Hi

Being a 70's SLR junkie I was just wondering if there are dSLRs that offer similar amounts of manual control that is so accessible. When I one day decide to buy a dSLR I would want one that lets me instantly adjust shutter speed and aperture using physical controls placed at my fingertips. Oddly enough this is the sort of information I can't get from the spec sheet. Let's say that for less than £550 including kit lens, is there a camera that has two control wheels for adjusting things? I really hate diving into submenus to get to my settings.

I can only speak for the Canons I have owned (20D, 40D, 7D) which all have a good old fashioned mechanical dial to turn to select aperture mode, shutter priority mode, programme mode or whatever then a wheel next to the shutter button to turn to select the value. ISO is press one button then use the same wheel to select ISO, same for white balance or focus mode or metering pattern or whatever. At the end of the day though if the time ever comes you will have to go to a shop to check things out on whatever model you are interested in at the time. Always a good idea to check out handling and feel any way.

You mean even the 7D only has one control wheel? Even my EOS 30 has one near the shutter and one on the back around the arrows.

It has the knob to select Tv, Av, Program etc plus the wheel next to the shutter button plus the so called command dial on the back. The point I was making is that selecting shutter speed or aperture or whatever is quick and simple but there are many many settings in the menu system for fine tuning. Down load the manual and have a little light read! However as I have said it is easy and quick enough to use full manual control like a film camera.

Oh right it still has the command dial which I was referring to. That's programmable I assume to whatever function takes your fancy. Do you know if the 400/500D have this feature?

Alex. I'm also a 70s film shooter so I naturally use a DSLR the same mostly in full manual.

The 500 is slightly different as it does not have the two dials, only the main dial situated above the shutter release button. In manual mode this dial will adjust the shutter, but on depressing the AV button ar the rear of the camera it will then adjust the aperture.

Camera Manual can be downloaded from http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...nloadDetailAct

Harry

Alex, just about all of the budget dSLR will have one wheel plus buttons to set the function to be adjusted. It's no big deal really. If you spend more money then you get 2dials that can be programmed to your heart's content. There's plenty of used "older" models, i.e. last years hot buy that can be picked up relatively cheaply that will have 2 dials and fit your budget.

Alex, the Nikon D100, D200, D2x, D300 all have two control wheels that can also be programmed to your hearts content along with programable preset shooting banks that you can switch to at the touch of a button. I would particularly recommend that you look at a D2x. It gives you great control and is viewable through the viewfinder.

D90 also has these features andy.....;)

Thanks Lee - I've never held one but I think it's common to most middle and upper range Nikon's. I mentioned the older ones I know about because the prices of those second hand is quite good.

I now have a d90 and d60.....the d60 only has the one dial where as the d90 has two......plus most of the settings can be reached without having to dive into the menu every five seconds like on the d60.

There's another interesting point - menus. I hate menus. Does the Canon 40D have menus for major parameters?

If you go to this page http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/ and scroll down you will see a list of all the cameras they have reviewed right back to 1998. Pick the camera you are interested in and work your way through the dozen or so pages of info on each camera. Lots of detail that should answer most of your questions. Once I had set up my 40D as I wanted I hardly ever went near the menus again apart from formatting the card, used it just like a film camera. Of the Canon cameras it is the xxD series you want to look at as they are better built than the more entry level models and have controls most like a film camera.