I have a friend who is looking for a better-than-average camera but not pro models..... he wants to take some up-close pictures of his landscape lighting products for catalog and web site. Also he wants to use it for leisure.... And he is interested in DSLR with a $1000 budget.
any recommendations. thank you.
On the Pentax side:
Kx has dropped yet again price. Cons: no focus point confirmation. Pros: cheap stabilized good high iso performance.
Macro lens: depending the size of the products.
Small products: Vivitar Series 1 105 2.5 Macro made by Kiron or Komine [I´m not familiar with the Olympus or Tokina made version].
big products: a rectilinear wide angle: both the 14 2.8 and the 15 4.0 are very good offerings, but expensive. Still, you will be just on the 1000 us dollars with the kit lens [rather good kit lens, by the way] and the 15.
Or buy a K20d and see plummeted prices [it is still a good camera, weathersealed, and a good sensor there. But not a "spectacular" camera. Little bit difficult for a newcomer] with the Kiron lens.
Olympus has good prices as well, specifically, the E620 with a very, very good liveview implementation. Still, olympus lenses are on the expensive side of the equation. Aparently, the 35 3.5 macro is a very good performer, on the cheaper side.