I’ve been looking at dSLRs for a few months now, trying to find one that’s affordable yet has enough features and upgrade capacity to keep me occupied for a while. I’ve considered the Canon 300D, 350D (Rebel XT), 20D and the Nikon D70, D70s and D50. When I finally got a chance to hold a 350D and a D50, it was clear to me that the 350D was just too small for my hands to hold comfortably.

I was back in Jessops yesterday, getting a 10×15 print of one of my photos, and happened to mention that I was looking for a D70s to handle to the salesman. He didn’t have one in stock, but pointed me to the Konica-Minolta Dynax (Maxxum) 5D instead. Less than 500 quid for the kit, decently heavy, and best of all, comfortable in my large paws. A brief pondering overnight (and ~15 – 20 websites and reviews read), and some urging from my father, and I’m now the owner of a Dynax 5D with kit lens and a Hoya UV filter.

So far I like it – I’m going to need to upgrade my software (c’mon Digikam folks, write faster! :), but that’s about it. One heck of a mirror-slap too, quite audible. I like it.