Help me find a good DSLR camera! :)

[Height]

I'm trying to find a digital SLR camera. Professionally, I do graphic design, but I wanted to build up my skills outside of work. I think I'm less concerned about taking action shots and more concerned about still photography (getting textures) and maybe portrait photography. My friend does a lot of plays and it might be cool to take lower light portraitures to capture makeup design etc.

I'm looking to spend somewhere between 1,000 and 1,600 for the body. I want something pretty powerful so that as my skills build I can really have some professional looking stuff. Making a little money outside of my job might be cool.

Thanks all, I left it in the computer section because it's just going to get bumped down to oblivion in off topic. I figure it's technology anyway. :P

(Nikon or Canon is fine)
(Was looking at the Nikon D600 and the Nikon D7100, but I think the latter is more for action shots so I'm moving away from that.)

[Ganador]

Glass should be a major part of your purchase. Since you are actually planning on using it for work I would definitely look into adding a nice lens for your budget. Fixed focal lengths are your bets image quality lenses.

For your budget i would recommend either a Canon 60D, 70D or 7D (depending on number of lenses you want to buy) with a 50mm 1.4 lens (about $400) to start. Keep the cheap kit lens so you arent stuck with one focal legnth for personal use but use the 50mm or other Prime (fixed focal length) lenses for your Graphic design work.

Prime lenses usually have a larger max aperture so that will help with low light portraits.

[Height]

Thanks Ganador. I'll definitely take a look at that.

[Deleted]

Ganador is right: Buy a solid body and spend a big part of your budget on lenses.
Your impression of "cameras for action shots" is a bit off, as a body itself is perfect for most situations. Actually, the D600 should have a slightly higher frame rate (Or whatever you call it... more pictures taken per second ) and therefor could be considered more suited for action shots. But that just comes with all the other nice features both bodies have, no need to dismiss one of them because of that.

The D7100 is a crop camera, which means that the actual frame you take with the same focal length as the d600 is a bit smaller. The upside is a lower cost for lenses and the body itself. The pictures you take will still be of very high quality, only really limited by your skill. The D600 is more expensive and will not make your work better if you yourself suck at photographing The larger format will only have real impact if you want an extremely high resolution (i.e. for a print that covers the side of a house or maybe a gigapixel panorama or if you like to crop a small part of a photo) or when you want an even smoother "bokeh" than possible with a crop camera. But this is really of no concern, if you are just entering the field. The impact is small and the cost is unproportionally higher.

I would recommend a body such as a Nikon d5100/5200/5300 (All three are very similar quality wise, you just pay for some minor features in the later versions) or a d7100.
The rest of your money should go to two or three good lenses: Nikon 35 mm/f1.8 and Nikon 50 mm/f1.8 are very very good for a low price.
Additionally I would recommend good software to edit the photos (Adobe Lightroom comes to mind... you can get it in a bundle with Photoshop for small money until January I think), a tripod, a camera bag and things like additional batteries, sd cards or a camera belt.

/edit
Canon or Nikon is basically only interesting if you have a lot of friends that have cameras of the same brand too, so that you can lend you some lenses from time to time. I just recommended Nikon because I don't know any Canon products

/edit 2
Just to add something about the d600: This camera has had a lot of issues due to oil/dust on the sensor. A lot of users complained about that, since the photos you take will have spots on them where you can the the aforementioned oil/dust and cleaning the sensor only helps for a few hundred shots. Nikon released the d610 that is basically the d600 without any issues - buy that one if you really think you need the larger format There are some d600 that don't have any problems (the newer ones), but you can't count on getting one of those if you order a d600.

[Height]

Thanks Vayar, I have a lot of learning to do from a technical perspective. I'm good at taking photography and have won local competitions with my film camera. The art part won't be holding me back, it'll be learning the technology so the art part doesn't suffer. That comes with practice though.

I guess I have a lot of comparing to do now. Thanks!

[Ganador]

I own a canon 7D and im glad i spent the extra cash on it. Metal body vs plastic, more powerful image processor for High ISO performance, self cleaning sensor, amazing auto-focus.

Nikon vs Canon is about as heated as Mac vs PC and every other rivalry. My opinoin, they are equally as good for image quality, they have different features which you might like so just research.

Remember this, a camera doesn't make the photograph, it simply just captures it.

Also, please learn how to use your camera when you get it. I just graduated with a degree in Photography and it was amazing how many students, even upper classmen who had no clue how to use their camera. lol

[Height]

I own a canon 7D and im glad i spent the extra cash on it. Metal body vs plastic, more powerful image processor for High ISO performance, self cleaning sensor, amazing auto-focus.

Nikon vs Canon is about as heated as Mac vs PC and every other rivalry. My opinoin, they are equally as good for image quality, they have different features which you might like so just research.

Remember this, a camera doesn't make the photograph, it simply just captures it.

Also, please learn how to use your camera when you get it. I just graduated with a degree in Photography and it was amazing how many students, even upper classmen who had no clue how to use their camera. lol

I graduated 4/5 years ago and half the people in the visual communications major with me shouldn't of graduated... so I know that feeling.

[Deleted]

If you have any plans to capture video I'd consider the canon 70d, otherwise I would personally go for a used 5d mk2. Great low light performance and it's full frame.