I'd like to purchase my first DSLR. My budget is between $500 to $600. Thanks in advance.
First off, do you have any old film SLR cameras/lenses? Some never changed the mount so that can put you ahead of the game if you already have lenses.
I'm partial to Nikon because I shot Nikon since the late 80's and had the glass. In that price range I would head to best buy and handle a few, play with menus, look at button configuration, etc. Also, KEH.com is an excellent place to buy used.
I will post more thoughts on this later, after work. But, what and how do you like to shoot? What do you want to shoot? Subject/style?
Yes I have a film lens that came with my old Canon Rebel SLR (film). I'll be shooting mostly outside and during the day. I am not sure if that helps.
I will say that in your price range, new cameras, these are all going to be extremely competitive. Specs will likely be so close between brands and models that it almost doesn't matter. IQ is extremely good with them as well. The difference is going to be the glass, menu configuration and button layout. Even if you don't know what all the buttons do or are for, can you reach them easily and adjust with out taking your eye from the view finder?
Some differences, the Nikon entry level cameras are a bit different from the higher end stuff, they don't have focus motors in the body so to use auto focus you need to have AF-S type lenses. Non AF-S lenses will still mount and meter, there is also a focus indicator in the view finder so you can still use them just as fast and accurately as an AF-S lens, but with manual focus.
Also, your film lens will have a 1.6 times narrower field of view on the digital because the sensor is smaller than a frame of 135 film. So a 50mm film camera lens will be like a 78mm lens. Which is a wonderful focal length for portraits!
I do know that the Canon 75-300 is about the worst lens ever made by canon and the 55-250 is far superior. The 18-55 kit lens is nice and sharp though. So you could have a two lens "street sweeper" rig from 18 out to 250 for nearly anything. I always recommend a 50mm prime lens, in fact I own one for every camera I own that have changeable lenses.
Where are you located? If near me, I'd let you try some of mine out, but don't hold me accountable if you shoot and fall in love with my Leica and decide to buy one, lol!
I shoot Canon and would recommend looking at a Canon body since you already have some Canon glass. I think they have some of the best bargain lenses out there like the Canon 50 1.8 at around $100 and the Canon 40mm pancake at around $150. You could get a refurb semi pro body Canon 60d for around $400. Just remember that lenses are the things that should be invested in since they hold their value while camera bodies rapidly depreciate. Heck you could go with a used Canon 40D for around $200 and spend the rest on quality glass.
Here is a link to the 60D a couple years old but a quality camera.
http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/c...-digital-slr-cameras/eos-60d-body-refurbished
Mirror-less may be another option. Their image quality is now on-par with Dslrs. They are a lot smaller and more convenient, and usually offer a higher frame per second because there is no mirror. I definitely see mirror-less cameras being the future of photography. Sony is making some amazing full frame pro bodies and quite a few pros are starting to make the switch to mirrorless(example being the A7 with the A72 just announced).
I'm considering a switch to Olympus because of the convenient size, selection of quality lenses(for a decent price), and in-camera stabilization. You could get a really nice mirror-less camera like the Olympus PL5 for 300.00 used https://www.keh.com/361052/olympus-pen-e-pl5-black-digital-camera-body-16-m-p
The older Rebels used EF lenses. No rebel bodies were made for FD glass.
How is the video (shooting 1080p) on the new Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras?