Gizmodo continues their latest streak of good editorial content, not just the relinking of announcements and press releases from product companies. I may switch to them instead of Engadget as my primary source of “what’s new in gadgets” content.

Today they published a layman (well, internet layman) description about SLR lenses and their importance in taking good photographs. Sure, switching from your point-and-shoot camera to an SLR will undoubtably improve your pictures through a better sensor and more manual control, but the optics in good lenses is where the gravy is. By investing in a great zoom, and a good basic prime lens, you can enable some pretty great pictures through your camera.

Keep in mind, upgrading to an SLR is not the end all of your photography expenses. Most lenses are the cost of a small point-and-shoot camera so budget accordingly. Sometimes it’s not worth upgrading to an SLR with basic zoom.

Nikon introduced four new SLR bodies in 2008. That’s quite remarkable considering there were only three launches last year and one of them was the D40x small update. RIght now, the only model that hasn’t been updated in 2008 is the D300. Expect news on this next year – I expect some new updates to the D300 but nothing like it going to use the FX sensor or anything that earth shattering. Maybe only the addition of video capabilities like the D90.

Nikon D60 – Jan 29, 2008
Nikon D700 – Jul 1, 2008
Nikon D90 – Aug 27, 2008
Nikon D3X – Dec 1, 2008

I was surprised by this result, The Gadget Show in the UK took the same picture using the same lens but two different bodies: Nikon’s F5 vs. D700. They blew it up to a very large (27′) picture and hung it outside a building and compared the two. Guess what won?