Used dslr: where is the best budget buy?

[checkmate91]

vladcjelli said:

Now, if I could only get the cats to stand still for a moment...

Hehe, let them think they're in disguise...

[vladcjelli]

Post holiday update -

Family holiday, away for a week and taken the 400d almost everywhere with us.

Here are a few shots offof it:



















Accepted behaviour at this point would be to ask for C & C?

Really enjoyed messing about with it. Could just do with a little more zoom...

Need more holidays now!

[Golaboots]

AndyS2 said:

So, say I were to budget around £150 for a used D80, what 18-55 lens would you recommend?

I've got a D80, for £150 you can't go wrong really. Mine has over 33k shots taken and it still works perfectly.
Pluses are a nice big Pentaprism viewfinder, built in AF motor (means you can use older/cheaper lenses) and you can trigger flahses remotely. Its also nicely built.

Only negatives compared to newer models are inferior high ISO noise (that what a flash is for, google 'Strobist blog')
The metering does tend to overexpose a tad too, but thats easily soved.

Put £60 toward a 50mm prime lens and you've got a decent set up.
Nikon make pretty good lenses across the board the 18-55 cheapy kit lens is better than Canon's equivalent but the old 18-70 kit lens is the kit lens of choice.

[Revol]

Another vote for the D80 and 50mm prime combo. I also have a 18-105 Nikon vr and a 70-300 Sigma.
I got my D80 with 4000 shots on it for £160 on ebay.
For a little more money a D200 can be had, basically same as D80 but better weather sealing/build quality (not that the D80 is bad in any way) and five shots a second rather than three. In fact just the other day a D200 body went for £135 on the bay.

[MysteryLemon]

Nice set of pics there. Only issue I have with all of them is that they all seem underexposed. Worth checking exposure compensation maybe?

[flat-planedCrank]

vladcjelli said:

Accepted behaviour at this point would be to ask for C & C?

Really enjoyed messing about with it. Could just do with a little more zoom...

Need more holidays now!

Glad you're enjoying your new camera Seem to be getting the hang of it!

I'd agree with the other comments that perhaps some are underexposed, eg the last 2 flower shots. Others, particularly the high contrast shots are arguably over exposed, but tbh they can be difficult to deal with. Eg. The 'castle' shot: you would have had to underexpose the main subject to keep the sky from clipping (meaning it has gone completely white). Or use a tripod and take bracketed shots at different exposures and combine them afterwards...starts getting more complex

Are you shooting in JPG / RAW? RAW can capture more data from a scene than is stored in a JPG file, can sometimes find detail in overexposed highlights or underexposed shadows that you may not otherwise know about. Could imagine it as a small safety net. Did your camera come with any CDs? You may have Canon's Digital Photo Professional program, or you could look at buying a RAW processor such as Adobe Lightroom (around £100, but I've seen deals for less)



Imo the stand out shot is the seagull taking off ^ I really like that, think it could be even better with some slight editing


Hope this helps.

[HorneyMX5]

I love my 400D but after 5 and a half years of trusty service it's being relegated to the status of back up body. You're holiday shots are really good, keep up the good work.

[vladcjelli]

Thanks for the feedback, this is all new territory.

Exposure still feels a bit of a mystery to me, I really need to rtfm.

With regards to the castle shot, I was too busy trying to catch the two diablos in mid air to give it any more thought.

I'm interested in RAW, but won't be able to free up funds for a purchase of that size at the moment. If there are any free options, for Linux, I'd be interested to hear.

Thanks again, here's hoping my beginners luck holds up!

[gazchap]

I'm not having much luck selling my old camera - I've got a D80 with an 18-55mm kit lens, 50mm prime and a 70-300 Sigma lens, with two batteries and charger - going for £300 if anyone's interested?

[flat-planedCrank]

vladcjelli said:

Thanks for the feedback, this is all new territory.

Exposure still feels a bit of a mystery to me, I really need to rtfm.

With regards to the castle shot, I was too busy trying to catch the two diablos in mid air to give it any more thought.

I'm interested in RAW, but won't be able to free up funds for a purchase of that size at the moment. If there are any free options, for Linux, I'd be interested to hear.

Thanks again, here's hoping my beginners luck holds up!

Linux options - I've not tried either of these but heard of RAW Therapee...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RawTherapee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufraw

General editing (like photoshop)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP

[MysteryLemon]

gazchap said:

I'm not having much luck selling my old camera - I've got a D80 with an 18-55mm kit lens, 50mm prime and a 70-300 Sigma lens, with two batteries and charger - going for £300 if anyone's interested?

You'll get more money selling it as separate parts.

Body - £1-150.. 18-55 - £60.. 50mm prime (depends which? f1.8? AF/AF-s?) - £80-100?.. 70-300 sigma - £80

People aren't willing to pay the true value when buying as a kit. The customer will always expect a bargain if buying everything in one lot.

[DJM1]

Hi,

I'm also looking for a DSLR on the secondhand market. I have been looking at the Nikon D80 and the Canon 350/400D. I have noticed that there are two main differences between these two cameras (or three cameras), the Nikon has a smaller sensor size than the Canon and the Nikon has a handy little LCD screen on the top. What would you guys suggest for a camera to take a range of good photos that can still be cheap to buy?

Thanks

[ManFromDelmonte]

DJM1 said:

Hi,

I'm also looking for a DSLR on the secondhand market. I have been looking at the Nikon D80 and the Canon 350/400D. I have noticed that there are two main differences between these two cameras (or three cameras), the Nikon has a smaller sensor size than the Canon and the Nikon has a handy little LCD screen on the top. What would you guys suggest for a camera to take a range of good photos that can still be cheap to buy?

Thanks

The Nikon actually has a larger sensor than the Canon, but the difference is negligible.

Those you mention are all quite old cameras but were good in their day and will be fine now. Just buy the best used camera from Canon or Nikon you can afford and don't forget that the quality of the pictures you get depends more on the quality of lenses you have, than the actual camera.

Edited by ManFromDelmonte on Monday 7th July 11:01

[MysteryLemon]

The D80 is a great camera. It is showing its age though but you'll still get excellent day to day pics and its a very nice camera to hold and use. Don't expect much at higher ISO and low light though. Images are only really usable upto around 800, and that's me who doesn't mind a bit of noise.

Around the same price you should be able to pick up a D5000 which is the newer Cmos sensor from the D90, 2mp larger resolution but vastly improved low light/high iso performance and does video too. Worth a look.

[gazchap]

Weirdly enough (considering my post just a few posts up this page) I'm now selling my D7000 body, my 18-300mm Nikon lens and my Tamron 90mm macro.

[dave0010]

gazchap said:

Weirdly enough (considering my post just a few posts up this page) I'm now selling my D7000 body, my 18-300mm Nikon lens and my Tamron 90mm macro.

What are the full details on the lens's mate? May be tempted with the 18-300mm. Pm me if you like

[V8Wagon]

Gazchap....details on the D7000 if you don't mind. It's about time I ditched my Olympus gear.

[gazchap]

dave0010 said:

What are the full details on the lens's mate? May be tempted with the 18-300mm. Pm me if you like

It's this one, so has vibration reduction (which is a godsend, it was my first VR lens and I thought it was voodoo!)

It's just over a year old (bought in May 2013) but has been barely used - I've not actually had much chance to get out with my camera much in the last year and now I'm raising money for a house deposit, so it (amongst other things!) has got to go

I no longer have the box or instruction guides, so it comes with the lens hood and the little carry pouch thing - and I'll throw in a Zeikos UV filter too. It cost £690 new, they're selling for £620 now so I'm after £520 ono


V8Wagon: The D7000... body only, with the shutter cover, batteries (1 genuine Nikon, one third-party) and charger - not boxed, but comes with strap, USB lead and I'll chuck in a 16GB card too. Shutter count is 2,730 so it's barely used too And with that in mind I'm looking for £390 posted

[Legmaster]

Hi all,

I'm after a little help in the used entry level DSLR market please.

14yr old is now (apparently) very keen on photography, something to do with media in school and she wants to be a fashion photographer. Being one to encourage lots of pictures of pretty ladies my children's creativity, I thought I'd get her a 'decent' camera for Christmas. If, like lots of kids, she changes her mind - I've got a new camera!

Can only afford a max of £200 and wondering if the Canon EOS400 or Nikon D80 advice above still stands or if things have moved on a little. Having had a look at the mpb photographic website & ebay, there is a bewildering amount of cameras/lenses/options which is all like a foreign language to me.

Any handy pointers much appreciated.

[V8Wagon]

The Canon EOS M is available from Argos at the moment for £199. It's essentially a Canon DSLR crammed into a small body. The image quality is superb,it has a lovely touch screen and can take the full range of Canon DSLR lenses with an additional cheap adapter.

I bought one as a stopgap while 'between' cameras and can't see me going back.