Which camera for a noob?

[PapaJohns]

My wife has expressed an interest in photography, so I thought I'd get her a camera she can learn with, as she plans to take a night class in photography.

I know absolutely nothing on the subject so would appreciate some advice from the PH massive? budget is between £200-£500

[RobDickinson]

Anything that can be used in manual mode.

A low end canon or nikon SLR, used, with the 18-55 kit lens would be great.

[stoneb09]

I got the canon 1200d just before Christmas and am absolutely loving it!

It forms a great introduction to photography, and has an app which you can download for free which teaches you the basics of photography and how to use the camera.

I wouldn't worry too much about the body, as it really is the lenses that make the largest differences when it comes to image quality.

There are also some great offerings from Nikon at the lower end of the market, so be sure to check them out as well.

[rottie102]

This:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3...

Small, light, cheap, easy to use and with image quality of bigger DSLRs so she'll be very happy with it for her night classes.

[Simpo Two]

RobDickinson said:

Anything that can be used in manual mode.

A low end canon or nikon SLR, used, with the 18-55 kit lens would be great.

Yep. And read the manual - it won't tell you about photography but it will say what all the controls do.

If she wants to learn about photography - DSLR. If she wants to take photos easily without really knowing how, compact.

[PapaJohns]

would this be suitable

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pentax-KS-1-DSLR-Camera-18...

Edited by PapaJohns on Wednesday 11th February 12:04

[PapaJohns]

rottie102 said:

This:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3...

Small, light, cheap, easy to use and with image quality of bigger DSLRs so she'll be very happy with it for her night classes.

That does look good for the money, is she likely to get to grips with that quite quickly and maybe want a DSLR

Theres 15 available on Amazon for £135

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-EOS-Compact-System-C...

Edited by PapaJohns on Wednesday 11th February 12:10

[ecsrobin]

Buy her a canon or a canon or a canon. If all other canons are unavailable look for a Nikon.

I'm a Sony user and I really like the Sony kit, I was told years ago all cameras at the same price point are very similar so find the one that you find nicest to hold and use the features. However I feel I shouldn't have bought a DSLR like this like the Pentax linked to above getting extra bits of kit for them is limited and generally a higher cost as you can only get genuine gear.

Canon and Nikon every company makes lenses, flashes and so on for them plus a huge second hand market to pick up extra kit once she gets the bug.

[fido]

rottie102 said:

This:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3...

Small, light, cheap, easy to use and with image quality of bigger DSLRs so she'll be very happy with it for her night classes.

+1. Aside from the lethargic AF - it's a nice camera! (and when my M2 arrives next week I will be offloading my M)

[ManFromDelmonte]

The standard (MX5) answer to this question is the Nikon D3100 and the 18-55mm kit lens. There are some great deals on this combo.

As said any DSLR from Nikon or Canon will be good enough, it's hard to go wrong if you stick to this. Pentax, Sony etc. are almost certainly good enough too but if you are starting from scratch I don't know why you wouldn't go for one from the big 2.

[mike9009]

fido said:

rottie102 said:

This:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3...

Small, light, cheap, easy to use and with image quality of bigger DSLRs so she'll be very happy with it for her night classes.

+1. Aside from the lethargic AF - it's a nice camera! (and when my M2 arrives next week I will be offloading my M)

+2 I have had mine for about six months and really enjoying it!

[V8Wagon]

mike9009 said:

fido said:

rottie102 said:

This:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3...

Small, light, cheap, easy to use and with image quality of bigger DSLRs so she'll be very happy with it for her night classes.

+1. Aside from the lethargic AF - it's a nice camera! (and when my M2 arrives next week I will be offloading my M)

+2 I have had mine for about six months and really enjoying it!

+3 I love mine too.

[V8Wagon]

PapaJohns said:

rottie102 said:

This:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3...

Small, light, cheap, easy to use and with image quality of bigger DSLRs so she'll be very happy with it for her night classes.

That does look good for the money, is she likely to get to grips with that quite quickly and maybe want a DSLR

Theres 15 available on Amazon for £135

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-EOS-Compact-System-C...

Edited by PapaJohns on Wednesday 11th February 12:10

Wish I'd seen them at £135. I'd have bought a couple of them for other people. Worth every penny!

[sgrimshaw]

Sony A5100 certainly worth a look, has the same sensor as the much more expensive A6000.

[budfox]

Nikon D3100 and the 18-55 kit lens.

That Canon is all very well, but not having a proper optical viewfinder would annoy the hell out of me, and for someone learning I'd day it's a must.

[ManFromDelmonte]

budfox said:

Nikon D3100 and the 18-55 kit lens.

That Canon is all very well, but not having a proper optical viewfinder would annoy the hell out of me, and for someone learning I'd day it's a must.

I would tend to agree, a compact is what you buy when you're fed up lugging a DSLR around, a DSLR is what you learn on.

D3100 is still my recommendation.

[rottie102]

budfox said:

Nikon D3100 and the 18-55 kit lens.

That Canon is all very well, but not having a proper optical viewfinder would annoy the hell out of me, and for someone learning I'd day it's a must.

And I would strongly disagree.
A camera with a great liveView is so much better to learn on than using a viewfinder on a DSLR. You see what changing the settings does to your photos in an instant, not after you've taken 20 photos just to get it right. Plus because of its small size it's much more likely to be taken to places and used for taking ohotos instead of gathering dust at home blike a DSLR because it will need a separate bag etc.
And then if OP's wife is actually confident about pursuing the hobby of photography rather than thinking about it, that's the time for a DSLR.

[Simpo Two]

rottie102 said:

A camera with a great liveView is so much better to learn on than using a viewfinder on a DSLR. You see what changing the settings does to your photos in an instant, not after you've taken 20 photos just to get it right. Plus because of its small size it's much more likely to be taken to places and used for taking ohotos instead of gathering dust at home blike a DSLR because it will need a separate bag etc.
And then if OP's wife is actually confident about pursuing the hobby of photography rather than thinking about it, that's the time for a DSLR.

If she's planning to take night classes then I'd say she's fairly serious about the hobby already. If you know you want to drive a four-wheel manual car you don't start with a three-wheel automatic

[Agoogy]

V8Wagon said:

PapaJohns said:

rottie102 said:

This:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3...

Small, light, cheap, easy to use and with image quality of bigger DSLRs so she'll be very happy with it for her night classes.

That does look good for the money, is she likely to get to grips with that quite quickly and maybe want a DSLR

Theres 15 available on Amazon for £135

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-EOS-Compact-System-C...

Edited by PapaJohns on Wednesday 11th February 12:10

Wish I'd seen them at £135. I'd have bought a couple of them for other people. Worth every penny!

Do you guys mean £235...not £135...?

[droopsnoot]

PapaJohns said:

would this be suitable

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pentax-KS-1-DSLR-Camera-18...

I've read good things about the KS-1, but it's worth noting they've just announced the KS-2 albeit at a much higher price. There's a lot of good stuff to be said about Pentax (I've got a Kx and have had film Pentax in the past), not least that there's a lot of older Pentax K-mount lenses out there, and older M42 lenses usable with a small adapter.