Discussion
Hi
We've been flooded and one of the things that got wet was my Canon D1100. It was about 4 years old and well used, but the insurance company has kindly given me £620 for it based on the closest they could find on Jessops (D1300 with the cheapest 18-55mm and 70-300mm lenses).
I want to replace it with a SLR and as I lost both of my lenses, batteries etc, there's no benefit with me sticking with Canon (other than I liked the camera more than the Nikon I had before it). I have a Panasonic Lumix point and shoot which I use for family days out and things like that, the main reason I want the SLR is for surf photography and for the spots that I go to for that, a 70-300mm lens has been fine. I've got no idea what to go for. I assume that pretty much anything new is going to be an upgrade over the D1100. Not too worried about video capability, I've never used my SLR for that and have a Sony Action Cam.
Here are the ones that I've seen in the price range I'm looking at.
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/pro...
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/pro...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nikon-D7100-Digial-SLR-C...
The Canon looks like a good, updated version of what I had, although I'm not convinced about the movable touchscreen, is that a useful feature or just something to go wrong? The Pentax seems like a good price and is weather proof, ideal for beach conditions a lot of the time. The Nikon is at the top of what I can afford right now, but comes with everything. Is the 500mm lens worth having or just cheap rubbish? It seems that they can modify the package and as I don't want the backpack, tripod, flash and card reader, I should get a bit of a better price.
Any views are welcome, but at the moment I can't afford to spend any more than about £700.
Cheers
We've been flooded and one of the things that got wet was my Canon D1100. It was about 4 years old and well used, but the insurance company has kindly given me £620 for it based on the closest they could find on Jessops (D1300 with the cheapest 18-55mm and 70-300mm lenses).
I want to replace it with a SLR and as I lost both of my lenses, batteries etc, there's no benefit with me sticking with Canon (other than I liked the camera more than the Nikon I had before it). I have a Panasonic Lumix point and shoot which I use for family days out and things like that, the main reason I want the SLR is for surf photography and for the spots that I go to for that, a 70-300mm lens has been fine. I've got no idea what to go for. I assume that pretty much anything new is going to be an upgrade over the D1100. Not too worried about video capability, I've never used my SLR for that and have a Sony Action Cam.
Here are the ones that I've seen in the price range I'm looking at.
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/pro...
http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/pro...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nikon-D7100-Digial-SLR-C...
The Canon looks like a good, updated version of what I had, although I'm not convinced about the movable touchscreen, is that a useful feature or just something to go wrong? The Pentax seems like a good price and is weather proof, ideal for beach conditions a lot of the time. The Nikon is at the top of what I can afford right now, but comes with everything. Is the 500mm lens worth having or just cheap rubbish? It seems that they can modify the package and as I don't want the backpack, tripod, flash and card reader, I should get a bit of a better price.
Any views are welcome, but at the moment I can't afford to spend any more than about £700.
Cheers
The movable touch screen is awesome. No need to crouch down on the ground if shooting low etc and I love canons touch interface. Its also a step up in terms of model range than the 1100D but only a bit.
The pentax and nikon are good too, pentax its usually harder to get 3rd party or used gear for, both nikon and canon have heaps of both.
I personally prefer canons ergonomics and menu systems over nikon
The pentax and nikon are good too, pentax its usually harder to get 3rd party or used gear for, both nikon and canon have heaps of both.
I personally prefer canons ergonomics and menu systems over nikon
I purchased a Canon 700D late last year and am very pleased with it, it was either that or the 100D which is equally competent but a little bit smaller. After much pondering I chose the 700D.
I bought it with the EFS 18-55mm and 55-250mm lens kit, though have since added a few more lenses, the most impressive being the tiny and inexpensive Canon 50mm f1.8 lens which is superb for blurry backgrounds and in low light conditions, though for car shows I tend to use the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 which is a bit heavy and expensive.
The battery life is pretty good compared to compact cameras. I'm sure that there are better cameras out there such as the Canon 5D3 but they come with a price tag that I can't justify to the wife.
I find the menu system of the Canon 700D quite intuitive compared to the Sony RX100 M3 compact camera which is extremely good except that Sony management stubbornly refuse to provide firmware updates to improve on what is already a very good camera. Ironically the smaller RX100 M3 costs more than the 700D.
Hope this helps a little with your choice of camera, I went round and round for months before finally making a decision!
I bought it with the EFS 18-55mm and 55-250mm lens kit, though have since added a few more lenses, the most impressive being the tiny and inexpensive Canon 50mm f1.8 lens which is superb for blurry backgrounds and in low light conditions, though for car shows I tend to use the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 which is a bit heavy and expensive.
The battery life is pretty good compared to compact cameras. I'm sure that there are better cameras out there such as the Canon 5D3 but they come with a price tag that I can't justify to the wife.
I find the menu system of the Canon 700D quite intuitive compared to the Sony RX100 M3 compact camera which is extremely good except that Sony management stubbornly refuse to provide firmware updates to improve on what is already a very good camera. Ironically the smaller RX100 M3 costs more than the 700D.
Hope this helps a little with your choice of camera, I went round and round for months before finally making a decision!
Kernowlokal said:
the main reason I want the SLR is for surf photography
Something like a second hand Canon 7D or 70D will get you a better autofocus and more FPS, which would be advantageous for those types of shot at a guess?Lens wise, I use one of these for motorsport. Not the greatest in the world, but can be picked up second hand for under £200: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000B84KB6
Make sure you get that one as some of the other 70-300 lenses canon have produced are a bit, well, rubbish.
This all assumed you have cash, rather than Jessops vouchers though,
RobDickinson said:
The movable touch screen is awesome. No need to crouch down on the ground if shooting low etc and I love canons touch interface. Its also a step up in terms of model range than the 1100D but only a bit.
The pentax and nikon are good too, pentax its usually harder to get 3rd party or used gear for, both nikon and canon have heaps of both.
I personally prefer canons ergonomics and menu systems over nikon
Thanks for that, I thought the moving screen might have been a gimmick, but it appears not.The pentax and nikon are good too, pentax its usually harder to get 3rd party or used gear for, both nikon and canon have heaps of both.
I personally prefer canons ergonomics and menu systems over nikon
Simpo Two said:
RobDickinson said:
I personally prefer canons ergonomics and menu systems over nikon
By contrast I am totally unable to make any sense of a Canon!rich888 said:
I purchased a Canon 700D late last year and am very pleased with it, it was either that or the 100D which is equally competent but a little bit smaller. After much pondering I chose the 700D.
I bought it with the EFS 18-55mm and 55-250mm lens kit, though have since added a few more lenses, the most impressive being the tiny and inexpensive Canon 50mm f1.8 lens which is superb for blurry backgrounds and in low light conditions, though for car shows I tend to use the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 which is a bit heavy and expensive.
The battery life is pretty good compared to compact cameras. I'm sure that there are better cameras out there such as the Canon 5D3 but they come with a price tag that I can't justify to the wife.
Hope this helps a little with your choice of camera, I went round and round for months before finally making a decision!
Thanks for that, very helpful. The price of the 700 means I could probably afford the 50mm f1.8 lens as well. My wife is struggling to understand why I'm looking at cameras rather than a new bed or something boring like that.I bought it with the EFS 18-55mm and 55-250mm lens kit, though have since added a few more lenses, the most impressive being the tiny and inexpensive Canon 50mm f1.8 lens which is superb for blurry backgrounds and in low light conditions, though for car shows I tend to use the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 which is a bit heavy and expensive.
The battery life is pretty good compared to compact cameras. I'm sure that there are better cameras out there such as the Canon 5D3 but they come with a price tag that I can't justify to the wife.
Hope this helps a little with your choice of camera, I went round and round for months before finally making a decision!
SlidingSideways said:
Something like a second hand Canon 7D or 70D will get you a better autofocus and more FPS, which would be advantageous for those types of shot at a guess?
Lens wise, I use one of these for motorsport. Not the greatest in the world, but can be picked up second hand for under £200: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000B84KB6
Make sure you get that one as some of the other 70-300 lenses canon have produced are a bit, well, rubbish.
This all assumed you have cash, rather than Jessops vouchers though,
Thanks for making it tricky! I was thinking something nice and new, but I've had a look and I can get that lens and a 70D for just under my budget. I'm slightly unsure about spending that much on a secondhand camera though.Lens wise, I use one of these for motorsport. Not the greatest in the world, but can be picked up second hand for under £200: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000B84KB6
Make sure you get that one as some of the other 70-300 lenses canon have produced are a bit, well, rubbish.
This all assumed you have cash, rather than Jessops vouchers though,
Thanks to everyone for the help, the payment (bank transfer rather than vouchers) is due in a week, so I have some time to think.
Cheers
Kernowlokal said:
Thanks for making it tricky!
Hey, at least I kept in under budget. That's a rarity on these forums 
If you're shooting moving stuff, FPS and autofocus performance are two of the most important things to consider. This pretty much means that the xxD models are going to be a lot better performing than the xxxD and xxxxD ranges.
I've recently picked up a Canon EOS 1200D for 240 quid from eglobal, although they now show out of stock so suspect flogging off old stock? Anyway, it's my first DSLR so I'm hardly an expert, but the few photos I've took of my family seem superb compared to a Lumix Digital Camera I'd used previous, so crisp and clear. Not tried anything bar auto mode at the moment but I'm more than happy with it. Only thing it lacks is Wifi which I found handy on my Lumix, however I believe the 1300D which replaces the 1200D has this.
RobDickinson said:
The pentax and nikon are good too, pentax its usually harder to get 3rd party or used gear for
That kind of depends - there's loads of used Pentax-fit manual lenses out there with Pentax K-mount, or with an adapter you can use M42 screw lenses. So for experimenting with different lenses, there's a lot for sometimes car-boot-sale money. I'd agree that there is not the same selection of current third-party support.[disclosure: Pentax user for quite a number of years, but never tried Canon or Nikon as I don't change equipment that often.]
A reasonable point. My original reason for choosing a Pentax DSLR was to be able to continue to use the lenses I already had for my ME Super, but then have replaced most of them with AF versions. I'm not entirely sure at what point Pentax went from being one of the top-tier (in terms of popularity at least) SLR manufacturers to being in the position they're in now, and how they did it. Painful to see, from a brand loyalty point of view, but straying away from topic now.
SlidingSideways said:
Hey, at least I kept in under budget. That's a rarity on these forums
If you're shooting moving stuff, FPS and autofocus performance are two of the most important things to consider. This pretty much means that the xxD models are going to be a lot better performing than the xxxD and xxxxD ranges.
Yes, you did keep it under budget, I was surprised at that when I saw you were mentioning 7d or 70d. Has made it a tricky decision.If you're shooting moving stuff, FPS and autofocus performance are two of the most important things to consider. This pretty much means that the xxD models are going to be a lot better performing than the xxxD and xxxxD ranges.
Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff