Entry level DSLR?
Discussion
Looking to start doing some photography both as a hobby and doing some occasional prints for sale.
What would be a good value for money DSLR kit start with?
I've read the Nikon would be a good one, but at £400 odd, is it genuinely worth that, or will it be superceeded in 2 months?!?!
Many thanks for all your help guys!!
What would be a good value for money DSLR kit start with?
I've read the Nikon would be a good one, but at £400 odd, is it genuinely worth that, or will it be superceeded in 2 months?!?!
Many thanks for all your help guys!!
_dobbo_ said:
If you are balking at £400 on an entry level Nikon then I'd recommend you stop right there.
Two years and nearly £4000 down the line and my "entry level" spending seems like a thing of the distant past.
Two years and nearly £4000 down the line and my "entry level" spending seems like a thing of the distant past.
Edited by _dobbo_ on Friday 15th September 15:41
Get one of these instead:
www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/
Just to add - any current model will be supersceded eventually, usually within about a year of it being available. However that wont make it obsolete, any current entry level DSLR will be good for a few years I reckon. I'd also add that an SLR will probably have a more useful life than a compact, but I could be wrong there.
If it were me, I'd be looking at the Canon 400D myself, it's a few quid more but probably worth it. And I'm a Nikon owner!
If it were me, I'd be looking at the Canon 400D myself, it's a few quid more but probably worth it. And I'm a Nikon owner!
Edited by _dobbo_ on Friday 15th September 16:55
marctwo said:
_dobbo_ said:
If you are balking at £400 on an entry level Nikon then I'd recommend you stop right there.
Two years and nearly £4000 down the line and my "entry level" spending seems like a thing of the distant past.
Two years and nearly £4000 down the line and my "entry level" spending seems like a thing of the distant past.
Edited by _dobbo_ on Friday 15th September 15:41
Get one of these instead:
www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/
marktwo, I'm looking to move on from my 6 year old Nikon Coolpix 990. As I'm not committed enough to be arsed carting round all the kit that SLR photography necessitates
I've been thinking about an intermediate camera for a while. The review of the camera you posted seems to tick all the boxes. Have you any personal experience of this camera ?
Is it any better than either the similar spec Fuji FinepixS9500 or the Panasonic Lumic DMC FZ50?
Edited by sparkythecat on Friday 22 September 19:44
I'd agree with the above comments about SLRs. I've had my D70 for a little over a year now and although the camera itself was a present, so far I've brought a £30 tripod (which is on the list to replace...it was the first thing I brought and I was in econo mode when I brought it! It has a lot of limitations), a £325 second hand 300mm f4 Sigma lense (RRP £999 
), a £90 Nikon 50mm f1.8 portrait lense, a Manfrotto £45 monopod and 3 protective uv filters totaling about £80 and a IR remote at £15. I'd say that's moderate spending as far as some people go and although some things are not that necessary, it's VERY easy to end up doing that.
If you don't have more than £400 to spend then definitely go for a 'prosumer' camera like the Canon. If you are prepared to spend a little more over time then by all means go for the SLR. You will definitely find you need more kit than just the camera and one lense though. As you progress you'll find yourself looking at peoples work and then desparately wanting a lense that can acheive that effect
Basically I'd say....if you're going to get an SLR take it's price, then double it. That's probably how much you'll spend getting kit for it
), a £90 Nikon 50mm f1.8 portrait lense, a Manfrotto £45 monopod and 3 protective uv filters totaling about £80 and a IR remote at £15. I'd say that's moderate spending as far as some people go and although some things are not that necessary, it's VERY easy to end up doing that. If you don't have more than £400 to spend then definitely go for a 'prosumer' camera like the Canon. If you are prepared to spend a little more over time then by all means go for the SLR. You will definitely find you need more kit than just the camera and one lense though. As you progress you'll find yourself looking at peoples work and then desparately wanting a lense that can acheive that effect
Basically I'd say....if you're going to get an SLR take it's price, then double it. That's probably how much you'll spend getting kit for it
Small hands - Canon.
Bigger hands - Nikon.
I have large hands , and the Canon feels like a fisher price toy to me.
The Nikon in contrast fits my hands much better and is a more satisfying thing to use because of it.
I got a D70 when they first came out . I'm happy with that, and happy to stay Nikon as a result.
Bigger hands - Nikon.
I have large hands , and the Canon feels like a fisher price toy to me.
The Nikon in contrast fits my hands much better and is a more satisfying thing to use because of it.
I got a D70 when they first came out . I'm happy with that, and happy to stay Nikon as a result.
Thanks for starting this thread - I wasn't brave enough to do it myself...
I've had Exilims for a few years now and I'm constantly frustrated with the lack of a decent zoom. I've decided to lay may hands on a "prosumer" D-SLR for Christmas and had plumped for the Canon 350D. It sounds like that was a reasonable choice, but I'm absolutely baffled by the zoom lenses for the thing
A couple of questions if you chaps would be so kind...
a) What kind of photographs should I be able to take with the standard lens? Am I limited to strictly portait and landscape shots with limited zoom?
b) What price should I be looking at spending on a decent zoom to handle, as an example, decent zoom shots at (of the top of my head) the zoo?
I really appreciate the input. Dealing with 4x or 8x zoom on digital compacts is fine, but I really can't get my head around how to understand the power of zoom lenses on SLR camera
Thanks in advance
I've had Exilims for a few years now and I'm constantly frustrated with the lack of a decent zoom. I've decided to lay may hands on a "prosumer" D-SLR for Christmas and had plumped for the Canon 350D. It sounds like that was a reasonable choice, but I'm absolutely baffled by the zoom lenses for the thing
A couple of questions if you chaps would be so kind...
a) What kind of photographs should I be able to take with the standard lens? Am I limited to strictly portait and landscape shots with limited zoom?
b) What price should I be looking at spending on a decent zoom to handle, as an example, decent zoom shots at (of the top of my head) the zoo?
I really appreciate the input. Dealing with 4x or 8x zoom on digital compacts is fine, but I really can't get my head around how to understand the power of zoom lenses on SLR camera
Thanks in advance
Well...tbh, you can shoot what you want with the standard lense If you're creative enough you can still even take motorsport pics from a distance.
If you wanna take sports, you need a 200mm zoom as a minimum and 300mm as an ideal. Most of the Sigmas and Canons and Tamrons will be just fine and it's only really worth spending silly money on the massive lenses if you want to be super arty The £500+ ones also weigh around 2kg so you have to really want the fixed appature for that. I'd say if you spend around the £150-£200 mark you'll get a very good all purpose telephoto that will take very good zoo pictures
Portrait lenses (50mm with an apature of 1.4 or 1.8) are great for portraits obviously, although you can get almost as good results with the kit lense.
Wide angles (anything from around the 10mm to 18mm mark) are very expensive and give you anything up to 180 deg of view in the frame. They have limited use though tbh.
I'd say if you're on a budget stick with the kit lense and maybe get a 70-300 sigma or something. Get a tripod and a remote shutter release and you can acheive probably 90% of all photos possible. At a push get a portrait cause most are under £100, but it's not really that necessary.
Hope that helps. Have a look on pBase under the camera search option. They have lenses listed too so you can see what people can acheive with those lenses.
If you're creative enough you can still even take motorsport pics from a distance. If you wanna take sports, you need a 200mm zoom as a minimum and 300mm as an ideal. Most of the Sigmas and Canons and Tamrons will be just fine and it's only really worth spending silly money on the massive lenses if you want to be super arty
The £500+ ones also weigh around 2kg so you have to really want the fixed appature for that. I'd say if you spend around the £150-£200 mark you'll get a very good all purpose telephoto that will take very good zoo pictures Portrait lenses (50mm with an apature of 1.4 or 1.8) are great for portraits obviously, although you can get almost as good results with the kit lense.
Wide angles (anything from around the 10mm to 18mm mark) are very expensive and give you anything up to 180 deg of view in the frame. They have limited use though tbh.
I'd say if you're on a budget stick with the kit lense and maybe get a 70-300 sigma or something. Get a tripod and a remote shutter release and you can acheive probably 90% of all photos possible. At a push get a portrait cause most are under £100, but it's not really that necessary.
Hope that helps. Have a look on pBase under the camera search option. They have lenses listed too so you can see what people can acheive with those lenses.
Edited by ArosaMike on Thursday 21st September 23:53
Edited by ArosaMike on Thursday 21st September 23:55
toppstuff said:
Small hands - Canon.
Bigger hands - Nikon.
I have large hands , and the Canon feels like a fisher price toy to me.
The Nikon in contrast fits my hands much better and is a more satisfying thing to use because of it.
Simple but true! Bigger hands - Nikon.
I have large hands , and the Canon feels like a fisher price toy to me.
The Nikon in contrast fits my hands much better and is a more satisfying thing to use because of it.
I tried a Nikon D80 versus a Canon 400 yesterday in a shop;
not only did the Nikon body feel much nicer TO ME
but the action of the zoom felt better too.
Is there really a downside to an SD card?????
marctwo said:
_dobbo_ said:
If you are balking at £400 on an entry level Nikon then I'd recommend you stop right there.
Two years and nearly £4000 down the line and my "entry level" spending seems like a thing of the distant past.
Two years and nearly £4000 down the line and my "entry level" spending seems like a thing of the distant past.
Edited by _dobbo_ on Friday 15th September 15:41
Get one of these instead:
www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/
I have just bought the Sony H2 in preference
I can't speak for Nikon as I've not tried them for any length of time, but if I were to start again I'd probably go down the same path I started on a couple of years ago.
I'd buy:
- a Canon 350D
- a Sigma 18-125mm F3.5-5.6 DC (www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=257&sort=7&cat=37&page=2 )
- a UV filter (to protect the lens) and
- a 2GB memory card.
The Sigma isn't the best of lenses, but it will teach you what you want out of photography as it covers most bases.
I'd buy:
- a Canon 350D
- a Sigma 18-125mm F3.5-5.6 DC (www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=257&sort=7&cat=37&page=2 )
- a UV filter (to protect the lens) and
- a 2GB memory card.
The Sigma isn't the best of lenses, but it will teach you what you want out of photography as it covers most bases.
Edited by Andy M on Friday 22 September 09:56
Don't forget that with a dSLR you are buying into a *system*. With a all-in-one camera like the Panasonic you're not getting the interchangeability or the third-party support. I would buy the best you can afford if you are serious with your photography. A D70s or D80 (or Canon equivalent!) *might* be a better purchase. The problems with dSLRs is that you're stuck with the CCD (no of megapixels/image quality) of the camera. With film cameras you could improve your run of the mill Fuji 100 film with Velvia or Provia and immediately get better results for a couple of quid.
Take some time to think about what you really want to do. Buying something that's going to leave you frustrated in a year's time is going to be a waste of money IMO.
Take some time to think about what you really want to do. Buying something that's going to leave you frustrated in a year's time is going to be a waste of money IMO.
marctwo said:
Be sure to check the full size samples, its quite soft and very noisy. I know an amateur who shoots stock, and after 2 weeks decided he couldnt wait to get shot of it. Optical quality seems to be lacking too. cuneus said:
marctwo said:
_dobbo_ said:
If you are balking at £400 on an entry level Nikon then I'd recommend you stop right there.
Two years and nearly £4000 down the line and my "entry level" spending seems like a thing of the distant past.
Two years and nearly £4000 down the line and my "entry level" spending seems like a thing of the distant past.
Edited by _dobbo_ on Friday 15th September 15:41
Get one of these instead:
www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/
I have just bought the Sony H2 in preference
Oh dear that's another one for me to consider now. I'd narrowed my choices down to the Canon S3 IS, the Fuji FinepixS9500 or the Panasonic Lumic DMC FZ50.
I had a look at them all today at a local emporium and dismissed the Canon. As other posters have said, it's for people with smaller hands .
What made you go for the Sony?
I've had the S9500 for about a month now and I'm still faffing with it. Auto mode isn't worth using and I'm still learning how to get decent pictures with it using manual settings. Jury is still out! It does feel nice to hold though....although I find it a bit on the heavy side to carry for long with the neck strap.
If you want something which gives you the flexibility of manual settings plus a very adequate zoom then maybe one of the other Fuji cameras would be good for you? I've also got the S5000 which I absolutely love. The 10x zoom is about 300mm equivalent in SLR terms. Pixel count is about 6 max. I've also got a teleconverter lens for it too which gets you even closer. The majority of my better pictures have been taken with this camera. The images are crystal clear. It is quite a small camera though.
The S7000 gets some fantastic write-ups. It can be used on fully manual. It only has a 6x zoom but has more pixels. They're well below £200 now. Again, this is quite a small camera.
As with all cameras, it depends what you ultimately want to get from it.
If you want something which gives you the flexibility of manual settings plus a very adequate zoom then maybe one of the other Fuji cameras would be good for you? I've also got the S5000 which I absolutely love. The 10x zoom is about 300mm equivalent in SLR terms. Pixel count is about 6 max. I've also got a teleconverter lens for it too which gets you even closer. The majority of my better pictures have been taken with this camera. The images are crystal clear. It is quite a small camera though.
The S7000 gets some fantastic write-ups. It can be used on fully manual. It only has a 6x zoom but has more pixels. They're well below £200 now. Again, this is quite a small camera.
As with all cameras, it depends what you ultimately want to get from it.
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