Digital SLR on a budget?

[jagdpanther]

Ive been at Harewood today for the hillclimb, had the plasure of using Woollesons DSLR for a few shots and decided that I NEED one

So Im here to put the question to the PH fraternity

Which SLR is recommended on a bit of a budget of £250-£500??

Dont mind buying refurbs if its done right



The stand is yours






PS:

Pardon any spelling mistakes, tired and a little drunk

[bigmanszetec]

Quite a common question on here, so might be worth a search.

The two cameras that will occur the most are the Canon 400D (gets my vote) and the Nikon D40.

When I saw the difference a DSLR makes for motorsport use then I too decided I needed one!

Edited by bigmanszetec on Sunday 13th May 21:44

[robdickinson]

What lenses do you need/want? thats more important. The quality & performance of all the dSLR's is typicaly good enough ( the 300d/10d can be a little slow in todays standards). And will you have a budget later to add lenses or not?

Also what else do you have or will need? Bag, battery, mem card, filters etc all add up.

Cheapest option will be a used (& now quite old) 300d or 10d.

[davidy]

rob is spot on, work out which lenses yu will require and see if the budget fits, you seem to take a lot of motosport type photos so you will have to budget for a reasonable telephoto,but remember that old Canon lenses (AF,EF) will work on most Canon bodies, hough they be a bit slow by today's standards.

davidy

[gf350]

I'd recommend a canon, but I've not tried any others.

Heres some:

Canon EOS 350D EF-S 18-55 £369
www.castlecameras.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue__Canon_Cameras_77.html

Canon EOS 350D EF-S 18-55 £459 + £50 cashback
www.digital-cameras.com/digital_cameras/slr/canon_eos_400d_ef_s_18_55mm_lens.html

or a secondhand 20d
www.pistonheads.com/sales/168517.htm

Yo will need a better lens for motorsports but theres plenty of 70-300's / 75-300's from canon or sigma on ebay secondhand.
If you get a canon lens make sure its a usm or it will eat batteries and if its a sigma make sure it will work with a digital camera (older ones may not).
I'm sure someone will be along to tell you about nikons/pentax etc.

Hers some:
www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/203-3304814-2260748?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=nikon+d40

[Zad]

Or, if you don't mind a refurb with warranty: www.tecno.co.uk/Store/s50086/2001-3390-3391/Home/Refurbished-/Refurbished-Nikon-DSLR/Nikon/REFURBISHED-D70-Black-c-and-w-18-70mm-f35-and-45-DX/details.aspx

[jagdpanther]

Some good suggestions coming through

I tend to shoot more motorsport/motor related meeting type shots over wildlife, although I am quite partial to closeup stuff and wildlife, only my current camera is no good at it!

It would be a complete package and have thought about going 2nd hand

I would add money later for lenses and such, not straight away mind, but it would be on the cards for sure!

Refub doesnt bother me, neither does a good quality 2nd hand camera

I just want a good SLR thats not a complete pain in the nether regions to navigate as I know some are

(cant think of the model now...Im a bit pissed!!! )

[CarMac]

As was mentioned on another thread recently, you will be limited in which lenses you can use if you opt for the D40.

[iain_cam]

I'd go for a Nikon D50, or if you can D70 - they're pretty solid cameras and you can pick a refurbed one up for within your budget.

Also, the lens limitations of the D40 are lost, and if you wanted to upgrade later on, the Nikon lens mount is constant throughout the range - unlike the Canon's.

HTH

[GregE240]

Bit of a leftfield suggestion, but if you want real DSLR on a budget, but don't want to be able to swap lenses, take a look at a Fuji 6500fd. I bought one of these in Hong Kong recently. Well pleased with it.

Probably get the camera snobs piping up it ain't a proper DSLR though....

[jagdpanther]

I was looking at the Fuji's before hand, primarily the S2 but wasnt sure how the Fuji would compare to other SLRs?

[jagdpanther]

Wheres a good place to look for deals on cameras??

[GravelBen]

jagdpanther said:

I was looking at the Fuji's before hand, primarily the S2 but wasnt sure how the Fuji would compare to other SLRs?

Well the Fuji 6500 isn't an SLR, its more a high-end regular digi with most of the manual controls, but a normal digi is always going to be slower than an SLR.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 14th May 10:50

[cuneus]

jagdpanther said:

Wheres a good place to look for deals on cameras??

Scott just going through the same process (but mainly for wildlife) with a £500 budget

Tecno have a changing stock of refurbed cameras

Ebay can be excellent but the usual caveats apply

[bulb763]

www.camerapricebuster.com

[GregE240]

GravelBen said:

jagdpanther said:

I was looking at the Fuji's before hand, primarily the S2 but wasnt sure how the Fuji would compare to other SLRs?

Well the Fuji 6500 isn't an SLR, its more a high-end regular digi with most of the manual controls, but a normal digi is always going to be slower than an SLR.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 14th May 10:50

Eh?

Isn't an SLR?

It has a single lens. No separate viewfinder. Its also faster than an EOS300D.

[jagdpanther]

cuneus said:

jagdpanther said:

Wheres a good place to look for deals on cameras??

Scott just going through the same process (but mainly for wildlife) with a £500 budget

Tecno have a changing stock of refurbed cameras

Ebay can be excellent but the usual caveats apply

Cool, I'll have a peek Tecno later on

I dont have any problem with buying on Ebay, just have to be extra carefull I suppose


Whats the situation with the amount of shots a DSLR can take without a service/rebuild?

Ive heard that it can be quite limited...although I may have got that ass about face

[GravelBen]

GregE240 said:

GravelBen said:

Well the Fuji 6500 isn't an SLR, its more a high-end regular digi with most of the manual controls, but a normal digi is always going to be slower than an SLR.

Eh?

Isn't an SLR?

It has a single lens. No separate viewfinder. Its also faster than an EOS300D.

Hmm, maybe I'm thinking of the wrong Fuji, I thought the 6500 was another 'prosumer' job like a 5600 with a few more megapixels etc?

ETA: www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Fujifilm/fuji_finepixs6000.asp

according to the its not an SLR, it does have an LCD viewfinder and electronic rather than optical normal viewfinder. I don't know the exact speeds but I haven't heard of any regular digi that has less shutter lag than a dSLR.

I've got a Fuji S5500 which is a good all-rounder, when I can afford to I'll be upgrading to a dSLR - having used a mates D50 it really does seem to be worth the extra cost.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 14th May 13:11

[byker28i]

£500 budget would get you a Canon 300D and a 75-300 lens, plus some compact flash. Not bad as a starting point.

[spitfire-ian]

GravelBen said:

GregE240 said:

GravelBen said:

Well the Fuji 6500 isn't an SLR, its more a high-end regular digi with most of the manual controls, but a normal digi is always going to be slower than an SLR.

Eh?

Isn't an SLR?

It has a single lens. No separate viewfinder. Its also faster than an EOS300D.

Hmm, maybe I'm thinking of the wrong Fuji, I thought the 6500 was another 'prosumer' job like a 5600 with a few mroe megapixels etc?

I think GregE240 is getting confused as to what the definition of a SLR actually is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-l