Digital SLR around £500 mark

[rude-boy]

Oh, never been in here before :looks around:

Sorry if the question has been done to death but I know very little about these things.

I want to get my g/f a digital SLR camera. She’ll mainly be using it for taking pictures of racing cars on track, purely for personal use, and the odd bit of holiday photography. She knows a little bit about the photography side of things having been into it in the 80’s with 36mm stuff but all her old stuff is either lost or shot.

I’d love to get her something like a D40 but honestly don’t know if I can stretch the extra. What I hope to get is a decent body, lens and bag for iro £500.

Am I dreaming or can someone point me in the direction of the best tool for the job and where to buy it on-line.

Cheers,

RB

[7357]

I got a D70 the other week.. Great SLR..

[nogginthenog]

Canon EOS 350D

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/photo/digicamera...

fantastic camera for the price. You could consider upgrading the lens at a later date with the money you have saved. I have an EOS 1Dsmark2 ( £4000 ) and a 5d, and the little 350D that my neighbour has still impresses me. Nikon's are OK, but IMHO Canon are way ahead when it comes to digital.

HTH

[Dogsey]

For £500 you should be able to pick up a pretty reasonable deal on the 400D, everything she'll ever need (well from a camera anyway! )

[rude-boy]

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/PHOTO/digicamera...

Ooo, just found this, didn't think it was insdide my budget. Now which is the techies choice between on of these or the Cannon400D?

BTW, thanks for your help all

[sgrimshaw]

If you have no commitment to a lens mount, then go to your local Jessops / LCE / Jacobs and try all the entry level SLR's for size and feel.

Truth is, you/she won't be disappointed with the results of any current model from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony or Olympus.

Choose the camera that feels best, then search for lowest price for Kit.

Simon

[RobDickinson]

IMO the 400D is a big step ahead of the nikon d40(x).

Better AF, better lens selection (re body drive motor issue) mirror lockup , DoF preview, Bracketing etc.

[flat-planedCrank]

rude-boy said:

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/PHOTO/digicamera...

Ooo, just found this, didn't think it was insdide my budget. Now which is the techies choice between on of these or the Cannon400D?

BTW, thanks for your help all

Here are some fairly comprehensive reviews of the D40x and the 400D

As has been mentioned the D40x is limited in the range of lenses that the body will auto-focus with, this is due to its lack of a drive pin on the lens mount.
(I.e. The only lenses that will autofocus on the d40(x) are AF-S and AF-I lenses.
The AF lenses (including some nice nikkor prime lenses) wont autofocus - This is because the AF lenses don't have their own focusing motor. Normally they would power their focus using the drive pin from the camera body, but the d40(x) dosn't have a drive pin.)

The 400D doesn't have the same limitations, it can use any EF / EF-S lenses from canon (from £70 - £manythousands).

(Both cameras can also use lenses made by 3rd-party manufacterers such as Sigma, Tamron, etc..)

If possible, i'd take a trip to the local store and see how the cameras handle


Cheers.