Basic Digital SLR

[Seedy172]

Hi guys, looking for a little advise please. I've been thinking for sometime now of getting a Digital SLR, but to be frank my limited knowledge on the subject together with the price has always put me off the idea. But when I see some of the quality pictures that people from on here have taken, it inspires me and makes me want to have a go. Now I know that I wouldn't be able to do anything like what some of these guys can, but i'd love to have a go and see if it's something I could get into.

I'm basically just looking for advice/prices on some basic/entry level DSLR's to possibly get me started. I don't have a vast amount of spare cash atm tbh, but any advice would be greatly recieved. Cheers.

 

[Alex H]

Nikon D40 It seems to be a popular starter. Can be had for £220!

 

[Feirny]

Nikon D40 It seems to be a popular starter. Can be had for £220!

Amazon are doing it less atm iirc.

 

[Seedy172]

Cheers, I shall have a goosey. Another quick question: Would I be ok to just get a camera, or would I be better off looking into getting some additional equipment to go with it?

 

[GeordieClioDriver]

You usualy get something like an 18-55mm lens with a starter kit, so it may be worth investing in another one depending on what shots your going for.

Also if you can get a spare battery.. nothing worse than it dying when your out and about.

 

[dk]

canon 1000d is only £289 at boots at the moment with a paypal discount TSAM47 and then you get a £30 rebate from canon and £17 of boots points so its a bit of a steel really, its basically a rebaded 400d so has everyhting you will need including liveview etc.

 

[Seedy172]

TBH, I can't really afford it atm... I was considering it for possibly after Feb. But i've seen a couple of the threads with the D40 pic's and i'm totally convinced by the Nikon (plus my Dad used to have a Nikon, so I know there bloody good), i'm so convinced infact i'm debating seeing if any comes up in the Jan sales. What are the difference's between the two? And how would it compare both in quality and ease of use? Maybe worth a look! Cheers

EDIT: I can't seem to find it anywhere for that price though. Does seem to sound like a bloody good DSLR and with 10.1MP which with a DSLR I would imagine would make a massive difference in quality. But I don't know :S

 

[Alex H]

Get yourself down to your local camera store, have a play around, see what you like; might give you an idea for February which way to swing!

 

[Seedy172]

^^^ Good Idea... may leave that till after Xmas though, can't imagine town that close to Xmas being fun tbh. This Canon sounds quite intriging actually, and Stuff seem to rave about it. But the most decent price I can see is £315, and i'd be pushing it abit at £225 really.

 

[dk]

check this out, it says expired but thats for the 450d, the 1000d is still available, just ordered one

http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/289233/canon-450d-slr-with-lens-kit-305-wi/showthread.php?t=289233

£289 with the paypal discount code i posted above, then £30 rebate from canon and then £16 of boots points

comes with an image stabaliser lens too, much better spec than the d40 for the price, no issues with what lenses you can use with it either, they all work and all autofocus..

 

[Seedy172]

Well I can't afford that atm... so I guess i'm out on this one. But maybe something will come up in the New Year. Seem's a bloody good deal tbh, just bad timing I suppose. Do things like this often come up in the Sales?

 

[Seedy172]

My mind is being changed pretty rapidly now LOL!! The camera seems very well equipt, and the reviewers seem to absolutety love it. Hope there's some good deals coming up for them soon, can't see any expiry dates on the boots site.

 

[GeordieClioDriver]

I have a 300D and love it, very easy to use and can take brilliant photos! so i cant see why the 400 or 1000 would be an less of a camera!

 

[Eryl182]

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1027223

1000D .


Cant get that boots one to work tho.
Is the boots one with a lens aswell?

 

[Seedy172]

Right, well i'm officially baffled now. Seem's to be 50/50 split down the middle, even with the reviewers. D40 has plus's and so does the 1000D. Although it's slightly more than I was considering... what about a D60. Would that be a good compromise between the two?

 

[Revels]

I personally wouldnt bother with the D60, it doesnt really offer much over the D40 for the price.

Pop into Jessops and have a play, see which you feel more comfortable with. Both will produce great pics, neither is realy "better" than the other. You'll be more than pleased with whichever you go for but the feel of them is probably the best deciding factor.

 

[Seedy172]

Cheers Rev's... Tis' my plan Just getting so many differing opinions LOL!! Are there massive differences between 6.1 an 10.1 MP in relation to DSLR's?

 

[Revels]

Yeh, 4MP

Mines only 6 but with DSLR's it doesnt work the same as P&S cameras. I could easily print big 5' prints onto canvas with no problem.

 

[Seedy172]

Ye, I realise that... but I would have thought that with these cameras, there would a massive amount of difference between the two sizes?! Anyways, I'll be gonna go have a nosey this weekend, i'll get battered by Xmas Shoppers, but my heads being battered atm LOL!! Think i'll be going for the D40... but i'll be having a good look at the 1000D too. But tbf, that's outside my original budget, which I didn't really fancy going over.

EDIT: Incidently, the D40 has gone up today on Amazon to £378

 

[Revels]

Thats a huge jump :S

£225

http://www.jessops.com/online.store...0 Black AF-S DX 18-55mm Lens-47076/Show.html

 

[Jungle_Jim]

canon 10d isnt a bad place to start ive had mine 4 years now and still use it. dont be put of by its 6.9megapixels, its still a good piece of kit, being a high amateur / pro camera when it first came out it has magnesium body rather than plastic so it feels much more solid. originally these cost £1200 and now you can pick them up for between £100-£250 depending on condition and extras

http://photography.shop.ebay.co.uk/...lnZ1QQ_sacatZ31388QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em282

 

[Brett]

I had to make this choice between the d1000 and the D40. In the end I got the D40, Case and 4gb Extreme performance SD card for £244 from amazon. Only getting it for xmas though so can't comment on using it.

I made the choice because it was far cheaper than the d1000 and the d1000 got reviews of being an average camera where as the D40 got great reviews and was a good price.

 

[Seedy172]

Cheers man... but ideally, i'm looking for something slightly more modern for general ease of use, Connectivity etc. Plus i'd rather buy new and know exactly what i'm getting, than buy something second hand that I know nothing about if you get what I mean. I've done plenty of research over the last couple of days, and it seem's that the D40 is the future, I'm gonna go have a look at the weekend to confirm my choice

 

[Seedy172]

Oh my good lord... Since I last posted and mentioned Amazon have raised the price of the D40. They've put it up again, now at full price (£436.65). Shocking tbh

 

[Brett]

Thats becuase its off a trader not amazon its self. I know the D40 is in short supply. Luckily I ordered mine early enough.

 

[dk]

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1027223

1000D .


Cant get that boots one to work tho.
Is the boots one with a lens aswell?

yeah,the boots one is with the kit lens, exactly the same as the warehouseexpress one.

i know it works too as i bought one last night for a present for someone.

 

[dk]

Yeh, 4MP

Mines only 6 but with DSLR's it doesnt work the same as P&S cameras. I could easily print big 5' prints onto canvas with no problem.

you'd be surprised actually about printing that big with 6mp.

I had a look at getting the biggest canvas with photobox for a pic i wanted blowing up and I put one of my 15mp shots in and it came up with good quality, then i chose a different one, not even a crop or portrait rather than landscape, can't quite remember but it came up as medium quality, at 15mp!!!!! Can't get much better than that without paying silly money, so some of these big prints require a pretty decent size image for blowing up to some of the sizes they now offer. That was a 70cmx70cm canvas i think.

So 5' (which i guess you mean 5 foot which is pretty damn big, not sure if you were exagerating or not?) is ridiculous and I doubt anything like 6mp would be big enough would it?

 

[Seedy172]

I don't want to print anything out at 5ft tbh

The Canon sounds good, but i'll have to have a look at one. For now I think the Nikon will do more than enough for what I need. If I find that it's for me, then maybe I can progress onto something better I'll have to see what offers come up

 

[Seedy172]

Went and had a look at a few today Unfortunatly none had batteries in, so it was just a case of having a good look around them and seeing how they felt, as I didn't have long either.

Nikon D40 - Really nice to hold, and very light compared to the others I looked at, however did feel slightly flimsy and i'm still slightly concerned about Pixel size for some reason. Seemed simple enough to use, but without being able to test properly I couldn't really say.

Canon 450D - All they had, but I understand there isn't a big difference between the two. Seemed pretty well made, and together... but also quite heavy and slightly cumbersome. I didn't really care much for the grip you have on it, but seemed relatively simple to use, but not as easy as the Nikon. But again very difficult to tell really.

Sony A200 - Something different to compare with the other two, this one was much bigger, and much heavier and cumbersome. That said, it did feel well built, but still didn't like the grasp I had on it. Looked through the Viewfinder and it was very dark... ie tinted, and I didn't really care for that much. But the spec seemed quite good, decent stabilizer, bigger screen but more complex with the controls.

So basically i'm still a bit baffled lol, i'll have to go and have a proper look at some point in the very near future. Any more advice would be appreciated lol. Might have a look into the Canon 400D, Nikon D60 next time, more comparisons lol

 

[Seedy172]

Think this is the one for me... No LiveView though?!

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/pro...m_campaign=Nikon_D60&utm_term=Nikon+D60+Exact

 

[dk]

can't believe you thought the 450d was heavy and cumbersome, its one of the lightest and smallest DSLR's really, wait until you get a decent lens, the weight of the camera won't be as important then and a heavier one can help balance it out.