a cheap slr, is it do-able?

my daughter wants a new digital camera for her 13th, she’s been using my canon 400d and actually has a damn good eye.

she is about to do photography at school and i’d like to get her an slr, can anyone recomend anything around 100-150?

A Canon 350d ? Should have the advantage of familiar controls, albeit without a bell/whistle or two and a little less resolution compared with the 400d.

Ebay. I sold my 350d with kit lens, lowepro bag, several cf cards, and 4 batteries for just shy of £200 this time last year. To be honest the 350d was more than enough for me, I just fancied an upgrade.

Also keep an eye on Canon ebay outlet, they often have good deals although 150 may be a little on the low side I guess.

I have an “as new” (in its box, with all of the paperwork and accessories) Pentax K100D DSLR body, with a Sigma 55-200 lens (very lightly used, with some filters), a brand new Tamrac bag and some SD memory cards which you’d be welcome to for £75 (or make me an offer); the body will work with virtually any pentax lens of whatever vintage, so there’s loads of bargains to be had in camera shops.

Probably better at that price to buy something (that was quality) s/h, no point in putting her off with something cheap/nasty.

I’ve not one for sale, but my Olympus 400 performs great.

thanks chaps.

tonyplym any chance you could email me over some pics, are you in cornwall by any chance?

Will do when I get a minute. Plymouth.

I had a Pentax K100D and it was an excellent camera, get some decent rechargeable AA’s and you won’t go far wrong.

The Pentax 18-55mm lens is available at a goodly price and found it to be one of the better kit lenses

As tony says you can use loads of older lenses although many will not auto focus

Total bargain for 75 quid and don’t think you will find anything better for the money, in fact sure you won’t

Of any interest to you …?
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/canon-d350-dslr

I had a Pentax K100D and it was an excellent camera, get some decent rechargeable AA’s and you won’t go far wrong.

The Pentax 18-55mm lens is available at a goodly price and found it to be one of the better kit lenses

As tony says you can use loads of older lenses although many will not auto focus

Total bargain for 75 quid and don’t think you will find anything better for the money, in fact sure you won’t

^this. Paid about the same for camera and 18-55, all boxed, mint condition and barely used. Worth hunting for – a great wee camera it seems.

Noah by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

IMGP0906 by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

River Tay Canoe by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

IMGP3000 by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

River Awe canoe by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

Ardnamurchan by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

Ardnamurchan by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

the 350d is a very capable camera and you would be able to share lenses if you buy into the same brand

[/url] flamingos by robb d, on Flickr[/img]

I’d go for a bridge camera on that kind of budget, tbh.

I’ve got more pictures on my walls from my old 8mp bridge cam than my DSLR, don’t think it’ll hold you back.

Or an Olympus e-pl1 from http://stores.ebay.de/OlympusMarket_Digital-Kameras for even less than your budget.

if on a budget the epl1 might be a good option, you can also buy cheap adapters and use others lenses on them like the old olympus om mount lens than can be picked up cheap on ebay etc they will be manual focus though, no bad thing as the autofocus on epl1 isnt the fastest with ket lens. the epl1 kit lens is also the old version.
you maybe better off with the epm1 with new lens and faster autofocus.

have a look on talk photography, one of the threads has a list of 2nd hand equipment suppliers, sure i saw an epm1 for about £170
the 2nd hand suppliers will have dslr equipment, old and new