My sister needs to get her 16 year old a DSLR for his A level photography, I know a bit about cams but not DSLRs specifically, so far I’ve said “you can’t go far wrong with a Nikon or Canon, get whatever he takes to”

Any help out there? TIA

What is the college recommending? They are all much of a muchness, but the college will have a idea of what to go for… Otherwise it’s Nikon or canon and whichever feels good in the hand and is going to be used in the future.
for me it’s canon because I like the lenses.
That doesn’t mean that Nikon’s are crap.

pentax kr is a nice camera

Just bought the sony A-390 for my son’s xmas pressie. Gets a decent write up.

find out what the college uses. get that. Mine used canon, and though I have nikon, and enough disposabe income to buy lenses & stuff, as a student, having a camera that works with all the lenses the college has, works in the same way as the college cameras and is what the tutor is familiar with makes sense.

I think he’s still at school, would they have kit to lend out? His mum is ironically a photography tech (teacher) but just gets stressed with decisions….

I like Sony for VFM, but the availability of Canon or Nikon bits is greater afaik.

If you are a photography student then I imagine several lenses would be required, and any of those have many cheap old lenses available.

Does he know what he wants?

“What the class tells you to use” is a really bad reason to invest several hundred pounds in a camera system, IMHO.

I think he’s still at school

Ah! That actually puts a different angle on it, maybe it would be better to talk to the school then.

reviews?

I don’t know if prices are current or not mind you.

Must be some 2nd hand bargains to be had surely?

If I were buying a DSLR at the moment, I’d be looking at a compact system camera, it’ll do 95-98% of what a traditional camera can do but in a much smaller and more modern system.

As it happens I’ve been half looking at upgrading from my big old 4/3 system to micro 4/3 and found this offer at Jessops this weekend, I think it finishes on the 14th of this month. One of the big pluses is that it can use a lot of older manual lenses like Canon Fd, M42 thread, various Russian lenses and even Leica lenses can be used with adaptors so it can be a very versatile system.

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/79915/show.html

A twin lens kit, that’ll do everything and is portable and good value! The 40-150 is over £200 on Amazon alone…

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympusepl1/

If I remember rightly, the EPl with just the 14-42 was over £600 when they were brought out, it’s sort of killing me as I really “want” an EP3, but seeing the money saving on that deal is very tempting.

I was thinking of suggesting m4/3, being a user myself, but didn’t want to confuse/complicate.

Does it have to be DSLR?

I’m loving the look of the fuji x10 at the moment and want someone to buy one!

The college I work at uses Nikon d90’s.
I have a Nikon d40, basic by now but great camera.

charlie, I looked at the fuji X10 too, but have so many lovely Leica M and L39 screw mount lenses that I want to play with on digital, that M4/3 is going to be the way I go. Although the Epl1 deal up there is a brill deal, I really “want” and have permissions to get an EP3! I reckon an EP3 with a Leica 35mm Summicron on will be a good walk about camera.

I’ve been half looking at upgrading from my big old 4/3 system to micro 4/3

Can I call dibs on the 4/3 stuff you sell off then please? 🙂 Except you’ll probably keep the lenses…

Molgrips, you’re right, tis one of the reasons why I’m upgrading, although I may be selling my 11-22 and the E3 🙂

Hmm.. what 11-22 is it? That’s not very wide for a wide. How much for the E-3 body?

Although I can’t imagine it’d be worth it though over my E-600.

I’ll get an EP3 in a few years as an upgrade path, for the same reason – lens compatibility. And the ability to take videos through a fish eye or macro lens..!

EDIT: Back from google, Olympus 11-22mm. It’s not very wide for 4/3 but f2.8 is interesting…

11-22 isn’t massively wide, but it is! It’s also weatherproof and they cost a fortune new!

The difference even between the 12-60 at the wide end and the 11-22 is massive, it’s more like a 10 mm, or 20mm in our old money, and it’s an amazing lens.

Here’s a review of it and the website itself if you’ve not heard of it is a great source of information.

http://www.biofos.com/esystem/1122test.html

Well I was saving up for the 9-18mm.. which is a good lens and significantly wider again. And probably cheaper than you’ll be selling your kit for…

Although I do have this lovely Oly 8mm fish eye for really wide shots

PB066732 by molgrips, on Flickr

I’d not get a Sony. I had one – lovely bit of kit – which failed after 14 months. Sony wanted more than the cost of a new body to repair a pretty simple component.

I’d not buy Sony again for this reason alone – Nikon are far better in this regard.

Recently got one of those olympus e-pl1, secondhand from here funnily enough. Getting superb results so far…

Really impressed!

2nd hand would certainly get your nephew a lot more for his (mum’s) money. I’d recommend a used D200 if she can stretch to it. Not great in low light but perfect for a college course – built like the proverbial brick out-house.

A very quick look at the classifieds on my favourite photo forum shows THIS D200 with lenses for £850 ONO. The 18-70mm kit lens is probably the best kit lens ever made, and the 80-200 is fab too. With the SB-600 flashgun, the whole setup is pretty amazing value for money (not my advert btw!!).

OK, so it’s not entry level as such, but it’s a lot of kit for the cash…

Lol.. £850 for a 16 year old college kid.. Hahaha..!

Moly – there were plenty kids with D70s when I did my uni course – probably the equivalent of £850 these days. I was stuck with film!

OP asked for an entry level DSLR.

Hey, I know, why don’t you go down to the market and get some bananas? Now I know that’s not an entry-level DSLR either, but they are delicious and full of fibre and potassium!

Moly, get stuffed you sarky twit.

Hehe 🙂

Would definitely consider the Pentax K-r, excellent price these days and built in stabilisation too

Canon 550D is another very good starter DSLR and good price as well since the 600D came out

Well did the OP get a camera sorted out? Always interesting whether people take advice or are just trying to confirm things for themselves!

550D or D5000

+1 – for Pentax Km (or Xm)

Does same as most DSLR’s out there – but good lens kit deals about 🙂

Pepper I’ll fine out what was bought on Tuesday…I didn’t get amy consensus on here to pass on…and not being funny but taking advice on here can be a complete lottery.

IKWYM re. folk asking just to get opinions validated but I see no harm in that.

I’d go for something like a Canon 350d, can be had for pretty cheap now and it’s still a great camera. The price would allow for more money to be spent on lenses 🙂