Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Which budget / beginner DSLR D3100 Vs 1100D
  • thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Righty dad want’s his olympus back and I’ve come to the conclusion that just about anything will be better than my Fuji S9500 in low light.

    So (unless anyone can come up with a very good reason otherwise) it’s between the two obvious choices. The D3200’s just come out but asside from enough megapixles to make a pro level camera blush it doesn’t look to be a huge step foreward for £200 more. Is there anything to choose between them in terms of image quality from the camera and the 18-55 kit lense? Is it still the case that cannon kit lenses are the poor relation to nikkon’s kit lenses? It’ll mainly be used for MTB/sports so high ISO performance is probbaly top of the list for shooting at high speeds in dark woods. D3100 has a 2 year gaurentee, which knowing me might come in handy!

    I’ve been into the shop and tried them out and both had enough ergonomic flaws to need some mental re-adjustment (but nothing deal breaking, just the location and function of buttons sometimes seemed counter-intuative). But nothing I wouldn’t get used to.

    I’ve some love2shop vouchers so unfortunately that means jessops and it’s a bit like buying bikes from halfords IME the staff being more bothered about selling you something expensive rather than the right thing (been to the ‘Local Camera Shop’ over the road more often to buy soemthing expensive, been talked out of it, and just left with some film as I felt I should buy something for their time!).

    woodsa
    Free Member

    In my opinion Nikons kit lens aren’t very good, just like the canon’s. However to get you started they’re not bad. I can’t really tell you much about the D3200, however I’ve just upgraded from a D200 to a D7000, which is an incredible leap in terms of weight, iso, pixels etc etc etc.
    I wouldn’t get too wrapped up in the megapixel race, to be honest your not going to be printing all your pics to A1. A typical image using 16mp will produce an image nearly a meter wide.
    The buying option I chose was to go through Quidco, which gave 3% cashback. Not bad on a £1000 spend. I think they have jessops on there too. However, if your using vouchers you may want to check wex photography too. There’s an online customer service guy that’l answer questions rapidly.
    In terms of ISO the cameras your looking at will more than suffice the job, with little visible noise showing at up to 1000 iso. Making shooting at say 2.8 very fast indeed, even in poor light.

    Not sure if this helps but good luck with the purchase.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Already discounted the 24mp D3200 on price, like I said I’ve got vouchers so once they’ve been used the remaining price makes the d3200 2x more than the d3100 so I don’t see that as being worthwhile.

    Cheer’s, I’m not expecting the kit lenses to be amazing, but given that the kits can be had for only a small margin over the body only it’d be silly buying the body only.

    Anyone in the evening crowd got an opinion on which is best for MTB’ing or know of any show stopper reasons for not getting either?

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    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    Sony a35 or its successor, a37?

    http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonyslta35/3

    If size is an issue, these appear to be much smaller than the equivalent Canon or Nikon model.

    Currently £430 on Amazon with kit lens (which is pretty decent).

    I’m on my second Sony dSLR and I think they are fantastic. Perhaps not as adept at high ISO but unless you’re shooting above ISO6400 you’d perhaps not notice. 7FPS is pretty handy for action shots too.

    It’s a good idea to handle each camera before you decide to see which feels right in the hand, has the most intuitive menus, buttons, dials etc.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I don’t think there’s much between the two, overall. Neither camera is a ‘bad’ choice.

    If you can’t separate them at face value, maybe have a think about what you might want in the future. You’re buying into a system, remember. Are there particular lenses you want? Zooms, macros? Is flash photography important? Choice and price can vary quite a lot.

    Do any of your friends have dSLRs? Getting a compatible camera may mean you can borrow lenses / receive more camera-specific advice from them.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Oh yeah,

    The kit lenses “not being very good” is a relative statement. Compared to optics costing several hundred pounds more, sure, they’re inferior. That doesn’t mean there’s anything inherently wrong with them though, it just means that vastly more expensive lenses are better. There’s nothing stopping you from taking very, very good pictures with a kit lens.

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    Weird…sure I replied to this earlier this afternoon….

    Seeing as you will be using the camera in dark woods, I would consider perhaps getting a cheaper body, not bothering with the kit lens and spending a bit of money on a faster lens than the standard kit ones; something like the Sigma 24-70mm 2.8 or the Tamron 17-50 2.8….

    Also consider whether you are likely to be using off camera flash in the near future. Nikon makes it pretty easy, although the cheaper bodies like the 3100 can’t act as commander, whereas something like the D90 or a second hand D80 can.
    I’ve got a D80 and while I think it’s a good body, the low light performance is starting to lag behind what more modern bodies are capable of.

    A friend of mine has a D3100 and I was very impressed with it when I had a bit of a fiddle.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    Any Nikon DSLR body (eg D80) and a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 lens would be fine for MTBing. I used a D80 for a couple of years (then upgraded to D7000 and now D4) and the D80 was an amazing bit of kit and still is, so the D3200 will be excellent. Lens wise, the expensive lens are amazing, but a budget Tamron / Sigma will still take 1st rate shots. f/2.8 is pretty important for fast auto-focus which is needed for MTBing, as is f/2.8 for our dull climate as you don’t often get sunny shots in the UK.

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