I’m after a dslr for a bit of a hobby camera. Nothing outrageous I can probably stretch to 200 ish for the full set up.
Would I be better off looking at canon? Ebay or any other haunts.
I had a great setup for my father in law off here as a gift and something like that would be ideal.

All modern DSLRs do everything (and more) that a hobby photographer could want.

I have sold photos taken with a Canon EOS 400D and kit lens. They were a budget camera when new, and go for about £100 on eBay or Mifsuds now.

…to answer the second part of your question, Canon and Nikon have the best lens and accessories ranges and have never built a duff camera. Other brands are available but I would stick with Canon/Nikon.

As above, all entry level Canon/Nikon DSLr’s will be great to start on. Find one in your budget to suit, and go from there.

I’d be wary of buying 2nd hand from Ebay, as you have little to no come back should there be a problem.

I buy 2nd hand camera gear from MPB.com, Wex Photography and Camera Jungle, who are all reputable online dealers.

I’d be wary of buying 2nd hand from Ebay, as you have little to no come back should there be a problem.

I don’t think you’ve been on eBay for a long time. They guarantee you receive the item you ordered, in the condition it was listed, or full refund.

Think about the type of photography you think you will be interested in.

People on here wet themselves over prime lenses – but buying yourself a camera with a fixed 50mm lens will be not much use if you want to take the camera along to motorsport events or take pictures of wildlife from a distance.
Conversely, if you want the camera for portrait type stuff, then you could do a lot worse than getting a 50mm prime lens to start with.

Personally, I would go for something that will give you a good range of options; a zoom lens in the region of 18-105 or so. A lot of cameras come with this sort of lens as the standard ‘kit’ lens. My D80 came with an 18-135 kit lens and while it’s not an amazing lens, it is good enough & I get good results from it.

As for what camera – Canon or Nikon are the obvious choices. You might find better 2nd deals on less popular brands like Pentax or Sony, I am not sure.
Definitely try & try before you buy. When I was buying, I compared the Canon & Nikon equivalents & immediately felt more comfortable with the Nikon, from an ergonomic point of view & understanding the menu systems.
My brother-in-law felt completely the opposite; so it’s purely a personal thing.

To be honest, you could do a lot worse than a D80 with the kit 18-135 lens.
Or a D60 – although they don’t have an in-built focus motor which limits your lens choice a little bit. Thing is, by the time this becomes an issue you’ll probably know what you want a bit more anyway & probably looking to upgrade the body anyway….

earlier this year I picked up a 2nd hand Nikon D3100 and a lens for £200ish from MPB.com. It’s been spot on – was really happy with the service, and whatever those more knowledgeable than me might say, I’m sure it’ll be a long time before the camera becomes more of a limiting factor than my photographic ineptitude 😉

Bodies are cheap (especially second hand)
Lenses are expensive (both new and second hand)
Accessories can add up quickly (tripod, filters, flashes, etc)

Be sure you want to get into this hobby. 🙂

I remember when I first got a DSLR, I expected it to take great shots at any time. They don’t. It’s the quality of subject/light/composition that makes a photo, the camera just adds the last 10%. Some lenses allow you to get shots you can’t otherwise, but these tend to be the expensive ones – i.e. ultra wide, wide aperture, or sharp telephoto lenses.

That said, you will learn a lot and it’s still useful if you ever go back to a decent compact.

200 quid for a full setup is quite a stretch.

I’d include Pentax, Sony, Minolta and Olympus in there too. You will be looking at antiques.

If you just want a camera and one lens 200 quid makes a lot more sense, but even then you’re looking at some pretty old kit.

Definitely try & try before you buy. When I was buying, I compared the Canon & Nikon equivalents & immediately felt more comfortable with the Nikon, from an ergonomic point of view & understanding the menu systems.
My brother-in-law felt completely the opposite; so it’s purely a personal thing.

Exactly what I was going to say. I picked up a Nikon and went “WTF, I don’t understand any of this,” picked up a Canon and it felt intuitive and “right.” Might have helped that I’d come from a Canon IXUS and the basic control layout is broadly similar.

Something to consider are mirrorless (also called ‘system’) cameras.
Comparable image quality but more portable. There are a few drawbacks (every camera is a compromise) but lots of people like them.

Something to consider.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/dslr-vs-mirrorless-cameras,news-17736.html

Some of the nicer compact cameras have fans too and take excellent pictures (there is a thread on Sony RX100s on here somewhere which is quite interesting)

There are a few drawbacks

The major one in this case being the price of lenses.

I use an old Pentax k100D. £62 from the apparently unreliable eBay, boxed, two lenses, original receipts and shutter count under 600.

I bought a 40+ year old manual 50mm lens as well – for £17, and it is just amazing (although too long a focus IME).

It has been great for playing with, learning, faffing and (most importantly), pulling out at every opportunity to use. This then teaches me how and how not to use it. Better than an expensive one you are too precious over.

Downsides – it is slow to autofocus, and slow burst, poor low light/stars images as it does not have the sensitivity of modern sensors.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/dz2KyM]Loch an Eilein[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/MBBo1t]River Spey Canoe Descent[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ua1EwJ]Wallace Warriors Coaching[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/rfExCY]Red Deer Stag[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/c1NfUU]Inveraray[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

I have a Canon 500d with an EF-S 18-55mm IS lens that is now surplus to requirements.

The camera is in perfect working order – well looked after.

The lens has had zero use, as I always used the optically superior though non-IS Sigma DC 17-70 lens.

If you want I could package up the following and post them to you for 200 quid:

The 500d body
Charger
2 batteries
18-55mm EF-S IS lens
16Gb SD card

Someone listed a Pentax k-r in the classifieds recently (may be a few weeks ago now) for something like £150. If it’s still available, buy it.

I’ve had mine for something like 6 years now and I’ve taken thousands, probably tens of thousands, or pictures with it, and taken it to environments you probably shouldn’t take a budget DSLR to (the beach, muddy trail centres, dusty trail centres, up mountains in blizzards, etc.) and it’s been faultless.

18-55 kit lens isn’t amazing but if you’ve not had an SLR before you want something like that to get a feel for it and then you can start experimenting with different lenses when you’ve learnt what you want to get from it.

Going Pentax gives you compatibility with a huge range of quality older lenses, albeit with some limitations. Some lenses will allow the digital body to control the aperture, and the image stabilisation is in the body with Pentax (not the lens as with Nikon/Canon), but older lenses are usually manual focus.

+1 on Pentax backwards lens capability, IS in body etc that Northwind points out.
Don’t get suckered into a Canikon with the herd….

Heh. Man asks simple question, then:

Get a Canon or Nikon.

Don’t get a Canon or Nikon because they’re for sheep.

Try eBay.

Don’t try eBay.

Don’t get an SLR – get a camera like mine.

Your budget is fine.

Your budget is too little.

Get a Pentax so you can use some old lenses…

…that might not work properly.

Got all that, OP? 😀 😀 😀

😆

That’ll do it. You can also get a new Canon or Nikon with a kit lens for under 300 quid. Which would save messing around with steam powered cameras.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-STOCK-Sony-Alpha-A5000-Digital-Camera-Body-Only-20-1MP-BLACK-EX-DISPLAY-/131979546361?hash=item1eba980ef9:g:uXoAAOSw3ydVw2sO

Now price up the lens(es).

5thElefant
Now price up the lens(es).

Lens.

Adapter.

Sadist. 😆

That still leaves you with a manual focus, old, non-IS lens, which I wouldn’t recommend for a beginner.

+1 on Pentax backwards lens capability, IS in body etc that Northwind points out.
Don’t get suckered into a Canikon with the herd….

@Matt you have my interest. Help me out. I’ve just looked and the Pentax K100D (nice shots by the way) has an APS-C sensor. So if you use lenses designed for 35mm SLRs, won’t the crop factor (APS-C to full frame sensor) increase the effective focal length? So a 50mm actually becomes a short telephoto? And a 35mm becomes a standard lens? etc etc

Yes.

Same as any lens, apsc or full frame, will behave on a crop body.

Cranberry can you email me some pictures of the camera please

cranberry – Member

That still leaves you with a manual focus, old, non-IS lens, which I wouldn’t recommend for a beginner.

Yeah it’s a really bad idea for beginners to use manual controls – which they can see the effect of in real time. You wouldn’t happen to be selling a camera by any chance 🙄

Anyway, as subjective as your point is the Sony I linked to is a better camera by pretty much most criteria a buyer might reasonably want. Plus a warranty. I have the model above it with a couple of old manual Nikon lenses which were relatively cheap. I also have a Sony 50mm f1.8. I much prefer using the old manual lenses (always have) for many reasons.

Yeah it’s a really bad idea for beginners to use manual controls – which they can see the effect of in real time. You wouldn’t happen to be selling a camera by any chance
Anyway, as subjective as your point is the Sony I linked to is a better camera by pretty much most criteria a buyer might reasonably want. Plus a warranty. I have the model above it with a couple of old manual Nikon lenses which were relatively cheap. I also have a Sony 50mm f1.8. I much prefer using the old manual lenses (always have) for many reasons.

Your solution blew the OP’s budget by a mile, isn’t an SLR (which he asked for) and lacks basics such as a hotshoe.

Your lens solution was to link to a crappy Russian 58mm lens which would be a portrait lens on an APS-C camera – not a versatile starting point for a beginner.

Apart from that, your suggestion was genius 😀

hebdencyclist

Your solution blew the OP’s budget by a mile

£30 is a mile now? Considering it’s new and comes with a warranty?

isn’t an SLR (which he asked for) and lacks basics such as a hotshoe.

Functionally speaking they are very similar. I could see how the unitiated would be fooled into thinking bigger is better but in practical terms, unless you’re a pro you’ll struggle to notice much difference.

Your lens solution was to link to a crappy Russian 58mm lens which would be a portrait lens on an APS-C camera – not a versatile starting point for a beginner.

Nothing crappy about it. The point is that there’s a virtually unlimited selection of lenses available from “crappy” to gucci, depending on your budget.

Examples of pictures taken with that crappy lens

£30 is a mile now?

£38 with adaptor. And then the OP would still be stuck with one [telephoto] focal length, unsuitable for most general photography.

Don’t get me wrong, scouring second-hand dealers for old lenses, and trying them out on modern cameras with adapters, sounds fun.

But the guy has £200 and just wants to take some photos 😉

Re your edit, yes I looked at that site too. That lens is famous for the optical effects caused by a manufacturing defect.

Those Russian lenses might be fun to play with, but for sharpness and clarity, I’d take the Pepsi challenge any day with a modern Nikon or Canon; even the kit zoom.

hebdencyclist

£38 with adaptor. And then the OP would still be stuck with one [telephoto] focal length, unsuitable for most general photography.

The point, just to belabour it, was that there’s a virtually unlimited selection of lenses out there. 1000s on ebay, and most with adapters readily available. If you see having a fixed focal length as being stuck, that’s fine. I’d just try to work with it , or buy one of the many thousands of other lenses available in a month or two.

Those Russian lenses might be fun to play with, but for sharpness and clarity, I’d take the Pepsi challenge any day with a modern Nikon or Canon; even the kit zoom.

There’s a lot more to photography than just taking pictures that are sharp and clear, but it is a medium for artistic expression in many ways so each to their own.

Big Yim – email sent.

If there’s anything else I can do for you, let me know.

@Matt you have my interest. Help me out. I’ve just looked and the Pentax K100D (nice shots by the way) has an APS-C sensor. So if you use lenses designed for 35mm SLRs, won’t the crop factor (APS-C to full frame sensor) increase the effective focal length? So a 50mm actually becomes a short telephoto? And a 35mm becomes a standard lens? etc etc

Yes to all.
Part of the reason I suggested my camera was the low, low cost. It means I am not that fussed about having it out with me, and using it in wet, mud, family etc conditions. Great for learning. The camera is an old tool. But a good old tool.

The major one in this case being the price of lenses.

The lenses for mirrorless sysmtes aren’t expensive, they’re just not necessarily as cheap as you might be able to buy for a camera with a mirror in it.

Another Pentax user here. I had pentax film SLRs and therefore some lenses which guided my original choice. I bought a K10D as new about 10 years ago but have recently added a K30 second hand. Pentax forums has camera and lens guides but you can pick up decent lenses which are fully compatile with the cameras for not much monney. SRS microsystems have been a good source of guaranteed used stock if you prefer to buy from a dealer although I have also used Wex photographic and been happy. At the price range you are looking at second hand seems to be the route to go.

I love the new Pentax K-1; I think it handles really well, looks lovely, performs brilliantly. Sadly I wonder whether Pentax has one foot in the grave. I wonder where Ricoh can take the brand given that it was terribly late to the party with full frame and is arriving just as (almost) medium format is arriving.

New Pentax k50 owner here. Upgraded from a fuji bridge camera a few months ago and loving the learning curve and image quality. Did think about getting a nikon, but have always like to sway away from the norm. Image stabilization in the body was a major selling point for me as it means I can use vintage Pentax lenses. Got one of the old Pentax 50mm f1.7 lenses off eBay for £15 and it’s fantastic. Probably my favourite lens for general use. Image quality is great and can easily get nice bokeh.

If you’re buying new it’s worth searching on HUKD every so often to see if there are any bargains about. When I was looking last December John Lewis had the entry level Canon (non IS 18-55 lens) for £200. I was tempted but ended up with a Nikon D3300 with the VRII lens kit for £250 (from Tesco of all places) in early January, which was £50-80 less than anywhere else at the time. Both those deals sold out v. quickly