MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Miss OTS (13) wants to have a go at photography. I’ve had a couple of canon slrs in the past (350d the last one I think). I’d like to buy her something cheap and cheerful to have a play with. There’s a Nikon D3200 with kit lens, bag, charger etc. On gumtree near me for £170. Does that seem reasonable? Any other bargains on eBay etc?
She probably wants to do a bit of landscape / product photography type stuff initially.
M3/4 would be my choice for a kid. One of the early Panasonic G, GF or GX can be picked up pretty cheap and are a better fit for kids, plus a good range of 2nd hand and aftermarket lenses. I had a G1 when they we first released and they are perfectly capable cameras and simple to use, what you see in the viewfinder is what you get.
I have a Dslr setup which was my fathers that i am about to send to charity. Please pm me if you are interested. I don’t want any money for them, just a good home.
Examples.
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Panasonic-Lumix-G1-c/w-14-45_266183.html
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Panasonic-DMC-G3-+-14-42mm-F3.5-5.6-OIS_276511.html
I'd jump on Jumble's offer first.
We use 3200 with the kids here. They are good enough. Frustrating as hell after a better Nikon but still good.
A word of warning though....phones are so good these days that kids need to get well into it and have access to some good to extra toys to be wowed by the results with a basic dslr. The magic starts to happen for a keen kid once they get to get results they can't with their phone. A tripod, maybe some off camera lighting, possibly an ND filter (a cheap variable would be a start - flawed but you get the idea with them). You can then start playing around with long exposures. Or maybe buy her a prime lens. Something like a Nikon 50mm f1.8 if going for that d3200 (though you would have to use manual focus with that body). A truly fast lens (wide open aperture - that's what the f1.8 means) allows super shallow depth of field photography which also has a wow factor. Or use in very low light without flash.
Also get her into using her camera in manual mode as soon as you can - otherwise it becomes a cumbersome point and shoot very fast.
The other way of looking at it - much of the above was about the 'tech' of photography. It is incredible what you can learn about the 'art' of photography by just using your phone and learning about composition. Lots of great youtube tutorials.
If you can run to an student discount adobe photographer subscription (lightroom and photoshop - £9.99pm) once she has shown she is committed that will also help her to generate output she can't just use her phone for.
Pretty much all DSLRs from the last 10 years will give great results for a beginner.
Use it in manual exposure to learn how cameras work.
Shoot Raw.
Taking the picture is only half the process - learning how to adjust the initial image in Lightroom or similar is just as important. This is the darkroom developing stage as was.
The tips above about doing stuff that you can’t do with a phone are a great place to start once you’ve got the basics down.
Just sold my canon 100d on flea bay, saw few others advertised. Was maybe still is smallest proper dslr. Stock lens was pretty good.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aZMa5OYpXgI
I picked up a VGC Canon 50D on here about 4yrs ago, along with a couple of lenses, for a little over £200. Have since added a 50mm prime, and a 24-105mm EF lens too. I don't use it anywhere near as much as I should, but its all great solid kit, and I'd easily sell everything for what I've paid for it tomorrow if I needed to...
Agree with Skankin_giant, Micro 4/3 mirrorless is a decent option. Smaller and lighter than most DSLRs. Plenty of options for lenses, including adapters for cheap/vintage lenses if you want.
Could probably get a Lumix G5 with the kit lens for about £150.
Check MPB and Ffordes, they are reasonably priced for used kit.
Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated. @Jumble I'm keen to take up your kind offer. I did message you, but I'm not sure it got through because when I look at in my messages it says it was sent to deleted user. I'm stw.geoffj@me.com if my dm didn't get through. Many thanks, OTS
My Pentax K100D has finally died. I bought it for £62 with two kit lenses, added a 50mm manual lens, some ND filters and a tripod from lost property at the outdoor centre.
It's taught me loads about the technicality of taking pics, and I've really enjoyed doing so.
Because it's been so cheap, I've not worried about taking it out in poor weather (it's Pentax, so sealed well), down rivers, up mountains and more. The best camera is the one you have with you and all that...
Pentax have great backward integration of lenses, unlike any other manufacturer. It's made getting a few more lenses easy.
Middle_oab is doing photography at college next year, he has enjoyed taking it out too.
I'm saving to replace it, and middle_oab is waiting for the college advice before he splashes out too, probably Nikon judging by the open day we went to.
I might buy a Nikon with a focus motor say a Nikon d90. That way you can use screw driver lenses. These are the cheaper options for say 50mm f1.8
M4/3 would be good as well
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I've got a Pentax k5 for myself but have a Canon 1300D* for work.
I hate to say it, but the 1300D* and kit lens takes some really good pictures! Primarily because the Pentax takes very flat looking photos and expects you to process them whereas the Canon is setup to produce nice .jpg's out of the box. Perhaps not as appealing to photography geeks, but probably what you want if you just want to take nice photos.
It's also tiny and weighs pretty much nothing.
Only functional negative is you only get one function dial which feels a faff after being spoil with separate aperture and shutter dials on the Pentax.
Big upside of the Pentax is the range of lenses go back a loooooooooooong way, so if you can't afford the latest auto focusing 50mm f1.2 prime lense, you can just search ebay for the old manual one and optically it's the same. I've got boxes of of lenses just because they're cheap and "one day it'll come in handy".
OTOH, new lenses for Pentax are frequently 15-20% more than the canon version, and hold their value. better. So if you see a lense you like on another system, it always galls a bit when you pay for it. And there's less 2nd hand newer lenses on ebay.
*I think, TBH it could be a 1100 or 1200 I'm not sure
If you know Canon then I would get another Canon, they work and you'll be better able to help with the controls. All the main manufacturers have solid offerings and so as long as it has some kind of WiFi/Bluetooth connectivity and it's not really old it'll do the job.
Re. the comparison with phones, as said above, you can take incredible pics with a phone, but for me the camera get me in the frame of mind to concentrate on taking pics, a phone I get to distracted with.
Finally re. editing, this is entirely personal. I do very little editing, I find no joy in it at all. The fun is composing a shot, finding a location and being out with a camera. Time in Lightroom is time wasted for me. Others like the editing more than the shooting. Neither os wrong.