Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • Recommend me a digital SLR
  • Bregante
    Full Member

    Morning. My in-laws want to buy us a gift to celebrate their retirements (odd but nice) and we have up to £500 to spend on something we want rather than need. We’ve always fancied a digital slr (have had 35mm slr many years ago but only ever had a compact digital).

    What good all round starter slr’s would you recommend with a budget of £500 for general family use?

    Ta

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    Canon or Nikon. Just pick the best you can afford. Sure, there’s others, but those two lead the way

    Personally, I’d buy it from One Stop Digital too, who are generally the cheapest.

    Markie
    Free Member

    Is it worth going second hand at that price point, or does the technology move on so fast that new is best?

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    Bregante
    Full Member

    As the in laws are buying I think they’d want to go new tbh and there seem to be plenty of options at the £500 mark

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member
    stats
    Full Member

    This boy know his stuff, great website full of all the info you’d ever need.

    http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm

    PrinceJohn
    Full Member

    Is it worth going second hand at that price point, or does the technology move on so fast that new is best?

    With D-SLR’s technology isn’t quite as important as decent lenses – a good the megapixel count has settled down these days.

    eruptron
    Free Member

    Bought a Canon 1100d (canons entry level dslr)a few weeks ago as a complete novice to dslr photography. I have been really happy with it so far. I had an slr years ago but never got to grips with it and had a 300mm lens which fits the new dslr which is a Brucie bonus for sure. You might find your old lenses still fit. I payed £318 for it from Jessops online. They do a slightly more expensive package with the image stabilizing lens.
    Don’t forget you might also need a bag a decent SD card that’s quite fast and has decent storage. I would also strongly recommend a tripod.
    Anyway really happy with the results I’m getting with mine so far.
    I might have looked at the Nikon d3100 if I hadn’t have already had a Canon 300mm lens

    bencooper
    Free Member

    This boy know his stuff, great website full of all the info you’d ever need.

    http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm

    Opinions differ on Ken Rockwell 🙂

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    I would also strongly recommend a tripod.

    Really?
    I’ve never, ever used one and never felt the need for one.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    How about a Sony A65? Good camera, built-in image stabilisation, and millions of older Minolta lenses it can use too.

    z1ppy
    Full Member

    slight hi-jack anyone want to recommend a good (reasonably priced) tripod [or make at least], Father in law has just bought a Canon 3000(?) as a starter unit (& is taking a course to learn how to make the best of it) & it suddenly hit me a tripod might be a good xmas present.

    catvet
    Free Member

    Have a look at mbp photographic (or type 2nd hand cameras into google) I have used them twice selling and upgrading cameras, excellent service.

    martymac
    Full Member

    dont get hung up on the latest models, the lens is more important.
    mate of mine has an older model nikon with half the megapixels that my (more modern) one has, but you would be pretty hard pressed to tell which was which from the pictures.
    being able to use it makes more of a difference than an extra megapixel or two.

    Capt.Kronos
    Free Member

    Go new, and brand wise whatever works best for you (not just Canon/Nikon). Loads of nice stuff around that price these days.

    That said the Nikon D3200 kit looks cracking.

    Tripods – Manfrotto 190 series is a good place to start

    eruptron
    Free Member

    PeterPoddy – Member
    I would also strongly recommend a tripod.
    Really?
    I’ve never, ever used one and never felt the need for one.

    Depends what sort of photos you want to take does it not? If you have a larger lens or even take photo’s in lower light then your unlikely to keep the camera still and end up with blurry pictures. I excuse my noviceness.
    You obviously have a steadier hand than me 🙂
    This is one of my first water photos last weekend. Canon 1100d
    No doubt the experts will pick the bones out of this!

    seadog101
    Full Member

    I bought a Nikon D3100 a while back and it is great. As a complete noob to dSLR I was careful and read everything that came my way about entry level dSLR’s. In my case I went over budget and hit £500 to get the kit which came with extra stuff (as I now know it is called), primarily an extra longer lens.

    Of course £500 can put you into the D3200 and D5100 brackets (higher numbers = better thing, rule applies in most cases)

    All these cameras seem to get top marks from the boffins.

    I found the D3100 simple enough to use, and also complicated enough to learn with.

    As for Canon vs Nikon? Let battle commence.

    TuckerUK
    Free Member

    This boy know his stuff, great website full of all the info you’d ever need.

    http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm

    😯

    You jest surely?

    Although Ken DOES know a fair bit, he also makes shit up, and has a very very dry sense of humour (which the uneducated then repeat as fact). His best opinion is that fast lenses are no longer required with the excellent high ISO (low light) performance of modern DSLRs, completely ignoring the fact that the most often used attribute of a fast lens is its tiny depth of field and subject isolation properties.

    If that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know, try a Nikon 70-210mm f/4-5.6D lens, then read HIS review. Oddly he sold his lens (for some ridiculously high amount) after his glowing review.

    IMO, the only reviews worth a jot online are the Polish site Lenstip, and for Nikon lenses Dr Bjørn Rørslett’s website

    stufive
    Free Member

    Im just about to sell a mint canon 550d with stock 18-55mm lens and a sigma 18-125mm lens all boxed and mint

    davidjones15
    Free Member

    Stufive, I’ll give you 500quid with the lenses, 600 without! 😈 😆

    ampthill
    Full Member

    Almost all new dslrs are great

    If bulk when carrying think about microfourthirds (Olympus or panansonic)

    I think lenses matter. Try for a twin lens kit 18-55 and 55-200. If you think you won’t swap lenses then try and get a wider range zoom like the Bikon 18-105.

    http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/Digital%20SLR%20Cameras/products/Nikon/D3100%20%2018-55mm%20VR%20Lens%20%2055-200mm%20Non%20VR%20Lens-81730/Show.html?cm_mmc=GoogleBase-_-DigitalSLRCameras-_-all-_-all&ovc=

    or

    http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/9017076/art/nikon/d3100-af-s-dx-18-105-vr-l.html

    Good lists to help choose

    I have a Sony A55 (now superceded) and absolutely love it – my favourite lens is an old Minolta 50mm f1.7 I paid about £60 for.

    Key points, is it’s focus speed, live view and compact size (despite being a full size DSLR (well SLT – no moving mirror).

    You have to put up with an EVF though, which to me isn’t an issue as I’ve never used an OVF.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    The Minolta 1.4 is also available for not much more nowadays – both are absolutely fantastic lenses. I’ve never tried the EVF Sonys – I upgraded as far as the A900 then stopped – but I’ve heard very good reports about it.

    stuartie_c
    Free Member

    I’ve got a Sony a77 with the 2.4 mpixel EVF. It takes a bit of getting used to compared with a glass pentaprism viewfinder but the resolution is so fine that you almost don’t notice its an EVF. Having used it for about 6 months now, I think the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks: 100% coverage at full magnification, lots of data overlays possible inc. electronic level; display “gains up” in low light so you can see your subject; proper image preview inc. corrections for lens distortions; exposure compensation etc.

    Big fan of Sony’s SLRs – now on my second.

    a57 is right on your budget and is pretty much the same camera without the metal body and weather sealing:

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Canon or Nikon.

    Sony or Pentax.

    Pentax do weather sealing cheaper than anyone else – that would be a winner for me if I was buying now tbh. Don’t under-estimate how useful that is. I went to the beach the other day. Did I take my non-sealed SLR? Not a chance.

    Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    Joolze Dymond recommended a Nikon D5100 kit to MrsBS when she was after one, it’s a cracking bit of kit that does more than my tiny brain can manage, she gets good results from it now she’s learning how to use it more.

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