Advice wanted DSLR cameras

[silly_simon]

Ok I am looking to get one of these for my daughter, and was wondering what you guys would recommend for a budget upto £220 ish ?

I have been looking at the olympus E420 on ebay etc as we want to get a complete package deal for her as a starter kit for when she goes into 6th form to do a creative meadia course :)

Your thoughts or opinions greatly apprieciated

[Mitch9128]

I had a similar budget to yours, but found i couldn't afford a decent DSLR at that price point. So ended up going for a bridge camera, this http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002KHMJ78/ref=oss_product was going for £219 at the time, and it's brilliant, the reviews are better than i could give. I know this doesn't really help, unless a bridge camera is a possibility?

[njl]

Í ended up getting a bridge camera as I rightly realised that for what little I use one for It didn't justify the extra outlay. I would think for college an SLR would be the way though. The entry nikons used to be cheaper i'm sure once when they were launched the D40 could be had for under 300, alas no more. A lad I knew who was at college started out with a Nikon but changed it for a Canon later in the course, perhaps the 1000D if you can find a good deal. I'd try to get 5 min with a college lecturer to ask them though, as they should be right on what you'd need and what wouldn't matter, hopefully to point you in the right direction

[Scaredy_Cat]

I've got a Nikon D50 that I can't fault. :)
Not sure what sort of money they go for now (cost a bleeding fortune 6 years ago)

[DaytonaDog]

I've got an olympus E400 which is an earlier version of the E420. Its a fairly good entry level SLR camera and one of its pluses is it compact size. However my main criticisms are that due to the sensor configuration being only unique to olympus accessories and add ons are limited, i.e. lenses, and due to this you tend to pay more for them and secondly most magazines and camera accessory manufacturers are geared around nikon or canon cameras, which is not surprising as they account for about 90 per cent of the sales market. My advice would be to try and pick up an entry level nikon or canon if you can. You should be able to pick up a reasonable one on ebay or alternatively go to somewhere like the London Camera Exchange (there is one in salisbury) who do second hand models if you are unable to pick up a new one within budget.

[smellygerm]

I've got the e500 all the pics at the harp are done on this . It was around £300 on eBay came with two lenses 14-42 mm And 40-150mm. dont be fooled by the mm it's just different with dlsr they are still a 35mm frame . Great camera . If you fancy a try before you buy give us a shout si

[Si]

As well as being a photographer I am also the National Sales manager for a large Photographic distributor. I deal a lot with colleges and kit out students with their first lot of gear. The college will provide a list of equipment that is needed to start the course. All colleges are different dependant on what gear they use themselves. This means the students can use the equipment the college has to save themselves money. As already mentioned the Canon EOS 1000d is a great starter camera and you should find them 2nd hand for around your budget. They will take all the Canon EF lenses and there are lots of them 2nd hand on the market. Try and stick to genuine Canon lenses if you can. There are some of the baby Nikons around too but you have to watch out as the prices tend to be higher and repair charges are nasty too.

Focal lengths of lenses will vary. If you are using an older standard zoom like say a 35-70mm it wont give you that exact focal length on a newer DSLR. The is because the sensor size within the camera isnt the same size as a 35mm frame (unless you spend a serious amount of money) so you will get a crop effect on the image. Tech bit coming sorry! On any 35 mm film camera, a 28 mm lens is a wide-angle lens, and a 200 mm lens is a long-focus lens. Now that digital cameras have replaced 35 mm cameras, there is no uniform relation between the focal length of a lens and the angle of view, since the size of the camera sensor also determines angle of view, and sensor size is not standardised as film size was. The 35 mm equivalent focal length of a particular lens–sensor combination is the focal length that one would need for a 35 mm film camera to obtain the same angle of view. Most commonly, the 35 mm equivalent focal length is based on equal diagonal angle of view. Alternatively, it may sometimes be based on horizontal angle of view. Since 35 mm film is normally used for images with an aspect ratio (width-to-height ratio) of 3:2, while many digital cameras have a 4:3 aspect ratio, which have different diagonal-to-width ratios, these two definitions are often not equivalent.

In short 1000d would, in my opinion be great for her as a starter. If you want to chat further just PM me and ill give you my number! ;D

[Roxy]

GEEK! ;D ;D

[silly_simon]

As well as being a photographer I am also the National Sales manager for a large Photographic distributor. I deal a lot with colleges and kit out students with their first lot of gear. The college will provide a list of equipment that is needed to start the course. All colleges are different dependant on what gear they use themselves. This means the students can use the equipment the college has to save themselves money. As already mentioned the Canon EOS 1000d is a great starter camera and you should find them 2nd hand for around your budget. They will take all the Canon EF lenses and there are lots of them 2nd hand on the market. Try and stick to genuine Canon lenses if you can. There are some of the baby Nikons around too but you have to watch out as the prices tend to be higher and repair charges are nasty too.

Focal lengths of lenses will vary. If you are using an older standard zoom like say a 35-70mm it wont give you that exact focal length on a newer DSLR. The is because the sensor size within the camera isnt the same size as a 35mm frame (unless you spend a serious amount of money) so you will get a crop effect on the image. Tech bit coming sorry! On any 35 mm film camera, a 28 mm lens is a wide-angle lens, and a 200 mm lens is a long-focus lens. Now that digital cameras have replaced 35 mm cameras, there is no uniform relation between the focal length of a lens and the angle of view, since the size of the camera sensor also determines angle of view, and sensor size is not standardised as film size was. The 35 mm equivalent focal length of a particular lens–sensor combination is the focal length that one would need for a 35 mm film camera to obtain the same angle of view. Most commonly, the 35 mm equivalent focal length is based on equal diagonal angle of view. Alternatively, it may sometimes be based on horizontal angle of view. Since 35 mm film is normally used for images with an aspect ratio (width-to-height ratio) of 3:2, while many digital cameras have a 4:3 aspect ratio, which have different diagonal-to-width ratios, these two definitions are often not equivalent.

In short 1000d would, in my opinion be great for her as a starter. If you want to chat further just PM me and ill give you my number! ;D


Strewth Mucker :o :o
That last bit confuzzled me a bit but thanks for trying to explain it a bit. I have been looking at the 1000d Eos but some of them are labled rebel xti and Kiss :-/ now I wasn't sure if they were the same or not??

[Nooj]

Don't know if they're within your budget but I really like my Canon EOS 450d. Enough automatic bits for general duties but you can set it up so everything is manual as well with lots of in between settings. I've only scratched the surface of what it can do as I've forgotten most of the theory I learnt at college.

[Si]

Sorry! ;D Rebel XTI & Kiss are all foreign names for them, They will be grey imports. Very common in the trade for this. Canon UK will not honour any warranty on them under any circumstances so I would avoid them like the plague even though they can be a lot cheaper. Not worth the hassle mate.

[Si]

Don't know if they're within your budget but I really like my Canon EOS 450d. Enough automatic bits for general duties but you can set it up so everything is manual as well with lots of in between settings. I've only scratched the surface of what it can do as I've forgotten most of the theory I learnt at college.

Nice camera Nooj but yeah their a bit more money than the 1000d :)

[Uber Dave]

I love canon stuff, got a 450d also, but looking at the 60d as an upgrade (not for your daughter at just over £1k for the kit) so I am bias in suggesting the 1000d also.

Might be best to take her into Jessops (just dont buy from there as they cost silly amounts!) to get her to hold and play with them all and see what she likes, people like different things and if she is going to be taught to use them all properly as part of the course then to a degree its irrelevant what model/make she gets.

Check out this site though, I have bought off them and so have friends and its very good on price!

http://www.onestop-digital.com/index.php

[silly_simon]

Sorry! ;D Rebel XTI & Kiss are all foreign names for them, They will be grey imports. Very common in the trade for this. Canon UK will not honour any warranty on them under any circumstances so I would avoid them like the plague even though they can be a lot cheaper. Not worth the hassle mate.


Thanks for that mate :)

[silly_simon]

Now sorted :)

Managed to pick her up a Canon EOS 450D DSLR with lens kit, bag and 8gb memory card [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

was a bit more than I had originally wanted to spend :o but it is a higher spec camera so should be ok ::)

[Uber Dave]

Good choice, I have the same and managed to produce these so she is good to go for College at least!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=265124&id=508541948&l=8dbb551212

[Nooj]

And when she's learnt how to use it, she can come and teach me :-)