Author Topic: Any advise on first DSLR please?!  (Read 2894 times)

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Offline Emma xx

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Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« on: August 02, 2010, 07:22:45 PM »
Hi :D

My dad and me have been looking at DSLRs for ages. I really want to get into photography as i love taking photos and so does my dad. We've been looking at the Canon range and there seems to be some really good cameras and ive done a bit of research on them. The canon 1000d seems to be a good 'starter' one but as this is probably the only one we will ever get we want to get a fairly decent one without throwing ourselves in at the deep end. I hope this makes sense.

At the moment i have a simple point and shoot compact camera - Panasonic Lumix DMC FX55 and its a great little camera but im ready for the next step now. Have looked at some of the bridge cameras but dad reckons if we're going to get a decent camera we may aswell get a DSLR and teach ourselves about it along the way.

I havent asked ph34r but im thinking the price range will be up to about £500ish, as thats what we have been looking at on ebay.

So, would be lovely to get some advise from anybody on which camera would be best and hear about peoples experiences. We're in no rush at all, will probably get around christmas time before we buy one.

Thank you very, very much in advance :luv:

Emma xx


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Offline Nicola

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2010, 08:35:19 PM »
I'd recommend either Canon or Nikon, they both offer very good scope in terms of range of lenses. I don't have direct experience of the 1000D but I've read reviews and it looks like an excellent starter SLR, I think the Nikon equivalent is the D3000 which again has had good reviews. You'll probably pick either of those up with a kit lens bundle for around £300-400. A step up from that the 450D is a very, very good camera and I think the Nikon equivalent is the D5000, with a kit lens or a bundle those are probably in the £500-600 range now. One big bonus of the D5000 is that you can take videos on it as well as photos, the Canon 500D also offers this but I think with a lens it may be out of your price range. Really any of these 'prosumer' DSLRs are going to give good results if they're used properly and have a decent lens on them, you won't go far wrong whichever one you go for. For me it's the lens that really makes the difference, I'd rather have a slightly cheaper camera body and a really good lens than vice versa.

If you can find a good quality second hand model you could also consider the Canon 400D, it's a great camera and if you get a good deal on it you could put the rest of the money towards a good lens.

If you have a camera shop near you I'd recommend going along and talking to them about what you're looking for and they should be able to point you in the right direction and let you try out a few models, look at the controls etc. so you can see which one you feel comfortable with.
Nicola, Tilly, Rodaidh and Caoimhe x



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Offline Emma xx

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2010, 11:22:08 PM »
Brilliant, thanks so much Nicola.

We have looked at the canon 450d and it looks/sounds great. Theres a good deal of it on ebay at the moment, just over £600 for the body, 2 lenses and loads of accessories. Will speak to my dad now ph34r ;) :005:.

Thanks again xxx
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Offline JennyBee

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2010, 11:31:28 PM »
Brilliant, thanks so much Nicola.

We have looked at the canon 450d and it looks/sounds great. Theres a good deal of it on ebay at the moment, just over £600 for the body, 2 lenses and loads of accessories. Will speak to my dad now ph34r ;) :005:.

Thanks again xxx

I got a similar deal out of ebay for my 1000D, and to be honest the only thing I use out the whole lot is the camera body itself ph34r. Just make sure that the lenses are ones you would use, I ended up buying a better one on Amazon a couple of months after I bought the camera :blink:

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Offline Emma xx

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2010, 11:39:32 PM »
Theres a 18-55mm one and a 70-300mm one. Do these sound OK? Not that we'll be buying this particular one, just for future reference.

Here's the link http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-CANON-EOS-450D-Rebel-XSi-D-SLR-CAMERA-4-LENS-KIT-K-/180541237060?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_DigitalCameras_DigitalCameras_JN&hash=item2a0918a744

Thanks xx
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Watch Alfie's first year!
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Offline Nicola

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2010, 12:27:16 AM »
Those are the standard kit lenses which come with most camera bundles. They're not the best quality but they're certainly not shoddy. I've got both, although they're ancient versions as they came with my very first non-digital Canon SLR many many moons ago :005:  I keep them clean and they both still work perfectly well although I haven't used the 70-300 for a long time and don't use the 18-55 much. I've had some good use out of the 70-300 though, on the Action Shots sticky thread at the top of this board the two photos of Rodaidh running on the beach, the one of Tilly running on the beach and the one of Alfie jumping into the water were taken with it. The 18-55 can be used for portraits and its good for landscapes and architectural photography although because it's in wide-angle territory at the 18mm end you can use it to get some funny distorted effects in portraits which I like to do sometimes, it's quite a fun lens to play around with...

Nicola, Tilly, Rodaidh and Caoimhe x



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Offline Emma xx

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2010, 01:30:06 AM »
 :005: fab photo!

So do you reckon these lenses would be ok for us just starting out? We're not going to be taking photos of anything spectacular to start with, just looking forward to taking some half decent photos. Then once we're ready splash out on the 'posh' lenses :shades:.

Thanks very much for all the info, will come in very handy (and so will the stickys at the top of this board!) :D xx
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Offline cazza

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2010, 07:52:33 AM »
Emma I have the 350d and the 18-55mm lens, it has been good to learn the camera with etc

Sorry to hijack the thread but, Nic I need to progress and looking at lens so what would you suggest for my next one ???

Offline Nicola

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2010, 11:15:12 AM »
Emma I think those lenses would be absolutely fine for you to start with. If you're looking for a good general purpose lens that doesn't cost silly money at any stage afterwards - and Cazza this is what I'd recommend for you as well - the 28-135mm is very good, I think it's about £300-350. I don't know what your budget is Cazza but I'm assuming you don't want to spend a fortune so if you want something longer then this could be a good option http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-75-300mm-4-0-5-6-Telephoto-Zoom/dp/B000NJ6JYE  or this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-55-250mm-Telephoto-Selected-Digital/dp/B000V9D5LG

Nicola, Tilly, Rodaidh and Caoimhe x



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Offline cazza

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2010, 08:01:52 AM »
thanks Nic  :D

Offline Hurtwood Dogs

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2010, 10:13:25 AM »
Emma, just to add I've got the 450D (I've had it just under a year and a half now) and I love it... it's easy to use day to day as well as there being loads of more advanced stuff to learn and try if that makes sense. I got those two bundle lenses with it and would agree that they have their limits, but they've also produced some great photos. I definitely want some more lenses in the future, but I'm not getting the time to use it enough at the moment so am happy playing with what I've got for now.

It's a great camera and one I can't imagine having to upgrade for a very very long time what I use it for. I would recommend getting an external hard drive for your pics though as they'll eat into your computer storage very quickly once you get going! I've got a Seagate 500GB external hard drive (just plugs into a USB port like a memory stick but is a bit bigger!) which I use for my photo's and ideally I'd like another as a back-up... just in case!

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Offline Sharon

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #11 on: August 05, 2010, 11:26:29 PM »
I have the Sony NEX-5K fab little camera, just have lots of saving to do before I can afford a bigger lense  :005:  Shame the ones off my Canon 400D don't fit it

Offline Emma xx

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Re: Any advise on first DSLR please?!
« Reply #12 on: August 07, 2010, 09:11:36 PM »
 :cool4: :cool4: im back online! :shades:

Thanks so, so much for all the info i really appreciate it, i'll pass it on to my dad so he can have a think and then hopefully towards the end of the year....... ;)

Emma xxx
Emma, with Meg (11) and Alfie (3)



Watch Alfie's first year!
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=c5e5e2eace5d415d7d989a&skin_id=7