~£1000 budget for DSLR + Lenses

Rob200sx

Rob200sx

Rob200sx

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12 Feb 2003
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It's always nice to post "i've got x amount to spend!" posts isn't it :)

Still, come January I should have the above amount with with to purchase a camera and this is the last big purchase (at least for myself) before baby arrives in May :)

So, for ~1000 what could I get, to include the camera itself plus either/or telephoto + macro lenses?

A friend has just bought the EOS 40D and is selling his 350D for £300, should I get this and spend the money on better lenses or go for a more recent camera?

I'm not tied to any particular make but I don't want to be stuck when I eventually want more lenses etc. I'd heard that the Nikon's can use more non-nikon lenses than the Canon's but I've not really looked to prove if this is fact.

Some requisites...
Long exposure time functionality (30sec+)
At least 8mp
Decent kit lens


Thanks!
 
Can't help you on the Canon side as im a Nikonian. But I would go with something like a Nikon D80 (Body only) for about £500 and the Nikon 18-200VR for about £450. Spend the remaining money on memoy cards/bag etc. Another option would be to buy second hand and get more lenses such as the 50mm f1.8.

I wouldn't bother with the Canon 350D. I think you could almost get a new one for that price and in my opinion the 350D and 400D feel quite cheap to hold.
 
I'm of the opinion that good glass will last longer than a camera body. I think £300 for a used 350D seems a bit steep to be honest (if he's selling the body & kit lens together - you can get a used 400D kit for about this price, or cheaper)

Recommendations:
- Buy a couple of digital photography magazines (they usually have a round up of the most popular cameras on the market at this time of year and give out their 'awards' etc.
- If you can get to a High St camera shop, go in and handle a few entry level bodies, you may find that the likes of the Nikon D40x handles a lot better than the Canon 400D
- If you can stagger your budget, Canon are doing a cashback promotion just now that is valid until 31/12/2007

http://canon2007promotions.onlinerebates.com/intro.aspx?country=uk&view=promos

e.g. you can get £50 back on a 400D + kit lens bundle

- Nikon also are doing a cashback promotion until early January but I don't know much about that
http://www.nikon.co.uk/sites/cashback/default.html

=====================================

The Nikon kit lens is generally regarded to offer superior results than the current Canon kit lens. As far as i'm aware the entry level Nikons offer 'punchier' results straight out of the camera. After Post Processing, there is very little to separate the 400D and D40x/D80 so I guess it all boils down to which body you prefer to handle and which system (lenses etc.) you feel suits your needs.

As a Canon user, for £1k I'd recommend the following

Canon 400D & kit lens £399.99
-> Sell kit lens on the bay for ~£40, claim £50 cashback
= roughly £310 spent, £690 left

Kit lens replacement:
Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 XR Di £250

Longish zoom lens:
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG MACRO £140

For long exposures you'll need a decent tripod:
Manfrotto 190XPROB -> with a head you're looking at about £100

Then factor in about some more cash for a bag to keep it all in, memory cards etc. and you should have some change left from your £1k

You could use some of this change to get a Canon 50mm f/1.8 mkII - decent sharp lens ideal for portraits of the new arrival
 
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Thanks,
I've picked up a couple of mags, Digital SLR User etc and had a read through, some mixed reviews between them but these also depend on their negative points and where they mark down, for example if it lacks AF points....so I'm then left thinking, if a camera comes out good on other areas but lacks AF points, is this something I'm going to regret in the future?

Have to admit that at the moment, until I actually handle some of these then it's either the Nikon D80 or the Canon 400D based on reviews.

Might add that my friend is selling the 350d with the kit lens, battery grip, IR remote & cabled remote, 2gb CFII for £300.

I'm not fussed about camera's that don't have auto dust cleaning or whatever it's called, or anti-vibration.

My current camera (which I'm selling) is a Fuji s5000 and before that I had a 35mm Praktica MTL5 so I think I'm able to do without the luxuries of dust cleaning and stability (to a certain degree! :) )
 
Rob200sx said:
Thanks,
My current camera (which I'm selling) is a Fuji s5000 and before that I had a 35mm Praktica MTL5 so I think I'm able to do without the luxuries of dust cleaning and stability (to a certain degree! :) )
Click to expand...

Remember, though, that old film cameras effectively had dust removal built in as you had a shiny new bit of film for each image. Not the case with a dSLR so dust build up does become an issue over time. Easily sovled with a sensor cleaing kit and Roket Blower, but much more of an issue than in film days.....
 
Rob200sx said:
Thanks,
I've picked up a couple of mags, Digital SLR User etc and had a read through, some mixed reviews between them but these also depend on their negative points and where they mark down, for example if it lacks AF points....so I'm then left thinking, if a camera comes out good on other areas but lacks AF points, is this something I'm going to regret in the future?

Have to admit that at the moment, until I actually handle some of these then it's either the Nikon D80 or the Canon 400D based on reviews.

Might add that my friend is selling the 350d with the kit lens, battery grip, IR remote & cabled remote, 2gb CFII for £300.

I'm not fussed about camera's that don't have auto dust cleaning or whatever it's called, or anti-vibration.

My current camera (which I'm selling) is a Fuji s5000 and before that I had a 35mm Praktica MTL5 so I think I'm able to do without the luxuries of dust cleaning and stability (to a certain degree! :) )
Click to expand...
The D80 will not dissappoint.

The 400D is like a toy next to the D80- Just ordered the Nik myself :D
 
thought about the 30D - can be had for around £400 these days online (used / nearly new), much more camera than the 400D and £600 left for a 70-200 F4 L a sigma 10-20 and a nifty fifty :D
 
Bes said:
The D80 will not dissappoint.

The 400D is like a toy next to the D80- Just ordered the Nik myself :D
Click to expand...

but then that is a step up in model range.

If you are considering a D80 the you need to put it next to a 30D or 40D. none of those will dissapoint most people.

Personally I would decide whether you want to spend money on a body or glass. To do that you need to get your hands on the models you might consider.
 
That's something I intend doing just after xmas, hopefully there will be some sales going on too :) I don't want to go into a camera shop and spend ages testing them all only to not buy one just yet (might add that waiting until after xmas is taking a SUPREME amount of willpower :D )

The d80 is about £200 more than the 400D, so I need to find out if it's worth that extra £200 more.

If it's just a case of the 400D coming with an inferior lens compared to the D80 then that's fine because with the £200 saving I can easily replace that lens.

I'd be interested to see the difference in shots taken by both camera's. As some here have either camera, would you be able to post a few shots please?
 
Rob200sx said:
The d80 is about £200 more than the 400D, so I need to find out if it's worth that extra £200 more.

If it's just a case of the 400D coming with an inferior lens compared to the D80 then that's fine because with the £200 saving I can easily replace that lens.
Click to expand...

Again, to compare these two cameras would not be a fair comparison. Even I, a died in the wool Canon junkie, would take a D80 given that choice.

If you hold a D80, you need to put it next to a 30D/40D. ( though to be honest, the 40D is kind of up against the D200/D300)

If you compare the Kit lenses, I feel that nikon will come out top. Nikon make good lenses, but they do charge a bit more for them.

Persoanlly I would not wait until after xmas, if you are going to buy anything that is in the Canon cashback promotion. THe cash back will be gone by the new year.
 
My willpower has broken. I'm going into an independant store tomorrow to have a good play with the camera's, then I can start shopping for the best price on one.

Have installed the firefox exif plugin and looked at the entries in this months photo comp and I see that a lot of them are EOS350D or 400D's. I'm starting to sway to this side, especially as it's a good deal cheaper and also the wife re-iterated this morning "remember we're on a tight budget"

bleh!

I need to win her round further with baby pics taken with a D80 or 400D!! :D
 
Also, the place I'm going to tomorrow is doing a christmas kit deal

Canon EOS400D
Sandisk CF 2GB Ext III
Tamrac Zoomster Bag

For £399 including cashback.

Is that a good deal?
 
400D body only is available at several places for £365, so £315 after cashback.

With kit lens it's more like £400, so £350 post cashback and about £15 for the CF card and about £15 fo rthe bag, plus P+P on all.

So, not too bad a deal if it's with the lens, but not as good if you need a lens on top. In this case, you could get the body, bag, card and either the nifty fifty or a kit lens off the Bay for the same price.
 
cool, well, I'll see how it feels tomorrow. I'd already tried a friends 350D and was happy with build of it but then there wasn't anything else to compare it to :)

Does the number of AF points make a great deal of difference?
 
number of AF points... it does sort of make a difference. I always seem to want one that is not there. more important to me is a way to switch through them quickly to select the one I want.

most of the time on static shots I stick with the centre and do the focus recompose thing. though that might be a throwback to the days of one AF point for me.
 
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