Entry Level SLR...

Phil W

Phil W

Phil W

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...i've got a budget of £250-£300 max, and i've narrowed it down to two.

1) Sony A200 - £274.99 with £30 cashback from Sony

2) Olympus e410dz - £244.99

I had a play with both in-store, had a fiddle with settings and took a couple of pictures, and i actually preferred the Sony Camera.

People seem dubious about buying a DSLR Camera from a manufacturer that doesnt dedicated itself to Cameras (Canon, Nikon etc) but i really wouldn't have the foggiest as to whether they are actually *good* Camera's or not.

They both certainly felt pretty good and the picture quality was excellent, but the Sony actually seemed better to use and had a better quality of picture, although it was slightly larger than the Olympus.

Any views/opinions/advice?

Cheers,

Phil
 
Phil W said:
Any views/opinions/advice?

Cheers,

Phil
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well I ordered a D40 cos it was the cheapest and still gets talked of as a great camera years after it's introduction. <shrug> I don't think it REALLY matters what camera you get. It's just a means to an end. They'll all take great pictures if the person operating them knows what they are doing.
 
A200 is a great starter DSLR. It outspecs. the Olympus 410 & if you were more comfortable with it then even better.
have to be fast though if you want the cashback though as the qualifying purchase period (you then have iirc 1 month to claim left) ends on the 31st december.

neither Canon or Nikon are camera only manufacturers either & if you include compacts as well then Sony is iirc #2 (used to be #1 but it switches around quite a lot). I imagine that they are the no.1 sensor manufacturer though as Canon & Nikon both use Sony sensors for some cameras.
 
its not just a case of sensors though. its the surrounding systems, AF, build, availability of good glass etc etc

tbh i used to rate sony p&s quite highly but since the likes of panasonic i think theyre much lower down the standings these days.
 
The Olympus uses the "four thirds" sensor/lens system and they tend to be grainier in low light as well as quite awkward to find wide angle lenses to fit.
So from that choice I'd go Sony.
And Sony took over Konica Minolta with the wealth of experience that implies so I wouldn't worry about buying from a non camera manufacturer.
 
If you can stretch ** budget a bit you can get a canon d1000 with the 30 pound cash back it would be good deal some people reporting they get it way under 300 or there the d40 or the upgraded model think its d50 or 60 for around top end of your budget.

I would go for one of the big two there will be a lot more lens available and bigger second hand market
 
Although you're buying an entry level DSLR now, think about what you're going to be doing somewhere down the line.

If you invest in a DSLR now, and a kit lens, it probably won't be long before you acquire a couple more lenses. When you 'outgrow' the entry level DSLR, it would be more cost effective to be able to keep your existing lenses if possible and just upgrade the body.

If you think you'll be doing that, then I'd steer clear of Sony/Olympus etc, as the range of lenses available currently are limited and a bit pricey IMO.

The obvious candidates are in the Nikon/Canon stable, and the lenses available are numerous and for every budget, but have a look at Pentax DSLR's which are pretty good value for money, produce lovely images, and are compatible with every Pentax lens ever made, albeit with manual metering and focus on the really old stuff.

If you don't see yourself upgrading the body at some point in the future, or just sticking with one or two lenses, then just about any current DSLR within your budget will be fine.
 
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Bigpig said:
If you can stretch ** budget a bit you can get a canon d1000 with the 30 pound cash back it would be good deal some people reporting they get it way under 300 or there the d40 or the upgraded model think its d50 or 60 for around top end of your budget.

I would go for one of the big two there will be a lot more lens available and bigger second hand market
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not for a D40/D40X/D60 there won't be - the range of lenses available for those both new & s/h is less than for Minolta AF/Sony Alpha mount.

There are plenty of lens options available for Alphas for the average consumer (iirc research actually shows that something like 90% of entry level DSLRs never buy another lens anyway :rolleyes:). If you have a very specific & somewhat unusual need then things may be different but in those cases often the lens choice comes first & they buy the body to suit.
 
Went and had another play with the cameras i originally posted, and the D1000.

Preferred the D1000 so purchased that this morning, now i've got the camera i need to learn how to use it to its max potential :cool:
 
The Canon user manuals are rubbish unfortunately :( Plenty of resource online though for photography principles.

Main things you need to know are: Shoot in Av (Aperture Priority), Tv (Shutter Priority) or M mode when you can. Avoid the "creative" modes unless you're in a hurry to snap away. Use spot focus as much as possible.

Typical scenerio: Point at the subject you want to "meter" - hit the "exposure lock" button (the star *), point at the subject using Spot focus, half depress shutter release, keep finger half depressed, compose your shot and fully depress shutter release. Beautiful, Terry Tibs ain't seen a better picture, except that time when he was in Rome.

Av mode's best when taking pictures of still subjects and you want to play with the aperture (depth of field - you can read up on that via google). Tv mode's best for moving objects - set it to 1/100s or higher depending on your subject's movement speed. The camera will adjust the aperture to get the best exposure for you.

I'm not sure if the 1000D has auto-ISO mode, if it has, use it with Tv mode until you're confident with setting it manually. The higher the value, the more sensitive the camera's sensor become, the higher speed shutter speed you can use as well as narrower aperture (high f-stops).

If you're taking lots of pictures of people or animals, try to change the spot focus spot according to how you want to compose your picture (subject sure never be right at the centre except for certain compositions).

M mode is ideal when lighting isn't likely to change in your environment (artificial lighting, clear sky with no sudden shades). Set your Aperture accordingly, use Av mode to do a few test shots to decide what's the best shutter speed, stick with it. No more fiddling about when accidentally metering your friend's black dress!

That's what I can think of specifically for Canon DSLR shooting. Get yourself a tripod if you wanna do studio / night photography as well. If you can, save up for a decent one - the £20 Velbon or Jessop ones are gonna annoy the hell outta you in no time. I've putting money aside for a carbon fibre Manfrotto to replace my metal one.
 
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neil_g said:
bit of a sweeping statement. itll tell you how to use it but dont expect it to teach you photography..
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True.

The problem I have with Canon manuals is that it often doesn't go into details of what a particular "Canon coined" term means. It's like "Press the Superfluffirious button to activate the fluffirous function in super mode"... What the hell is fluffirious? Okay, extreme example there...

Some of the "sample" photos were completely pointless and unhelpful in showing what a particular function was supposed to do.

That's been consistent with my last 3 Canon manuals - love their cameras but I just ignore the manuals. Even with the 450D buy I made the other day, I remember looking at a particular function in the manual and found it of absolutely no help at all :S

I did have a Nikon film SLR years ago from my dad and the manual really demonstrated what each function / feature did. I mean it was particularly helpful because I knew nothing about cameras / photography at that point and it used terms that I understood. Dunno what they're like nowadays though :P
 
well yeah.. its a mass produced, black and white, pocket sized user manual :) but tbh i found both the 300D and the 20D manual useful when it comes to menus and custom functions etc.

if you want to learn photography from a book tho, its not the best choise.
 
D1000? you mean the 1000D?

great starter camera, the boots offer is very very good. works out about £250ish for the lens kit. probably one of if not thee best starter DSLR in this budget?
 
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agree with thesubstitute on majority of things, but with your budget I reckon a cheapy £20 tripod would get you started...then maybe get a better one at a later date
a tripod makes a lot of styles of photography open to you that simply can't be achieved without one....
 
3dcandy said:
agree with thesubstitute on majority of things, but with your budget I reckon a cheapy £20 tripod would get you started...then maybe get a better one at a later date
a tripod makes a lot of styles of photography open to you that simply can't be achieved without one....
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I had a £34 National Geographic tripod
I bought a sigma 70-300 lens (quite a lightweight)
I photographed the moon
My camera when tilted forwards pulled itself out of the quick release moulding and smashed on the patio.

Buy a second hand Slik 88 for about £20 on fleabay before you buy some Hama or unbranded crap, you could otherwise count the cost dearly, the Slik 88 was manufactured for 30 years, spares are everywhere and it holds your camera like a vice.
 
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