300 smackers, DSLR for beginner...

fonzee

fonzee

fonzee

Soldato
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Can't find too many recent threads on DSLRs for beginners, so here goes...

£300, maybe up to 400. Decent 2nd hand is perfectly fine.

Off to NZ in jan, so i want to capture it with some solid quality kit, and learn whilst i go...

Needs to also have decent auto modes and all that whilst i learn the manual way of things... (probably sounding stupid here i know :p)

Need a decent lens for wide landscapes and the like, no idea on what spec though.

One important issue to have decent battery life, rechargable packs, none of this standard disposable battery malarky. I assume all the cameras in this budget come with them as standard anyway?

Seen a few 2nd hand 450Ds within this budget with the likes of 18-55 lens? any good? does this camera come with one as standard?

350Ds kits are around £200-300 mark, what does the 450D offer over this? 30Ds also seem to fall within this budget...

Am i best to stick with Canon?

Guessing ima need a tripod out there too, the more portable the better :)

Many thanks :)
 
I'm about to sell my 400D (with a spare battery) with 18-55 and sigma 70-300, just need it for Xmas preferably, thought would be willing to let it go after next weekend.

No idea what its worth though.
 
lol :p nice try

the 70-300 has to be worth around £100, been used once (would need to goto slough to the the individual case though, it fits fine with camera and other lens in its current bag (also inc).

Guess around £375 ish?
 
The Nikon D40 with 18-55 lens kit is available for £208 brand new with 2 yr warranty, (from Dixons, go to camerapricebusters.co.uk for discount code), a 55-200 Nikkor AF-s lens can be had for about £70 from Ebay, that should leave you with enough cash for a memory card and a cheap bag from Amazon.

Google for reviews of the Nikon D40, there are a lot of them out there.
 
Similarly you can buy a Sony A200 with kit 18-70mm for £230 or less after Sony cashback.
The best advice though is to go to a shop & try them all as the 1 that feels best to you is probably the 1 for you to get.
Although they all have their own pros & cons there are no bad current production DSLRs.
 
hmm seems the D40 is rated very highly for beginners, its very light too which would be so handy. but the whole no AF motor thing puts me off, is there an alternative to the D40 within same price range with an AF motor?

im weighing up so many ideas atm, so confusing, think i need to visit a camera shop...

also, how do you guys go about taking your kit abroad etc for holidays? in terms of airport luggage and making sure no numpty damages it whilst chucking the bag about?
 
fonzee said:
hmm seems the D40 is rated very highly for beginners, its very light too which would be so handy. but the whole no AF motor thing puts me off, is there an alternative to the D40 within same price range with an AF motor?

im weighing up so many ideas atm, so confusing, think i need to visit a camera shop...

also, how do you guys go about taking your kit abroad etc for holidays? in terms of airport luggage and making sure no numpty damages it whilst chucking the bag about?
Click to expand...


Do you need an AF motor?

Most lenses have their own AF-S motor. Most of the ones that don't are due to be updated to lenses with he motor. The likes of Sigma and Tamron make special Nikon versions with a motor in the lens. And all the old lenses you manually focus anyway.



See if there is a lens you want that will not auto focus on the D40 and see if manual focusing that lens would really be that difficult.
 
Camera equipment goes in the cabin. Although good lens cases and inside a hard suitcase well wrapped with clothes will protect the lens, but wont stop it being stollen.
 
So the in-built motor in the lens is the way things are heading? Why do so many people see this as a negative though? is there an advantage having a dual motor setup, i.e. body and lens? the D40 is very tempting going by the reviews.

and thanks for that, will keep it in mind :)
 
I would guess that the lack of an inbuilt focusing motor would close off a significant proportion of the second hand lens market to you. That is probably the main negative.
 
The lack of inbuilt AF is a bit of a non issue for most people, most of the likely range of lenses for someone on a D40 budget/skill level have AF-S, the kit lens is very good as is the 55-200VR (£125) and the 70-300VR (£330.), Sigma make a wide range of lenses with inbuilt motors (marked as HSM) and Tamron are also starting to introduce them.
Also, any lenses that don't have an AF-S motor work perfectly well, you just have to turn the focus ring manually to focus them, just like in the old days. The camera's focus indicator light in the viewfinder still lights up when focus has been attained and everything, it's just your hand doing the work.
AF-s lenses have the advantage of generally being quieter and a bit quicker than the body driven one's too.
 
I have a D40X which I'm thinking about selling. It's about a year old and has been a great starting camera. The only reason I'm going to sell it is I've upgraded. Comes fully boxed with all original packaging and the 18-55 kit lens (non-vr). Would also include an extra two batteries, so three in total. Also includes Nikon D40/D40x Digital Field Guide by David D. Busch and Nikon D40x (Magic Lantern Guides) by Simon Stafford both also in excellent condition. I can even throw in a 2gb SD card to get you going.
Not sure of price but I'd guess around £250-£270.
I may even have a Tameron 35mm-200mm Macro lens available for around £40, its completely manual but great for learning the fundamentals of Fstop etc, again excellent condition.

Drop me a line if interested.

D.
 
thanks for the offers and advice.

I went for the 1000D lens kit in the end! £215 brand new after cashback! bargain. :)
 
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