£500 for SLR

[Tommy B]

Following the thread about a month ago, I've managed to increase the budget for a new camera quite substantially.

The thing is, I need one that also makes a great "point and shoot" camera. I'm doing Photography A level, whilst my mum is in her final year of an art degree. The problem is she is absolutely inept at using digital cameras. We're trying to find one that will allow me to do some advanced stuff (such as light streaks/movement photos) but also accomodate the ability to literally point and shoot.

The final thing is it needs to be fairly compact, as it will be also used to take on holidays and other events.

So far I've looked at the Nikon D50 and the Samsung GX-1L.

Many thanks,

 

[Deleted member 11679]

The thing is, I need one that also makes a great "point and shoot" camera. I'm doing Photography A level, whilst my mum is in her final year of an art degree. The problem is she is absolutely inept at using digital cameras. We're trying to find one that will allow me to do some advanced stuff (such as light streaks/movement photos) but also accomodate the ability to literally point and shoot.

Get a good compact and it will offer you a full manual mode for the fancy stuff and also act as a point and shoot when needed. Make sure when looking for one you research one with full manual capabilities.

You don't need to spend big to get a suitable quality these days. Although doing Photography A-Level I can definately see why you'd want a Digital SLR.

I'm just throwing some alternative thoughts in.

Tom

 

[dunker]

just had a quick flick through a mag and spotted a d50 + 18-55mm lens for £400 or a "mega deal" for £550 including 2 lenses, fancy bag, 2gb memory, usb card reader and few other bits, not bad but you'll still want a tripod i'd guess. if you could find that kind of deal say with only a 1gb card and no usb reader for around £500 i'd say go for it but now the new canon rebel xti is being released soon the older version should become cheaper? maybe worth waiting around for that to drop price?

 

[woodsy2k]

Perhaps you might like to think about one of the "bridge cameras" (the ones that are a half cast between compact and DSLR) such as the Fuji S9000. it can be found for around £300 iirc. Very nice piece of kit tbh.

Just a thought.

 

[SteveOBHave]

You'll find that the majority of the 'Prosumer' DSLR cameras have a 'point and shoot' capablility as they are targeted at a market of people that want the best of both worlds. IMHO the D50 is probably a good place to start.

In as far as spending your hard earned cash on a DSLR, you can happily spend your money right here with OcUK

For more info on the D50 - have a read of this - gives some nice comparisons as well: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond50/

 

[Tommy B]

Thank you very much for the replies.

I am indeed considering ordering it from OCUK, mainly because I know OCUK only sell "quality components" and thus I'm trusting that they're selling me the best.

I really like the sound of the D50, so as long as it can point and shoot that will probably be the camera I get. I'm not really interested in non SLR cameras as the ability to shoot instantly is essential. Also, with SLR cameras can you do burst photos ie click, click, click... 3 photos in 1 second?

Many thanks everyone for all your comments.

 

[SteveOBHave]

Thank you very much for the replies.

I am indeed considering ordering it from OCUK, mainly because I know OCUK only sell "quality components" and thus I'm trusting that they're selling me the best.

I really like the sound of the D50, so as long as it can point and shoot that will probably be the camera I get. I'm not really interested in non SLR cameras as the ability to shoot instantly is essential. Also, with SLR cameras can you do burst photos ie click, click, click... 3 photos in 1 second?

Many thanks everyone for all your comments.

The D50 will do 2.5 shots per second.

 

[DRZ]

If you are getting into it properly (which it sounds like you are, doing a photography A level and whatnot) then it would be prudent to do some research into upgrade paths both for lenses and bodies in the future. Once you have bought into a system it can be very costly to swap to a different system at a later date.

With Nikon, you have the D50, D70s, D200 and D2x upgrade paths, all good cameras in their target market but the lens choice in terms of actual Nikkor glass isnt as wide as the Canon equivalent at the mid-range budget. You have good, cheap glass and excellent expensive glass but not much in between. Some people dont mind that, others do so bear it in mind

Then there is the whole "what you will be using it for" considerations. Nikon - good at everything but seem to be heavily used by portrait / street photographers. If you want to shoot low light scenes, sports or wildlife it might pay to go for a Canon system.

Regardless, you are going to want to budget for more than just the kit lens that comes with the camera when you start to miss out on shots because its not up to it.