Best DSLR for >~£400?

messiah khan said:
But also way out of my budget. I could get a 20D body, but then not have a lens, which wouldn't be much good. I think im leaning towards the D40 at the moment. At work today, I tried the 350D, D70, D80 and E500. Out of those, I got the best vibes from the E500. The 350D just felt wrong imo, and the D70/D80 felt a bit too heavy, although felt nicer than the Canon. How does the D40 feel compared to the D70/D80? Is it noticably lighter?
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D40 is 475g without battery (battery hardly weighs anything)
D70 is 679g with battery.

Being small and light is the d40's party trick. It also offers the same resolution photos as the D70, has a bigger LCD screen, better noise control, and some other features. The D40 is a lower spec D80 really. a lot of the same functions, just at a lower standard. After reading the specifications of the D70s/D40, i would still go for the D40 if i had the choice again. But i would go for the D80 over the D40 in a heartbeat. Not having an inbuilt AF motor on the D40 is a huge let down for me.
 
messiah khan said:
Yeah, my collegue mentioned that one. Ive been looking at it, and it does seem very nice. I can only seem to find it for £430(Including 2 lenses) though. i think the live view is something id use as well, as I noticed when I was doing a lot of the macro shots, id use the rear display to compose the shot, saving me from having to put my head in a blackthorn bush. It has the flip out screen as well doesn't it?
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Yes it does have a flip out screen. I have sent you an e-mail with details, although £430 is a good price if that includes the 14-45 + 40-150 Olympus lenses.

Simon
 
alexisonfire said:
But i would go for the D80 over the D40 in a heartbeat.
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Would you really? The D80 occupies a sort of limbo IMO... if I'm going to spend ~£800 on a camera then I'd rather chuck in £200 more and get a D200, which I consider vastly superior. I really don't think the D80 cuts it over the D40 enough to justify the price increase: the D200, however, does.

Obviously the D80 is right for many people since it's selling so well, I just can't really see it myself.
 
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konicky said:
Yes it does have a flip out screen. I have sent you an e-mail with details, although £430 is a good price if that includes the 14-45 + 40-150 Olympus lenses.

Simon
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Yeah, that includes the ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-45mm (28-90mm) f3.5-5.6 LENS and ZUIKO DIGITAL 40-150mm (80-300mm) f3.5-4.5 LENS. I didn't receive your email though. Could you please send it to [email protected] please. :)
 
saw an advert on popular photography magazine, you can get Nikon D50 with 18-55 lens for £299 brand new.

I don't think you can go wrong with that.
 
Right, im 90% sure that its between these two;

Olympus E-330 + 14-45mm Lens Kit £339.00
NIKON D40 SLR Digital Camera + 18-55mm Lens £295.00

Any comments on these? When I get chance, im going to see if I can try them side by side at the local camera shops. Im drawn by the live preview and flip up screen of the E330, but im also drawn by the excellent lens availability etc of the D40. Im also hoping to spend some of the money saved on these cheaper cameras(As opposed to the 400D, D70 etc) on a macro lens, tripod etc. Also can anyone comment on the situation with doing IR photography on these two? Are either of them completely useless for this due to inbuilt IR filtering?(And no, im not going to be opening them up to modify them). Choices, choices.
 
messiah khan said:
May I ask why the definitely?
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Depends on what you are shooting. For macro shooting on a tripod the E330 wins with its flip screen and live view. For more general stuff, maybe the D40.

I have not tried the D40 but I think it's a bit smaller and lighter, with a brighter viewfinder. Although most E330 users find the viewfinder acceptable, it is a bit dim indoors in low light.

Olympus has the dust buster and built in pixel mapping.

Tough choice! :-)

Simon.
 
Yeah, it really is a tough choice. At the moment im really enjoying, and mostly doing macro/closeup shots where the back lcd on my current camera is coming in very handy. However, I don't want to limit myself to these sort of shots. Does anyone have or have used a DR-6 Right-Angle Viewfinder? Whats it like for closeup work? On a related note; What entry level macro lens would you suggest for the Nikon and Olympus?
 
Right, ive decided!... im going with the Nikon D40. Ive tried it down the camera shop, and it feels light and fits nicely in my hand. So my shopping list is going to look like;

Nikon D40 + 18-55mm Lens
Lowepro 100 Slingshot bag
SD cards (Probably 4Gb)
Small to mid size tripod
Polarization filter, UV filter and possibly IR filter(Might keep my old camera for this).

Then depending on how much all that lot comes to;

Macro extension tube
Entry level macro lens

Which is where you lot come in again. I need help choosing the tripod, and the macro lens. Im sure the stock lens will be able to cope with most stuff I do for now, but id like to be able to have a bit more magnification and shorter focal length for closeup and macro work. Any suggestions?

Oh, and what size filters does the stock lens take? is it 58mm?
 
Kit lens takes 52mm filters.

About the SD cards, this is my own personal opinion, but i would stay away from 4gb cards, instead get 2gb cards. If the card fails, its best to have as least photos on it as possible, and i find 2gb enough at one time.

Regarding a tripod, its not very often you get what you pay for, but with tripods its exactly that. If you get something cheap it will show when using it, and even more importantly it will show in your photos. You will have to fix camera movement blurring, rotating because either the legs or head weren't straight. Manfrotto tripods come highly recommended from a lot of people on these forums, and others i have visited.

Sigma offer decent and affordable macro lenses. All depends on how far away you want to be from your subject. Both the sigma 50mm and sigma 105mm macro lens are true 1:1 lenses and are suppose to be decent.

Regarding the bag, i advise going for the 200aw, offers extra space for future lens purchases.

EDIT: I just wanna make sure your aware that the Nikon D40 will only autofocus with AF-S & HSM compatible lenses!
A half decent lens that will autofocus with the D40 is going to cost you several hundred pounds. Don't buy into a D40 if your looking to pickup some old bargain lens.
 
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Thanks for that answer alexisonfire. Good about the filter size, as I can use my current filters straight away then. Fair comment about the memory cards. It doesn't hugely matter which I go for at the price they are now. I was going for the bigger one as I can see me exclusivly shooting in RAW to give me more flexibility. I'll have a look at the Manfrotto then. Do 'mid size' tripods exist? Or very light fullsize ones?

As far as the lens is concerned, I would like to be able to focus as close as possible, but realistically about 15-20cm(Is this possible?) I'll have a look at those you mentioned. How well do extension tubes and diopters work? Does anyone have any examples of shots using these? And yes I realise the situation regrading the autofocusing lenses. Old bargain leses will still work with manual focus though won't they?

Yeah, I was a little torn between the 100aw and the 200aw, but my thinking is that they are so relatively cheap that by the time I have anough lenses to fill the 100aw, I would be able to afford to get a 200aw/300aw as well.
 
messiah khan said:
Right, ive decided!... im going with the Nikon D40. Ive tried it down the camera shop, and it feels light and fits nicely in my hand. So my shopping list is going to look like;
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Yay! You'll love it, I guarantee it :)
 
messiah khan said:
Thanks for that answer alexisonfire. Good about the filter size, as I can use my current filters straight away then. Fair comment about the memory cards. It doesn't hugely matter which I go for at the price they are now. I was going for the bigger one as I can see me exclusivly shooting in RAW to give me more flexibility. I'll have a look at the Manfrotto then. Do 'mid size' tripods exist? Or very light fullsize ones?

As far as the lens is concerned, I would like to be able to focus as close as possible, but realistically about 15-20cm(Is this possible?) I'll have a look at those you mentioned. How well do extension tubes and diopters work? Does anyone have any examples of shots using these? And yes I realise the situation regrading the autofocusing lenses. Old bargain leses will still work with manual focus though won't they?

Yeah, I was a little torn between the 100aw and the 200aw, but my thinking is that they are so relatively cheap that by the time I have anough lenses to fill the 100aw, I would be able to afford to get a 200aw/300aw as well.
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I believe manfrotto do a 700 series range called "attitude" which are compact walk around tripods. That might be worth checking out. But remember, the lighter and smaller the tripod the less stable.

The kit lens has a minimum focus distance of 28cm throughout the entire focal range. As for macro lenses im pretty sure the higher the focal range the longer the minumum focus distance will be, but remember the magnification will be true 1:1 ratio. The Sigma 105mm for example has a minimum focus distance of 31cm, but will allow you to shoot from quite far away, the 50mm is 19cm.

As for extension tubes, i've not used one myself but have read they will increase softness to the image, which is never good.

Non AF-S and HSM lens will still work with the D40 apart from autofocus. Which on macro lens isn't really a problem as your working so close to the subject, which is also normally stationary. But if your after a AF telephoto lens with low a low f/stop expect to pay big, big money.

If you have any thoughts of increasing your lens collection, just go for the 200aw or 300aw. The bags them self hardly differ in size on the outside, but the carrying capacity is a lot larger.
 
And so it is done. Ive ordered half the kit, which im picking up tomorrow. (Also an excuse for me to travel to newcastle to pick it up from the shop(Will get a load of pics while im there)) So far ive ordered;

Nikon D40 + 18-55mm Lens
Lowepro 100 Slingshot bag
SD cards 2 x 2Gb
Camera cleaning kit

Then when I get paid at the end of the month, i'll also get;

Velbon Ultra Maxi SF Tripod
Possibly the Kenko extension tube set.

Ive already got UV and polarization filters, and ive got a Hoya R72 IR filter on its way. Let the fun begin.
:)
 
OMG.. bargain of the century! Im sure you'll all agree that a Nikon D40 + 18-55mm Lens + Lowepro 100 Slingshot bag for £350 is a pretty good deal. But what if you were to get a D40X instead for the same price? Well thats what ive just got! :D

Ive been to pick my camera up that I ordered last night from Newcastle. I was handed the items, I payed and left and went for some lunch. When I opened the bag and had a better look, my heart skipped a beat. I noticed the box was marked 'Nikon D40X' not 'Nikon D40', and sure enough I had been given the wrong camera. Now I know this is the point where my morals should kick in, and I should have returned to the shop and told them what has happened, but im sorry to say that im not that moral. And anyway, im far too happy with it to take it back.
 
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