dslr choice ,heads battered ,help

dalex · 27 May 2009 at 16:13

I have a max of £400 for a camera and memory(not bothered about bags)
had OM10 went digital compact route and currently have a Kodak Z740 which is good,has manual control but not an SLR ,camera is for family pictures,holiday snaps,sport and a zoom at later date.
I have narrowed it down to these but cant decide so any help is appreciated
ooo and live view for the MRS

Sony A300 on sale at moment and can buy minolta beercan at later date

Canon 1000D ticks the boxes and can get zoom later

Nikon D60 ticks the boxes but lenses need motor so expensive for zoom later

and a bit of an outsider but ticks more boxes for money

olympus E420 dual lense kit with bag and memory seems to be best bet at the moment

really after a few pros and cons from owners

Cheers
Dave

King4aDay · 27 May 2009 at 16:54

Have you played with any of them in the flesh yet? They're all perfectly competent cameras, best bet is to go play with them on the highstreet and see which one you like the feel of most.

dalex · 27 May 2009 at 20:02

Been and had a play with them all and there isnt a lot of difference ,think the A300 on sale at moment will get the nod for IS and live view

any more thoughts

Dave

BUFF · 28 May 2009 at 04:07

if you want LiveView for moving subjects then Sony's version is by far the best.
if you don't want LiveView then the A200 is a bit cheaper & has a better optical viewfinder.

They are all good today though so try handling them & find what you are most comfortable with - it's your money after all not mine or anybody else's.

D.P. · 28 May 2009 at 08:01

dalex said:
Nikon D60 ticks the boxes but lenses need motor so expensive for zoom later

Cheers
Dave

Not really, almost every lens you would want to buy already has a motor, and there is no price difference.

There are 1 or 2 primes you might eventually want, by the time you want them they will have been updated to have an iternal motor and in any case you probably wont be using the same camera body by then.

The same is true for the in lens VR/IS, for much of the lenses you would buy there is no price difference worth worrying about.

D.P. · 28 May 2009 at 08:01

King4aDay said:
Have you played with any of them in the flesh yet? They're all perfectly competent cameras, best bet is to go play with them on the highstreet and see which one you like the feel of most.

This is the best bet

D.P. · 28 May 2009 at 08:07

dalex said:
Been and had a play with them all and there isnt a lot of difference ,think the A300 on sale at moment will get the nod for IS and live view

any more thoughts

Dave

The camera will only form a fraction of the total system cost. The general rule is you should be prepared to pay about 5x the camera body cost for the whole system of lenses, flashes, filters, bags, tripods, tripod head. Find out which lenses you want and which system offers the best lenses for you and has lenses readily available second hand. You are not just buying a camera, you are buying into a system. make sure you want to be part of that system first.

All entry level cameras do much the same thing and cost similar amounts. I would ignore any price differences as buying a single lens or a couple of filters will make the few quid saved disappear in no time. More important than the initial camera cost oir certain features is how well the camera feels in your hand. Something like the in camera IS of the sony's might be entirely useless if you can't use the body properly or if you have a passion for sports photography.

cyclopopcicle · 28 May 2009 at 08:57

D.P. said:
Something like the in camera IS of the sony's might be entirely useless if you can't use the body properly or if you have a passion for sports photography.

the image stability can be turned off by a switch on the body.

D.P. · 28 May 2009 at 09:04

cyclopopcicle said:
the image stability can be turned off by a switch on the body.

I know it can, but I was making a point that in camera IS is not the be all and end all of stabilization technology or the best method to get the sharpest photos. A tripod will always outperform IS, as will fast glass. VR on a nikon 18-55 kit lens costs a couple of quid if one wants IS/VR on the cheap...

dalex · 28 May 2009 at 19:45

Job done,walked out of high street store with sony a300 18-70 kit lens,55 mm uv filter ,4gb extreme 3 and a centon bag(not what i would have picked but its okay)
for ..... after a haggle £320
bargain and a very impressive bit of kit

thanks for advice

Dave

BUFF · 28 May 2009 at 23:18

Congrats, have fun

1 of the beauties of digital is that you can playabout with the settings & get immediate feedback as to what sort of effect a change has (although images viewed on the rear screen never look the same as on a calibrated monitor) & it costs you nothing to practice, practice, practice.

D.P. said:
A tripod will always outperform IS, as will fast glass.

tripods aren't always practical though especially for things that move unpredictably & IS is an additional benefit so IS+fast glass> fast glass on it's own.