Entry Level DSLR?

Vidya · 14 Nov 2012 at 10:31

Hey,

It's nearing christmas and its been made clear I have to buy a DSLR as one of the presents, the person I'm buying for wants to get into photography so I thought it'd be nice to buy them an entry level DSLR

My Budget is like £700

I've heard good things about the D1000 etc but I have no idea when it comes to cameras

dan1903 · 17 Nov 2012 at 02:10

I have to say I'm very excited for the lucky recipient of all this! Photography is a wonderful hobby to have, I really can't put into words how much enjoyment my camera has given me and how many amazing memories I've captured with it.

http://www.jessops.com/online.store...-camera-with-18-135mm-is-lens-80184/show.html

For £700 that is your best bet in my opinon. The 600D is a great camera, it's got everything a new photographer needs. The lens bundled is a jack of all trades and perfect for a rookie photographer to find their niche: zoomed all the way out, it's good for shooting landscapes, the middle is great for portraits, and zoomed all the way in will be just about enough for nature and sports photography. As a bonus, the 600D also shoots HD video, which combined with that lens will give you incredibly high quality video. You will also need to buy a memory card to store all the pictures on. A standard 4GB SD card will do the job fine.

I would also recommend you buy a UV filter to screw on the end of the lens. For this camera's lens you need a 67mm filter. The filter will act as a barrier between your precious new lens and all the nasty sharp things in the world. I cannot emphasis how important this is. If you scratch you UV filter, it's not expensive to replace, and your lens is still in in perfect condition. If you don't protect your lens with a filter, any scratches you pick up are permanent, and could potentially ruin the lens.

If you have it in your budget, these are some optional extras:

You might also want to get a cheap (~£50) tripod. This will help keep the camera still, and therefore give crisper images. You can also use it for self timer shots.

A good quality camera bag is nice to have. It will give your camera a bit of protection and give you space to keep all your accessories close to hand.

D.P. · 17 Nov 2012 at 04:52

You can't go wrong with any of the modern entry level DSLRs, I would go and have a play of the canon and Nikon models and see what you think. The sensor in all the new Nikon cameras are really nice, e.g. The d3200 and d5100.

Have a think. About what lenses you will want and budget for that. E.g. If yup want to shoot wildlife then you will want to buy a telephoto like a 70-300mm, for portraits a faster prime like the nikon 35mm f/1.8 is a good idea.

Unlike the above poster I wouldn't waste money on uv filters, a good uv filter will cost more than the cheap kit lenses, and the front of the lens is actually very robust. Even if you do get scratches they tend to have minimal affect on image quality, much less than a bad UV filter does. Just take care of your lenses, always use the lens hood as protection.
UV can be a good idea if you are shoot in harsh conditions like a sandstorm on a beach, and on more expensive lenses they are not too bad an idea if you get high quality filters, none of my cheap lenses have filters.

dan1903 · 17 Nov 2012 at 04:56

D.P. said:
Unlike the above poster I wouldn't waste money on uv filters, a good uv filter will cost more than the cheap kit lenses, and the front of the lens is actually very robust. Even if you do get scratches they tend to have minimal affect on image quality, much less than a bad UV filter does. Just take care of your lenses, always use the lens hood as protection.
UV can be a good idea if you are shoot in harsh conditions like a sandstorm on a beach, and on more expensive lenses they are not too bad an idea if you get high quality filters, none of my cheap lenses have filters.

You may well be right there. If you are a careful person I guess he is correct. For me, filters have saved my lens on more than one occasion; I always use a UV filter as I am the world's biggest bumbling buffoon. Clumsy does not even come close.

D.P. · 17 Nov 2012 at 05:15

The thing is cheap UV filters degrade image quality noticeably, they also have the nasty habit of smashing I to thousands of razor sharp shards that can do far more damage than a basic knock against a table corner. Another common problem is that cheap filters can become cross threaded and completely ruin you lens.
Better filter give minimal degradation of image quality and may be better to protect the lens but these filters cost more than cheap kit lenses.

There are lots of misconceptions about UV filters and front elements. The glass on front of the lens is actually very, very strong. An impact that is strong enough to damage the glass also can damage internal elements of the lens. Furthermore, scratches, chips, dents actually have very little effect on the image quality. You can test this by smashing a hammer into the front of your lens and then taking photos.... Alternatively put a couple of fingers in front of the lens and see if you can notice a difference. Unless you are focusing very closely you won't see. Flare can increase with a damaged front element and you can get minor decrease in contrast, but the Kate can be very good. A friend has a 14mm lens which had a big chunk missing form the center, which he simply exposed back on. You could never tell that a 1cm hole existed in his front element.

Even with catastrophic failure it is not so bad
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches. A small scratch won't be visible.

The back lens element is much more sensitive.