Photography Forum Newbie - mentor needed ;)

Pickers

Pickers

Pickers

Soldato
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Hi guys - to business! ;)
Basically over the summer its my Dad's 60th Birthday, and we are going to the Isles of Scilly (where he grew up) for a week to re-live old family holidays and just generally enjoy ourselves. As some of you may be aware, it is very scenic and serene. I would love to be able to take some good shots of the islands, sky, sea, wildlife - and of course my family. (A simple google search will turn up loads of info on the scillys, so you can get a feel for the environment I will be snapping)
I will also have just finished my stint at university and so am wanting to treat myself which brings me to this forum...
For a while I've been interested in DSLR cameras.
I've briefly flicked through the sticky and buyers guide, but its not "up to date" and I'm a newbie - sorry ;).

I would really value some impartial advice on what kind of camera to go for. As I said, I'm a newbie so certainly wouldnt be able to handle anything too advanced, but equally I want to have the ability to tweak settings, experiment with different lenses and so on as I progress. I've looked at Nikon D50, but am already seeing the rivalry between nikon and canon.

Budget wise, I dont want to go to cheap if I am going to seriously limit myself, but obviously being a student the purse strings are a little tight to go overboard. £500 I am thinking (hopefully with bag/large card/power supply etc), but I expect this to be too low. I probably would go more if the price is right for the camera (I see the canon EOS 350D in OcUK store)

I am happy to take this to email or MSM if people want to know more of what I expect/need.
Many thanks for your time!

Pickers
 
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You can get fantastic photos without having to buy a DSLR. However, a DSLR will let you grow your photography - you may find that a compact camera soon becomes limiting in terms of functionality.

The Canon EOS 350D kit (ie, body, battery, charger, manual, EF-S 18-55mm lens) can now be bought new for £500. However, as OcUK sell this item, I cannot tell you where unfortunately.

Then you just need some memory and CF is getting cheaper by the day
 
Are you sure you need an SLR? Have a look at the fuji 5200. Very capable camera with full manual controls, long zoom etc. More than adequete for a noob who wants to learn,much cheaper and capable of great results.

I preferred these forums when everyone was raving about their A70s :(

I think the 5200 is called the 5600 in the UK. review here

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/fuji_s5200.html
 
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Hmm no I'm not sure I need an SLR, but I'm not going to be able to justify two purchases as I get more into this hobby. I would much prefer to get a camera I can expand and progress with (toying with focusing and so forth)
I'm even thinking photography of the night sky, which I'm led to believe is all about the SLRs ;)

Adwright - why do you suggest the cannon over the D50 out of interest?
I must go now until tomorrow as *someone* must be up early tomorrow and I'm keeping her up :p .
 
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I have a Canon A80 and for christmas my wife got me the Nikon D50 kit.

For the first couple of weeks I got really bogged down trying with all the shooting modes.

I went back to using it on Auto mode and have only really now started to look at some of the other preset modes.

My advice if you decided on a DSLR would be to get it sooner rather than later and give yourself some scope to play with it before it actaully matters.
 
freebooter said:
I preferred these forums when everyone was raving about their A70s :(
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I still am :) Some of the best shots I've taken this year have been on my A70. Pickers a Canon Powershot S2 IS is a great camera for general stuff. Manual features and various other things. You don't need to buy into the DSLR hype until you feel like you've out grown a compact imho.
 
As much as I value the opinon of getting a compact camera, we have an (albeit old) Ixus v3. For a little more money than a good new prosumer I can get an entry level SLR. This is considering I am treating myself for 4 years hard work, and wont have the funds or reason to treat myself again for a while.

Slinwagh: I would want to get one soon in order to get some solid experience in before IoS.. :D
 
In the price range of £500 I would go for the Nikon D50 Black plus the AF-S DX 18-70mm lens, which is the kit lens that ships with the D70s. This combo can be had for around £530, although you would still need the bag and memory card. I am looking to trade up to this from my Olympus 8080, mainly for the extra speed and low light capabilities.

Although having said that, DSLR's in this price range are all pretty good and how it feels to hold is probably the most important factor. They are all relatively heavy to carry around too, compacts definitely have the advantage here!!

Lots of info over at www.dpreview.com :)
 
Pickers said:
As much as I value the opinon of getting a compact camera, we have an (albeit old) Ixus v3. For a little more money than a good new prosumer I can get an entry level SLR. This is considering I am treating myself for 4 years hard work, and wont have the funds or reason to treat myself again for a while.

Slinwagh: I would want to get one soon in order to get some solid experience in before IoS.. :D
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If you wanna get a DSLR go for it :) We get a lot of people asking what camera they should get, looking at the D50 / 350D when they could be just as happy with a prosumer model or something.
 
cyKey said:
If you wanna get a DSLR go for it :) We get a lot of people asking what camera they should get, looking at the D50 / 350D when they could be just as happy with a prosumer model or something.
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Are you availible on MSM per chance??
 
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