what is the best slr camera for £300 £400? Hd video would be a bonus

atmax1 · 15 Oct 2010 at 00:25

Hey all,

I love taking pictures of everything! and I'm going to get myself a nice camera for xmas.. what is the best I can get for my money? HD video would be a bonus and be very nice! my price range is around £300 - £400 Please help as I am a camera noob.

An Exception · 15 Oct 2010 at 01:40

550d if you want video, but you will need to up the budget a little.
Else a used 40d...

Steeps · 15 Oct 2010 at 01:58

A used 40d won't get a lens with it. £300-400 will get a second hand 450d+decent lens but video for that price is going to be challenging.

Edit: Nikon D5000 supposedly does 720p video but I don't know enough about them to advise, a bit over budget at £450 but might be worth looking into.

An Exception · 15 Oct 2010 at 03:09

I personally think the Op should up his budget, and if he can't by the time Christmas comes then delay the purchase for a while.

Edit: Op do you plan to earn any money with the camera, or do you simply just like taking snaps of everything?
If the latter, then good news, a Canon G11 may just up your street.

MikeHunt79 · 15 Oct 2010 at 04:05

D3100 is worth a look, but they're around £500 I think.

Teledude · 15 Oct 2010 at 08:20

Just got a D3100 for £500 with lens - well worth a look imo - see my other post

atmax1 · 15 Oct 2010 at 14:13

Thanks I will look into them, and no I wont be making money from it.

MikeHunt79 · 15 Oct 2010 at 17:03

Teledude said:
Just got a D3100 for £500 with lens - well worth a look imo - see my other post

How are you finding it? Any niggles or problems with it? I'm quite tempted by them myself, I've currently got a D60 and am tempted to upgrade.

An Exception · 15 Oct 2010 at 20:38

Make that a Canon G12

atmax1 · 16 Oct 2010 at 10:35

Ejizz said:
Make that a Canon G12

You cant change the lens but would i need to?

What about the CANON EOS 1000D Digital SLR Camera with Canon 18-55 mm EF-S Zoom Lens - 10.1 mp?

or NIKON D3000 Digital SLR Camera + 18-55mm Nikkor VR Zoom Lens?

they don't do HD video but I guess that don't really matter It would have been a bonus since sisters wedding is next year.

mcc49 · 16 Oct 2010 at 10:58

Not quite an SLR but have you considered a M4/3 format camera such as the Olympus E-PL1? It ticks all your boxes when it comes to image quality, budget and HD movie (It only does 720p though).

An Exception · 16 Oct 2010 at 19:08

atmax1 said:
You cant change the lens but would i need to?

What about the CANON EOS 1000D Digital SLR Camera with Canon 18-55 mm EF-S Zoom Lens - 10.1 mp?

or NIKON D3000 Digital SLR Camera + 18-55mm Nikkor VR Zoom Lens?

they don't do HD video but I guess that don't really matter It would have been a bonus since sisters wedding is next year.

1000D with kit lens is practically junk IMO, and would actually much prefer the G12 given the choice.

Worthwhile DSLR options are probably out of your budget if you want decent video and a fast zoom lens.

A good starter DSLR setup would be a 500D for £350 - 380 with a Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 £240ish.

Edit: Op, how serious are you about photography?

atmax1 · 16 Oct 2010 at 22:13

Thanks Ejizz I will look at it,, and i ant sure I want a lower end decent camera and if i get into it more then I will save and get a much better one.. but I want one to get really good shots with will the 500D do that?

An Exception · 16 Oct 2010 at 22:59

atmax1 said:
Thanks Ejizz I will look at it,, and i ant sure I want a lower end decent camera and if i get into it more then I will save and get a much better one.. but I want one to get really good shots with will the 500D do that?

Yes it will, a 550D or a 50D will also be good choices, I personally use a 550D but if I'm honest, in hindsight I would definitely consider getting a 50D instead simply for the micro adjust feature.

What makes the biggest difference is quality glass rather than the camera, so the Tamron 17-50mm will help your images look sharper and as it's fast you have more control over depth of field and can shoot better in low light.

Ultimately it's down to you how good the pictures look, I'v seen pictures taken with a 5D mark II with an L lens that were nothing near as good compared to pictures I'v seen taken with a 450D and a Canon 50mm 1.8.
In short you can't buy the ability to take great shot's.

Rojin · 16 Oct 2010 at 23:15

What sort of photography are you interested in? If you're into sports then be prepared for a fast upgrade route and a money pit if you want to nail the focus. I started off with a 500D which I did really enjoy using, but for sports and an active toddler it just didn't perform fast enough. This isn't something that better glass solves, so I bought a 7D. Excellent camera which I would still have now if I didn't have the opportunity to swap it for a 1D. I wish I had gone into things with a bit more knowledge but it's difficult. A 40D would've been better for me from the off but I wanted something shiny and new so bought a 500D, which I lost money on. However if I hadn't got into things as I have, it would've been fine...

What do you want to get out of photography? I'm coming up to my the end of my first year since I bought a decent camera and actually thought about the whole photography thing with a lot more "respect". I don't use the term "respect" lightly, I look back on my days with a point and shoot camera with such regret now. I took pictures of my new born baby daughter with an N95 camera phone for gods sake! I so wish I had an appreciation of photography when I was younger. All the not inconsiderable amount of money I "wasted" could be a whole shelf of nice glass now

Sorry to go off on one, don't know where that came from!

nalla · 17 Oct 2010 at 20:37

dont forget sony dslr's you can get a good entry level sony alpha camera at a good price, but the low priced ones dont do video, and the quality is excellent, certainly surprised the canon commuinty when they first stared to produce the alphas, everyone always reccomends a cannon, i know theyve been round longest and have more lenses due to how long they have been in business, but they are more expensive because of that fact, try something new,everyone i know of who has bought an alpha has been impressed.

atmax1 · 17 Oct 2010 at 22:23

Hey Rojin nice outburst! lol (love your pictures by the way do you have any that you done with the 500d?) I'm into taking pictures of people and objects not really into sport so I wont take pictures of it so would the 500D be ok for me? I worked out I could save up the £600 for one if i budget my money and work hard.

I want to be able to get nice pictures out of the camera, I would rather spend the £600 if it means I will get a nicer picture for more of a professional shot... I have autism so I'm very fussy about things so want a camera that I can learn on and that can give me good results.. It will be used to take pictures of my dogs, scenery, people and my sisters weding and things like that.

photography is something I really want to get into and I just hope people can help me find the right camera for me under £600.

NALLA I looked at the cheap sony alpha but the Canon 500d colours looked better but I did only look at one of them did you have one in mind?

An Exception · 18 Oct 2010 at 01:38

atmax1 said:
Hey Rojin nice outburst! lol (love your pictures by the way do you have any that you done with the 500d?) I'm into taking pictures of people and objects not really into sport so I wont take pictures of it so would the 500D be ok for me? I worked out I could save up the £600 for one if i budget my money and work hard.

I want to be able to get nice pictures out of the camera, I would rather spend the £600 if it means I will get a nicer picture for more of a professional shot... I have autism so I'm very fussy about things so want a camera that I can learn on and that can give me good results.. It will be used to take pictures of my dogs, scenery, people and my sisters weding and things like that.

photography is something I really want to get into and I just hope people can help me find the right camera for me under £600.

NALLA I looked at the cheap sony alpha but the Canon 500d colours looked better but I did only look at one of them did you have one in mind?

The lens has more impact than the quality of the camera by the way.
Also be prepared for the images to not look much better than a point and shoot at first, sure your probably optimistic and thinking your going to pick it up fast, but you will go through stages of thinking you suck and stages of thinking your the dog's ...........

Having autism is probably both a gift and a curse if you become passionate about photography, your work will never be good enough (like it shouldn't for anyone) but this will drive you to constantly learn to improve fast, I also find posting up images for critique helps, but be warned, reading someone tear your work apart that you put sooo much effort into can be painful, but you just have to deal with it and use the pain as motivation to improve.

As a general rule I place the following in the order of importance of achieving a nice looking picture.

1) Light - Natural and Artificial.
Light in my opinion is the single most important thing to master, you should budget for a YN-560 and an RF-602 trigger and lightstand off the bay (£80)

2) Lens - A fast lens allows for allot more creative control, you need F2.8 or faster.

3) Post processing skills - Lightroom or photoshop (or both)

4) Camera - Once the above is mastered almost any DSLR is enough to give you really amazing results, and a 500D is easily enough for your needs... (unless you like shooting sports etc.)

Below are a few shot's taken with a 550D (comparable IQ to 500D) and a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8. and some off camera flashes

atmax1 · 18 Oct 2010 at 11:12

Ejizz said:
The lens has more impact than the quality of the camera by the way.
Also be prepared for the images to not look much better than a point and shoot at first, sure your probably optimistic and thinking your going to pick it up fast, but you will go through stages of thinking you suck and stages of thinking your the dog's ...........

Having autism is probably both a gift and a curse if you become passionate about photography, your work will never be good enough (like it shouldn't for anyone) but this will drive you to constantly learn to improve fast, I also find posting up images for critique helps, but be warned, reading someone tear your work apart that you put sooo much effort into can be painful, but you just have to deal with it and use the pain as motivation to improve.

As a general rule I place the following in the order of importance of achieving a nice looking picture.

1) Light - Natural and Artificial.
Light in my opinion is the single most important thing to master, you should budget for a YN-560 and an RF-602 trigger and lightstand off the bay (£80)

2) Lens - A fast lens allows for allot more creative control, you need F2.8 or faster.

3) Post processing skills - Lightroom or photoshop (or both)

4) Camera - Once the above is mastered almost any DSLR is enough to give you really amazing results, and a 500D is easily enough for your needs... (unless you like shooting sports etc.)

Below are a few shot's taken with a 550D (comparable IQ to 500D) and a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8. and some off camera flashes

First off WOW them pictures are amazing!... I am very persistent (I think is the word) I will keep at it till I can do it though I will most likely have times when I don't get it out but I will always go back and try and perfect it as I love art and trying to capture the beauty in things as in my eyes everything is beautiful in its own way.. everything but spiders lol..

Having autism and the other things I have is more of a curse at the moment but I been told I'm creative (build websites and used to draw, something i'm going to get back into) but I hope people tear my work it may upset me but It will make me go the distance next time! long as they say what I done wrong so i can think about it next time i was to take a shot.

I use Adobe Photoshop CS5 as I do web design will that do or should I get hold of Lightroom as well? I may get a trail and try it out.

So would a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 or a Canon EF-s 60mm f2.8 Macro USM Macro Lens be ok?

Them lights I will buy asap when i have the money, was looking at them but could you tell me what it does, like how it improves over the normal flash? sorry if stupid question.

Edit**
I was thinking about getting the 500d with the TAMRON 55-200mm f4.0-5.6 Di-II LD Macro Zoom Lens will that do me for now?

An Exception · 18 Oct 2010 at 13:07

atmax1 said:
Edit**
I was thinking about getting the 500d with the TAMRON 55-200mm f4.0-5.6 Di-II LD Macro Zoom Lens will that do me for now?

Maybe, but in my personal experience, you want a zoom with a constant and fast aperture.
17-50mm 2.8 won't have as much zoom but it is a wide angle and lens with enough zoom for 90% of the time.

What let's the 55-200mm down is image quality and slow aperture.

As for those lights, what they enable you to do is light the subject off camera axis and looks more natural and appealing, if you use the flash on a 500D it will look like the shot was taken will a point and shoot which makes the image look flat.