Which Camera, Slr/Dslr

revolutionrock

revolutionrock

revolutionrock

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14 Apr 2008
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998
Hi

I am starting a A level in Photography in September, and the only camera i have now is a point and click Canon 3.2mp one.

Now i have had a quick look, and the most sensible option is a Dslr or a Slr

I feel there is no point in getting another point and click, as i will be using this quite a bit.

This includes taking pictures of/for

  • College
  • Football / Sport
  • Graffiti

Now my budget is around the £200-£250 mark

This caught my eye

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 Digital Camera - Black (8.1MP, 18x Optical Zoom) 28mm Wide-Angle Lens
Click to expand...

At only £200 it looks good, and has some rave reviews.

I am still to look at Slr

So if you could recommend any to me, or just any advice, it would be great

--

Also , i look forward to posting regualry in here, once i have it :)
 
check what you need for your A-Level.

If you end up doing dark room work you will need an SLR, if its all digital then an DSLR may be required. If it's a lot of theory, then you can get away with anything.

THe DMC-FZ18 is usually termed as a bridge camera, as it allows lots of manual control, but does not have interchangable lenses, and the sensor is pretty tiny compared to DSLRs.

Really, Find out what it is you will need before putting any money down.
 
The best way to learn photography is to get a fully manual 35mm SLR. This forces you to learn the absolute basics of aperture and shutter combinations etc without the temptation to use auto modes. Also the fact you will be shooting film rather than digital forces you to think a lot harder about the composition of your photo than you otherwise would with the 'disposable' nature of digital shots.

The 'classic' starter camera is a Pentax K1000 (prolly be able to get one for ~30 quid off fleabay), although I started off (and still shoot with!) with a Praktica MTL 50.
 
Amoeba said:
The best way to learn photography is to get a fully manual 35mm SLR. This forces you to learn the absolute basics of aperture and shutter combinations etc without the temptation to use auto modes. Also the fact you will be shooting film rather than digital forces you to think a lot harder about the composition of your photo than you otherwise would with the 'disposable' nature of digital shots.

The 'classic' starter camera is a Pentax K1000 (prolly be able to get one for ~30 quid off fleabay), although I started off (and still shoot with!) with a Praktica MTL 50.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. In my opinion for an absolute beginner a DSLR used in manual mode is better than a film SLR, because of the immediate feedback you get on what your different settings do to the image, and these settings are recorded on each image automatically for you to make sense of later.

Coupled with unrestricted shooting this reduces the learning curve quite a bit.

Dont get me wrong, as soon as you do understand the principles I would encourage anyone to pick up an used film SLR from the auction site for about £20 and try that out too. I did and I enjoyed it.

If you are really poor, then by all means a film SLR will teach you the basics, but remember to;

1. Spend money on plenty of good film.
2. Maximise your learning by jotting down the settings you use for each exposure (the tiresome bit most people wont bother with after a while and which digital does for you).

But I'd really try to pick up at least a used Canon 10D or similar. They probably go for under £200 these days, and any lenses you get will be useable on a number of cheap film SLRs as well as the latest Canon DSLRs.
 
From what I have seen in A level Photography courses you would need to have the use of both a film and a digital camera, I wouldn't imagine they would expect you to own both.

In my college we have a range of cameras for the art students to loan (though i don't think we specifically do photography) so I would imagine you would be able to loan a camera if yours doesn't do what you need.

Personally I could go for a cheap DSLR if I was going to do a course in photography, this is surely where the future of photography lies?
 
Fuji S2 would be good. Cheap now adays and able to take nikon fit lenses... shoul dbe able to find it for less than £200.
 
s/h may be the best option for you to get an older but higher level body with more features & better build quality.
However, you can get a brand new Sony A200 (TIPA best entry level DSLR 2008) body only for ~£235 & with the kit 18-70 for ~£270.
 
Bump this back from the past...

Personally id recommend a 2nd hand DSLR, even the older entry level models will give you more choice and image quality than most bridge cameras of the same price. As a Canon user, id be looking out of a 300d/350d in the for sale forums here, and on here.

Im sure Nikon do a similarly useful entry level DSLR, but i know nothing about the Nikon range.
With Canon youd be able to get the Body and a couple of lenses (18-55, 50f1.8 and 75-300) for under £400, that package would see you well thru a college/uni photography course. You may perhaps need a Film SLR as well because i believe college/uni courses generally include old fashion dark room stuff. :(

Looking around ive seen a Canon 20d+17-85IS package go for £400 recently, that would have been a great starting point.
 
Messiah Khan said:
Get a D40 instead, and use the rest of the money on lenses. IMO. :)
Click to expand...

Very sound advice, the other thing you can do if you by a digital SLR is buy the same makes film SLR and interchange the lenses, basic model film SLR's seem to be going for peanuts these days I got a canon EOS 300 for £10 to play with as it is compatible with all my lenses.
 
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