[Archived] Digital Slr Camera

[Paul]

My wife has announced she would like a digital SLR for Christmas - gulp! Now I'm very much of the press and shoot school of photography so could use some help please. As far as I can make out the important things are:

Speed - fast but also wide range

Weight

Pixels

Colour balance

Image resolution

Not very worried about direct printing, etc etc. Would prefer to spend the money on a quality camera which just needs a USB lead to download images. Brutally my wife won't cope with anything else. Camera use would be fairly general, not anyone specific use.

Budget would be £3 - 400. I've started to look at the Canon EOS range which seem very nice but they would to me.

[theeggman]

I have the same problem, and have spent too much time investigating it. There are loads of cameras, the differences between them seem very technical and I have resorted to asking the advice of various enthusiasts and one professional.

I have decided to buy a Nikon D40 from Amazon for well under £250.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-D40-Digital-...a/dp/B000KIX65S

It got a great review on www.dpreview.com which seems authoritative. Apparently the Megapixel rating (which I thought was all important) is not as important as the size of the sensor! Whatever that means...

[American]

I bought a Sony (will look up the model later) and enjoy it so far. I've never gone wrong with any Sony products in the past, and a good friend of mine has always had Sony cameras and video cameras and always loved them.

[AndyH16]

I currently have a Fuji S7000 which is aging a bit in terms of technology. I had the luck of borrowing a Canon 400D from work and found the features excellent, particularly the way the viewfinder worked compared to my Fuji. Canon did release a cheaper version, the 1000D I think, which might be a good entry model. But saying that I think the 400D has come down in price recently and places like Jessops seem to do some decent bundles (some with extra lenses and some with cards/bags/etc).

When I was looking round I came to the conclusion that the Nikon's were probably slightly better but the features were meant for people with more experience with SLRs. I think the Canon's are decent all rounders - whichever you go with will have pros and cons.

[tchocky]

You can't go wrong with a Canon EOS in my opinion. Or Nikon for that matter, but when I made the step up about 4 years ago I went for Canon and have not regretted it. I have a 30D now but I guess thats more of an enthusiast model. Can be bought very reasonably now (if you can locate one).

[revolutionrock!]

Sony Alpha A200, 10.2 mp. Can be had for £230 in a local shop( wilkinsons ) which for a beginners would be great.

I have been researching them for months, as i love photography.

I have around your budget, but am going down the 2nd hand route instead of new. I will get more for my money, and you can get some real bargains on photography forums.

[Billy Castell]

I have been told that the Nikon P60/D 60 is very good, and that the older Nikon P40/D40 is also a good buy. I have a work collegue that is really into photography. Or you can ask Dillo.

[Hughesy]

Im sure its alot - but whats the difference between an SLR and a normal digi cam like the Lumix??

Also im after a camcorder if anyone knows of any good deals? Iv been looking at Panasonic SD9 and apparently its the dogs, but as Im new to it, im not sure?!?!

[Paul]

Im sure its alot - but whats the difference between an SLR and a normal digi cam like the Lumix??

I'm not the best person to ask and I'm about to reveal why I'm asking for help on here but I'll give it a go. SLR I think stands for Single Lens Reflex or something similar, these are the cameras you would see lots of people with prior to the digital revolution - especially those with a serious interest. Obviously what we are discussing is the digital version.

The vast majority of cameras people use are "point and shoot", i.e the camera does everything for you. Technology is so good that a modern digital gives decent resuts every time, what it doesn't allow for is any real creativity. An SLR provides lots of options to manipulate or create the image and is much more flexible in it's use. The only example I can think of would be on shutter speed. Say you want to photograph a fast moving sport in day time and also a building at night. A point and shoot digital should cope with the sport but wouldn't cope with the night shot. The SLR on the other hand will have a variable shutter speed, i.e varies the exposure time, so could take the sporting shot better at a faster speed (say 1/4000th of second) but could also be set to take a night shot using a long exposure (say 20 seconds) giving the camera time to capture the image. In this example you need an high speed shutter to capture the sporting moment and a low speed for the night shot.

Hope that helps, no doubt someone else will correct me where I'm wrong. Clearly there are lots of other benefits, for example interchangeale lenses, filters etc.

[dave birch]

Isn't SLR a "through the lens" camera. It shows you what you are getting.

Maybe someone should buy our esteemed manager one!

Paul, I've had a Nikon from the very early days (3.4mp) and it's been great. It has the advantage of having a tiltable viewing screen. Very helpful when taking shots over the heads of those in front. I'm sure you can't buy them now.

[AndyH16]

Isn't SLR a "through the lens" camera. It shows you what you are getting.

Maybe someone should buy our esteemed manager one!

Yes, SLRs - what you're looking at is what you'll capture - although some, like my Fuji have a digital display instead of actually bouncing the image round inside on mirrors. One word I always remembered from my gcse photography classes was 'pentaprism' which is the fancy part that flips the image round inside the camera so you see the same image through the viewfinder.

[Paul]

Thanks for the replies. On here and asking around it seems to be a toss up between Nikon or Canon so I'll maybe pop into Wilkinson's on Saturday and see what they have to say.

[Paul]

Think I'm probably going to get one of these Canon EOS 1000D. Prices in the shops are a lot lower than suggested by Canon

[revolutionrock!]

Think I'm probably going to get one of these Canon EOS 1000D. Prices in the shops are a lot lower than suggested by Canon

Theres a cracking deal on at Boots.

Link, first and formost!

right heres the details

You must pay with paypal and use this code

Save 10% when you spend £75 at Boots.com before 15th December!

Promo code: TSAM47

Offer valid until 15 December 2008.

Also click the option for an advantage card and you automatically get the 10 quid free on it with orders over 75 (Extra ten pound ends tomorrow) As well as 20 quid on the card you get with advantage points. Free delivery over 45 quid , and then you still get to claim back your 50 cashback using the canon offer.

And then if you go through a cash back site, like this you get a further 3.4% off.

So

The 1000D comes in pretty cheap too.

Starting @ £321.77

less 10% - £32.18

less advantage - £22.84

less advantage+ - £10.00

less Canon CB - £30

less cashbackkings £11.24

Comes in at £215.51

-

I have just got a Canon 450d for £297 with this, so made up with it

[Paul]

The 1000D comes in pretty cheap too.

Starting @ £321.77

less 10% - £32.18

less advantage - £22.84

less advantage+ - £10.00

less Canon CB - £30

less cashbackkings £11.24

Comes in at £215.51

Thanks for that RR. Saved me £115!!! Order placed

[revolutionrock!]

Thanks for that RR. Saved me £115!!! Order placed

Nice one, nice to see i saved you a bit. Mine has just come today, very pleased with it. The 1000d is a cracking camera for a beginner

[revolutionrock!]

Also, this is the form download site for your cashbac

[revolutionrock!]

ALso, these are just some images i have taken so far

You should expect around the same quality, so happy with mine.

[Sandiway Blue]

For those who want to break away from the `standard` digital camera but aren`t sure of what they want in an `SLR`,i thoroughly recommend getting a `bridge` camera first.As you might guess it is somewhere between a standard and an SLR and is ideal if like me you are a novice who is learning how to take `proper` pictures before you start splashing hundreds of pounds,without really knowing what you are spending the money on.I bought a Fuji Finepix S5800 for £99.99 which has very good spec for the money and is well rated.

See review and spec here:

http://www.cameras.co.uk/reviews/fuji-finepix-s5800.cfm