Decent starter camera?

[Baron Samedi]

Been thinking about getting a new camera for a while as I quite fancy being able to take a better standard of photo than my wee digital compact is capable of. I had been looking at digital SLR's but was a bit reluctant to pay upwards of £350 for a half decent one when I wasn't sure if it was something I'd make decent use of.

I've spotted this one which isn't an SLR but looks (to my untrained eye) like it might be good starter/compromise.

http://www.jessops.com/Store/s74296/...a/details.aspx

With a discount code I can pick it up for around £160 - what do you lot think?

[Shannow]

Nah, that's a pretend SLR that you'll grow out of very quickly if you keep at it as a hobby.

If you're on a budget, pick up a Canon 300D off ebay, they're discontinued now, but it's still what I use. http://search.ebay.co.uk/canon-300d-...sPageNameZWLRS

[fallen_nemesis]

i would say for the same money you could pick up a refurbed or second hand few years old Canon or Nikon body. Both are great brands and it's really down to personal choice.

I can imagine you can get D50's ridiculously cheap as they've stopped making them, similarly some of the older Canon models. They're all perfectly good cameras, the advantage you have with doing this though is that the lenses you buy can be used when you upgrade (obviously only if you stick to the same brand)

Have a look on ebay. Canon have an official outlet store on here for their refurbed SLR bodies. Not sure of pricing though as I'm not a Canon user so haven't had any need to buy anything off them

[djtoast]

the fuji finepix prosumer-style cameras are great, i had a much earlier model and they've got better and better since then.

huge optical zoom (which is probably one of the biggest things to distinguish one camera from another these days), loadsa megapixels... the only potential drawback is AA batteries - MAKE SURE YOU BUY RECHARGABLES or it'll cost you a hundred pounds every time you take a photo. well I'm exaggerating but the point stands.

bargain, too, i paid £600 for my fuji, and it's a 3.1MP camera

*edit* although what they ^ say is kinda true, if there's a way you can strech to whatever a second hand / discontinued SLR would cost, do so.

but if you're not gonna get an SLR the fujis are a great choice.

[Rowsbette]

I managed to get an SLR camera on Amazon for £200, couldn't tell you how good it is cos (a) I'm no camera buff, and (b) I've *still* not got around to trying it out yet. But it was reduced from £400ish.

The offer's still on if you're interested:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fuji-FinePix...989484&sr=1-15

[Shannow]

Originally Posted by djtoast

the fuji finepix prosumer-style cameras are great, i had a much earlier model and they've got better and better since then.

huge optical zoom (which is probably one of the biggest things to distinguish one camera from another these days), loadsa megapixels... the only potential drawback is AA batteries - MAKE SURE YOU BUY RECHARGABLES or it'll cost you a hundred pounds every time you take a photo. well I'm exaggerating but the point stands.

bargain, too, i paid £600 for my fuji, and it's a 3.1MP camera

I got mine for about 400, seen how much they go for now?

[fallen_nemesis]

your disadvantage with Fuji SLR's is the amount of lenses available to you. At least with Canon and Nikon you can go second hand shopping in Quigg's for old manual focus lenses that are cheap as chips.

Similarly I'd avoid anything with a fixed lens . You don't need to spend loads of money on a SLR, but you could save hundreds of pounds in the long run by investing in one as if you do chose to take a lot of pictures, as you improve you can buy lenses and filters etc which will allow you take far better pictures that you couldn't achieve with a fixed lens camera.

If you get better and chose to upgrade the body of the camera all you have to pay out for is that not the lenses. Second hand lenses also don't decrease hugely in resale values. The shiny new fixed lens Fuji would. Cameras are like computers and cars. New models are always out and they depreciate in value very quickly

@ toast - megapixels count for nothing really. Not with SLR's anyway! Why is it always men that need to brag about how many megapixels they have? Overcompensating for something?

Originally Posted by Shannow

I got mine for about 400, seen how much they go for now?

I chose to not even look at what a D50 costs now

[Jaemi]

I fancied buying a new digital camera..
Then I realised I dunno how to use my current one, it's on "auto" constantly..

Result vary greatly.

[Largest of Gregs]

Originally Posted by Rowsbette

I managed to get an SLR camera on Amazon for £200, couldn't tell you how good it is cos (a) I'm no camera buff, and (b) I've *still* not got around to trying it out yet. But it was reduced from £400ish.

The offer's still on if you're interested:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fuji-FinePix...989484&sr=1-15

Is that an SLR??

[Shannow]

Nope.

[Baron Samedi]

Originally Posted by Largest of Gregs

Is that an SLR??

I was going to ask that but didn't for fear of proving myself a dunce!



Good advice given folks, cheers. More research to be done methinks.

[Ghostsuit]

Originally Posted by fallen_nemesis

your disadvantage with Fuji SLR's is the amount of lenses available to you. At least with Canon and Nikon you can go second hand shopping in Quigg's for old manual focus lenses that are cheap as chips.

I'm pretty sure the Fuji SLR can use Nikon Lenses so you've got just the same second hand options.

[djtoast]

Originally Posted by fallen_nemesis

@ toast - megapixels count for nothing really. Not with SLR's anyway! Why is it always men that need to brag about how many megapixels they have? Overcompensating for something?

I was doing the exact opposite of bragging: my first digital camera cost £600 and was 3.1MP. My 10D cost £1300 and is 6.3MP. You can get twice the resolution for a third of the price these days

And yeah, it doesn't much matter anyway - helpful if you want to crop into just a small area of a picture you took which I do from time to time.