Entry level DSLR for my 18yr old niece?

V8burble

V8burble

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My niece is now ready to step from her compact to DSLR and with her 18th coming up there's a perfect opportunity. Budget only £400 including kit lens for starters.

With me shooting Nikon with a number of nice lenses I'm inclined to go Nikon so which to go for?

Being 18 she enjoys shooting video almost as much as stills so this must be a consideration.

Any advice would be great :)
 
As a Canon user, it's hard for me to offer subjective advice, but, from the looks of things, the Nikon D3200 is the best entry level camera and is priced around the £400 mark, so, there's a starting bit of info, I am sure the other's on here will be able to contribute a lot more.
 
Not a tremendous amount I don't think. Imagine the d3xxx series as the standard version and the d5xxx as the "luxury" version with a handful of minor perks & additions like the flippy out screen etc.
 
The d5100 is a much better camera than the d3100 and are such a good buy at the moment the d5100 shares the same sensor as the d7000
The d3100 is 14mp the d5100 is 16.2 the d5100 is better in lowlight
It has a better screen resolution 920k has vari angle screen shoots at 4 frames per second d3100 only 3fps for the little difference in price the d5100 is a much better buy:)
 
[bad joke] Entry level DSLR for an 18yo niece? Need photos of said niece to see if she's worth it! [/badjoke]
 
Nod said:
[bad joke] Entry level DSLR for an 18yo niece? Need photos of said niece to see if she's worth it! [/badjoke]
Click to expand...

Oh dear, here we go :p
 
senna said:
The d5100 is a much better camera than the d3100 and are such a good buy at the moment the d5100 shares the same sensor as the d7000
The d3100 is 14mp the d5100 is 16.2 the d5100 is better in lowlight
It has a better screen resolution 920k has vari angle screen shoots at 4 frames per second d3100 only 3fps for the little difference in price the d5100 is a much better buy:)
Click to expand...

Difference in price between the D3100 and D5100 ois about £100 which is quite a bit if you are looking into budget camera area.

Al
 
If she is going to be filming too the d5100 is a better choice, but its the extra money. It makes sense to go nikon if you are willing to lend your lenses. If you're not willing i would be very tempted to go for the Pentax K-30. It's only £400 with kit lens, and there is £50 cashback on at the moment. Its a whole lot of camera for £350, sharing the same sensor as the d5100 and d7000.

Weather sealed
in body stabilisation
6 fps
about 100% Pentaprism viewfinder
1/6000s shutter speed
More function buttons

http://snapsort.com/compare/Nikon-D5100-vs-Pentax-K-30
 
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I'd get a used D7000 if you want to go Nikon.
 
Thanks everyone and food for thought for sure :thumbs:

Oh dear Nod... side bar of my website should help you ;)
 
Could just give her the d7000 then you have a great excuse to go and buy yourself a d600/d800!:)
 
LOL, I've got thousands tied up in underwater housings etc for the D7000 or it would be an option ;)
 
on panamoz, the 600d with kit lens is under £400!

I don't know anything about Nikon, so can't offer any reccomendations there.

Edit: it's gone up in price, but still only a touch over £400

http://panamoz.com/index.php/digital-cameras/canon/canon-eos-600d-18-55-kit.html

SDHC cards are pretty well priced too, I've got a few of these, and they've not let me down photographically or when shooting vid -

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/SDHC/SanDisk/SanDisk-8GB-Extreme-HD-Video-SD-Card-(SDHC)-30MB_s---Class-10
 
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on panamoz, the 600d with kit lens is under £400!

Only £419 from Amazon after cashback and UK warranty.

Al
 
The school where I work recently bought a D5100 with the kit lens and so far we have been really pleased with it. It's simple for the children to use and lightweight for them to carry around.:)
 
Is it to be a surprise or does she know what she's getting (as in DSLR, make/model unknown)? If it's not a surprise, I would take her to a retailer with stocks of the usual suspects and see which she likes the feel of best. In some ways, you may be better steering her away from Nikon, unless Uncle Andrew is going to be happy to lend her his kit! If video wasn't a virtual necessity, I would suggest giving her the D200 and (if you need to) replacing it with something newer/better!
 
V8burble said:
My niece is now ready to step from her compact to DSLR and with her 18th coming up there's a perfect opportunity. Budget only £400 including kit lens for starters.

With me shooting Nikon with a number of nice lenses I'm inclined to go Nikon so which to go for?
Click to expand...
A small Nikon would be nice.
Does she have access to your lenses?
If so, great.

If no library of great lenses you might look at a Panasonic Lumix G3, the video is pretty good and the prices are low. Shop around.
 
Ok, she has checked them all out and settled on the D5100 with the kit lens to start off with.
She can indeed use my lenses as and when she wishes (or at least the AF-S ones anyway if she wants to AF). I can see a 17-55mm upgrade in the near future once she has tried some faster glass ;)
 
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