Help me choose my first used dSLR :)

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billy_boy

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Hi guys,

Im looking to buy my first SLR.

Experience: None. Im a science nerd but have a slight natural artistic side.

Requirements: Motorsport, nature, people, towns. Next to no video use.

Budget: £500-1000 all inc for used kit.

I have read a few guides and went to Jessops and looked at a 550d and a Nikon D5100. The guides suggested i should go with whatever felt the most comfortable. However- they both felt v similar to me so im no further on :D

In truth im looking for a bit of a "bargain". How much cheaper the camera is second hand, and how little it looses in value over a couple of years, is more important to me than the actual price.

I have been considering the following cameras. Are any hugely inappropriate or any that jump out as being a performance bargain.

Nikon d5100
Nikon d7000
Canon 7d
Canon 60d
Canon 550d/600D

Am I barking up the wrong tree? Should i just aim to buy a mid range camera and spend most of my money on a good 18-75mm lens? (i know i may want something with a better zoom for better motorsport)

The ego side of me wants a decent camera which will never outgrow me. I will spend some time learning how to use it properly and make the most of it- but i wont be dedicating 1000s of hours- hence want good kit that flatters me!

Im looking on ebay and gumtree- although i live in Devon which doesn't help things!

Any advice would be great thanks.

PS Its a shame but im not allowed to view your classifieds! :( I would much rather buy used from a forum member for a fair price- looks like im stuck with the ebay monkeys :(
 
550d is perfect I got it early last year it's brilliant I love it
 
Welcome, you've come to the right place.

Always best to buy the best you can afford. Your budget is very wide, the difference is what you can get for £500 vs £1000 is huge.

All the cameras you mention will serve you well, there aren't really any bad cameras that are made by Nikon or Cannon.

I would certainly be looking at getting more than one lens if you have £1000 to spend.

And you are right to think the classifieds on here are a good place to buy, just means waiting 60 days!
 
I started with a 550D and it's a great camera. I was left some money in a will so I upgraded last year and earlier this year but I'd kept hold of my 550D cause it did such a good job. I have decided though that it's time to sell it on to raise funds for a new lens. I have it in the classifieds at the moment with a lens, bag and card. Unfortunately, you can't access the classifieds yet as you don't have the required posts, but you'd have a good chunk left for a good lens if you got something similar.
 
Last edited:
modchild said:
Mods, could I post a link to my sale to give the user an idea of what he could expect. Obviously, any dealing would be within the classifieds section.
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It would be pointless, he has no access to the Classifieds.
 
Try look ahead into the lenses that you will inevitably buy! I had a 550D with the kit lens plus 50mm but jump shipped to Nikon. Personally I will never venture into L lenses and I find that Nikon's "cheaper" lenses seem to be better made in terms of number of blades, metal mounts and silent motors. Ofcourse this doesn't apply to ALL lenses.

Another thing I found with Canon is that they're awesome for film where most people recommend Nikon for photography.
 
billy_boy said:
Hi guys,

Im looking to buy my first SLR.

Experience: None. Im a science nerd but have a slight natural artistic side.

Requirements: Motorsport, nature, people, towns. Next to no video use.

Budget: £500-1000 all inc for used kit.

I have read a few guides and went to Jessops and looked at a 550d and a Nikon D5100. The guides suggested i should go with whatever felt the most comfortable. However- they both felt v similar to me so im no further on :D

In truth im looking for a bit of a "bargain". How much cheaper the camera is second hand, and how little it looses in value over a couple of years, is more important to me than the actual price.

I have been considering the following cameras. Are any hugely inappropriate or any that jump out as being a performance bargain.

Nikon d5100
Nikon d7000
Canon 7d
Canon 60d
Canon 550d/600D

Am I barking up the wrong tree? Should i just aim to buy a mid range camera and spend most of my money on a good 18-75mm lens? (i know i may want something with a better zoom for better motorsport)

The ego side of me wants a decent camera which will never outgrow me. I will spend some time learning how to use it properly and make the most of it- but i wont be dedicating 1000s of hours- hence want good kit that flatters me!

Im looking on ebay and gumtree- although i live in Devon which doesn't help things!

Any advice would be great thanks.

PS Its a shame but im not allowed to view your classifieds! :( I would much rather buy used from a forum member for a fair price- looks like im stuck with the ebay monkeys :(
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First of all, may I congratulate you on the level of detail you've offered? Makes a refreshing change from the usual, "I'd like a DSLR, which one is best?" posts.

One thing that struck me about the list of cameras that you mention is that they're all pretty new. This doesn't really sit very well with the whole 'losing as little money as possible ethos'. So how about looking at some recently phased out/older cameras? I don't know my Canons but in Nikon terms, you'd pick up the D7000's predecessor, the D90 for about half the price (not much more than £300 used). That's just one example, you could go even older again but high iso performance and auto focus can suffer and seeing as you fancy motorsport, these things will probably be important to you.

One thing that I wish I'd been told when I bought my first DSLR is that lenses are more important in terms of results and are also more expensive. Make sure you leave a hefty a chunk of your budget for lenses so you don't have to compromise where it really matters.

So, just one example of how you could spend your cash:

Nikon D90 £350
Nikon 70-300 vr £300
Nikon 18-70 £100
Nikon 50mm 1.8 £75

Covers all the bases with really good quality kit for a smidge over £800.
 
If you want a bargain look at older high end gear.

A used 1D Mk2 and 70-200 F4 will come in well under budget (about £3-400 body and £3-400 lens), top class autofocus, ideal for motorsport, 8.5 frames per second, built like a tank.

It doesn't do video but if that isn't important to you they are a great camera for a fraction of their new price.
 
I have just bought a Sony A65, cant fault it. To be honest, pretty much any camera you buy for that kind of money will give great results, with no real difference in image quality.

But don't be scared to venture outside of the Canon and Nikon circle.
 
i would advise to always look at second hand things, all of my lenses and my 1 body have all be bought second hand without a single problem :) a second hand D90 or D7000 would be a really great first body. i second the idea of a 70-300 VR and a prime, a 35 f/1.8G is a fantastic lens and only about £150 second hand.
 
markmullen said:
A used 1D Mk2 and 70-200 F4 will come in well under budget (about £3-400 body and £3-400 lens), top class autofocus, ideal for motorsport, 8.5 frames per second, built like a tank.
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How do you find the 1D mk2 compared to your 5D mk3?
 
If video isn't required you could look at the 450D - they seem to be going on the bay ATM for £2-300.
Then you could look at either a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 (and a 2x teleconverter) or a Canon 70-200 f/4L (and a 1.4x converter) to give you a good lens with plenty of options for stuff like motorsport.

For a general walkabout lens, the 18-55IS is good value for starters.
 
fatmarley said:
How do you find the 1D mk2 compared to your 5D mk3?
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The 5D3 is very much more modern, bigger display, more features (video, liveview, better screen, in built HDR) and with much better high ISO but the 1D2 has higher frame rate, AF which is about as good, though not as customisable and better build quality, you feel you could hammer nails in with the 1D2.
 
Wow fantastic advice guys!

I suppose I was sticking to the newer cameras purely because you would hope they would have improved with time and technology.

In general- how does a generation or 2 older (but formerly top performer like the d90) compare to a newer, but budget-mid range camera which fetches similar money?

I saw a YouTube vid where they compared a canon 550d to a 90d and concluded the 550 was more appropriate most of the time.

I know there's so much more to photography than megapixels (although I don't fully understand what!)- but it's easy to get caught up in things and go for the newer generation stuff with 16-18 megapixels- rather than the older ones with 10-12........

Totally agree about the lens stuff though- if that's where 50% of my money is going, buying the right lens is critical!
 
Have a look at a Pentax K5 with a kit lens - about £700 - £750.

Dave
 
billy_boy said:
In general- how does a generation or 2 older (but formerly top performer like the d90) compare to a newer, but budget-mid range camera which fetches similar money?
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The thing about older top-of-the-range cameras is generally their superior build quality and reliability. True, technology has moved on, and modern cameras can do things faster and better, but doesn't make those older cameras any worse.
Look at the 1Ds MkI (ten years old) and the 5D MkI (seven years old). These will still fetch £500+ body only.
Thats still about £150 more that a brand new 1100D twin-lens kit. :thumbs:
 
What about a canon 40d? Not as pricey as the 60d so you can buy a couple of good lenses but still very good and a step up from the 550d.
 
The dealership for Pentax is not as large as for Canon or Nikon, but Pentax's own lenses cover the range from about 10mm to 300mm. Third party lenses cover 10mm to 500mm.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
. Third party lenses cover 10mm to 500mm.

Dave
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other than SRS, good luck finding Pentax mount lenses actually in stock (or available in under a month) in any shop. I think this is one of the weaknesses of Pentax, and a catch-22 situation. Because you can't readily source Pentax lenses on the high street people are less likely to buy into the Pentax system, because so few people buy into Pentax, shops stock them even less.
 
Many thanks for everyone's responses- very much appreciated.

In the end i have snapped up a 7D with 18-55 kit lens for a grood price- but i will continue to add lenses :)

More than one person has suggested a 35m f/1.8- is this for portrait and scenery photos where no zoom is required and you can benefit from the excellent optics?
 
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